Development Log

Overview:

The game “Witch’s Adventure” is a 2D game with the main theme of a witch saving her lovely little cat. However, the little cat is kidnapped by a mysterious creature deep inside the cave. Ahead of the witch is not only her little cat and the creature, but a massive number of bats and slimes as well as fatal traps of magic lasers and lava. The whole game is built up based on the main theme of saving the cat, which means that every setting of the game must be appropriate in the path of saving the cat. 

We demonstrated the art style of the game by starting with the sprites of the witch herself and a stone block, and then created sprites for the types of monsters, traps, and finally, the decorations. 

The main focus of the game is the interaction between the witch and other game objects in the scene. For instance, when the witch touches lava, she would lose one heart and be repositioned to the start position to avoid the witches getting stuck in the lava and losing all her lives. We implement 5 levels in total with a final boss at level 5. The further the level, the higher the difficulty of the game but also the witch would receive powerful potions to gain extra hearts to pass the ultimate level. 

Certain percentages of freedom is allowed in this game where players could choose to not shoot the monsters, which would usually be disadvantageous since monsters would reduce the character’s health and block the character’s movement, but could also be advantageous to save the monsters that provide health for when the player needs it. Players also have the opportunity to travel outside the set path of the game to collect herbs that can result in power ups that would make the final level easier to tackle. 

Link to presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1UGNgoo-gVc3zA-nIGgnBTsswRZZQEs7RCs5AdF0X9z8/edit?usp=sharing 

Summary of play tests:

Playtest Results Week 1:

1. The character animations for walking, running, and jumping don’t transition at the right times and are not consistent making it feel awkward. 
2. Player character keeps getting harmed by lava without being too close to it which isn’t very fun. Probably should make use of coyote time with the box colliders.
3. The player’s shooting mechanics are really fun to use so we should implement more than one enemy type to be able to use it more.

Playtest Results Week 2:

1. The player keeps getting stuck in the walls and moving platforms, making it hard to enjoy the parkour aspect of the game.
2. The slimes were a cool addition to the enemy list and are better for introducing the player to the game mechanics than the bats were.
3. Most of the sprites are added in and the game looks a lot better. It needs some lighting to amp up the experience.
4. The bullets don’t despawn yet and the sound effects still need to be added into the game, along with making the collectibles work.

Playtest Results Week 3:

1. After extending the level designs, it feels a lot more like a fully developed game.
2. The bullets, sounds, sprites, and lighting were fixed up and added in.
3. Herbs and potion sprites were added in but the player doesn’t know how to use them yet. It needs to be easier to figure out.
4. Need to add in the opening and closing screens and animations.
5. Looks cool and is fun to play. A bit on the difficult side in the later levels.

Boss

Witch

Potions

Lava

Cat

Stone

 Heart