Dev Diary [#31]

Hello frens, and welcome back!

Have you ever wondered what happens if you try to do multiple things simultaneously? Hm. I have tried that for you this time. It's a mess. Don't do that. Seriously.

On the other hand, I have found a solution to a couple of things I struggled with. For instance, on how to deal with the zone versions and traveling between them, so it's fun for you- the player. (hopefully)

Progress Report

Mushrooms

I have implemented a new mechanism that controls how mushrooms grow. I no longer place them manually, one by one.

Now, they need a grown tree to grow, and they spawn around it. That allows me to have at least some randomness in each zone. Also, if you cut down all trees, mushrooms will have no place where to regrow, so they will wait until there’s some. That adds another strategy aspect to the gameplay.

It might not be as crucial in the early game, but rather when you find rare trees later. You must decide. Will you cut it down for rare wood or let it be and use it as a spawner for rare mushrooms? What do you do, anon?

Yep. I’m talking mainly about mushrooms. However, this mechanism can be applied to more and different resources in the future. Moooore weiiird musrooooommmsss incommiiiiing.

Implementing it wasn’t easy, and I’ve tried four different logics because it’s not like every tree can spawn mushrooms. Additionally, there’s a limit for them for each zone, so you won’t accidentally get 1000 mushrooms if you do not collect them. Also, mushrooms can grow only in certain zones. And most probably not your home zone. Or very limited.

PETS ARE BACK.

Yeah, let's celebrate. I missed them a lot.

If you are an OG, you will surely remember our first chicken pet. And the fact you could slap it for fun. SLAP THE CHICKENS. Yeah, I know, hilarious.

Pets are essential, but they need a solid rework due to many other changes in the game mechanics. After all, they were mainly prototypes before.

We have Wild Pets now. What does that even mean, you might ask?

Well, technically, it’s not a pet. It’s a wild animal that lives around, doing its own things. They cannot die, and you cannot interact with them except for catching them. If you are successful, they can become your pets. The real pets.

These wild pets wander around the zone endlessly; for now, they only switch between Idle and Walk states.

The Real Pets

Once caught, they will appear in your home zone. There is a unique tiny island for them.

And that’s where the fun begins.

I’m currently in the process of designing them. But you can look forward to:

• Pet Moods (a pet can be angry, sad, happy, fearful, …). You, as the player, can do nothing about it. But it affects the pet itself.
• Pet Needs (hungry, bored). This, on the other hand, is your task to solve. Give the pet food if he’s hungry. Clean pet if he’s dirty and so on.
• Pet Resources Production (a chicken gives you eggs). If the needs are fulfilled, some pets can drop a resource. A pet’s mood affects the percentage chance of that. For example, if the pet is happy, there is a likely bigger chance of dropping something than when it’s sad or angry.

All three mechanics trigger on every new day.

The more pets you have, the more fun you can have. Your goal would be to save and collect all species that were kinda lost during the world breakdown.

Home Zone

The home zone has got several improvements and updates.

If you remember from the last Diaries, I was talking about islands and map layouts. Now, even the home zone go islandsss. I guess I’ll be tweaking this for several weeks, but the major changes have happened already.

The Pet Island in your home zone is in the works.

Welcome Shammi. The Kráka Shaman. Your first friend that lives with you on Home Island from the beginning. What can he do for you now?

• He will give you your first tool (The Krákaxe mining tool); if you lose it, he will summon a new one for you.
• He will send you on your first adventure(s).

Sneak peek posted on Twitter:

In the future, he will help you learn new things. And some more.

Mushroom Island

Finishing a mushrooms island. It is one of the first places where you, as a player, can go and explore. A place where you can go to find and collect mushrooms. It has tons of wood as well. It is not a dungeon, but there are enemies. I will be adding more and more stuff. Consider this as the initial version of this zone. Yes, zones have their own version controls and will be upgraded during their lifetime.

In short, zones can contain dungeons, wild animals, enemies, and resources. They cannot be locked, and you can leave anytime you want. All you need to do is find a portal. Trees, mushrooms, and other resources grow back, based on days. Zones can be small with only one portal and can be huge with multiple portals—some special events, quests, etc.

For the Alpha version, though, I am keeping it simple—smaller zones. Just to taste the game mechanics.

I will describe the difference between these kinds of zones and dungeons in a separate infographic in the future.

Bugfixes

• Rewarding a player after a quest competition works again! (I broke this feature a few weeks ago when I was redesigning the items spawning system)
• When some action costs 0 energy, there will no longer be an attempt to deduct the energy from the player nor show an energy message(icon) notification on the screen.
• Sometimes, when the enemy was very close to a resource (a tree, for example) and you were clicking really fast, the game crashed because of a weird bug that didn't register the target correctly. Fixed.

Conclusion

For the next weeks, the plan is obvious. I want to finalize the pet-catching gameplay and the “real pet” behavior I mentioned above.

Maybe I can squeeze in some smaller things as well. We will see about that.

Thank you for reading that all, and see you soon!

KRAAA!