Newsletter week 11

<insert witty hook here> <give up on thinking of something witty> <put things in brackets instead> Our goal this week was to develop the dangerous red layer of the game. The red layer is where the player and enemy character get stuck in a web and must work together in order to free themselves. We spent the week creating assets, designing the level, and implementing the new functions.

A plethora of art assets were added to the game this week, including: a new design for the enemy character, enemy animations and environment art. This, combined with with code and thoughtful level design, brought new life to our enemy character. We also spent time making the soundscape more rich: we added more sound effects as well as dynamic music so that the tone of the music shifts in response to in-game events.

Although a lot went smoothly this week, there were some bumps in the road. The most difficult problem we ran into occurred when brainstorming more efficient ways to create the lighting effect in our scene. The way the effect is currently created is not ideal in terms of performance nor aesthetics. Because of this, we are looking into creating a shader to mimic the color-dodge effect that is available in Photoshop. However, due to the lack of a technical artist on the team, we discovered this is quite a complex problem but it is one we are working on.

Besides implementing new game features, we are actively designing a title screen and have updated both the Google Play and App Store with the build we showcased during Halves. We also had the pleasure of meeting students from Norway who were visiting the EA campus and were able to chat and share our game with them.

With the basic structure of the red layer complete, we will begin implementing the serene end level next week. With that complete, we’ll have the skeletal structure of our game laid out and can focus on polishing and adding more detail. Stay tuned!

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