Another week down, another set of puzzle experiments completed. Just like last week that was our main focus again and because of the progress we’ve made we’ve been given the “go-ahead” to start working on our final level design ideas. The goal of creating these puzzles was not only for us to build drafts of puzzles that may end up in the final version of the game but also to get us playing with, testing and utilizing our game’s mechanics in new and interesting ways. It also really helped us to find and correct many, many bugs that would have otherwise been very difficult to find. This week I spent a few days re-vamping the female character’s Animal Whisper skill. She’s now able to control both the monkey and snake enemies and while doing so a new GUI energy bar is shown for that animal. I also added some more complexity to the game’s camera as it will now show what’s happening off screen as an event occurs. This is useful for showing when a lever or switch activates a door that is out of view or to direct the player’s attention to a specific area. In addition I tacked on some additional features to our fan platforms which allowed them to be rotated and push characters or objects across any distance desired. This played a large part in the design of a few of our puzzles this week.

Lastly, I created a new puzzle experiment using the new rotating fans. This puzzle requires the player to pull a lever which will stop 4 fans from circling. These fans will continue to change their blow direction every 5 seconds no matter what so the player must time the lever pull just right in order to be able to cross the large gap in the floor. While I think the idea itself is unique and interesting I don’t think that I was able to quite pull off the puzzle idea that I had in mind. After coding the logic for the spinning fans, I was unable to get the desired difficulty for the puzzle that I had in mind setup correctly which leaves it feeling a bit too easy. If we choose to put it into the final version of the game I believe that some iteration and polish could give it just what it needs to become something worthwhile.

Here’s what we completed this past week:

• Continued to create and replace prefabs with new artwork.
• Created another 8 unique puzzles experiments.
• Added new camera complexity which allows viewing of off screen events.
• Added new camera complexity which allows zooming in/out when entering an area.
• Added new fan complexity which allows them to blow in 8 different directions.
• Re-vamped the female Animal Whisper skill to allow for control of both the snake and monkey enemies.
• Many other small changes…

I’ve uploaded the build here if you’d like to check it out: https://sethrolfe.com/wp-content/uploads/Above%20WebGL%20Week%206/index.html

Here are the controls: A game pad is recommended but keyboard controls do work if you don’t have one available.

*If you’re playing on a keyboard be sure to note the new control scheme. There are 2 jump buttons per character so that you can use either finger as you’re running. *

*At the bottom of this post I’ve also added the activation criteria for each skill as we haven’t put tutorials in yet.*

Male Character Controls – GamePad
Button	Action	Description
Left Stick	Movement	Moves the male character in the direction the player is pressing at walk speed. If the player holds the male’s interact button while moving the character will run.
Left Bumper	Jump	The male character will jump vertically.
Left Trigger	Interact	Activates several different actions depending on the male character’s current state. For example, dragging a crate or climbing a vine.
Female Character Controls – GamePad
Button	Action	Description
Right Stick	Movement	Moves the female character in the direction the player is pressing at walk speed. If the player holds the female’s interact button while moving the character will run.
Right Bumper	Jump	The female character will jump vertically.
Right Trigger	Interact	Activates several different actions depending on the female character’s current state. For example, dragging a crate or climbing a vine.

Male Character Controls – Keyboard
Button	Action	Description
ESDF	Movement	Moves the male character in the direction the player is pressing at walk speed. If the player holds the male’s interact button while moving the character will run.
W/R	Jump	The male character will jump vertically.
A	Interact	Activates several different actions depending on the male character’s current state. For example, dragging a crate or climbing a vine.
Female Character Controls – Keyboard
Button	Action	Description
IJKL	Movement	Moves the female character in the direction the player is pressing at walk speed. If the player holds the female’s interact button while moving the character will run.
U/O	Jump	The female character will jump vertically.
;	Interact	Activates several different actions depending on the female character’s current state. For example, dragging a crate or climbing a vine.

Male Skills – GamePad
Criteria	Action	Description
Character is idle and player presses Left Stick Up + Left Trigger	Sprint	While the male character is in the idle state, the player can hold up and then press the interact key to sprint with dominant force, this is different from running as it allows the male to move even faster and will also allow him to smash objects that are cracked. This skill costs 30 energy.
Character is in idle and player presses Left Stick Down + Left Trigger	Spectral Clone	While the male is in the idle state the player may hold down, then press the Left Interact key to create a non-controllable clone of himself. The clone can be pushed or dragged to activate switches. Both players can manipulate this clone. This skill costs 30 energy.
Character is in air and presses Left Stick Down + Interact	Heavy Slam	While the male is in the air the player may hold down on the left control and press the left interact key to perform a Heavy Slam. The male will come down with enormous force and destroy any cracked objects he hits. This skill costs 30 energy.

Male Skills – Keyboard
Buttons	Action	Description
Character is idle and player presses E + A	Sprint	While the male character is in the idle state, the player presses the interact key to sprint with dominant force, this is different from running as it allows the male to move even faster and will also allow him to smash objects that are cracked. This skill costs 15 energy a second.
Character is idle and player presses D + A	Spectral Clone	While the male is in the idle state the player may hold up, then press the Left Interact key to create a non-controllable clone of himself. The clone can be pushed or dragged to activate switches. Both players can manipulate this clone. This skill costs 30 energy.
Character is in Air and player presses D + A	Heavy Slam	While the male is in the air the player may hold up on the left control and press the left interact key to perform a Heavy Slam. The male will come down at an angle with enormous force and destroy any cracked objects he hits. This skill costs 25 energy.

Female Skills – GamePad
Buttons	Action	Description
Character is in air and player holds Right Trigger.	Glide	While the female is in the air, she may hold the interact key to glide. She will glide down softly which prevents fall damage and allows her to reach difficult to get to areas. This skill costs 15 energy / second.
Character is idle and player presses Right Stick Up + Right Trigger	Magnetic Attraction	While in an idle state the player may hold the right control up and presses the right interact key. While holding this combination, objects within 15 units that are marked with a magenta crystal will gravitate toward the player. This is useful for moving objects out of reach and to flip levers from afar. This skill costs 15 energy a second.
Character is idle and player presses Right Stick Down + Right Trigger	Animal Whisper	While the female is in the idle state the player may hold down on the right control and press the right interact key to begin the Animal Whisper ability. The closest Monkey on screen will be controlled by the player. While in control the player loses control of the female and her controls now manipulate the monkey. The monkey can jump further distances and enables the player to reach switches or other elements of the puzzle that are out of reach of the characters. This skill costs 50 energy. The energy meter for this skill starts at 50 is drained over time (0.83/second) and when the energy reaches 0 the female loses control of the monkey.

Female Skills – Keyboard
Buttons	Action	Description
Character is in air and player holds ;	Glide	While the female is grabbing a climbable/hangable object the player may press and hold the right jump key to glide away from the object. She will glide down softly which prevents fall damage and allows her to reach difficult to get to areas. This skill costs 30 energy.
Character is idle and player presses I + ;	Magnetic Attraction	While in an idle state the player may hold the right control up and presses the right interact key. While holding this combination, objects within 15 units that are marked with a magenta crystal will gravitate toward the player. This is useful for moving objects out of reach and to flip levers from afar. This skill costs 15 energy a second.
Character is idle and and player presses K + ;	Animal Whisper	While the female is in the idle state the player may hold down on the right control and press the right interact key to begin the Animal Whisper ability. The closest Monkey on screen will be controlled by the player. While in control the player loses control of the female and her controls now manipulate the monkey. The monkey can jump further distances and enables the player to reach switches or other elements of the puzzle that are out of reach of the characters. This skill costs 50 energy. The energy meter for this skill starts at 50 is drained over time (0.83/second) and when the energy reaches 0 the female loses control of the monkey.