v2.2

• New System: Dialogue

     No RPG is complete without a way to chat with NPCs! This week I built a dialogue system that is fully integrated with my "interactable" and "data persistence" systems. The dialogue system has the following capabilities:  

     1) Each "conversation" has several fields: For example, the name of the speaker, what the have to say, and player responses. The responses can be set to: a single dialogue response, a choice between two different dialogue responses, or a continue/end response. (I may extend the number of options in the future).

     2) Player responses can: activate a new conversation , set game variables, or prompt a number of other reactions (e.g. play an animation or sound).

     In short, the system allows me to create branching dialogue, and to set different dialogue options based on game state. For example, an NPC could have a different dialogue based on whether or not the player has completed a particular quest. Pretty standard RPG stuff, but the important thing is, it didn't exist before ... now it's in, and it works! Yay!

• Random Encounters

     I'm not completely happy with the structure of the code that makes random encounters work, but it's good enough for this stage in development. For debug purposes, random encounters can be toggled on/off via a switch in the upper-left corner of the screen. If they are on, as the player moves around the overworld map, there is a chance of entering a battle. There are currently 3 possible encounters: A Dragon and 2 ghouls, a Dragon and 1 Ghoul, and a ghoul all by its lonesome. More work will be done to improve the system in the future.

• Prototype Town

     I made a new scene representing a town for the player to enter. It is, of course, very basic and ugly, but it serves a couple important purposes. First, it helps me test out my ability to move the player character from scene to scene while preserving all important game data. Second, it allows me to set up a couple of NPCs and play around with the dialogue system. It gives at least a general idea of how travel from overworld to another map will work.

• UI Overhaul

     I didn't do much of anything to the functionality of the combat system this week, but I did spend some time making the UI look nicer. It's not a finished product, but it's an improvement, and it's good enough for now. :)

     And that was my week. Lots of big things still to tackle (Inventory, Equipment, Items, Quests, Character Progression, and more), but I'm making steady progress. If you try out what I have so far, drop a comment with your thoughts.