A week into Beta!

Beta is the stage of refinement and improvement, and the team here working on Ant Assault is determined to bring players the best experience when playing the game, so we have been focusing on smoothing out the gameplay and design through a variety of ways, focusing on player movement and camera settings including the now officially named ‘aim stabiliser’ mechanic, which allows players to lock the camera focus point when holding right click. We have also paid attention to the placement of enemies and fine-tuning gameplay values surrounding difficulty and the length of the game, with both player weapon and enemy damage values.

Chamber 1

With much progress having been already made within the early weeks of development, chamber one hasn’t needed many changes in terms of the shape or design of the level; however, pickups, along with a tutorial, have been implemented into the scene, teaching players how to use the controls and introducing them to the mechanics of the pickups. I, Tom, placed the pickups within the level, ensuring that they were in sight of the player from across the room, and Anthony worked on the tutorial. A lighting pass was also completed by Aaron, with light shafts and decals for the cracks where the light shines implemented, enhancing the visual design of the room and making it look polished and well-made. There are a few changes planned for the future of chamber one, and can safely say that this may be one of the final updates for the room itself.

(above is the lighting pass of chamber one, Before (Left) and After (Right)

Chamber 2

Over the last week, Felix and Jennifer have worked on chamber two, with the help of Lachlan, where Jennifer reshaped the model with Lachlan W, adjusting the shape and size of the room in response to feedback received from the second cycle of testing. While this was underway, Felix worked on the second art and environmental pass, decorating the room with details and plant life. Lachlan W has also been working on the navmesh and linking them together for chamber 2 so that enemies can navigate the room without being stuck.

Chamber 3

Chamber three has undergone a few updates from Zach, with improved and tuned enemy placements, as well as having a completed climbing mesh for the large mushrooms within the room, smoothing out the climbing for the player experience, as mushrooms were not initially friendly with the player trying to climb the sharp and unusual angles. Jack has also completed a lighting pass for chamber three, making it more visually and aesthetically pleasing.

Chamber 4

The crystal-covered chamber four has now had a completed navmesh thanks to Lachlan W and is finally reaching its end of design and development like chamber one, with enemy placement being updated and fine-tuned as well by Lachlan W. 

Chamber 5

Chamber 5 has undergone one of the most significant art passes within Ant Assault, renovating the chamber to improve on the design conceptualised last week. This art pass has been implemented by Aaron, and the block out and design were made by James. 

Connecting tunnels

Lachlan W has also stitched together each chamber into one scene so that development can continue within one level. He also created the tunnels between each chamber, which have also since been decorated by Daniel, with models corresponding to the adjacent themes of each chamber.

Sound design

Anthony has sourced and provided many variations for the audio and soundtrack within Ant Assault, and has had the help of Ben with setting up and implementing the audio. These audio clips have come together nicely and will help players feel immersed when they play!

Art

There have also been lots of development in the art division as well, with the focus primarily on updating chambers that were behind, lighting, VFX and UI pass as well, improving the look of the game, making it look more complete and professional as a whole.

Aaron worked on Chamber five, completing the art pass, which was first sculpted in last week’s devlog! It has started to come together really well and is currently undergoing revision and polishing in terms of ease of walking over its surfaces for both players and enemy navmeshes. 

Aaron has also completed a second pass of the lighting for chamber one, adding in decals of cracks in the ceilings, representing the outside sun piercing through the chamber. He has also created and modelled lots of modular lighting assets, which are being used throughout the entire level, made with insect parts, legs and glowing abdomens. 

In response to feedback provided by players and the clients (the teachers), we have, as a team, collectively decided that the use of a toon shader will help make the enemies contrast from the environment, making it easier for the player to spot and track them. Aaron created the toon shader and has applied it to enemies; the results are clear and will help this issue! (image below)

Speaking of shaders, Aaron has also updated many of the existing shaders, improving the look and style, as seen below. These shaders include ones for the general environment like the plant shader, lava shader and light shaft shader, and the sap projectile shader for the Sap Lobber weapon!

Aaron has also remade and uploaded models for the Carapiercer and Sap Lobber, creating and texturing the final models, and has also made animations for each, which Ben has implemented into the game. 

Jack has refined areas in the game with VFX, improving and refining the amber shattering particles, has completed a lighting pass for chamber three, created an enemy bullet trail and has also made a firewall shader to block the exits to the chambers which the player hasn't cleared yet, preventing the players from progressing unless they complete the objective of killing the fire ants and clearing the room. Jack also created an icon for the number of enemies still left in the chamber, represented by an ant head and a number next to it on the HUD.

This week, Daniel worked on decorating and set dressing for the connecting tunnels between each chamber, ensuring that there are no dull areas and that the player has always got objects to help orient themselves while in the tunnels. Daniel also completed a weapon texture for the Carapiercer. However, it was replaced with a newer version.

Michael worked on the sap lobber this week, along with contributing to the art pass for the HUD and creating symbols for the ammo count in the HUD.

Felix created assets for chamber two, completing an art pass which was later implemented by Jennifer. Together they also collaborated and made a water source, as seen at the bottom of the images, along with other custom assets which follow chamber two’s theme.

Programming

In the programming division, Ben, Nik and Lachlan M have been hard at work! 

Ben has created a save system to the game, allowing the player to have multiple saves and can, create new ones and delete them through the menu. Ben has also tweaked the control settings and fixed them, as well as added transition speeds for the camera in the player settings.

In terms of the audio in Ant Assault, Ben has created a proper music system, set the capture areas to trigger music, and implemented fading between battle and ambient soundtracks, which Anthony chose. 

Thanks to Ben, the gameplay aspects in combat have become much more enjoyable after adding gradual bullet randomisation, reworking the Sap Lbber for continuous damage, has worked on enemy spawners and cleaning chamber meshes for smoother processing performance as well as adding culling zones to unload and load chambers outside of player’s reach, optimising the game. Pickups were also set to respawn

Nik helped with adding a sound to the Carapiecer script, and also completed some navmesh on chamber 4, in preparation for playtesting so that enemies can walk on the walls and objects within chamber four.

As Ant Assault gets closer to its final stages, we plan to continue doing our best and polishing the game to a final state where it is ready to share online, where players can enjoy a complete experience filled with action and strategy! Unfortunately, there were many more areas that were not covered in this week’s devlog as the completion of the game itself is currently a priority. Thank you for reading this week’s devlog, and I, (Tom), hope to see you in the next one!