Ultimate Indie - Week 3 day 5 Boba Tycoon Prototyping
I have been spending a bit of time overthinking the art that I aim to have for the end polish but it’s actually not important now so I’ve decided to push forward with adding a different mechanic to the game. I’ve also half written a few blog entries but didn’t really finish them so I’v decided I need to decide to push forward.
Quite a few people have mentioned that the slider could be a lever or a tap or something else, I think this is that people would prefer to have something less abstract than a slider. I’ve had ideas for little cooking mini games for parts around the pouring but only a few on the actual drink making part:
For now I think I’d like to focus on making a tap, lever and a jug pouring mechanic.
Mechanically the lever is the same as the slider - you’ll drag and move it over. FOr this I think I have to reposition the cursor over the lever handle instead of letting them set it by clicking any area.
A tap can be a few things - the slushie machine/beer tap is a smaller lever you pull towards you, so it’s the same as the top. Another take on this can be like a three or four pronged faucet handle like at a sink - that way you’ll be moving the cursor in circles.
I also want to try to pour the liquid from one vessel to another. Seems like this is faked most of the time, as physics fluid sims are complicated. There are some assets on the Unity asset store but I’m not even 100% sure I’ll need them so I’m taking a step back from those - Right now I am faking it with 2d boxes and my end goal is to look 2d. Fluid sims also seem to be quite unpredictable and can result in too many edge cases like the container moving too fast and the fluid clipping outside of the cup, and also can look quite ugly when pouring and splattering. Mechanically this will be the same since I plan to make it drag the jug higher to pour and the higher you drag the higher the angle of the jug is.
A side note too is that I’m pretty sure the events I set up didn’t let me drag the slider properly when I opened it on my phone and tablet. I may try to address this at some point! FOr now, just the new mechanics.
I have a few things to tackle but I’ll choose the thing I want the most - the jug pouring into the cup. I’m going to make some quick ugly sprites so I don’t get caught up in the look.
Behold:
The main thing is to get them to work first!
I think my main issue is I’m thinking too far ahead and getting stuck. I’m thinking about how all these different liquids could mix - and I’ve just realised I forgot about my Miro board! I should plan it out step by step. I’ve been a little bit all over the place because I don’t have a plan. I didn’t really re-plan after I got the prototype out.
I’ve managed to go through and de-scope things, mostly UI kit specific things. I’m glad I cut them out because it would have taken a bunch of time and I didn’t end up needing them. I’ve also added time pressure and new mechanics. Although I got a lot of the feedback on the sliders I will make the intractable objects less abstract and instead apply the slider feedback to the new elements.
Another bit of feedback was lack of clarity on the recipe - the amount AND the order. The order doesn’t matter that much but it is harder to tell if you go in the order according to the lines. I think this can be solved by making the line change depending on what you are pouring, or in the recipe to be more prescriptive, eg “500ml of tea” and have a scale that cup sits on. I’ll have a think about this
I have also been re-thinking the screen layout. I don’t think I have been using the screen to its potential and drew a small couple of ideas to utilise it more.
After drawing a few I ended up on a screen quite similar to Papers Please. I like it! It gives you can overview of the people in your queue, you can see them leave if it they wait too long. I’d like to add a recipe book that should cover a big portion of the working space, just like the reference book in Papers Please. For now I’ve updated the layout:
What’s next:
- Dragging the jug in X Y coords and having a zone that will snap to zero
- Making the jug tilt when high enough
- Fake the volume leaving the jug when it’s tipped over
- Fake the the cup receiving the volume
- Fake the spilling
The liquid can be faked with shaders, and I think I will be happy with that. For now I’ll take a bit of a break, Ive had a lot of things on this week and last and I need some rest 🛌