Overview

This week, the entire teams focus was on improving gameplay flow by finding major bugs affecting progression, aiming to refine the level layout,  sound and UI functionality, and addressing core mechanics (grapple, lure, checkpoint, and enemy AI). Significant progress was made on level design polish, collision optimization, and item placement to enhance playability and immersion.

Level Design & Environment

Fixes & Additions:

• Globally fixed player mantling on unintended surfaces (issue with default line trace profiles).

• Added mutation pickups throughout the level.

• Adjusted checkpoints (placement, collision, and visibility).

• Bridge in the purple room now breaks properly with visual effects.

• Added pickup Zubs with correct sound cues.

• Added breakable web assets to stage Zubs and guide the player visually.

• Placed leaky green drips to draw player attention upward.

• Adjusted level geometry to:

  • Allow access to previously unreachable areas.

  • Prevent large enemies from hitting ceilings and getting stuck.

• Added enemies in underpopulated areas to improve pacing.

• Adjusted collision settings:

  • Reworked props to use physics instead of no-collision for realism.

  • Smoothed stair collision meshes.

  • Replaced problematic prop collisions with invisible manual meshes.

• Disabled unnecessary collision and ensured smooth traversal throughout the level.

Notes:

• Future geo adjustments will go through the art team for approval.

• Added environmental cues to subtly guide exploration and pacing.

Audio & Voice

Voice & Sound:

• Recorded voice lines and created sound cues for small and big enemies (not yet implemented).

• Zub dialogue bugs:

  • Zub 1 loops final line repeatedly (“I hope you are not one of them”).

  • Zub 7 plays no audio.

  • Picking up a new Zub mid-dialogue cancels future Zub playback.

  • Voice lines continue after player death.

• Low Health Sound System:

  • Delay before low-health audio/FX trigger; often plays post-death.

  • Audio persists after respawn instead of resetting.

• Suggested Fixes:

  • Sync low-health SFX and voice trigger at threshold.

  • Ensure reset on respawn.

  • Destroy Zub dialogue actor after final line.

Gameplay Systems

Player Mechanics

• Death & Respawn:

  • Dying places player back at death location instead of checkpoint/start.

  • Respawn sometimes fails if no save state exists.

  • Can pause during death screen and still interact with blurred UI.

  • Buttons on death screen sometimes unresponsive after window focus loss.

  • Respawned player retains low health (suggested reset to full).

  • FIX: Reset health, mutation, and respawn logic to use nearest checkpoint or start.

• Movement:

  • Player only moves forward/backward on bridge (restricted lateral movement).

  • Bridge collapses too quickly.      

  • Player can’t jump onto crates or wall climb certain pillars.

  • Player falls instead of sticking to wall after fall + grab attempt.

• Healing:

  • Healing can be spammed with no cooldown or animation.

  • FIX: Add cooldown and use animation for healing use.

• Lighting:

  • Game overall too dark; brighten lighting globally.

Grapple Hook

• Grappling enemies launches them instead of pulling them in.

• Grapple fails when moving downward or falling.

• Can’t grapple mid-fall (should be allowed to correct mistakes).

• Grapple can sometimes launch player into death pits.

• Grapple hook should not fire if it would kill player (use shotgun/sword logic).

• Grapple model exists but not yet implemented.

• Dying mid-grapple causes respawn to reattach to grapple.

• Suggestions:

  • Add downward functionality.

  • Prevent lethal grapples.

  • Fix trajectory to reduce bounce into pits.

Echo Lure

• Enemies don’t react to echo lure; it should distract them.

• Echo lure spawns at player location instead of being projected.

• Should visually shoot from player.

• Placement logic broken if obstacle is between camera and player (spawns behind player).

• Noise lure range and enemy detection range need tuning.

• Noise lure fails above voids or >2m above nav mesh.

• Fix Suggestion: Trace to nearest nav mesh before spawning.

• Should use line trace from camera, starting 1m in front of player.

• Noise lure misplacement causes unwanted enemy detection.

• Make lure parameters adjustable in editor.

Enemies & Combat

AI Behavior Issues:

• Enemies revive after death or backstab.

• Big enemies stop moving after losing sight of player.

• Small enemies get stuck in “wait” state after following lure.

• Enemies too slow to aggro or attack; player can ignore them easily.

• Enemies can be pushed/fly away (mass too low).

• Enemies ignore hit objects (no noise events on hit).

• Player can’t damage enemies during spotting animation.

• Flinch animation delay (~0.3s after hit).

Fix Suggestions:

• Adjust AI state machine to cancel/interrupt states.

• Add instant flinch response on hit.

• Reduce hearing range and restore post-lure patrol logic.

• Increase enemy mass for realistic reactions.

• Add FX/sound feedback for kills and lure interactions.

UI & Menus

• Scaling & Layout:

  • UI elements go offscreen on non-16:9 displays due to incorrect anchors.

  • Skills UI extends past screen edge.

  • Dialogue text box doesn’t fit text properly.

  • Item unlock UI order incorrect (should be Noise Lure → Grapple → Wall Climb).

  • Alpha channel for empty health bar should be 0.

• Pause & Menu:

  • Resume button doesn’t work.

  • ESC key fails to unpause.

  • New Game button loads last save instead of starting fresh.

  • Load button nonfunctional.

  • Respawn button may fail without save data.

Fix Suggestions:

• Properly anchor widgets to scale with any resolution.

• Disable pause menu during death screen.

• Implement logic:

  • New Game: delete save → open level.

  • Load: replicate respawn/load checkpoint logic.

Level Logic & Progression

• Checkpoints visible and collidable (should be hidden, no collision).

• Missing doors and transitions between main and boss levels.

• No final boss end-state.

• Bio door uses player collision box for interaction — replace with box trace or enlarge bounds.

• Some boss room Mutation Cores inaccessible.

• Some enemies in boss arena stuck in geometry.

• Player spawns facing wrong direction in boss room (rotate 180°).

• Missing tutorial prompts for new mechanics.

• Missing recovery system (needed for completion).

• Remove or hide debug floating text in level.

• Add more checkpoints throughout.

• Fill quarter-circle corridor before power room with mini enemies and evil Zubs.

Design Feedback & Suggestions

• Puzzle Rooms:

  • Tree puzzle room too difficult (three enemies too punishing).

  • Suggest keeping puzzle rooms as “safe zones” or limit to one enemy.

• Zub Collectibles:

  • Make Zub pickups more noticeable (especially first one).

  • Consider pausing gameplay during Zub dialogue (like Spyro dragon rescues).

  • Clarify whether Zubs or drones are speaking.

  • Possibly make Zubs drone-mounted to match lore consistency.

• Tutorials & Onboarding:

  • Add clear explanations for every mechanic as it unlocks.

  • Add UI hint for health item pickup to prevent frustration.

• Other Suggestions:

  • Smoke plants either need fixing or removal.

  • Respawn should reset health and mutation.

  • Add functional recovery items to avoid softlocks.

Summary of Major Fix Priorities

1. Checkpoint/Respawn System overhaul.

2. Echo/Noise Lure mechanics (enemy reaction, placement logic, and visuals).

3. Grapple Hook functionality (falling, trajectory, model).

4. Enemy AI & Combat states (death, flinch, lure logic).

5. UI scaling & functionality (pause menu, death screen, item order).

6. Zub audio logic and looping bug.

7. Level lighting and collision polish.