Welcome back to the devblog for the upcoming future hit game, Piggy Payback! We'd like to announce our upcoming KICKSTARTER campaign. We're working very hard to setup this campaign as well as bring you the BETA DEMO at the exact same time. We really hope you keep sticking eith us and we truly appreciate your support.
We created yet another power-up for you to use on those hollow-boneheads! This one is called the Multi-boar. When you collect it, two piglets shoot out of your pig and bounce around the level, squashing birds and eggs. You can flap them with the paddles and use them exactly like how you throw your normal pig around the level. We also had to setup the widget/menu system so that the next pig doesn’t load into the cannon until all 3 pigs come to a stop. This proved trickier than expected because all 3 Pig Blueprints had to communicate. We ended up duplicating the original Pig Blueprint twice, and removing a bunch of its code, and using those for the extra Multi-boar pigs.
We also wanted to add a bit more visual flare to the gameplay. So we started making a dust poof particle for when the pig bounces off of any surface. We started out with an “Ico-sphere” mesh we quickly made in Blender to set the shape of the particle. We then built the particle around it. Next we have to setup the code to spawn this particle upon hit in the Pig Blueprint.
Another thing we did is we added the different meshes for the cannon upgrades. Each of the three upgrades adds a different mesh to the cannon. When you unlock the Manual Aim upgrade, it adds a red button to the back of the cannon. This button turns emissive green when you fire. For the Extra Power upgrade, we added some sick chrome exhaust pipes to the side of the cannon. And of course the laser sight for the Laser upgrade. Now your cannon will look amazing when you use it in every level from there on in.
We added to the currencies code by making the Breakable Bricks and Bumpers give the player Piggy Points for every hit. Every 10 points you scor in the game gives you 1 Piggy Point, the basic currency. Since you score thousands of points every level, you’ll be racking up the Piggy Points in no time!
In addition, we setup a bumper variant to light up and have a “x3” in front of it for 20 seconds on and 20 seconds off. As you probably guessed, when the bumper is lit up, it’s worth triple points. This will give the player a dynamic target to shoot for, as well as add another layer of timing to the game.
Our 3D artist, Edras just delivered some new glasses for the pigs, and Bo textured them. We’ve now got a bunch of different color combinations of Aviators, as well as Wayfarers. We’re now starting to setup a sample sized version of the Build-A-Boar shop for the upcoming demo. You’ll be able to unlock a decent variety of gear when you play it.
In addition, we got the egg locked in a box that’s unlocked by the spinning physics gate to work. Now when you spin the gate 5 times, the cage opens up and the egg falls out of it, allowing you to collect it. The spinning gate will be placed in areas that take skill to get your pig to at the right angle and speed, so it adds challenge to the game.
We also created a brand new mechanic. A metal beam that rotates back and forth, blocking off one of two areas of the level, depending on which way it’s rotated at that time. It may block off a high value bird or egg, or it may block off a bumper. Timing and accuracy are key in avoiding the devastating situations this beam can cause!
Another cool thing we did was we added a new mechanic in the form of a simple tweak to the static Cubes and triangles in the levels. We made a Blueprint out of the cube and gave it rotating movement. We set it up so that we can change the shape between a cube and a triangle, as well as switch between two different rotation speeds. Thus will add some nice aviation to the levels when combined with other mechanics
We created some more shades and glasses for the pigs, including the highly popular “Hole Cobras”! These are our proprietary version of the Pit Vipers. The pig’s look so sick in these shades. Show the world how fashionable you are by making your pig sport your favorite shades! We also made some cat-eye glasses for the old-fashioned, near sighted pigs. They look equally cool, however, because what’s cooler than seeing clearly? See below for image of the Hole Cobras.
In addition to the shades, we’ve added some new hats to the demo. The player will be able to choose from a small selection of hats in the demo. This selection will be much larger when the final game releases.
Our stylized character artist came to me with the base model for the first bird character. It’s looking really good. He still has to rig the entire character and make some final tweaks to the model, and then texture it. After that we will have our base pig and bird’s done. From there it is much quicker work since all other characters will be based on those models.
We’ve finally settled on the new look of the game. It’s a stylized toon/cel shader look with black outline. The objects will have the base color, with a highlight and a shadow. The outlines really make the characters and objects pop. This is the look we’ve wanted from the start and we’re proud to have achieved it. This image also shows the brand new Hole Cobra shades!
We’ve been working on our Kickstarter campaign to get some funding for the project. We’ve been making graphics, writing bios and information about the game, figuring out our stretch goals and much more. Check out our roadmap image for our campaign page. We’re really happy with how it turned out. We’re about to start creating the stretch goals graphic next, which will be in the same style.
Whew, this was a big week. We're really excited that it was so successful. We just have to take life one day at a time, right? If you're ever down on yourself, just think about us. We've failed time and time again. But you have to keep getting up from your failures and use them as motivation and a source of learning. Failures are the only way we get better.
We hope you keep coming back for more Piggy Payback! updates, and it would mean the world to us if you helped us out in our Kickstarter campaign. Have a great week, guys. Until next time! 💖🐷
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