Well, this blog didn't end up getting updated as frequently as last semester. We were both pretty focused on getting the game to the best it can be, and other classes kept us very busy as it's our last semester at KSU.
To start I'll list some of the general improvements that were made to the game over the course of the past couple of months before diving into the new content or features.
The grappling hook was significantly improved. It feels much better to swing fun, is less likely to glitch out, and is much more reliable to use now. This was very important as the Crypt boss requires use of the grappling hook (and of course, the entire dungeon). If the grapple hook felt bad, the entire second half of the game felt bad because of it.
The occlusion culling in the Crypt was rebaked to improve performance in the main hall, and we saw increases of 40 to 80 FPS.
Another huge upgrade was to the lock on system. Previously, locking on to a new enemy would make the camera jerk way in the wrong direction, then jerk back to the enemy. Now, it smoothly pans the camera from your current facing to the enemy's lock on point. If the enemy is moving or turning, it used to make the camera jitter but that was fixed as well. Before, when you released your lock on it would snap your view back to wherever you were facing before you started locking on. Now it just sets your view to be the same direction as you were when you let go of lock on so it doesn't potentially snap behind you.
Lots of general bugfixes were of course made, including the player falling through the world after dying in a fresh save or cutscenes not triggering correctly. The player now faces the correct direction when loading into a new scene instead of keeping their current one.
Now I'll dive into the new content or features that have been added since the last blog post.
I added a loading screen to the game as well, which was needed due to its size. We have not made a game of this scale before and a loading screen was never needed... that was not the case for Forgotten Will. Trying to load into the Crypt or back would make the game look like it froze for 10+ seconds. This is unacceptable of course and if we were trying to be console certified it'd be a failure. Scene switching was moved over to async to prevent lockups, and a loading screen with a progress bar was added so the player knew the game was still working.
Dialogue was added so that you can talk to NPCs. It displays a box with their portrait and a series of text. This was done using xNode, so I just created most of the dialogue for around 70% of the villagers. This helped make the village feel much like less a setpiece and gave the player some more entertainment early on (and some tutorial text for those who sought it out). I did do some custom work of course with this, such as a dialogue bubble that appears above people you can talk to and the fact that AI pauses while talking so you can't get killed in the middle of a conversation.
I created an interactive crosshair to help show the player what they're interacting with. Mousing over a person for example changes the crosshair to show speech bubbles, while mousing over a hook shows you a grappling hook.
Shrines were a major gameplay piece that I added towards the end. They serve as checkpoints for the player, restoring their HP and giving them back up to 5 health potions. When the player interacts with one, it saves their game and resets all enemies that are still alive (so they can't abuse it to heal and fight enemies). When a player dies, they continue from the last shrine they rested at instead of just triggers we were using.
The reason shrines were added is because we took away InventoryPro and any plans for an in game economy. We decided against having gold and needing to buy health potions, and went for a more Dark Souls styled route where you can find items but your healing potions are always on you and are restored at checkpoints. These checkpoints needed to be more tangible so shrines were created. It was that, or create an entire in game economy.
A small thing I added was deleting your save from the main menu. It felt awkward having to go into your file browser to delete the save file, and was annoying when showcasing the game at events.
Zone/region switching was another feature added to help make the game world feel better. With it, the player can walk into a new area and it displays text that gives the name of the region, and changes the music to match. Unlike before, this means the music can change within the Overworld scene alone, as you walk into the Swamp for example.
Lastly, I made it possible for the player to exit a dungeon and arrive at a specific point in a different scene. Before, if the player entered the Crypt they'd always be placed at the entrance. If they exited, they'd always be placed back at the initial spawn point of the Overworld. Now, the player can exit the Crypt and actually be placed back at the Crypt exit.
That's all for major improvements, upgrades, new content and new features. We had a good time developing Forgotten Will and feel it's a great portfolio piece. Our hard work definitely shows in the game and I am glad I got to work on the game.
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