Tyler Roman - Dev Log #02

For the second devlog I'd like to focus more on some of my other impacts towards the game. 

#1 - small sprite adjusment

Simple sprite adjustments, adding blinking to the lasers to make them a little more laser like as well as the making the doors look like portals (both of these were slight adjustments which were later improved by vera). 

#2 - small adjustment in game mechanics

In terms of game mechanics, Vera wanted to input a shooting system where the shots went out horizontally depending on the orientation of the mech, as I've only coded in mouse based shooting into Game Maker Studio before, it was interesting to figure it out with online help as before in my other game I had played around conceptually with the idea of having projectiles be horizontal.

#3 - level design

I designed a good few of the levels within the game, mainly finding that to be the best way to make an impact in a game where Vera had high standards for sound and aesthetic design, so she took them on for herself  and the mechanics/concept of the game itself were already her brainchild so I found taking the mechanics and ideas she had and turning them into usable, conventional levels to be my best avenue. Generally level design included utilization of both mech and corgi, even if that utility was just the push of laser-disarming buttons.  I added levels that were more platforming based, simple puzzles,  as well as trick levels where the red button should be used to give the corgi increased jump right rather than turn off redundant lasers within the level. Vera's inclusion of a purple button really allowed the ideas to open up and thus levels involving correct sequencing of buttons and more trap buttons came about.  

However, the concept of the purple button though conceptually interesting and versatile was a little hard to grasp. So I went into some of the earlier levels and included redundant purple buttons in order to teach players different aspects of the button: if all the lasers are off- the purple will turn them on, if the all the lasers are on- the purple will turn them off- if there are both pink and blue lasers and all of one colored lasers are off- then the purple will turn the color that is off, on, and the one that is on, off. Essentially, the purple indicates a reversal of any given laser state and so to better get that idea across it was important to slowly implement that in different levels to demonstrate its different effects. Finally, there was even a level where numerous red platforms were lined up to make a bridge that only the corgi could cross, and then later a bridge solely made of blue buttons that only the mech could cross. This level was meant to better highlight the different capabilities of each form, however this did not work with overall design of the game as the reason the mech isn't supposed to activate the blue buttons is imply because they are not supposed to reach them, not that they are incapable of pressing them. Therefore, this last level, though conceptually interesting, was deleted for the sake of consistency.