Time for the first Dev Log of my new project. I've given it the working title Periodic, and if there are no copyright issues I think I'm going to keep it. Doing Dev Logs is one of those things that gets easier the more I do, so if the first couple of these aren't great, they'll get better. I promise.
Starting off, I'm using Unity 2020.1.0a14 to build this project and have already learned a handful of things since beginning the project. The first big one I can think of is how much of a time sink setting up tile maps are for a project like this. I think I spent a good couple of days working on getting the tile maps cleaned up to be used in this project.
A huge shoutout to Will @ Untied Games as well. I purchased a huge bundle of the assets he made and am using them in this game. If you get the chance, I highly recommend checking out his store and his YouTube channel where he does Speed Spriting.
Next, I'm using a couple different packages that aren't core to Unity off the bat. The first one is the Unity2D Extras Pack, Cinemachine, and the new Input System.
I picked up the 2D Extras Pack for the ability to make animated tiles and save myself some time. I know there are a lot of things that this pack gives me, but I haven't spent the time to look into it yet.
The Input system is something I've played with before, but I want to be able to use this to the best of its ability. I'll probably do a tutorial on it down the road once I get a better grasp on how to use it. So far it's made working with movement a piece of cake.
Lastly, I'm using Cinemachine. This is my first time using this plugin, and I have to say I'm really impressed. Not having to worry about writing code for the camera to follow the player, scale up to room size, then back down to the player has been amazing. While doing this, I also found a tutorial on how to change rooms using colliders. I'm reworking how the code and colliders function to make using these a lot easier, but so far it's been a little more difficult than originally planned.
Next one of these will be out soon, and when I'm ready for testers I'll probably put early builds on my website or give out keys so people can see and play the progress!
-TJ
