Second Level Dev Update

Development Updates this week

Engineering

1. Developed gravity detection for the raymarch collider

In my previous raymarch collider script, I was unable to implement a gravity to the player without directly dragging the player down or making the player fall infinitely. This week I started to seek new ways of applying transform translation while getting hit, the experiment started first as the player stuck into the terrain raymarch object and was constantly hit every frame while the game performance drops dramatically. After trying out a lot of different vectors to apply up/down forces to hold the player in equilibrium, the player can now move smoothly on flat terrain and detect gravity when terrain is not in place.

2. Implemented object pooling system for objects in the scene

While working on the NPC(animals) for my second level, I realized implementing an object pooling system would be performance efficient since the animals are constantly being instantiated and destroyed based on player controls and game settings. I used a simple queue based pool to activate animal objects when the game needs them and deactivate them when it’s not needed.

Level 2 Development

1. Iterations

- Implemented terrain variation based on W axis

- Added a storyline event system for the events with NPC(animals) in the level

- Created semi cutscene when starting the level to show player where is the key

- Implemented an animal animation controller to randomize animation(walking/running/eating) and movement locations

2. Design

Level 2 focuses on daytime/nighttime shifts and puzzle solving elements based on this time variation. Based on this concept, I added some events that only happen during nighttime or daytime to show the difference in time.

- Daytime: sunlight, clouds, deers

- Nighttime: star field, moon, bear

After adding two animals into the level, I want to implement some relationship/interaction between them to create some interesting puzzles. I added a predator prey relationship between the deer and the bear, and utilized their interaction to implement the puzzle for finding the key.

Objectives for next week

1. Level 3 Development