Graphics and Presentation – Devlog

Hi, this is the fourth devlog about my game “Escape from the Mansion”, formerly known as “Escape from the Count’s Mansion” for the fourth checkpoint in my project. This checkpoint is about polishing and implementing the graphics or finalizing the look of the game as well as touching up on feedback from last week.  

The first change I made was adding a “key” object to the level, that can spawn anywhere within the bounds of the level and in areas where the player can reach it.  Collecting the key is meant to unlock the door to the next level, which I’ll talk about in the next section.  The key sprite is sourced from Karsiori on itch.io.  And the key in the gameplay is pictured below: 

To ensure the key did not spawn in an unreachable area for the player, I set up a separate boundary object as well as exclusion zones with colliders so that the key would spawn in a playable area.  

I also added an animated door which was part of the tileset previously imported and highlighted in a previous devlog. I configured the door to open if the player has collected the key and remain closed if the key has not been collected. While the door is meant to lead to the next level of the game, currently the next level has not been implemented hence the door simply opens with no actual game action taking place after. The player collecting the key, as well as the door animation shown below in GIFs:

The last thing implemented for this checkpoint was the change of scene lighting. I decided to make the entire scene dark, with only a certain radius of light that stemmed from the center of the player model. This change would better help the game fit the eerie and creepy vibe I was going for as well as add an element of challenge to the gameplay where the player must navigate the map with only a certain amount of light, collect the key to escape to the next level. As suggested by a tester last week, I have also zoomed the camera in, to focus and follow the player as they move around the map to fit the theme of my game. The scene lighting and bit of gameplay represented in a GIF below:  

I have also addressed the feedback for the inconsistent sprite flipping, as well as the flashlight not rotating with the actual character sprite and fixing them. Now the sprite should correctly flip with the A or D keys as the character turns to the direction, as well as the flashlight rotating with the player. This was done using sprite flipping instead of a separate spritesheet for left-facing movement and including code for the flashlight to reflect the negative x axis position of the player’s sprite. The inspiration for the code for sprite flipping was taken from Game Code Library’s “Idle, Run and Jump Animations – Platformer Unity 2D” video on Youtube. The fixed flashlight rotation, as well as the sprite flipping pictured in a GIF below:

Feedback for this week from the testers include issues raised about colliders on the water squares, where the player can get unexpectantly stuck at times. There was also a suggestion to disable texture compression in order to give the sprites a smoother look. Overall, most testers agreed that the graphics in my game fit the spooky vibe I was going for, while one tester surmised that they would like the water to be animated. There was also feedback for the player to have an idle animation when movement is stopped, as well as that the player animation feels laggy.  

I plan on addressing as much feedback and suggestions as possible for the next devlog, the other two levels ready for implementation, as well as a proper user-interface menu for the title screen. Thank you for reading this devlog, see you for the next checkpoint which will be about polishing the game and UI.  

[Note: The GIFs having less colour is an encoder/recorder thing]

References:  

Key sprite by Karsiori: https://karsiori.itch.io/pixel-art-key-pack-animated

Mythical Dungeon Tileset by Versatile Dev, 2023: https://verzatiledev.itch.io/mythic-dungeon

Idle, Run and Jump Animations – Platformer Unity 2D by Game Code Library: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg_w8hIbp4Y