Data Editor, Triggers, Finalizing Layout.

Additional Progress has been made on Project Tempest. Sticking to the schedule I created before Christmas, I'm on track for finalization of the level. As such I've taken the initiative of reducing the level size as it will be a long play through at its current state.

I've started to diverge completely from the sterile look of all the previous rooms, as such the narrative is expanding drastically as I thought the level was becoming stale to look at. Here the color palette will change showcasing the darker tones and showcasing the potential hazards that will appear throughout the level from here on out.


As the Starcraft 2 assets often feature subtle animations, I feel a small demonstration for the floor, grates and the VFX for the eggs would be fitting.




Egg Room






I've started to map out the standard areas that triggered events and scripts will be occurring, these are not visible to the player but will trigger when they step within the zone. I am however, running out of concepts for "fun" mechanics. The engine is becoming difficult to do the more complex designs I want to implement, and standard hold the point will get tedious for the player after a while.


Initial over view of the new room, still unset on player camera perspective, but this is easily changed to get what feels right.


The room will initially be barren in terms of a few enemies, but this room will serve as a stand and defend segment for several minutes, flooding with enemies. The option to add additional fun weapons for the player to overcome this event is still being decided.



Onto the data editing! AS i'm getting a bit to focused on the visuals of the game I need to iron out more mechanics and game play, initial movement controls are working to some degree but need a lot of fixing. As such I want to create new mechanics for the units that are already provided. In theory this is simple enough, but complex mechanics can require a lot of scripting:

  As demonstrated, the data and trigger editors are initially barren in terms of data. The trigger panel above is all user created (by myself) As i'm begging to implement events, scripts, sound and over all goals. Within the window I can control other features such as player input, camera controls and so on. The trigger window will become increasingly busy with events, variables and triggers, as such, the initial creations are very simple, - utilizing, If statements, Do actions etc. But later they will become more complex when creating features like boss battles and enemy units.


The data editor is where the initial time consuming component will also take place. This is pre set for all units, buildings, vfx, sound etc within the game, but they can all be adjusted in many ways to adhere to my needs when creating events, triggers and the like. To start I've simply adjusted some options for the main player character for when I create additional triggers later on the dev cycle. 

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