Hi yes hello we are back from easter break!! But more importantly, we are back with CONTROL SCHEMES on itch.io. Learned our lesson last time, didn't we? ;) Last blog post we said we’d be back with more art and programming content, so let's dive right into it, shall we?

Programming

This week we improved a lot on the core of the game, remember when we said previous week that block pick up sometimes worked welllll… IT WORKS ALMOST ALWAYS NOW YEEEEEY. The block movement changed a bit from the prototypes, and this isn't set in stone yet but it is in this build so you can test it. The way it works now is that you can rotate the camera before picking up the block, the moment you pick it up it stays in that rotation, you can still rotate it clockwise but not around its Y axis. Now if you rotate the camera you see the side of the block, giving you control of the depth. This gives more control, and could lead to more complex towers, but makes the game also quite more complex in mechanics so it's tricky and that's why it isn't set in stone yet. You will have to follow us to know what will happen to the movement in later revision 😉

 We also added points so you know when you are just being better than everyone else. 

Blocks are added for every successful block placement on the tower, but taken away for every block that falls on your turn, so be careful and don't drop the whole tower…

We also added a few powerups to the blocks, namely the Enlargement, Darkness and Heavy powerup. Those powerups will increase the block size, turn off the light and increase the block’s mass respectively.

Currently those are activated the turn after being found for testing purposes, but once we have our UI set up, we will be able to add back the choice of when to activate the powerup.

Art

Given that TowerTricksters is, in fact, a physics based balancing game (shocker). It is important for the collisions and the physical interactions of the blocks to feel perfect! And until now, they didn’t. And after now, they still don’t! (Because we are still making the game that’s why) BUT; they should feel less bad now, because we revamped our approach to collisions on all of our pieces! We have crafted an array of custom collider meshes that we set up to act as the collision parts of our pretty little meshes :) Check out this before and after comparison of the colliders and their precision:

These are the collider badboys carrying out the operation so far. We expect more to come as we start dipping into more complex shapes!

Props

Being back after the Spring Break slump SUCKS but now we are back in business with some tasty props!

We decided to split the scene in four semi-unique locations, each of them with a unique prop that makes it interesting, zesty and fun! The special name of each, at first, was simply “North” / “East” / “South” / “West” , just a lil boring working title. Now we have … Toucan,Pinwheel, Slidey and Kite!

Some of them are a bit late with the textures, but they are here! The main idea was to have one recognizable element for each direction while keeping the center of the screen/playspace consistent and readable at all times. Each “microscene” will have its own lil neat detail, from the small movement of the pinwheels to the rocking motion of Toucan swing (we have a surprise for that so stay tuned until next week)

We have also been experimenting with new versions of the playspace’s base, how to make the most basic asset in the game clean, yet interesting and captivating.

So far, not counting the basic vanilla version of the base, we have 7 different variations in 2 materials, stone and wood. We tried to give each one of them some spec of zest and story, ranging from tiny woodcutter’s boots to weathered and run down rock held together by staples and hope. Just like the four unique props, the thought behind this is to make every side of the play space a bit unique, but keeping it readable for maximum flow.

Next week, we hope to be more or less on the same level of gameplay as our prototype, see you then!