Happy 20th of April, you Potentates of Plants!
Today marks the start of my "Weekly Roundup" series of posts, where I bring all you "drop-shotting 900-kickflip-to-darkslide meme-lords" up to speed on what I'm actually working on for Touch Some Grass. You know... Like a *responsible* game developer.
Let's get into it -
The Input Overhaul
This piece of development covers the addition of controller support, so that all you "thumb-sticking console-jockeys" can enjoy Touch Some Grass on your gamepad of choice. This feature has been my number-one priority since the game released a week ago.
To make this possible, I actually had to scrap an entire section of code that handled in-game movement and actions, and then re-write those functions around Unity's "Input System". I honestly thought this would take forever, but the truth is, I just finished up adding controller support for the "main" portion of the game. Hand-related actions are now fully supported by controller, including "Movement", "Touch", "Hand / Skin Swap", "Pro Mode" and "Reset Grass" functions.
The remainder of development involves getting menu interactions to work appropriately, which is a larger headache than it sounds. However, if things progress as quickly as they did for the Hand functions, I'm hoping to beat my proposed deadline of May 18th by a significant margin.
New Game Mode
That's right! I'm officially putting together the framework for a brand new game mode! This addition will provide Touch Some Grass with a slightly more "interactive" experience - One that (hopefully) challenges even the most glorious of Grass-Gods among you.
This new game mode should be ready for testing in a few weeks, and will exist alongside the current game mode, so no angry emails please.
That being said, allow me to bring in my highly-paid Concept Artist to go over the details with you.
-slowly puts on fake mustache and oversized cowboy hat-
Howdy, y'all. It's me. The Concept Artist.
Allow me to introduce - "GRASS-TEROIDS"
Let's take a look at some museum-worthy concept art that depicts the new game mode -
Basically, the new mode will involve asteroids (or something, I don't know) smashing into the grass in random locations. The goal is to keep touching the grass for as long as possible, while avoiding the falling debris. If at any point you stop touching grass, or if an asteroid hits your "grubby little grass-grabber", the round ends, and your score is tallied up.
BE WARNED - The asteroids will fall faster and faster, as more time passes.
Players will be able to compete on a fresh set of Leaderboards, to see who can survive for as long as possible. Of course, there will be new achievements for players who manage to survive for significant periods of time.
This new mode should adequately challenge all of you "radiant-grandmaster crouch-toggling twitch-streamers" who passed on playing Touch Some Grass because you thought it was actually a joke. It was never a joke! It was only a warm-up! Y'all!
-rips off mustache and hat-
Final Thoughts
Again, I just want to quickly express how grateful I am for all the amazing community contributions and reviews. You are all incredible, and I really appreciate you taking the time to play my silly little "game".
See you next week! And as always, happy grass-touching, my friends! ːsteamhappyː