Weekly Devlog 2: Code Compartment

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1) In my area, the team's goals for the past week were to get the mechanic of the poltergeist to appear invisible on the player's screen and visible only if the player's flashlight makes contact with the poltergiest. We further discussed the assets and map layout, as well as starting to implement the map in Unity.

2) In my area, the team accomplished the mechanics goals and began to start on implementing the map layout and the assets.

3) In my area, the teams goals for next week is to program any sort of mechanic that's left such as the toggling off the light and the flashlight battery drain mechanic

4) I accomplished both tasks by the team and implemented the invisible mechanics and flashlight hit detection for the player.

5) As an individual, I plan on programming the battery drain mechanic to work for our game and to add in any sort of mechanics that may be missing for the player side.

6) I will need to learn how to implement controlling each character's individually in Unity using the new input system and adding the players to the game scene.

A ray casted from the flashlight detects to see if it hits the poltergiest and adds the "Poltergiest" layer back to the camera.

The Poltergiest appears invisible on the player's camera, until they are detected by the ray casted from the flashlight.

Playtest Report

1) For this playtest, it was a mixture of an analog and digital prototype playtest

2) Through the playtest, I wanted to learn more about how I can balance the game and it's mechanics with the light and timer mechanics.

3) I play tested my game with my brother, who has a background in playing games. He's around the target audience for my game,

4) I initially noticed that the generator mechanic confused my brother as I was explaining it to him, but it started to make sense once I visually showed him the Miro board for my game concept. It helped to see a visual of the map layout and to think of mechanics to understand the limitations and advantages it can have on the players and poltergiest. I was expecting my brother to react the way I expected it when I introduce certain mechanics like the recharge station to him, he would use terms like "overpowered" , when referring to how strong it may be if the players can recharge their batteries infinitely.

5) Some questions I asked my brother was questions around balancing the mechanics like" how long should it take to charge up generators" or "how would you approach balancing the recharge generation" to get his insight in how he would balance ir.

6) Some feedback I received were about the system of the recharge station. It should flow back into the mechanics of the game, where the players can recharge their flashlight in the beginning of the game, but on the next recharge there is requirements. The players must charge up x number of generators to recharge their battery and power the recharge station. I received feedback in making the game more approachable to everyone or those of different sklll levels or might not understand the mechanics the first time. If players choose only to find the poltergiest by using their flashlights, they should face a consequence of not being able to use their battery, and is encouraged to power up generators in order to recharge their batteries. It's more about providing purpose for the reasoning of having the generators in the games.

7) I plan on using the feedback to address the loopholes players may find themselves in, and balance certain mechanics, so it doesn't favor the players or the poltergiest.