CGT Week 6: Testing Mechanics

29/03/21

Testing All Implemented Mechanics

This week I spent my time testing the mechanics that were implemented successfully last week.

First up was the torch. By adjusting the lighting just right, so it would not be blinding to the viewer, took the longest to test, compared to all the mechanics. Different types of dark lighting were used to perfect the right amount of balance in terms of being enough to see clearly, as well as being comfortable enough to have the players have it on hand at all times. In some cases, when the torch becomes less useful in the latter part of the level, the blue cubes scattered around the level, which the players can pick up, now emit a soft and blue glow to still give the players a sense of where they are in the level. The torch also burns through the curtain object successfully, with the particle effect that it gives off being negligible to the performance of the Oculus Quest hardware.

Each item that involves the players coming into contact with it, also works perfectly as similar code was used and carried over from each. This includes the breakable floor, chest and artefacts.

The gun, I feel, fires off the perfect number of bullets within a reasonable timeframe. Players will not have to wait long to aim and fire another bullet, without it affecting performance too much, which was a major issue when initially implemented, since the level became quickly swarmed with an endless number of bullets. The gun platforms also fall down to their appropriate locations on the map when the bullet collides with it, allowing ample space for the players to cross it.

Switch doors worked as expected. I changed the size of the switch so the players will have a large surface area on which to place a cube, without being much of a hassle.

The Shield and the Riseboard

Next, I began work on the shield. The shield worked as expected, I changed the size of the enemy projectiles many times to make sure they were obtrusive enough for the players when they did not have the shield, but also small enough that the shield would successfully block them. To ease on performance again, I had the projectile destroyed when coming into contact with the shield, instead of bouncing of it.

Before implementing the code that would make carriable objects snap to a certain position when grabbed, objects were picked up like normal and these led to a lot of interesting experiments. In the shield's case, whenever the players stand on top of the shield in an attempt to pick it up, they would instead ride up into the air vertically, acting almost like an anti-gravity surfboard. This got me thinking of how I would implement it into the game, despite it causing a few bugs, and it was a lot of fun to use. This also got me thinking about how I wanted to add more verticality to the level and I decided to use this new "Riseboard" as a way for the players to get out of pits, into which they had stumbled.

With a new mesh in place to make it more obvious on how to use the Riseboard, I decided to implement this new mechanic with the level design now accommodating for it. This should allow for new and interesting ways for the players to traverse the level, as well as a feeling of overcoming a tough obstacle by physically rising up to the main part of the level, making everything feel more interconnected and realistic.