Progress on the development of Malevolent Planet - 13th August 2020
Added 2020-08-13 16:10:35 +0000 UTC
Today I've been tinkering a lot on the combat system. I've received a lot of guidance in the process, so I think that a first iteration shouldn't be too far off. When I got too tired from all the complex systems surrounding the generation of enemies and their attack types, I rested by fixing bugs.
Bug Checklists:
- The first bug was that the passage's text would scroll down out of the margins of the background, leading to an ugly mess on longer passages. So, I made sure that when you scroll, only the text scrolls down. With this opportunity, I also gave the background image more space. (screenshots 2 and 3)
- The second bug, one Cy also reported was the fact that you could cycle to items that are not in the range of the inventory. The cause of this bug was that when I first developed this box with arrows, I used dummy variables and arrays, but now they are all connected to HiEv's UInv system. I have an array with all the weapons from the PC inventory and a variable that marks the position of the currently equipped gun in the array.
- The third bug was that on longer passages, the text wouldn't scroll down properly and you'd need to scroll yourself. Well, with the help of a person from the Twine channel, I now have a widget that should scroll down automatically on longer passages if you click the links that fill the content gaps. (screenshot 2)
The second bug prevented me from developing the player's actions in the combat system further, but now that that is over with I can continue.
The weekly release idea I've been planning relies on a good-functioning of the systems built underneath the game. I didn't really expect that a combat system can be so complex, but it really is because it comes with a lot of essential aspects that need to be built on it. I want the next release to have way more playable content than the initial release, which it will with the stuff I'm putting in day by day, so the only thing I ask for right now is patience. Still aiming for a release by the end of the month, but I'm not sure how soon it will be.