Idle Research 2 - Developer Standup Blog News - Episode 2 (XI-XIV)
Hey everyone! I'm back with another set of developer standup blogs from my discord. Posts have been less frequent because of College. I'm about 2 weeks away from graduating! Anyways, I present you the last 14 episodes!
*Looking at the earlier posts now... wow, do I love to change shit all the time haha. Just let me cook :)
Episode 2 - Posts XI-XIV
1/30/25-4/29/25
Dev Standup 11.0: Boring Day - Water Pipeline Map Validation & New Water Features
Nothing super exciting to show off... But I am writing unit tests in game development for the first time ever! Basically I have it set up to check for mistakes in the maps I make. In this case, I'm missing 3 drains that spawn on the map by default.
Additionally, I have set up basic configurations for the new 12-13 water features, that's quite a bit :o
Demo still not approved, not looking too good. On the bright side, I'm already on making the start of the game 10x better TLDR;
Dev Standup 12.0: Water Inventories & New Water Currencies
Water is now entirely managed by Water Pipelines... So all of the previous features will be accessed on this map (I haven't made that yet). Each block will have a water inventory with all of the above currencies. Debuff ones are bad, bad news!
Dev Standup 13.0: Secret Map
Dev Standup 14.0: Water Drains New Look
Made the Water Drains prettier and matched the colors with the right water resource. On top of this, I will being implementing the new features, start with Water Filtration!
Dev Standup 14.1: Renewed Feature, Water Filtering
Previously Hydro-Pollution Analysis, this feature converts Polluted to Filtered Water. All the different processes will have a unique look to them.
Dev Standup 15.0: Ugh... (The Paradigm Shift Post)
Basics Slowly upgrading current codebase to an even cleaner codebase, which will make it easier and more fun for me to work on Idle Research 2. It will make creating new features so much easier too!
Center is the Distilled Water Drain. Left is what the setup was before the cleaning. Right is after.
Technicals So I have encountered a major design problem with IR2's code and prefabs. I've been using something called "Inheritance" and it's a long story on why it's not going to work long term. I will be converting most things to something called "Composition" which will allow me to make customizable features much much faster. I will be utilizing both Inheritance and Composition.
For example, this Distilled Water Drain prefab is made up of 2 components. If I were to make 100 more of these drains, I would have to readjust a lot of these drain settings and it's a ton of manual work. That's the problem with Inheritance and how I have these magic prefabs set up.
Composition essentially splits those 2 components into many, but a lot of these more broad components (such as Cards and Dialogs) are already dealt with and assigned at more broad levels of the Drain prefab (such as Card prefab, Dialog Card prefab, ... eventually Distilled Water Drain prefab).
When making new drains, all I need to do is: Copy the parent prefab: WaterDrainDialogCard Change the colors (which can also be done in the code) Add the new Drain script, such as Distilled Water Drain Add other scripts that are needed for this drain Done
Previously: Copy the parent prefab Change the colors Add the new Drain script Hook up the close button and distilled water chip Jerry rig setting up the main drain views (the drain effects and the chips) Add other scripts that are needed for this drain Copy and paste a new prefab for the Pipeline Config view Other BS Death Done! ❤️😢
Each of these scripts are also very small and reference each other in a chain. Card shouldn't have access to Dialog, but Dialog should have access to Card. It is the Dialog's job to set up Card and maintain its' lifecycle.
The Ughs I have spent to past week trying to figure out why Water Pipelines was having issues displaying the Water features using Dialogs. This solution will completely solve all the problems I am facing and make my life much easier, and it will feel like the past week has been a waste.
I have a ton of components, so it will take a long time to transition. Fortunately, I can do it one item at a time as I work. I wish I went with this system earlier, but it is very good that I have noticed this issue now.
Game Developer Takeaway Relying on Inheritance is amazing with web applications, but terrible in Unity. Use Composition if you plan on using prefabs with lots of extensions that add new configurations/features to its parents. I will likely make a video covering this later down the road
Dev Standup 16.0: Back to Features - Water Purifier Concept
Finished most of the annoying stuff I had to redo, but we are so back! I have most of the remaining water features planned out, now I just gotta design them.
Dev Standup 17.0: Getting Busy Again
I am currently in the process of moving apartments, so development has been taking a toll this past week. Here are some more screenshots on Water Purifier and the new neighbor feature Star Collector Lab.
I'm mainly in the process of designing as much content as possible instead of implementation, before I lose that creative momentum
Dev Standup 18.0: The Fog (Is Coming)
Despite the exciting title, I unfortunately do not have anything interesting to show, even though it's been over a month. I do have a bit of yap in me today, so let's do this!
I have been really stuck on a project migration, primarily reworking buttons and game navigation. Buttons have been moved over and they are great. Far easier to customize animations and button effects.
While I have been working on this, a lot of code has been moving around. I have started to use an assertion pattern to make bugs easier to find in case I fuck something up :goofyblob: . This will hopefully make it easier for me to test in between updates so I can run the game and make sure all the assertions pass. I was inspired by Lex Fridman and ThePrimeagen discussing the satisfication of getting all of the asserts to pass in a codebase. Fridman says, "I get to see the payoff of the mindfield of asserts I've laid out before me in my kingdom", which I thought was funny. "Discover errors before they become real bugs". I highly recommend chiming into the interview they had, very inspiring story to new devs or people in tough places. Anyways I called it THE FOG because idk. It's alright.
Here is a picture of the reworked buttons as well. (While I am editing this, I want to mention I hate the fact that pictures don't embed in text on here anymore. Bad discord!) A lot of this UI library bs I've been working on is basically investing in the future. Whether it's for my current and future projects, moding support, etc.. I'd rather redo stuff a few times till it's perfect than rush something mid. Plus I always learn new things :)
Stay on the look out for live streams in social. If there's advice to get more of y'all to attend, please let me know! :KekYOU:
Dev Standup 19.-1: It's Big Brain Time
Reworking on Research again, adding actual game play rather than standalone research theories (unlocks) Involving a library and reading books
Dev Standup 19.0: It's Big Brain Time
After a few hour livestream and some time off, here is the UI for the Library for Research. This will be the new very beginning of Idle Research! You earn knowledge from books and it will be a new cost for research theories (unlocking features).
Dev Standup 20.0: Hired AF!, Context Switching, & Color States/Themes
Hired AF! > You read that right, I recently accepted an offer as a fulltime software developer :hmmyes~1:. **How will this effect development?** Since I will be out of school, I strongly believe I'm going to have more time and motivation for Idle Research 2 development! I think the reason why I'm struggling is because of a combination of senioritis and rapid context-switching.
Context Switching > I've learned over the past few weeks that rapid context switching can be disruptive to programming sessions. Since I have multiple responsibilities (work, school, life, etc.), I'm stuck with this environment, hence the struggle. It's important to take breaks though :heart:. When I graduate, that's 1 less dimension I need to worry about. I'm hopeful for the future of Considera + Idle Research.
Color States/Themes > Ok ok here's the actual update. I streamed a little bit of this on YouTube, but I struggled to finish this button color situation during those sessions. Today, I'm happy to wrap up this mini-project! All buttons can be assign a "Color State". So in Unity, their buttons have 5 different colors, for each of the states: Normal, Blocked, Selected, Holding, Hovering. My color states allow these button states to change the color of buttons, either with a single controlling color, or colors for each state.
> This is probably not making sense, but essentially I have complete control over button colors, and it's automatic **= LESS MANUAL/REPETITIVE WORK** :psychedelic_pray: . With a factory, I'm able to create buttons, here's a code snippet: // Factory method public static ButtonSingleColorState CreateButton( ButtonData data, Color core, Func coreFunc = null) => new(core: core, stateFunc: () => data.State, coreFunc: coreFunc);
// ButtonData states private void VerifyState() { if (Blocked) State = ButtonState.Blocked; else if (Selected) State = ButtonState.Selected; else if (Holding) State = ButtonState.Holding; else if (Hovering) State = ButtonState.Hovering; else State = ButtonState.Normal; TriggerChange(); }
> ...an example color state for the FAR LEFT button drawer in the picture: public static readonly Color WaterColor = "#1CB7FF".ToColor(); public static ButtonSingleColorState ResearchSparkyButtonColorState = new( core: ResearchColor, normalAlpha: 0.050f, selectedAlpha: 0.100f, hoveredAlpha: 0.025f, pressedAlpha: 0.010f, blockedAlpha: 0.005f);
> With thanks to @CreeperKing for the hex-to-color converter!
> Additionally, I touched up the animators and now the main drawer can collapse/expand. Very pretty too. @podrik is working on sound effect for me. Collapsed is second picture (next post)
Dev Standup 21.0: Finally working on features again
Now that I have the color themes and the button states all figured out, I finally have made some progress on the Library functionality. More details in the meantime.
Dev Standup 22.0: Working on Library functionality
This has been a pretty rough week since I have many essays due. On the bright side, I had a solid session working on the gameplay for the new research library. Not much to show this time, hopefully next post!
Dev Standup 22.1: Working on Library functionality II
I'm not working on my essays like I should be... But Tasks and Jobs are mostly complete, next is the IQ prestige, IQ tree, and then back to Research Theories. Please motivate me to work on my stupid essays tho :(
Dev Standup 24.0: Working on Library UI - IQ/Lift Prestiges
Howdy lads! Today I present you some new UI I've been working on today. This will contain 2 simple prestige systems for the library. For context, this will be BEFORE Theories, which is also before water... Lots of depth is going on already!
IQ will be the standard prestige, you gain IQ and unlock new levels of the library. Each milestone will have unique titles displaying in the UI (though I have a goal, I'll explain), and rewards such as new features and multiplicative boosts. There will be a maximum of 7 levels, the last two are named respectively: "The Einstein Memorial Museum" and "The Library of Singularities". The first level is "The Empty Droid Library"
Lift to Experience is the name of one of my favorite post-rock bands, and I mention this because it sounds cool to me. This button will reset everything except your milestones and their rewards, but in exchange get Research XP (counted as Lifted XP). The XP counts towards your Research skill, which is vital for the Library Job. I'll also have an upgrade section for lifted XP, but I don't have plans for that yet. So yeah, that's pretty chill :hmmyes~1:
If you can't tell already, my favorite color is purple haha. My apartment is feeling a purple RGB for today
About Me
For those who don't know me, I am Zach. I am the only developer for Idle Research 1, Idle Research 2, and other Considera games. This is more of a free-time hobby, so development can be unstable. Outside of Idle Research, I am a part-time (soon to be full-time) Software Engineer, and a full-time senior in uni. I greatly appreciate patience and understanding for the slower development these past few years =)
Idle Research 2 - Developer Standup Blog News - Episode 1 (I-X)
Starting today, I will be reposting 10 days of developer standup blogs that I write on my discord server. These will be delayed but highly detailed posts about what I have been working on for Idle Research 2. You will also see the progression of changes over time, so some things may come and go.
Obviously, there still isn't a demo out... I missed the deadline for the Steam Idler Fest because of a failed Steam review and I decided to completely rework the entry feature. You will see the initial idea in Standup 10.0. Also I have been moving to a new apartment, so the past few weeks have been unproductive.
Anyways, here are the first posts! The earlier ones are a bit rusty
Episode 1 - Posts I-X
1/18/25-1/29/25
Dev Standup 1.0: First
Me from the past few days... Building rule logic implemented (valid/invalid tile highlighting soon), Blocking building counts, QoL, and build confirmations (delete confirmations soon).
The new dialog component will make creating necessary pop ups super simple. Making it absolutely sucked tho lol
When I finish all of the above, I will connect the existing drains feature to the pipeline, then build out Water Purifier feature
Here's the validation
Dev Standup 2.0: Water Drains in Water Pipelines
Today I will be moving the existing water drains to the pipelines feature.
Attached are concepts of the new UI
After this, I will move on to getting pipelines attached to Research as part of the unlockable feature chain, then on to Water Pipeline skill upgrades
Dev Standup 3.0: Building Out the Gameplay for Exploration
Hey everyone! Here is my standup for today:
Yesterday I started to work on hooking up the Water Exploration pipeline block to the Exploration feature. The idea I came up with is that you actually unlock Exploration before you unlock Water Pipelines. You will go explore to a mystery location that will unlock this new feature. You will be able to gather a different set of materials at each location. For Pipeline Fields, I may do some scrap or valuable materials, don't know yet. I also moved Cartography out of Research, to Exploration. Cartography isn't prob wont be a research thing anymore since you unlock locations via exploring (unless I make an investigation/inspection feature).
Today I will get the exploring feature complete and make the cartography map look more like an actual map. The new design for the exploring feature has improved semantics, plus it's simpler. Anyways this morning, I fixed up some bugs I made while reworking Exploration and Cartography. Later today I'm going to move some researches around to make the Exploration => Water Pipelines gameplay smooth.
If I can get this done and dive into more deeper progression for the Exploring and Gathering features, it will be one giant step closer to a demo... I do fear that it will be very short and lackluster. I'm accepting any opinions on this :)
Dev Standup 4.0: Hardening + Save System
Gonna keep this quiet but I've spent all day getting IR2's save system working, which was a very annoying process, especially related to the Water Pipelines. Also spent the day fixing many small bugs (hardening) as Demo date creeps closer and closer
Dev Standup 5.0: Research UI + Gameplay Overhaul
It feels like it's been a while since I posted... time is moving slowly I suppose. I've been focusing on improving UI and fixing bugs. My main tackle is to completely overhaul Research. I wasn't a fan of the discrete math stuff and the old UI. This will be far more simple to work with, and colorful :^)
Attached is both the new UI concept, and the old UI Old: New:
Dev Standup 6.0: Research UI + Configs 2.0
Today I was able to get the new configs and data working with the new UI. The unlock requirements and rewards look really cool, the entire thing tbh
This overhaul was meant to heavily simply the most important (and the first) feature of the game. Also my goal is to have lore attached to all of the descriptions, changing the card name from "Subtheory/Statement Description" to "Lore". But yeah I hope it looks cool to you all
Dev Standup 7.0: Research Theories UI Coloring + Rewards
Today I have added color coding for some of the UI to indicate the current proving status. Also the requirement and reward chips now update properly, anddd the rewards listed are given. Just need to polish some more and then research overhaul is complete
In action
Dev Standup 8.0: Settings
Today I will start implementing some basic settings. This is what the UI will look like! I will post another stand up when I start working on UI QoL
Dev Standup 8.1: Settings + Facts
Settings panel is complete, but one other thing....... SCIENTIFIC NOTATION > STANDARD NOTATION FOR LIFE!!!
Dev Standup 9.0: Settings, Information, Manual Saving, Toasts, Grid Zoom and Pan Mode
Today I have implemented quite a bit! With the new pan mode and zoom dropdown, you can easily move the grids around and zoom in and out if you'd like (screenshots 1-3).
Screenshot 4 is the main dialog that will be used for the demo. It addresses some IR1 questions there so hopefully a lot of existing people will see that.
Screenshot 5 is the happy lil toast at the bottom =)
You can access Settings, Information, and close the game (screenshot 6) in the top right corner of the main UI
shameless plug for me friend, listen to his first EP! for fans of funk, electronic, synthpop, and soul. help him out <3: https://open.spotify.com/album/6Z9ZDCc5LvW3IpHWFbBSpV?si=nnE-9xUjRwKyNdSYC6umjQ
Dev Standup 10.0: Changing How Water Works
Literally but not literally... Anyways I've spent the past few days reflecting on the game as a demo perspective. I'm not really confident with the current progression, but I have made a good list of things I can do to make Water and other features really fun.
Stay tuned for more info! One of the big decisions is to take away the randomization factor with water and polluted water. Instead, have water slowly convert to polluted and it'll act as a debuff
With the changes, water will go from 4 base features to 13. That is 13 things you can do with your precious water in the pipeline. Map will be a secret for now
About Me
For those who don't know me, I am Zach. I am the only developer for Idle Research 1, Idle Research 2, and other Considera games. This is more of a free-time hobby, so development can be unstable. Outside of Idle Research, I am a part-time (soon to be full-time) Software Engineer intern, and a full-time senior in uni. I greatly appreciate patience and understanding for the slower development these past few years =)
You wake up from a time-activated cryogenic pod in 2070 on planet Mu Ra Tempel — after the devasting Earth-27 Mutually Assured Destruction incident.
New Steam Page Coming Soon
Hey all, I have been able to get a lot more progress with Idle Research /2. I'd really like to provide at least a small demo during the Steam Idler Fest in February 3, 2025.
Here are some screenshots to get you in the loop of what's coming:
You wake up from a time-activated cryogenic pod in 2070 on planet Mu Ra Tempel — after the devasting Earth-27 Mutually Assured Destruction incident.
New Steam Page Coming Soon
Hey all, I have been able to get more progress for an Idle Research 2 demo. I'd really like to provide at least a small demo during the Steam Idler Fest in February 3, 2025. I will create a separate steam announcement when the page is published. (Hopefully a few days if Steam approves first try)
Here are some screenshots to get you in the loop:
Idle Research 2 Steam Page - Coming Soon
You wake up from a time-activated cryogenic pod in 2070 on planet Mu Ra Tempel — after the devasting Earth-27 Mutually Assured Destruction incident.
New Steam Page Coming Soon
Hey all, I have been able to get more progress for an Idle Research 2 demo. I'd really like to provide at least a small demo during the Steam Idler Fest in February 3, 2025. I will create a separate steam announcement when the page is published. (Hopefully a few days if Steam approves first try)
Here are some screenshots to get you in the loop:
Idle Research 2 - Optional Survey
Hey friends! Happy 4th of July to my American players, and happy Thursday to everyone else! I hope everyone is having a great week.
As decided on my discord, I have decided to begin development on a new version of Idle Research. There's a lot of things that need to be remade from scratch, specifically project infrastructure and basic game features (Research, Crafting, etc.). I personally feel like the game needs a more thoughtful approach to what I wanted Idle Research to be.
I would really love if people filled out this Google Form survey, so I have a good idea on my player base's wants and needs for the best idle/incremental game experience. Here is the link: https://forms.gle/jUQ2jT9vWhH9XBhWA
I'll provide more details on what will happen to the current Idle Research, but to keep it short:
Game will be playable and live, not replaced by Idle Research 2.
Cylinders will not be a thing, but I may provide a UI playground area to paint a picture on what I had already worked on.
Bugs will be maintained.
Features may be slightly tweaked.
Performance improvements.
Purchases of any kind will be transferrable to the new game in some way.
...essentially, I will work on fixes when I have extra time.
This game is still in early access, so I have no idea what I want to do in terms of moving it to full release. If anyone has any advice/ideas, I'm all ears.
Anyways, that's all I have. Again here is the optional survey: https://forms.gle/jUQ2jT9vWhH9XBhWA Questions? Let me know :)
Thanks everyone for the positivity this week, it's making me miss game development. Zach / Considera
Idle Research: Black Ice Steam Achievement REMOVED
Hi friends, I have finally removed the steam achievement for the Black Ice Flask. So now people should be able to 100% the game for now.
This new update is still taking way longer than it should, and I again apologize for that. For those who don't know, I am a full-time computer science student who also is an intern at a software development company. On top of that, I've had a lot of personal/social obligations to focus on, and other side-projects unrelated to Idle Research.
I'm doing my best to make progress, but it's just hard maintaining everything. Hopefully this achievement removal will help people!
Thanks, Zach
Idle Research: New UI Sneakpeaks + Other Previews (Still No ETA)
Hello everyone! As you may have noticed, it is definitely past the February or March goal I was hoping for. Unfortunately, there is no update ready still. Those who go to university and work full time may understand.
It is currently summer break, and I am currently a full-stack software developer intern (ASP.NET + Angular for anyone who is interested). I do have more time to work on the game, but I have become such a better programmer over the past few months. This has led me to begin a rewrite project.
The rewrite will consist:
Brand new polished UI
UI Themes!
Removing the current tutorial system, replacing it with a task/chapter system. If the storyline is ever made, it'll be combined with this.
(Hopefully In the future) modding support
Brand new menu and settings system.
Ability to have more than one playfab cloud and local account per device
Major performance boosts
Etc.
Here are some screenshots of what I have so far: Main Menu
Don't forget your passwords! Jk, I have you covered
New Crafting/Research interface
Expandable/Collapsable stuff
New Presets Idea
AGAIN THESE ARE JUST PREVIEWS, NOT AN ACTUAL UPDATE. THERE IS STILL NO ETA.
Some other news: I longer am associated with "CryptoGrounds or CryptoGrounds Games LLC". I have rebranded to a more friendly and accurate name "Considera Core LLC", where my slogan is: "Games and software, consideration at its' core!" Lastly, it is still pretty much me working on the game.
A good friend of mine will be joining me in making some cool ass art and a storyline for the game. Exciting stuff to come!
See ya in another few months probably haha, Zach / Considera Games LLC
Idle Research: Final Feature Preview for the Next Update (Still No ETA)
Hello! I just wanted to provide the last major feature previews to provide more updates on where I am at in terms of the next major update
THESE ARE JUST PREVIEWS, NOT AN ACTUAL UPDATE. THERE IS STILL NO ETA. I AM STILL FOCUSING ON COLLEGE AT THE MOMENT. My personal goal is end of February or March, and I will announce 1-2 weeks before. But who knows, take this with a grain of salt :)
Anywho, here are some screenshot previews:
Offline v2.0, from Research Tier 2:
Corruption (Flasks Only):
That'll be it, stay tuned for more information! Join the discord for more previews and announcements: https://discord.gg/9A9CjrSxeu.
Thanks, Zach / CryptoGrounds
Idle Research: Next Update Preview (No ETA)
Hi friends! Just felt like I should provide some updates on my progress with the next major update.
THESE ARE JUST PREVIEWS, NOT AN ACTUAL UPDATE. THERE IS NO ETA. I AM STILL FOCUSING ON COLLEGE AT THE MOMENT :)
Also spoiler warning...
Anywho, here are some screenshot previews:
So this is Research Tier 2, if you didn't see the previous post. It will contain random stuff like unlocking ice, prestige v2, mastery v2, etc.
Tubes' Blue Energy will now boost Flasks' Green Energy.
Adventure is being reworked by a lot (which is taking up a lot of time). You can no longer manually deploy, your army is just based on your current Tubes. QoL! Skill Shards are also no longer RNG. More information in the future.
Flask Intruders in Tubes... more information in the future.
Simulations Rework
If there are special game breaking errors (most likely caused by crafting presets), you will now get error messages in the corner).
Ice Rework:
Ice Crafting (removing Ice Makers):
Ice Research:
Ice Mastery:
That's all I have at the moment. The update is taking forever due to me basically having to replay the entire game so I can properly balance the game pace, implement/replace/remove features, and make the game more fun! Cylinders will not be included in this update, would take way to long and I'd rather push out this content before even touching Cylinders.
The goal is to have all achievements beatable with F2P and convince Steam to allow me to add more of them :^)
I am deeply sorry these aren't posted quite frequently. I am pretty transparent on my progress via Discord: https://discord.gg/9A9CjrSxeu. I will do my best to keep you guys up to date and will announce an ETA whenever I get closer to finishing this colossal update.
