Drop Drop

Due to some conflicts within the group and the desire to have a better chance at IGF, the game was once again changed. We have let the zombies die and are now making our game about a raindrop. Yes, we are experiencing the life of a raindrop as it falls through the skies.  For this iteration of the game I have redone the controls. I also replaced the zombie character with a raindrop.

As the raindrop falls it collects other drops and grows bigger. I used a lerp between the raindrops current size  and the collected drops size to make the growth gradual and dependent on the size of the collected drops. I've also made the other drops different colors. As the drops are absorbed the character changes color as well. This is also done with a lerp, so that the color of the drop is a true mix between its previous color and the collected drop's color.

When the drop falls there are some shader effects involved. I added a fish-eye effect to the camera to give it the sense of looking out of a water drop. I also added a blurring effect, so that it gives the player a better sense of falling.

Later we actually added the skeleton to the drop to mimic the player's movements. I worked with our technical artist to get a good skeleton for the drop, and to determine how to weight the maodel to the skeleton.

For the collectable drops I created spawners that will spawn drops in the level when the player triggers them. This way the drops are in view and they take their speed from the player's speed so that they are not impossible to collect. Their speed varies from slow to fast, but not impossible fast.

When the drop hits the ground it splats. I implemented a script that will make the splats match the raindrop's color. I've added these spawners throughout the level.