DOSE TECH UPDATES
- Lawrence Appenzeller
- May 15, 2016
- 2 min read
Wondering what we have been doing tech wise? You're in the right place!
In this post we will briefly cover our first play test, AI, Dialogue Actor, Puzzle Assets, Bug fixes, and technical art.
Our first play test went very well! The game was in a very buggy state, coming straight out of re-grayboxing. Thanks to some lovely attendees of SwarmCon, we got great feedback, and have fixed most all the issues. The main issues were:
Dialogue Actor Controls were buggy and created problems.
Lack of audio and voice cues left players lost on objectives.
Very direct instructions and prompts are needed as to not get lost in the hospital.
More prompts to use pills is needed as a reminder. Additionally, some puzzles should be a little harder to prompt usage.
Setting up invisible walls and blockades in the forest to direct players more.
Statue AI in the Tower level was bugged and threw players off the map on occasion.
A hidden bug in the bell puzzle that teleports players to the next level.
So far, we have fixed all of these issues in the final game file, or have the assets to do so and need to implement them.
Thanks to our great outsourced programmer, the Dialogue Actor is now fixed to utilize the initially intended controls using the number keys to choose your answer and the E key to continue to the next part of the conversation. Currently, we have one more issue that we would like to change, as of right now the player has to step out of the trigger box volume before they can talk to an NPC for a second time.
Our AI seemed appropriately rigorous in the play test. Some players became frustrated, but without the audio prompts to take the pills, the players didn't think to use them to hinder the AI. We project once the prompts are in, with a few tweaks to the teleport system, the AI will be challenging, but not obnoxiously so.
Our puzzles have not changed much since the initial conception of Dose. Most are awaiting art and audio updated to function as intended, however they are all complete on the tech side.
Our technical art is in a good place with updated particles, and ready for a few more passes at the AI particles and environment particles. The redone assets for the hospital environment have been implemented in engine as well, however, the lighting is still in need of an update in order to properly convey the sense of atmosphere in both the hospital and forest levels.
On Wednesday we are having a second play test at the Savannah College of Art and Design, using the students there as game testers. Getting feedback from more players will help us in terms of prioritizing what sort of changes we need to make in order to make it more enjoyable for potential players.
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