Yup, another devlog.

The thing you're probably here to find out is when Phase 1 is getting released. Short answer is: This Year. The long answer is that I'm pushing through to get this done as quick as I can. Currently I'm hoping to get it out for Patreon by the end of this week, but that is dependant on a few things. It would then get released here a week after. So right now, looking at a tentative 17th December.

So, what's the holdup?

Interview

I had a big interview for a real job. It was fucking brutal and basically wiped out best part of a week of my time. The actual interview was about 3 hours, but there was a lot of studying and brushing up beforehand, and then afterwards I was just wasted for 2 days which got me thinking about this project and other stuff I'm working on.

I've not made any big secret that a lot of hours are being sunk into this game. On average 12-16hrs per day, usually 7 days a week. This is really bad. Even with the best of will, you can't maintain a good work ethic for that long, every day, and I'm risking burning out if I continue. To combat this, I'm trying to keep more sensible working hours and making sure I get at least 2 days away from the computer per week, preferably doing something exercise related. The final push of Phase 1 is the worst time to decide to do this, but it's also really needed. I'd rather take a couple of days off per week and be able to dig back in the next day with better focus and achieve more productive hours.

The burnout is the sideshow. This next stuff is the main delay.

Pineridge

The town is mostly placeholder blocked out buildings at the moment. This is honestly going to be pretty close to what is going out in Phase 1, but the plan is to give a glow-up to at least the major buildings in the town. It's a big town though, and there's a lot of work to be done there, but luckily I'm being helped out by a friend, so I can mostly concentrate on other features.

Release Map

The function of this is to start the Running of the Wolves. This level has seen a lot of changes and is now officially completed.

First up, the Starting building is now in place and complete enough for use. The warning siren goes off, the competitor doors open, and there is now a countdown until the wolves are released. It's got SFX, it's got music, it's got a cinematic. It's ready.

World Map

This thing is nearly there. It needs some upgrades, but it works well enough for this Phase. It's had terrain added, foliage and texturing. Each level now shows how many Wolves are lurking inside. Currently there are 4 types of levels on the map:

• Dungeon - It's a dungeon
• RNG Level - This will be a more open level
• Shop - A merchant. He's not set up yet, but can replenish your stats.
• Boss - End point of the map

So, the big timesink on the map was setting this up to work for future phases without heavy rewrites. Eventually, the wolves and other competitors will be moving through the map like the player does, so the enemy amounts show you where others are moving. The wolves are still random, so the enemy numbers are too, but the map generates and saves the specific level order, generates a unique level seed so it can build the same level every time, and sets the enemy numbers. These then get passed into the level when you play it.

In theory, this means the roaming enemies should just plug straight into what is now built when they are themselves built.

If you exit the game and reload, it also records which node you were sat on and level completion, and puts you straight back there. 

The shop is missing the actual shop functionality. That's not being built until one of the next phases, so to help the player, the stalls from the original Paddock demo level are now in the shop level, along with Stuart, who has some interesting theories on business. For now, it's balancing functionality with missing features.

There is also a leveltype for Special Events. These aren't even started, so the code is there, but it will currently set that node as a dungeon instead.

RNG level is the second main type of level. Where the dungeons are restricted and cramped, these should be more open. This is where I see the bulk of the time going now, cos this is a large procedural task. I want to get this working, but if it fails then I'll substitute these for dungeons as well and push RNG levels to a later phase.

Finally, there's the Boss Level. This is another feature that's not in the game yet, but the map needs a terminus. This will just send you back to Pineridge and regenerate the Map to give a different playthrough if you go again.

Other stuff

As of the time I type this, there are 9 tasks left, and 6 outstanding bugs

• Tavern and other essential buildings detailed in Pineridge 
• Upper Pineridge layout completed with shopfronts
• Update NPCs to be able to randomise or select species and gender
• Set up area for tutorials
• Flesh out town with more interactable NPCs
• Detail town with signage, street furniture, etc
• Add rocks as pickup item
• RNG levels
• Game optimisation

At the moment, the game has a fully playable gameplay loop. Most of the remaining stuff is making it nicer, adding level types and fleshing out the world, and testing.

Addressing Comments

I am now realising the mistake I made with the bugtracker. I have no way to know who left what comments, which means I can't respond to some of the points made in it.

The worst ones are when a comment is about a feature that's in the game, and I've not properly communicated how it works because you know it's probably frustrating the person who reported it. This is the reason why the game is getting a tutorial area, because I failed to explain properly how you capture a wolf.

Animation Shittery

Another comment I've had a few times is the animations. Some work, some don't. The reason why some animations are janky, is I can't do any more at this point in time. I want to do more. I've got ideas for different things I'd like to animate into the game, but the animation system itself needs a redo. I've been looking into IK Rigs for Unreal to potentially make some of the animations procedural as well. This would mean that if the player was smaller, a wolf would adjust his position to suit, and parts would target other parts more accurately.

This is something I really want to investigate and see how it would benefit the game as a whole, but it requires some serious research and learning to implement, and the concern is that the current set of animations may not work with a new system. I'd rather wait to know the requirements of a new system before committing to more animations. Future animations need to be done right, first time if possible.

Cum

Another bit of contention. I've been investigating different ways of doing fluids, and I've started working with decals now, so even if the cum is shit, at least it splats on surfaces now. Which in itself is another can of worms, cos decals don't stick to character models.

Those decals stay in the same spot, so they'll just slide away as she moves. There are ways around it, I'm learning them!

Final Things

As I said right at the top, the plan is to have this out on Patreon this week and here a week later. I don't know if it's achievable, but I'm pushing to get it done. Earlier, I flippantly said "this year". In truth, I want this released before christmas. This is the first taste of the proper gameplay, and I want to get it in peoples hands and get it played.