Welcome back to another weekly update on "Ditch the Dollhouse"! Our team has been hard at work, pushing forward with exciting new features, bug fixes, and artistic enhancements to bring our puzzle-platformer to life.

What We've Achieved This Week:

Gameplay Mechanics:

End Game State and Restart Mechanism:

• Implemented an end game state to signify the completion of the game.
• Added functionality to restart the game if the player falls, ensuring a seamless gameplay experience.

Rolling State Enhancements:

• Addressed a critical bug where the player would get stuck when initiating a recall in the roll state.
• Introduced a collider specific for limb pickup during the roll state, enabling smoother transitions.
• Fixed issues with exiting the roll state and the associated animations.

Recall System:

• Finalized the recall system with new features such as freezing positions during recall (notably, this currently impacts rolling movement).
• Added a charge bar display that appears during the recall process.
• Enhanced visual cues by adding outlines to limbs within recall range and implementing a delay to the recall action.

Level Design and Interactions:

First Playable Level:

• Our level developers have been drafting, designing, and implementing our first playable level, incorporating feedback and ensuring a cohesive experience that introduces core mechanics effectively.
• The level design team has focused on creating engaging puzzles that make use of the unique limb mechanics, providing players with a challenging yet intuitive introduction to the game's core concepts.

Puzzle Elements:

• Added more puzzles to enrich gameplay and challenge players.
• Updated door animations triggered by levers, allowing levers to be toggled on and off.
• Modified pressure plates and doors to function without animators, and introduced single-use pressure plates.
• Introduced the first iteration of moving platforms, adding dynamic elements to our levels.
  

Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements:

Collision and Physics:

• Fixed several bugs related to limb collision detection and interactions.
• Resolved issues with limbs phasing through walls and improper behavior of arm colliders during rolling.
• Transitioned from character controller to rigidbody movement to fix infinite jumping bugs and improve overall physics interactions.

Code Cleanup:

• Removed legacy scripts, prefabs, and old scenes, streamlining our project repository for better organization and performance.

Art and Audio:

UI Design:

• Our art team has been busy designing and creating several in-game UI menus to improve user experience (see below). 

Audio Design:

• The audio team has started developing a background track to set the mood and atmosphere of the game.

Next Milestones:

Refine Mechanics:

• Continue refining limb mechanics to ensure they feel right and respond accurately within the game environment.
• Implement additional puzzle prefabs and discuss introducing secondary mechanics to enhance gameplay depth.

Bug Squashing:

• Address known bugs and ensure a stable build for future playtests.
• Continue cleaning up the repository to maintain an organized and efficient workspace.

UI and Audio Design:

• Integrate the newly designed UI menus into the game.
• Finalize the background music and scope out sound effects for various objects and interactions.

We are thrilled with the progress made this week and are eager to continue improving and expanding "Ditch the Dollhouse". Stay tuned for more updates, and as always, thank you for following our journey!

Team Ditch the Dollhouse

Images:

Pause Menu

Interaction Prompts

Limb UI