The last few weeks have been fairly productive. I’m currently focused on producing a 2nd level for my mini demo. As anticipated, its throwing up plenty of issues that are impossible to foresee with just a single level implemented. Despite the good progress, and the shamefully lengthy time since my last post, I’m afraid this is going to be another short post. I promise to have some meatier (and more visual) content soon.
Here’s what’s been completed over the last few weeks.
+ A new indoor tileset
+ Basic Loot mechanics
+ The level entrance and exit are now correctly identified based on the level data
+ An overhauled inventory
+ Inventory persistence
+ I’ve added some background detail to the tiles to add interest to the level backgrounds
I now have a loot system in the game. This enables me to place a chest on any tile with any quantity/combination of loot. Loot will take the form of tiles, widgets (A subject for a later blog post), and gold (which won’t be called gold). Passing over the chest adds the items to your inventory.
I’m also thinking of expanding the system slightly to allow for the random generation of loot – This will reduce some of the effort involved in creating the levels by hand.
This brings us nicely onto the inventory system which I’m in the process of overhauling. In fact its more a case of re-implementing it. Up until now I’ve had a simple empty white space with tiles and quantities. The code was very basic and not scalable. I’ve now implemented something more robust. It correctly handles tile quantities and also reorders the tiles when a quantity reaches zero. Sounds like basic stuff but there’s more to it than you’d expect.
The inventory system now has a very basic look and feel too. Its more of a UI structure that will accommodate the inventory, questing system, crafting system, character sheet, and system options (as tabs along the top). As always, this is a work in progress but here it is…
I still have inventory pagination to do and none of the other screens are designed (aside from the crafting screen which I have a basic sketch for). Oh yeh, the inventory is persistent too (nicely interfacing with the class I mentioned in my last update).
So, Level 2 is a little way off requiring me to code the quest and crafting systems (which also encompasses the widget concept).
Levels 3-5 are really about exploring how I can make future levels interesting & challenging. This will be achieved with various obstacles requiring you to craft appropriate tiles to find your way the the exit.
I’ll also be exploring my concept of a level within a level. Its could be technically challenging but should result in some more interesting risk vs reward mechanics.
After that I’ll be able to shoot some alpha gameplay video.
Stuff I liked this week
Yay! I remembered. I’ve temporarily quit twitter so, since thats my core source of cool stuff, this may be a little light. Oh yeh, and I’ll have a post on my mini Twitter hiatus soon.
- Trello – I’ve switched to this, from Pivotal Tracker, for my project management needs. Liking it so far.
- Moai – A cross-platform game development framework. Definitely looks intriguing. I have it on my list of possible engines for my next game (along with Unity)
- Drifter – You’re probably already backing this project by @celsiusgs, but if you’re not, you should.
- GDC Vault – continues to release amazing videos from this years GDC, and for free. My favourites have been Build That Wall, Creating a Sequel to a Game That Doesn’t Need One, The Art of Diablo 3, and The Indie Soapbox Session.
More soon.