Tree Growth Animation
Animation and More
I wasn't able to get too much done this weekend, but I was still proud of the progress that I made. In the gif about you can see the start of the animation I created for the seed growing into a tree. For some reason giphy decided to cut the animation short in here, but in the linked version you can see leaves start to sprout as more time goes by. In total, the animation takes around 30 seconds and triggers an event once it is finished to add a tree count to the game manager. This then will help progress the game.
Speaking of progressing the game, you can see I have changed the planet sprite. That is because there are now six different versions of the planet that the player will see as they progress. Essentially, as the player plants and grows more trees, the planet will start to look more and more like a vegetated planet and "earth" like. The final "earth" like planet will then showcase the "recovery" aspect of the game and prove that the planet recover force was a success!
Bugs
With the tree growth mechanic done, I can start fixing some of the bugs... lol... in the bugs themselves. Currently, they are able to go and look for the seed once it is planted, but it seems pretty unnatural if the seed is picked up since they just sit and wait for another seed to spawn. I would like to create some form of script (maybe using the NavMesh Agent?) for the bugs to naturally fly around in space if there is no seed for them to pick up.
Additionally, it is pretty confusing to understand where the bugs are coming from when playing the game. Do you think adding a mini map with enemy locations would make it too easy? Or would it be better to just show arrows on the screen where the enemies are? I need to make the bug battles more balanced, but still trying to figure out what would be the best way to account for the advantage the bugs have.
When Will I Be Done?
I am still hoping to be done by the end of the month so I can submit the game for the jam. I have some time off from work in the next few weeks, so hopefully I can use that time to finish putting this game together.
Realistically, the version of the game for the jam will not be mobile friendly, but I would still like to make a version of the game for mobile after I submit it for the jam. This way the game could reach a larger audience. It is pretty wild how many more play sessions I received for Tip Tap Cat since I put it on the Apple App Store in addition to launching the game on itch itself.