And we are at the end of the month! Bit of a lighter month for game dev updates this month due to vacation time and a bit of a heavier fulltime work schedule. But I did find some time to dig into the out of date ledge hang system! Got a lot of great tweaks implemented that I'm pretty dang happy with :3! At this point now, the main things that are missing are mainly animations that will be needed for some of the movement. So expect some more of these in the future as I chip away at some of them while focusing on other tasks!
Ledge Hang animation updates: It was about time I returned to a lot of the animations for the ledge hang! Got a good chunk of them cleaned up and working a bit better overall. Still got a few stragglers that need a bit of work, so expect a few more of these to filter in over the next month when I can find some more time to work on them! Gameplay wise I also made the decision to cut out jumping up on a wall for a ledge hang. In general I found that it had such a small window to actually implement it, and it was having some major issues overall with the other systems. Cutting it out so that the player can only drop down into a ledge hang also allows me to focus on a more consistent layout and metrics for player movement in general going forward!
Ledge Hang Drop Catch: Hooray Bod can finally save himself from falling! Code has now been implemented that allows the player to perform a precision fall catch when dropping from a ledge in the game. So far I like how it works so far although I may need to tweak it a bit in the future if I feel it has too small of a window to catch a ledge.
Ledge Hang Corner Turn: Bod can also turn corners now while doing a ledge hang! This has also been a massive system I've wanted to implement for the ledge hang system. Being able to turn a corner while performing a ledge hang is something that seems small, but it gives the player so much more flexibility when approaching a sneaking challenge. Likewise it will give me more options for navigational challenges in the game.
Ledge Camera System: Finally I got a camera zoom in working! This is going to be utilized whenever Bod does a ledge hang in the game. It will initially zoom in to either a 3/4 view or top down view depending on the angle before following Bod into the ledge hang. This will help the player get a better look at the enemies or patrol paths whenever they are doing a ledge hang.
Subway Study update: Been making some steady progress on the vertical slice study also! Really need to get some more hours in this guy this month and see if I can't get it a bit closer to completion. It's pretty much at the point where I just need to wrap up a few textures before really cleaning every thing up!
Epoxy Satchel Textures: Got a bit of time to go all the way to completion on a the epoxy satchel textures! Pretty dang happy with the final result on it :3!! Need to give it a bit of testing in engine now to see how it looks in game from a distance (I also really want to add a little blinking light to it haha!
Pixel Bloom Post Processing: Got some help from a game dev buddy on utilizing a bit of a PS2 style bloom post process material in the game! Will need to play around with it a bit, but it adds a nice bit of old school bloom to a lot of lit objects in the game. Really love how it looks!
Now on to July! For next month I'll be revisiting the equipment/item system a bit to start implementing some of the other tools I've been wanting to implement into the game. Likewise I'll be working on another one of the major gadgets Bod will be building in the game, the "Heat Spike" :3c!!