Devlog 8

As our game reaches the beta milestone, we have a new round of iterations to go with it.

Game Design

We've made some alterations to our initial tutorial.  A big issue with the previous version is that the visuals communicating the flapping rhythm needed to fly were misleading, with the gold rings enclosing around the bars giving the impression that the player needed to be very precise with how they timed their flaps. We've now altered it to be a lot more straightforward by displaying the window of time the player needs to flap within and an arrow indicating where they are relative to it.

Before:

After:

We've also added another button in the pause and main menu: "Controls", which lets you easily access an overview of the game's controls on whatever device you're using.

Art + Level Design

We've fully implemented the magic circle into the game to act as a ceiling.  It's completely invisible normally, but when the player gets high enough, it'll start gradually fading into view as they get closer to it.  We've swapped to using a 2D image instead of a 3D model, as the latter wasn't giving us a look we were happy with.

Unfortunately, due to time and resource constraints, we've had to scrap our plan to replace the blocky, cubic environments with more natural land masses.

Animation

A new idle animation has been added to D, the bat controlled by the player. He'll now occasionally slightly bob up and down to emulate the motions of breathing.  His wings will now also curve slightly when flapping. Both of these will help make D feel more alive during the game.

Sound Design

We've implemented our new collision audio system into the game. Now, when D collides with the environment (which will be happening a lot), he'll make various squeaks and noises. Different sounds will play depending on what he bumps into, and each interaction has its own unique set of sounds, which are randomly selected. Much like the new animations, this will make D feel more expressive.

Next Steps

In addition to feedback from industry professionals, our beta build is also due for another round of testing. With only a few short weeks remaining, significant changes to our game isn't feasible at this point. All we can do is polish and make smaller tweaks, especially as we're also going to be busy gearing up for our final presentation, Itch.io page, and trailer in early August.