Alpha Update

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening viewers! My name is Jacob Tyner and I'm part of our level and environment design section.  We've got some exciting things lined up for you this week as we barrel headlong into our alpha build week much like you will be doing to some very innocent walls in the near future. This week we've been hard at work getting our code implemented and finalized as we make sure the gameplay loop works as intended. For those of you who are curious here's a short list of some of the features our programmers have been working their magic on this week thus far.

Art, Programming, and Character Updates

-The player can now dash forward. Dashing allows the player to break through breakable walls and doors.
-The player is now able to crouch as well to access tight spots.
-Puzzles for Levels 2 and 3 have been made and are being implemented. 
-The player is now able to interact with NPCs, some of which aren't very friendly!

As we finalize this build we hope that you enjoy the movement systems we've made and use them to enjoy our environments! Speaking of which let's move on to that. These past few weeks the art team has been working on whiteboxing all three of our levels and then going back through to polish with placeholder assets. Here's a quick look at some of the environments we have lined up for you!

Level and Environment work by Jacob Tyner and Ian Lee

All three levels will have challenges for you to overcome and solve to be able to get to the next level. Some of the puzzles you can expect are included in the following in no particular order.
-Jumping puzzles
-Simon Says
-Choose the right path
-Matching Symbols

But what good is a nice environment or level without life to populate it? We have also been working towards getting a player model done that will work for both the NPCs and you the player! Here's a WIP view of them now.

Character work by Samantha Burke

Feedback and Game Updates
 Last week we had fellow teams playtest what we had thus far and we heard back several things but the overwhelming majority said our player was just too slow. So we increased the player's movement and made sure that the dash felt snappy and fast so that the player didn't feel bogged down since one of the main things we wanted to be sure of while making this game was that the movement was engaging and rewarding for players that understood it better

 Another piece we heard back was that our player was jumping too high. As we investigated, we found that the camera the player was attached to and that the player viewed the game through was too high compared to the player. We not only backed down the height of the jump but also brought the camera back in line with the character's eye height to give a more accurate representation of the scale of the space you're in. 

As we get closer and closer to the release of the game we hope that what you see so far interests you and piques your curiosity! Make sure to ask any questions or leave any feedback you might have for us thus far as every little bit helps and our goal is ultimately, to make sure you as a player enjoy the game. That's all for now! We hope you've enjoyed this sneak peek into what we've been preparing for you all!