Mostly going as planned!

Going with the plan!

Since the previous update, there has been several playtesting that were conducted outside of the classroom just to have a feel of how the casual players would perceive the game. It was aimed to refine our game concept rather than other aspects such as mechanics or visuals. It is essential to acknowledge that these playtests are not fully documented and can be very unreliable due to environmental, comfortable and player's experience etc. factors that weren't accounted for, although I would argue that this was a concept-design decision based of off 50 playtesters. Perhaps, there might be one or two similar factors that happened 50 times, which ultimately yield a similar result, but from a good amount of time that went into discussing the concept, we have decided. Results from observations and 1 single quick questionnaire revealed that most players want to play around with the eyeballs movements. This although is rather vague, allowed us to finally give up on the hyper-janky concept and stick with the puzzle. 

Not going as planned!

Keying Lee has officially left the group to help out with another game design group. This was acknowledged and accepted by both Ben and I. We appreciate her contribution!

3D models went ~blughhh~! 3D models of the  in-game environment flips inside out (not the normal, but the geometry) when importing them into a Unity scene. I have tried changing several settings, following online tutorial but no luck. Fortunately, there weren't a WHOLE LOT (it was still quite a bit) created, so my solution was to remake it using Unity's new modelling add-on, Probuilder, in conjunction with Progrids. The tool is surprisingly easy to use despite lacking certain tools a 3D modelling software would have to help speed up the workflow. Somethings that I would personally want Probuilder to have (or learn if it already exists) is free-hand drawing of curves, more dynamic "smoothing" algorithms and the ability to mask out shapes within other shapes, because as of now to make spheres and smooth curves require a lot of polygons - the slowing of frame rates is getting real and to mask out objects would split the resulting object into a mess of tris. Perhaps, I should look to switch off the unnecessary objects, although it does help a lot when referencing or reviewing the entire space. One benefit (there is an even greater benefit, although that just skipped my mind) of using Probuilder is that the UVs can be directly edited while building the item, which makes for a very easy texturing process, avoiding tedious UV unwrapping process. I will have a preview going ASAP, but it does look promising!

What we are doing next?

Much of what we have left to do is to have the environment fully fleshed out to conduct our playtesting as it is after all a puzzle game, which would benefit from a lot of level design work. On Ben's side, he is now looking to implement other small mechanics that will help flourish the game and make it more interactive; breakable objects, blood splatters (which I have failed to make so he is taking over), viewport distortion and more.