Weekly Progress Report #11

So this week I did a little bit of experimentation with keyboard & mouse controls. The game already had WASD and arrow key support, but something I've been thinking about for a while is whether using the mouse to control the character's tilt angle would be a reasonable way to control the game. I whipped up a quick prototype of the controls that you can see here:


It..... sorta works? I'm still trying to figure out how to tune it so it's more intuitive to control. As it is now it's very finicky and difficult to use. If you want to play this game, you really ought to get a controller, but I'll do my best to make keyboard & mouse as good as I can.


I don't have an image for this week's bug of the week, but I'll do my best to explain it. This week I got the raw 3d files for a mockup that I commissioned. The files were made in Cinema4D, which Unity doesn't natively support. The company that makes Cinema4D has an asset called Cineware that allows you to import the files into unity after saving them in a specific way. The scene in Cinema4D involves many different colored light sources that shine on the walls & floor to give them cool color gradients. I've tried both importing with Cineware, and exporting the scene as an FBX, but in each case something goes wrong. Sometimes the materials don't get exported correctly, and end up as weird defaults or non-URP compatible materials. Sometimes the light sources are imported with default settings instead of the settings they have in Cinema4D. Sometimes the level geometry is wonky, or has different dimensions depending on how I imported it. It's a bit of a mess. After a decent amount of investigation I've decided to just not bother trying to import it. I think I've got a decent understanding of how to recreate scenes like that using the unity tools directly (using area lights, and baked lighting).


Starting next week, I've decided to transition my real job to 80% time instead of full time, which means I'll have an extra day off every week to work on PogoChamp! Being able to work on the game outside mornings and weekends is a big change, and one I am looking forward to.

• Updated the email links on the website to use the new "pogochampgame.com" domain.
  
• Experiment with replicating & importing mockup art
  
• Lower water level on Zig Zag
  
• Tweak Goal Zone on Long Jump to be more of a cyliner at the bottom.
  
• Remove walls from Long Jump
  
• Remove physical platform under Bouncer goal.
  
• Add 2 new levels.
  
• Update main menu for better performance on lower-end graphics cards.
  
• Fix build compilation error.
  
• Prototype Mouse-tilt controls.