First Unlockable Area

The following is part of a bi-weekly update we would be required to do as we worked on our final projects. Some things may require context that is not included or some original post content may be excluded.

Last week I implemented being able to unlock a new area within my game.

In the tile map layers I had for the game, I made a new area that starts out as inaccessible as the bridge that's supposed to connect the starting area and the new area is "unbuilt".

The hitboxes of the tiles, showing the beginning of the bridge being blocked off by water tile hitboxes.

In the image above, you can also see there's a hitbox on the bridge tiles themselves. The player walking into that area actually shows a prompt that signals to the player what button to press to interact with the bridge. I may make the hitbox a little bigger so you don't have to be directly on/so close to the edge to interact with the bridge.

The button prompt that appears when you enter the bridge hitbox/area.

When you press "E" when prompted, it'll bring up another prompt that will ask if you want to spend a certain amount of Recycled Material to unlock something, in this case, Area 1. This will also pause the game and make only the prompt interactable until you choose an option.

The prompt that appears when you hit "E", asking the player if they want to spend 5 Recycled Material to unlock Area 1.

Choosing no will simple close the prompt and unpause the game so that the player can continue playing. Choosing yes when you don't have enough Recycled Material will close the prompt, unpause the game, and show a simple animated text that says you don't have enough Recycled Material. Choosing yes when you have enough to spend will close the prompt, unpause the game, and change the tile map layers to disable the one that blocks the player and enables the tile map that allows the player to access Area 1.

What I want to work on this week is adding the "shop" that allows the player to buy upgrades that makes it easier to collect trash. With the implementation of being able to unlock a new area using the game's currency, that means I have the start of a shop system so I'll be expanding upon that. If I have the time, I also want to add more trash variants, especially bigger trash piles that will require an upgraded trash beam to breakdown.