Devlog #6: Underestimating the Work of a Settings Menu (for a beginner, at least)

Yep, I apparently had a lot more to learn about UI, audio, and controller settings. I eventually decided to stop working on the settings menu.
If there’s one thing I can take away from this experience, it’s that I should probably not focus too much on a settings menu over the actual gameplay.

Audio Settings

I filled the left side of the settings menu with sliders for controlling the audio volume. I used audio buses in Godot in order to separate audio into 3 main categories: Music, Sound, and Voice. Of course, there is nothing for the voice audio bus, since I haven’t recorded any voice lines yet. (I’ll get to that later!)

Controller Deadzones and Assist Settings

The right side contains buttons that open submenus. Players can now control the game speed and controller joystick deadzones, along with being able to practice a level as much as they want with Training Mode.
I decided to save controller sensitivity, key rebinding, credits, and language translating for later, due to how much time it took to figure out what should happen with submenus in multiple cases. I know, doesn’t seem like it should take that much time, but I have to consider multiple cases in which the settings UI will stay visible and block the actual pause menu, which occurs when the player resumes and pauses again without exiting out of the UI.
There’s also another thing I have to worry about…

HSlider Bug

When I reopen a menu after exiting out of it, the sliders seems to reset back to where it originally was when the game started. Thankfully, this issue doesn’t affect the actual gameplay, but still, it’s a visual bug that might confuse players.

I managed to fix this with the audio sliders, but I haven’t done the same with the controller settings and assist settings. I’ll try to patch it next week.

Minor Details and Changes

There’s not much this week, sorry.
(I regret spending so much time on the settings menu…)

Upcoming Additions

I want to start focusing on making more levels soon, but I don’t want to reuse the same mechanics from the levels I already made. I already made multiple enemies, so I want to start making a mechanic that involves more of the player, like a new action that can be enabled upon collecting something in a level.
I’ll also have to come up with ideas for the area’s bossfight (yes, there are bosses in this game), since I feel like the area is almost complete.
As for the settings menu, I’ll pick it back up in about a month.
A not-so-productive week, I know. Hopefully I can do better.