YEAR 2 - BA2a - Guns and Bullet Juice

The first thing I realized once I'd coded picking up items and switching weapons was that it's not particularly obvious whether you actually have the gun equipped or not. At this point, the only difference was the ammo counter at the top left of the screen.

To make it clearer I did a number of things:

1. I made a model from a few cubes and stuck it beneath the camera. Then I made it so that the 'gun' model is only visible when the weapon is equipped.


2. I made a crosshair and pasted it onto the UI. Then I coded it so that it's only visible when the gun is equipped.

I tried a few different variations on the crosshair, black was too difficult to see, white was too saturated, red was maybe too distracting. The one I went with in the end was white but at 20% opacity. Allowing the player to use it as a guide but subtle enough so that it doesn't take the attention away from the rest of the game.

HOWEVER, The reason I added the crosshair was to make it clear that the gun was equipped. I said previously that I didn't much want the player to be able to aim too easily because I wanted to instill panic/vertigo. THEREFOR, I may be looking for a solution (and despite having said that it's actually very satisfying playing the game like this).


3. I used an equip sound that I found royalty free on THIS website for when the player first picks up the gun. It's a sound the player won't of heard before in the game so they will know that the gun is now in their possession.


4. As soon as the player picks up the weapon, they manually equip it and I print the words "You can change items with 1 - N" (with N being the total number of items I eventually add to the game).

Making the Gun satisfying to use:
I want it to be a big deal when the player first shoots a zombie since the zombies make the player feel so powerless before they acquire it.

- When the player fires the gun I play a loud and satisfying shot sound.
- I also kick the camera back slightly with the impulse of the shot so that it feels really punchy.
- There is an additional red light attached to the player that flashes an intense muzzle flare with the shot.
- The bullet itself has a red light attached to it making it visually very clear.
- (The red is both for contrast and because it is associated with killing and action. I feel like this will heighten the 'power' of the shot)
- Stray bullets also destroy and blocks that they may hit, adding to the feeling of it being a tangible thing.

What I still need to add:

- Satisfying visual and audio feedback for when you hit/kill a monster
- Change the zombies AI to react to the gun shot (Scared/Run away? Aggressive/Run at you?)
- Particle effects?