Introducing a major directional shift in our project...

clownland

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April Fools', here's the real update:

We're still in the depths of building up deadland's save/load system, so this isn't going to be the flashiest devlog, BUT we do have enough to report on to actually do a devlog this month, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Save/Load System

Hey, did you know that Scriptable Objects in Unity cannot be serialized into binary? I definitely didn't know that when I filled our game build up with Scriptable Objects for nearly every aspect of gameplay :') So, putting together the save/load system has been more trouble than it might have been if I had been working purely with structs this whole time, but--after a couple of weeks of hammering away at it--I was able to finagle a functioning save/load system for our game anyway. The screenshot above shows our Town Database script in the Unity inspector--this code holds onto the key data relating to the buildings you've built in deadland, so that you can save this data and, upon loading it back up, the correct buildings can be found and generated back into the game where you left them. We've got similar databases for inventory and relationships, and the save function will also keep track of your money and game settings (which are not Scriptable Objects and therefore did not need to be filtered through a complicated database in order to save that info). That means all the relevant info on your experience in deadland can be zipped up into binary on save and pulled back out and reconstituted into functioning game assets upon loading. Hooray!

While there are some game functions that will still need to be integrated into the save/load system, those are game functions that have yet to be fully built into the game at all (like learning new crafting recipes), so as things currently stand, the save system is capable of saving and loading EVERY detail that it needs to. So, yeah, there's not a lot of interesting stuff to show for it, but it was a lot of work and instrumental to our progress on the game's development. Yay :)

Again With the Trees

Apparently I operate under the philosophy that video game trees can always be improved. This time, I've done it by adding...well, to be honest, I don't know if there is a standard name for this thing. I've been calling it "Behind Fade" in code and documentation, but it's that thing where you go behind a tree? You know, that thing. You technically walk into the tree, and it gets kind of translucent, so it kind of looks like you're behind the tree. Agh, let me show you:

THAT thing! Trees in deadland do THAT now. NPCs can also walk behind trees, although it doesn't do the fade effect, they just go behind.

Harvestables

You can now also harvest boulders and logs IF you have the proper tools equipped.

So that's neat. And, hey, look at that warning message that pops up above the Player's head when they try to harvest a log without an axe equipped! Why, that must be...

Player Error Popups

The game now tells the Player (not just the developer in the debug log) when something screwy happens. This isn't for actual errors in the code--rather, just an indication that the Player is trying to do something that they are missing a requirement for. We've added a few, like the harvesting error message above, and the example down below when you try to craft an axe without enough materials.

Farming

Eli is working hard on implementing the farming system into Jasmine's existing deadland build, and it's coming along pretty well! They were able to integrate both of our work together without fully breaking the code on either end, so the next step will be working it into the current build For Reals.

Up Next...

Project Manager Stacie keeps getting on our case about WHEN we'll have a playable alpha ready for testing. As things stand, while there are still some minor systems that are not yet fully implemented into the build, we now at least have the structural groundwork put together for ALL of the major game systems needed to run a demo of deadland. We'll spend the next few months tweaking, testing, and building up what we've put together. Our target for Alpha Demo completion is July 1st, and while we're flexible on that deadline, we're planning ahead to do our best to reach the next horizon by that date.