Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Monday, May 28, 2012

Townseed Build 0.08

Townseed v0.08
  (Townseed Test Build) 
  (Preorder Townseed)
  (Townseed on Facebook)

0.08 UPDATE NOTES

It's the end of my "crush week" and I got a lot of stuff done in this one! Several new things in this update, so be patient with me as I go over them.

Firstly, and not at all important, a charming "Melting pixels" effect on the title page. Ooooh, pretty.

Women have their own sprites now! Women are no longer drawn with a man's body, though they are often bald, as I don't have many of the hairstyles implemented yet. I only have the "Braguette" outfit for women so far, so all the outfits look the same, but yes, you can make the women naked, just like the men. Enjoy that. There's so much art to create for adding a new body, argh.

Hit detection/footprinting has been completely redone. Items now have a more realistic footprint and do not necessarily occupy the entire tile they sit in. This means it's possible to squeeze between objects that are placed diagonally. This created a bit of a problem where sometimes the player would work "through" an object (Instead of cutting down the tree right in front of you, you'd cut down the tree behind it) so for the time being, you'll get a warning saying "I need more space to work". That's definitely a temporary fix so bear with me.

 NEW RECIPES - Crude Signpost, Inuksuk, Barricade, Campfire

Crude Signposts and Inuksuks are landmarks made of wood and stone respectively. Now, the people will know you were here. Once built, they appear on your overworld and world map so that you can find your way back to a specific location after exploring. If you "work" on a completed landmark, you can write a short message on it, which will also be visible from the overworld (but not the world map), so you can easily write "Jungle trail here" or "Lots of Driftwood!" and be able to see it from a distance! You definitely don't want to put too many of them too close together, or things will get confusing, so use them sparingly, but use them!

Barricades are the first type of wall. Initially, they were going to be destroyed by storms, but I think I'm going to change that to make them more permanent. They have to be built on the ground, and they will not support multi-storey stacking like other kinds of walls. There is also no gate for a barricade as of yet, so in order to be truly secure you'll have to build and tear down a section of wall every time, and that's irritating. Gates coming soon!

Campfires are just what you would think they are. A little burning stack of wood. Animating fire is fun! Right now it just looks pretty, but once I get day/night cycles and food consumption into the game, the campfire will become pretty important, both as sources of light, and as a way to cook food you collect.

That's it for now! I had a blast working on the game this week and I plan to take another week in June to do it again. The funding drive has just about one month left, and we still have $3700 to go, but I think that if we push we can do it! Tell everybody you know! Thanks for your support and stay tuned!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Townseed Build 0.07

Townseed v0.07
(Townseed Test Build)
(Preorder Townseed)
(Townseed on Facebook)
0.07 UPDATE NOTES
Blueprint/Building system! This will give you the earliest taste of how building in Townseed works. Open the blueprint pane (Q or the left trigger) and select your blueprint (presently there is only one so it won't be much of a selection) then place it with the "Work" or "Examine" button. This places the blueprint on the map. You can place your blueprints before you have all the resources, allowing you to plan away! Then, "Work" on the blueprint to turn your resources into a real object. The tables can then be destroyed the same as trees. "Working" on a table will not harvest it. Once the code is in place, that will be how you craft an item on the table.
You can have a number of incomplete projects on the go equal to your ORGANIZATION SKILL plus 2, so 3 at level 1 and 10 at level 8.
Incomplete projects will leave markers that you can use to find them on the overworld and in local view. Completed construction does not, so build it somewhere you won't forget! In the next update you'll be able to build signposts to allow you to see your construction on the overworld.
Some people have been complaining about the ragged smallclothes, so just for you, I've added teeny weeny nudity. I'll have you appreciating your loincloth yet. Naked is selectable as a starting outfit, though it will never come up through random shuffling.
Also to clarify, there will be more complete, less destroyed outfits in the game, but most of those will be recolorable (to match your banner) and that's a new game system that isn't in place yet, so you get the noncolorable ones for now!
For the next update, there'll be quite a few more objects to construct, including the aforementioned signposts, barricades, campfires, and if I can get to it (fingers crossed) a construction post, which is the true heart of how Townseed building works. Look forward to it!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Hey survivors,
     I wanted to let you know that I'm working on a big one for the next update, so it's taking me a little longer than normal to get it out. Probably next monday I'll have it where I want it.

In a nutshell, I'm finally adding some construction, which involves a whole new game system, so there's a lot of work involved! On top of that I'm always adding optimizations as I go, so you'll see things like helper icons on the worldmap with a legend, more sound effects and onscreen feedback, and a bunch of fixes for things that you might not even notice if I didn't point them out.

In short, hang tight!

In other news, we're over the halfway mark for the funding goal, whoohoo!  Over the hump now! Please tell all the gamers you know about the project, let's help it get to lots of eyes!

Monday, May 7, 2012

Funding Drive Halfway Point!

Today marked the halfway point of my funding drive. I'm not -quite- at half my funding goal yet, ($250 short!) but I just wanted to take a moment to thank everybody who's contributing. This still looks really feasible and it's thanks to everybody's generous support. I am humbled by your faith in me, thank you.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Townseed Build 0.06

(Townseed Test Build)
(Preorder Townseed)
(Townseed on Facebook)

0.06 UPDATE NOTES
Converted Townseed to Reach Profile.  This should fix compatibility issues.
Added dynamically adjusted help HUD elements. The game should show you keyboard shortcuts if you are using a keyboard to play the game, and will autoadjust to left or right-hand configuration as you use different keys.
Stone and Brush destruction effects in place.
Gleaming water in local view had a bug causing it to appear offset in some aspect ratios. Fixed.
Valkain and Female portraits have been re-enabled.
Valkain portraits (particularly hair and some noses) and color selections have been reworked.
Added examination mode, allowing more detailed information about the area your character is facing.
Added driftwood to beaches.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Townseed Compatibility Update

Figured I'll explain why the update is late this week. Got laid off from my job today, which will complicate things somewhat, but may give me a bit more time to work on the game, we'll see. In addition, I've uncovered the compatibility issue that is preventing a lot of people from playing the game. I can fix it but it requires careful optimization of a lot of the game's sprite sheets, so it's a slow process going through and tweaking and testing each thing. On the plus side, once it's finished, a lot more people should be able to run the game, woo! I'll try to post my update mid-week as soon as the compatibility issue is sorted out.