Devlog #4

Hello once more. One devlog coming right up - this time focused on the prototype.

After last week we had solidified the art style, finished the game design document, and determined a lot of other technical stuff in our tech document (such as naming conventions, software usage, and so on). While we had a good start, we still needed to refine the main prototype to a higher level - illness had ravaged had our team and set us back a few dozen hours of work, and the prototype we had had promise,  still needed a small push. So that's what we set out to do, with our programmers working hard to make it so.

Read on to see how the prototype came out. But first, some art to placate the masses.

Art

As twiddling our thumbs while our programmers would be prototyping would be considered a bad move, we artists started dipping our toes in the next phase of the game creation pipeline - that is, production.

> With our character concept finalized, it was time to model the mole out. 

Our smol mol needs still a bit of work before they're ready for a grueling shift on the drill - retopology to help with animation, optimization in a few spots, textures and so on, but he's getting there!

> We created more blockouts to test out what sort of level design works the most.

> Assets were created for the prototype to enhance clarity + get a better idea of their design in the future

> Environment Blockouts were also done

Programming

For this week we set out to make this prototype the best that it should be. And what makes a prototype more fun to play is knowing very well what to do. We added just every player feedback element that we could. We reevaluated our system of banking and came up with a better and improved banking system. Players now have to pick up the gems from a bucket and put them in their pockets. They carry that on them for the rest of the game. Our Moles are very strong. 

If a machine breaks the players can go fix it but they need a certain amount of money in the public account. This is shown on a screen. If there is not enough money in the public account the players can't repair the drill. 

So start pushing each other to the ATM so that you can deposit the gems to repair your drill. 

But why would you add the money, you can see all the players on screen and one has a crown. 

That player has the most money in their backpack. Try to get them to put in money. Now they will lose the crown and you can win. 

Next to that our elevators now answer your calls. You can use them to get around your friends to get to the gems first. 

When you pick up gems you are sure you have something in your pocket. But now you know how much is added. Players can see on the side of the screen the amount of money added to their account when picking up. But you can also see it go down when you put money in the ATM.

So be on the lookout for a crown, that the player is being the most selfish, and try to get them to deposit coins. They need to contribute as much if not even more than you. 

See you next week !