Mech game that should be dead

+ environmental art
- I do not like it
+ more balance/tweaking
- the slog never ends
- demo is gonna be so light in content it should be considered anorexic

+ bugcrushing (mainly around the new(^6) melee function, omitted too many details)
+ balancing
+ new AI functions to avoid flocking, match the target's height, re-arranging stuff (fixed some issues too)
+ concept sketches for another iteration of the missile launching enemy
- demo day next week
- shit's slow

+ High quality Mattress technology
+ Getting back onto gameplay instead of moping around infinitely trying to get a mc I'll like
+ Ditching quality for efficiency allowed me to do a set of animation in a couple hours
+ Refactored "global cooldown" system to use the token system implemented in Doom (2016)
- Still need to figure out how to "steal" tokens
+ Target tracking IK animations for the enemy grunt
+ Started re-working the current melee system and how its data is handled
+ New system is easier to use
- Not finished
- Demo Day is in 2 weeks

+ started working on armored core inspired aiming for ranged weapons
+ minor tweaking/iterations on the mc again
+ modular assets again
+ learned about face weighted normals
- have to re-do/tweak the assets I had made to use them
+ doing some high poly details to bake onto decals

+ misc tweaks on mc design
+ couple modular assets
+ tweaked the way characters rotate to face something so it is constant
- one more failed attempt at designing a fun level
- jackshit progress this week

+ modelling the main character
- design for it isn't finished
+ almost finished the new sketch for the grunt
+ started a new workflow to figure out levels after watching the gdc talk from respawn about "Action Block"
- by doing so I accidentally deleted the level I was working on (not a huge loss, could be retrieved from a backup but eh)
- projecting the snap function didn't work out as planned
+ I just queue another one whenever it hits a surface
+ almost finished the re-re-re-redesign for the generic grunt (just needs arms)

+ Made a function that now snaps the rotation to a desired rotation
+ got the new melee hitboxes to work with the animations
+ found out how to modify the snap function to project onto a surface and still display the correct velocity
- didn't implement it
+ made a drone
- didn't need a drone
+ misc adjustments to the anim BPs (the Overgrowth gdc talk about it is great)
+ adjusting the level's lights and overall mood
+ more misc textures
+ bunch of concept art
- AI is going to need some more refactoring

- at the Uni again
+ New function that will snap an actor from his position to another across a path
+ Hopefully this should allow for more interesting and accurate melee attacks
+ Started new attack animations for the grunt
+ Misc modelling
+ Early work on environment detailing

+ almost decided on the final silhouette for the grunt (missing some stuff and wings need to be remade)
+ started animating it
+ started working on another system to blend between hurt animations based on the hit received
- not currently happy with it
- decided to put away the second enemy model I had for the time being, too similar to the first one
+ did the GMTK jam
- wow big fukcne surprise, most of it went wrong, the game is bad, and it made me more tired than anything else

+ re-planned progress on a trello board
+ modelling progress on the two enemies I'm working on, silhouettes are almost complete
+ made an actor that saves the position of a bone through an animation
+ melee raycasting will now always cast the same thing
+ can also use that for some vfx
+ made some placeholder textures for level blockout
- UE4 jam was a fucking failure
+ learned some stuff though

+ learning procedural meshes for some advanced VFX
+ implementing arbitrairy bézier curves
- spent more time this week working on the UE4 summer jam than I did on my game

- fucking woops I actually don't get topology that much, fuck hips and shoulders
+ implemented back the bendy raycasts
- need to figure out a way to create a single, continuous sheet of particle if I want it to work
- uuuuh

+ hands
+ getting the hang of proper topology
- endlessly tweaking designs

+ Working on a new model for an enemy
+ Wacky wavey missile swarms
+ Cleaned up the code for the camera so it's easier to tweak
- practicing more than I am making assets

- Spent most of the week iterating over cameras/movement
+ slowly getting to close to something decent
- rewrote the melee hit detection system twice
- gonna need to figure out a way to get rid of anim notifies for melee attacks, and a way to get a path for the raycasts to follow through the animation instead of using the skeleton's bones.
+/- decided not to have any sci-fi hexagon

+ Rolling back to another camera system since apparently I'm the only one who managed to use the previous one
+ Physics tweaks, enemies will now bounce off walls if they're hitting it from a certain angle or slide along otherwise
+ Movement tweaking, characters have different stats related to movement (braking/acceleration speed...)
+ New computer, got a drawing tablet as well
- need to figure out why characters are not imparted any velocity if they're touching a wall/floor/character
- tweaking once again some designs

+ released demo for Demo Day 21 !
+ Useful feedback
+ adjustments to the main character mesh
+ added master controls to the IK targets to make animating easier
- Procrastinated
- Tons of work ahead for dd22
+ know approximately what to do

+ Added an easy way to control globally how fast characters and projectiles go
+ Reduced overall character/projectile speed, game feels less floaty
+ Once again, the AI can now dodge. But the implementation is less wonky
+ Distinction between light/heavy attacks, one new animation so there's now 3 light that combo into each other and 3 heavy that end the combo.
+ Made an arena for dd21 as well as generic testing situations
- Wanted to do a whole level but every tool feels wonky
- Wasted some time on a boss idea, scrapped it because it was too annoying to animate and would have needed too many tweaks to be ready for dd21

+ Two new animations for the grunt
+ One new animation for the placeholder mc
+ AI can now return if a hit was made during a melee attack
+ Completely re-wrote the behavior tree for the grunt
+ Added a new attack to the missile launching mecha
- More gameplay tweaks
- late for DD21
- Busy and sunburnt

+ made a placeholder Main Character
+ rigged, animated, implemented it
- I settled on something I don't like
- Need to re-do its animations because the current ones suck ass
+ camera now tilts along the X axis to make both characters visible if their position in height is different
+ made some SFX, which sound better in game than I expected
+ gameplay tweaks, melee attacks are tighter and harder to dodge

+ fucking around with UE4's post processing stack
+ new VFX - missile fire and explosion
+ made some more procedural textures in Blender
+ Started working on subweapons - SMG, Missiles and Sniper/Railgun
- "Parrying" when two characters hit each other at the same time is actually broken
- Need to completely refactor the way damage is done
- (+?) practice on topology instead of meaningful progress
- Attempts at making a main character have been unsuccessful

+ rigged, animated, imported and implemented part of the AI behavior for one of the blockouts
+ new movement pattern for the new enemy, it moves from one position to another without getting in the range of the player
+ un-spaghetti-fied missile rotations
+ changed some anim notifies
+ made a missile smoke trail vfx and learned how sphereMask works (kinda)
+ made some materials in Blender for outdoors scenes as well as a couple rocks
+ started working on a basic AI director, it is now possible to limit how many attacks can happen within the span of X seconds, across multiple AI characters
- need to find a formula so that the more enemies there are, the more attacks happen instead of reaching a hard cap
- need to start working on a design for the main character asap
- Atavism did a bigger recap post somehow

+ New AI concept, taking in account distance to switch between melee/ranged.
+ Using an additive with the blendspace for vertical movement works
+ One new animation
+ basic Hitstop solution
+ changed from some velocity added when attacking melee, to a solution that scales velocity with distance from enemy
+ can't think of another anim notify to add
+ blocked out 3 mechas
+ changed some of the gameplay/balance, less easy to dodge attacks
+ game feels somewhat fun
- dropping 1, possibly 2 of them
- AI might be too aggressive when in numbers, might have to make an AI director
- the way damage animations are handled is shit

+ First version of the new dynamic camera
+ Improvements on damage handling
+ Super armor mechanic working fine as well as guard breaking (improvements based on super armor)
+ A bunch of anim notifies that make it extremely easy to do logic within animations
- Need to find a way to do something along the lines of a 3 axis blendspace for 6DOF movement
- Gameplay is now only half broken - featuring the "press any direction other than forwards to dodge melee" mechanic !
+ No more uni, only progress now (unless I somehow failed the second semester super bad)