Devlog #7: Menus, Vertical slice and Beta feedback
Introduction
Welcome back to another devlog. This week I've completed the vertical slice of the game, which has now gone through its initial closed beta testing. So let's dive into whats new, how the menu systems work, and what's next based on the feedback from the closed beta.
Menus
When designing the menu systems, the primary goal was to ensure they seamless experience, the menus share a consistent visual style that is cohesive with the rest of the game, reinforcing immersion and creating a better player experience.
A key decision was utilizing Cinemachine to drive the camera movements between the diffrent menu screens, this is relevant because all menu elements are positioned on a world space canvas, Cinemachine allowed for smooth, fluid transitions between the different screens. This significantly enhanced the feel of navigation, avoiding the static and disconnected nature commonly found in traditional menus systems.
To build upon the feeling of a interactive experience i implemented interactive UI animations, specifically buttons that scale upon selection, provided clear visual feedback to players. The biggest challenge here wasn't the animation itself, but ensuring these animations worked smoothly across all input methods: mouse, keyboard, and controller.
Additionally, the controls display was created to improve user experience by clearly showing the controls for the active input method. It dynamically switches between mouse and keyboard layout or controller layout based on the connected device. Although it doesn't currently support rebinding, the may be something that is revisited in the future.
Finally the level selection screen, the main point here was getting the star based rating system implemented. Players earn stars based on performance, measured by their number of deaths, 0 deaths award 3 stars, 1-5 deaths award 2 stars, and 6-10 deaths award 1 star. Levels are unlocked sequentially, requiring at least one star from the previous level.
Vertical slice and closed beta
With the key features of the game now being completed, i created a vertical slice of the game, this alowed me to then perform a closed beta test, the details of which are dissused below.
What went right
- Fun feeling slime movement
- Enviroment interactions
- Clear controls and goals
- Fair feeling mechanics
What went wrong
- Getting stuck and having the reset the level (this is a level design issue)
- Animation inconsistencies during rapid menu interaction
- Some UI elements become miss scaled upon resolution changes
Whats next?
Now the completion of the first closed beta there are sevreal things that need to be adressed to streamline gameplay as well as a couple things left to add as listed below:
- Gravity flip cooldown UI
- Saving and loading
- Visual polish
- A tutorial/walkthrough upon starting the game for the first time
Thank you for reading all the way through the 7th devlog for splat, please do leave any feedback or comments and i'll see you in next weeks devlog,
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