*Frame of Mind*

Happy Black History Month! February has been quite the balancing act between networking events, overhauling Realm Riser, and troubleshooting a sticky collaborative repository error.  Nevertheless, leaps and bounds have been made with the game and the revisit is around 2/3rds of the way complete! 

Let’s take a brief look at what has been accomplished! 

Things That Worked 

• The introduction cutscene needed a bit more flare so I went back into Timeline and added more detail to the sound design with layered tracks at pivotal points. Additionally,  lerp to color, rotate, and pulsate functions were added towards the end of the scene for dramatic effect. 

• All level and environment designs have been reconstructed to emphasize the mood of the story. 

• Content was extended to add depth to the “Chosen Awakes”  “The Quest Begins” and “The Quest Continues” scenes, immersing as well as preparing the player for the game itself.  

• After adding additional lore through dialogue-based narrative content, I  compounded all working scenes into the GameManager flow.  Thereafter I wanted to find a way to bring enthusiasm to reading during the Quest scenes. Que the allure of the Parallax Background! Initializing the design to convey travel over time was one thing, though it was another to sync the PB to the player’s on click and conclusion entering into an event within the Dialogue System network. With the help of a mentor, I was able to properly conceal the needed variables through a static boolean, that way I could decouple the need for one instance of this check without interfering with the foundational components of the narrative trigger or dialogue scripts. 

Things That Didn’t( Yet!) 

• All that remains is the combat system overhaul. I want Demorious to fight alongside Chosen, so I will need to create a level of AI for Demorious, as well as special script systems for player interaction.  Easier said than done as always, but what is a programmer if not an executor or executioner of grandiose dreams? 

Thanks for listening! 

XOXO, 

tracie