Implementing Fairy Lights

A mechanic I've wanted to implement from early on in development was the 'fairy lights.'

Originally, I wanted it to be that when the player collected a variety of lights , they themselves would emit light for a short period of time. This would thus give the player a bit of a guide to where they should be going on the map, and also make it easier to find the easiest path in the relatively dark area. 

My first attempt at implementing this was to attach a point light to the player character that would activate when they entered the light's collision box - the light would, hypothetically, fade in and out after a certain period of time. While I could animate the light, I couldn't find a way to reliably have it animated while a child of the player character. 

What I ended up doing instead was editing the concept slightly - instead of having the player emit light, collecting the fairy lights instead illuminated the surrounding area for 45 seconds, allowing them to use that time to find a solution to the puzzle. It added a sense of urgency to the game, and also just looked Pretty Cool afterwards.

I will likely be updating this mechanic as the game develops further, so keep an eye out for more posts!