So it’s Sunday evening ... Touch later than usual for an update! I’ve mentioned it more than once that this past week was deadline week at Uni, and … things got rough. :D There was just no way I could juggle work, University, and Samphi this week so unfortunately Samphi bit the bullet. Sorry about that!
Just dropping in for a real quick update to assure you I’ll be back this coming Friday for a final Xmas update before the New Year, and to discuss a couple of things.
Thanks for the understanding, let’s get to it. :)
v0.2j has now been moved to the stable branch with the addition of a quick patch. I just realized that pressing 1-8 no longer changed your item slot! BOOO. That’s been fixed and pushed so we should all be running the same version.
Check this update for a refresher on the changes that v0.2j brings over v0.2i
I keep missing your guys’ discussions and it really bothers me! -_- I HATE the fact that Steam doesn’t notify me when there’s a new post! If anyone knows if there’s a way to enable this please let me know. For those that posted and haven't received a reply I’m going to reply to them all now!
What happens is I see notifications from these new updates, reply to them all, then think ahh, all notifications are sorted, but I’m neglecting discussions. Apologies, and I’ll do my best to check the discussions as often as possible.
One last thing that I want to acknowledge is Samphi's falling rating. The game is till at 69% positive which great, but it was higher and the game is now down as ‘Mixed’ review. I just want to say I totally understand this.
When I launched Samphi it was my full time job and I planned on taking a year off from Uni and working on it full time after launch. Launch was very quiet so that couldn’t happen, so now Samphi’s priory got lowered behind Uni and work. I totally understand people throwing up a negative review for lack of content. 100% fair.
Just acknowledging this to say I see them, I think they’re fair, and I will be continuing to work on Samphi indefinitely just at a slower rate. This game has been my labour of love for years now and I don’t intend on stopping. I’ll always be working on it and improving the experience for those that don’t mind the slow dev cycle. :)
So Uni is finished and I’m back at it. I want to put out one more update before Xmas and the focus of this one is the new tree and wood types! Should be good, and won’t be late this time! See you then. Ciao. :)
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
Early Access Update 41 – Re-coding & opening the crafting system
Happy Friday amigos. We made it. The week is over and it’s time to relax. Well, not for me, but hopefully for you. :D We’re dipping our toes back into more of a technical post this time! I like to throw these in occasionally. There’s a big problem with the way the crafting system works and I’ve decided it’s time to tackle it. Let’s take a look at how and why.
Short answer: I wrote it years ago, and it’s the LEAST scalable system you could imagine. To add an item, I need to add it to ~5 scripts, make sure data structures line up because they’re horrible duplicated, blah, blah, blah. It’s awful, and adding new items is not only a pain in the ass but highly prone to bugs. It needs re-writing and once re-written you’ll be able to customize item recipes through a simple file.
Long answer: I’ll try keep this brief …
I’ve mentioned before that Samphi was the first real programming I ever did. I wanted to learn to make games so I picked up GameMaker and learned the drag and drop stuff. 5 years later here we are with the same project. Cool, but it means the project contains some awful software design decisions.
The crafting data in Samphi is ALL OVER the place. There’s bits of structures here, bits of data there … it’s just a royal mess. All recipes are also hardcoded so the only way they can be changed is if I edit the games actual code. I don’t like this. It’s way too inflexible so I’m implementing a new flexible system that makes use of JSON.
I won’t go into what JSON is, but it’s a cool way of storing data essentially. Instead of Samphi’s recipes been stored scattered all over the codebase, they are going to be loaded from a single configuration file on game start that is open to editing just like anything else. Here’s an example of the file I’m currently using to test the system:
This is the crafting JSON for the arrow item. We can see it gives the name at the top, the list of ingredients, and how many are made each time. This file is going to be totally open so if you want to edit these values and balance the game how you feel is right then you can! Not happy with how many sticks are crafted at a time? Double it!
This system is early but is coming along great. There’s still a few problems to solve, but initial testing looks good!
There’s always a balance between adding new content and re-factoring old systems. You guys have all purchased the game so I feel a big pressure to get fresh content to you, but on the flip side when there is a system like this that’s so broken at its core the old phrase ‘A stitch in time saves nine’ comes into play. You can only sweep these issues under the carpet for so long. COULD I continue adding new items with the janky system? Yes, but the longer that goes on the more bugs will pop up and the more of a job it’ll be when we eventually take the inevitable plunge to fix the system.
When you’re in a team, this is less of an issue. You can delegate, having some programmers maintain old systems while a different team will work on new tools. Well, unless my cat Frank starts programming we’re on our own. :D That’s why the change, and that’s why now.
Onto something a little more visual before I sign off. I’ve been using the following image in my last few updates:
You will probably notice that my house has different coloured blocks for its roof. That’s currently the result of Photoshop, but not for much longer. I’ve always wanted multiple trees in Samphi, and now the Oak tree has been re-designed I’m starting on the pine tree. Here’s a work-in-progress shot:
I’m not super keen on what I have so far, but it’s a start! Having two types of wood adds all kinds of variety the crafting system and I’m looking forward to getting it in the game!
A big part of my work will be continuing my work on the crafting system’s underlying structure. Past that there will be continued work on the tree and I’ll see if I can fit anything else in. Like last week I’m not going to be making any promises as it’s deadline time so time is even tighter than normal!
Sorry this updates a bit boring. It happens when I’m working on technical stuff, but you can’t build a good house without solid foundation and every so often I like to sure them up. :)
Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend! See you back here same time next week. Ciao. :)
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Early Access Update #40 – Winter update 1 of 2 (v0.2j)
It’s that time again, and this time we’re looking at the first of two wintery/Christmas updates that will hit Samphi over December. Let’s get right to it!
So, in last week’s update I showed the new tree and the new snowy weather system*. (It will be leaving in January) The new colour is a little different than the last, and has some more detail, so the items that are made of wood have been updated to match. A small update, but it brings everything together nicely.
*If you want to turn off the snow just enable custom textures in the settings menu then restart. All sprites will default back to normal. This option is available while it’s purely an aesthetic change. Once weather is tied to mechanics it won’t be able to be altered as it’ll be part of the game.
Fences are back in the game and they actually work! Instead of me rambling on here’s a YouTube video showing me creating one and getting animals in it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIP0nEAu2hA
So they’re back. All you’ve got to do is place your posts, right click an animal to tether them, lead then in, right click again to untether. Simple! For now they will just graze in the pen, but later we’ll add reproduction and milking and things! In fact sheep can now be sheered, so you could use this to keep them contained and get an unlimited supply of wool!
What’s cool about fences is that as well as keeping things in they keep things out! So if you’re tired of sheep and pigs wandering into your house …
There’s been a long running bug … we’ll not really a bug, more just bad behavior, where animals could climb up huge vertical distances. That’s been fixed now so the animals around the level can only climb up 1 block at a time.
Here’s the complete changelog for 0.2h now available in the beta branch:
Recoded fences
Added new tree sprite
Added first weather system
Brought winter to Samphi!
Fixed issues with animals climbing up steep edges
Since v0.2j is now in beta, v0.2i will be moved to the stable branch.
Not sure yet! I have a metric shit ton of University work these next two weeks, semester deadlines, so I think I’ll play it by ear. So, the contents of next update will be a surprise! Any suggestions then throw them in a comment. :)
Enjoy snowy Samphi and building pens/fences for your houses and animals!!! Ciao.
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First of all, sorry this is a day late. Pretty ill right now. :( Anyway, enjoy the update, back to bed for me!
Update time friends. This week I’ve been playing with farming as I said I would, and I’ve also been playing with some new art! Winter has arrived in the land of Samphi! Maybe we need to give it a name? … I also want to share some ideas with you. I have tones of ideas for Samphi, but since it’s just me it takes an age for them to reach the game. I want to just dump a couple of my ideas here so you guys can see where I’m heading.
Enough rambling, let’s just get to it.
Let’s start with work that’s been done on the current build before we look forward.
I’ve wrote previously about the animal farming system: it’s there, but is buggy as hell. Well no longer, that’s been sorted. The animal farming system is seeing a complete overhaul.
For starters I’m fixing the bugs. When you place fences close to each-other it creates a boundary that once animals wander into they shouldn’t be able to escape. That’s the theory anyway. Here’s what it used to look like with the old sprites and hidden boundaries made visible:
The fences look a bit poop and the animals never actually respected those boundaries and stayed in the pen! That’s now fixed, and here’s what the new fences look like:
Much nicer! Fences now have a bit of detail and animals, once lured in there with a rope, will stay put! We still need mechanics like re-production so sustainable farms can be created, and that’s next on my list!
If you read this update every week you’ll know I first showed a work-in-progress tree sprite weeks ago. I said then that it takes me ages to do art because it just isn’t my forte … well, I’ve finally finished it. You saw it in that last image, but here it is next to the old tree:
I’m really happy with this new design, I hope you are too. Throughout development I’ve always had an aesthetic in mind that I’d like Samphi to have, but always lacked the artistic skill to achieve it. This is much closer than anything else so far!
A bit of a fun update here. Since the next update will go live December 2nd it’s only right that winter rears its head in Samphi. I’ve wanted to do an Xmas update literally ever year that Samphi has been available (like 2 or 3 now) and have finally gotten around to it! Here’s how the game looks!
It’s SNOWING! Throughout December the world will look like this by default. If snow isn’t your thing, then you can revert it by enabling custom textures. This will replace all sprites with their defaults unless you’ve implemented your own custom textures. :)
Just a fun update for Xmas, and more will be coming before the new year!
Onto some quick jotting of future ideas I have. Quick disclaimer, all of these are just ideas, nothing more. I’m merely presenting them to start a discussion. :)
Let’s start with a calendar. I want Samphi to have a full 365-day persistent calendar, with seasons and all. Days won’t be as long as ours, they will remain the same length as they currently are, but there will be a cycle where seasons come and go, and that effects gameplay. For example, in winter crops won’t grow so well so you’ll have to find other sources of food etc. I think a system like this would add a lot to the game.
Now what I mean by persistent, and this is totally just a freeform idea, is that if you don’t check your world for a month you should be able to tell. The grass should be overgrown, any crops you had planted will be long dead, and you house decayed somewhat. I want the world to feel like it is always running, and this would be one way to do that. Food for thought.
Somewhat off the back of the calendar idea, it’s about time Samphi got some weather. Working on the snow has made me really want to pursue more weather systems, and bring some variety to the world. I think I’ll start simple with rain, but this will likely come after December as I feel the snow should be there always! Who doesn’t love snow, it’s Christmasy!
So the next update, due December 2nd, will bring this Christmasy update, new tree sprite and updated animal farming mechanics. I’ll demonstrate them properly next week. I want to have it so that animals can be used as a sustainable source of food much like crops can. Once food is sustainable, then we can look at plugging in the player stats more, making things like health, hunger and happiness have a real effect on the player.
That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading, see you back here next week for the Xmas Update!! Ciao
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Update time friends, and 0.2i is here. It brings with it the first achievement, the start of controller support, and a quick quality of life update that should make things smoother. These were covered pretty well in last week’s update so this should be fairly short! Let’s get started.
The first achievement is in the game and live. It’s more of a test right now, so it’s easy to unlock, but now that the system is in place we can get adding as much as we want.
So the first achievement is Baby Crafter and requires you to craft 5 items. Here’s a gif of it popping for the first time in my testing!
I look forward to seeing the number of people who have this achievement start rising. If you have any suggestions for achievements, then let me know!
We went over the situation with controller support last week, the upshot of which is 0.2i contains the first part of controller support. It’s currently limited to the following:
A – Jump
Start – Pause
D-Pad/Left thumb – Move
It’s currently too limited to really do anything with, for example all menus only support mouse control, but I may as well leave the code enabled! Over the next few weeks I’m going to be plugging in main menu controls, and then we’ll look at the controls for icons and fighting, that kind of stuff. I’ve already had some great suggestions for how that could be implemented so I’m looking forward to it!
Small quality of life update here that I think actually has a decent impact on the playability of the game. Previously, when you hovered over an item its name was shown under the main toolbar:
Now it’s shown right at the cursor.
Like I say, small change, but it feels MUCH nicer having the tooltip right there. I also plan on creating a more detailed window that you see if you hold CTRL. Currently, hovering over an item and holding controls shows a description at the bottom left of the screen. It’s ok, but not very aesthetically pleasing. I want it to look something more like this:
There’s lots of art to create for this, so keep an eye out over the next few updates as it’ll likely just pop back up!
Ok, here’s the changlog for 0.2i that’s currently in the beta channel:
Added first achievement to game
Added partial (very partial) controller support
Updated tooltip
I’ve also now move 0.2h to the stable channel, so check out this update if you want a reminder of that that brings!
I really want to get stuck into some gameplay updates now. This time around has been more hidden stuff that doesn’t really make a big impact on day to day play; at least not yet. I didn’t get as much work done on farming as I’d have liked, so nothing made the updater, but I think I’ll keep working on it and flesh it out.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you same time next week! Ciao!
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
Early Access Update #37 – Achievements, controllers, and farming
Update time again friends. I’ve been working on some of the most commonly requested features this week; achievements and controller support. Both are currently experimental, I’m mainly just playing with things right now, but let’s take a look at how they’re coming along.
Achievements are probably the single most requested feature I see so I figured it was about time I turned my attention to them. I have a first test achievement planned and here it is:
Don’t worry if you see this achievement in your Steam client already, it looks messed up or you’ve already unlocked it. I’m not done implementing it yet so it’s all messed up. The code to unlock it isn’t even in the game yet, so if you already have it just ignore it, it’ll be taken away soon! I’m experimenting and getting a feel for the API at the moment and it seems nice, so I should be able to get this first achievement live for the next update.
That leaves us with 2 questions:
Do you like the design of the achievement icons?
Do you have any achievement suggestions?
For any design feedback and/or suggestions just drop them in a comment on this post. :) Achievements are coming!
Samphi has always contained code for controller support, I’ve just always had it turned off. For simple things like character movement the controller works well and is easy to implement. When we start looking at the item system however, and moving items between the many in-game menus, things become much jankier.
Without the fidelity of a mouse, moving icons is just cumbersome. I didn’t play much of Minecraft on console because of this, and I want to ensure that I get it right on Samphi. Currently I have no idea what the right solution looks like, but I’ve re-enabled and worked on the old code.
You can use the d-pad or left analogue stick to move, A to jump, and start to pause. I’m going to play with some kind of radial cursor to aim your spade/axe etc. next and will give some thought to the best way to handle items. If you have any suggestions let me know!
Animal farming is one of the areas I want to next visit with Samphi. We have a few crops now, and you can find their seeds and plant them through to harvest. Animal farming however is woefully lacking. The only animal farming-related item in the game is fences and they don’t actually work right now!
You may be unaware that there is a fence item in the game. I don’t believe I’ve gone over these in detail before, so here’s a quick overview:
When placed next to each other like in the image above, fences SHOULD act as a boundary to keep pigs and sheep inside. To lure them in you right click on them with a rope and they are tethered to you until you right click them again.
For starters, I want to get this system solid once more, and then I’d like to start expanding and making farming useful. We need animals to re-produce, and have harvestable items so creating farms will bring benefits to your work. I think I’ll do some work here next!
So, over the next week I’ll be finalizing this stuff for a build. I hope to get the achievement plugged in and fully working, explore some options with the gamepad, and spend some time fixing the existing farming mechanics before they’re expanded on.
Hope the achievements and pad control are going to be useful! When they’re in the game we can build upon them as we go, so it’s about time we get them in the game. Enjoy your weekend friends and I’ll see you back here same time next week! Ciao!
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
Early Access Update #36 – v0.2h: Art, Steam Cloud (kind-of), and bug fixes
Finally, I have things to show! About bloody time isn’t it! I’ve been over the difficulties with Steam clopud in the last update, so no need to re-hash. Let’s just get to the new features and bug fixes that 0.2h are bringing!
Steam Cloud is here, and while I’ve tested it and found no issues I want to be crystal clear! Please do not download the update without first backing up your save data. Steam Cloud isn’t looking at your level data, just your settings, but I’d rather be safe than sorry so I do advise backing up.
C:\Users\{USERNAME}\AppData\Local\Samphi
Just copy those files somewhere and if things go tits up then you have your backup. Thanks!!
Let’s start with the biggest change, Steam Cloud. It’s been a royal pain in the ass with level data, but settings appear to be working, so I’m going to roll that out and see if that’s stable. What this means is your settings file should now sync over cloud! A step towards level syncing.
To make use of this feature you’ll have to enable Steam Cloud for the app, but luckily that’s easy! Right click on Samphi in your library, properties, and select ‘Enable Steam Cloud synchronization for Samphi’.
In the top right of the main menu there is a cloud icon. Solid means you’re connected and synced, transparent means you’re not. There’s no in-game cloud settings, so if it’s turned off you simply need to do the previous step.
There’s nothing extra you must do. If enabled, your settings file will simply sync when you exit the game. Hope this is of use, and like I say, this will help gage if the existing cloud code is stable whilst I work out my levels refuse to sync properly!
V0.2h also brings more changes over towards the newer art style for UI. I’ve updated bit and bobs in the settings menu, and totally re-drawn the character creation screen. Things are looking much nicer here:
I’ve also updated the background of the levels. Now this was part bug, part aesthetic change. Essentially I felt they were too low, especially on resolutions different from 1920 * 1080. Before their positions were set manually and didn’t change, but now they’re positioned relative to the resolution so they should always look great!
Last but not least there have been a few small bug fixes incorporated into this build. The first is with animals in the main menu. They tended to walk to one edge of the screen and then get stuck just walking in place. FIXED!
There was also an issue where when you changed language the menu didn’t reappear autoamtiaclly. You were left looking at an empty screen and you had to press ‘Back’ manually to return to where you needed to be. This is also now FIXED!
I’ve been made aware of one more issue regarding putting items in chests. If anyone is experience this rest assured I’m looking into it for the next update. :)
Okay, here’s the full changelog for v0.2h now available on the beta channel:
Fixed the issue where animals would get stuck walking into the edge of the screen
Fixed no menu issue when changing language
Made background change depending on resolution. It should now be positioned correctly!
Hooked up the settings file to Steam Cloud. This is because I'm having trouble getting the level files to sync, so we'll start here. If anything goes wrong, losing a settings file isn't an issue. Your precious level data is!!!!
Updated art in settings menu + character select to new art style
So, what will I be working on next? Well I’ll be trouble shooting Steam Cloud for one, but I have a few new items I’d like to get into the game. I’d also like to have a peak at Steam Achievements and see if we can’t flesh out combat a bit more. Wolves are here but they need to be hostile.
Given current time restrains that might be a little ambitious, but that’s what’s currently on my radar. If you have any other suggestions just drop them in a comment. :)
Thanks for the patience with these slower updates people! You guys/gals are the best community! Enjoy your weekend friends. Ciao!
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
Hi guys. Let me cut right to the chase and apologies; there’s nothing to report on this week. Work, Uni and life have conspired to sap my time away and they did a good bloody job of it!
When there’s a big job currently been tackled, I tend to try and get a bunch of little jobs done also so there’s always something to show in the update. This week however time has been so tight that I’ve only could work on this main job and it’s still giving me grief.
I thought I fixed the issues! I’ve already written this article once this week (I tend to write these the day before) and it was all about how things were working and Cloud was here, but that went to pot. I did more testing and there’s still undefined behavior so I just can’t push it out.
I’m not going to waste your time with an update of fluff, so let’s just return to it next week. Sorry I couldn’t find more time for Samphi this week, the last few weeks have been like this and I hate not been able to dedicate enough time to Samphi to keep it moving forward as fast as we’d like.
If anything, at least this update serves to re-assure that progress is still happening, albeit slowly right now. We are moving forward; we’ve just unfortunately hit a large piece of work at a period when time is at its tightest. We’ll get there. Thank you for your patience. :)
Enjoy your weekend and see you back here next week. Ciao!
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
Early Access Update #34 – Forget chestgate, enter cloudgate ...
Another update and another week scratching my beard regarding Steam Cloud. There’s only one thing worse than incorrect behavior, undefined behavior, and that’s what I’m dealing with right now. Let me explain why your update isn’t here …. Again.
As far as I can tell Steam Cloud is enabled in Samphi. I’ve added a simple cloud button in the top right of the main menu, and when enabled your files get copied to the Steam cloud. The image below shows my test setup. You can see Steam Cloud is enabled and I’ve generated world 1:
Then, if we go to where Steam stores our cloud data the correct files are there:
Perfect, so everything appears to be working. Problem is, soon as I load Samphi on my other PC I get no synced filed. In fact, that’s not entirely correct, I don’t get ALL the synced files. Sometimes I get an empty file, other times an older version, and sometimes nothing at all.
Going to be totally honest, I don’t have a clue what’s going on with it. Since this update is going to mess with your save files I can’t even consider pushing it to the beta branch until I’m 100% certain your data will be save, and right now I’m 0% sure.
This happened with chests. A seemingly small job that caused headache after headache and a few updates got dedicated to it which sucks. Learning from that, this is the last we’ll speak of Steam Cloud until it’s in the game and working. The next time I mention it will be when it’s in the game. :)
I guess it’s one of the downsides with frequent updates. Sometime you just get stuck for a while, and updating this regularly highlights those periods and makes it looks like there’s no progress. Progress comes in peaks and troughs and we’re currently in a bit of a trough. Anyway, onwards.
The last few updates have concentrated on the cloud stuff so let’s just have a quick reminder of what’s to come. Here’s my current job list:
Add a sign item
Add glass back into the game
Add a darker wood block and new tree
Re-draw current tree
Make tree wood darker
Update torch sprite
Add Steam Cloud support
If there’s anything on there that you’d like to see soon, or something I haven’t mentioned, then do let me know. I think once the Steam Cloud stuff is implemented and these jobs are sorted we may roll over to v0.3 and pick a new aspect of the game to tackle. Let me know what you think.
Next update will either be me confirming Steam Cloud is in and working, or it will be showing some of these items in the checklist above. Hopefully the cloud issue is something small I’m overlooking and we can get both it, but we’ll see. :)
Thanks for reading and being patient while I hit brick walls like this. I’ll be back next week with something more positive I hope!
Enjoy your weekend friends. :) Ciao.
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
Early Access Update #33 – Update on v0.2h, progress is steady
Time for another update! Unfortunately, it’s largely the same deal as last week with University and work hogging my time. Good news is things should be settling down now, first few weeks of term are always a bit mental. I have however got some updates on what I’m working on. This is only a short one, so let’s get to it.
So Steam cloud integration is going well, it’s essentially done, but I overlooked something! I changed everything to work through Steam Cloud but made it so that it ONLY works via Steam cloud. Oversight by me, but with my current build if you disable the ability for the Steam Cloud to work then the game doesn’t save locally.
This isn’t a huge issue to fix, it just didn’t get done on-time to make this update, unfortunately. I don’t want to rush it, so I’m going to delay the next update, v0.2h, until next week.
The main menu is another case of ‘It looked simple, turns out it isn’t’. So the changes I have planned for the main menu is that it will load your last level instead of generating a generic menu area. I thought oh, that will be easy, just load the level instead of generating a new area. Oh, how wrong.
The main menu is built as a very separate part of the game and has its own game state. So just loading the level behind it doesn’t work. The game is in the wrong state. Then when and where do I spawn the player, because the player spawn code is tied tightly with the level load code.
The upshot is that this feature that I thought was simple is going to take a bit more time, and as I mentioned at the start of the article, time has not been on our side with week. So I’m still on with it, it just needs a bit more TLC than I could give it this week. :)
As mentioned in the last update there was an issue with custom textures and the new worm item. That’s now sorted so you should be able to re-enable custom texture packs again!
Another bug I ran across was with the settings menu. Once done with the resolution or language menus the settings menu wouldn’t be displayed. That’s also now sorted.
For next week’s update, I will be releasing v0.2h. It will include Steam Cloud integration, the new menu, and the aforementioned bug fixes. Sorry I couldn’t get it out this week, time has been my enemy this week.
Still, always moving forward and making progress, so many thanks for checking out this week’s update. Been lackluster the last 2, so I’ll try get something substantial put together for next week. :)
Enjoy your weekend friends. :) Ciao.
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
