#suzycube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity
I was, unfortunately, plagued with continuing internet troubles this week. We’ve now been eight days without connectivity and I’ve resorted to posting this through a neighbour’s WiFi.
As far as Suzy work is concerned, though, this week was productive if unexpectedly so.
Maybe next week?
I was originally planning to start work on Level 4-1, a forest themed level revolving around various uses of the Ground Pound power-up. I knew one of the elements I wanted to include in the level were these big tough enemies you can only kill by pushing off platforms so I started my work there. What you see at the top of the post is the fully textured and rigged model for that new enemy I call the Skull Bully. Yep, they will basically work like the Bullies in Mario 64/3D World. The thing is, this is as far as I got on these guys before distracting myself with other things.
Up and Over
One such thing, the latest, in fact, was this new hazard. It was so quick to model and implement that I just went ahead and did it. It even reuses the texture for the bombs. It’s a bumper shaped hazard that periodically emits a shockwave.
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| Next time... Jump |
The shockwave has been implemented for a while, currently only in use in boss fights, but I saw an opportunity for an easy way of incorporating them into other levels via this new hazard.
One Hundred Metre Dash
The other big thing I did this week was born mostly out of a flight of fancy. I’ve been saying for months that if I were to add a dash/sprint mechanism to Suzy it would have to be handled automatically, i.e. no extra button. I found myself puzzling out how to do this and have it play nice with the Character Motor script. By the next day I kind of said “Screw it!” and spent the next few days implementing and animating this new behaviour.
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| Should I be painting her blue and giving her red sneakers? |
The way it works is simple. If Suzy maintains top speed for X seconds (currently 2) she will switch to a faster sprint until she drops her speed again, which can happen if she stops or tries to turn too quickly. While sprinting, Suzy runs faster, obviously, jumps higher (with a somersault!) and her handling gets a little slipperier. This change could, potentially, have a profound effect on certain levels so it will require a lot of careful testing in order to determine if it’s worth keeping or not. Oh, and I set it up so Suzy auto-sprints while under the influence of the invincibility power up, of course!
Odds and Ends
I also poked around in a lot of places, fixing little issues or tweaking levels to accommodate sprinting. Funny how a lack of internet connectivity has done nothing good for my anxiety but seems to have done wonders for my productivity!
I don’t know what to promise for next week as I really should get the Skull Bully animated and implemented along with starting work on Level 4-1, but I’ve taken a bunch of notes on expansions to the camera system that I’m also itching to dive into… Is it procrastination if your distraction is also work? Well, check back in to find out what I, ultimately, decide to do!
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