After the end of the Mini Jam (we took 5th place) we were thinking about the ways to improve this game.

We’d like to share our learnings from the work we’ve done on this update:

Graphics:

Problem: We aimed to achieve more realistic lighting, streamline our level production pipeline, and address some sprite overlapping issues.

[1] We attempted using a proper 2D isometric environment with sprite sorting instead of the billboarding method. We employed the plugin unity-iso-tools (github.com). However, it didn’t work well due to the following reasons:

• Real-time lighting became glitchy because of constant sprite movement in space for sorting
• We had to rewrite all controls due to a different physics system
• All existing levels had to be rebuilt

[2] We redesigned the entire game environment using 3D models, projecting sprites we had onto 3D shapes in Blender. This solution fixed all issues because:

• We can now utilize proper 3D lighting
• There are no overlaps or transparency sorting issues in the environment
• All solid blocks use an opaque shader
• We can add more complex shaders and effects in the future
• After transitioning to 3D, we were able to enhance button-pressing animations

Controls

We received numerous complaints about the controls during the jam. Here’s what we tried and learned while searching for an appropriate fix:

• Unfortunately, there aren’t many good examples to learn from
• We tested grid-based movement, but it was unsatisfactory. Players fell off cliffs more frequently, as grid-based movement doesn’t allow for error if you press the wrong direction button
• Ultimately, we chose to refine our existing system. We adjusted the physics, increased the player collider size, and eliminated all inertia t create snappier controls
• As a bonus, we also improved stair jumping, so now player model do not stuck on the edges

Give it a try! We’d love to hear your feedback!