Jumping right in

So, I started the 2.5D course yesterday and I am having a blast with it. It started off pretty simple with capsules and cubes, creating basic platforms that are stationary and some that move. I set up a jumping, double jumping, capsule that was able to jump onto a moving platform and have that platform become the parent object of the capsule so the capsule would stay on the moving platform:

These were some great concepts to learn about and I could see the practical use for them in future games. I enjoy the progress of the courses at GameDevHQ because, for the most part, they slowly build on top of previous lessons and eventually you realize you can build an entire game when three weeks ago I was googling “What is Unity”.

The next step in the 2.5D course was a bit more advanced, a 2.5D puzzle. I had to move the capsule, while picking up enough ‘coins’ along the way, to an elevator where I had to turn the light on the elevator green then tell the elevator to come down to my level. At this point, I was familiar with most of what needed to be done. the elevator worked very similar to the moving platform from the previous part of the course and through the use of triggers I was able to accomplish most of what I needed to do.

It wasn’t until after I got off of the elevator that I learned something new. I learned how to wall jump. I was able to jump up in between the two walls, jumping back and forth off of them until I reached the top. Then I was able to react with the cube to push it on the pressure plate and finish the puzzle.

I am now working through the really fun part. At the moment I have just got my character to face the direction she is moving. I was able to import a character, use Mixamo to give her animations, and use those animations to simulate idle stance, running, and jumping. Tomorrow I will be working on grabbing ledges and climbing up them. I was having alot of fun on the cinematography part of the course, but this blows that away any day. Again, I’m looking forward to another day of creation tomorrow.