Suzy Cube Update: September 15, 2017

#SuzyCube #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity 

This week was the project handoff to Noodlecake. Going forward, the project will be hosted on their Git repository. I feel like a parent handing a babysitter their kid for the first time! Other than that, I got to work decorating some of the game's more solid levels and working on more translations.

Working Remotely

So, I'm one step closer to working, hand in hand, with the good folks at Noodlecake. They downloaded the Suzy project from my SVN repository and uploaded it to their Git one. I was then able to download the project from Git and run the game locally. This means we should both be all set to start contributing to the project each from our ends. Yay!

Pen is Mightier

While I was able to do some work on the game directly at the beginning of the week, once Noodlecake were ready to grab the project and set it up in Git I really didn't want to continue making changes. I didn't want to have to deal with having to merge changes back into their clean new project. So I filled my time in other ways.

I filled in the missing lines in the game's French translation and had some back and forths with a friend who's been helping with a german translation.

Sprichst du deutsch?

I also took the time to write a couple pieces for my blog. One is an explanation of an analogy I call "The Pyramid of Polish". It's about the pitfalls of overly obsessing over details your audience will never notice. The other is my latest entry in my ongoing Lessons from Suzy Cube series on the design of Level 1-1 and how it differs from that of the game's other levels.

I Wanna Feel Purdy

And, finally, as mentioned above. I did get some decoration and level improvements done early in the week.

New level, new problems...

I started getting feedback on the newly redesigned Level 3-2. I made some changes based on this which will hopefully make the level less frustrating and harder to get lost in.

Level 5-2, a snowy level in which Suzy is chased by a giant snowball the whole time, includes a section where she must run over a set of platforms which only appear when she gets close.

Just follow the coins

I had some testers get crushed by the incoming avalanche because they were too timid approaching this challenge. Originally I had placed a single coin on each platform as a guide. Clearly this was insufficient. I ended up adding an additional coin between each platform to make a more obvious trail to follow. This will, hopefully, help guide players without them having to be quite so keen eyed. Remember, if your players are already sweating from being chased by a giant snowball of death, maybe don't expect them to notice subtle clues.

Just keep running, Suzy!

As for decoration, I was able to give four levels a good ol' spit shine before having to lock down changes to the project for the hand off. One you can see up top and the others you can see below.

Hot stuff!

This level rocks!

And this one is quite cool...

Well, that's it for this week's update. I'm off to see if I remember how to use Git! See you all next week!