Welcome to the 13th devlog! It's been over a week since the last devlog, so here's all the new stuff (that I can reveal)!
Wait! Before we get into that: Remember to check out the cover image for each devlog, because that's where I'll be placing new teasers.
Now onto the first category.
Gameplay
The first major gameplay change I've done since the last devlog is improvements to the controls, which originally had E as using items, interacting with objects, and picking stuff up, F was for using the current tool (e.g. the candle), and hiding, Q was for dropping the current tool, and C for dropping the current item.
So, I kept E for using the current item and F for the tool (but now you no longer hold it down), then I changed interacting and picking up to the left mouse button, and now you can click what to interact with instead of interacting with the nearest object to you. The right mouse button is now for hiding in objects (chests, wardrobes, etc.) so you don't accidentally put out your light which is important now because of the candlesticks and matches. However, since I'm very close to... Announcing something, I'm not gonna explain here. You should be able to experience it very soon anyway ;)
I'm also finally finished with the first area of Act 1, now for two more areas! Don't worry, though, because the final two areas of Act 1 should be much faster with their development. I think what happened with the first area is that I never really planned it out, I just kinda did whatever. But now I'm actually planning out the second and third areas for Act 1 before jumping into it.
That's it for gameplay (of the stuff that I'm revealing), now onto Sound Design!
Sound Design
Yeah, I'm very happy with the changes :D
There are now more ambient sounds to be heard, like a subtle windy sound in the caves. The footsteps of the player are also something I've been meaning to improve for a while. I've also been messing with adding footstep sounds for when you step over, for example, a puddle that makes a small splash.
Something else to do with Sound Design that I've been wanting to do but never really knew how to implement is muffling sound through walls. I've got it working alright now, but it's very abrupt since I can't make it smoothly go between Muffled to Unmuffled and reverse, it just switches between two different busses (what the sound players use to choose which effects and what volume to play at), one that has a LowPassFilter and a slightly lower volume, and one that's just the normal cave sounds bus.
There is also something else I'm working on for the sound design of the game, but I can't talk about it here because it would spoil part of the game. Just know that you're gonna have to pay extra close attention to the sound in the new puzzle.
Final Notes
I would also like to mention that I will be spending a lot more of my time thoughtfully, I’m gonna be reading more and just learning in general. I don’t think Pitch Black is gonna be a great game, but I do think it’s gonna be a fun game, and I think I'll be learning a lot from this experience.
But don’t worry, I’m still working hard on the game and ain't givin' up on the rest of the game being good, so you all should still be able to enter pitch black sooner than you might expect.