root vegetable boy
CHORUS MACHINE DEV LOG #5 - MARCH 2024
March was mostly a resting month for me, so this dev log is a bit sparser than you may have come to expect. I’ve still got a few things to show off though, simple as they are ^_^
To start, I figured out destroy animations. This is a great step forward because now my bullets actually make a little sparky explode upon impact instead of just disappearing... And since I figured out the code for this already, it won’t be too difficult to expand & apply elsewhere, like death animations for enemies. That’s the nice thing about coding: once the code works, I scarcely have to touch it again, and it’s easy to replicate.
Actually, it’s kind of funny that I’m saying that, because the next thing I did was rework some amount of previous code for my save/load system.
Way back in January I talked a little about building this system; I kind of glossed over the specifics but mentioned I had some issues with integration into the larger in-game menu. This wasn’t intentionally misleading, but I realized recently I’d left a lot unfinished in this regard... I hadn’t actually coded a way for the save file to be labelled by the room the file was created in, (the “Wicker - Neighborhood” in the respective January screenshot was just a placeholder) and I ran into a bunch of unexpected issues when I tried to create multiple save files.
One of the funnier ones was that every file’s name would change to reflect the most recent one created, even though the files themselves were still distinct in every other way. It was a fun example of how sometimes what the problem looks like is very different from what the problem actually is: it looked like every save file was getting overwritten by the most recent save, but the only thing that was actually being overwritten was the displayed text.
After I fixed all the issues I could find and the save/load menu was working exactly as intended, I turned to my partner to express great relief at being finished with this particular system! And then halfway through my next sentence I realized that there is currently no way to access save files from the start menu, and you can only access them when you’re already in-game... so, still more work to do actually...
Another change I made to the in-game menu was to the inventory. Previously, item descriptions were displayed in small text above the inventory window and were not optional to view. The description was always there (provided you had at least one item) and would change respective to the item currently selected. I realized pretty quickly that this would get hard to read if the menu was opened against a light background... so now, the “LOOK” item option will provide extra info via regular textbox for those who desire it. (I’m planning on displaying the player’s HP in a different way for the same reason).
I also think something as small as item descriptions are only really sought out by players who enjoy reading in games, so it’s not something I need displayed at all times. This way of handling the text also lets me write longer, multiple-page descriptions if I so desire :-)
Aside from this, I made a few small adjustments to combat. The gameplay is still pretty easy at the moment, but the few adjustments I made will let things ramp up in difficulty nicely once I let the enemies also have bullets.
Well, looks like that’s it for March. I hope you have a good April! I’ll see you all on May Day ^_^
Originally posted April 1st, 2024.