Week 39 Update, 2015

The weekly blog lists of what I do each week aren’t particularly exciting and I don’t think anyone reads them anyway. I’m going to try a different approach, a short sentence or so explaining the main/most interesting thing I’ve been doing along with a screenshot if possible.

This week it’s visual effects. Fighting clouds spawn depending on how much damage is being done to each animal. So the more clouds you see, the heavier the fighting!

20151001 FightClouds

By |October 1st, 2015|Activity Summary|0 Comments

Activity Summary Week 38, 2015

For the week from 14 Sep to 20 Sep I’ve been working on:

  • Refactored animations for additional functionality
  • Added animation for living thing maturing
  • Added first pass of ruins on map as a resource
  • Animal spawning is now biome-specific
  • Refactored random plant/animal/resource spawner
  • Added dynamic sprite resizing for assigned tasks
  • Tribe descriptions into xml
  • Set up blackouts on diplomacy panel for tasks that can’t be done yet
  • Implemented different species for foreign tribe members
  • Rewrote events panel to allow reward selection
  • Separated rewards into tiers
  • Player can choose reward after completing objective
  • Fix loading game fringe icons start out as big
  • Tutorial now pops up screen all the time
  • Fixed tooltip hidden under mouse cursor
  • Added cooldown for animal noises so not so repetitive
  • Fix gaps between tiles when zooming sometimes
By |September 20th, 2015|Activity Summary|0 Comments

Alpha 9: Huts, Objectives and Animations

New demo available!

The most exciting change in this update is the introduction of huts! You can now build huts out of wood or bone, depending on what is more readily available. Huts take many resources and a long time to build, so they are not essential to your tribe’s survival. If you want to play as if your tribe is nomadic, you can do so. However, huts have a large storage area and your Pokians will sleep in a hut if there is room.

20150914 Huts

Last update I introduced the first pass of an objectives system. In this update I’ve improved upon that. Requests can come from either your Pokians or foreign tribes (once they are discovered). If you complete the request, you gain a minor reward. This can be for example, everyone crafting faster for the next 48 hours. My favourite request at the moment is sacrificing an animal carcass at an altar.

20150914 Sacrifice

I’m always trying to think of new, fun objectives to implement. Also, I’ve changed the way fires light up the surrounding area so it’s softer and looks better. Wild fires also spread up to two hexes away, which means more FUN when things get out of control!

20150914 WildFire

Finally I’d like to mention animations! When plants spawn or die there is now a short animation that plays.

20150914 PlantAnimate

A full list of changes for Alpha 9 is below:

New Features:

  • Spawnable resources and plants is read from xml for each biome
  • Added huts and altar buildings
  • Reintroduced twigs object in wood category
  • Stockpile settings applicable to buildings
  • Tribe requests from Pokians are now in a panel under Tasks
  • Notification buttons darken when they have been viewed
  • Add tutorial for tribe requests panel
  • Added trading objective with foreign tribes
  • Added News section to the UI with various news items
  • Added option to limit framerate to 30 FPS for slow computers
  • Added news item when Pokian is fighting
  • Added functionality for rotating objects
  • Added animations for plants dying and sprouting

Gameplay

  • Humans will seek hut to sleep in if available
  • Add limit to how much huts can store
  • Allow plonking buildings without all required materials
  • Fuelling fires uses twigs now instead of logs
  • Include buildings in influence area in prosperity calculation
  • Added timer to objectives so they can expire
  • Improved resource deposit generator
  • Created herb bush for gathering edible herbs
  • Increased range of wild fire spread to 2 hexes
  • Halved flammability of plants
  • Burn carcass mission needs to be done at an altar
  • Reduced volume of carcasses by 2.0
  • Modified effective speed formula so heavy carcasses easier to carry
  • Added “Great Hunt” objective
  • Removed alert text from UI
  • Added object status ‘dead’
  • More dynamic calculation for plant deaths
  • Massively reduced tree growth in winter
  • Increased deterioration due to old age in all living things to 75%

Fixes

  • Fixed human unable to get off hut once built
  • Changed map menu button for building to yellow
  • Added image icons for query panel action buttons
  • Humans can drop objects from adjacent cells now
  • Fixed humans exiting huts from incorrect cell
  • Disable deleting ability for primary objectives
  • Refactored object statistics in xml for better organisation
  • Added extra check to prevent duplicate possible requests
  • Fixed large building selection in building menu
  • Water transitions smoother
  • Fix loading game drawing clothing for off map humans
  • Fixed cancelling task while Pokian off map makes them disappear forever
  • Fixed human returning from trade mission dropping objects on edge of map
  • Fixed loaded game not remembering task’s required materials
  • Fixed scout going off map when not even on map edge
  • Fixed animations looking the same when game loaded
  • Fixed drawing clothing on animals twice
  • Fixed secondary light sources not displaying unless first light source displayed
  • Fixed cancelling stored object task not stopping Pokian from storing object
  • Fixed bed not recognised as building
  • Fixed changing meeting point causes bits of old meeting point to be left over
  • Fixed can’t bury humanoid carcass
  • Fixed rain noise volume was scaling based on humidity
  • Fixed disease symptoms sound effects playing when zoomed out
  • Reduced animal decision making frequency by 66% to improve performance
  • Fixed snowing and raining stopping every hour in winter
  • Fixed loading game food pit with unassigned stockpile reassigning stockpile

If you would like to support development you can purchase and play the Alpha or sign up to the newsletter

Twitter – ParsleyPWG
Website – PokingWaterGames.com

By |September 15th, 2015|GameDev|0 Comments

Activity Summary Week 37, 2015

For the week from 7 Sep to 13 Sep I’ve been working on:

  • Fix can’t bury humanoid carcass
  • Possibly fixed random unreproducible crashing when object dies
  • Fixed rain noise volume was scaling based on humidity
  • Fixed disease symptoms sound effects playing when zoomed out
  • Added functionality for rotating objects
  • Removed alert text from UI
  • Added object status ‘dead’
  • More dynamic calculation for plant deaths
  • Added animations for plants dying and sprouting
  • Massively reduced tree growth in winter
  • Reduced animal decision making frequency by 66% to improve performance
  • Increased deterioration due to old age in all living things to 75%
  • Fixed snowing and raining stopping every hour in winter
  • Fixed crash when finding bed to sleep in
  • Fixed loading game food pit with unassigned stockpile reassigning stockpile
  • Children aren’t allowed to be assigned professions
  • Added news item for Pokian becoming an adult
  • Added tutorial for child Pokians
  • Fixed resources spawning only in water
  • Rock spawning now specified in biome xml data
  • Added check for incorrect spelling of sound file
  • Added missing sound effects for crafting some buildings
By |September 14th, 2015|Activity Summary|0 Comments

Activity Summary Week 36, 2015

For the week from 31 Aug to 6 Sep I’ve been working on:

  • Softened lighting from fires
  • Fixed crashing when clicking on animal query panel sometimes
  • Clicking request notifications now opens up request panel immediately
  • Added notification text colours for requests and missions
  • Reduced pathfinding distances to improve performance
  • Added check for extracting/gathering one object at the same time
  • Changed work area sprite to “W”
  • Fixed unassigning work area not completely removing it
  • Fixed pathfinder finding path over impassable hexes
  • Cleaned up the pathfinder
  • Flashing red for combat news items
  • Fixed combat mode tutorial completing prematurely
  • Make objects in hands less transparant
By |September 6th, 2015|Activity Summary|0 Comments

Activity Summary Week 35, 2015

For the week from 24 Aug to 30 Aug I’ve been working on:

  • Cleaned up options saving/loading to file
  • Added option to limit framerate to 30 FPS for slow computers
  • Fixed scout going off map when not even on map edge
  • Fixed harvest/extract tasks not disappearing when number of times remaining = 0
  • Add to news person going to scout
  • Add ability to zoom to location in news
  • Added news item when Pokian is fighting
  • Moved plant spawn chance from plant-specific to biome-specific
  • Increased range of wild fire spread to 2 hexes
  • Halved flammability of plants
  • Fixed animations looking the same when game loaded
  • Fixed drawing clothing on animals twice
  • Fixed secondary light sources not displaying unless first light source displayed
  • Burn carcass mission needs to be done at an altar
  • Fixed light not disappearing when light source destroyed
  • Fixed cancelling stored object task not stopping Pokian from storing object
  • Reduced volume variable for carcasses by 2.0
  • Modified effective speed formula so heavy carcasses easier to carry
  • Added Altar thought bubble when sacrifice is made
  • Cooking meat on a wild fire defaulted to false
  • Added “Great Hunt” objective
  • Fixed bed not recognised as building
  • Fixed changing meeting point causes bits of old meeting point to be left over
By |August 31st, 2015|Activity Summary|0 Comments

Activity Summary Week 34, 2015

For the week from 17 Aug to 23 Aug I’ve been working on:

  • Add tutorial for tribe requests panel
  • Tribe request panel now displays tutorial objectives as well
  • Fixed large building selection in building menu
  • Add check to prevent allocating large building to already assigned area
  • Improved resource deposit generator
  • Water transitions smoother
  • Added trading objective with foreign tribes
  • Fix loading game drawing clothing for off map humans
  • Fixed trading missions spawning even when trading not allowed
  • Added News section informing player when Pokians off map
  • Reorganised Achievements, Rewards and Event Information into Objective
  • Fixed cancelling task while Pokian off map makes them disappear forever
  • Fixed UI reward error when there is no reward
  • Fixed human returning from trade mission dropping objects on edge of map
  • Optimised data overlay to not process when no data to show
  • Fixed loaded game not remembering task’s required materials
  • Implement more art assets
  • Created herb bush for gathering edible herbs
  • Removed herb gathering from fertile grass
  • Put tribe member pregnancy into news UI
By |August 23rd, 2015|Activity Summary|0 Comments

Activity Summary Week 33, 2015

For the week from 10 Aug to 16 Aug I’ve been working on:

  • Include buildings in influence area in prosperity calculation
  • Changed map menu button for building to yellow
  • Added image icons for query panel action buttons
  • Humans can drop objects from adjacent cells now
  • Fixed humans exiting huts from incorrect cell
  • Fix loaded game bodyvertex being drawn even when inside location
  • Stockpile settings applicable to buildings
  • Added debug ability to spawn herds
  • Added tribe request panel
  • Added notification when new possible request appears
  • Notification buttons darken when they have been viewed
  • Made existing achievements function with new request panel
  • Added timer to achievements so they can expire
  • Disable deleting ability for primary achievements
  • Refactored object statistics in xml for better organisation
  • Added check for malformed xml in collecting object infos
  • Fixed crash when animal appears on map before brain activated
  • Tooltip change materials required to list amount as well
  • Tooltip set background slightly transparent
  • Added extra check to prevent duplicate possible requests
  • Small optimisation to pathfinder
By |August 17th, 2015|Activity Summary|0 Comments

Alpha 8 Update – Movement and Sprites

This update features smoother transitions for animal movements, changes to the way objects are displayed, an improved system for constructing buildings and a new plant generation algorithm.

The tough part in making smoother animal movements was in the way I was calculating movement. Previously if an animal decided to switch directions mid-movement, it could do that straight away. Now the animal needs to complete any movement it’s already started before it can change directions.

20150724 SmoothMoves

All objects placed out in the open now show up on screen at the same time. This makes it easier to see objects at a glance.

20150812 Objects

You can now select from multiple images for a single building where available. For example, building walls you can choose the orientation of each piece. The behaviour and underlying properties of the wall pieces will be the same.

20150803 Walls

Finally I’ve implemented a new plant generation algorithm. For each hex there is a chance of a tree or bush growing, which is checked regularly. If the check passes, then an allowable plant grows on that hex. The probability is affected by factors like amount of soil, fertility and water saturation of each hex. I’ve found this creates an interesting dynamic where plants are much more likely to grow right after it rains, when the soil is most saturated.

20150808 PlantGeneration

New Features

  • Custom mouse icon with option to turn it off
  • Items on the ground are smaller sized and randomly placed
  • Animals now move smoothly instead of jumping from one cell to another
  • Added ability to select different sprites for building walls
  • Task panel shows object sprites instead of only names
  • Added tutorial for diplomacy panel and foreign tribes
  • Tribe panel scrolling support for lots of tribe members

Gameplay

  • Added more mini-objectives
  • Animals now must complete movement to hex before starting movement to next hex
  • Removed teleporting water which was too CPU-intensive
  • Constructing walls now properly pushes other objects out of hex
  • Rebalanced water evaporation/saturation so puddles stay longer
  • Humans will not procreate unless there is enough prosperity relative to tribe size
  • Turned tree and bush growth calculation into fixed probability
  • Ground water saturation has greater effect on plant growth, massive growth after it rains

Fixes

  • Fixed bug with task progress not set properly when halfway through task
  • Fixed starting game clicks on something immediately
  • Improved layout of diplomacy panel
  • Fixed direction switches partway through movement
  • Doubled default framerate to 60FPS
  • Fixed animals with unassigned factions not attacking eachother
  • Fixed crashing from adding task with no available materials
  • Fixed trying to build when not enough materials and added tooltip
  • Fixed infinite loop when scout going off map
  • Fixed human not disappearing when going off map
  • Fixed failed build task message appearing when actually successful
  • Fixed buildings not orientated properly when game loaded
  • Major optimisation of water calculations
  • Fixed task building not unreserving materials when not all materials found

If you would like to support development you can purchase and play the Alpha or sign up to the newsletter

Twitter – ParsleyPWG
Website – PokingWaterGames.com

By |August 13th, 2015|GameDev|0 Comments

Activity Summary Week 32, 2015

For the week from 03 Aug to 09 Aug I’ve been working on:

  • Add ability to immediately construct walls from build menu when debug panel up
  • Implement bone wall sprites
  • Added debugging tool to see how long processes are taking
  • Major optimisation of water calculations
  • Fix water at map generation not following regular update pattern
  • Fixed creating new game from ingame menu breaking pause function
  • Added lag compensator for when one game loop update takes too long
  • Added sidescrolling to arrays
  • Refactored timeline
  • Rebalanced water evaporation/saturation
  • Fixed tribe panel scrolling
  • Humans will not procreate unless there is enough prosperity relative to tribe size
  • Turned tree growth calculation into fixed probability
  • Turned bush growth calculation into fixed probability
  • Ground water saturation has greater effect on plant growth, massive growth after it rains
  • Fixed task building not unreserving materials when not all materials found
  • Spawnable resources and plants is read from xml for each biome
  • Fixed human unable to get off hut once built
  • Put clicker image in right position for large buildings
  • Humans will seek hut to sleep in if available
  • Add limit to how much huts can store
  • Add check for task materials so will be collected again if original destroyed
  • Allow plonking buildings without all required materials
  • Reintroduced twigs for lighting fires
  • When extracting a tree, lots of twigs fall out along with log
  • Extracting bush gives twigs
By |August 9th, 2015|Activity Summary|0 Comments