Progress

Hello, Jamie O again.  The programming is plugging along at a decent pace.  With the college semester entering Reading Days, it's not really reasonable to expect much to get done for the next few days--everyone wants to visit their families, I'm sure.  As someone (regrettably) without those attachments, I have no issue sticking around and getting some extra work done.

After we delivered Milestone 1, I was eager to take on the task of moving away fromer raycasting code to Character Controller.  The raycasting code we were using was ripped from a tutorial, and just... was not up to the quality one would want for a fluid side-scroller.  The character had issues where he would be able to walk through tiles, or land halfway inside them.  Moving to Character Controller gave me the ability to have a much firmer control over what the Boh Boy could collide with, and took some of the collision workload off my hands.  It also made it easier for me to work with gravity--which led me to fix his infinite jumping problem.

I have been talking with Alex on the art team about his desire to see a more fluid motion in the character.  This kind of undertaking means that we'd have to encode the concepts of momentum--building up from a slow start to a full running speed, and skidding a bit on the stop.  If done well, we could work on momentum being stronger over slippery surfaces (think of sliding on ice).  I had also considered some things like ducking, dashing, double-jumping, and wall-jumping.  These are all aspects of modern side-scrollers that give the player a feeling of control and fluidity.  However, there would need to be many more frames of animation to encompass true fluidity.

For the moment, though, I am sticking with the proposal document's workflow.  And this means that I am working primarily on getting consumable objects working in the game.  Right now, the code allows for the Boh Boy to carry up to five beers.  He can pick them up by touching them; they are not yet hidden.  We have the art assets for the food in the game as well, but I've not got the mechanics working for them.

As we continue to look ahead, the goals after the consumables are working include the ability to reach an ending screen, the inclusion of basic enemies (they do not need behavior yet, just the ability to stand in the game and hinder the Boh Boy's progress), further work on the controls, and some map building.

I'm taking the night off, but there will be some serious work on the game occurring tomorrow.  Expect further updates this weekend.  Ta ta for now!