Devlog #1

Itch recommended I do a devlog so here it is. I uploaded the prototype of prototypes 2 weeks ago, and I haven't stopped working on this game. I started out by expanding into a new route and learning/scraping together a system that can save data between route changes. Now I have the player swap between two routes, that remembers you've talked to NPC's and can't get items twice. For me as the developer, It means I don't need to have all my routes loaded at once! It also means I have a super basic foundation for a save/load system.

I originally planned to go down the route expansion for this month, but it quickly turned into more battle polish. I guess I naturally like it more which is why I always seem to be working on it. Anyways, now my goal for finishing up the month is finishing the battle system. You can now catch and battle with up to 6 creatures, you can swap between them, and enemies give shared exp to participants it faced. The UI has been cleaned up a bit, allowing both mouse and keyboard (and no more odd inputs like 1/2 haha). 

Currently, as of today, I'm reworking how the battle teams are tracked. This is to allow more flexibility in choosing a target so I can implement more interesting skill effects. So for this upcoming week I want my skills to inform the battle system who it can target (any, allies, enemies, self, etc.), and the battle system will update itself accordingly. This can then be extended items.

After that, I will be implementing the second resource, known as Aether. Unlike Rage (a fill and dump resource),  Aether is a zero-sum resource. The idea is you use a move with effect(s) with an aether cost, and the aether gets attached to the target who will now have those effects. This has two tricky parts 1) making sure those skill effects resolve correctly during the battle phase 2) making sure those aether can return back to the source when the effects timer is over or the creature wants to redistribute those aether points. 1) is definitely trickier especially when I consider future features such as held items, but I believe my skill system design will make both of these very doable and remain flexible/robust.

Anyways, that's just a quick spiel I wanted to type out cause it helps force me to think through my thoughts. There's actually a few other things I'm working on but I can't spill the beans about everything :p

Now it's time to draw out some diagrams and eventually start coding! Thanks for checking in

-Zeze