Tools for the job

Hi there! Here we go again with a new feature.

As teased in the previous devlog, this time it's about tools! Those are items that can be found while exploring, dropped by enemies or even crafted, and they will help you in many ways. Some can be used as weapons, like throwing knives or bombs, while others can be used to buff the player, increasing his defense, resistances to status effects or giving him elemental damage by enchanting the sword with the corresponding element.

I've tried to make the switch between "normal mode", where the camera is behind the player and "aim mode" as seamless as possible. This means not just a smooth animation when switching between them, but also being able to use the tools from the belt slots (those circles in the bottom left corner that act as item shortcuts) and going back to "normal mode" by doing any action such as jumping, attacking, blocking or doing a special attack. This means that if you are in a pinch while aiming, going back to normal will be easy and hassle free!

You can check a short video showcasing the throwing knife and the bomb bellow, their difference in weight (how fast the fall) and the fact that the knife can go underwater while the bomb doesn't, plus other things like switching between them without quitting "aim mode", or being able to cancel the aim by attacking.

But that's not all! Some more stuff I've been working on:

• Improved the camera. Up to this point I was using a Springarm node which gave me lots of jittering when running the camera across a surface like a wall or ceiling. That's been replaced with a raycasting system which results in a way smoother and clipping-free camera!
• When using the item shortcut, it blinks for a moment. It's a small detail but I think it adds some neat feedback to that action.
• Reworked the UI a little bit. Health indicators used to be 3D models that were rotating. Never liked how jaggy they looked, plus they being 3D models on the UI meant having an extra viewport which I never was very heappy about. I've replaced them with 2D sprites made of pre-renders of the same 3D models used before, tweaking the light a bit to make them look more sleek. Check them out below!

And here they are in movement. Sorry for the low quality gif! 😆

And that's all for this devlog! Making the tools work wasn't too much of hassle, but the switch between camera modes and all the camera refactor sure has been! But that's done, and I'm quite happy with the result. Hope you think the same haha.

As always, thanks for reading, and see you next time!