Devlog 2: Basic Level Blocking

For the second devlog, we will focus on level blocking and other improvements.

For this checkpoint, I have designed a map for one of my game levels. The map can be divided into three zones, each intending to focus on different game mechanics. The player starts in a small area at the bottom of the level. Getting to the ground level requires jumping. Once on the ground level, the player will be able to leave the building, where they can now practise jumping more freely. Progression requires the player to enter flight and fly up to the top of the building. The top area is currently lacking an emphasis, but the player will need to be able to fly down to the ground to leave the level.

The player flying to the top of the building.

To implement the level, I imported some tilesheets. I created the tiles, making them the correct size by changing the pixels per unit value of their original sprites. I then sketched out a basic level plan and then refined it. By using multiple tilemaps, I was able to use tiles as a collision boundary with one tilemap and use tiles as background decoration with other tilemaps. To stop the player from flying out of the level, the sides of the level are bounded by colliders.

Different tilemaps hold the walls and floor, the background wall, and the decorations.

I also made some improvements to player movement. When the player flies into a wall, they will now start falling instead of slowly hovering down the side of the wall. There was also a problem where the player’s flight state would be on while the player was seemingly on the ground, preventing them from jumping normally. This was fixed by tweaking the triggers for transitioning between the player states. Before, the player would stop flying if their vertical velocity was zero, but the player has a minuscule horizontal velocity when moving sideways, preventing the transition. Due to the shape of the polygon collider, the player game object would often get stuck on wall, so it was swapped with a box collider. The player also now has (static) wings when flying.