Progress Report

Greetings, everyone!

I guess you have a pretty good idea of what I worked on for most of this week. My primary goal was to get the game to a state where it would be possible to take decent screenshots. The idea was to show those off in this progress report, but when I finished the necessary functionality sooner than expected, I made a separate post earlier in the week instead. If you missed it, make sure you read it right now. For future progress reports, I'm going to assume that you're familiar with those screenshots and what they show.

It's good to finally be at a point where I can talk about the game mechanics and have them make sense. There is a lot to talk about, and I'm no longer hiding any secrets. If you're lusting for details about the card game, why not drop by the Discord server and talk to me there? I love talking about this stuff, so don't be shy. Of course, you could always ask in here too, but it's slightly more cumbersome for everyone involved.

So, with the game being screenshot-ready, that also means that the user interface for the card game itself is mostly complete. I'm not ready to show the game off in motion, though, so that's my next priority. Most importantly, I've started working on a potential particle system for the game. Particle systems are objects that produce dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of small images that flow together to create special effects like fire, explosions, flares, smoke, clouds, sparks, and so on. You see particle systems in practically every game you've ever played, so they're essential. But Ren'py, the engine I use, isn't ideally suited for this. The engine does support it in theory, but the entire concept is horribly documented (as in barely documented at all), and almost nobody talks about it. I'm at the point where I suspect that I might need to ask for help from Ren'py veterans, so that's what I'm aiming to do over the following days. 

When implemented, particle systems would be used to clearly illustrate what is happening at any given time in the game while also being flashy and making the game look good. Right now, the upkeep phases of a game turn have a dozen tiny actions occurring almost simultaneously. It can be hard to track what is happening and why. By using effects, of which particle systems will be one, I can make this much, much more intuitive and easy to follow.

Suffice it to say particle systems are the biggest unknown for the prototype. The remaining missing features are straightforward, but this one is tricky. For all I know, it might not even be possible to do it in a practical way, forcing me to think of alternatives. But I'm hoping it won't come to that.

I would be surprised if I get the chance to work on anything other than this for the coming week. Perhaps a little music, but that would be about it. However, this is a good thing! That I'm at a stage where I can focus on special effects shows just how far I've come and how little is left to do. Things are definitely looking up.

Until next time!