Day 23: Squad Up!

As the weeks go by in my internship, I am getting reacquainted with old learning habits and trying out new ones. What works best for me is taking a break when I’m stuck, studying a different concept, then going back to the issue I was working on prior — rather than trying to forcefully commit something to memory that I’m having a hard time understanding. It’s important to be your biggest cheerleader and provide yourself with incentives when you can, especially when you’re just starting out in a new career or trying to achieve any goal, really. This may mean different things to different people, but for me, it’s usually something simple like getting up to get coffee if I check a few things off my to-do list by a certain time, or doing a quick set of body stretches to release some tension and reset. The latter is especially important if you’re glued to your laptop all day, like me!

I made progress in my enemy development today, and it’s looking like a big bad squad of intergalactic trouble. Check them out below!

Top left: Enemy2 — Top right: Enemy3 — Bottom center: Enemy4

I’ve already introduced Enemy2 in previous blogs, but I gave it a cosmetic makeover today. My thought process was that with each new wave, the enemies start to look more alien-like and it becomes more difficult to predict their behavior or weapon style. Its weapon, of course, is the plasma bomb.

Enemy3 looks like a lava beetle from a black hole hell, so I thought it fitting to assign it the role of “aggressive enemy”. If the player is close enough to Enemy3, it will start to chase the player and attempt to ram it. A tutorial by Lost Relic Games on YouTube helped me set up part of Enemy3’s script.

This script detects the player and attempts to “chase” it. I have not yet programmed basic movement or Enemy3’s weapon, the beam, just yet.

Enemy4 will be a “smart” enemy. Using a raycast, this character will be able to detect the player if it is behind it and will launch a rocket to attack. It’s a small and unassuming alien ship, but I plan on making it a bit faster than the others. A bit of brain, a bit of brawn, if you will.

I love character development from start to finish, and this is where I get to utilize my creativity the most. I can’t wait to get all of these enemies fully functioning and ready for battle.