Hello everyone!

Welcome to another week of production. After finishing the second week we are a bit closer to finishing the level decoration and we changed up some of the gameplay elements to divert the focus more towards the environment around you rather than the speedbar.

Art

Form the art side, we're going strong on filling up the level further. We made a new asset which clearly indicates you're suppose to lean under it.

As well as decorated the areas further.

We started working on the final HUD for the game. Here is a mockup of how we imagine it to look like after all the assets will be implemented.

level deco for the cafeteria corridor and office was done along with some food tray arrangements, a drone assets that stuns the player and some modular buildings for the background.

RFX

We worked on some more rfx this week aswell.

Technical 

Some changes were made to the speedbar (again). While playtesting our game and lettings others play it aswell, we noticed a lot of things. One of the main things being, that the players look to much at the bar, instead of the level around them. To counter this, instead of giving the player one small boost when correctly pressing the speedbar button. Now the player gets a slower but longer lasting boost. During this boost, the bar is inactive and the player will therefore have more time to look at the level. 

Other things we found out during playtesting, were that a lot of gameplay elements, still had bugs (because of course they do). So we started working on resolving them. 

To achieve a fun final product, we also experimented with a bunch of other things. For example, making some of the assets in the level, moveable. This way the players will be able to race through the level while bumping into, and knocking over a lot of objects, which will create even more chaos. Together with the ragdoll npc’s the level will feel more alive and interactive

The camera has been drastically updated. We now have a more third-person view while still keeping a top-down element. This has been achieved by laying down a path for the camera to follow, which follows the track. The camera is then moved up and set back a few points on the path. It also keeps looking at the player. This new camera view gives a much better overview of the level, and the player can now see what's in front of them and react better to the situation. 

As promised, we have also added a new item: the drone. As mentioned in the previous devlog, the drone locates the first player in the race and stuns them by exploding near them. The drone can only be picked up by the third and fourth players, as a way for them to catch up. 

You might have noticed that we now have a HUD. Don't worry, art assets are on their way. In the HUD, you can see your current position and how many laps you have completed. If you finish all the laps, you finish the game and can't move anymore until the game restarts. Next week, we'll add a final addition to the HUD: a minimap for you to see where your rivals are. 

When the game starts, you are no longer greeted with the main level. Instead, you are presented with a player load-in menu. This menu allows all players to load in without giving them access to move instantly. Once everybody is ready and loaded in, you can press the X button on your Xbox controller or the square on your PlayStation controller, and the game level will load, and you can start racing against each other.

We hope to see you again next week!