Another Section
The new big task for me this week was to get another area of the level built. My original plan was to make a section based around the new moving gears that Connor created. Unfortunately, there was a bit of miscommunication between us, and the gears he built functioned differently than I intended, so my plans had to change. In the end, I decided to build the section around the further use of pushable blocks and electrical stations. Ultimately, I think this design is actually better for the level in general. I feel like we've gotten to the point of planning for too many systems in the level, and with this new design, it feels more narrowed down and able to teach the player about the systems better.
Let There Be Sound!
Something that I felt I'd overlooked for a while was implementing sound into the game, so along with the level design, I wanted to get to work on that. I found some pretty good sounds for collecting currency, using the coin slot, and just some placeholder background music. Going forward, I wanna find some more sounds for changing coins, moving the coils in the vending machine, and snack falling off the coils, but I think I'm off to a good start.
QA Feedback
This was the first time in one sprint where we went to QA twice. The first time we went was mainly about testing the new area, along with seeing how well players get feedback from the game. The results showed that this new section was usually the hardest for the player, which gives the game a better difficulty curve than it previously had. The new audio feedback showed to test very well at the same time, but testers do still want more visual feedback.
The second testing session was mainly about testing our new UI that Julia and Connor put together. Overall, the feedback on the UI was mostly positive, with the only point of improvement being to implement Xbox controls to match some of the visuals. At both QA sessions, the final thoughts on the game still proved to be a bit mixed, so one thing I want to work towards is getting those numbers up, and I know a lot of that is going to be my responsibility.
Next Sprint
There's only a few weeks left before the midmortem presentation, and if we want to present, there are some things that need to get done. This sprint in particular, we're looking at doing some major bug fixes that will hopefully improve gameplay. This is mainly going to be on Connor for this sprint, but we also want to make some changes to the level design, which will be my responsibility. As for art, we've asked Julia to focus on some more assets that we don't quite have yet, and will hopefully make the game look more whimsical than it has.