04062019

Stayed up last night until 0830 the next morning playing Outward. I have no idea why I stayed up that late; there was no sane justification for it. Well, whatever.

Got some work done today tweaking hunger, before deciding I wasn’t completely satisfied with how simple it was… and then decided, after watching some gameplay of SCUM, that I would instead work on a needless complicated and mathematically convoluted metabolic simulation that tracked caloric intake and output. Well, I worked on that for some time (much to my utter astonishment, I actually somehow got the model working out quite well in GM, mathematical relationships and all), before deciding again that it was way too complicated for literally no other reason than to sate my momentary curiosity in the matter; so I cut it out (and saved it in another file…), and restarted the design.

Currently, I have a more simplified version of the caloric system which balances calories as energy against hunger as a more abstract psychological metric. Currently, it’s planned such that hunger will deplete at a generally steady rate while calories – the sole source of energy – will be burned in direct relation to actions (ie, walking, setting up camp, breaking down materials, picking up the pack, etc). Hunger depletes (or, with respect to common language, builds up perhaps) much faster than caloric output and, if not treated, will lead to starvation, which directly depletes willpower (around 2.5% /hr). Starvation also begins drawing from the greater calorie store (accumulated body fat, that is), which will allow the player to survive for several days without food despite starving. Each meal has a hidden caloric limit; any additional calories consumed that go over that limit used go towards the calorie store, where, like I mentioned before, they basically serve as backup energy.

In short, calories are used to perform tasks and once they begin running low the player must rest; hunger is more tied to overall condition, and affects willpower the most.

I’ll work on it a bit more tomorrow, but I think I have it mostly figured out now.