BGS Unity Build Tomorrow* (Patreon)

We've made some good progress and our very first test run is ready to be shown. I want to emphasize once again that this is a restart of the project. The concept is the same, but none of the code was in any way copy-pasted, and 90% of the art will not be re-used either. We started fresh because we want to have a really strong code-base to work on and with the idea of giving the character a full body, a restart was necessary anyway.

This first version will showcase some early features. I will explain in a little bit more detail which elements are included.

Camera Controller: In the original BGS, the camera was in a fixed position and the player had no control at all. In this new version, you will be able to zoom and pan freely and view your character however your like. This custom built controller is flexible and offers some specific features such a double tap to reset, etc. While it's still not yet perfect, I'm curious to get your feedback on this one specifically.

Early Character Art: As you know, the character is still very much a work in progress. Last week I showed you why this is a hard egg to crack. More on that later this week, as I have some more things to talk about in relation to that.

Groundwork for UI: We have already worked hard at implementing code for the UI, and we use a very basic version of that to bring you this little test, which includes the ability to hide UI as well.

Groundwork of Locations: Just like in the original BGS, we will be using a simple technique which includes swapping around backgrounds to give the illusion your character has moved to a new location. This version includes a very rough implementation of that concept, which will be strongly expanded upon later.

Main Menu: While nothing special, it is still required to have! The main menu will grow with the project, but for now we have stuck to the original design somewhat, to save some time.

Flexible Aspect Ratio: While this may seem like an invisible problem, we spent a lot of time figuring out how to bring you the game in full-screen on as many devices as possible. Weird aspect ration, notches, punch-holes, tablets. These are all cases we've tried to cover.

Shader-based coloring: Just like in the original BGS, we will be coloring (parts) of clothing using code. This means we use a greyscale image and give it color using a shader. This technique helps reduce file bloat and increases performance greatly. Right now it's very basic, but we intend to explore this system further in hopes of adding stuff like gradients for hair colors and more complex color combinations and effects.

As always, specific engines bring specific problems. We are still figuring everything out and expect to see some bugs happening. My programmer would love to hear about them so they can be squashed!

I hope you are as excited as we are about the future of Bubblegum Sunday!

Alba

*if nothing goes horribly wrong.