Devlog 5 - Final Implementation

This final week I did a lot of polish to get the game ready for marking.  I added a sprite to the ladder, I made an ability to start the levels and in doing so hooked up a timer as a high score system, I made all my levels, and lastly tweaked some of the wall jump mechanics.

Ladder Sprite

Firstly I added a simple "tiler" script onto the ladder so when a sprite is inputted it renders the ladder correctly and has a texture now.  I found a nice ladder sprite pack on itch.io made by Constantine_And_Marble.

Starting Levels and Timer

Before this update there was no incentive for the player to set a high score or best time, because there was no system for it.  Now I have a collider at the start of every level which tells you what to do and when interacted with begins a timer.  The time is kept at the top left of the screen with the rest of the player UI.  Along side this collider and the text I found a caution tape sprite then set it to tile so I can just link it up nice and easy. I found this sprite on pixilart.com which I liked. 

This system works by starting a timer once the computer is interacted with, the time will keep ticking up until you have returned to the top and used the ship to return to the menu.  The level select screen will remember the best time and display it, if a better time is achieved then it will override the time showing the new best one.

Level Design

Another task I tackled this week was finalizing all my levels.  Within my playable demo during testing I only had a tutorial level along side level 1.  There were many issues here including that the title screen did not have a background for it, you could escape the map, and some of the tutorial was unclear.  This was addressed by completing the menu screen and it now features a little room with the player sprite, all the levels are completed and have a large collider you cannot wall climb or slide down, and lastly I finalized some text within the tutorial and gave the player a generous 20 ladders.

Wall Jump Rework

I decided to block momentum back towards the wall you jumped off until the apex of the wall jump is complete, this prevents the player from infinitely climbing up the same wall forcing them to move around and use the ladders.