People, we are back and we are moving along with Piggy Payback!. We're getting closer and closer to posting updates in real time. As you may know, there was a problem with the blog hosting site we were using and we lost all of our posts. So we had to start over with just the notes. But we're still excited to tell you what we're doing:) Enjoy the read!
First thing, I adjusted the paddles so they rotate on the dead center of the log round.[These have been updated since this post] Another thing I did was put a small log on either side of the log round at the base to simulate the bases for a rod going through the center as a pivot point. I also adjusted the width of the box trigger to ensure it doesn't miss the Pig. I think that since the pig sometimes goes through the paddles.
The pig also clips through the log pieces that make up the level. We tried adding an extra collision box to each of the paddles to see if that would work to raise the chances they blocked the pig, but that had no effect. We then enabled Continuous Collision Detection on the pig. This also had little to no effect. Finally, we enabled CCD to the Paddles and log pieces as well, and this has basically solved the problem. We haven't had one instance where we can say for sure that the pig has clipped through anything. I found this tip in my research, and it will go Into my gamedev tool box for when I need it later!
Next, we updated the main menu widget logic core functions. We then updated the bird Blueprints construction script to allow us to change the bird type in the Details menu with a select node. As well as the sounds they make when overlapped, the color and scale and the collision on them. Also, we updated the egg blueprint collision overlap. 🐦
Another fun thing we did was update the particle systems for the bird and egg overlap. Finally the bird has the feather explosion and the egg has a simple burst particle system. You can expect to see a proper egg explosion in the future with an egg screen splatter effect. 🪶
To make the game feel more like a real game we set up the logic for the next level to load once the player beats the current. As well as the destruction of the pig once it comes to a stop.
I realized the game just had to have a cute oink sound whenever the pigs bounce around the level. I had the pig set to a physics body and I tried a couple things which didn't work. I tried to play The oink sound by using event hit > checking if the other actor was one of the log pieces that make up the level and then sending the boolean result through a branch node. The true output would play the sound. This didn't work for some reason. I then tried a contains node instead of the == node in case the name of the BP_Log was slightly off for some reason, but this had no effect either. Even using the cast to node didn't work.
🐷⛹♂️We then decided to make the launched pig a projectile like we originally had it instead of a physics actor. We set it to physics to get it bouncing more. The thing is, we need it to bounce less now anyway, because it's way too easy to collect more than enough points to pass the level. We were collecting most of the eggs and birds in one launch. So, the solution to both of these problems is to make the pig a projectile. It Bounces with less power, and we can also now use the On Projectile Bounce node to simply play the oink sound whenever the pig Bounces off of anything. Success! Now all we need to do is fine tune the pig's bounce and balance the number of birds and eggs in the level and their point values with the minimum points required to pass the level. 🐦🥚
Currently, we have a functioning game with multiple mechanics to control where the pig goes. We have multiple levels with different mechanics, music, SFX, particle systems, and a basic menu to get around.
This is a very exciting journey, being our first game. We're learning a lot and putting that knowledge to work. Thanks for reading this update! Your support means more than upu realize. We hope you come back for the next update!
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