v4.0

This week: First draft of a quest system, a new area to explore, and a new enemy type.

• New Area: Kitson Forest

     Added a new area to test out several existing systems. I wanted to see what a forest in the game might look like, how the camera would behave in that environment, make sure I could spawn different battle encounters from what exists in the other OverWorld area, and experiment with map boundaries and zoning. I also wanted to make sure I could load different battle backgrounds based on the area the PC is in, ergo, while fighting in the forest, the forest battle background loads. 

     The area is still pretty bare at the moment. I threw down some place-holder cubes where I will go back and add points of interest.

• New Enemy: Trolls

     Kitson forest has been overrun by trolls. These baddies are tough, but they are weak against fire, so bring a flame-thrower and you'll be alright.

• New System: Quests

     Most of my dev time over the last couple of weeks went into building a quest system. I want to be able to build a wide variety of quest types, such as kill, gather, escort, deliver, explore, etc. Currently, all the pieces that allow me to set and update objectives and display that information to the user via the quest journal are in place. The system still needs improvement and a lot of testing, but it's in-game and functional, so... progress!!

     For now, there is but a single quest to test out. Click on the white orb to receive the quest, then, either kill trolls or click the red orb to progress the quest objective. Upon completion, the quest grants a reward that includes a new item. 

• New Equipment Slot: Legs

     So, I realized this week when looking at the different equipment slots that our heroes weren't wearing any pants! I fixed that this week by adding an additional equipment slot. 

• Misc

     Some tweaks to UI: portraits of characters in the inventory window, character panel now displays info about earned xp and xp to next level, adjustments to accommodate the new "Legs" equipment slot.

      A new messaging system was added to inform the player of quest updates. 

     The "Debug" button at the top-left of the screen in battle now switches between the three different battleground environments. 

     Added a couple of new items to play with. 

     There are probably a few other minor things I'm forgetting, but that's most of it. Over the next week or two, I hope to enhance and test the quest system further, making sure I can create all the quest types I want to be able to use in game. I'm also working on a story-line for the game so that once I have all the tools I need, I can start building an actual RPG. Dreaming big! 

Take care, happy gaming!