Exit w/o save, restore to default value, and password display options fully implemented.
And with that, the start-up sequence is finally finished! It’s rather late (or early – I need to stop burning my hours so frequently) so I’ll keep my entry very brief. Now, I just have to build the CPBE – or at least the skeleton of it – and clean up the day-one stuff, all before Monday…
Finally finished the config menu.
Added a bunch of new settings, along with doing a complete overhaul of the naming scheme for saved settings. It’s a lot neater now, both to access and read. The config menu loads, displays, and saves seamlessly.
I still have to implement a few minor features – exiting without saving, restoring to default values, displaying a general help screen (not sure if I’m actually going to include this), and getting the password display working – but I’m rather pleased with how it turned out and taking the time to clean up all the old save/load/config stuff was much-needed moving forward. I’ll definitely be done with the boot sequence in its entirety by the end of tomorrow (or, I suppose today, seeing it’s already almost daybreak…).
I’ll be seeing a friend for most of this weekend, but I should have just enough time left to clean up some additional stuff in the outpost itself before I submit the build on Monday.
Created the system config menu today. The visuals are complete, as well as the menu listings. I still need to implement the actual functionality – mapping each option to an actual in-game value, having the toggles and sliders dynamically adjust based on the values, saving and loading them, etc – but I made good progress today.
Working on the new functionality has made me reconsider potentially redoing how I was handling saving/loading my config files before. Previously I’d saved to a single INI, but consolidating most of that to this new system, which uses a ds_grid, seems like a better choice instead of splitting the data into two separate files. I’m gonna work with it a bit more tomorrow and see if I’m able to arrive at anything.
Didn’t get much done today on account of waking up late, and then attending session. I wouldn’t (and to be perfectly honest, don’t) feel too bad about it, except the deadline is approaching rather rapidly. Really gotta burn the oil tomorrow, I guess.
Maybe I should start taking Tuesdays off, instead of the weekend.
Recorded and mixed audio for the boot sequence. I also cleaned up a bunch of functions, improving the overall flow and stability of the sequence. It’s feature-complete now in terms of being able to log in and access the game, although I still need to figure out what options to add to the config menu (which hasn’t been implemented yet, but which I’ve built already in a standalone project file). I’ll get that done tomorrow. That leaves two days to build the entire CPBE. It’s gonna be a hell of a stretch, but I’m gonna get it done. I’m counting on it.
Spent the day outside testing the Geofon. I was able to get a number of interesting recordings which I’m going to start building into the soundscape relatively soon. The weather was exceedingly pleasant today. The light and warmth of the sun filled me with sadness.
I’ve been slowly making progress on the CPBE. Maybe “progress” is too optimistic. It seems I’ve dramatically overestimated the expediency with which I could get these prompts out. Now, as I’ve come to rather quickly realise, it’s not only a matter of not being able to produce prompts efficaciously; I’ve begun to significantly question my previous design as a whole. It feels gimmicky to me, and cheap. A pretence towards style, without any substance to ground it. I need to rethink my strategy – and quickly. Or else I should just get rid of it altogether for the time being.
Got diverted from building the CPBE by the temptation of redoing the options/config menu. The hardest part is coming up with things to implement. I successfully built in OpenDyslexia Mono as a swappable font, and sketched out a feature that allows the controller mapping to be flipped for left-handed users (ie the face buttons mirror to the directional buttons, and vice-versa). I’m going to finalise the list by the end of tomorrow’s meeting, and have the interface itself implemented within the system menu by the end of the day.
I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do about the CPBE. The major roadblock standing in my way is that I’m not sure what I actually want it to look like this time around. I suppose I have to figure that out soon. I should dedicate this weekend to getting that finalised for now. The end of the month is approaching. I’d like to have the tutorial completely done by then.
Another slow day in terms of progress, although it went by rather quickly otherwise. I saw the doctor again today. It feels like I haven’t seen her in much longer than it’s actually been. I must confess, it made me happy to see her.
Anyways, I implemented the final parts of the boot sequence, which include a very brief animation for transitioning between screens, the shutdown sequence, and a sequence during the login procedure that shuts the game down and wipes all user data after multiple consecutive failed attempts. There is one last thing I need to do, which is deciding if I want to conceal the password, and how I would go about doing that; but it’s entirely a stylistic thing at this point and the functionality is already there.
Tomorrow I’m moving on to building the core of the CPBE.
The weekend wasn’t as productive as I’d hoped it would be, but I’ve made progress regardless. The boot sequence is functionally complete; although I still have to create one more load sequence after the login, and make a decision on whether the password will be concealed on entry (as it actually is in its real-world equivalent), or if I should make a concession to players unfamiliar with the customs of a terminal and just have it display as asterisks.
I think working on the CPBE is really gonna grind my sense of momentum down, so I’m going to build the framework for it first along with a bunch of fill-in prompts, and then revisit it later. It would do me well to remember that the whole point of all this, at least at this point, is to address the prior lack of a tutorial. As long as this section is able to accomplish the baseline minimum of teaching players how to interact with the game, then I can come back later and revisit it for improvement.
The hardest part at this point is really just maintaining the necessary perspective to stop dragging on details, and start actually laying real foundations for what’s to come. There’ll be time later to make it all prettier; but I can’t improve something that does not yet exist.
Good Friday. Just got back home today. Went to see some old friends. My entire body feels beat. Maybe they’re right, after all. Not so young anymore, after all.
I’ve gotta get this month’s update written and published tomorrow. Shouldn’t be too difficult on its own, just a matter of getting it done. Because I’ve been out these past two days, I’m planning on working over the weekend instead. There’s more to write about but it’d be best to save it until tomorrow.
I’ve been making slow, but steady progress on the boot sequence. I was able to get everything up until the login section fully functional (with the exception of being able to set the system config, and terminate the game at the boot menu). The work is not difficult by any means, and I find myself actually quite enjoying it. I’ve just been spending a lot of time this past week or so, maybe a bit longer, on non-work-related tasks. For the first time in a while (although I guess I always say that, because my memory of good thing is short), I feel like my life is not so bad, and is actually quite pleasant. I think Ada would be pleased to hear that. I’ve been spending more time with my friends. Maybe it’s just because the weather is getting nicer. Regardless of the reason, though, I find solace in being able to appreciate the fact that I can still feel these kinds of things – neither ecstatic, nor tragic, nor revelatory, but simply pleasant – after all.
Back to work.
I spent all of today working on the graphic assets for the bootup sequence. it took a bit longer than I predicted, but I think it’ll be worth it: it looks pretty interesting, and will certainly help to set the tone of the game. I’m in the process of implementing it now: the password check, specifically. Once this part is done, the CPBE itself shouldn’t be too much of an issue. I also need to figure out a way to intuitively write control prompts, which will be the most difficult part…
I hope to be able to get the system tutorial + CPBE fully implemented into a build by Tuesday. The timing’s gonna be a bit rough, but I think I can do it.
Solid progress today, I’m pretty pleased with the amount of work I was able to accomplish. I managed to implement all the necessary components in the opening area, including a few bonuses like an animation for interacting with Rebekah’s cairn, and a staggered prompt which allows the player to have different sequential interactions with the cairn. (It’s a very simple “system”, that I’ll most likely start using much more from here on out.)
I also made a few general optimisations, including condensing a lot of the loose FSM scripts into a single master script containing all of the individual functions, which has reduced the visual clutter of the script tree; as well as compressing a number of the ambient tracks, resulting in a significantly lower file size.
A bit of a slow day, although I’m satisfied with today’s work overall. I worked on finishing up the remaining item descriptions within the outpost, and imposing the proper restrictions on when they’re available to view based on Avery’s location. I was also able to implement a somewhat-interesting feature that allows the player to view the outpost’s system clock while indoors, which saves me some time from having to work on the security camera footage as a means of checking the time outside for right now.
I’ve come to realise that there’s a lot of work left in the tutorial which I failed to account for. All sorts of systems that need to be introduced to the player. I’ve created a new document with a list of all the things that need to be taken into mind, as well as a revised timeline that spaces the more complex functions out and gives the player a bit of agency in between learning new systems.
I don’t think it’ll be difficult work, but it certainly pushes the schedule a bit. Mostly, that’s my own fault for procrastinating so pointlessly last month. But in a way, I feel like it’s given me room to figure things out and approach them more carefully, which is why I was able to determine that my previous outline had been insufficient in the first place. I dunno. I feel okay about the pacing, but I’ll have to talk to my producer about it. I’m sure they’ll be expecting a build soon as well… I’m not sure what I’m going to send in yet, but worst-case scenario, I’ll just package what I have now as is and send it in tomorrow.
I’ve been feeling pretty out of it this past week. But the worst part of it is that I don’t even mean that in a bad way: what I am “out of” is the familiar thrum of my usual malaise, and instead I’ve been possessed by something that, if I were more naive, I might have confused for happiness. It feels like a vigorous, thrashing mode of joyousness, not entirely distinct in some moments from outright mania. It almost feels as if I’ve fallen in love, this dizzying, hurtling sensation; although lacking an obvious subject, I’ve simply found myself tumbling headlong through the darkness of my own interiority, fumbling uselessly for a semblance of direction. I have no idea how this came about. What caused it, or when it even started. The abject loneliness of my work has become apparent to me in the midst of all this.
