Because they just are
Yesterday I installed the new Unity update, which has fixed my issue with not being able to build a Play Store-compatible 64-bit app. So today I spent a long time poking around in the developer console creating a Closed Alpha release, uploading, fixing things etc. The alpha's gone through the pre-released checks fine, but I'm… Continue reading Day 45 – More wax
With only a few days to go now, I spent today doing polish work: Tweaked the pickup spawning again so that they only appear in the middle at the beginning, and gradually spread out; this makes the start slightly easier and less daunting as the first pickup is likely to be nearbyLengthened the tile flipping… Continue reading Day 44 – Wax on
Today I made tweaks based on feedback and known niggles with the aim of improving accessibility for new players. Pickups will no longer spawn around the edges of the grid (until you've reached a minimum score each game). Pickups on edge tiles can be quite difficult to collect sometimes, requiring planning to avoid running out… Continue reading Day 43 – Tweaks
Today I implemented the station's coach collection mechanic. After playing for a bit, I decided not to reduce the top speed of the train, but just set the speed right down and let it accelerate back up again. This still accomplishes the goals of giving the player some time to think, and regaining manoeuvrability with… Continue reading Day 42 – Station, pazazz
Today I didn't have time for a full session, so I did a couple of little bits instead of the Station mechanic I was intending to. The headline feature is ad integration. I've added a randomly-triggered interstitial ad after the Game Over screen activates; you see the screen for a short time so that you… Continue reading Day 41 – Ads
As I've been playing, it's become obvious that the game becomes almost unplayable after ~15 coaches have been collected. The train becomes too long to manoeuvre around the grid, and too quick for you to be able to think - a minor mistake can quickly unravel the game. It also becomes too intense for too… Continue reading Day 40 – Station!
Today I: Fixed a long-standing bug that coaches (and now tenders) don't start in the right position; they'd choose a point along the spline, behind the thing they're attached to, but they wouldn't jump back to the previous spline. This would cause a "stack" of coaches (especially on the main menu) until the train had… Continue reading Day 39 – Assorted polish
Love Island finishes in just under two weeks. I've gone back to my MVP list to see which bits I desperately need to do soon. The #1 blocker to releasing this is privacy. Early on in the jam I integrated GameAnalytics. I've decided to change now to Unity Analytics to make data consent simpler to… Continue reading Day 38 – Home straight
Belated update from yesterday - I only had half an hour before popping out to an industry event. I made a smoke sprite for the train smoke, as the Unity default one looked a bit odd, and faded to grey at the edges. The effect still needs some tweaking, but I'm happy that I made… Continue reading Day 37 – Smoke
Today I created a coach for the new train, and got the whole consist in-game. I then started doing a bit more UI work - after playing on mobile I realised the Info screen was quite small, so I enlarged that and then started looking at fonts. Browsing Google Fonts I've seen so many that… Continue reading Day 6^2 – Coaching
TrainsAreAwesome 