Winterchill - Devlog 37
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I didn't think it would take this much time to finish the event system, but now it's finally fully ready! I recorded how it all looks in action – check it out below.
It felt like I was almost there, but then there was always something else to tweak – some code to write here, something breaking there, save system to deal with (which is a whole other headache), plus figuring out how to display everything clearly, drawing sprites, layouts, configurations... In short, it took way longer than I wanted.
I reworked the day display – now the days are easier to see, the element itself is clickable, and it shows current events in a compact form while also notifying you when new ones appear. By clicking on it, you can see all the details – events and time. Later on, there'll even be an ending if you don't make it in time, so the days now have a much more important role. One element solved a bunch of problems at once.
I added trade limits to merchants – it makes it much easier to manage player progression, and also makes the game more interesting. I also gave every merchant their own dialogue lines, and later I'll draw unique sprites for each so they stand out more.
I added visual effects to plants – if there's an event tied to a specific plant, it will show directly on the plant itself. At first I didn't want to do this because the plant code is a total mess, and I wasn't even sure I can do it, but in the end decided I couldn't skip it.
I also set up all the events and played through it myself a bit. Now it's way more interesting – honestly, it feels like a completely different game. You constantly need to switch up your crops, there's now a reason to grow every type of crop at once, and there's way more to do. Some situations even have that jackpot feeling, which is great. Of course, there were still issues. For example, at the very beginning when you have no resources, merchants don't feel all that useful – I think players might not understand their value and end up ignoring them. There are also problems with some merchants appearing only on specific days of the week – I think it'll be hard to communicate that clearly to the player. But I'll deal with that later. I think this is enough for now – time to move forward.
And next up... art hell, basically. But at least there'll be something cool to show you.
I didn't think it would take this much time to finish the event system, but now it's finally fully ready! I recorded how it all looks in action – check it out below.
It felt like I was almost there, but then there was always something else to tweak – some code to write here, something breaking there, save system to deal with (which is a whole other headache), plus figuring out how to display everything clearly, drawing sprites, layouts, configurations... In short, it took way longer than I wanted.
I reworked the day display – now the days are easier to see, the element itself is clickable, and it shows current events in a compact form while also notifying you when new ones appear. By clicking on it, you can see all the details – events and time. Later on, there'll even be an ending if you don't make it in time, so the days now have a much more important role. One element solved a bunch of problems at once.
I added trade limits to merchants – it makes it much easier to manage player progression, and also makes the game more interesting. I also gave every merchant their own dialogue lines, and later I'll draw unique sprites for each so they stand out more.
I added visual effects to plants – if there's an event tied to a specific plant, it will show directly on the plant itself. At first I didn't want to do this because the plant code is a total mess, and I wasn't even sure I can do it, but in the end decided I couldn't skip it.
I also set up all the events and played through it myself a bit. Now it's way more interesting – honestly, it feels like a completely different game. You constantly need to switch up your crops, there's now a reason to grow every type of crop at once, and there's way more to do. Some situations even have that jackpot feeling, which is great. Of course, there were still issues. For example, at the very beginning when you have no resources, merchants don't feel all that useful – I think players might not understand their value and end up ignoring them. There are also problems with some merchants appearing only on specific days of the week – I think it'll be hard to communicate that clearly to the player. But I'll deal with that later. I think this is enough for now – time to move forward.
And next up... art hell, basically. But at least there'll be something cool to show you.
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