Only 2 more weeks left in the semester which means the entire team is swamped with work not only with our game but also with our other 6 courses. But we do see the light at the end of the tunnel and are dividing our attention on bug finding/fixing and adding improvements anywhere we can.
I was tasked with adding one of the improvements which was adding the player's location on the map. To start, I quickly explain the original map that Val created. She created a pixel art map you see below, which can be opened and closed with a small foldable map icon in the top right corner.
Originally, this map was just to show where the main points of interest were and the player had to figure out where they were by looking for landmarks. After a couple of playtesters said it was a little difficult to know where they were on the map, I thought of a “simple” way to add the player's location.
First, I created a few different options for the player marker on the map. I created these icons in the GameMaker Studio sprite creator.
When I presented them to the group they both got a resounding, “eh”. Val suggested instead of adding an “x” or a dot as the marker, we should use Graey’s head as she already made one for the dialogue window. After about a minute, Val had this sprite created.
Needless to say, there's a reason she's the head of the art department. The entire team including me loved it. I dotted the head around the point of interest locations on the map and we got this.
Then to activate and deactivate the icons, I set up a couple of box colliders at key points like the bridges, to act as a trigger to activate/deactivate the correct icons. As the image shows below, For Baygate Port, I have in total, 3 colliders.
1. To the north when the player first enters the town
2. To the west when the player leaves the town
3. On top of the entrance to the minigame for when the player either returns from the minigame or when they hit “continue” in the main menu and spawn in at one of the minigames.
Once the player collides with one of these triggers, a script is called which loops through the list of GraeyHead icons deactivating them, then activating the correct location.
After playing around with the icon locations I decided to add 4 more locations on the map to add more precision. Below you’ll see the complete map up till today with 9 locations in total.
Limecoast, Graey’s Hometown and the players starting town.
MidBaygate, the area between Limecoast and Baygate
Baygate Port, the 2nd town the player will visit and home to Gaehll
Mountains, this is where the player finds the twins. No gameplay here just dialogue with NPCs
Dragongulf, the 3rd town the player will visit and home to Orry and a beautiful fountain
Rich Island, again no gameplay here just a fancy island
MidSilkcross, the area between Silkcross and Dragongulf
Silkcross, the 4th town the player will visit and home to Embre
Minion Hut, home to one of Isarr's minions this is the transition to the final boss
I’m starting to run a little long so that's all I will talk about today but I will cover anything I missed in my blog next week. Hope to see you there!
Comments