Riptide Override: Sprint 4

 Sprint 4 was rather interesting. We had a few days to work on the project before our Spring break happened. Letting the group relax and take a break was great, but it also created a bit of a dip in our workflow. When we finally got back a week later, it took all of a rather significant amount of time to get back into a efficient workflow. That being said, we actually completed the most points ever this sprint, and I set a new personal record for the amount of points I completed.

The first thing I did was wrap up some issues that became apparent at the end of Sprint 3. This was actually regarding combining the new background with the new puzzle levels:



After a week into this sprint, we were fortunate to have a class playtest, this helped point out some of the flaws in our game, and we were able to subsequently improve upon them. The largest complaint was regarding the player feeling "too heavy". I edited the values for the player to make the downward pull of gravity faster, but not stronger, and almost doubled the jump force to let the player rise at a faster speed. This lets the player feel more agile, and have more control.

Another issue I fixed while working on that, was a glitch that caused the player to shake and vibrate anytime upward or downward force hit their max speed. By redoing the movement system to be more efficient, I was able to completely resolve this issue. 

I also hopefully the last edit to the Coral Level, which rolled over to Sprint 4. This was adding in rotating fish in the background. All three of these changes and fixes can be seen in the gif below.



The main work I started on for this Sprint was Level 3. This was a Ice themed level, and I believe I was able to complete roughly 50% during the sprint.

The first thing as always I started on was the blockout.



The level lasts exactly 72 seconds. Something to note for this level is a increase in difficulty. In Level 1, 2, and 4 the player speed is set to a value of "4", while on this level, it has been set to "5". This gives the player less time to react. I then worked on created the backdrop and the 3D terrain features:


This greatly helps give a feeling of depth to the level, which is very important as the player is locked the Z axis. Furthermore to help the illusion of depth, I implemented fog and dynamic lighting. Due to how fog is based on distance, I can not provide a screenshot of the entire level with it, only a zoomed in portion.



Next I started working on background prop objects to help fill in the level. Not only does this help with depth, as they are all placed on different Z levels, but it also helps reinforce the theme of the level, which is Ice/Arctic. The first 2 props were variations of each other. The Ice Crystal and the Ice Flower. One is point and slender, and the other is short and wide, over 40 of these are currently present in the level.



These include different materials with varying transparency and diffusion levels. To be able to reflect and refract the dynamic lighting in different ways. I then worked on the next prop, which I called "snow rocks".



These were scattered anywhere where the terrain was flat, to help give it texture. Speaking of texture, besides the props, all materials in the level were given and matte like material with a high metallic value. This was to help it resemble real world Ice.

Below is a short excerpt of the level. I played it in developer mode which gives us a boost ability to double the player speed, don't worry, the player does not normally move this fast.


Lastly I created the burndown chart as usual, which indicated that we are most likely going to finish all our points/cards at the end of Sprint 6. Which is great, because I want Sprint 7 (our final sprint) to be spent entirely on fixing and improving existing content, with no new content being added to the game.







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