So! been a good week-ish of work. As always, every week the game becomes more stable, less bullets phasing through stuff, less enemies spinning out of control or walking through windows out into space. That stuff's always good, but doesn't really change the design much. This addition does.
One of the bigger gripes I have with top down shooters is the HUD, specifically Health and armor. In an FPS, having the vitals on the edge is ok, right? can't be in the way, but has to be visible. Putting it on the side of the screen works, espectially since the player only has to track the reticule and enemy at most times. I find this isn't as simple in a top down shooter. In a top down shooter, the player has to track the reticule, the enemy, and themselves. In a top down shooter, having the vitals off in the corner makes it difficult to track the damage a player is recieving while in a shootout, at least without parking behind some cover or losing focus to look at their health. This, at least in my case, can easily lead to far more unexpected deaths. That's frustrating.
I don't think it's a perfect solution, but I do like it, for the time being.
One of the bigger gripes I have with top down shooters is the HUD, specifically Health and armor. In an FPS, having the vitals on the edge is ok, right? can't be in the way, but has to be visible. Putting it on the side of the screen works, espectially since the player only has to track the reticule and enemy at most times. I find this isn't as simple in a top down shooter. In a top down shooter, the player has to track the reticule, the enemy, and themselves. In a top down shooter, having the vitals off in the corner makes it difficult to track the damage a player is recieving while in a shootout, at least without parking behind some cover or losing focus to look at their health. This, at least in my case, can easily lead to far more unexpected deaths. That's frustrating.
I don't think it's a perfect solution, but I do like it, for the time being.
When the player picks up armor, a small sprite is overlaid (it's a little big right now, will be re-sizing at some point) denoting the rough amount of armor the player is now equipped with. The health works similarly, changing the color of the player's jumpsuit to reflect the amount of health the player has left.
It's a little inexact at the moment, each has only 3 states. It boils down to "You're good", "Be worried", and "Get a pickup". Assuming the feature stays around, I'd like to add alot more granularity to it, but for now this is this.
The other little thing I'd added this last week is new blood effects, not new sprites, just new things that can be done with blood. It now spurts and splatters, instead of just dropping to the floor every time. It's a little change, but I think it's nice.
It's a little inexact at the moment, each has only 3 states. It boils down to "You're good", "Be worried", and "Get a pickup". Assuming the feature stays around, I'd like to add alot more granularity to it, but for now this is this.
The other little thing I'd added this last week is new blood effects, not new sprites, just new things that can be done with blood. It now spurts and splatters, instead of just dropping to the floor every time. It's a little change, but I think it's nice.
Ok, so that's my thing for the day. There are some other changes that have been made, but none that were as interesting to me.
The title is a MeeeMMM
Wyatt White
Now with all original art!
The title is a MeeeMMM
Wyatt White
Now with all original art!