For this iteration, I primarily examine a few aspects that were required for Greenlight. In terms of programming, this essentially just meant implementing some form of pausing in the game, as well as allowing the player to return to the main hub after doing so. Along with developing on these features, I also took a bit of time to work on refactoring a bit of the project code, and implementing another Micro-Game titled 'Zombie Rush'.
The first step of the pause feature involved the actual design and usability of the pause feature. Within the screen space and gameplay, there is very little area for the pause button to actually be positioned. While we did have a black bar on the bottom, it is likely this will eventually be removed, so I made sure to avoid placing the pause functionality within that area for the time being. Therefore, I needed to draw out some possible designs, which eventually led to me incorporating a small button in the top UI.
I realized that the process of pausing the game would also give access to any number of pause buttons desired, therefore the presence of the pause button would only be required in a single small spot of the top UI. Furthermore, the player would only need to pause while in gameplay, specifically while playing a Game Mode. In the top middle of the Game Mode UI, I was able to consolidate a toggle button for pausing, which would only be present within the Game Mode UI.
This button brings down a small menu, which overlays on the current screen, therefore always reminding the player of their point in gameplay before they paused. This menu screen could provide the player with any number of options, but for now it simply allows for the player to either resume or head back to the main Hub. It took a bit of extra time to debug some issues with resetting the Game Mode on exiting to the Hub, but everything should flow now. If the player hits resume, the menu will ascend to the top of the screen before actually continuing, giving the player a brief moment to prepare.
Zombie Rush was a Micro-Game inspired by NecroManager, but still represents a condensed form of the team's actual gameplay. The goal of the Micro-Game is to survive until time runs out. While the game is being played, zombies will emerge from graves randomly placed throughout the screen. Zombies will then attempt to run toward the gate, requiring players to tap, drag, and drop zombies back into open graves.
Overall, the gameplay was extremely simple to develop, and the overall implementation took about an hour to design, program, and test. There were still a few visual bugs afterwards, but these were quickly resolved on discovery. There is still a game experience issue, where flicking zombies becomes a possible strategy to win, since they can just be constantly moved away from the Gate. This issue will likely be brainstormed by the design team, and hopefully resolved with a simple solution within the next sprint.
I also worked on resolving a few other concerns during the sprint. I noticed that tap input was being received on the entirety of the screen, which generally is not an issue, but since gameplay elements can potentially be accessed through UI visuals, this would potentially allow users to tap on items out of view. This was resolved by simply creating an alternative function for Tap data, allowing it to also test within the gameplay bounds for valid input.
As far as noted and discussed, the game should now include all the necessary features for ongoing development, as well as an additional Micro-Game. Ideally, next sprint, I intend on focusing primarily on Micro-Games and Achievements. If visual or written documentation is available for some of the menus or gameplay changes, then I can possibly work within those areas instead. However, at this time, it might be worthwhile churning out a large number of Micro-Games to give artists and designers solid areas to iterate within.