Monday Dev Update #14

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Our recent efforts have focused on tackling one of the last two items in the Wilderness features list: Outposts.

The logic for this is simple: the blueprint used to build and customize an Outpost is a scale up of the Camp-building mechanics. Scalability and adaptability drive the design of Winterfall, allowing us to cover a lot of ground by using the same mechanical structures in different parts of the game.

What is that blueprint, you ask?

Let's get into it, after some pictures.

Rebuilding the Hall

An Outpost is made of a Hall as well as some facilities around it. You've seen an excerpt of a piece of a Hall in the Trailer through this picture:

That scene, however, was built when I had no idea what I was doing regarding basic scene-building logistics so it became an expensive mess of hundreds of items that didn't survive the project developments too well.

So in order to properly design the Hall in preparation for the Outpost mechanics, I had to begin rebuilding everything from scratch.

The logic being that while the Hall itself is a fixed, static buildings, parts of it can be customized from a "tiles" system. Essentially, the Hall in its basic state is made of empty slots, which you can fill up with "Room" tiles which we call Facilities.

Facilities include all the usual: a mess hall for meals and feasts, a workshop, lodgings, all that kind of stuff.

So here are some screenshots of the tentative Hall rebuild according to that "tiles" system.

Now, let's talk about the logic before we go to the dev items.

Logic

Think of an Outpost as both a base of operations and a living community.

The Outpost System deals with the following mechanics:

• Gathering & Spending Resources for the Outpost

• Developing the Outpost physically by adding Facilities and People

• Dealing with Crises bearing down upon the Outpost

Logic - Gathering & Spending Resources

• Resources can be materialized from working Resource Nodes, or can be found in certain areas

• Those Resources materialize as "Carry Objects" (crates, bags, etc)

• Those Carry Objects must be carried to the Outpost

• Once delivered, those Carry Objects update the Outpost's Resource count

• Various factors cause a daily expenditure of Resources

Logic - Developing the Outpost physically by adding Facilities and People

• The Outpost is built on a Grid

• This Grid contains 4 types of Cells, with different rules

  • Facilities Cells, where basic Facilities can be built

  • Extensions Cells, where the above Facilities can be extended

  • Hall Cells, which are the default central area Outpost denizens will linger at

  • Preset Cells, which already contain predetermined Facilities that can only be upgraded

• Facilities require Operators, specialized denizens that will operate them

• Facilities have two main types of impact:

  • Open up new interactions/actions

  • Lessen the severity of adverse events called Crises

Logic - Crises

• The evolution of Outpost Resources, as well as various events, will generate Crises

• Crises generate high stakes gameplay goals and/or dilemma prompts

• Success & Failure at Crisis Handling shape up the life & death of the Outpost

• Specialized Facilities and Operators may lessen the severity of Crises

Development

Outpost Basics

• Added a Permanent Hearth to the Outpost, ensuring respawn possibility in case of Woe

• Outpost UI now displays counters for Food, Supply & Treasure

• Outpost now contains a Drop Off area into which to drop aforementioned Resource objects

• Resources in Drop Off update Resources Counter UI

• Resources in Drop Off are "stowed" at 6pm

• Drop Off no longer active between 6pm and 6am

Outpost Status

• Outpost Health/Quality of Life now marked as a percentage (HP%)

• Outpost Material Security now marked as a percentage (MP%)

• HP/MP UI Display

• People in Outpost incur HP Cost/day

• Facilities in Outpost incur MP Cost/day

• Daily HP/MP Cost UI Display

• HP/MP status updated at 10pm

We're currently implementing the Crisis mechanics, which should be done very early this week.

Next, we'll be dealing with the mechanics that enable Facility-building in the Outpost.

This may lead us to either finishing things up with adding Outpost NPCs mechanics, or digressing to Camp-building.

Outpost NPC mechanics promise to be quite an involved deal, which is why we may want to finish up Camping first.

Some systems are that kind of rabbit hole, where you do know where you begin but it's impossible to know where you'll end. Winterfall contains a lot of those, so careful consideration will have to prevail here.

Thank you for your patience and continued interest!