Hi all, here is the update for February. It’s late because I’ve been tired lately, but I still managed to get some things done, including some stuff I put off for a long time, such as…
Flying Units
I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to make the back-end code for this work, but in the end I figured something out. I ran some gameplay tests with them earlier this month to see if they added anything to the gameplay, and I think they’ll definitely be in the game.
Buff Landmarks
These serve to add some variety to the map the design. You’ll be able to capture them by going near them, and they’ll provide different (stackable) buffs based on the landmark type. The CPU player isn’t able to consider them yet, but I’ll tackle that later.
Gameplay UI
Yes, up until now I’ve been using a lot of placeholders, but I’m trying to move the gameplay towards something a bit more resembling the final vision.
For starters, I wanted a way to better display character artwork for the units you are controlling, so I got to work cycling through different mockups of what it might look like.
Not all winners, but eventually I went with vertical oriented cards so I can show a bit more of the artwork onscreen, even if it looks a bit more visually busy at times. I’ll keep it this way for now, but it will probably (definitely) change in some other ways in the future.
Construction UI
I’ve been using placeholder UIs for build options the entire time, but now I want an idea of what it might actually look like in-game. Below you can see the old one.
Once again, I ran through several possible variations before deciding on something.
I just needed something to test the UI’s functionality to make sure it worked correctly, so in the end I picked one that would be easy to implement without creating new assets. It might change later once I revisit it for usability/aesthetics.
Below, you can see a recording of how it works in-game right now.
Other Additions
I spent the last week or so running tests and ironing out some bugs.
Some final things that got added were number indicators for control groups, HP bars, and a targeting reticle for the mouse.
There’s still a lot I need to do, so I’ll push ahead whenever I get a chance this month.
That about wraps things up for now. I might make another post later this month, I might not. I also am not satisfied with the game story script, and I might need to rewrite it. Unfortunately, this would push the game’s completion back a bit more, if I went through with this decision. For now, I won’t think about it too much, and I’ll just focus on ironing out the gameplay details. I’m hoping to add some other elements that can change up how maps play out, such as equippable skills of some kind, and possibly a party system of some kind, although I’m not sure how that’ll play out.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them, and I’ll answer them either on my Discord or in the next post.
See you next time.