Updates for this month:
- Player testing on Google Play Store
- Mobile controls refinement
- Dedicated fishing mode
- Camera re-centering
- Clouds ☁
- Start on Northern Mountains area
- Wind tunnel, fancy camera moves
At the beginning of February, I got the game built and on the Google Play Store to start rolling out testing for friends and family (previously had been testing in person with my own phone). Though the testing was small, through feedback, it helped me refine the controls on mobile, as well as point me in the direction of some functionality I hadn’t even thought of. I also got experience in using the Google Play Console, building release builds, and such.
Both the left screen player movement and right screen camera movement got refined to feel more intuitive and natural (faster/slower). There is still room for fine-tuning, but it is much better then before.
Though testing the fishing mechanic, it got brought up that figuring out where to position on the camera in order to catch the fish was confusing. In response, I build a sort of ‘fishing mode’. When the player gets near a fishing spot, they have the option to enter a fishing mode that locks the player in place and focuses the camera on the fishing spot. It got refined throughout the month, eventually leading me to learn more new Cinemachine camera uses, or as I like to call it, ‘fancy camera moves’.
Another camera related issue that was brought up was re-centering/repositioning. Although I prefer when games do not re-center the camera (have full control), it came to my attention that others do not always feel the same way, particularly with mobile controls they may not be super familiar with. Therefore, I implemented some simple camera re-centering that can be enabled/disabled in the settings to suit different play styles.
An issue I had completely forgotten to address up until this point was clouds. In the story, clouds will play an important role, however I forgot to even try adding them. After many different attempts (and lack of skill) I have added some simple clouds. May possibly change in the future.
Lastly, with the clouds out of the way, for the most part, I took a crack at starting the Northern Mountains, designed with the idea of a snowy hot-springs in mind. Given the snowy mountains theming, I thought a ‘timed, fight against the wind’ kind of mechanic would be interesting. The wind blows in intervals, pushing the player back if they are not safely hiding behind a rock. The camera also goes into a more cinematic mode.
Lastly lastly, added some color to dialogue balloons to better help differentiate who is speaking.
**Models, animations, and images are not final**