New Collectable (11/25)

Time for another update! This week, I've been planning out objectives for the game, and today I'll be discussing what I've come up with. Introducing the Resonote!

Also known as a "Clef" (both for the symbol name Treble Clef and because it's French for "Key"), collecting this will be the goal you work towards at the end of every level. And yes, that's actually a 3D model you're looking at rather than a 2D sprite. I modeled it myself in Blender, and after importing it into the game I applied every technique in the book in order to make it fit in with the pixel art used in the rest of the game.

Of course, the first order of business was pixelating the model (something fairly easy to do with render textures in unity)

Next I wanted to add an outline to it. I already had an effect ready to go from earlier (the one used to indicate when an object can be interacted with), but due to being designed for 2D it wouldn't have created any lines where the different parts of this 3D model overlap. I could apply vertex extrusion which is commonly used for outlines in 3D, but then that tends to leave gaps in the outline thanks to the pixelation that happens afterwards. In order to get the look I wanted, I'd have to apply both effects together

Nearly there now, but the color still wasn't quite right. For the model itself the colors are far too smooth: in pixel art you'd typically have a somewhat limited color palette, but here there's no such thing. Additionally the solid black outline doesn't look all that great either. I could simply change it to a lighter tone, but instead I thought it'd look better if it used a varied tone based on the color of pixels around it (being darker in shaded areas and brighter near highlighted ones). Both of these were applied using custom shaders in order to get the final look, seen here animated as it appears in-game:

Additionally as one last trick to really sell the effect, the frame rate of the animation has been limited as well (somewhere around 8-10 fps). It could be animated at 60 fps, but that appears far too smooth for pixel art. Meanwhile 6 or lower and it's too choppy. Get it right though and it looks just about perfect.

So with all of that technical stuff out of the way, what do I plan on doing next? Well, the next thing I'll work on will likely be what happens after collecting a Resonote, something I sketched out before I had decided on what the end of a level would look like

Yep, I'm finally bringing back that portal mechanic for this (for something so cool you'd think I'd use it more often lol). My next goal will be setting it up to actually be able to bring the player from one level to the next, something that sounds easy on paper but I'm sure is going to be a headache to pull off in practice. Once that's done I'll finally have all the building blocks in place for a proper game, which means maybe I'll be able to get some early builds out sooner rather than later.

But that's all for now. Thank you for reading, and until next time!