Enemies and Interaction:

This dev log will include an overview of some currently included enemy interaction in The Last Fishing Trip. This week the aim will be to improve some features in response to player feedback as well as develop some more  enemies and object interactions. Firstly, a note on the catching mechanic in the game. 

TLFT - Destroying Bucket Crabs (Unrelated To Dev Log, Just Gruesome)

Catching Fish Update:

I am in the process of re-assessing the scope of my game for this assignment and am looking at omitting the catching mechanic. Currently, I have not implemented any catching functionality and at this stage in the semester, I feel as though it may be more effort than it is worth in terms of time to reward. However, this is by no means a definitive decision and in the next week I intend to see how a catching mechanic could fit in with the new fish enemy types. I still think that this Is an important part of the game however, a focus on platforming and combat elements may be more time effective in creating player enjoyment.

For this implementation of the game I still would like to have some form of collectable and am currently brainstorming as to what that might look like. Whether collectables are locked behind more tricky platforming sections or received as a drop for killing enemies is still to be decided. In addition, I am unsure of how many unique enemies i will be able to create, as such, the game may not revolve around catching as many unique fish as possible (how the initial concept described it). Focusing on creating some more enemies for the player to engage with may be more appropriate priority. 

Enemy Types:

At the moment in the game I only have one type of enemy, a crab that patrols between two points. 

TLFT - Patrolling Bucket Crab (no knock-back)

I would like to have more enemies in the game and over the next week I intend on including a throwing enemy, slashing enemy, chasing enemy, jumping enemy, and a boss that combines all of the mechanics and challenges the player. The following more clearly describes what these might look like: 

• Patroller – patrols in between two defined points
• Thrower – Throws objects at the player when in radius.  
• Chaser: chases player while in a set radius, idles and wanders while player is outside of radius. 
• Slasher – a patroller that stops when the player enters a set radius and slashes after a short period. 
• Jumper  - A patroller that jumps in its path.

This is not an exhaustive list but right now I am trying to limit my creativity in the interest of not overcommitting to an unreasonable game scope. As I am creating all the assets myself the process is taking more time. However, the learning that I am getting in the art and animation side of this project is just as beneficial to me as learning coding and level design.

Adjusted Features:

In the past week game testers consistently noted that when an enemy was hit it didn’t feel as responsive as it could. Specifically, the fact that  enemies’ movement is not affected in any way from player attacks, makes combat less impactful and satisfying. In response to this player feedback, I have implemented a knock-back effect when the enemies are hit. See attack knock-back below:

TLFT - Knock-Back Implemented

This is adjustable in the unity inspector and will likely differ based on the enemy size, weight, etc… This effect, paired with screen shake and sound effects makes the fisherman’s attacks feel more weighty and satisfying.

 A few players mentioned that it feels unfair when an enemy is grappled because the player is damaged instead of the enemy, as seen here.

TLFT - Player Damaged When Grappling Enemy

One player proposed that I was missing an opportunity for an additional combat element, suggesting that I use the grapple as some sort of bash attack. When the fisherman grapples to an enemy they could be pushed back or stunned. I thought that this idea was really cool, and while I had initially intended to change the interaction when grappling to an enemy, it wasn’t a priority. I appreciate this suggestion as it has reminded me that this is one of the most important mechanics in the game! 

In terms of other elements, I have increased the fisherman's movement speed to make the game feel more light and implemented a speed boost when he grapples an object.

TLFT - Speed Boost After Grapple

In addition, i adjusted the gravity scale of the jump to make the fisherman more floaty at the top of the jump and fall faster. I am still having some trouble with the grapple function and there are a few bugs which i am struggling to resolve, due to difficulty in replicating the effects and inconsistency across operating systems/machines. I will attempt to fix these up but i want to prioritise other gameplay elements moving forward (i have been focused on player movement for weeks!!!!)

Object interactions:

Throughout the current level there are a variety of grapple-able objects that the fisherman can interact with. These include, trees, poles and grapple blocks (grapple blocks are placeholders). I will add to these and develop grapple items further in future level implementations

TLFT - Temporary Grapple Objects

TLFT - Tree Grapples

I would like to include intractable objects in the foreground and background of the scene as to create some more immersion in the game. Specifically, I feel as though having rocks to smash or plants to cut, as seen in games like Hollow Knight (Team Cherry), will add to the players enjoyment of the world and will add more interest to the start of the game (also just because everyone loves to smash stuff). I don’t imagine this will be hard to do and hopefully should just involve an OnTriggerEnter2D/OnCollisionEnter2D function and some animation!

In my last Dev log I mentioned that I was interested in including different rod varieties that allowed for puzzle solving and other interactions. However, in efforts to reduce the scope of this project (due for completion in 3 weeks) I am reducing the priority to include them in the game. If time (and other University commitments) permits I will seek to include additional rods, however, I think my efforts would be better spent creating more playable levels with increasing difficulty!

Conclusion

This week was less productive than previous weeks and I took some time away to tend to some of my psychology units. However, the project is coming together and feeling significantly more game-like than it was two weeks ago! The player also has a health function that exists in the background, i just need to attach this to some sort of health bar. This week i will be implementing some of the features mentioned in this log as well as some more polish and graphical elements!

Happy Gaming! - Kronkerd/Taylor