The MiniLog: Levers and Pulleys
Good evening~
I’ve added a new elevator system.
You will now enter and exit the dungeons on an elevator, and dungeon levels will start and end with an elevator ride. Upon reaching the elevator at the end of a level you can pull one lever descend deeper or the other to return to the surface. This makes for a cleaner transition between floors than a simple teleport pad.
The lever system was built with multiple applications in mind. Levers will be used for triggering gates, mechanisms and other systems which provide feedback. I would like to build some physics puzzles which make use of levers and boulders. Since levers have been a joy and given me many ideas, I’ll be introducing new obstacles into next week’s (rather than today’s) build. I think it’d be more fun to have this interactable aspect factored into some of the new rooms and obstacles in the works.
Post Process Variability
Now for a quick note on the current state of dungeon room design. The dark fog restricting how far you can see in the dungeons can now be controlled on a room by room basis. The fog is intended to help build ambience in the dungeon rather than make it impossible to navigate so I’ve reduced the level of fog in the larger rooms. The new controls will also be put to use in the development of brighter dungeon biomes and styled spaces.
Spell Select
This is the new general purpose radial weapon wheel system which will first be applied to spell slots. The spell selector is proximity based which allows for rapid flick-selecting. Once these slots are being populated with real spells, we’ll have a details panel on the side to show the selected spell name, description, cost and duration, as well as a fixed icon on the HUD to show your current spell selection.
Once we have enough spells to fully populate all these placeholder slots, I’ll make it possible to switch which spells you currently have slotted. At present I intend for this to be done within the spell book (or a variant which only shows what spells you have access to). That being said however, some have noted the existing spell book is difficult to navigate, so maybe there is some redesigning to be done there in order to make it more navigable.
The spell slot system is intended to be more of a convenience than anything. The radial selector allows for an arbitrary number of given slots to be displayed on screen, so rather than restricting you to a set number of slots I may make it configurable in settings or adaptable simply based on whatever number of spells you’ve decided to favourite. Depending on how many spells are added to the game there is probably a limit to the number of slots which can comfortably be displayed on the spell select wheel, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it.
Sweeter Dreams
Upon resting on a bed, HP, MP and AP will now be restored by a set amount based on the amount of time you’ve spent resting. In lieu of the recent discovery that some monsters in the dungeon don’t seem to be aggro against the player, I’ve chosen to delay the monster checks and warnings until their pacifism can be resolved.
Fixes
There are a couple minor fixes of note. First an issue where AP values could become negative when consuming the large poison item. AP values are now clamped when set. Secondly, I have resolved an issue where consuming items to restore AP during exhaustion after completely depleting AP would lock the player out of sprinting. This one was a little more obscure than the former issue, however if you happened to encounter it in a previous version it is now resolved.
Coming Right Up
Next week’s update will be focused on the introduction of more interesting obstacles. I may get to pull in a basic version of the shop room as well. Buffs and spells are being balanced on the side so we’ll have to wait and see what wins out in terms of priority.
I’ll be back here next week with another update. Until then I hope you enjoy~