Devlog 4 - User Interface / Polish

This week I intended to focus on user interface and general polish. Part of these updates included making a working game cycle (title-game-title) and creating the alternate scene for playing as Phelony instead of Floptimus.

In terms of user interface, I planned to create a title screen with options to view controls and credits or to play the game. Both the former then allow the player to return to the title screen, while the latter brings them to a screen where they choose to play as either Floptimus or Phelony. The text also warns that the player needs to beat the game once to unlock Phelony, although I have yet to code that limitation in. Once the player dog collides with the other dog, they get the good ending screen with an option to return to the main menu. If the player dog loses all their health, then they get the bad ending screen with an option to return to the main menu.

For the Phelony scene, I created the player character with only Phelony's idle animation and used Floptimus' idle for their spot. My original idea included a completely different level for playing as Phelony, but instead of making that I decided to focus on polishing various areas of the game, such as the scripts and settings like jump height and player character speed. I did find settings that improved the clunky movement mechanics somewhat, but room for further improvement exists.

I now only have two main features to integrate into the game, those being a system which 'locks' Phelony before Floptimus' level has been completed and the process of tidying up the Itch.io build itself.