Shawnee Game’s Convention
Week 10
Last weekend was the Shawnee Game's Convention or SGC; getting the game in a presentable state for the convention involved a heavy crunch. As such, this week was a break from development. Time to contemplate the feedback from the demo and gather my thoughts on the game's current state.
Due to this break, this update will be focused on what was done in the previous weeks to complete the demo.
First was the completion of the ammo system. A new value was added to the cannon control script for scriptable objects that will hold each shell's unique values. These are damage, knockback, the amount to be received, and space for visual assets.
Next was the creation of the ammo create pickups. These track objects will provide the player with ammo upon contact, drawing from a global ammo pool, and then be disabled for a short while. These ammo boxes behave both in functionality and purpose to the item boxes seen in Mario Kart.
With mechanics completed for the demo, the next step was to create a demo scene and add some visual effects to make the feel of controlling the tank more satisfying.
Animations were added to the tank for all the main movement directions. A simple animation state machine was also added to manage these animations. These include driving, as well as recoiling to fire the cannon.
Particle systems were also added to give the cannon the proper kick.
The scene was created using Unity's terrain objects and props from various Kenny's packs. It's a simple dirt track that goes in a short loop with ammo boxes and dummy tanks for players to play with the tank's movement and mechanics.
Feedback from the demo was universally positive. The only complaints received were about known bugs scheduled for eventual fixing. An interesting discovery from the demo revolved around the tank's base speed. I increased the tank's movement speed for testing and debugging purposes. However, I forgot to turn it back down for the build. Despite this, people liked being able to zip around as the tank, and the turret movement mechanic led to some fast-paced gameplay.
