[Enemies] Simple Parkour DevLog

DevLog #4: Introducing Enemies… Sort Of.

Welcome to DevLog #4, this weeks topic was enemies, and this just ramped up the danger levels significantly. Now before you think I have added crazy advanced AI powers robots that hunt you down while you do parkour, take a step back, these enemies come in the much more humble for of...

Spikes.

Yes. Spikes. Deadly. And completely stationary. 

This was a pivotal moment for my parkour game as this advancement allowed a lot more complex and enjoyable challenges. And hand in hand with the spikes (death), checkpoints were added to respawn at so you don't lose your progress.

Now then, lets jump into it.

Lets start with the bugs.

The only bug I experienced this week was fact that for some reason my jump would reset on the side of these little ledges, the confusing thing was that it wouldn't reset if the wall was high enough (sadly I do not have a gif for that).

This bug was a PAIN to squash. I had to fully rewrite the ray cast ground detection code and even after I fixed I still don't know what I did or why it works. But if it works why change it, right?

New Additions This Week:

This week we had some HUGE changes.

Mainly we had the addition of spikes and  checkpoints, now core features of the game.

The entire map, and how you complete it has been revamped. It used to be one big room with a start and a finish, no checkpoints, no nothing, you couldn't die but you could get set back in progress by falling down a gap and having to start again. This time, with the checkpoints and death being added, you progress by going from checkpoint to checkpoint through the map and you get set back by dying to the spikes.

We also had some QoL features added like the player changing colour depending on how many jumps remain.

Wall jumps is another MAJOR adition.

Feedback From Testing:

Positive:

The jump is nice.

The particles are cool.

Possible Improvements:

Maybe make the death particles go in front of the level blocking.

The movement abilities like double jump and dash aren't obvious you have them. [Author Note: this is intended to some extent, each section introduces a new movement mechanic and you don't need that mechanic before reaching that section. This means when you play you second round through you get to use what you learnt to complete it faster, but you don't actually need it.]

Maybe have a softer intro, some parts are really hard the first time round. [Author Note: again I am little iffy, because after you play it once it becomes quite easy to complete, I am afraid of making the game far too easy. But also, that fact that only the intro would need to be softer does make it a possibility!]

"I broke the jump, maybe only because the game was confused I had two controllers plugged in." [Author Note: yes I have seen the jump been broken before, its very rare and I don't know why, its just for some reason the ground detection will stop working. It has never happened to me though which makes it even harder to try fix.]

"Not being able to reset my jumps if I am standing on top of wall jump material fells 'off'" [Author Note: I totally get that, it feels a little strange to me too, but I was going for a unique feel and mechanic to the game, and in the end I really liked how I could make extra puzzles with this mechanic.]

The colour scheme for the player "jumps left" indicator is confusing because 2 = orange, 1 = yellow, and 0 = red, there is no order or pattern to it. [Author Note: I totally agree XD, this will be changed next update.]

Wanted Additions:

An easy way to compete with other players. [Author Note: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

Feedback Implemented:

I only had 2 suggestions of thing to add to my game, and I did it. 

The ability to look down. You can press "S" on your keyboard to move the camera bellow you. [Author Note: just realised this doesn't have controller support]

The other thing was the ability to wall jump and YES this is added and it is a core feature!!!

What's Next?:

I shall say nothing, but ill give you a snippet.

References:

None.