Hi friends!
We have two new big changes to Chili Mariachi design!
The colors
In an effort to add more colors to the game we came up with the idea of using shaders to allow us to change the game mood without having to add a lot of copies of the same objects with different colors. A shader is a piece of code used to adjust the colors of an image or to create some special effects. The shader we created allow us to gradually change the color of each background layer, and to add a gradient to the whole image.
The result as you can see in the images above is pretty good! This new feature allow for example to create day and night cycles, or to turn the game darker in the presence of a boss. Combine this with the right sound track and Chili Mariachi looks like a completely new game! Pretty awesome, right?
The gameplay
We have been doing small changes to Chili Mariachi levels every week, in search for the most fun mechanic. At about a month ago we added goals to each level, so in some levels the player would have to collect coins, in others he would have to hunt enemies or even just survive for some time. Each of this levels had a three stars rating, so in a coin collection level, if the player got 10 coins he would get one star, 30 coins and he would get two stars, and 100 coins would grant him 3 stars.
This week we found a new mechanic that is even better than what we were doing! In almost every runner game the characters are running from something or someone. For Chili Mariachi we wanted the characters to be chasing their enemies, and not running away from them. They are the hunters, not the hunted!
The new levels will enforce this idea, by changing the characters health and the level mechanics. As of now, the characters will be chasing three enemies in every level, and as they reach each one of them, the player is granted a star. When hit by an enemy, the characters will no longer die, but just loose some speed, letting the escaping enemies move further away. If they move too far, El Gordo and Pequenito lose track of them, and the level ends.
We are really excited to get this new design up and running! The first tests felt like a real improvement!
Keep following us to get the latest news on the development of Chili Mariachi!
