Lampyre development journal (2)
Our first (reformatted) development sprint is done. Onto the next with lamps and fuel !
🗃️ What the ending sprint was about
Objectives
- ✅🛠️ set up three contained testing arenas to immediately ease testing sessions
- 🗑️ Isolated and object standalone arena.
- ✅ Game world with normal management nodes but without any procedural resource generation (everpresent nodes are the GUI, the game map manager, the world items manager, etc...)
- ✅ Game world with management nodes and a random, average resource generation.
- ✅ Game menu navigation and map generation interface (current).
✅📝 have the definitive design for all game light fuel management ready for our next sprint
➕🩹 added an option to start the game with the altar and main menus already unlocked to speed up future testing
Bonus
✅🪲 correct an inventory control panel label size that got off with the 4.5.1 update
✅🪲 have a consistant shortcut to sleep in front of the altar flame (currently mismatching if the altar still has rubble over it)
✅⚖️ get that default inventory size up for vyrrlins (and small stones weight down)
➕🩹 the altar sleep command was at the exact same spot as the flame inputs, making it too difficult for the player (and me) to choose the interaction
➕🩹 added some stone blocks falling off the debris we clear off the altar to introduce the player to some looting and item carrying right away (as well as a tiny headstart for constructing structures and lightning fires)
➕🩹 I reformatted a part of our Item Dictionary class so the game items' informations are now all located on their presets, and saved into tiny Resources to be cheaply fetched at any time (instead of using repeated load())
➕🪲 fixed a bug where the "pick up" interaction would no be properly cleared after looting the torch on the ground
➕🪲 fixed a warning flood if the map size was resulting in navigation overbounds that were not a multiple of the mesh cell size
New bugs found:
- 🪲 double-clicking an item that has no special use in the inventory bugs out the drag-and-drop selection
- 🪲 opening the inventory while a crafting window is opened closes the latter (it should not)
🗑️: abandoned / ➕: added and done / ✅: done / ❌: not done / ⚙️: incomplete / ⚖️: balancing / 🪲: bug fixing / 🩹: gameplay change / 🛠️: major feature / 📝 : game design
🪴 Sprint conclusions
Difficulty (how complex the sprint was): 2/5 🟢
Progress made (how much of the desired functionalities were developed): 5/5 🔵
Sprint time accuracy (did it take the time we thought it would take): 4/5 🟢
As planned, a tiny and very smooth sprint to boot up things. We now have an instant game launch to test out our functionalities, as opposed to the 5-10 seconds length menu navigation we have been holding too for a few months. I also added a switch to instantly turn on and off natural resource generation (not always necessary for testing, and taking up a few more precious seconds) and another one to start off the game with the altar already cleared up.
I checked for individual game objects independency (vyrrlins, shadowy creatures, game map manager, general UI...) so no errors were thrown when each of them was running alone. But I abandoned the idea of a barebone testing ground with just a camera and a plane mesh - the game world with all of its main nodes boots up instantly anyway. Lampyre is never going to run without them.
I have no doubt I'll have to add further testing options as the development progresses, but this is amply sufficient right now.
Then, I corrected further bugs and realized I had to fill my game items' informations at two different places (it was one of the earliest data dictionaries I implemented, and I did not know about Resources yet). I knew I would have a bit of spare hours on this sprint, so I corrected that (underestimating a bit the time it would take to fill all 90+ existing items informations back onto their preset - but at least, now it's done).
I also temporarily canceled the ability for vyrrlins to sleep in front of the altar flame if they had nowhere else to rest. I found having this option right at the start of the game was a bit confusing, and crude beds are one of the very first structure you'll be building up. Vyrrlins do not yet pass out from exhaustion - I'm not entirely sure of which option I'll pick yet.
Although, I'm really attracted to the idea of your villagers meditating around the liandre tree and using the enclave altar to gather up or protect themselves from the shadows. I'll come back to add more interactability to the place, but not as first-minute options.
And finally, I successfully finished the design of the mechanisms handling all fires and light fueling across the game (which, once completed, will lead us back to our campfire).
🕯️ Notes and insights
I took it slow and enjoyed this first sprint. I gained inertia back and I'm looking forward to dive again into more concrete functionalities to advance the game.
I started using pomodoros again and they feel better than what I remembered. It's thursday's small article subject.
🔭 Next sprint overview
Sprint end target: 25th January.
Objectives
We're looking to polish the definitive interactions available to all fires, pyres and lamps that will be in the game.
- 🛠️ fixing and/or completing existing contextual inputs of fires, depending on:
- acceptable fuel (most lights will only burn on processed sap-fuel, but crude pyres will gulp wood logs and plant parts)
- lightning methods available to the vyrrlin (right now, fire propagation is only possible if you're holding a blazing torch yourself - blazes should be able to be started with flints too, as you can find yourself in many situations without an existing flame)
- the amount of fuel available on the lamp (AKA adding fuel)
Bonus
- 🛠️ adding the fuel-related window to our crafting UI, letting the player click to easily add possessed and/or stored items into the fire
- 🪲 double-clicking an item that has no special use in the inventory bugs out the drag-and-drop selection
- 🪲 opening the inventory while a crafting window is opened closes the latter (it should not)
For now, we'll be ignoring two game mechanics also planned for lamps:
- changing a flame light tier (the shadow-repelling effects of the different tiers is already implemented - then, being able to light and spread enhanced flames types will be a considerate and agreeable asset to your haven's defence)
- fueling equipped and held torches (also important, and already designed - but I need the vyrrlins' equipment interface to do that)
Adding contextual inputs is now relatively easy, but I suspect that correctly filtering items that can be burned up in the different fires could prove time consuming. I'm not too optimistic about completing both main objectives and our bonuses, but I'll do my best !
This is an important gameplay step for all the rest of Lampyre's development. Refueling your lantern perimeter should feel fluid and rewarding, not like an input chore (until you delegate it to one of your dear villagers and run off to other responsibilities, if you wish so).