Project Vault Game Dev Log 027 (Patreon)

Ho boi this was a doozy of a month! Hitting the end of my big stretch goal that I've been working towards for most of the year now! To celebrate I focused this month on cleaning up the game while working on the overall graphical quality of the levels you see in it. Got a ton done and I'm starting to really see the vision I have in my mind for how these training levels are supposed to look :D!

Shader updates: I finally managed to get an edge blur to the cast shadows! Super happy to finally get it one step closer to completion :3!! Likewise did a bit of cleanup so that I could build master materials that are easier to manipulate and tweak over time while effecting all materials and textures in the game.

Level Loading effects: One of the things I've wanted to do is make the level loading feel a bit more professional. Having it start not focusing on Bod and transitioning across the map did a ton to help this! Likewise I created a really neat load in VFX for the map that unhides any of the selected materials. Been pretty fun to play through it all and get it implemented :D! In addition to this I got some additional effects working on the game over and game success screens also. Pretty much got a solid foundation that I can clean up for a more final/polished result!

Physics implementation: A little side thing I wanted to play with, but I got some physics movements to the cloth hanging from Bod! Been pretty fun implementing it, will need a lot of cleanup though for the finished game, especially since a lot of animations can cause it to go wonky XD!

Salvage 04 level: Got another Salvage level also added to my levels! This one focuses on more of a water focused exploration! Had to create some new systems for this one also to get everything working fine :3!

Wierway Depths Greyboxing: One of the other key things I've been starting to work on is the continued development and greyboxing of legit levels that will be found in the main game! I'm at a point where the main level layout to the ruins below Bod's city have been boxed in. They just need camera and transition worked finished to see how it all feels overall when running through it. Getting this finished will be a major focus of mine next month!

Subway Study Finished: It's finally done! Been working on this subway study for a few months now. This is sort of the vertical slice of what I can accomplish with my levels and how they look at the current moment. Played through every possible trick I new and tried a lot of fun stuff like the level mirroring to see if I could create some neat PS2 era vibes! I learned so much throughout the process and it has me legit excited to actually step into work on the full game down the road :3!!

FC Mission level updates: So outside of the loading and effects, I've also spent a bit of time just beefing up the overall look that I want my testing levels to have. This includes adding the little floating islands in the background as some spice to the levels. Likewise I tweaked a lot of the values and overall look to better match my artistic intentions on the FC levels. Still got some work with effects and the skybox to wrap up, but I'm honestly really happy with how it's looking so far!

Occlusion Outline: One of the biggest requests I've gotten from some of the playtests has been to add some way of seeing Bod when hidden behind objects. I've gotten some stuff implemented that does help with now! Now any time Bod is hidden it will give a blue outline where Bod is located. Going to be playing around with a final look that I want to play with down the road for it, but for now this gives a pretty handy visual for tracking Bod :3!

Next Month: So plans for next month are to focus on a lot more level greyboxing. Going forward I really want to start building out the expected levels in the game. Outside of that I'll be working on updating the AI for the sensor puppet enemies while giving them some new animations. I really want to get them to a point where you can sort of feel the presence they lend to the levels. Outside of that I'm planning on continuing some of the cleanup on the FC Training missions!