Beta 0.1.1 Changelog

Hey guys, didn't expect me to be back so soon right? I been thinking that now that the game's out on early access, I should probably do things in a different way since the game will be updated regularly. From now on, whenever I update the game, either because I added something or fixed some bugs, I will post a devlog detailing the changes I made, and what I'm working on.

So basically, it's exactly what I've been doing before, except there's less time between updates. That's all I have to say for now. Let's get into it.

Changes

• Fixed an bug with the fade transitions when they would desync depending on the framerate. This was an issue because when the game's running on 120 FPS and the player interacted with the goal door, it would cut to the win screen before it fully faded to green. I fixed this by learning how to do linear interpolation, so that the screen the fade at the same speed no matter the framerate the game is running on, and having the goal door wait until the screen has finished fading before having the game transition to the win green. I did the same for the player's death sequence as well.
• Handled the exception for when user_settings.json can't be decoded due to it having an invalid syntax for whatever reason.
• Did some refactoring that will be absolutely unnoticeable so I might as well not even mention it.
• Screenshots will now be saved in the png format instead of jpeg. 

Project Migration

I guess I should inform you that process migrating the project from PyCharm to Neo vim was unsuccessful. Ruff, the diagnostic linter I was using for Neo vim is a lot more strict on the structure on my code than PyCharm. I realized in order to satisfy it, I would pretty much have to restructure the entire codebase so no thanks. 

I will continue to work on this game using PyCharm. I will use Neo vim for any future projects though. It's not like I hate Ruff, it's really good for telling me when my code is unsafe. It's just that this game was made back then when I had a lot less knowledge so of course some of it's code would be questionable.

What's next?

I think I had this thought in my head every since I finished the 0.1.0 beta release. It's more about an issue about the game's first objective, and the size of each area. It's been well known to me that it takes a bit of time just to traverse the game's map. I realized that no matter the number of "Item Retrieval" Objectives the player get assigned to, it doesn't really affect the player experience that much.

At first glace, I assumed having a small amount objectives assigned to you would mean that wouldn't have to traverse the map that much. In some scenarios, that may be true. However, whether it be 1 or 4 objectives, it doesn't make a difference as there's a high chance the player could get unlucky on the place they decide to look and end up searching the entire map. Wasting an unnecessary amount of time.

 Combined with the repetitive "music" playing in the background. I could see how that would be a bad experience. It wouldn't be odd to think that most would stop playing if this was their first impression of the game. So I had to think of a solution.

Adding a mini map or quest markers was something I refused to do for the long time. I'm afraid it devolve into a Fallout 3 situation where the player would be more focused on the mini map and quest marker instead of everything else. Even so, I'm a programmer. Solving problems is supposed to be my job. I have already thought of a  compromise.

Rather than having a full mini map, it's gonna be like a radar that only displays what chunk the player and objective entities are located.  So it kind of like overworld mini map of the first Legend of Zelda. The radar will only display the chunks of the current area the player is in. I could make it so the radar also displays what chunks the player as visited as well.

To better demonstrate what I mean, I created two mockup images as I haven't implemented the feature yet. I basically used a screenshot to make the first image. In a funny way, doing this motivated me to change what format the screenshots are saved in.

While I'm at it, I may as well plan on remaking the pause screen, and changing it into something better looking instead of a black screen. I also made a mockup for it using the same screenshot. I thought it looked pretty good, so what do you think?

So I will release the next update when I'm done with them. I'm still trying to think of other thing I could add to the game. So if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Personal Thoughts

You know, sometimes I wonder: who's reading this? Throughout this game's development, I've had a single person comment on it. After I released the game on early access, no one has downloaded it either. Sure, judging from the analytics, people have been viewing the game page, devlog, tweets, and videos. But other than that, it's just radio silence. 

Could there be some big problem with my game and I just don't realize it? How could I know if no one is bothering to speak up? It's just frustrating you know? Apart from one friend, I basically have no source of feedback.

I have been doing something about it though. I have been downloading, and reviewing other people's games that they recently uploaded. Y'know, give them the feedback I never got and trying to build a connection with other developers. Hoping that they would check out my game too. It's the best I could think of to be honest, and I'm trying  to participate a bit more in the gamedev community.

With that, I'll see you guys later