Journal Entry 2

Date: 23.2.-25.2. 2023

Activity: Learning more Unity techniques, creating a level from scratch. Time spent: about 3 hours outside the labs.

Notes:

-I made one level and one end screen (essentially the start screen with a different text), unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to set up scene transitions, so you have to relaunch the game to replay it after winning. I included the 2D Gamekit scene UIMenus in the build, because otherwise pressing Escape freezes the game.

-Some parts of the level may be a little hard, but they're doable, I tested it. There's a checkpoint or shortcut that can be unlocked about halfway through. Making it persistent through Game Overs was a little difficult, but I managed it by copying the key and hub portal from Scene2. Edit: it seems that doors opened by pressure plates etc. stay open through Game Overs too, I didn't notice this in development.

-I made 2 prefabs of enemies by slightly adjusting the Gamekit prefabs. Ranged enemies seem to stop shooting after they're shot by Ellen (this doesn't happen if they're hit in melee?), even if they have more than 1 HP.

-Adding decor was the most boring part for me, I think. You constantly have to adjust the scale and layer so that it appears right, and a lot of the decor like vegetation and rubble could be added randomly by a script, I'd say.

-I found this forum page useful for moving groups of tiles https://forum.unity.com/threads/select-and-drag-groups-of-tiles-in-a-scene.44691...

-I wonder if there's a way I could add enemies and other types of game objects to the scene so that they would appear directly under the parent object "Enemies" etc. instead of having to drag them there. Also, if you need to move a part of a level (e.g. the Spitter tower in my level), it might be better to group the objects under "part of level" instead of "gameobject type"?

-If I change a prefab or asset, it doesn't change the scene and the asterisk indicating unsaved changes doesn't appear (I understand that it's because the asset isn't a part of the scene). Are these changes saved automatically?

Outcome: Build added to the project page.