Hi all! I just wanted to do a quick check in and update you on progress seeing as it’s been well over a month since the last time I did this. Everything has been progressing at a steady pace all be it a little slower than normal due to working on several freelance projects.
General Improvements
A portion of what I have been up to is a few improvements that were much needed in the game. Spine files are now loaded in a different way meaning that the game’s loading times have been drastically reduced, the loading previously was taking far too long and was getting in the way of healthy development. I’ve also adapted the way in which Spine files are drawn amongst the rest of the world tiles which makes the system much more robust and easier to adapt in the future.
Revised Path Finding
I’ve had an overhaul of the path finding system since creating a path finding algorithm for the movement grids. This has now fixed a whole bunch of issues that existed with the previous system where by the characters sometimes didn’t stop and would also cut corners. The only thing left to do now is have them walk as close to an obstructed position as possible rather than flat out refuse to as they currently do.
Combat
The main area I have been working on since the last update is the combat mechanics of the game and getting the basics down and working.
Enemies now have a turn themselves and can walk to a random area within a certain range, this will later be altered to a proper A.I. system but for now I simply just wanted to give an illusion of them doing something.
I’ve also implemented the shooting action for the player now along with a new version of the combat grid for aiming so that the player can shoot at nearby enemies and a health bar system for you to see both yours and the enemies health. Once hit the enemies health goes down until they eventually die then once all the enemies are dead the combat will end.
What’s Next
There are a lot of different things to tackle next so today I’m having a planning day to see where I should be headed. I’ll also try and get a video diary up soon of the progress.
That’s all for now.
Alex