The last things I had to do in session were implementing the assets ready for textures to be added.

Menu Art Changes / UI changes

I need to implement the final screen with the art and the text ‘to be continued’ due to having to cut majority of the final level because of time constraints

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New tooltip text and position in game.

The red fox tooltip might move depending on the decision to move where the red fox unlocks.

Next I need to start implementing the art into the story, fix the story and the animations

This week I annotated the level design screenshots for tech.

This was so they understood where the mechanics needed to be implemented in the level design and I could focus on working on implementing / fixing the UI.

Streets –

 Sewers –

Forest –

This week out of session I wrote a mock story for the intro:

The idea for the fox was loosely based around Japanese folklore stating that foxes/kitsunes were able to transform into humans.

For this game the foxes would consume other foxes and doing so would give them special abilities, once consumed they would have to transform into that fox to use those abilities but it was very rare that the tribe ever consumed other foxes.

This is a mock version and might change later on either to be shorted or sound better.

‘Deep within the forest lies a long forgotten tribe. Once worshiped by the people of the land, they thrived, freely exploring the world around them. Yet there were those that weren’t accepting of the tribe. They feared them, abominations they would scream. Soon the tribe became hunted driven back to the forest, forced to hide themselves from the world.

Throughout the years the tribe has managed to stay hidden, only venturing outside the borders when necessary. However one young fox wanted nothing more  than to explore the world beyond the borders despite all the rules against it. This young fox was called Kitchie. Kitchie was sure that the tribe was no longer in any danger and set out to show the elders this was true. What Kitchie didn’t know was the trials that he would face so in order to survive the journey Kitchie used his powers to consume a red fox making him stronger. Deep within the shadows however was a witness, a human who had seen everything. It wasn’t long after this that Kitchie was hunted and captured.’ 

I then made a moodboard of the themes involved in the intro story :

If we have the intro involve silhouettes for each of the main points of the story and backgrounds with text. Still having the option to skip the intro, considering having voice acting also.

This week in session I started to look at changing up the camera angle, this change was suggested to us as it was quite difficult for the character to see the enemies. Along with the camera change I will start looking at audio cues for when the enemies are approaching as we have the flash light as the visual cue.

Camera Idea :

This idea does mean we see more of the terrain so will need to consider time restraints on making extra assets.

We also made the decision that when the red fox can push/pull an object it will be a purple/red glow and when the arctic fox can hide in a spot it will glow blue.

I will be making these changes to the UI in the next development session after I have finished working on the intro for the game out of session.

This week out of session I worked on completing the block out for the forest.

While working on this design I had to think about the ways we would display the water on the level 

I liked the fish tank idea the best compared to the first image this is how the water will look when the character is on the stepping stones, the first water part at the start of the level will be changed to a waterfall instead of the fish tank idea.

In session this week I plan to start writing a new story for the intro and working on minor fixes for the progress build.

This week in session i started work on the block out for the forest area.

As I found with the streets I found the same problems here, that the forest area would be extremely long. I cut some of the parts out for the first part of the area and changed up some of the game play so it wouldn’t be repetitive.

I will also need to make some changes to asset lists as I have changed ideas on the type of environment and will need some landscape modeled

Out of session this week the forest block out will be finished.

This week out of session I worked on finishing off the block out for the sewers.

There weren’t many changes with the design other than how the level ended.

After you turn the generator on it will turn lights on in the rooms, you will unlock the door to the previously flooded area and behind an object which the red fox has to pull is a hidden vent that when you jump down will start an event (currently being tested) where the camera will follow from behind the fennec fox as water starts flooding the pipe.

There will be UI in place to tell the character that this event is happening.

This week in session I will start the block out for the forest.

The start of the session this week was fixing the problems I was unable to fix out of session.

I changed the size of the jump for the arctic fox when hiding so it looked more natural. With this i had to move the assets forward so the fox was now hiding behind the object.

Old Hiding :

New hiding :

Its now a much shorted distance when hiding and you are actually hiding behind the objects now.

I also had to make the outside area in the tutorial level longer so the player is able to see the level more clearly they also have a safe area at the start and the end of the level.

Old:

New:

Unfortunately the tasks I had set my junior were incomplete once again, I had to make the decision for the sake of the team to give very little tasks to my junior, tasks that aren’t urgent meaning i will now be taking on all design tasks. However the team also made the decision that if the work load becomes too much for me to handle I will pass some small tasks onto the Junior Tech this will also only happen if they have completed their tasks.

I asked my junior last week in session to give me an updated version of the tool tip list for the tutorial area, this was handed to us half way through the session and was outdated therefore I had to make changes to the tool tip list. I set the implementation of the tooltip list to the junior tech.

Updated tooltip list, including new tooltips :

After all of these fixes were made I started working on the block out for the sewer area. Unlike the streets I have found little problems with design but have tried to shorten the length of the area. Lighting will make this level look similar to how the lighting works in the vents.

At the end of the session I realised we will need a way to show off which objects the red fox can push/pull, we had the idea of just a simple yellow/orange outline, this will be implemented next session.

Also in next weeks session I will talk to the tech team on how they feel about changing how some of the foxes work. The idea was suggested that the foxes should move at different speed and jump at different heights.

Red Fox – Moves the slowest and cannot jump due to his build

Arctic Fox – Moves the fastest, standard jump height

Fennec Fox – Standard move speed, increased jump height

If we decide to implement these ideas then I will need to look back over all level designs and test if there are places that the fennec fox will now be able to reach that they shouldn’t.

Out of session this week :

Finish off the sewer block out

Start block out for the forest

Game story out line