Week 9 - Major developments in preparation for playtesting - 1
There was a lot to be completed this week in preparation for the playtesting session taking place on Monday the 27th of March 2017. Below is an overview of tasks completed:
I created all the 3D assets for the game using Blender and I designed the entire map with these - adding animations to certain objects using C# scripts.
I added box colliders to each 3D model and adapted the unwalkable areas on the Navmesh
I created a new enemy
Using Unity’s CrossPlatform input tool, I created the UI for mobile controls and adapted my player movement script to use this.
I attached a script to the animal prefab which allowed me to store unique variable values to each enemy
I improved the player movement controls – the players character now gradually accelerates and has a limited turn speed
Various UI elements such as a scoring system, player health bar as well as a start and end menu.
Further updated enemy flocking movement
Creating the 3D assets
To create a playable version of the game I had to design the 3D models. Using the knowledge gained from the animal models I had previously created, I designed several 3D assets for the game. I used the inbuilt Blender shape modifiers as well as the general shape tools to manipulate my models. The main modifiers I used within Blender were as follows:
Decimate: This reduced the number of faces of an object. It was the ideal modifier to create low poly effects on the model.
Displace: I used this modifier for larger objects such as the volcano and water models. It created jaggered edges on smooth models to give it more of a visual texture. This worked well when coupled with the decimate modifier described above.
Subdivision Surface: I used this modifier to add more faces to the object. This was useful for models which needed to be scaled larger and those which were created from an object with only few faces such as a cube.
Solidify: I had to hollow out areas of some models which left it without a solid face at parts. The solidify modifier replaced this hollowed out area with a face to complete the shape.
I used the bisect tool to shave sides off an object. I used this to create the walls, rocks and trees from a basic 3D object such as a cube.
I initially animated the meshes of some models within blender, however these animations did not work when importing into Unity. I researched this issue and realised that imported mesh animations were incompatible within Unity. To resolve this, I re-created the animations within a C# script in Unity.
Basic water movement script:
I imported all created 3D models and designed the map using these, ensuring that scenery was interesting without the risk of overcrowding the player. I then added a box collider which would prevent the player from walking through the models and defined each as unwalkable to the Navmesh used by the enemy.
Below are the models which I created and the implantation within the scene:
For the following week, I will continue the development in preparation for play testing.
