Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox
Weekly Developer vLog - 30th October 2016
Weekly Developer vLog - 24th October 2016
Weekly Developer bLog - 15th October 2016
So what have I been up to? More boring bugfixes, unfortunately. Remember how last week I was trying to get quest-based dungeon truncation to wipe all data associated with the map ready for the fresh data to be put in there? Well, I thought I'd fixed that, but the testers found that the game was still retaining a couple of bits of information surrounding the end-of-level chests and the player's map data. So the map would show there being a stairs down to a new level, but the new level didn't exist anymore, so the stairs down was no longer there, because the dungeon had been shortened (due to difficulty scaling). Also, when it shortened it, it didn't relocate the boss chest to the new lowest floor. It moved the boss ok, but not his goody-box. *sigh* so that was frustrating. Although MOST of the dungeon's data was cleared correctly, so that's at least a partial win.
There's also a fairly nasty issue in the Thieve's Guild I've been trying to get to the bottom of... For any coders in the audience it's been one of those bugs where I've read over the code 100 times, and it all is really straightforward and logical and should only be able to work one way, but it won't. For whatever reason it won't. I'm sure I'll work it out eventually...
Another CRAZY bug which came up in testing was that monsters - while standing in an open doorway - attack you twice per round! I have since fixed it, but even after fixing it I still don't understand exactly why it was doing it.... Made no sense.
There's been a few other incidental issues that I've solved, but for now I'm trying to work out this thieve's den issue, as it's linked quite closely to the new magic system and I want that to be working for you guys. I also need to solve this truncation issue. Once I'm done with that I just need to fix the banks - which is still dragging on since last update. Had too many other issues pop up. I like to get smaller issues out of the way first before tackling the bigger, hairier ones...
Anyway, I'm sure this is probably quite boring, so I'm hoping to have a more interesting update for you when I'm back on video for next week's update!
P.S. One special mention I have to do is to show you the world map progress of forum member Xard. Look how far they've travelled!!!
http://i.imgur.com/lAUTZbE.jpg
Weekly Developer bLog - 8th October 2016
As I mentioned in my last update, my wife just had some fairly nasty surgery. She's ok (big thanks to those who messaged me asking about her) and recovering quite well, however, the recovery process has been very, very long. As such, most of my week this week has been taken up by looking after her. She got allowed home after a couple of days but has been kept on some fairly intense pain medication, which takes quite a toll. Aside from that, though, her recovery is going quite well and she should be back to her old self again in a few more days, so that's good.
Anyway, while she's recovering she's sleeping most of the time, and our new apartment is SUPER small, so if I do a video update it's likely going to wake her up, which I don't want to do. So you guys get a written update this week instead of a video one.
That being said, while I was looking after her I did find some time to do a bit of dev work. Most of my focus lately has been surrounding quests and bosses. I've managed to fix a couple of fairly significant issues surrounding them but I've been getting a bit stumped as to why the engine isn't always correctly recognising when a dungeon has been cleared of all monsters. To me it seems like a fairly simple thing to do - check the monster array - however it's proving to be not that straightforward... Nevermind, though. I'll get to the bottom of it. I often get stumped like this but then have epiphanies halfway through the night, leap out of bed and get coding :P
In the back of my mind I've also been trying to figure out these damned banking issues... Still no revelations there, though... When bugs get this nasty I have a tendency to lose all patience and just re-write the system... I'm not QUITE there yet with this one, but it's getting close...
Stay tuned... I'll be having much more time to work on the game this coming week as the missus gets better. The next hotfix shouldn't be too far away. Then it's on to item enchanting! :D (which I am super excited about)