Step 4: Learning to teach

Several play tests, posts to twitter, insta, and bluesky later, I have what will be the last update for some time (assuming this doesn't blow up on reddit or something, which might inspire further tinkering). Hopefully, this final edit will address the biggest issue that people have had so far: being unable to pick up the controls. 

It turns out that the solution to several of my problems was within grasp the entire time: switching scenes. I hadn't ever used the Scene Manager in Unity until I tried to make a start menu for the Agential Worldbuilding class showcase. Assuming it'd be a quick and easy add-on, I tried to whip one up the day-of, but got stumped by a few details. (UI is the bane of my existence, in both Unity and Godot.) Once figured out, though, I realized that I could now create separately loaded scenes... meaning a tutorial was very possible! This also means that I could potentially load up separate different levels, and could cram in lots of 3D models into each one, since performance wouldn't be limited by having to run the entire Yosemite valley. Needless to say, I have not done that. I DID make the tutorial, added some final tweaks to the main game, and called it a day. Since my UI skills are so limited, I only used triggered text boxes for the tutorial. (Experimentation with the video player nodes and animated sprites were duds.)

Due to my own technical and logistical limitations, I never built out an options page to control pixelation effect, never added in a sick minimalist techno soundtrack, never added sonic rings or subway surfer coins. As the late, great, Steve Whalen once said: Nevertheless, I live there! I'm happy enough with the final effect, so much so that I'll play the game on my own sometimes when I'm craving that surf movement. One annoying side note: I ran into more WebGL problems with the prefab bird scenes, so this final build actually involved *removing* one of the birds that previously worked. Sigh. New year, new projects keep calling. Next up: 2D, tile-based fighting game in Godot? Finishing my aircraft carrier game? Hope you play and enjoy for now -- if anyone reads this, leave me a comment!