🛠 Dev Log #3: Fixing Bugs, Adding Polish & Building Sumo Battle Mechanics

Hey everybody 👋

Welcome to my third dev log where I share what I’ve been building and learning through Unity Learn’s Junior Programmer Pathway.

🔧 Bug Fixes on My Endless Runner Prototype

After publishing my previous prototype, I got some thoughtful feedback from @damalgar from daily.dev — and it pushed me to dig deeper and fix what wasn’t quite working.

Here’s what I tackled:

• Fix the guy dipping into the ground
  ✅ Turned out to be a collider height issue.

• Fix the running animation mid-air
  ✅ Increased jump animation duration, tweaked gravity/mass, so running resumes only when grounded.

• Add a proper Game Over screen
  ✅ Now there’s a UI panel and a restart button after crashing into obstacles.

• Fix dirt particles still showing after death
  ✅ Dirt effect now checks game state before playing.

• Prevent jumping spam and air-running
  ✅ Added jump cooldown, and froze Z position + all rotations on Rigidbody.

-✅ Disabled root motion on Animator to eliminate unwanted movement.

Every fix taught me something deeper about Unity’s animation blending, physics system, and scripting best practices.

Here is the updated game's link : https://play.unity.com/en/games/39c35814-65a1-447b-b18e-521c2c4510f6/street-runner

🎮 Chapter Highlight: Arcade Sumo Battle Prototype

This week I also completed the Sumo Battle mission in the Unity Learn Pathway. The goal? Knock enemies off an island while collecting powerups and surviving increasingly tough waves.

What I learned:

• How to program powerups with time-limited effects
• Creating escalating waves of enemies
• Balancing challenge vs. reward in gameplay

⚽ Bonus Challenge: Soccer Chaos

Then came a bonus prototype: a broken soccer game where enemy balls try to score on you. I had to debug and rebuild core functionality using skills from the Sumo game:

• Enemies chase your goal, and you can deflect them
• Powerups give temporary strength boosts
• New enemy waves spawn with +1 enemy each time

🧠 Reflections

This week reminded me that fixing bugs = real learning. It’s not always fun, but when something finally works, that "aha!" moment is worth it.

Thanks again to @damalgar for the feedback — you helped me level up!

Stay tuned for next week’s updates 🧪

💬 If you're learning Unity too, drop your blog link or say hi! Let's support each other.