Update time amigos. I swear, the days are getting shorter; these come around to so fast now. Progress has been a bit slow this week, Uni work has been a bit intense, but I’ve been doing some interesting stuff with Steam Integration! Let’s take a look, I won’t keep you long.
I’ve always intended for Samphi to utilize Steam Cloud for as much as possible and this week I’ve started playing with it! I started simple with the settings file and as it turns out integrating with Steam Cloud is nice and easy! Just a few file function changes and we’re set.
I intend for everything to be cloud based, so your entire Samphi experience will follow your Steam account; Settings, levels, and player data included. I’ll be working on hooking up those other things this coming week and they should be ready for the next update!
Another area of work this week has been drawing new trees … Art is SO hard. It takes me ages to draw anything, and times that by ten for me to draw something I like. Progress with the tree is slow, but it’s getting there. I’m still not very happy with this design, it’s the leaves I’m not too fond of, but here’s what I have so far:
This is just the redesign of the standard tree. There’s a whole new tree that I’d like to add next. One that will provide dark wood!
I’ve had an idea for a menu update for a while now and I think I’m going to start work on it soon. Currently, when the game loads it created a random stretch of land that isn’t used, it’s just for show. I figure why not load the last level that the user was on. This would meld the menu and gameplay together smoothly and get you into game faster! What do you think of that idea?
I’ve been made aware of a bug in the latest builds, 0.2f(stable) and 0.2g(beta) with using custom textures. It’s to do with the new worm item. Every time I add a new item I have to setup it’s custom texture in the code and I simply forgot to do it for the new worm item.
Problem is, I’ve done screwed up my version control and don’t have access to those builds anymore. What that means is that the soonest the bug will be fixed in is 0.2h. It’s fixed right now in my current build, and that should hit the beta branch next week.
So for now, I’m going to move 0.2g to the stable branch fully aware of the bug. I don’t believe it will affect many players as I’ve only had one report, but apologies. The next build will sort it.
So for the next update I’ll be starting with syncing files, art will be a constant job running underneath, and if there’s time at the end of the week I’ll turn towards the menu idea. I think that would be cool.
Sorry there’s not much to show this time, quiet week. :) Just means there will be more next time, so 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 #31 –The play session is over, v0.2g is here.
Update time friends. Hope you’ve all had a good week. As I mentioned in my last update, this week I continued with my extended play-testing. I’ve identified a bunch of bugs, upgrades, and quality of life things that will all help shape Samphi into a more solid experience.
Let’s dive straight into it.
Let’s just jump straight into it. There are too many changes to cover them in depth, but this list will show what I’ve been up to!
Bug fixes
Fixed icons not being deleted when their quantity hit 0
Fixed crafting menu glitch that could cause you to lose your items
Fixed issue with ladders that meant you couldn't climb up/down them properly
Fixed game crash when placing last torch
Fixed issue where you couldn’t place bed on wooden blocks
Fixed game crash when switching control between player and dog.
Fixed issue where you couldn't place ladders under another, only above.
Fixed issue where you couldn’t destroy ladders by holding left mouse
Fixed issue with fish where they could get stuck out of water
Fixed issue where you couldn't open the inventory and chest at the same time
Updates
Early Access Update #30 – This week I’ve been … Playing Samphi
Update time friends. These come around so fast! I’ve doing something this week that I don’t do nearly enough. I’ve been playing Samphi for extended periods of time. Let’s have a quick chat about that.
It’s funny what making games does to your perception of them. Since I’m always under the hood of Samphi it’s easy to slip into seeing it more like a piece of software than a game. This is bad for a whole plethora of reasons.
The worst consequence is that I don’t really play the game much. I mean, I’m always programming it, but I’ll code a feature, test that feature, then move on. I never see the full picture. Take for example the last update, re-designing the fishing mechanic. I coded that, tested it, and never realized that it broke the entire crafting system … this was a massive eye opener.
I decided that every now and again It would be really good for me to take my programming hat off, put my gamer hat on, and just play the game for extended periods of time. This lets me access game balance, bugs, overall structure; everything that I feel I’ve been missing thus far. It’s easy for me to think Samphi is going well because my code works, but is it fun?
So that’s what I’ve mainly been doing, just playing the game! It’s been fun!
Here’s a house I built:
I’ve also been planting trees in the area to my left so I can create a forest! I use too much wood!
I’ve found so many bugs and points of improvement from this that I think I’m going to do the same for next week as well. So the next build, v0.2g, will contain mainly bug fixes as opposed to new features, but it should help address game balance. :)
Here’s a list of everything I’ve found/changed so far:
Resolution is now saved and re-applied on loading the game
Added ability to scroll through resolution options with arrow keys
Fixed issue with fish where they could get stuck out of water
Changed the chance of getting a worm from guaranteed to 1/10
Cut the chance of fish spawning in half. Was 1/20, now 1/40.
Fixed issue with icons not being deleted when their quantity hit 0
Fixed issue with crafting menu that could cause you to loose your items
Fixed issue with ladders that meant you couldn't climb up/down them properly.
Fixed issue where placing last torch would crash the game
Fixed issue where you couldn't place bed on wooden blocks
There was a post this week that brought up the fact that Samphi is frame locked at 30fps. It’s the first time this has been mentioned so right now I don’t have much of a response or any info to share, but I figured we could at least start the conversation and get it out there.
Samphi is indeed frame-locked to 30 fps. It’s to do with how GameMaker works. In typical game engines, you keep your logic updates separate from your rendering updates. That is to say, you draw the game and update its logic at different rates. That’s the best way to do it. Unfortunately, GameMaker doesn’t work that way. If I increased the fps to 60, the game in its current state would run twice as fast. There’s been other games, big games such as Need for Speed, that suffered the same problems.
In order to move Samphi over to 60fps, I would need to re-evaluate every constant value that the game uses as it’s tied to the fact it’s updated 30 times a second. This is doable, it’s just a large-ass job, so don’t want to undertake it unless there’s a large call for it. Attest not yet. Someday I’d love to see Samphi running at 60fps, but for now, I think content should come first.
That’s it really. Sorry I don’t have anything super exciting to share, but I’m just spending some time refining what’s already here. There're huge issues I’ve found that I would have just never know about. The biggest one so far I think is the fact that you couldn’t climb down ladders … So I need to spend more time playing and fixing these issues I find.
So next week I imagine the post will be pretty similar to this one. I’ll share the full bug list for what’s been fixed, it will be long, then it will be back to business adding features. :)
Let me know what you think, and enjoy the weekend friends. Have a beer, you earned it. Ciao!
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
Early Access Update #29 – Grab your wellies, it’s time to fish
I hope y’all have some wellies handy … we’re off fishing. I’ve been continuing my work with the fishing system and have re-create it in its entity. It’s much better! There’s also a bunch of random stuff that made it into 0.2f. Let’s take a look.
Let’s start with the meat of the update, the new fishing system. Last week I explained a bit about how it works, but purposely left details sketchy so we could show it here in its entirety.
Previously the fishing system was simple: if you had an apple in your inventory you could cast into water and after ~5 seconds you would get a bite. You’d never see a fish; you’d just catch one. It’s massively different now. Let’s go through it step by step.
There is a new item in the game, worms. You get these by digging dirt and they replace apples as fishing bait.
The replace apples as bait now, so make sure you have worms in your inventory to fish!
You can now only cast into water that is 2 blocks deep. This is both to accommodate the new lure and hook, and to give fish some room to move. The gif below shows me casting into water. You can see the updated art. How pretty!
Perhaps the biggest change is actually how you catch a fish. I’ve said before that I want the systems in Samphi to be reflective of how it works in the real world. In the real world fish don’t jump on your hook willingly, so they no longer do in Samphi.
When you first cast into the water you will scare the fish off as you can see below:
So, just like real fishing, you can’t be splashing about. You need to get your rod in the water and play the waiting game. Fish swim randomly around the pools they’re in, and sooner or later they’ll wander over to your lure. Don’t panic and reel in straight way, wait until you know the fish has bitten.
You’ll know when this happens because you’ll see/hear a splash and the fish will shoot for the worm. Then quickly reel in! I think you have 2-3 seconds to do so or it will get away.
And that’s the fishing system. Much more realistic. You actually have to find fish, have suitable bait, and be patient! All feedback on this system is appreciated. Currently there’s no code to re-spawn fish in water, so they only return when you re-load the level, but that will be worked on in an upcoming update. :)
A fairly big but easy to miss change is that I’ve updated all icon art closer to the new art style. I keep mentioning this ‘new art style’, so let me clarify what I mean:
Previously everything was drawn using at a resolution of 1 pixel, that’s now being upped to 2. So when I draw things I use a pencil size of 2, not 1. It makes everything bolder, have a bit less detail, and feel more cartoony. At least to my eye it does!
Everything also used to have a black outline. This has been replaced with a colored outline
The change is subtle, but a step towards a unified art style as we move from old to new. Here’s a selection of icons to demonstrate their change.
That’s right. The eye-sore is gone. It should have gone ages ago. I don’t know about you, but I never use it, I always use shortcuts. It was also just bulbous and in the way, so it’s been removed in favor of smaller icons that can be found down the side of the screen to the right:
The position and look of these icons is not finalized, but I think I like this style of UI better over the older tab system. Instead of creating individual icons for individual settings like it was last time, you can see there’s only one cog …
In the main menu we have a full settings menu, so it’s about time that got brought into the game itself. Instead of having individual icons for fullscreen, sfx, and music options, you can now access the *almost* full settings menu from in-game.
I say almost because the language and resolution options can only be accessed at the main menu. This is just due to how they work. A small quality of life addition. :)
So, here’s everything that 0.2f is bringing, and it’s currently available in the beta branch.
Fixed bug were icon bin icon was not removed when returning to main menu
Added worms item. You get them by digging
Overhauled fishing system (art to follow someday)
Updated art slightly
You can now only fish in water pools 2 or more blocks deep. Make your pools bigger to fish!
When you cast your rod fish will swim away initially as you scare them
As the fish move there's a certain chance they'll take your bait
When they do you'll here a splash and have 2 seconds to reel the rod in (release F)
Updated all icons to follow new art style. (Ditched black outline on things)
Removed toolbar from bottom of screen and replaced with individual icons
Added settings menu to in-game
Next I want to work on plugging in player stats more. So working on the XP, health and hunger systems so they bear a greater effect on gameplay. Not sure how yet, so you’ll have to come back next week!!
Speak then friends. Ciao.
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
Remember me? I’m so used to doing the weekly update that 2 weeks feels like an eternity! I’m done gallivanting, so how about we catch up on what’s happening with Samphi?
In terms of the build, there’s not much to show, most of the stuff I’ve done has been behind the scenes, but there're a few things we can talk about! A relaxed chatty update to get back into things. Grab your tea and let’s go.
Before we get started, 0.2 e has been in the beta branch for 2 weeks now and since there’s no bug reports its time to move it to the stable branch for all. For a reminder on what 0.2e brings, check out the previous update.
I’ve been doing a fair amount of work on fishing recently! In the last update, I teased an update to the system and it’s spurred me on to do a complete overhaul. Fishing in games is usually too … easy. You cast your rod, and you WILL get a bite after a few seconds. That’s exactly how Samphi did it, until now.
I was going to show what I’ve done so far in this update, but I’m going to wait until next and present it all as a complete system. It will be more fluent and clearer that way, so stay tuned for more info soon!
Outside the fishing stuff, I’d like to start incorporating more survival aspects into Samphi now. For a while now we’ve had the stats in the top left, but they’re yet to be plugged in and actually do something. I think I’m going to start plugging them in over the next few weeks.
One thing I’ve also been thinking about adding is a counter for how long you’ve been alive, but I’m not sure to what extent this affects your character. Currently, there’s no penalty for dying, and there're not many ways you can actually die, but I’d like to change this. I don’t want to punish the player for dying, more reward them when they stay alive. Any suggestions for what you could gain by staying alive for a long period of time?
I just wanted to acknowledge some really nice comments I got on the last update. A few people mentioned how they appreciated the consistency of the updates and the fact that I’m always upfront with what’s happening and why …
Thank you. :) I really appreciate it.
Right now my schedule is a bit hectic. My day is:
6am – 5pm: Fulltime job
5pm – 8pm: Decorating house
8pm - ~11/12: Samphi
Weekends are half decorating, half Samphi. No time to play games anymore! Ironic, since I’ve been making my own game I play fewer games than ever before!
I love everything I do, so am not complaining in any way, but with that schedule by the time Friday night comes around I’m knackered and usually just want to sleep, but always stay up ‘till 1-2am to ensure the update goes out, so to receive such appreciative feedback is very welcome and encouraging. Thanks again! :)
Fishing. The fishing stuff I mentioned earlier will take most of my dev time this week. But it will be worth it! I want the systems in Samphi to be fun, engaging and somewhat realistic. Fishing is the first to get this treatment, and things like crafting, combat, and farming etc. will all receive the same treatment in the future.
So what about the Wolves. I’ll be working on the wolves (adding their aggressive behavior) soon(ish) ... Honestly, I’ve been putting it off a bit because it requires an attacking animation and I find art very hard, but it’s time to face it. The AI isn’t much of a problem, but the art certainly is!
So that’s it for this week. It’s been a bit slow since my return from holiday, and with house decorating taking time, but we’re getting back to it.
Until next time, ciao.
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
Early Access Update #27 – A Quiet Week For the Fish
Hi guys, update time. Unfortunately, (I have a full-time job outside of Samphi) work has been tough this week and taken up a lot of my time, leaving little for Samphi. My initial plans to get some behavior for the animals coded has been watered down to a few bug fixes and a half implementation for fish.
Sorry there’s not more this week, but with doing a weekly update this is unfortunately sometimes going to be the case.
Most of the updates were covered in the last update, but let’s take a quick look at what HAS been done:
So this is a partial implementation and isn’t in the build, but I can at least show what I’m working on.
With the pools of water now containing fish I want to tie it into the fishing mechanic. Currently, you can pull up to any pool and cast your rod. You never see a fish, and they’re unlimited. In the spirit of survival, I want this to change so that you can only fish if there’s actually fish there.
Once you fish all the fish out of an area that’s it, you need to move on or wait for them to respawn in time. So this is half implemented. You can cast, fish in the pools will swim to your lure, and only then you’ll catch a fish. Here’s a gif:
As you can see the behavior here is incomplete, so couldn’t be included in this release, but hopefully next. :)
The only other additions that I didn’t cover in the last update a few small bug fixes, both pertaining to fishing. For starters, fishing simply wasn’t working. The item update work had left the fishing system a bit wonky. That’s now back working. Also, you could previously move whilst fishing, so that’s been amended so that if you’re fishing you’re stationary.
With 0.2e now available in the beta branch, here’s a full changelog:
Added 'give item ID x' command to console.
Added bin so you can dump unwanted items
Item stacks can now be combined
Fixed issue where you couldn't fish
Fixed issue where you could move while fishing
Updated various art assets
Next update is going to be VERY small. I go on holiday next week, France & Belgium, so will be away come Friday. I still want to post something, so that means getting it ready over the weekend: not much time! Still, I’ll put something together.
So a quite week for Samphi, and another to come. Just how it’s worked out I’m afraid. I wish I could work on Samphi fulltime, and that was always the plan, but it wasn’t to be. Still, progress is constant and we're certainly moving forward. :)
Until next time, ciao.
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
Hello again friends. Update time. In the last update, 0.2d, (which has now been moved to the stable branch) I did some work on animals and was to continue it for 0.2e. I’ll be honest here, I’ve been a little distracted with items so far. There were some things that needed updating since the new item system was introduced.
Let me explain …
When Samphi launched on Steam a few months back there were no max stack sizes. If you collected 1,000,000 of item, the game would just stack that many. Since the item update that’s no-longer the case, most items have a max stack of 40. There’s also 10 more items in the game, so filling your inventory is now a big problem. Good news is I’ve introduced a few new features to fix that!
So the first improvement is that item stacks can now be combined. Pretty straight forward, but before each stack was totally individual. The gif below shows a quick demo of joining stacks:
This will help you cleanup your inventory space!
If combining stacks isn’t giving you enough room you can now outright destroy item stacks. I’ve added a bin icon to the top right of the screen, the exact implementation might change over time, but it lets you dump unwanted icons.
Simply drag you item there to get rid. Be warned however, it’s permanent. Once you deleted an item there’s no getting it back. Unless you use the new console commands that is! More on that next. Here’s a gif showing item deletion:
As a reminder, a less-permanent way to get rid of an icon is to drop it. If you hold CTRL when holding an icon a promt to drop will appear. This allows you to drop items on the floor and pick them up late. They de-spawn after a certain time however so be quick!
Those features should solve the inventory issue! No longer will you run out of space and then just be stuck.
In the last update I introduced the console and how I use it to help testing. Well, since I needed to test icons I’ve added some new commands. To give yourself any number of any item, simply type the following:
give item ITEM_ID amount
So, for example, to give myself 10 apples I would use:
give item APPLE_ID 10
I guess I should explain item ID’s! To give yourself an item you use its item ID, and that’s essentially just its name, all in caps, followed by ‘_ID’. So to give yourself a chest you’d use CHEST_ID, and to give yourself some sharp rocks you’d use SHARP_ROCK_ID etc. For 100% clarification, here’s a list of all current item ID’s in the game:
The last thing I’ll show this week are the graphics updates. I’m continuing to move everything over to the new art style, and the in-game UI is getting a face-lift. Here’s a show showing the new toolbar and inventory graphics.
Hopefully you like them more than their predecessors!
Now that my distraction with items is complete I’ll actually be continuing with animals. I fancy hooking the fish in the water up with the fishing mechanic, and enabling wolves to hunt!
Well, that’s it from me. Short one this week. :) Enjoy your weekend friends, and I’ll speak to you in 168 hours! Ciao.
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
Friday evening/Saturday morning, depending on where you are in the world. It can only mean one thing! It’s update time. Something a little different this week, I’d like your feedback on something so there’s a straw poll link at the end. We’ll cover that when we get there, just a heads up not to skip the end! :)
Right, grab your tea and let’s go.
So 0.2d is here at its mainly bringing a few pre-cursor updates to animals. In last week’s update I showed fish and a small update to the sheep, so check that our here if you missed it. All that’s really left to show are wolves! First though, here’s a complete changelog for 0.2d, currently available through the beta channel:
Sheep now eat grass.
Animals now die if they are in water too long. They still go a bit crazy if they get in there however, better AI is on the worklist!
Fish now spawn in pools around the levels. (Currently just aesthetic, mechanics to follow)
Added wolves. (Currently just aesthetic, mechanics to follow)
Sheep and pigs now only spawn during midday
Changed the height of the background of the levels
Fixed a fairly large bug with item icons and crafting
Fixed an issue with animal AI where they would spin on the spot!
I’ve done a bit of work on the day/night cycle this week, mostly under-the-hood stuff, and I’ve defined a few day states:
Dawn – soon as the sun comes up until it reaches its highest point.
Midday – sun full up until it starts going down
Dusk – Soon as such starts going down until it’s gone
Midnight – The whole time the moon is out.
During dawn and dusk wolves will now spawn around the level. Here’s what they look like:
I was hoping to have their behavior coded as well but it’s taking a bit longer then excepted, so like the fish they’re currently just aesthetic. They do however act a little different to normal animals. Sheep and pigs are timid, meaning if you click or attack them they’ll run off. Wolves are tougher and just sit there and take it! This passive behavior will soon be replaced with offensive behavior and they’ll stack everything!
Small change here that I think makes a big difference to how the level feels. I’ve lowered the backgrounds to the tops of the mountains and hills and more in-level with the player.
While working this week I fired up an old test level and noticed the level felt much more open. The only thing that was different was the height of the level background. After applying the same to the levels I really prefer it. This screen shows what I’m talking about:
I think the later feels much more open and freeing!
Bit of a tangent here, but debugging a game is mostly a nightmare. Working on the wolves this past update was the worst yet. Wolves only spawn at dusk and dawn, and a day cycle is ~15 minutes, so am I supposed to wait until that time came around to test anything? That obviously isn’t feasible, so what you end up doing is coding dev features. For example, to speed up the day I made it so that when I hold the ‘+’ key the sun speed up 100x.
While this works, what you end up with is developer features scattered throughout your game. There as a ‘bug’ a while back where pressing the middle mouse button spawned a water block … that was a testing feature I’d forgot to turn off. The answer is a dev console. I’ve wanted one of these for a while and decided now was a good time to get working on it. Hitting F1 in-game brings up this console and allows me to type develop commands.
The following gif is a bit pants. If anyone knows how to record high-quality gifs let me know! We’re looking at the lower left. I’m using the console to modify the time of day:
Why am I telling you all this? Well, I’m leaving it in. It doesn’t do much right now, infact you can only set daytime, but over time commands can be added. I’m of the opinion if someone wants to manipulate the game in Samphi then go right ahead. Want 9999 of an item, go for it, edit the save file. That’s why it’s in plain text. When multiplayer comes these features will all be disabled though! Nobody likes cheating online.
Currently supported commands are:
set time dawn
set time midday
set time dusk
set time midnight
Have fun!
So I’ve been thinking about multiplayer lately. Multiplayer was very nearly included in the initial release, but after press played Samphi they almost unanimously felt that I should spend time polishing things instead of focusing on multiple, so that’s the route I chose. On release I said multiplayer would follow in the coming weeks …
I’m torn between wanting to pack in as much content as possible and working on multiplayer. The choice is simple:
Work on new features and put multiplayer on hold for longer
Put a hold on new features and finish multiplayer.
I want player feedback on this, and the best way I could think to do that was with a quick strawpoll. Sorry to have you following links, but if you could drop your vote it would be really helpful! It will help me see what you guys want most next.
Thanks in advance if you complete it, your feedback is very helpful. No worries if not.
Now that the animals are draw and their spawning code is all sorted I’ll now start adding their behavior. The fish in the pools will affect fishing and wolves will attack livestock! That’s why I called this blog ‘preparation update’. It’s put a good few things in place ready for further work. So that’s what’s next. :)
Enjoy your weekends friends, and how about we meet back here same place next week? Cya then! Ciao.
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
Update time friends. I trust you have your tea? Only a few things to go at this week, so I shan’t keep you long. Haven’t had as much time as I’d have liked this week, but hey ho. Let’s get to it.
Since no-one has shouted at me over last week’s build yet (v0.2c), it’s now been moved to the stable channel. If you’d like a refresher on what it brings, check out last week’s update. Tl:dr – Potatoes and crafting system update.
Fish are here! The pools of water are no longer barren; they’ll have little fishes swimming around. Here’s what they look like:
Right now they’re purely aesthetic, but I have mechanics planned for them. With Samphi I’m striving for a world that you have to look after and nurture the world around you. If you fish all the fish in a lake, then there’s no left. How can you fish in an empty lake? More on that shortly.
Small update, sheep eat grass! Just as they potter around they’ll occasionally lean down and have a snack! It will break up the grass and add a bit of variety!
Again, this will likely be tied to SOME mechanic down the line, but for now it’s aesthetic. :)
A big bulk of the work to be done for the next update is with pigs, sheep and wolves. I want some form of enemy in the game, and we’re starting with wolves. They’re going to spawn at dawn/dusk and attack livestock. Obviously there’s a bit of code for this, so that’s not yet implemented. Their spawn cycles are, but the code to attack isn’t.
I’ve also mentioned before that I want the dog to play a part in this, and that will come later. You can control the dog by pressing Z, and at some point I want to either flesh this out so you can attack, or strip it for a command-based system.
We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, but just know that I’m working on adding wolves right now and they’ll be a challenge to deal with!
I’ll try keep this short, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about with Samphi. I want our worlds to be a labor of love. I don’t want it to be particularly easy to survive for a long time. I don’t want there to be an infinite supply of food or animals. I want it so that if you’re lucky enough to find a potato seed you best cultivate that bad-boy because you might not find another!
If you kill all the sheep in your level that’s it, no more sheep. You’d have to capture two and breed them to create a sustainable farm. I want it to work more like that. This will be a gradual process as the game moves forward, but it’s something I’m definitely conscious of moving forward.
Animals! I’ll be continuing this work on animals. I also said that I’ll be adding some new UI stuff and that stands. More menus are being re-drawn in the new art style.
That’s it from me. Have a great weekend friends, and see you in 7 days! Ciao. :)
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
Early Access Update #23 – v0.2c, The one with the potatoes
Happy Friday friends. It’s actually 1:30am here, so technically Saturday. I really need to work on my update schedule … Anyway, let’s get to it.
In the last update I showed a bunch of stuff with both animals and plants. There was more work than expected, so this update focused on the plants and crafting update, and all animal updates will come next-time.
In the last update I discussed a common problem with crafting and showed a mockup solution. Well, that mockup has now been coded and made its way into the game. The normal crafting menu now shows all items, but shows a prompt on those that require a crafting bin.
Here’s a quick gif showing this:
It’s much clearer, and should solve the issue. :)
To the bulk of the update, potatoes. Potatoes are in the game meaning we now have two crops! There’s a couple of stages to planting and growing potatoes, so here’s an overview of what they can do.
To start with you need a seed potato. This is a potato that has shoots coming off of it and is ready to plant. If you ever had a bag of potatoes in your cupboard for too long and find a potato with growths (eyes), plant that sucker!
I want seed potatoes to be somewhat uncommon. While gathered the same way as wheat seeds, they’re randomly dropped when digging dirt, they have a much lower spawn rate. Wheat is ~1 in 5, and seed potatoes are 1 in 100. If you have the gatherer skill unlocked that drops to 1 in 80.
Here’s what seed potatoes look like:
Planting and harvesting is just like wheat. Select the icon in your toolbar and right click above dirt to plant. The potatoes have three stages; seedlings, partially grown, fully grown, dead. If you hover over your plants, you’ll see their hydration bar. They need watering while in their middle stage otherwise they die.
Here’s all the 4 stages:
When fully grown, just left click and hold to harvest just like wheat!
Now that you’ve grown your lovely potatoes, there’s just one stage left before you can eat them. They need cooking. Simply drag your potatoes over a fire to cook baked potatoes:
*Apologies for the low quality! :(*
That’s potatoes! It’s been great putting another crop into the game, and carrots are next on my hitlist. Here’s a gif of the entire process to finish!
To end this update here’s a full changelog for v0.2 that just hit the beta channel:
Fixed an issue with crafting where you could craft empty items
Fixed issue where cursor didn't change when digging stone
Stopped mouse wheel scrolling through hotbar when crafting
Updated crafting to make it clearer which items require a crafting
Added potatoes*
Fixed issue where the last inventory slot wasn't working. There's still an issue here. Samphi doesn't know what to do when you run out of inventory space. I'm working on it!
*Here's a breakdown of what what's been added regarding potatoes:
Added seed potatoes that are a 1/100 drop from digging dirt
They can be planted and grown like wheat
When harvested they give potatoes
When used on a fire potatoes are cooked into baked potatoes
In the next update I’ll be turning my attention to the animals that I showed last update. There’s also a fairly large issue with inventory space that needs addressing. More on that next week!
Enjoy your weekend amigos, and once again, thanks for reading. Ciao! :)
As always you can show your support and keep up to date with development by following me here:
