dcfedor's blog

Hey Folks! I apologize for the lack of news yesterday. I ended up running a bit long and had to leave before I could write anything up.

However, I'll be covering that work and more in tomorrow's video! I'm way overdue on the next newsletter/video, so I spent the day today recording game footage and talking about the stuff we've been up to since early June. It's a lot! And this might be the longest video yet. (I really need to start paring the duration down a bit.)

Hey Folks! With the entire list of ship equipment able to be installed/uninstalled at a basic level, I decided to check-in my work and get Michael's latest work on the social combat UI. And you can see its progress in today's screenshot!

Some of you might remember the last time I showed a peek at it, and visually, it's still pretty similar. The difference now is that it'll let you see tooltips for most actions, and even choose a few to see how the AI reacts!

Hey Folks! Hope everyone had a good weekend. Relatively quiet family time here, so I'm feeling a bit more refreshed.

Today, I resumed the fuel canister work from last week. And I decided on a 7x7 canister that sits below the floor, with a 3x3 protrusion above the floor. Today's screenshot shows how they look installed, plus the grid requirements around the one in the top right. (Note: it's a 9x9 grid, but the outer ring has no restrictions.)

Hey Folks! Short update today as I have to run.

Basically, more of the uninstalled versions today. This time, heaters, coolers, fridges, and toilets. All of which are pictured in the upper half above except the toilet. They can all now be uninstalled and reinstalled, which basically means almost everything in the ship can be dismantled in-game.

One outstanding item is the docking ring, which I've finished art for, but not the data.

Hey Folks! Got a fair amount done today, in addition to a lot of emailing. So let's take a look!

The biggest visible difference has probably got to be doors. I finally did a reskin to make them a bit more interesting to look at. They still lack the green/red pressure light I'd like them to have, but adding logic for that is a lot more work. But for now, you can see the new closed door at the bottom, complete with red/white vacuum danger stripes.

Hey Folks! Still a bit of admin to do in the first part of today, but it was back into the code this afternoon!

In today's image, there's a UI across the bottom showing different items. This is the bit I was working on Monday and a bit today, and it basically auto-generates buttons in this UI for every installable thing I define in the data. So my install/uninstall auto-generation code not only creates the necessary interactions, loots, and triggers, but then proceeds to add them to the jobs UI! Not bad.

Hey Folks! Not much to show today, as I tried to map out what gets done when, and by whom, for the foreseeable future.

It was a useful exercise, as it forced me to identify dependencies and bottlenecks. It also showed me which parts of the project have room to be flexible for scheduling. In it, I assume an early access launch sometime in November 2019.

Hey Folks! Hope everyone had a good weekend. The usual stuff here, plus a trip to look at fireplaces. Hot stuff :)

Back at the office, I wrapped-up two more installable items: the bedroll and the battery.

The bed is my first non-tool item, meaning it can be uninstalled and reinstalled without any tools. I wasn't sure if this would "just work," but I'm happy to report it did! I simply omitted the drill as a necessary tool, and my captain just bee-lined to the bed, crouched and mucked with it, and it was uninstalled!

Hey Folks! Good to be back. Yesterday's "Explode Seattle" festival was, as usual, dazzling. And in an unexpected twist, we just putzed around the house all day relaxing. It was GLORIOUS.

Back at the office, it was time for some fun work: automated content creation! I know, I know. Doesn't sound like "normal person" fun. But hey, normal people don't make hardcore space games voluntarily :)

Hey Folks! Pretty productive day today, mostly spent finishing-up my work on objectives enhancements, plus some code to auto-generate data.

The objectives can now focus the camera on the relevant object if clicked, which should help users figure out what they're talking about. And perhaps someday, I can even expand them further to have something you can click for more info, or highlight objects, etc. For now, though, they're working as expected!