In our final prototyping week, we’ve been trying to get as much done as possible.

The tech team has been further developing our prototype to get our main mechanic working. We hope to add extra features as we enter production phase, but getting our main idea translated into a working game is our main concern.

Final decision: Unity or Unreal?

Our team has reasonable experience with Unreal and very little to no experience with Unity. Because of this and the limited time we have to create our game, we decided to use unreal. Not only do we want to prioritize efficiency, but Unreal offers more than enough power to allow our game to work the way we want it to.

Graphical updates: Meet the characters and their surroundings

Upon further discussion and consideration, we have finally come to a consensus in regards to the style of the characters and environment, and have done a few tests.

Our characters are essentially items that would be lying at the bottom of a handbag or a pocket – a banana, a tube of lipstick, a paper clip, and a cigar. Those four will play a huge role in conveying the absurdity of the universe, as well as the scale.

Speaking of scale – the characters will be rather small. We want to make different levels with an environment that matches the different types of trash. This way, our characters are trash pieces from around the world and race in different environments.

Our main prop/environment artist has also tested the visuals for some traps. We hope to make a fun variety of traps for the players to avoid and struggle out of.

As for the texturing style, we have decided to stick with minimalistic gradients and heavily stylized details. By focusing on the essentials and leaving the main surfaces cleaner, we hope to emphasize the quirky, fun personalities in each individual character.

Technical updates: Back on track

Our programmers have worked on a few core aspects of the mechanics – the traps, and the button mashing. Although we were extremely set on the theme of sabotage within our game, the scales are tipping more towards the obstacle course style of things.

Finding the perfect camera angle has also been a bit of a struggle, although we’ve decided that an orthographic-style view might be for the better in the long run.

Firstly, they’ve implemented a glue trap to slow players down during the race. Considering how much pressure there is to remain far ahead and not fall behind – which would eventually lead to a gruesome death – this will keep the players on their toes.

Next, a mechanic allowing for a more dynamic experience that goes hand in hand with the glue traps and possibly many others: the button mashing. As players fall victim to the various traps, they will sometimes have the option to struggle out of them by sheer force alone. This allows for more competition among the players and encourages more interaction, rather than directional movement alone, which would grow dull really fast. At this current time, it works very smoothly in-game.

Lastly, the programmers have also begun working on a spike trap. Here is a descriptive diagram to demonstrate how it actually works. 

Fastening our seatbelts

Overall, we’ve been able to finalize the basics of our game and been able to focus on the necessities. However, this is just the start, and we are excited to start on the essence of the game and watch it grow.

Working on this game will continue to be a challenge. However, we are motivated to keep the pace up and deliver a polished, fun result that people can enjoy and easily get into.