Important information (Patreon)

The release of the next version was scheduled for today, but it turned out to be much more difficult to go straight to the working track than we expected. On the one hand, the development of the game is still quite chaotic, and technical adjustments made over and over again reduce the stability of the build, forcing us to return to test questions. On the other hand, instead of completing almost ready-made events, a controversial decision was made to immediately take up the most complex content to implement, which turned out to be even more difficult than we expected. All this has led to the fact that at the moment the release of the game is unstable, and the new content is far from the planned final form. Therefore, it was decided not to release the next raw version, just to meet the deadline, but to spend additional time completing the update.

Obviously, such a disordered approach to work does not bode well, so we spent more time trying to understand what we want from the development of the game, and make a clear plan for the technical and creative aspects of the work. As a result, we have compiled a roadmap for the development of the project, which we will continue to follow and update.

A global plan for optimizing the development process.

• A new universal combined image engine based on spine. (completed)
• Transpiling of game events in javascript (completed)

All commands in game events are 99% translated into pure javascript. However, the current game interpreter is a pipeline of commands, provides some interesting functions, and is closely related to the context of game events within which it operates. Therefore, it is problematic to completely get rid of it at this stage. However, this can be done in the future. Therefore, an interim decision was made to write a transpiler that translates javascript pseudocode into the format of a game interpreter and vice versa. Now it can be edited in a powerful IDE and enjoy all the benefits, such as highlighting and error detection, auto-completion, bulk search/replace, and so on.

• Refactoring of the main framework and add-ons.

Over the years, a huge number of add-ons have been written for the base engine, as well as several third-party plugins have been connected. The volume of the modified code has become so large that its support in the form of extensions has ceased to make any sense. Automatic analysis and navigation using IDE tools were significantly hindered. Dispersal into multiple layers significantly reduced the productivity of work. The code of the engine and extensions was verbose and did not meet modern standards. A significant part of it ceased to be used and hung like a dead weight.

The work is 90% complete. Third-party and our add-ons have been integrated into the engine. All code is rewritten for ES6 classes and modules. A large number of third-party libraries have been updated, as well as translated into ES modules. A uniform code style was applied. A huge amount of unused code has been disabled and deleted. Additional typing was implemented. In the next week, it is planned to release a full-fledged test build based on the new architecture, with support for saves, starting from version 0.3.6 and below.

• Tiled.

In parallel with the creation of new game content, the complex process of switching to a full-fledged extensible map editor will begin. A single interface will be written for it, which will allow us to get rid of a lot of disparate and complex tools.

It will take serious work to translate the current maps into a new editor. There are a lot of changes in the framework for the proper functioning of the new maps in the game. Integration of event editing with a third-party IDE. Visual editing of a wide range of additional character properties. In its current form, these are special comments in the event code. Composite character sprites. So far, this has been implemented in the form of configuration comments. They are generated using a separate application and are not even visually displayed in the current editor. Editing the properties of the passability of regions on the map. Additional logical areas, lighting, and non-interactive objects. This is currently being edited by a plugin for a vector editor.

All this and much more will be combined in one editor. There will be ample opportunities for further expansion, for example, the ability to create multi-level maps.

• Sound.

A system of sound presets will be created, integrated into the existing spreadsheet editor of game object properties. Every sound in the game will be edited using a single tool.

At the moment, the sounds of the environment on the map are separate non-standard solutions for special cases. We need to make a universal system. Ambient sounds can be easily attached to arbitrary events and regions on the map. A flexible system of conditions will allow you to change the sound picture depending on the activity of events, time of day, etc.

The post has already been released more than voluminous, so in order not to stretch it even more, a roadmap with a description of the new content will be available on our discord server, in the channel of announcements and important information, which is available to all patrons. Also, examples of new content will be posted on the vault_0 channel, if it will be interesting for you to look at it before everything appears directly in the game.

Despite the delay in the release of the update, we still set a goal to release new content every month and hope to achieve it as soon as all technical difficulties are eliminated, and instead of testing the correct workability of old events, we will be able to concentrate on creating new ones.