Devlog 3

This weeks new build introduces some essential mechanics for both players and enemy's alike.

Player Attacks

Players are now able to use their light attack by pressing left mouse button (or J for player 2). Upon hitting an enemy you will stagger them and deal damage to their health bar. Whilst attacking players are locked in place and unable to do any other actions until the attack is over. The hit detection for the melee attack is quite short and should only affect enemies directly in the swing.

Player Blocking

Players are also able to block enemy attacks by holding shift (or L for player 2). While holding the block key players will not take damage from enemy attacks. Players can rotate but not move or attack while blocking. At the moment blocking will block  from all sides no matter the direction they are facing. In a future update players will need to face the correct direction to block attacks.

Player Health Bars

Health bars are now functional independently for each player and will decrease as they take damage. Can be seen in the enemy attack GIF below.

Player Rendering In front/Behind Objects

Had to update some functionality to this to include when walking behind or in front of enemies.

Enemy AI

Enemy's are now capable of moving and attacking both players as well as the gate. By default when spawning in they will automatically head for the gate, however if a player gets too close they will lock onto them instead and chase them until they get out of range. If a player gets out of range they will continue heading towards the gate. Tentacles spawn from the holes in the ground and have a set health of 3 at the moment. So currently three hits from a player will kill them. If a player hits a tentacle it will be staggered and unable act for a short duration.

Enemy Movement

I had a rough time trying to figure out how I wanted the tentacles to move but eventually landed on them being stationary while fighting, however while out of combat they would proceed to dig under the ground and move as indicated by the mounds of dirt created above them. When they get close enough to a target they pop up out of the ground to attack.

Enemy Attacks

Tentacles will only attack if their target gets close enough to them and will continue to do so unless interrupted or the target leaves their attack range. They also have the ability to swap attack targets without re-burrowing. This is important for when swapping between hitting players or the gate. If the gate and a player is in range they will always prioritize the player. As mentioned earlier the tentacles attack can be blocked by players but they will also be interrupted if hit by a player mid windup. Damage to the gate is now properly tied to when a tentacle attacks it rather than when one is in range on a timer.

Feedback

Player defaults to looking right when moving directly up or down (From Week 1)

This has finally been fixed. Players will now maintain the direction they are facing after travelling directly up or down. Also applies when new animations take place e.g. Attacking and blocking.

Players glitching in and out while behind trees and fighting

This was being caused by the Player Rendering system not being able to handle multiple objects at once (Namely enemy's plus environment objects). Has been fixed by adding some additional logic to check if a player is still in contact with one or the other.

Player get stuck temporarily if they try to attack while blocking

Will need to look into this one but should be fixable with some additional checks.

Players getting hit while moving have a delayed animation.

Currently the getting hit animation is waiting for the walking animation to finish a loop before starting.