Jay Ingle - lead developer, designer, and artist:
The last few devlogs were spent talking about the scene construction and coding of an enemy. This week, we can finally show the actual graphics, rather than just placeholder art.
Here is our lava_bomber, whose name does not seem to fit so well anymore, but alas:
So you see particles circling the prongs. This is actually a trick I thought up. I was originally going to make particles coming from the left, and then some coming from the right, giving the illusion of a sort of bar of electricity. I got the particles going one way, then I thought about making them appear to circle. There is no circling. I have one particle effect on top, the bigger particles, going one way. Then I added another particle generator a bit lower down, with smaller particles, going the other way, and voila, it looks like they are circling! It's not a magic trick; it's an illusion.
I also put some graphical work into our lava_spitter, as you can see here:
I am trying to make some of my enemies, or environmental hazards, into robotic creatures. This is for standard consistency, but also the grey colors can be used in any environment. I'm not completely happy with the trail of particles that follows the projectile, but I have some ideas on how to make it better. It should probably appear to be more attached to the projectile, rather than falling behind it, similar to what you see above with the bomb that the lava_bomber drops. The enemy itself could use a bit of animation as well, perhaps circling particles similar to the lava_bomber, or some movement of its prongs.
In other graphical news, I have put some effort into making our Laser weapon look cool:
The original idea was a weapon that felt similar to the laser shotgun from Helldivers. It has morphed into a sorta of lightning whip/energy dagger/Half-Life inspired beam weapon. It is a quick animation, so I only have room for a couple frames, but I think I got a decent progression there. It looks to my eyes like it is somewhat extending as it is being fired, and the particles really sell the energy effect. I liked how it kinda looked like a dagger, so I adjusted the weapon base itself to look more like a sword hilt. Almost an Arabian flair. We will couple this with a weighty buzzing zap sound effect, and I think it will feel great to destroy enemies with!
Thanks for reading, and come back next week for more!