PogoChamp News

This week was when I finally started to feel like the demo is going to be "ready" for the Steam Game Festival. Adding in all the triggers for sound effects, and "finalizing" the level styling for the demo levels turned the game from "that hobby project" to "an actual video game" in my mind. There are still some tweaks to make (ex: I still need updated versions of many of the sound effects), but I'm excited to show the game to the world on Feb 3.


In the last couple of days I've done a full refresh pass on the UI and assets on the website (https://pogochampgame.com/) and Steam page. The old version of the website was pretty bad, because I made it before I knew what the visual style of the game was going to be. The new website looks a lot more like the actual game, and includes updated screenshots and gifs.

I'm also going to make a new trailer for the demo, because the old trailer is months old, and looks nothing like the current version of the game, so stay tuned!


I'd like to do some demo testing before the Game Festival starts, so if you'd like to try the demo early, join the Discord and let me know. I'll be granting access to the demo once I fix a few more small issues.

• More testing graphics options for MacOS compatibility.
  
• Added water splash effect when landing in water.
  
• Repositioned the FMOD Studio Listener onto the character's physical body so that 3D sounds work properly.
  
• Fixed issue where sounds could not be heard if the character's body moved far away after crashing.
  
• Added tons of sound effects.
  
• Fixed issue where teleporter visual effects would sometimes not render.
  
• Updated level styling for remaining levels in the demo.
  
• Fixed graphical issue that caused some walls to have strange stripes on them.
  
• Removed coloration on Sports!!! level because it looked bad.
  
• Made blue levels more blue.
  
• Update resolution options so that they're consistent.
  
• Add aspect ratio text to the resolution options picker.
  
• Change all the options picker in the graphics settings menu to be non-looping.
  
• Pressing the Reset button in graphics settings now properly updates all the settings.
  
• Options menu sound settings now actually change the volume properly and persist on game close.
  
• Fix bug where Stats Menu didn't show correct time values.
  
• Fix bug where the sound sample would play when volume settings were applied on game launch.
  
• Prevent UI/menu sounds from playing when a menu opens automatically.
  
• Fix issue where skid effects triggered constantly while on conveyor belts.
  
• Add FMOD logo to splash screen (because it's required in the license).
  
• Fixed issue where the character could trigger a bounce SFX before you started moving.
  
• Update bump sound effect to scale with impact speed.
  
• Add a bit more padding to the top UI elements in Level Select and In-Level UIs.
  
• Adjust Level Select camera so the character is positioned lower on the screen.
  
• Fix incorrect icon for missing stars in Pause Menu.
  
• Update Conservation of Momentum 2 star time from 5 seconds to 10.
  
• Update "Frame Rate" option label to say "Max Frame Rate", and stopped including the hardware reported refresh rates.
  
• Fix issue where fresh installs of the game had blank profile icons.
  
• More changes to prevent situations where a frozen ragdoll could block your view of the spawn point.
  
• Fix gap on the left side of the level geometry in The Pits.
  
• Change unlock condition for the second gate from 9 stars to 7.
  
• Change gates to open automatically when you approach them if you have enough stars (instead of having to press towards them to open them).
  
• Options Menu settings are now global across save files.
  
• Added a Speed Run Timer option. Speed Run Mode tracks your active time in levels (does not include crash / victory time, or time in level select).
  
• Changed the way the speed run timer works so that toggling it on/off works properly.
  
• Speed Run Timer is now reset when you reset your profile's progress.
  
• Fix bug where High Score Mode failure message wasn't properly displaying best time.
  
• Fix "New Record" message not properly displaying.
  
• Swapped the order of some levels.
  
• Updated styling of Uphill and Piano levels to reflect the change in order.
  
• Update Piano sound effect emitter size so it doesn't plays properly in 3D.
  
• Fix lighting on Sports!!! level.
  
• Add lightning effect to the opposing players in Sports!!!.
  
• Fix bug where the Pause Menu would display below the screen wipe effect.
  
• Sports!!! now uses a power up instead of automatically applying the hat.
  
• Sports!!! goal zone now requires you to have the power up.
  
• Fix Swimming level wall see through collision boxes.
  
• Fix piano keys not triggering see through effect.
  
• Make the see through trigger on the character smaller so it doesn't trigger as many false positives.
  
• Add reset button as a hotkey for restarting a level after crashing & during replays.
  
• Increased valid jump angle from 70 to 75 degrees.
  
• Slightly tweak teleporter flash VFX.
  
• Add left & right inputs to Level Quick Select Menu to jump by 10 elements.
  
• Added new air acceleration tutorial level. Removed Cann Cann from the demo.
  
• Reordered some levels to account for the new level.
  
• Updated cannons so that they're see through when you're not loaded into them.
  
• Imported updated sound effects.
  
• Changed pogo stick bump sound effect to be different from the character bump sound effect.
  
• Properly call .release() on one-shot sounds.
  
• Update jump charge sound effect so that it turns off when you stop charging your jump.
  
• Fix Options Menu rest button not working properly if changing display settings fails.
  
• Fixed options menu rest button not properly resetting Speed Run Timer.
  
• Add SFX to Pause Menu buttons.
  
• Fix bug where jump charge sound effect would play whenever you press the jump button even if you can't jump.
  
• Fix bug where Level Quick Select Menu wouldn't update if it was open while a gate is unlocking.
  
• Restyle Air Control level because it was reordered.
  
• Prototyped a lens distortion effect when teleporting.
  
• Fixed jump charge UI misplacement on ultrawide displays.
  
• Update Main Menu confetti icons and colors.
  
• Add empty message in Replay Menu when you have no replays.
  
• Adjust placement of Stats Menu text.
  
• Fix issue where resolution picker value sometimes wouldn't update when resetting graphics settings.
  
• Update blue wall see through material.
  
• Update lighting on Air Control.
  
• Fix colors of Fish power up so it doesn't look super weird in different lighting.
  
• Update underwater post processing effect to be more pronounced.
  
• Fix a few issues in the reset tutorial level.
  
• Add tar pit post processing effect.
  
• Slightly tweak controller button sprite y position so they're centered better.
  
• Update website (UI, style, text, images, gifs, etc).
  
• Update Steam Store page (text, images, gifs, etc).
  
• Create Steam Demo app & store page, and submit them for review.
  

This week I did most of the prep work for adding sound effects to the game using FMOD. I have almost all the sounds implemented with placeholders, and built into FMOD so they're easily replaceable / configurable. I also started working with Clark Aboud (Slay the Spire, Factory Town, Kind Words, etc) on music and sound effects for the game. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he comes up with!


This week also involved a lot of trial and error related to MacOS compatibility. Tests across 4 different Macbooks have resulted in experiences ranging from working flawlessly, to crashing the entire computer. I've managed to resolve all of the game/computer crash bugs I know about, but even now I run into occasional issues like visual effects not rendering, or other strange behavior. These issues have seriously shaken my confidence in the MacOS version of the game, and specifically whether it's worth trying to launch a MacOS version of the demo for the next Steam Game Festival. If you're a MacOS player who really wants to try out the game, let me know. Or if you're a Unity developer and know some tricks to keep Macs behaving properly, I would love to hear your advice.

• Slightly increase ragdoll forbidden zone size.
  
• Fix Pause Menu blurred background being incorrect for a short time when pausing.
  
• Hide spawn point VFX after you start moving.
  
• Added total playtime to profile menu cells and stats recording.
  
• Removed last played time from profile menu cells.
  
• Shortened the height of profile menu cells.
  
• Updated playtime to include all time spent inside a level, not just while you're moving.
  
• Added total playtime to stats menu.
  
• Update Piano level sound effects.
  
• Fixed quality setting picker in Options Menu not actually changing the quality setting.
  
• Fix quality setting not saved when changed.
  
• Correct see through walls material for more colored grid surfaces.
  
• Swap player character material when using "Low" quality setting.
  
• Added profile icons. When you create a profile, one of the 8 profile icons will be randomly assigned to that profile.
  
• Decoupled the logic that outlines selected UI elements from the logic that makes those elements expand when selected.
  
• Prevent the delete profile menu from opening when there isn't a profile to delete.
  
• Fixed "Sports!!!" goal zone.
  
• Reset Unity Collab history because I ran out of space.
  
• Added FMOD for sound & music management.
  
• Updated Piano level to use FMOD sound effects.
  
• Fix incorrectly assigned notes in Piano level.
  
• Fix font sizing in Replay Mode.
  
• Made it so you can close Replay List and Save File menus with the mouse.
  
• Fixed Level State Manager trying to cache itself after destroying itself in Replay Mode.
  
• Fixed gap in replay between the end of the "alive" recording and the beginning of the "crashed" recording.
  
• Stubbed out FMOD SFX in FMOD Studio.
  
• Update pogo stick perfect jump trail effect so they have rounded starts and don't always display on top of everything else.
  
• Finally root caused [one of the] MacOS crashes. Needed to disable "Realtime Reflection Probes" in graphics settings.
  
• Fixed MacOS bug where changing full screen mode in options menu would cause the input to be repeated forever, meaning the game would constantly change full screen mode.
  
• Added loading scene between all other scenes.
  
• Removed debug canvas and debug progress reset controls from the Level Select menu.
  
• Fix replay mode current attempt text not updating when first loading into levels.
  
• Increase spacing between UI elements in Replay Mode.
  
• Add Pause Menu to Replay Mode.
  
• Fix bug where you could still interact with the replay while the pause & options menus were open in Replay Mode.
  
• Remove "Export Video" text from Replay Mode (it was never implemented anyway).
  
• Fix bug where "Reset Level" button in Pause Menu didn't work in Replay Mode.
  
• Fix FOV settings not working for some cameras in Replay Mode.
  
• Fix NullRefferenceError related to Replay List background image.
  
• Add background blurring to Pause Menu in Replay Mode.
  
• Fix warnings related to unchecked .Load() calls in Save File Menu.
  
• When returning from Replay Mode, you now return directly to the Replay Menu.
  
• Fix bug where options Menu Pickers stopped responding to mouse interactions.
  
• Fix TextmeshPro IndexOutOfBounds errors related to target time UI in levels.
  
• Fix some FMOD warnings.
  
• Fix issue where closing Pause Menu using the start button or escape key would close it twice.
  
• Stub out FMOD-based sound effects for Menus, Player, and Level Select.
  
• Various infrastructure improvements for FMOD usability.
  
• Fully implemented Menu SFX with placeholder sounds.
  
• Change Replay Mode exit hotkey from Esc to Delete/Backspace because Esc conflicted with the Pause Menu.
  
• Implemented Level Select SFX with placeholder sounds.
  

Hi everyone! I've been continuing to work on getting everything ready for the demo build. The main things added this week are redesigns for all the menus I didn't finish last week, support for multiple save files, and some progress on styling all the levels. Additionally there were a variety of functionality improvements, bug fixes and various other tweaks. I think the game is really shaping up!

Here's the Save File selection UI (playtime and last played time aren't implemented yet).


And here's a gif of the Level Quick Select Menu in action.

• Update Stats Menu UI with new style.
  
• Update Options Menu UI with new style.
  
• Fix Options Menu colors when opened from Pause Menu.
  
• Allow wrap around for Pause Menu button navigation.
  
• Update Demo End Scene UI with new style.
  
• Update Tutorial Basics control prompts.
  
• Updated Tutorial Camera UI placement.
  
• Changed the arrow keys so that they control the camera.
  
• Added Q as the "Reset Camera" key.
  
• Reset Camera will now position the camera in the direction the character is facing if they're not moving or not tilted.
  
• Replay mode camera controls now match normal gameplay camera controls.
  
• Fix typo in Demo Warning popup button.
  
• Update Controller Recommended Screen with new designs.
  
• Added Steam Controller image to Controller Recommended Screen.
  
• More font style changes: Added outlined fonts to the stylesheet.
  
• Fully replaced all old font uses. Deleted all fonts that are no longer being used.
  
• Increase camera tutorial level size so you don't see through the wall at the end if you don't move the camera.
  
• Various tweaks to in-level font sizes.
  
• Fix level number text in Pause Menu.
  
• Blur the background on pause, with fallback for situations where blur isn't possible.
  
• Being in a cannon no longer prevents self destructs.
  
• Self destructing inside a cannon makes you fly in the direction the cannon would shoot.
  
• Swap from vector-based to quaternion-based rotations for cannon loading to prevent janky animations.
  
• Refactor Level Quick Select Menu to be like other menus.
  
• Add controller input support to Level Quick Select Menu.
  
• Fix bug where Demo End scene would be added to the build settings multiple times when automatically populating build settings.
  
• Add pass-through scene when exiting levels to prevent weird issues with objects not being properly destroyed.
  
• Fix bug where Level Quick Select Menu would not properly scroll to the current level's row.
  
• Fix bug where pressing cancel button could trigger multiple calls to close the same menu.
  
• Level Quick Select now properly closes when pressing cancel.
  
• Fix bug where closing Level Quick Select Menu would cause you to exit back to the Main Menu.
  
• More tweaks to Level Select UI.
  
• Automatic scrolling in lists now animates instead of instantly jumping to new scroll position.
  
• increase font size in Replay Menu rows.
  
• Add Save File Menu and support for multiple save files.
  
• Change SaveSystem from a static class into a shared instance class.
  
• Fix completion percent display in Save File Menu.
  
• Add icon to show which save file is currently selected.
  
• Fix null reference errors from Demo Warning popup.
  
• Fix Main Menu background image not properly resizing on different aspect ratios.
  
• Fix null reference error when selecting button to open Save File Menu.
  
• Fix "Stats" button in Main Menu being the wrong size by default.
  
• Automatically select the current save file when opening the Save File Menu.
  
• Add confirmation popup when choosing to delete a save file.
  
• Delete Save File confirmation allows you to either "Delete All Progress" or "Reset Progress". Reset will retain your stats and replays, while delete all clears everything.
  
• Fix bug where Save File Menu wasn't updating when deleting / creating new save files.
  
• Added "Create Profile" elements when save files don't exist yet.
  
• Fix replay time displaying "0.01" instead of 0 before the replay movements start.
  
• Various changes to level styling.
  
• Changed teleporter color from green to white.
  
• Changed large arrows in levels to use Shapes geometry instead of 3D objects.
  
• Prevent situations where input prompts could get "stuck" with error icons.
  
• Add keyboard input for toggling the Level Select Menu.
  
• Remove duplicate Stats Recorder from Level State Manager, which prevented stats from properly recording.
  
• Fix duplicate "Ground Time" entry in Stats Menu.
  
• Remove some deprecated logic from the player controller.
  
• Lots more level style changes (15 of 20 levels done).
  
• Update Fish materials (they're still kind of wrong).
  

Don't forget to Wishlist the game and join the Discord to be notified about when the demo is available!

I moved to a new apartment this week, so I spent a lot of time packing, moving and unpacking. That meant there wasn't that much time for PogoChamp, but I also had the whole week off at work, so I still made some pretty good progress.


The most exciting thing I worked on this week are the new designs. A UX designer friend of mine generously volunteered some time to help me revamp the menus. There's still lots of work to be done, but I look forward to showing you the progress in next week's progress report!

• Times shown in Replay Menu rows now properly show completion time, instead of total time of the replay.
  
• Change the replay current ghost selection UI to use Easy Performant Outline instead of my custom material.
  
• Revamped the demo warning mockup to look like the new designs.
  
• Revamped the Main Menu UI based on the new designs.
  
• In the Main Menu, clicking left from the Discord button now returns it back to the button it came from when you navigated to it.
  
• Fixed incorrect text labels in the main menu.
  
• Removed levels that aren't in the demo from the build settings.
  
• Partial fix to Main Menu background not resizing for different aspect ratios.
  
• Fix issue where demo warning buttons could animate to hovered while currently hovered, resulting in repeated flashing while mousing over them.
  
• Redesigned Pause Menu based on new designs.
  
• Removed EventSystem objects from all menu prefabs and made the MenuManager the owner of the EventSystem. This improves control consistency and fixes various potential bugs.
  
• Set up a TextMeshPro stylesheet for easy styles.
  
• Applied stylesheet styles to the Pause Menu.
  
• Cleaned up the Level Score HUD code so that animations are owned by the same script that updates the images and text.
  
• Began major refactoring of styling and support for automatic style swapping between light and dark styles when UI elements are selected.
  
• Created prefab for menu buttons that resizes itself properly based on text size and changes color when selected.
  
• Apply EventSystem changes to the MenuManager prefab.
  
• Disable "Deselect on Background Click" in the MenuManager EventSystem.
  
• Fixes Score HUD ui misplacement on a bunch of levels.
  
• Add Line-height specification to stylesheet styles.
  
• Apply stylesheet styles to the demo warning popup UI.
  
• Update the replay menu UI based on the new designs.
  

I hope you're all doing well and staying safe this holiday season. A lot of changes happened in PogoChamp this week. I have been prepping the demo for the upcoming Steam Game Festival, and while I've made a lot of improvements this week, my todo list just keeps getting longer. Still, there were some very important changes this week: I updated the keyboard & mouse camera controls to be a lot more usable, I totally revamped the way that friction works in the game to remove some of the more esoteric / unexpected interactions, and I finally got all my shaders working in Unity 2020.2.


While trying to get rolling working again after completely reworking friction, I caused this. The above is just directly translating controller input into character acceleration. I thought it was pretty funny. The actual rolling fix involved reducing the unity built-in friction to almost 0 on the character, and then manually calculating proper character speed based on how the character was rotating.

• Go directly to main menu when returning from replay mode (skip initial splash screens).
  
• Remove realistic skyboxes from the project, replace level select terrain with something more stylized.
  
• Remove realistic skyboxes, replace level select terrain. Allows you to input directions that are within 45 degrees of the "actual" direction and they'll still be valid.
  
• Fix bug where attempt count wasn't reset when you restarted a level after completing it.
  
• Finally add a "Reset Level" button to the pause menu.
  
• Fixed an error that prevented seeing through objects.
  
• Updated material used when seeing through walls that have a grid.
  
• Fixed issue where restarting a level triggered several hundred NullReference errors related to DoTween Animations.
  
• Fix issue where I was spawning a 0.3 second animation every frame while positioning the jump charge UI.
  
• Change most of the beginning levels to use convex mesh colliders so that wall detection works properly.
  
• Removed colliders from the decorative container boxes that surround several levels.
  
• Updated the surface materials on several levels.
  
• Fixed certain styled materials using incorrect semitransparent materials when being seen through.
  
• Swapped Air Control and Up Hill level order.
  
• Moved Shepherd later in the level order so it's not in the demo.
  
• Added an "End of Demo" level with links to Steam and Discord.
  
• Updated Screen Wipe animation to be reversible and customizable from other scripts.
  
• Adjusted Level Select input direction between levels 19 and 20.
  
• Made it so that demo players are locked into a specific set of levels in Level Select.
  
• Removed the deprecated locked level arrow logic from Level Select.
  
• Made the gate open animation reversible for right -> left level connections.
  
• Fixed Replay Menu mouse scroll wheel sensitivity.
  
• Updated Replay Menu row UI to show properly formatted dates, number of attempts, and completion time.
  
• Separated mouse and controller camera controls to improve mouse camera.
  
• Changed mouse camera to require a click while moving.
  
• Updated Cinemachine from 2.5.0 to 2.6.3.
  
• Fixed bug where camera's Y sensitivity would load the X sensitivity value when opening the options menu.
  
• Added Options Menu option for mouse camera rotation style. Defaults to "While Dragging", but can be set to "Always On".
  
• Revert Cinemachine back to 2.5.0 because 2.6.3 added some weird lerping that would make people sick.
  
• Updated camera tutorial level text to handle mouse-based camera controls.
  
• Updated camera tutorial level text to be flush with the wall.
  
• Update camera low position so you don't see through the floor.
  
• Update TextMeshPro from 3.0.1 to 3.0.3.
  
• Fix incorrectly assigned Options Menu items.
  
• Update 6 screens to use the "New Input System" EventSystem for navigation.
  
• Make spacebar act as "Submit" in all menus.
  
• Reimport FlatKit now that it has been updated for Unity 2020.2. (got the fix from the developers)
  
• Fix many material & shader issues with Level Select and Character.
  
• Reduced the number of materials used for the pogo stick from 6 to 2.
  
• Fixed level select arrow transparency (the transparent parts weren't all the way transparent).
  
• Various shader & material adjustments for the character now that I'm using FlatKit again.
  
• Adjusted the color of the Level Select tower.
  
• Doubled the star requirement text size in Level Select gates.
  
• Completely reworked sliding logic and physics. This fixes the situation where you would slide across the ground with no friction if you landed at an extreme angle. It also completely broke rolling.
  
• Added a toggle to hide the "Ragdoll Forbidden Zone" gizmo in Scene view.
  
• Fixed issue where character's body collider was offset from the base collider, resulting in interactions being different depending on which direction you were facing, and making rolling act as if you were football shaped.
  
• Adjust character lean angle slightly so that the head collider lines up better with the center of the character.
  
• Fixed body collider bottom offset regression cause by earlier fix.
  
• Adjust the distance you slide based on the orientation of your landing relative to the direction you're moving. Pointing in the same direction that you're moving = longer slide, pointing away from the direction you're moving = shorter slide.
• Implemented custom friction code as a replacement for the previous versions of the character sliding logic (yes, I replaced the replacement).
  
• Fixed bug in custom friction code where character would never actually hit zero velocity.
  
• Apply new friction relative to moving surfaces (like conveyor belts). This finally makes moving platforms work properly.
  
• Remove code for the old way I accounted for moving surfaces.
  
• Re-add rolling. (A lot harder than it seems!)
  
• Fixed bug where sliding vfx would play constantly while rolling.
  
• Fixed bug where you could stick to walls if you landed relatively parallel to them.
  
• Removed "The One Ring" level from the demo and replaced it with "Facade".
  
• Fix bug where The One Ring level would instantly kill you.
  
• Fixed skid vfx position.