These past two weeks have been very busy with continuing to work out the core gameplay mechanics required for any level in the game. As I said last week, things like keeping track of scores over multiple races in the same scene. Also, an overworld map accessible from the pause menu, which shows where you are, and allows you to teleport to any race you’ve discovered in the area. (Both those systems appear to be working at the moment 🙂 )
The level design itself has seen an overhaul as well. This first “zone” is meant to be a very simple, introductory level. Pretty much a tutorial, so the player can get the basics of flight, and how the different mechanics of the game work. This is what we came up with for overall layout of this “Grass Island” zone:
As you can see, it makes great use of vertical space, and looks quite interesting and dynamic. But, it doesn’t really look like a “Grass Island” zone, or a beginner level. After some discussion, we decided to go for more of a “Vast grassy plain, cracked and broken up”. That way the player doesn’t have to worry as much about the complexities of altitude, and can focus on being introduced to the game. (Still in progress)
Future levels will, however, make more use of vertical space. It is, after all, islands in the sky.
Refining the flight system, and making sure that system is where if should be, continues to occupy quite a bit of time. As mentioned before, that is THE core of the game, and if that’s not both intuitive and flexible, the rest falls apart.