A Look Into Chapter 2

So now's the point where I let you look at how it's going so far.

The truth is, surprisingly well! Visually there's still a lot of work to be done (the map is missing a LOT) but it's not too far off from the mockups I put together, which pleases me. Ultimately the final UI is going to be a little busier than I initially hoped but I actually prefer it to having the verbs visible as UI elements.

I need to make certain UI elements bigger and fix the spacing to take advantage of some of that negative space between the party ui and the display window. The large blue square is the "Local Map", and it's how you change locations/scenes ala the old Kemco game Deja Vu.
Currently, accessing the inventory is done via clicking the character portrait. Speaking of inventories...


Here we get a look at the inventory gui being partially obscured by the upgrades/implant screen. None are implemented fully yet but that list is the complete list of available upgrades. Paperdoll shamelessly inspired by the Bullfrog classic, Syndicate. Also on the inventory screen is the "Examine" button which was originally on the main ui, allowing you to read some nice flavor text about the item in question. This is also a way for the player to unlock conversation topics/questions which can be used on NPC's or computer terminals to get information on the subject.



Some of these questions/lore tidbits are useless, some will be pivotal to the overall story and some will be crucial to solving your main quest/case/mission. Ultimately it will be up to you to determine how deep the rabbit hole goes, it will be possible to finish the main story without figuring out what's "really going on". In the same spirit as Shadowrun on the Sega Genesis, at a certain point the game will become more of a sandbox as you will need to fulfill certain criteria in order to progress the final parts of the story.  This is where the bulk of the remaining work remains to be done, but all the code is in place and (for now) it's all working as intended. Now it's just a matter of plugging things in and keeping it tidy. For example...



Combat is fully implemented and working as intended with all the minor hiccups eliminated. The only remaining piece is adding in the NPC allies, which I don't predict to be too problematic. I have set some hard limits for the combat, both for my sanity and for the sake of simplicity.

• There is a maximum of three enemies per fight. I'm not willing to budge on this and quite frankly I may even dial it down, the combat is pretty brutal as is even with fights maxing out at two currently. I either need to buff the player or nerf the enemies, I haven't figured out which yet.
• Not all party members will combat-oriented. A few will be damage dealers but they will all have different roles; healer, support etc. Again, I'm trying to keep the bones of this thing as simple as possible so I'm not trying to have a hundred different floating point calculations going on at once.
• Fight backgrounds are largely going to be based off of the backgrounds of SNK games. Expect cheering crowds as you blast dudes in the face. If anything it gives the game an unexpected Death Wish 3 vibe, which I'm okay with. Oh, and the blimp is animated. I plan on adding some searchlights to it at some point.
• The majority of combat will take place on the map with select encounters occurring during story sequences. In order to reduce player fatigue retreating will usually only be an option during map fights and will be unavailable during story fights. The retreat calculation is essentially weighted 60/40 in favor of the player, so more often than not retreat will be successful. It is still random, so there is always a possibility of failing three/four/five retreats in a row but I've made it less likely. There will also be an NPC ally whose passive will be reducing the possibility of combat encounters/providing the player the option of fighting or evading the encounter altogether.

Now let's touch on the map.

Go ahead. Take it in. It's ugly. Take comfort in the fact that this isn't the final map and only the bones of it. All of the structures will be drawn over and animated and there will be visible traffic. Event cards like these will trigger randomly (or not-so randomly if certain conditions are met/not met) as the player walks around the map and follow the player for a set amount of time before disappearing. Some of them, like this one, will lead to combat encounters. Some are merely for world-building, others act as traveling merchants. The player can ask around about the locations for certain stores as they open up more of the map, or they can walk around blind until they stumble upon them. As of now if you get within roughly a block of an unidentified store it will be identified and you will automatically enter it the first time. You have your usual fare: the hotel you stay at, weapons/armor stores, combat item stores, food vendors. Then there are locations that are part of a story encounter and then remain open for the player to return to (i.e. a homeless encampment, a bar where you can find information/work, and of course....

 ...a casino! Currently there's only a low-stakes slot machine, and I've never won anything on it yet, but I think that means it's working? The reels do their thing, it definitely takes my money, but does it ever pay out? I have no idea yet. I also realized far too late that I drew the prize information for matching three slots when there are clearly four reels. My shame is great.

I think that's pretty much it for now. What's there as of now plays fairly well and so far it's all going somewhat smoothly. I'm still working sixty hour weeks so I'm being conscious of how much I work on it; I want it done but I can't burn myself out doing it. I think I've found a healthy balance and am looking forward to continuing work on this.  If you made it this far, thank you for reading. This is more for me than for you, these devlogs, but it's nice to imagine someone reads them now and again. I hope you have a good day/night. :)