May 28, 2024

Bug fixes galore today!  In my last post, I believe I included screenshots of me needing to get my sub command menu and corresponding battle text screens to show the overlay and not show the background which I was using to grab info for my dynamic 'command' sub menu.  I believe I got all of that working now.  I did notice that for some reason between text box transitions, there's sometimes brief flashes where the box is hiding/showing.  I need to figure that out.  I think it probably has something to do with the box sizes I'm defining on the various overlay tabs.  The battle system transitions through A LOT of scripts, so it's hard to keep it all straight.  I really should have created a dataflow diagram for it.  I should probably try to focus on some documentation and process, but here we are.  I do that for a living and it's boring.  So let's just wing it I guess!

I've included a video showing the progress so far and most of the features.  There's definitely still a few bugs and a few things caught me off-guard which is why in some spots I just sit there for a few seconds while I think about where the issue might be.  I really do think I'm super close to finishing this battle system.  I have space in the menu for 2 more moves, but I should be able to implement those whenever now that I have scripts parsed out.  

It's worth noting I took a bunch of descriptive 'flavor text' out of the battle system when you use commands.  Originally, I had it saying things like "lose n turns"; however, I decided that in an effort to save button presses and speed battles up, I'd make sure that when the player learns the move, they're given that information.  I may also try to make a menu item where it will describe the moves so the player can reference it during the game.  I'm still a long way from having any sort of actual playable demo that's worth anyone's time, but that information will definitely be helpful in the future.