Dizzy Docking

As we sail into the final week of Sprint 2, it feels like we're approaching the end of a long and turbulent leg of our journey. With feature lock just around the corner, the pressure was on to finalize core mechanics, wrap up remaining tasks, and tie together our project.

Though our final sprint may be over, we still have 2 weeks of polishing ahead. So while this may be our full final concept, there may still be tweaks, bug fixes, and other changes to already existing mechanics.

Nonetheless, here's what we achieved in our final week of full development!

Environment upgrades

Boat textures

The boat textures could use some love in the details and gradients so we added some painterly effects, details and refined metal.

Example of old texture

Newer version

The art style is quite simplistic so it was a challenge finding balance between detail and overkill. 

Arrow model

Fishes

To enhance background atmosphere we animated some fishes that swim up and down in the ocean.

Upgrades to dither shader

The dither shader felt a bit too circular in the edges so we adjusted it with better parameter control .

Environment Changes

New Camera, Fog & Sky

First big change the environment is a new camera angle which allowed us to add some sky and fog, making the level feel more alive!

Dust & Wind RFX

These small effects – dust and wind particles floating in the air – are there too to enhance the overall visuals of the environment and bring it to life even further.

RFX

Lightning Strike

Lightning strike sent by Zeus after failing to keep the torches lit. The crew has to be extra careful now!

Arrow Rain

Beware the wrath of Artemis!

Gameplay Implementations

This week a few things still got implemented. Including but not limited to a start condition, an extra event and an expansion to the Lantern event.

Lightning now strikes when all torches go out, to clarify the anger of the gods. The damage once all lights go out now continues until at least 1 light is relit.

A new event that is more common near the end of a run has been added, arrows now rain from the sky occasionally, attempting to pin down the players if they're not careful!

Audio

We have added a bunch of the audio to the game too, running sound effects, mast breaking, music and ambience and  more. This makes the game feel much more tactile and fun.

Intro

We've added a brief introduction that explains the core gameplay mechanics, so players now have a better understanding of what to expect. Instead of being thrown straight into the action without context, they're given a bit of guidance to help them grasp the main objectives and how the game works before the chaos begins.