Cryptic Worlds

More revisions including some new gameplay additions in the form of two new powerups to make the game more interesting. I have a 3rd power up in the works but haven’t decided if it’s really necessary.

I have also implemented a High Score system so that scores can be recorded and saved on exiting the game. This also includes a 3 letter initial input like in old arcade games. The high scores table can be reached from the Start Menu.

I have not gotten around to addressing some of the other bugs and issues so they remain on my to-do and known issues listed below. I would say the most aggravating bug right now is the 2-Hit Coin not displaying damage at all as I had gotten it to work with the 3-Hit Coin which had been the other broken element. My code doesn’t seem to be off but I’ve seen Unity do some weird things recently so who knows? But anyways, we’re getting real close to a finished game and I couldn’t be more excited to have finished my first full featured game using Unity.

Current Version 0.9.3
Fixes/Changes

• Magnet and Barrier power ups implemented for more varied gameplay.
• Hi-Score scripting implemented.
• Issue with Unbreakable Coin blocks interacting with ball after a gutter ball was discovered and fixed.
• Unlockables Menu and Results screen now display 4 digits for money balance, previously only displayed 3.
• Issue with Volume slider on Options page not being interacted with was found and fixed.
• Slider for Difficulty selection on the Options page has been replaced with buttons to match Control Type selection.
• Coin damage sprites are now working for 3-Hit coin.
• First music track no longer repeats for a couple seconds before moving onto the next track.

Known Issues

• 2-Hit Coin doesn’t display any damage, still looking into why this behavior is missing.
• Ball still affected by button press after start of play (left in as a sort of “debug” in case ball needs to be nudged).
• Placeholders still in place for last 2 Balls and Paddles under Unlockables.

To-Do

• Fix coin block animation that shows damage for 2-Hit Coin.
• Create new sprites for remaining Balls and Paddles under Unlockables.
• Make it so the ball doesn’t get stuck in vertical bounces at corners of the screen.

So I’ve written some methods to randomize the type of block and its rotation when called so that the grids can be initialized and setup at the start of the scene. As you may or may not notice I’ve filled in the hole in the center of the grid. I made this choice after seeing how setting the blocks made the game unplayable because the permutations often resulted in dead ends. Even with more blocks to work with per floor I’m having trouble with what it puts down and where, I need to streamline this a bit so that the game is winnable. What that also entails in scripting it so that only one drain can be placed per floor (currently it seems to not want to place any), which is the block used to get to the floor below. I also need to iron out some bugs with the Reserve element which allows the player to swap out a block, which currently only changed the type of block in the reserve window and not on the play field. More to come as it comes along.