Lands of Crown
Weekly Dev Log #27
So, the last time we left off, I had just started work on upgrading LoC to the latest version of the Godot game engine. At this time, the upgrade is mostly complete besides needing to redo particles effects and replace broken tilemaps, very exciting stuff.
However, I have a couple pieces of big news for Lands of Crown, those being:
There will be no more weekly dev logs. The pace is just too slow and it probably appears to most readers that nothing occurs within a week to even justify a dev log anyway. I like the idea of staying in touch with the community and not simply abandoning everyone, as I have seen it happen too often in the past, but this method does not seem to be working.
Therefore, there will be no more weekly dev logs, but that doesn't mean there will be no dev logs ever. I have thought about doing a dev log every two weeks, or maybe every month, but I haven't decided yet. Regardless, the next dev log I post I would like to have something substantial in it, so until that happens I won't be writing a dev log.
Perhaps this style of dev log isn't working because of me, rather than the game itself. Perhaps if I was more motivated and driven to work on the game I could churn out more progress and have an interesting dev log each week. I have commented about this before, but I find it very difficult to work on a game that is practically a clone of Streets of Rogue.
Regardless, I need to think about what I want to do here. Do I shelve this project for a time, do I simply take a small break, or do I push through and continue working on the game, despite my lack of passion for it at this time?
I've put months of work into Lands of Crown, and I don't want it to be for nothing. At the same time, I think I made some blunders, most notably making the scope of the game way wider and deeper than I was prepared for. I need to think about what direction I want to go, but I'll let you all know either way.
Until next time,
aGoldenFly
Weekly Dev Log #26
Although the last few dev logs have been quite lackluster, I hope to change that starting today. I've been hard at work thinking, planning, and coding and I have a few things I want to discuss today.
First of all, the game is currently being updated to use the latest version of the engine (Godot) I have been using which, although still in beta, I believe to be a worthy endeavor in the long term. For as long as I've been developing Lands of Crown, a constant issue and cause for concern has been the impact and effect of 2D lighting on the game. Due to the way lighting is handled in the old version of the engine, lots of sprites were being redrawn to the point where even the bare bones amount of lighting I was currently using was enough to cause the FPS to tank,
This method of rendering has changed in the new engine, and I am hopeful that making the switch now will have better long term effects for the game as a whole. There are of course other reasons to make the switch as well; however, the lighting remains one of the big ones.
I expect the upgrade to take a few more days at most, as some systems simply need spelling changes while others need a complete redo. However, hopefully by the next dev log I'll be able to showcase some of the changes.
While this upgrade takes up most of my time, I've also done a bit of thinking in how I want to handle Lands of Crown and prepare it for an Early Access release. I have been meaning for a while now to completely rework almost all of the classes to overhaul their abilities and encourage a play style for each class. In addition to this, I've been thinking about how to develop these classes without randomly creating classes with no rhyme or reason.
Therefore, at least for future classes, I plan to focus on following a clear theme for the particular group of characters. That means creating a level that is designed around certain characters or has a particular purpose, with buildings that make sense within that theme, containing items and utilities that works with that theme, populated with classes that are each distinct and thematically in line with the theme.
I'm still working through how exactly these will turn out, but I'm happy to hear any suggestions you all have.
Until next time,
aGoldenFly
Dev Log #26
Although the last few dev logs have been quite lackluster, I hope to change that starting today. I've been hard at work thinking, planning, and coding and I have a few things I want to discuss today.
First of all, the game is currently being updated to use the latest version of the engine (Godot) I have been using which, although still in beta, I believe to be a worthy endeavor in the long term. For as long as I've been developing Lands of Crown, a constant issue and cause for concern has been the impact and effect of 2D lighting on the game. Due to the way lighting is handled in the old version of the engine, lots of sprites were being redrawn to the point where even the bare bones amount of lighting I was currently using was enough to cause the FPS to tank,
This method of rendering has changed in the new engine, and I am hopeful that making the switch now will have better long term effects for the game as a whole. There are of course other reasons to make the switch as well; however, the lighting remains one of the big ones.
I expect the upgrade to take a few more days at most, as some systems simply need spelling changes while others need a complete redo. However, hopefully by the next dev log I'll be able to showcase some of the changes.
While this upgrade takes up most of my time, I've also done a bit of thinking in how I want to handle Lands of Crown and prepare it for an Early Access release. I have been meaning for a while now to completely rework almost all of the classes to overhaul their abilities and encourage a play style for each class. In addition to this, I've been thinking about how to develop these classes without randomly creating classes with no rhyme or reason.
Therefore, at least for future classes, I plan to focus on following a clear theme for the particular group of characters. That means creating a level that is designed around certain characters or has a particular purpose, with buildings that make sense within that theme, containing items and utilities that works with that theme, populated with classes that are each distinct and thematically in line with the theme.
I'm still working through how exactly these will turn out, but I'm happy to hear any suggestions you all have.
Until next time,
aGoldenFly
Weekly Dev Log #25
I understand that for these past few weeks, there has been very little progress for the game, and for that I am sorry. I did not realize just how busy University would keep me, and how little time I would have to work and think about Lands of Crown.
But that changes soon! Starting this week, progress should resume it's previous pace, and there is a lot I want to do in that time. From what work I have been able to do over these weeks, it has mainly been minor tweaks and bug fixes here and there, along with other under the hood changes to make development easier.
Perhaps I should put an end to these weekly dev logs and move to a monthly schedule or release a dev log every two weeks instead of one week. I think it would allow for more substantial news about the game, rather than the slow drip of content you see in the weekly dev logs.
Regardless, progress resumes soon! And as always, feel free to let me know what you think!
Until next time,
aGoldenFly
Weekly Dev Log 24
As I have talked about in previous dev logs, I am currently attending University. As such, a lot of my time has been taken up working for my classes. I haven't had a chance to work on Lands of Crown in a good week or so, and for that I truly do apologize. I can understand your frustration at the situation, which brings questions up such as "Will this game ever be released?" or "Will this game just be abandoned?".
I can assure you that no, this game will not be abandoned and yes, it will be released at some point. However, game development is a marathon, not a sprint. And as working on this game is not my full time job at the moment, there will be times when development slows down. But I just want you to know that I will keep working on it, and that it will be finished someday.
I have big plans for Lands of Crown that I still want to implement. I won't quit until I'm satisfied with what I have worked on, I can tell you that.
As always, feel free to let me know what you think!
Until next time,
aGoldenFly
Weekly Dev Log #23
Keeping in line my larger plan to overhaul the game, I decided to spend this week working on an area that should be pretty integral to the game: allies!
The problem that exists for allies is that allies are hard to regularly come by, and they are not incredibly useful while playing. For instance, if you somehow get an ally in the current state of the game they can only follow you around and help in fights. Now, this is not a bad start, but I want them to be capable of a lot more.
What do you have in mind?
For starters, allies should be able to be directed around and told "Stay here." or "Attack this target." to allow the player more freedom in how they play. If you need to stealth around a building, you can't exactly have an ally or two following you around otherwise you would end up setting off all the traps. Allies should be an addition to how player's choose to play, not a hindrance or annoyance that must be kept track of.
Allies should also be capable of using levers and other actions that the player can use. Perhaps you'll use an ally to trigger a trap or flip a lever to unlock a door so that you can steal the item undetected. Perhaps there will be puzzles with multiple activation areas that will require the use of allies to complete. I do not want to force players to use allies; however, I think that there can be some neat ideas to come from considering the use of allies in the game.
There should also be less obstacles to gaining allies. Of course there will be specific classes that have an easier time than others at gaining allies, but I want every class to have the opportunity to gain allies. Some classes will simply use allies as a disposable tool, while others may have their class and play style revolve around keeping allies and buffing them.
As always, there is a lot of work to be done in refining this system and adding to it as well. Feel free to let me know what you think and if you have any ideas of your own!
Until next time,
aGoldenFly
Weekly Dev Log #22
As I'm sure many of you have experienced, stealth in Lands of Crown is currently... lacking, to say the least. There aren't really any ways to sneak into buildings, and there really are no stealth items or abilities (besides perhaps the Ghost's ability). This was not intentional, but rather a byproduct of working and developing the game. While other systems and mechanics got more and more work put in, stealth was not really considered or accounted for.
Therefore, as part of a larger plan that I'll talk about later, I made it a focus this week to work on stealth and see what could be done to make it more fun and worthwhile. However, instead of adding some new item or ability to act as a temporary fix, I wanted to fix some of the root issues regarding stealth.
Stealth, even with non-stealthy characters, was very difficult because it was often very unclear where exactly an NPC was looking. I had originally designed the system so that NPCs could be looking in any direction while the NPC's sprites were confined to allow for four different outcomes. This meant that an NPC could be looking anywhere in one of the four quadrants and they would not change sprites or show any indicator as to where they were exactly looking.
I have rectified this system and expanded it so that characters can once again look in any direction, but now there are eight different sprite combinations as opposed to the four previously talked about. This should greatly improve a player's ability to determine where exactly a character is looking and therefore be able to account and plan out stealth operations.
Another big part of why stealth was near impossible was that there was usually only one entrance to a building, that being the door. Unless you came prepared with a bomb, which is unsurprisingly very not stealthy, the only way into and out of a building was through the door. That needed to change.
Now, buildings can have windows that will allow you to knock on them, calling over a property owner, or pick them or break them, allowing you to enter through them. I also plan to have different types of windows, such as prison bars or a crack in the wall that may only allow small characters through them. I want these to open the door to new playstyles and allow the player the freedom to play how they want.
As always, I'm still ironing out these features and will continue to update you on my progress, but in the meantime take care and let me know what you think!
Until next time,
aGoldenFly
Weekly Dev Log 22
As I'm sure many of you have experienced, stealth in Lands of Crown is currently... lacking, to say the least. There aren't really any ways to sneak into buildings, and there really are no stealth items or abilities (besides perhaps the Ghost's ability). This was not intentional, but rather a byproduct of working and developing the game. While other systems and mechanics got more and more work put in, stealth was not really considered or accounted for.
Therefore, as part of a larger plan that I'll talk about later, I made it a focus this week to work on stealth and see what could be done to make it more fun and worthwhile. However, instead of adding some new item or ability to act as a temporary fix, I wanted to fix some of the root issues regarding stealth.
Stealth, even with non-stealthy characters, was very difficult because it was often very unclear where exactly an NPC was looking. I had originally designed the system so that NPCs could be looking in any direction while the NPC's sprites were confined to allow for four different outcomes. This meant that an NPC could be looking anywhere in one of the four quadrants and they would not change sprites or show any indicator as to where they were exactly looking.
I have rectified this system and expanded it so that characters can once again look in any direction, but now there are eight different sprite combinations as opposed to the four previously talked about. This should greatly improve a player's ability to determine where exactly a character is looking and therefore be able to account and plan out stealth operations.
Another big part of why stealth was near impossible was that there was usually only one entrance to a building, that being the door. Unless you came prepared with a bomb, which is unsurprisingly very not stealthy, the only way into and out of a building was through the door. That needed to change.
Now, buildings can have windows that will allow you to knock on them, calling over a property owner, or pick them or break them, allowing you to enter through them. I also plan to have different types of windows, such as prison bars or a crack in the wall that may only allow small characters through them. I want these to open the door to new playstyles and allow the player the freedom to play how they want.
As always, I'm still ironing out these features and will continue to update you on my progress, but in the meantime take care and let me know what you think!
Until next time,
aGoldenFly
Weekly Dev Log #21
New Level Generation
This week I experimented with some different algorithms to try and make the levels of Lands of Crown feel more compact and close-knit, rather than a wide open area with buildings in it. I felt it was too easy to get away from trouble, and NPCs would be less likely to be seen and interact with one another if they choose to walk to some corner of the map.
I'm still tinkering with the system, but I am happy with the results that I achieved. What happens is that many of the open regions in the level are filled with walls, leaving these small hallways between the various buildings. I'll have to make some additional art for these new walls that will exist, as I don't want the regular walls of the level to be dividing the town up, as I feel that doesn't make too much sense in the context of a village.
New Animations
I've also been working on reworking some of the animations in the game to make them feel more fluid and bouncy, as I felt the game often comes across very rigid and flat. Hopefully these new animations make the game feel more fun, as well as provide more insight into what is taking place. For instance, a potion/bomb that is about to explode may stretch and squash as well as blink, allowing the player to recognize the movement even in a crowd of items and characters.
Unfortunately, this week, as you can probably tell, I have not had much time at all to work on Lands of Crown, as I've been very busy with University. I apologize for the lack of content, but trust me that I'm always thinking about Lands of Crown.
Thanks for reading, and as always I look forward to hearing from you.
Until next time,
aGoldenFly
Weekly Dev Log #20
We have reached *20* consecutive dev logs for Lands of Crown, meaning it has been about 5 months since Lands of Crown first appeared on Steam. It has been quite the journey developing this project, with many highs and many, many lows along the way. Developing Lands of Crown has not only strengthened my skills as a developer, but also introduced me to the workflow involved with putting a game on Steam. I want to thank everyone who has followed me on this journey, let's see it through to the end!
What's been worked on this past week?
This week has been spent almost exclusively on bug fixing, which culminated in 3 patches for the demo being released in that time. These patches fixed everything from NPC AI, character interactions, weapon tweaks, etc, etc. If you want to see what is exactly in all the patches, you can join the Discord and follow development there. I would rather not flood this Steam page with endless updates pertaining to the demo, so please bear with me for a while.
This does not mean that the game is bug-free yet, as sadly there are always more bugs to fix in the world of game development. However, the good news being that with another week of bug fixing the game should be in tip-top shape with most of the major game-breaking bugs taken care of. A few still persist, which is why this week will be dedicating to removing those ones as well.
Where's the content?
Unfortunately, because these are weekly rather than monthly dev logs, it will appear to you that development is slow and without much progress. I can assure you that more content will come; however, these bugs take priority.
Thanks for reading, and as always I look forward to hearing from you.
Until next time,
aGoldenFly