Devlog 4:

We got an extra prototyping week to get everything in one piece, to make it all fit together in a better way.

We made changes to the original game focusing more on the shooting with the turret to defend the train since this was working and was fun in its own way. The main problem we had was that we combined this with tasks inside the train, which means we technically had two main mechanics so the question got asked: "Which mechanic will you focus on?"

So we toned down the tasks inside the train and made it work as a side mechanic to the turret shooting and defending. It's more connected to the main mechanic rather than having to do a whole separate thing on its own.

New Environment:

Since we are going with a dystopian theme and the players being on a train, we decided to let the train fly in the skies above the clouds, which would also help explain why drones specifically attack us and not some hillbilly on a motorcycle, for example.

One of our artists looked into some better blockout models to better visualize the end result we are going for, while our technical artist looked into the large cloud sky and tried prototyping a shader for it.

The clouds have movement to them which can be changed using parameters.

We can also change the overall colors of the clouds using parameters.

Prototype

This week we combined all of our separate mechanics into one prototype to allow the player to experience how the game should be when it is finished. Now the drones do damage to the train when they fly over the train (imagine them bombing it).

When the train takes enough damage, a damaged area spawns on fire. The fire will do damage over time to the train's HP. Extinguishing the fire will stop this health drain and repairing the hole that is left behind will recover some HP. This is the basic loop that will keep the train alive.

The player is also able to control the turrets to shoot down the incoming drones and defend the train from getting damaged.