Riptide Override: Sprint 6

 This is our last full sprint for the project, with Sprint 7 having less time then the others. Because of this, it was the last sprint to really push out and big features.

The majority of my time on this sprint was spent on the Boss Level. What was particularly time consuming was creating the model for the boss itself. Here's a wireframe of the current model.

For our workflow, and I've mentioned this in previous sprint reports, my goal is to stay completely in Unity. That means avoiding things like Maya or Painter; the idea was that this would greatly speed up our workflow if we stuck to a singular environment and application, as well and resolve potential issues that could come up from importing/exporting between programs. As well as greatly decreasing time spent, as these programs are more complex.

This methodology has worked very well up until this point. The boss is by far the most complex model in the game, yet as always, it was created using overlays of basic geometrical shapes: cubes and cylinders. This greatly limits the design capabilities, as every building block has the constraint of at least having bilateral symmetry. Its also just not verify efficient for something of its size and detail. After finally completing the tedious model, it became clear that If I had started the model in Maya; it would of been faster, cleaner, as well as being more detailed. What I learned is sometimes its actually better to break rules you have given yourself, instead of following them regardless of the presented task.

Here's how the mostly completed models look:

Above is also side by side comparison with and without custom lighting and fog. You can see how it really brings the scene together and makes it look far more alive. Speaking of alive, I tried to animate as many things as I could in the scene. Some elements like the lava lake rise up and down, but its mostly the boss which has moving features. What I took great care in was the eyes

This was very fun, as I don't know how to animate. I reused the Prop Hover and Spin scripts that I had created for pick ups, and attached them to multiple large spheres. The vertical movement causes the different sizes to clip in and out of each other; and after setting the right speeds and parameters, it actually looks pretty decent. For the pupil's material, I actually used the png icon for the game, this way it actually looks like the boss is starring at the player in the level.

I also worked on creating some more props, nothing crazy, just small things to help flesh out the level:

I started and completed the models for the two types of projectiles the boss would fire. He fires the "bad" ones that hurts the player, and the "good" ones the player can deflect back at the boss to do damage. These also had some pretty fun particle and emissive work, and I think the player will really enjoying dealing with them.

I mixed and edited audio files this sprint as well, and was able to create music for both Level 1 and Level 3, Coral and Arctic respectfully. I think the tones and the pace not only make the levels more lively, but also fit the feel of the theme and level of pressure the player is meant to feel.

Here's how the mostly complete models and animations for the boss level look:

I plan on heavily editing the mandibles next sprint, as well as changing the tip of the tail, and the color palate for the boss. After that, the only thing that needs to be added is the actual projectile firing mechanic, which is being worked on during Sprint 6 by another group member.

Another thing I was actually pretty stoked about was how the Burndown Chart turned out. It embarrassingly took almost a hour, but I was finally able to add the third line (red) that shows how the project velocity would look like under perfect conditions (roughly 29.5 points per sprint).

We are projected to run of cards a little before sprint 7, which is fine, as it is a shorter sprint, and also gives us time for any unforeseen emergencies or blocks that could appear last second. This wraps up my Sprint 6 Report, and I'm happy to say we should be on track to finish and publish the game at a quality level.