Daring Diamond Defence

Week 4 of Development

Last week saw some good improvement to the game, however this week development made a lot of progress. Changes to the project comes in the form of menus, lightings, level development, and more gameplay features!

1. Menu & UI 

This week saw the addition of a custom font for menus and UI, with the main menu being updated to make use of this. In addition, menus at the end of each level have been implemented when the player wins or loses, with a nice backdrop of the level visible in the background (something similar may be implemented for the main menu also). 

For the first time in development, the player UI makes an appearance! A new ammunition counter is visible in the bottom left, as well as a progress bar at the top of the screen. This bar tracks how much longer the player needs to survive, and how much preparation time they have before the stage begins. Next week we hope to add indicators to this bar which show imminent enemy waves!

2. Level Design

Some progress was made with our level design, with the first level coming closer to completion having added enemy spawning, paths, lightings, decorations and an extra room! Our second level design has not seen many changes as of yet, but more will come. The screenshot below shows the brand new room added to level 1, along with some pretty lighting!

3. Functionality

Great progress has been made this week in terms of functionality. In fact, here's a list:

• Added win/lose conditions to levels
• Added the ability to progress to the next level via menus
• Added a progress bar which tracks level progress
• Added a preparation phase which allows for the player to explore and prepare
• Added weapon ammunition
• Added the Cleaning Cart which replenishes ammo
• Added a new enemy type: The Big Guy

Now that all of the new features have been compiled into a list, it doesn't seem as impressive...

Perhaps the most exciting changes are the ammunition system and the cleaning cart - now the strategic design of levels can be truly explored. As the player runs dry fighting the horde, now they have to make a mad dash for the cart to replenish their ammo! Players will have to develop a sense of good timing and positioning in order to make most efficient use of the cleaning cart, otherwise the front lines will be left unattended and become overrun.

We also added a new enemy type to the mix, The Big Guy. He's slow and takes more damage before being knocked down, and worst of all, he's immune to the slippery effects of the water bucket!

Below is a demonstration of The Big Guy's resistance to water puddles.

What Next?

Unfortunately we were unable to meet all of the goals mentioned last week, such as the enemy model (which is giving us more trouble than anticipated), and the weapons.

By this time next week, we aim to have implemented:

• Level Design
  • A basic layout for level 3
• Player
  • One more weapon (ideally two more!)
• Enemy
  • One more enemy type
  • Waves of enemies
• Models
  • One enemy model
• UI
  • Progress bar indicators showing imminent waves