Candy Thief - Postmortem

The development process overall

Part of my inspiration is the ginger-bread house and the Grimm fairytale. I have no idea what I was going to do at first. The last thing I read for fun before this semester start is a comic, Fables. It tells stories of fairytale characters’ modern life. The old witch living in the gingerbread house is in those stories too, and she becomes the lost character I read in that comic. Her original story becomes my inspiration for this game.

What went right?

I met a lot of problems when I started and solved most of them at the end of this project. I learned how to access the player’s position from different scripts, and sorted layers/order in layers in Unity. How to gradually decrease the player’s speed when she steps onto the bubble gum is the problem I used most of my time to solve. I choose to use OnTriggerStay2D at the end. The code is doing its work even if it’s hard for the player to feel the speed change. 

This is also the first time I draw things in pixel. I had a lot of fun! The Hard Waffle used to be a lollipop, but I feel a circle looks weird in pixel, so I changed it to waffle. The candy thief was blonde at first. That color blends in the game background, so I change it to the color you see right now.

I also add a setting page which I hope can better explain the game content. I was making stories about them when I drew them. In the setting, you can see the names and functions of each trap and those are stories I thought of when I created them. I’m glad this is not a 2D game. I’m more sensitive about colors and shapes on 2D things.

What went wrong?

Two things that bother me in this game is the friction and my music choice. I added 2D material on the floor and waffle, but they still move like they can’t feel any friction. I’m not sure how to fix it for not. I guess that may have something to do with the sorted layer I’m using. Another thing is music. I can’t find the right theme music. They all sound wired. I think the one I’m using right now is wired too… I add it because it is weirder not to have that music. 

Lessons Learned

• In Trigger is not layer. Use sorted layer when you have to.
• Add things to prefab AFTER you done every change.
• When your code doesn’t work, check objects’ tags, layers, in trigger checkbox before you change the code.
• Command+Z is not your savior. Sometimes it makes things even more complicated. Trying to identify the problem should be the first thing you do. 

Future Development 

I’m running out of ideas, so this game doesn’t have level 2. I want to create the next level in the future and also change the theme music.