Hi all,
I’ve been working over the weekend to get my tilemap system working for destructible obstacles and also it makes the visuals that much nicer - compare this to the pic a few posts back…
Also, here’s a gif of the tile destruction is action… 
I’ve also added a few small decorations (skulls) and am testing the Giant Tumble Weed obstacle…
Cheers,
Al.
Looks good , i like it , game-play also feels fun.
One thing that i found problematic is the camera follows the car(?), so i found myself trailing on the upper side of the screen with limited visibility , not sure if this is a design decision or nor but would be interesting if the camera was set to follow the builder and maintain it in the middle of the screen maybe.
Hi and thanks for the feedback!
It’s definitely one I need to get right. There’s quite a few considerations about where and what the camera follows and I’ve tried quite a few options. The camera follows a median point between the car and cursor - following the cursor directly turned out to be a bit erratic as it moves in steps. But the distance the camera sits behind this point can easily adjusted.
But, there is a gameplay balance between having a nice lot of track as a buffer but getting too far ahead - it’s more difficult to see behind obstacles due to the perspective and the vehicle speed increases. You also need to be able to see the road you’ve laid and where the vehicle is - keeping the cursor in the centre usually means you cannot see this.
The other factor is the target device - mobile. Using touch invariably means your hand covers part of the screen, so keeping the main play in the top half helps avoid a nuisance hand
Well , the vehicle would get in range if the cursor would be in the center , and that would alert you to an imminent collision?
As for camera movement you can smooth the movement if you need it , adjust it to track somehow , the reason i pointed this out was that i found myself not seeing enough of the area ahead to decide which route to take at points , because i had very few tiles visible ahead.
Hi all,
Here’s another update to the desert environment. Using the same fading shader as for the water effect I’ve now got this canyon fog going on…
Cheers,
Al.
Looks much more interesting!
This looks great. Do you have someone doing the audio? Check out my start up: www.ec1studios.com and music production www.soundtrackmarket.com
Hi @soholivestudios , and thanks. Apologies for the slow response - I’ve been away.
I haven’t got any audio yet but plan to work on that myself - I don’t have any budget for outsourcing unfortunately…
Hey all,
I’m still working hard on the game even though I’ve not posted an update in a while.
Here’s what’s new…
New special obstacle for the desert environment - moving rock platforms, plus a windmill standard obstacle.
New environment - Swamp, featuring:
Water based level using boats
Updated level building algorithms
Obstacles including Steam paddle-boat, crocodiles, raising bridges.
Fog/Mist effect for extra swampyness…
Implemented a load/save feature to keep track of coins/levels/selected items/settings, etc.
A good bit of time was spent modelling the environment assets - not all of which make it into the final version… as usual!
Here’s some pics…
Desert Platforms
Swamp Environment selector prefab
Example of the new swamp obstacles
I will update the playable WebGL dev version shortly.
Cheers,
Al.
Hey all,
Here’s a few more pics - some more of the swamp environment, plus a WIP on a the next environment - Lava.
Cheers,
Al.
Game’s turning out great, much better than when it was first previewed
Thanks @carking1996 - I’d be worried if was getting worse 
… time to update the website I think…
Hey all,
Here’s a couple of quick GIFs showing the lava land in action - fireballs and lava spurts, and a new obstacle: iron drawbridges.
Look out - FIREBALLS!
…and Iron Drawbridge obstacles
Cheers,
Al.
Hi all,
I’ve updated the Web GL Dev Build to the latest version including the above additions and feedback and more. Please give it a go and let me know!
Cheers,
Al.
Hi all,
Been working on a coin/power-up pickup effect and adding a little glow to power-ups. Gif too big to post so here’s my twitter post.
And here’s a still image
Al.
Hey all,
I’ve been working on several things lately - list and gifs to follow - but I’ve changed something fundamental about the game. Following the previous round of testing and feedback it was suggested that the instant death on hitting obstacles was too punishing - so instead, obstacles get destroyed but cause a stun effect during which you can’t build and I would like some feedback please ( < link to WebGL Dev build there)
This brings me on to the next big change - how power-ups work. Previously, there was only one power-up: Dozers, with each dozer collected allowing the destruction of an obstacle. On reflection there were a couple of issues with this approach - The UI had to keep track of the dozer count, which meant any other power-ups I dream up would also need some UI space, so it would easily get cluttered and dozers were scarce so it wasn’t much fun destroying a single obstacle here or there… yeah, boring!
So now, power-ups work on a limited-time basis. i.e. collect a dozer and get 5-10 seconds of destruction mayhem without any stun penalty. This also means the visuals had to change, so like the coin collection above, power-ups transition to a UI point with a timer-bar whilst they’re active.
…and it also opens the door to many other types of power-up of course. For now, I’ve also added the age-old Coin-Magnet power-up. You’re So Money.
Dozer Destruction (and stun effect)
Remember - play the Dev Build
Cheers,
Al.
Hey all, Update time.
I’ve been refining the power-ups a little and introduced a new gameplay feature - extra points You can increase the score by destroying obstacles. +3 +5 or +10 depending on the obstacle. The balance is, that in normal play, the constructor will get stunned - but with the dozer power-up it’s a points rampage Using certain other power-ups will also earn extra points.
Any of you remember back at the very start of this thread ? Well an intended feature is almost ready - BRDIGES. Oh yes. I’ve got the power-up ready to go just need to finalise a few bits of code before demoing it.
In the meantime here’s a couple of QOL features - in-place floaty scores for destruction/power-up use and a some camera shakes…
Extra points (gimme gimme)
BOOM! Shake, shake… no…no I won’t do that…
Cheers,
Al.
Hey All,
So, here it is. First GIFs of the long awaited featured power-up - Bridges!
This powerup lets you build across canyons/rivers/lava/etc for a short time and gives you a few extra points for each section, and bonus points if you destroy any obstacles in the process!
Cheers,
Al.
Hey all,
I’ve just put together this first trailer for Buildy Road - any thoughts?
Cheers,
Al.
Just a quick update on the Trailer - I’ve edited it based on feedback and changed the link to v2
Al.
