Pickledtezcat Game Devblog

So close to being finished, but I don't think I'm going to beat the deadline. I still have to do enemy attacks and put in the code for switching levels, but there's just not any time left. I'd also have to do something about packaging it for people to play and getting people to test it to make sure it works. Anyway, next year 'll give it a try again. I learned a lot and I'm sure I'll have a lot of useful stuff to put in to the mix next time, and so won't have to write so much from scratch. The biggest drain on time has been testing everything and clearing bugs. It didn't leave much time for actual design, and like 70% of features didn't make it past the coding stage. Stuff that i wanted to work on (parts of the code were there but not working): Hacking, some drones have a hacking module making them able to activate repair booths or damage nearby enemies from a range. Stealth, some enemies and player units should have stealth, making them in...

I'm having a go at the 7DRL challenge, although i don't think I'll finish. So far I've lifted the level generation from my RPG and I'll be using the mini map code directly. I've got the map displaying and I've edited the map data so that it will provide a framework for movement, vision etc.. I'm going to allow stacking, so that up to 4 entities from a single team can be in the same square (as long as it's not a narrow corridor). I'll be using just one map style for the game. Entities will be shown by traditional rogue like letters and numbers and symbols. I've got the entity generation code working so that it is generating the entities basic parts list. This will inform the HPs, and other abilities of the entity. Hopefully tomorrow I should be able to do a bunch of stuff, maybe get a playable game together. :)

I've been working hard but only a few small improvements to show. First is a scene I'm going to use for the main menu: Still Life for game menu from Pickledtezcat on Sketchfab . And an update to some of the light and shadow mechanics for the game: I also worked on the map reveal, you can  see the sections of the map being revealed as the players move through the level. This revealing of the map is mirrored by the mini map, which only shows where you've already been. I had some concept ideas too; 1. multi turn spell casting. I'm going to come back to that later when I know how it's going to work. 2. Auto follow for team mates. That one's easier to do, and will probably be added soon. I found it rather tiring to move all the players around when there are no enemies nearby. I think though it'll turn off automatically when you get to a trap or combat situation.

I've finally had some time to spend on coding so I've moved forward with player movement and added the beginning of a player UI. Right now you can see the player's health bar and status light, showing who is selected and who has movement points or actions still to perform. These are going to be essential for the next stage, the beginning of combat. I've learned a lot about tile set design too, notably not to make the door recesses too deep, as it makes it hard to find characters or objects which are in a doorway. I've also worked on camera control so you can tilt the camera in to an overhead view to get a really classic roleplaying game feel. I reworked footprints so they are dependent on player actions, they will look much more natural now. You can see the new version in the video:  You can see the health bar shows fortitude, focus and stamina in yellow, cyan and magenta colors. Having three main types of health bar will not be strange to elder scro...