Welcome back to this weeks Periodic Dev Log! There have been some small improvements made this week, and I'm really happy to show them off so let's get started! Here's the TL:DR if you don't want to read the full post.
TL:DR - Updated the GUI for the main menu, level select, and the in-game screen, updated Trello with what needs to happen, and tried to fill in some of the holes for the Game Design Document (GDD).
Below is the full story:
Update - While this hasn't been a big update, I feel like with the changes I've made this update makes the game look much further along than what it did before. So what exactly did I do? Well first thing I did was purchased another asset pack from Untied Games (thanks Will!) and got to work.
I spent about a day playing with how using 9-slice sprites work in Unity on the main menu, and getting buttons to display properly. Once I got that sorted out, I added in a border for the entire main menu, linked the buttons, and made sure anything using text was using TextMeshPro (a Unity package for better text). I still need to work on a proper logo for the game, especially now that the mock-up is really starting to look out of place now too.
After that, I moved on to the level select screen. This part took quite a bit longer than I was originally hoping, but the end result is something I'm really happy with right now. I still need to piece together more of how things are going to work on the player side of things in this menu though. The biggest thing here is going to be the player's load out that will allow you to customize what you have on you before you play.
My favorite part about how the level select screen functions is the actual level selection. I broke the levels up into chapters where you can see all of the levels in a single area. Each one of the levels has a difficulty slider and and info button that will (eventually) let you change the difficulty of the level, as well as give you a detailed readout on what the level is, and how it relates to the story.
Moving on, I don't think I mentioned this, but I'm using Trello to keep track of everything that needs to be done in the game. I have been using Trello since back in my Apotheosis days working on Raido, and eventually used it for finishing up my Bachelors degree, so I can't even begin to say how useful it is for keeping track of things. This week however, I spent some time going through and cleaning things up so I don't get *too* lost in what I'm trying to do.
Lastly, I spent quite a bit of time working on the Game Design Document (GDD) trying to get more things fleshed out so I don't have to try and think of how things work on the fly. It's something I probably should have spent more time on earlier, but I was trying to make progress and make it further in development on a solo project than I have before. The GDD has everything from basic mechanics, to the entire story and how things take place. All of this got touched up and updated for easier management.
What's Next - I'd like to preface this part with something I've learned by doing these Dev Logs: this section has been a great way to focus in on a plan and pre-commit before starting for the week, and if I get stuck I check back here.
As for what's actually next, I'm planning on finishing retouching the level layout of the Library level (overshot in hoping to get that one done a little bit), getting a better grasp on the user interface for the in-game level, and lastly getting some back-end things done for managing data. If I have time, I'd also like to work on making a mockup of the game's logo to start using!
That should do it for this Dev Log. Catch ya next week!
-TJ
