After a couple of hard sprinst we can finally leave behind implemented new features and focus and polish the existing ones. For the previous and upcoming week we spent out time finetuning the visuals and improving player. 

Our Artists

This week, Hanna first and foremost tried to make the characters texture more saturated and readable, because from the feedback from last couple of weeks it was noticable that the players would lose themselves on the screen, and wouldn't know which character they played. Upcoming week she will make a small hat or element to enhance the silhouette and make them differentiate even more. But for now she let it be as she lost some time trying to solve problems with the shader in the project. Next to this, she made an additional moving platform that has the shape of a chocolate bar, this fits more within the genre of the game. She also textured an additional springy platform, the color might still change as it maybe doesn't really fit within the color palette of the level. Another big part of this week was an updated version of the UI, it's all meant to fit with each other and she tried to accomplish that by reusing elements from the joinscreen Stan made last week. Besides that, the week was spent by fixing small things in the level like scaled platforms and missing textures.

This week, Stan focused on refining the game's RFX to enhance player feedback and immersion. To begin with, the breadcrumbs (key collectibles in Jointed) were made more visually striking. Each breadcrumb now emits a subtle godray to stand out in the environment, and upon collection, playful starburst effects appear to reward the player and emphasize progress. Beyond collectibles, Stan also implemented reactive VFX for player movement. When sprinting or jumping, visual effects now trail behind the characters, giving them a greater sense of momentum and energy while strengthening player feedback. One recurring issue in past playtests was the lack of clarity between the two characters. To address this, Hanna and Stan collaborated: Hanna enhanced the saturation of each character’s base color, while Stan adjusted the color and intensity of the cage RFX that connects them. Together, these tweaks aim to improve character distinction and reduce confusion during gameplay. Lastly, preparations for the final level pass are well underway. Stan removed placeholder red boxes and touched up several props, helping push the level closer to a polished, release-ready state.

Flor spiced up the characters by creating unique respawn animations for the characters. He also implemented a wind shader to breath some life into the forest background.  

Our Developers 

This week Mathies focused on fixing some bugs such as sounds missing and the players being able to go up by spamming the pull button when respawning. He also made the timed platform fold instead of dissapear to make it look better Lastly he helped implement the artists RFX such as the little clouds behind the players when sprinting or the clouds when the player jumps. Also made the glow effect around the breadcrumb dissapear when the breadcrumb leaves its initial position and when the players picks it up.

Elias fixed our tilting platform reset again. Made our animation speed more consistent and added a rumble to our timed platform before it falls for better player feedback. And also made our rotating gingerbread platform more accurate by not letting the players stick to their sides

Bram spent time on fixing some small but surpisingly hard bugs in the ui. This mostly included the main menu and joinscreen. Also he spent time on finishing the end screen so it shows the correct info.