Green Algae: Game Development Update

Update: Tile transitions

Finally got transitions built between grass sand and water. I still think there are a few edge cases that need to be handled like one water tile surrounded by sand and other combinations of the same.

My first approach which quickly became a painstakingly brutal experience reloading map after map. Note to self create a small map test area. Was to have different tile types for each transition tile for instance a SAND_WATER_TOP_LEFT this became problematic when working with a testing tile types in the game logic. For instance player collision with water, and placing bridges. Not to mention that determining which transition to place was also difficult things kept breaking as more and more tile types were added. So I decided to use a slightly more subtle approach.

While rendering each tile the adjacent tiles are tested to determine which transition is to be used. This method short-circuits only testing each north, south, east, west, northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest, position in turn if any fail the test exits. These are mapped to the corresponding image for the transition changing which image is rendered.

Focus on gameplay

For the moment I think I need to focus on getting as many gameplay elements working as possible to actually have something that can be played like a game. Currently there isn't any real objective or goal so there really isn't a whole lot to do. Of course removing the movement controls from the player kind of eliminated an entire aspect of the game. Things are kind of slow going as I do not spend an incredible amount of time working on this project. I probably have too many at the moment which is why I do not have more updates. But if I can kind of get some semblance of a game going we might be talking more frequent updates. 

Other mentions

Its subtle but noticed I have changed the title too. The gameplay is starting to develop a little more clearly in my head. Time will tell where it goes. But the name of the game is now 'Frontiersman' the game idea might be a bit obvious. You are controlling a family starting out in a new world trying to survive and discovering the dangers that lurk in your new world.  

Roadmap updates

• Terrain
• finish tile-type transitions
• add dirt (with transitions)
• add gravel (with transitions)
• add random stones
• Player controls new
• map movement controls new
• designating actions for map items new
• chop/down tree new
• AI Simulated Character
• add basic decision-based model
• add crappy path-finding method
• add hunger, starvation, and death
• add actions and event, thoughts and memory
• Save/Load
• Test, test, test
• Build Scripts and release checklist