Devlog #8 – Building the Quick Guide

Sometimes menus just don’t cut it — so for Last Loop, I wanted to give players a more engaging way to learn about the perks. Instead of a static controls screen, I built a fully interactive Quick Guide system, complete with Cinemachine camera movement, text prompts, and ambient jingle blending.

Cinemachine + Smooth Path Setup

Rather than moving the player, the Quick Guide uses a Cinemachine Dolly Cart attached to a virtual camera. The camera slides smoothly along a path, stopping in front of each perk machine.

• Each stop focuses on one perk

• The player can navigate left or right using arrow buttons

• Name and description text update dynamically using TextMeshPro

It's slick, it's simple, and it feels way more in-universe than a generic tutorial page.

Perk Info Display

Each “slide” in the guide focuses on a specific perk and shows:

• Perk name

• Perk description

• Ambient audio, crossfading smoothly based on which perk you're viewing

You can scroll through perks at your own pace, no forced tutorials or voiceovers. Just pick what you want to learn about and move on.

Seamless Audio Transitions

One of the standout features here is the jingle system:

• All AudioSources play in the background, looped

• Only the current perk’s jingle is audible

• As you move between perks, the system smoothly fades volumes up and down

• No restarting tracks, no abrupt stops

It makes the whole system feel cohesive and alive — like walking through an eerie perk museum.

Smooth Camera Movement

The camera uses Lerp-based smoothing to glide between positions along the spline:

• Distance values define where each perk is located

• Camera slides instead of snapping

• I can adjust lerp speed in the inspector to fine-tune pacing

This gives it that polished, almost cinematic vibe (I think so atleast).

Back to Menu & UI Polish

Added a simple "Back to Menu" button to return to the main screen.

The entire UI is handled with clean TMP text and buttons — but if I have time, I’d love to add some animated transitions or glow effects to really sell the style.

Perks Included in the Guide So Far

• SwiftShot Soda – Reload, swap, and sprint faster

• Health+ Hooch – Increased health

• DoubleOrNothin Daiquiri – Randomizes all prices (Free or Double)

More perks will be added as they’re implemented — all using the same system.

This will also be implemented for the drops as well.