Devlog No.023

I want to briefly mention that I'm modifying the description of the Ample Apprentice tier to reflect the fact it gives you access to patron only posts. It's really just a clarity change and doesn't affect any access or anything like that. I'm just mentioning it so no one is surprised by the additional bullet point I added.

Another couple weeks and more work done. This time I've been working on the story a bit and also the intro to the next level. I spent quite a bit of time working on a boat sprite to use and it should be fairly interchangeable in the future for any other boat sprites I do. So some heavy lifting in the spriting department that should scale pretty well. The biggest flaw I ran into was having insufficient layers to work with when implementing the boat and dock. I went and did a rare thing deciding to take the easy way out here and just created a couple of room specific layers. Which isn't a great thing for the long run, but also not really a bad thing as I added those layers into all new templates I make. Unless I decide to retroactively go back and add boats into earlier room (doubtful) then it shouldn't ever be a problem.

I also ran into another layer related issue for a boat ride sequence that I decided to do where I was in need of one additional foreground layer. In these cases I really thought I had created enough layers (Almost 30) but apparently I should've listened to myself a while back and just created six groups of three layers of each type.

Anyway, it's a unique issue to the way I wanted to do the boat with it having an underlayer as well as a kind of foreground 'deck' which Aria would appear behind. It needs some adjustment as her chest peeks through the side at one area, but it should all be working out fine without much extra work. It's just one of those things where you think you have plenty of space to work with, but later down the line you realize that the extra space you set aside isn't suited to some of your plans and can't even be used. Thankfully the issue can be sidestepped in this case.

Here's a couple pictures.

 

As I had said, I also wanted a little boat ride between these sections. Mostly just for atmosphere's sake, but also to add a little more story that I have had planned. The way I set it up allows you to move around a bit, but I have barriers to prevent you from falling off.

Though again, I have had some difficulties in that department. Really just in making the boat FEEL like it's really moving. I tried to make it actually bob up and down, but that had some issues with Aria's movement and just didn't work out. Instead I decided to go with the illusion of movement like you'd expect in a game where the boat remains completely still, but the environment around her moves. I also added a slight back and forth sway to the camera which I am a bit worried it might make viewers feel a bit sick, but at the same time, it's only a brief effect so I'm hopeful it's not too heavy to ruin the experience.

I almost discarded the sway effect because I ran into some issues with the lighting surface. In fact I actually deleted all the code for it once, then had a new idea and rewrote it again only to resort to changing how much area the surface covers so the camera doesn't tilt out of the surface. Very much a cobbled together solution, but I think it looks good and helps to maintain the illusion of movement.

Though sadly I don't think I can slow the sway down any or the actual view doesn't feel like swaying because of how the pixels begin to look. Instead it has a strange squaring effect. So if you view it and you think it's really awful, then let me know. I might just have to remove it in the end.

I've also considered some other ways to enhance the little boat ride, but I don't want to spend too much time on it. As of right now it works just fine and I think it looks fairly good. So I'm just going to finish the story elements to it, hook it into the next area properly, then move onto the next story elements and the black licorice.

I'll upload a little video of the boat ride for patrons without the story elements. So no worries about being spoiled on the small story elements here, though you will be spoiled on the boat ride itself of course.

The ship currently lacks a captain and any crew, but I will remedy that in the future.

I will likely have at lest one more boat ride later down the line, though any more than that will depend on the reaction to it. I would kind of like to have a boat section where some monsters jump on board and you have to fight them off, but that won't happen for this first one. Consider this more of a test run.

Another little thing, I got another track from my composer for candy levels and I'll upload that for patrons as well! I will also probably upload another art piece I have sitting around.