Capstone

This week our dungeon-crawler transformed from a cool prototype into a living world with purpose. We locked the core loop—top-down, mobile-friendly runs launched from a cozy Resting World hub—where terrified, summoned NPCs gather, calm down, and gear up. On the gameplay side, we stood up the AI agency stack (Suggestion → Accept/Decline → potential Revolt), fear/nerves hooks, and clean combat scaffolding (underwater penalties, solo-kill detection, mastery triggers). Navigation and puzzles are in—with laser traps, pressure pads, guarded doors, off-mesh links—and we’re shipping to Unity 2022.3.37f1 with tidy prefabs, scenes, and style-compliant code. The world and story finally clicked: a time-shattered campaign across past/present/future slices of plains, castles, mansions, drowned cities, skybridges, foundries, and ancient forests. Every 10 floors caps an arc boss (Dragonid warlords, assassins, leviathans, wights, storm matriarchs, iron tyrants, eidolon weavers, abyssal heralds) on the ...

After a nonstop sprint with Crimson Sea , I’ve decided to take a short break from pirate adventures and shift my focus back to finishing up my AI game project. Sometimes stepping away from one project helps recharge and bring a fresh perspective, and this was the perfect time to give my attention to something that’s been waiting in the wings. The AI project has its own set of challenges, but it’s been rewarding to return to it and make progress with a clear head. I’ve been tightening up enemy pathfinding, adjusting decision-making logic, and ensuring that the AI behaves more intelligently in complex environments. It’s a refreshing change of pace and a great chance to polish up systems I had shelved during the heavier parts of Crimson Sea development. This break is not just about resting—it’s about refocusing. Once the AI game project is wrapped up, I’ll be diving back into Crimson Sea with renewed energy and fresh ideas. Until then, I’m excited to keep pushing forward on this final...

  This week in Crimson Sea was all about tightening things up and adding more life to the world. I spent a good amount of time tracking down and fixing a variety of bugs across the game—everything from broken animations to weird behavior in enemy interactions. Squashing these bugs helped smooth out gameplay and make sure everything felt more stable and polished overall. Alongside the bug fixing, I also added new enemies into the game, including dwarfs and orcs. These new additions bring more variety and challenge to encounters, making combat feel fresher and more dynamic. Each enemy type has its own personality and behavior, and they’ve helped flesh out the world of Crimson Sea even more. With the bugs addressed and the new enemies integrated, the game is now in a solid state for public playtesting at the Create the Spark event. We’re excited to get it in players’ hands, gather feedback, and see how all the recent changes hold up in action. It’s been a packed week, but a rewar...

 This week in Crimson Sea , we’ve made some exciting progress by integrating the ship’s crew into the game. Getting the crew up and running added a new layer of life to the ship, making it feel more like a functioning team rather than just a backdrop to the player’s journey. As part of this process, I also had to make adjustments to the player systems to ensure they work seamlessly with the new crew logic—fixing interactions, navigation, and role assignments that were affected by the update. In parallel with crew integration, I’ve also begun implementing the mutiny system. This new mechanic introduces consequences for how the player manages their crew. If morale drops too low or the player makes poor decisions, the crew can start to turn against them. It’s still early in development, but it’s already adding depth to the gameplay and giving the player something new to think about while navigating the challenges of life at sea. With these systems coming together, Crimson Sea is st...

 This week, I’ve started adding sound to Crimson Sea , and it’s already bringing a whole new level of immersion to the game. From ocean waves to cannon blasts, the audio is starting to give life and atmosphere to everything we’ve built so far. It's a big step toward making the world feel complete, and I’m excited to keep layering in effects that match the action, environments, and intensity of naval battles. While adding sound, I also tackled some new bugs that popped up in the naval combat system. These included a few targeting issues and behavior quirks with the enemy ships. After some debugging and tweaking, I was able to get things working more reliably. As always, fixing one thing sometimes reveals another, so I’ve been keeping a close eye on everything to make sure the core combat remains solid and fun. To wrap things up, I did a general review of the project—checking systems, running tests, and making sure everything still runs as expected after the latest changes. It'...

This week in development, I focused on refining our weapon system, particularly through the WeaponSlotManager and WeaponItem configurations. My goal was to allow players to equip and unequip weapons dynamically, including drawing swords from their hip. To do this, I built out ScriptableObjects for weapons that included metadata like attack animations, stamina costs, and most importantly, the modelPrefab — which represents the 3D model that appears in the player’s hand or on their hip. Everything was wired up in the UI and code, but something was still off. While testing, I encountered a frustrating Unity bug: dragging our weapon model into the modelPrefab slot resulted in a “type mismatch” error. The cause wasn’t immediately clear, but it turned out I was trying to assign a mesh from the scene hierarchy rather than a proper prefab from the project folder. Unity only allows prefab GameObject assets to be assigned in ScriptableObjects like WeaponItem . To fix this, I unpacked the mo...

  What a week it’s been for Crimson Sea ! We had our vertical slice ready and polished just in time for MGC—everything was working beautifully, from ship controls and dungeon encounters to underwater exploration. But of course, in true game dev fashion, things got wild when I decided to implement the mutiny system and ship battling features just before the event. Let’s just say… the game didn’t take it well. Trying to squeeze those systems in last-minute ended up breaking major parts of the game. Features that were working perfectly started glitching out, and I had to scramble to fix it all on the day of MGC. It was a hectic few hours of debugging and reworking logic, but thankfully, I was able to stabilize the build just in time for people to test it at the event. Once everything was running again, I had several players try out the vertical slice. Their feedback was super helpful—some small bugs popped up that I hadn’t caught before, and I was able to patch them quickly. Despite...

  This week marks a huge milestone for Crimson Sea —our vertical slice is officially complete and ready to showcase at MGC! After weeks of hard work refining animations, polishing mechanics, and fixing every bug we could track down, the game is running smoothly and looking better than ever. Everything from ship controlling to seeing the underwater life and dungeon encounters is functioning as intended, giving players a solid glimpse into the full experience we’re building. This vertical slice represents the core of Crimson Sea : immersive naval controls, dynamic enemies, atmospheric environments, and fluid gameplay systems all working in sync. We’ve made sure every feature included is stable, engaging, and true to the vision of our pirate adventure. Getting it all to this point wasn’t easy, but the result is something we’re truly proud of. With the slice locked in and bug-free, we’re excited to present it at MGC and get feedback from players and fellow developers. It’s a major st...

 Big progress this week in Crimson Sea —we’ve officially completed all the enemy animations! Every character, from the smallest threat to the towering ogre, is now fully animated and ready for action. With these animations polished and implemented, combat feels more alive than ever, adding fluidity and personality to every encounter across land and sea. With animations wrapped up, we’re now focusing on enhancing the ocean itself. Our next big push is adding new underwater wildlife to make the sea feel vibrant and alive. From schools of fish to curious sea creatures, these additions will bring more atmosphere and visual richness to the game world. Whether players are sailing above or exploring beneath the waves, the ocean will feel teeming with life. These updates are helping us push Crimson Sea toward an immersive, living world where every detail—from enemies to environments—feels intentional and full of adventure. Stay tuned as we dive even deeper into development!

  This week marks another exciting step forward in Crimson Sea as we wrap up the final animations for our ogre enemy. Bringing this massive foe to life has been a challenge, but with its animations now complete, it’s ready to take on players with fluid and powerful movements. This addition adds another layer of variety to our growing roster of enemies, making combat even more dynamic. In addition to enemy animations, we’ve also been working on integrating underwater mobs, ensuring they interact naturally with the movement of the water. Now, these creatures move realistically beneath the waves, making underwater encounters feel more alive and immersive. This new feature adds an exciting dimension to exploration and combat, giving players even more to discover in the depths of Crimson Sea . Another big update is the implementation of ship movement that syncs with the water. With the ocean’s motion affecting the ships, sailing now feels more realistic, creating a true sense of bein...

 This week, we’ve been pushing forward with adding animations to our five new enemies in Crimson Sea . Bringing these characters to life is a crucial step in making combat feel dynamic and immersive. So far, we’ve successfully fully animated three of the enemies, and they’re already adding more excitement to ship battles. The remaining two are in progress, and we’re carefully fine-tuning their movement and attack sequences to ensure they feel fluid and responsive. As we integrate these animations, we’ve also been tackling the inevitable bugs that pop up along the way. From minor animation glitches to unexpected AI behavior, we’re working through each issue to make sure the enemies move and react properly during combat. Every fix brings us closer to a polished experience, ensuring battles feel as smooth and engaging as possible. With three enemies fully animated and the last two nearing completion, we’re making great strides in refining combat in Crimson Sea . As we continue bug-f...

  Introduction As part of my ongoing work with Unity, I’ve been developing a Game Setup Tool , a custom editor window designed to streamline the process of setting up players and enemies within the Unity environment. This tool makes it easier to configure game elements directly from the editor without manually placing objects in the scene. Below, I’ll Walk through what I’ve built so far, how it works, and ideas for improvement. Current Features 1. Player Setup The tool allows developers to: Select a player prefab from the available assets. Set an initial health value for the player. 2. Enemy Setup The enemy placement system lets users: Choose an enemy prefab to spawn in the scene. Define the number of enemies to spawn. Set a starting position for enemy placement. Automatically place enemies in a line along the X-axis with simple offsetting. 3. Easy Scene Testing A “Play Game” button allows instant playtesting by entering Unity’s Play Mode. Undo functionality is integrated wh...

Our team has been making steady progress in Crimson Sea , continuing to refine and implement animations for the new enemies. These animations are crucial in making combat feel dynamic, ensuring that each enemy moves fluidly and reacts naturally during battles. By fine-tuning attack patterns and combat motions, we’re working to make ship encounters more immersive and action-packed. In addition to animation work, we’ve made significant strides in implementing ship combat for different races. Each faction in the game will have distinct combat styles and behaviors, making battles more varied and strategic. Some of these combat systems are already in place, and we’re actively testing and refining them to ensure they function seamlessly within the game’s naval warfare mechanics. Meanwhile, we’re wrapping up work on the NPCs aboard the ship, making sure they contribute to the atmosphere and world-building. These characters will interact with the player in meaningful ways, adding depth to life...

  This week, our development team is hard at work refining the animations for our new enemy characters. While we’ve made significant progress, we’re still adding and tweaking these animations to ensure that each enemy moves fluidly and reacts realistically during ship combat. The goal is to create dynamic naval encounters that truly bring the high-seas battles of Crimson Sea to life. Alongside the ongoing animation work, we’re continuing to develop our ship combat system. As we polish the enemy movements, we’re also testing how these adversaries interact on the ship’s deck during combat scenarios. This iterative process helps us identify any inconsistencies and allows us to fine-tune the mechanics so that every encounter is both challenging and visually engaging. In addition to the enemies and combat mechanics, we’re expanding the presence of NPCs on the ship. These characters are being gradually integrated to add depth and immersion to the overall gameplay experience. Their inter...

This week, our focus has been on adding rich animations to the new enemy characters, elevating the intensity of ship combat in Crimson Sea . These animations are key to making each encounter feel dynamic and realistic, ensuring that the enemies not only look formidable but also move with fluidity as they engage in naval battles. With these animations in place, every skirmish on the high seas becomes a visually immersive experience. Alongside the enemy animations, we’re pushing forward with the ship combat mechanics. The enhanced visuals and responsive animations allow the enemies to seamlessly interact with the environment, navigating the ship’s deck and engaging in coordinated attacks. This progress brings us one step closer to creating heart-pounding, action-packed naval engagements that test the player’s skills and strategic thinking. Additionally, our work on integrating more NPCs onto the ship continues. These characters will add depth and life to the game, offering players rich i...

 This week in Crimson Sea , we’ve continued to build on our naval combat mechanics by adding new enemy types to the game. These fresh adversaries are designed to challenge players on the high seas, making every encounter more dynamic and strategic. As we work to expand the roster of enemies for ship combat, we’re focused on ensuring that each new foe contributes to a more immersive and exciting gameplay experience. At the same time, our development team is hard at work tracking down and fixing bugs related to ship combat. Integrating complex interactions between enemy behavior and ship movement has presented its fair share of challenges. By meticulously testing and refining these elements, we’re steadily improving the overall quality and reliability of the naval battles, ensuring that players will experience seamless, action-packed combat on the open seas. In parallel with these updates, I’m slowly integrating the mutiny system into the game. This feature, which will add an extra l...

  This week, we’ve hit another major milestone in the development of Crimson Sea . We’ve officially finished the ship movement system, allowing players to navigate the open seas with smooth, responsive controls. This has opened the door for an exciting new feature: ship combat. To bring this to life, we’ve added new enemy types designed specifically for naval battles, making encounters on the water as thrilling as those on land. With ship movement and combat systems in place, we’ve been hard at work identifying and fixing bugs to ensure everything runs smoothly. From fine-tuning enemy behaviors to optimizing ship controls during combat, we’re focused on making sure each battle feels dynamic and challenging without technical hiccups. This process has helped us refine not just the mechanics but the overall experience of commanding a ship in dangerous, pirate-filled waters. Seeing ship combat come to life has been incredibly rewarding. It adds a whole new layer of excitement and strat...

  The start of a new semester has brought fresh energy and focus to our development of Crimson Sea . This week, we reached an exciting milestone by completing the combat system. With the finishing touches added, players can now fully experience the dynamic and challenging battles we’ve envisioned. The combat mechanics, inspired by Souls-like games, have been refined to feel fluid, engaging, and rewarding—a core piece of what will make Crimson Sea stand out. Now that combat is complete, our focus is shifting to planning the final stretch of development. We’ve started outlining a roadmap to guide us through the remaining work. This includes polishing existing features, completing the dungeon and boss encounters, and ensuring our systems, like the mutiny and bank mechanics, integrate seamlessly into the game. Our goal is to maintain steady progress while ensuring every element of Crimson Sea feels cohesive and polished. This semester will be all about bringing our vision to life and...

Game development is often a journey of troubleshooting and discovery, and this week in Crimson Sea has been no exception. Our focus has been on getting the dungeon’s enemies to move and ensuring the boss behaves as intended, but things haven’t gone quite as smoothly as we hoped. At first, the enemies stubbornly refused to budge, and to make matters worse, the boss kept mysteriously disappearing every time we tried to test its behavior. After a lot of debugging and experimenting, we finally cracked the code to get the enemies moving. It was a satisfying breakthrough to see them patrolling the dungeon as intended, adding life and challenge to the environment. However, the progress came with a new issue: while the enemies now move, they’re not attacking the player. It’s been a bit of a puzzle to figure out why their attack behavior isn’t triggering, and I’ve been diving into the AI scripts to identify the missing link. Despite these setbacks, each small victory brings us closer to our go...

 This week marks a crucial milestone in the development of Crimson Sea as we work to complete the vertical slice of the game. The vertical slice is a condensed, playable version that showcases all the key mechanics and systems in action, giving us a snapshot of how the final product will feel. From fine-tuning gameplay to ensuring the core systems work seamlessly, we’re pushing hard to get everything ready. As the vertical slice takes shape, it’s exciting to see all the elements—dungeons, bosses, combat, and systems—coming together. This stage is all about ensuring the foundation of the game is solid and representative of our vision. It’s been a team effort to reach this point, and every small detail we polish brings us closer to capturing the essence of a thrilling pirate adventure. Next week, we’ll shift gears to focus on polishing the vertical slice. This will involve smoothing out rough edges, enhancing visual and gameplay elements, and making sure it’s as polished and engagin...