The First Playtest & a Side Project

Elemental Engagements

Last Wednesday was the initial prototype deadline and playtest for elemental engagement. To prepare for it, I spent a ton of time fixing bugs and implementing small features. These included fixing up the navigation system, adding missing UI elements, fixing up and finishing the favor (analogous to research in other RTSs) manager, implementing the center location & human army, creating a music manager, improving input handling, fixing unit behaviors, and more.

Then we did a playtesting session where around 20 people played our game. For this, I wrote a read-me/tutorial doc and helped recruit and set up playtesters. During this time we noticed that our game was hard to learn and there were some collision bugs where units would get pushed inside locations that should be impossible.

The Ceros Project

After the playtest, I had a lot of free time and would have more in the coming weeks thanks to fall break, so I decided to make a game idea I've had for a while. I probably won't be able to complete it due to other obligations but it should be fun regardless.

I started by making some models and a geometry node graph to convert them into voxels. I also made a Python script to automatically UV and export the models with the correct settings. I then imported the models into Unreal and set up the lighting and volumetric fog to be how I wanted.

I then went about implementing navigation for the colonists and bugs and an input system for controlling the camera and commanding groups of units to move while also taking the nav mesh and unit spacing into consideration. I also started work on human laser and building destruction.