Hi everyone! 

I hope you're all having a fantastic week! I wanted to provide you with an update on the progress we've made in our game development. This week started the polish sprint, we started as usual with a group meeting and a supervisors meeting. 

Build Progress

We have been hard at work, and I'm happy to share that we've achieved significant milestones. One of the highlights is a unique polish feature: whenever the Giant Farmer's Foot hits the ground, all chickens and players jump for about one second. It adds a fun element to the gameplay!

We've also introduced a new method of spawning items. Now, a little bird delivers crates containing the items. When the crate hits the ground, it breaks and the small bird flies away.

• Nearly all menus now use 3D objects as buttons, this makes the art in our game more consistent.
• We've included a pause menu which is accessible by pressing the start button, allowing players to take a break or restart the game.
• We have also created a script that generates wind particles at random locations.

Furthermore we've implemented various eye-catching animations and visual effects that make the game even more engaging.

Against our initial plan of no new features, we've received special permission from our supervisors to introduce a new tactic. When the players throw their weapons at each other, it causes the opponents to lose their weapon. This strategic addition enhances gameplay and provides a way to counter the powerful carrot gun.

We've also made smaller yet important improvements, such as adding a sound to the main menu and increasing the size of bullets for better visibility.

Art Progress

Our artist has been creating remarkable visuals to bring the game to life. Here's a glimpse of the progress made:

• Several particle effects have been added, including player respawn and weapon spawn particles, as well as special weapon star particles. These effects add depth and excitement to the gameplay.
• We've updated some of the animations, making them more visually appealing. To enhance the item delivery feature, our artist crafted a model of a bird that descends from the sky, carrying a crate.
• Our artist has also created some facial expressions that will be later used for the player icons.

Additionally, we changed the main and player join menu so it fits the art style, we added some cool models and we made it more clear what buttons should be pressed.

We're thrilled with the progress we've made so far, and we can't wait to continue improving our game during the last week of the polish phase. Thank you for your continued support!