Posted December 13, 2021 by jetpackgone
Hello! After getting feedback from everyone who participated in Go Godot Jam 2, I have made several improvements to Hamster Energy Co in this 1.1 update as listed below:
Pathfinding was the biggest issue where hamsters were getting stuck on objects. Previously I had tried using Godot's Navigation2D node, but since the player can move objects around, dynamically creating the navigation polygon proved to be difficult. With this update, I am using Godot's AStar2D node and turned off collisions for the hamster bodies. Points/tiles containing an object will have a larger weight, so hamsters will tend to avoid them in their pathfinding unless there is no alternate path. For my first game using pathfinding, this turned out to be a good learning experience.
Another common feedback was that there wasn't enough to do and that the charging port was too expensive. I added basic upgrades for the hamster wheel and food bowl and finally got around to implementing buying additional charging ports. Though this gives the player more to do, gameplay is still relatively short.
I also added some QoL improvements such as a selection pointer to indicate which game object is currently selected as well as a fast forward button for those who prefer to live life fast.
There's still a lot more I could do with this game if I wanted to make it a full release, but for now I'm content with its current state. I also have my main project I want to focus on, but maybe one day I'll come back to this one.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading and playing!