This is our final sprint to prepare for the greenlight presentations. We’re making the most of this time to finish setting up some really exciting new features and create solid plans for more improvements throughout the semester. Already 2 days into the sprint, we’re seeing some incredible progress. But first, let’s review last week.

Previously on re[Mod]…

Last week we were able to get in a lot of helpful changes. Justin finished implementing the new hitmarkers, screen shake when shot, and weapon and HUD inertia. Moving around now feels a lot less static and our new feedback loop is yielding very positive results. James was also able to refactor our Magnet Arm mechanic, making it easier to use and more responsive. The difference is astounding.

On the art side, last week Mike started putting together a few architectural assets for Tim to build the level with. He’s dedicated to making sure all of the level pieces will be modular so they can easily snap together.

Tyler spent the last sprint rigging the first person hand models. His goal is to improve upon the rig this week and start putting together some basic animations so we can start getting feedback on them.

Moving Forward

This sprint, we are dedicating ourselves to making some big changes. I’m really excited about our plans this week because we’re finally tackling some of the systems that we’ve been talking about implementing for a while now. The first big change this week is the addition of health packs.

Testers have been asking us for some way to manage health during a match for a while now. We’ve been aware of this need but kept having to push this task back to make time for more pressing matters. However, this week re[Mod] will finally have health pick-ups. James was able to set up the health-packs right away so I’m excited to see how this affects our QA results. A lot can change now that players are able to gain health back.

The other thing that I’m so excited about this week is weapon pads! We’re finally taking the crates away and replacing them with a new weapon pad system. At the beginning of this sprint, I threw together this document to show James what about weapon pads would be different than our current crates.

The very next day James had weapon pads completely set up. In the map, all crates have been replaced by the new pads but once Tim is finished with our new arena, weapon pads will be placed in much more intentional locations.

For the rest of the sprint, I’ve planned on doing a little more audio and documentation work in regards to the health packs. I’ll also be getting a jump on prototyping some new weapon parts to get us prepared for next sprint.

Until next time!