Moving Out Monday #11 – Technical Problem Solving
Hey Movers!
Last week we went all in on the World Map, but today we’re gonna touch on some of the technical problems we had to solve during development.
First up, let’s talk about Steve’s* Magic Camera! You’d think the camera would be simple, but we had to consider things like: framing all the characters to make sure that everyone would stay on the screen at the same time and crucially, designing the size of the levels so we wouldn’t zoom out too far and lose all legibility.
We also found that when players were walking up ramps and stairs, objects could get caught on the ground. One solution we tried was to make the ramps super long for a shallow angle of elevation, but this wasn’t really workable from a level-design perspective.
In the end, we created a system whereby the characters would automatically raise their arms up when approaching ledges or walking up ramps and stairs. Chaa-ching!
Another issue we faced were complications with item respawning. We had to consider things like: how would they respawn with items in the way? How would we indicate something being blocked? We had to think creatively to solve those issues, and we added respawn markers and indicator graphics to make things pretty clear.
In the end, game design is a complicated mix of unknowable things and every game is different. It’s only when you’re putting all the pieces together that you can see the tech problems that need to be solved, but that’s part of what makes designing and building games so much fun.
Now that the demo is out, let us know in the comments what you think about the technical considerations and pay attention to that camera, especially if you’re giving it a shot with multiple players. We’d love to hear your thoughts!
*Steve is one of our amazing developers and he totally nailed the camera in our game!
Last week we went all in on the World Map, but today we’re gonna touch on some of the technical problems we had to solve during development.
First up, let’s talk about Steve’s* Magic Camera! You’d think the camera would be simple, but we had to consider things like: framing all the characters to make sure that everyone would stay on the screen at the same time and crucially, designing the size of the levels so we wouldn’t zoom out too far and lose all legibility.
We also found that when players were walking up ramps and stairs, objects could get caught on the ground. One solution we tried was to make the ramps super long for a shallow angle of elevation, but this wasn’t really workable from a level-design perspective.
In the end, we created a system whereby the characters would automatically raise their arms up when approaching ledges or walking up ramps and stairs. Chaa-ching!
Another issue we faced were complications with item respawning. We had to consider things like: how would they respawn with items in the way? How would we indicate something being blocked? We had to think creatively to solve those issues, and we added respawn markers and indicator graphics to make things pretty clear.
In the end, game design is a complicated mix of unknowable things and every game is different. It’s only when you’re putting all the pieces together that you can see the tech problems that need to be solved, but that’s part of what makes designing and building games so much fun.
Now that the demo is out, let us know in the comments what you think about the technical considerations and pay attention to that camera, especially if you’re giving it a shot with multiple players. We’d love to hear your thoughts!
*Steve is one of our amazing developers and he totally nailed the camera in our game!