2022/06/30

Montgolfier: Campfires and Clouds

So instead of focusing on important things, like loading and saving the state of the game, trading with outpost merchants, or the economy system, I decided to play around with some ideas. I really just wanted to see how they would turn out. Well, not completely just playing around ... One important aspect that evolved was the multiple use interface for cargo. Clicking on cargo items now brings up an action menu showing what you can do with that item, including just discarding it (in emergencies where you just need to get rid of some weight). And what better way to test it out than on a new game mechanic.

While wood is primarily used for fuel, and will of course be tradable, it also seems like a good item with which to be able to start a fire. So now you can. Collecting wood, and trying to use it will allow you to either refuel your ship, or build a campfire. While this is just eye candy for now, there are plans for these be useful in certain less peaceful places.

I've always had plans for clouds. The idea is that there will be large storms moving around with the wind that you'll have to dodge. But, for now, instead I made some clouds that will randomly form and dissipate over islands. They'll shift their position, height, size and evolve over a period of a few days. Flying through clouds can cause some damage due to turbulence, so you'll have decide whether to attempt a landing under cloud cover. Rain will be likely in the future.

Here are both visible and behind-the-scenes updates this round:

  • Balloon destruction

  • Multi-use cargo interaction

  • Campfires as the first test of the "use" mechanic

  • Clouds, and lots of troubleshooting for their behavior

  • Added palm trees as another type of resource

  • Major UI refactoring under-the-hood

  • Performance optimizations

There is one other important "landing" as it were: crashing. Your ship will fall to pieces, and respawn on the last island on which you successfully landed. While you don't lose anything yet, crashing will likely be a much bigger deal in the future. And, lastly, my Steam application was approved. So while there's nothing there yet, I am trying to get the game into a distributable state. There's still plenty to do, but once I have functioning menu with progress persistence, a rudimentary economy, and a loot and resource spawning controller, I think it may be ready for some wider early testing.