Day 5 - Nearing Production Point

I've properly gotten into the pre-exploitation phase. Today's finished items include:
- Added a state machine based node wheel class that makes it easier to switch between different modes of operation
- Added a node wheel state that lets it be affected by gravity (mainly for decoupling a node wheel at the end of a path)
- Added the necessary classes for a node wheel to detect passing certain points on a path (so that the wheel can switch when I eventually create a scenario with branching paths)

Next day's agenda is finishing a total of three different scenarios for the wheel to be used in level design.
And the final day I will  put all the scenarios together including an introduction section which introduces the game's controls etc.

That's still quite a lot of work, but with the way I'm organized currently I think it's totally possible!

Reviewing the gantt:

Since the beginning of the project I haven't looked at the gantt chart I made. Instead I just kept the various factors in my head as I moved forward. That isn't as bad as it sounds - project-management wise - when you consider the short time frame and scope of this experiment. I also assumed from the very start that things would change over the course of the production, especially during experimentation. Experimentation can only be planned to some degree after all.

Original chart:

Current chart:

The main takeaways from the chart so far are:

• Challenges (as in the wheel scenarios e.g. the vault) were considered to be 100% exploitation-phase-related. Instead they turned out to be mainly exploration-phase-related. Thus I split the challenges into two categories wheel & surrounding challenges.
• The time frame which I spent working on the main character's controls was accurate but, total time spent far surpassed what I had hoped. Not having researched KinematicBody2D (which is the node I used for the main character's movement) ended up costing me a lot of time.
• Adding proper systems (level manager, checkpoints, sound manager) was far from the most urgent task. So I just added them whenever I needed. So far they've cost the least time as I've primarily just taken them from older projects.
• Due to time restrictions I've ended up scrapping infinite scrolling and generated levels for the 7day demo. Had I researched these two topics more beforehand I could've probably just added in some pre-made systems.
• And I'm also not considering asking friends for help with artwork or music anymore either because I will barely be able to finish the demo in time. But, if I keep on working on this idea I will definitely consider it again.

I've already learned lots just from these five days of work. Especially in regards to preparation and execution. I could've saved a lot of time had I prepared some more systems and researched the nodes I was going to use. As I test and develop the various scenarios I imagine for the game I'm also coming up with all kinds of systems that would contribute hugely to game feel. Among those are:

• A clever camera that shows you what you want to see based on your velocity and closeness to the wheel
• An aim-assist for jumping from platform to platform while on the wheel (to make accumulating momentum less awkward)
• Short-lived slow-time, for landing back on the wheel

All of those ideas are outside the scope of the demo though as they'd require research, and some decent development time. But they're all definitely future considerations if I continue.

I was also hoping I'd be able to set aside time for drawing some concept art for the game but so far I haven't made the time for that. Possibly I'll see what I come up with once the grind is over.

Cya on day 6 o/