This week, we decided to dive a bit further into the internal functions of the submarine, before we would move on to enemies like we initially intended. We filled up the interior with a couple of machines that the crew is gonna need to survive down in the depths. First and foremost, we worked out the control panels for both the Gunner and the Captain, giving them a little more complexity than just a color coded chair. After this, we moved to the Oxygen machines, one generator and one supplier, which would help the Diver survive longer underwater. To make these work, the simple inventory system we had so far was expanded, so now items can be picked up. Later on we will assign a button to do this, but for now, touching it will do the job. Some item sprites were added as well. A sonar device and an Engine dripping with purple colored goo are waiting to be finished too and will likely be added in our next update.

For the sub itself, we finally managed to fully implement a damage and repair system for the rooms. Once the Captain makes a mistake and runs the submarine head first into a wall, the rooms will get damaged. The faster he goes, the more damage is done. As soon as the rooms get a scratch, water starts flowing in, filling them all up. We added doors that could help block of rooms with the simple press of a button. Once the Engineer goes into a room and starts hitting the repair button on his joystick, the rooms will be fixed. However, the water stays for now because we didn't add a drainage system yet. Way to learn to kids that our bad choices have permanent consequences.

In this picture you can see that the world outside of the submarine changed as well: we added some extra scenary to give the level some more depth and color. There is now an actual level to navigate through, with a finish line that you'll have to reach. A progress bar on top of the screen will tell you how far you'll still have to go to reach this end point, for now a very appropriate black and white checkered stripe, a very common occurence in most oceans as far as I know. We also populated the area with sharks that actually do something now besides just floating in our way and looking menacing. They got a simple AI that tells them to move towards the submarine when it gets in range and start taking bites out of the closest room. Later, we will make this system more complex. When shot by the Gunner or Diver, they will also drop some delicious meat, available in 5 variations.

Last but not least, maybe our biggest change happened all behind the scenes. We decided to move away from the very clunky movement system that is the default in Unity and move on to the new package. Before, we had a lot of strange bugs with certain buttons being mapped to all the characters, like the Diver dashing no matter who presses the dash button on their controller, or the Gunner popping out of his seat as soon as the Captain leaves his. It took some extra effort, but now everything seems to work smoothly. The characters will also not be present from the start now, but instead, they will spawn in once you press a button for the first time. This is also the way for now to select as which character you are playing. You gotta make sure that you join right at the start however, otherwise your character will spawn out in the ocean as the submarine moved away from its starting position!

Next week, we will make sure the other machines in the submarine are functional as well and we will finally tackle the enemies. Both them and the rooms need some extra complexity to feel right and make a fair but challenging experience for the players.