[Devlog] State of the Nexus #3 & Dungeon Coup Story system (Patreon)

Hey friends

I hope you are having a great day.

This is what im working right now:

Project Nexus

I have been kinda stuck lately with a crash, which I still haven’t been able to find yet, but it hasn’t occurred the last two days, so hopefully it is gone. (If it is gone then it is because it was related to unity cause I updated a bunch of stuff).

Days without random crashes: 2!

Let’s hope I can get this counter up to 30!

Outside of that I have been working on the lore (as this is what I'm able to do when I only have a notebook that I cannot connect to charge because apparently it is not allowed in the hospital) particularly on the city map.

To do this I’ve been doing research on city planning, sewer systems, metro and bus traveling patterns, district distribution and private neighborhoods. I also searched for the plans of some capital’s cities (built after the 1800s) to compare and analyze.

Thinking back, I may have gone a bit overboard, but I really like worldbuilding.

And this is the final result:

(This is a technical work map and is not intended to look pretty, the in-game city map will be completely different and look much better)

In this map you can see a lot of black dots, these are areas the player will visit during its time on the nexus, I deleted the name of most of these to avoid spoilers. (keep in mind: there are still missing a lot of more locations to be added)

The blue dots are the entrance to the metro, which is going to be the main way of moving between districts.

The game won’t be open world* instead it will be composed of districts where the player may move freely and explore.

*We would love to make the game completely open-world, however this is tied to funding, and we need a lot of it to make it open-word, but the idea is there.

Upon entering the Nexus, the player will be on the Gateway, and for the whole Prologue and Chapter 1 the player will be in the lower district, and sometimes the docks district.

Small description of Solas city districts:

Note: Districts is not the proper word to describe them in english, but think of them more as pre-delimited areas for a particular use.

Lower district: Essentially the lower part of the city, here lives most of the population of Solas city. It is almost slums, it has a high crime rate and the police presence in the area is minimal.

Downtown district: This is the center of the city, where most of the mid-class citizens live. This area has lots of malls and movie theaters and parks, and is more secure than the lower district (however it’s still not safe at night).

High city district: This is where the elites live. It is a closed area where everything is under surveillance, and is one of the most secure places in the city. The high city district is literally above the other metters, with its ground structure slightly raised up.

Docks district: This is exactly what the name says, it covers most of the city’s sea front and it includes docks both for commercial use, and for civilian sightseeing and traveling. This district has a wide variety in it’s workers, ranging from filthy dock hands, to private corporate security teams escorting merchandise.

Corporative district: This district consists of a hundred office buildings. This is where all the office work happens. Building these structures away from the downtown made the city’s transportation way more efficient, and kept the soul-crushed-workers away from the eyes of tourists and millionaires.

Industrial district: This is where all the heavy lifting is done. This district is composed only of big industrial warehouses and factories, and it is not apt for living. Similar to the docks, the variety of the workers varies greatly depending on which warehouse or factory they attend.

Garbage district: Not really a district, just an area where a garbage-processing plant was to be constructed, but in the meantime it turned into a giant garbage mountain.

Military district: Although there hasn’t been any big armed conflict in the Nexus, none of the city-states of the Nexus wants to be at risk of being conquered. This district is off-limits for civilians, and the Metro doesn’t reach this area.

Gardens district: This district is mostly composed of parks. Here you will find the most naturally relaxing places in the Nexus, as well as pools, and even some animals. Be warned, the entrance to most parks is not free.

Golden district: This district is where the millionaires spend (and make) their money. In this district you can find the most luxurious hotels, casinos, movie theaters, exotic dancers, clubs and everything that money can buy. This is the most secure district in the whole city, mostly due to the huge amount of private security.

well that was kinda a big lore drop. we are currently working on the lower district and the areas inside there:

• The mall & gunshop
• The loft (player’s house)
• Ordo’s bar

These areas are important for the prologue and the beginning of chapter 1, and will be ready soon. (as in september-october) if things go as planned, we will be able to include a new district to the game every 3-4months. 

However the most important district for the game is the downtown district, as once you complete Chapter 1, you can basically go anywhere you want, and a lot of different things happen in downtown. (And a lot of those are interesting for you my friends!)

And that is what I'm working on right now: solving the crash, and making locations.

Some of you may ask me. Zed why are you not working on the sex system only?

Well, sometimes I have to spend a lot of time in the hospital taking care of my family, and my head just isn’t ready for coding. Sometimes it is, that is when I make the biggest progress, but sometimes I just can’t get to do code, so I keep making the locations and decorating interiors.

Alright now into Dungeon Coup!

Remember how some of you really hated the Continue button for Story mode?

Well, I got rid of it!

I managed to find a way to make it so you can click anywhere on the screen to continue (when you don’t have to select a response).

I hope you friends like this approach more than the previous system.

The dialogue system is working on Dungeon Coup, and I'm polishing it a bit more before I embark on writing the story into the game engine. And well this is just code > test > find something Im happy with > code > test > and so and so.

So this is all I got for today. Tomorrow is my birthday, so I won’t be working tomorrow, but I expect an update for Tuesday or thursday!

Have a great weekend friends!

Cheers!

And hey, thanks to all of you who support the projects, it is really a hard time now, and i'm super thankful for your support, this wouldn’t be possible without your support! Thanks again!