Why, hello, guys and girls. I'm back with another small update on the project.

Last post I've talked about making some aesthetic changes to the current version of the tree level, because the placeholder meshes were simply too primitive and ugly. And in this post I shall present the new changes. Mostly visually, though.

Compare the above screenshot with this one:

Now, as you can see, there have been both cosmetic changes and layout changes, but mostly cosmetic. The changes done to the layout happened because I'm trying to find spots for more broken bridges in this level. Broken bridges allow for a more precise type of jump and it adds tension for the player.

I'm about halfway into the level with replacing the yellow platforms and it looks heaps better. All the platforms visible in the screenshots will be replaced with logs, planks and/or branches in Blender, and the form of the placeholders allow me to make stylized models of platforms in this specific shape.

Not only they are newer versions of these placeholders, but they are also smarter versions: the outer radius of the platform matches perfectly with the inner radius of the cylinder that is a placeholder for the hollow tree. The gimbal/gizmo is placed in the same position as the center of the tree trunk. Put these two things together and you got a placeholder that, when copied in the exact same location as the tree trunk, can be rotated on the Z-axis flawlessly and not worry about minute positioning of the mesh.

Simple stuff, really. But it helps a lot production wise. There are about 9 versions of these placeholders and they all work wonderfully.

So that's about it for today. Tomorrow I'll be focusing on replacing the platforms in the other half of this level. See ya, bye!