Devlog 2 - New Models!!!

Happy Friday! Today we're gonna be talking about some new models I made for my parkour game, Cardkour.

I spent all this time doing bug fixes, making new mechanics, and overall just spending my time doing a BUNCH of typing. Not good for my fingers. (Even though I'm...typing this right now.)

So, after all this scripting work I've done, I decided that it was time to step back and do something else. I was going to make some models to replace those BORING cubes that fill up the map. (Since they don't fit the style of my game that I am going for. )

I opened up Blender...and forgot the months of practice I had done when using the program. So, after about a day of researching how to use Blender (all over again. It's like learning how to walk from scratch.), I was finally ready to start doing some modeling.

First up, was the platforms. I decided that having the platforms suspended in the air wasn't the best-looking thing I could do. So, I thought of just..sticking a pillar underneath them. Like this,

Overall, I think it looks nice.  It's better than having floating cubes in the air. But, what does this mean for the shrinking platforms? Surely I can't just shrink that WHOLE model. It wouldn't look right!

I decided to go back to what I (also) knew about. Physics. Using Unity's Rigidbody.

For those of you who don't know what  a Rigidbody is: "A Rigidbody provides a physics-based way to control the movement and position of a GameObject"

 I was able to change the shrinking platforms, into falling platforms. This presented more of a challenge as the player would have limited time until the floor underneath them would fall. (This will be shown at the end in a video)

Up next, I had to get rid of those floating walls you would wallrun on. I decided to do the same thing with the platform, and just stick a long pillar beside it, as shown below:

To the left, you see what looks like a more.. broken version of the wall. This is what indicates that the object is "weak" and will crumble after a few seconds of being on it (like how the platform falls after the player touches it).

I plan to add broken variants of each model that I make, so that it's easier to tell the danger that's up ahead, as of now they all aren't finished, but you'll see them when the game is released. 

To add on, I recycled the wallrun model to make some models for stuff you would (normally) climb on.

Just small additions I made so I can use them in future level pieces.

But, a completely new object, definitely not a better-modeled platform, I present to you...

a Shelf.

Ok, now it isn't a shelf. Not entirely. It is another platform object for my StepUp Variants (see images below)

Normally you would traverse up these stairs to get through here. But, I decided it would be fun if I removed them! Now you'd have to find another way around.

So, I went ahead and made a model for a sign, as the Player needs to know what happened to the stairs. The sign has random text that can appear on it, sort of like Minecraft's splash text on the main menu screen!

If you have any ideas for sign text I could add, feel free to comment them below this devlog post! I'd greatly appreciate any feedback on my work as well!

After making the sign, I put together a new variant of the StepUp. I called it, the "NoStepUp". Because no steps. Get it?

I then added the "shelf platforms" to my newly created variant. Here's what it looks like.

As you see, the player can either grapple onto the wall, or go around on the shelves, although one of the shelves could be weak, and break underneath the player! It's all risk for reward. 

I plan on adding more variants of the NoStepUp and StepUp. Since I see a lot of ideas I could implement different versions. 

With this, I leave you with a (pretty cool) showcase video for each model. Enjoy!

- Little Note - 

With winter break ending soon for me, and other people around the country, I'm gonna have to return to focusing on my academic life, so progress on this game most likely will slow down. 

Have a good night and a good weekend.

(Feel free to check out my other games, or even consider downloading the current version of Cardkour!)