Earl the Tomb Robber
Covid 19 KILLED Gamedev!
Earl the Tomb Robber - Devlog # 4
Okay, let’s get this out of the way… Covid SUCKS!
This month has been pretty much a bust for game development. I caught Covid 19 at the beginning of the month and have been down pretty much every day since then. As a result, yeah, pretty much nothing got done. So I guess this devlog is more of a non-update than anything else.
During my downtime, I did have a few friends play the game and give me feedback. Besides finding a bunch of new bugs to fix, I also got some interesting feedback that I wasn’t expecting regarding the Ladders in the game. Climbing ladders is a regular part of navigation in the game and is required for exploration and reaching elevated areas. Climbing DOWN ladders however, is NOT part of the game mechanics. This is mostly because there is no fall damage in the game, meaning you can simply jump down from any platform to reach an area below. But people were still telling me that they couldn’t figure out how to climb down ladders!
So what do you guys think? Should I add the ability to climb down ladders even though it serves no practical purpose?
And as a small bonus this month, here is a quick peek at one of the latest Tombs I was working on before Covid slowed me down. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to my regular pace of productivity soon!
Comments
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If the player tries to climb down a ladder, then perhaps Earl could just jump down? That shows that ladders aren't necessary to go down, and that there's no fall damage.
The main issue is that right now, there is no mechanic in place for the game to identify that a player is near the top of a ladder and that it's interactive. Whether Earl jumps down or climbs down is trivial as far as the code is concerned, it just a matter of what animation plays. My main concern was whether I wanted to go ahead and code a completely absent mechanic for going down ladders when it isn't at all necessary. In the end, I've decided to bite the bullet and stop being lazy about it. The player can now easily climb down ladders if they wish! :)