During the fourth sprint I got to work on building the tutorial level and coding the menus, while our programmer finished off the remaining features and our level designer got to work on the second level. The major features of the game really came together during this sprint, and all that we need for the game to be ready will be development of the later levels. Some smaller additions I made were the models for the checkpoint flags, snow shoes, and air rings, as well as adding a controls screen.
The pause menu gave me some trouble. Coding it in didn’t take too long, but for some reason the buttons wouldn’t respond to the mouse, and I couldn’t figure out why. I spent a lot of time looking up solutions and couldn’t find anything, and after systematically combing through the scene found that it had something to do with the camera. Eventually I discovered that there was a conflict with another script that disabled the mouse input, so after making the pause menu re-enable it, everything was good to go. Having a working pause menu and being able to easily navigate between the scenes and main menu felt like we had a real working game.
For the rest of the sprint I worked on the tutorial level. I built the whole thing from the ground up, completing the annotated map, blockout, and full working version of the level. Our programmer added in some code using surface normals to get the movement working on any surface, so I wanted to try something different for the tutorial level. Since we used ProBuilder in CAGD 270 to make levels, I thought it’d be worth experimenting with using it for this project. After testing it out with our movement system, ProBuilder worked great, and let me make much more intricate levels with curves and ramps that fit our game perfectly.
After testing the level out myself, I made a few changes from the annotated map. Mainly, I removed the alternate routes in the opening area, since I think they would be too confusing for new players. I want it to be clear where to go next, and the current more linear design better shows the player what their goal is: gliding to the platform that’ll let them access the next section. This ensures that players learn to skate and glide before they continue. I added a few extra ramps, but they all direct the player to the goal. One of the extra ramps subtly pushes the players towards success, since if they skate up it to get the acorn, they’ll come down with extra speed that makes the first gliding section easier.
After the first checkpoint, there’s a long ramp and jump to prepare players for more of what the main levels are like, with long speedy down-ramps. This big jump can’t be completed by gliding right away, so players have to learn to start gliding at the apex of their jump. During the playtest we saw some players struggle at this section, but because there’s a checkpoint at the top, players were able to try until they got it without losing progress. I was happy that it successfully taught the players how to play the game.
The last trick I added was the first breakable wall. Because players completing the jump have a lot of speed, it’s likely to be hard for them to slow down. I added a breakable wall at the end of this section so that players will crash into it and learn that these walls can be broken. In the playtest, I saw a lot of the design elements work perfectly, and all players were able to complete the level while learning how to play.
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