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[IridescentWaves]

A 3D platformer in the world of pastries.

LINKS
Devlog #1 : Introduction.
Devlog #2 : Levels structure, boundaries and tools.
Devlog #3 : On rails camera.
Devlog #4 : Checkpoint, completion rules, level stats and autosaves.
Devlog #5 : Level design.
Devlog #6 : Main characters.
Devlog #7 : Animations, textures and particles.
Devlog #8 : Misc.
Devlog #9 : Characters topology.
Devlog #10 : Code improvement.
Devlog #11 : Improvments and current status.
Devlog #12 : Concept Art.
Devlog #13 : KS Trailer.
Devlog #14 : Box Art.
Devlog #15 : Branching Rail Camera Demo.
Devlog #16 : All Done.

CURRENT STATUS

GAME DESIGN	DONE
PROGRAMMING	DONE
LEVEL DESIGN / BUILDING	DONE
ENVIRONMENT ART	DONE
CHARACTERS DESIGN / ANIMATION	DONE
INTRO / OUTRO	DONE
SOUND DESIGN	DONE
MUSIC	DONE
TEST / OPTIMIZATION	DONE

STORY

You play Choconoa, the prince of the chocolate world, and you must grab back the sugar stolen by King Morfal.

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay is similar to Crash Bandicoot.

FEATURES

• LINEAR LEVEL DESIGN - SEQUENTIAL ORDER
• SINGLE PLAYER
• COLORFUL STYLIZED ENVIRONMENTS
• KID-FRIENDLY
• PASTRY THEME

TOOLS

• UNREAL ENGINE 4
• ZBRUSH
• BLENDER
• GIMP

TARGET PLATFORMS

• WINDOWS
• NINTENDO SWITCH

[TEETH]

That spoon catapult looks like an interesting and cool game mechanic. Overall nice looking game.

[IridescentWaves]

Last week we made a draft design document to visualize the global structure of the game.


Because the levels are linear with a lot of verticality and the camera free, we are trying to find a good solution for the boundaries. Of course it will be heavily filled with environments deco but we want don't want to spend a lot of time making sure there are no holes! And we don't want invisible walls which are not obvious. So I tried with a depth-faded (using depth fade for the intersection between the wall and the other objects, and a camera depth fade) magic wall like this:



Now the chantilly path automatically conform to the ground:



As much as possible we try to save time by creating tools like this:


 

[IridescentWaves]

Most of the levels use "on rails camera" with alternative paths. So we did the code for that.



The path is the red curve:




The player will automatically follows the closest path relative to his world location:



Another feature we implemented is a jump boost at the end of the sliders. If you jump slightly before the end (before the player jumps automatically), you jump higher. This features is an extra layer of challenge.



We worked on a lot of code fixes and features to keep the levels flow interesting and dynamic. We still have some minor adjustments to make on those systems but most of the work is done.

[IridescentWaves]

A quick summary of last week additions: (It's all about code - we didn't work on art and layout yet)

- added a checkpoint system
- added completion rules
- added levelstats
- fixing autosaves code
- plenty of bug fixes

[Ivan Khmel]

This looks great and a brilliant idea. You say we, how big is the team?

[IridescentWaves]

Thanks! We are 4 right now and we will hopefully grow a little bit soon. I'm the only one working full time on the game so we will try to fix this asap.

[IridescentWaves]

This week we analyse our level design practices in a very practical way. Also we make sure the flow is consistent and intuitive. The challenge here is to create organic levels (non grid-based levels), and make sure that the distances are correct etc..

On this picture below, you can see how we balance the safe zone and the threat zone, how we place the rewards, how we force you to learn the basics before progressing further etc..



This gif gives you an idea of the flow and how we make it as smooth as possible for the player.



Grayboxing the levels requires to remove all deco, foliage etc..
Using a simple color code is very useful. The red is the threat, the blue and yellow are used for navigation..
In this step, we are blocking all the collisions. that way when we will assemble the art and details all together, the collisions will remain unchanged.

[IridescentWaves]

Main characters concept art.

[IridescentWaves]

This week we're working on animations, textures and particles.

[IridescentWaves]

• Worked on holes with landscape visibility masks, vertex offset and dithering for smooth transitions.

• Also added a tiny chef playing around in the world.

• Added confettis for checkpoint.

• We also worked on improving our materials (layers, parameters, reusability, optimisation).

[Pixelologist]

Your 3D models really need improvement. I'll explain. The first thing that I saw that looked weird was that the two chef models you posted have no eyelids. It seriously creeps me out to look at them. You should try to make them look more human, even if you are going for a stylized or more cartoonish approach. Check out models for other 3D platformers and see if you can learn through observation. I would suggest looking at Rare's games, since they're similar to what you're going for here.

[IridescentWaves]

I have the same feeling. But they are still in early stage so it's normal. We don't want to detail too much all the assets since we need to keep working on the global picture. Then we will refine it until it looks good. Details last.

[IridescentWaves]

I didn't plan to work on it last week but I took the time to improve the characters topology, textures and animations.

[IridescentWaves]

Last two months, I've worked on improving my code. I also added new gameplay elements and did a new system to create the levels faster and more efficiently.

Not a lot to show right now but the next updates will be more interesting for this devlog.

[IridescentWaves]

• Added a speed effect when sliding.

• Improved branch system.

• Enemies now die with smoke particles to avoid walking through them.

CURRENT STATUS

GAME DESIGN	DONE
PROGRAMMING	DONE
LEVEL DESIGN / BUILDING	JUST STARTED
ENVIRONMENT ART	JUST STARTED
CHARACTERS DESIGN / ANIMATION	JUST STARTED
INTRO / OUTRO	TO DO
SOUND DESIGN	JUST STARTED
MUSIC	TO DO
TEST / OPTIMIZATION	TO DO

[IridescentWaves]

[IridescentWaves]

Choconoa KS Trailer:

[IridescentWaves]

I worked on the Choconoa Box Art. I'm getting close to the final version.
Feel free to comment! 

[IridescentWaves]

Branching Rail Camera Demo :