Monday Dev Update #8

Greetings,

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Last monday had no Dev Update and as a matter of fact, the week was quiet on the social media front as it featured a mix of necessary "rest" (not) and focus on work due to the difficult and generally underwhelming previous week. So today we're ready to return and report on how the contents of Update #7, about Cell Mechanics, were followed up on.

4x Mechanics and Cells

Reminder:

Divided into 9 main areas (3x3)
Each Area divided into 100 (10x10) Cells
Cells procedurally populated with Resource Nodes or Empty
Resource Cells and Empty Cells randomly occupied by Obstacles, Perils
Cells must be Cleared of Obstacles & Perils to be Claimed

So, here are the development items of this past week:

Cells now have a Landscape value and a Primary Content value.
- Landscape will determine the type of Asset spawned in the Cell and general environmental parameters:
  - Waterland (water-themed environment: river, pools, swamp...)
  - Wilderness (countryside-themed environment: grass, rock & trees)
  - Woodland (forested, forage-rich, harder to navigate environments)
  - Wasteland (mostly open environments, generally bare, predator-rich)
- Primary Content sets the gameplay theme for the Cell (Currently simple coloured cubes.)
  - Waste: The cell is empty of any special/specific content
  - Obstacle: Clutter the Landscape, must be destroyed to make Navigation easier
  - Resource: Can be Harvested
  - Hostile Camp: Spawns Hostiles
  - Settlement: May spawn Friendlies
  - "Dungeon" Entrance: Meant to lead to an explorable "Interior" space
- Primary Content Rules determine the object size and spawn occurrence of objects
  - Waste & Obstacles make up 60% of Cells
  - Resource Cells make up 20% of Cells
  - Hostile Camp Cells make up 10% of Cells
  - Settlement Cells make up 5% of Cells
  - Dungeon Entrance Cells make up 5% of Cells
  - Most above objects have HP and can be destroyed or harvested if properly equipped

The above items serve as much for procedural generation as they do serve for manual world-building guidance.

For example, we can either load a pre-made level and adapt Cell Contents to it, or generate a new Cell Grid and build based on the settings of each Cell. We are still a bit of a long way to being able to procedurally generate fully functional worlds but that is not really the goal. The goal is to use procedural generation in conjunction with manual building.

Additional items taken care of as far as Cells are concerned:

Distribution rules for Landscape & Primary Contents
Landscapes matching to Environment Mood Mechanics
No Settlements & No Claims in 3-cell Radius around Hostile Camps
Cells procedurally generated & manually editable

Hearth Mechanics

The Hearth is close to the center of the play experience since it's not only your respawn point in case of Woe (defeat), it's also the point from which you will perform many character interactions, as well as the spot by which you will ultimately construct your base. Currently, Hearth work is divided in two main parts:

Basic Mechanics: how to build a Hearth, Hearth "life" and depletion, replenishment and so on
Advanced Mechanics: Camping interactions: healing, bushcraft, base-building

As of the following items, we are now 100% done with the Basic Mechanics:

Changes to Hearth "HP" tracking: now displayed at all times near Player Stats
Adjustments to Hearth HP Depletion through Time & Weather
Hearth Depletion turned off in Gauntlet Mode
Hearth Mechanics now complete

Misc

Fixed Collider Deactivation Issues on Push/Pull Box, making it impossible to Climb on after usage

Currently Working On

Surveying: Mechanics involved in exploring Cells to assess their contents, opportunities & perils
Surveying Incidents: Rules and mechanics for triggering gameplay events while Surveying

Still Pending Fixes (low priority items at the moment)

After Boss Bot spawn, all bot spawns in subsequent waves are Boss Bots
Add and configure Interaction Goal, Defeat All goal and Protect Goal
Finish fixing timing Issues on the remaining Combat Attacks (inputs 3 4 9 and 10)
Fix Sprint's Stamina Cost & Passage of Time
Camera Tweaks & Small UI Fixes
Implement basic "Monsters" for Cloudedness Hazard