Plan for Daniel Allessi

Blocks, Platforms, and more...

First, let's have the obligatory pic (no plan should be without one):
[IMAGE]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-3/967894/block.jpg[/IMAGE]


GAMEPLAY
This is the platformer I have been working on throughout my .plans.
These gameplay elements are underway for the main character:

- move relative to camera

- grab ledges and climb up/drop down or move sideways along the edge (also applies for pushable Blocks)

- use ranged and melee weapons

- push blocks around

These mission objects are also underway:

- moving, ridable platforms

- destructable boxes w/ money or ammo inside

- teleporter pads (these are 95% done - see last .plan)

- forcefields that block doorways

- switch that deactivates a forcefield when something (player, pushable block, etc) is on top of it

- indestructable block that can be moved around and used for weight-activated switches or to climb on to reach higher places (also basically done - just needs tweaking)

The style I'm going for is Ratchet and Clank, so any additional gameplay devices you think of, please feel free to contribute.


DEVELOPMENT
It has been around a month since my last .plan and progress has been slow. Real life has a tendancy of getting in the way, doesn't it?

Above, we can see some modifications to the editor. First off, all of the additional 'editors' are condensed into the 'Game Tools' menu. Currently this only has the Lighting Pack Editor in it, though the AI editor and others will end up here.

On the right side, we can see that I have my pushBlock and spawnPointMarker objects showing up under 'Mission Objects' and *gasp* the 'Shapes' group is gone entirely. Basically, I thought it stupid to have things that I consider 'Mission Objects' like spawnPoints in a seperate group of the editor. This is not the PITA way the resource on here shows, either. The way I have it setup now is that if you want your item to be under 'Mission Objects', then you set the category as such, and no messing around with the editorGui.cs or ObjectBuilderGui.cs files.

Also visible is a platform .DTS with the skin fresh out of the unwrapper. I'm still debating on rolling my own 'ridable platforms' or using TGE 1.4's pathedInteriors.

Then there's the pushBlock. It's a rigidShape(you're the man Lund) that will serve some interesting gameplay uses as described in the section above.

My last piece of development is getting two different controls systems working that I'm having a hard time choosing between. One implemented this resource to get camera relative movement up and running. It needs work and breaks the mid-air control system. The other has it so that if you push forward, the character moves forward in whatever direction he faces but if you hold the left or right movement keys, he'll rotate continuously left or right. It's similiar to Resident Evil but much smoother and with the orbit camera, feels good. That'll be tough to decide.