Here's the type chart I mentioned in the video (you can also check the type effectiveness in the game by opening the Trainer Guide):
There's now a warning sound* playing and the HP bar turns red when your monsters' HP are dangerously low.
(* It just plays once, I don't like the constant beeping in the early Pokémon games either!)
I moved the symbol indicating the effectiveness of a move closer to the moves's type icon and made the type icon glow to make it more clear what that symbol means.
There's also now a rainbow star icon next to the monsters' level if that monster is a Shiny.
Speaking of Shinies...
You can now view shiny variants you've caught in your Abstrácto-DEX! The same star icon marks monsters whose shiny variant you've cought. When viewing the detailed info of a monster...
...you can now switch between its normal and shiny form. Neat!
Here's this week's Abstráctomon development digest!
I finished quite some work in the Atoneel Tunnel. You'll now encounter the construction worker's foreman in a new cutscene and battle!
I also made further improvements to the lighting in the tunnel:
the basement is now pitch-black with only some site spotlights lighting the way. The workers wear helmets with lights on them, but you've got to fumble around in the dark, I'm afraid!
Back on the surface, you can now buy a new kind of Abstrácto-Ball: The Medi-Ball. It won't increase your chance of catching an Abstráctomon, but it will slowly heal the monster kept in it it over time! It's a great ball in the early game when you're short on healing items. The Medi-Ball can't revive fainted monsters though...
Wish you had bought some Medi-Balls earlier 'cause now you caught some with different balls? Don't worry! You can change the ball a monster is kept in after the fact!
This way you can also change your starter's ball if you prefer a different summon animation, for example.
That's all for this week!
Thanks for reading!
There are now even more trainers and NPCs in the Tuca Forest!
I added bug catchers who love bug Abstráctomon (I went with girls instead of boys to change it up a little)...
...and bird watchers who are fans of the bird like monsters. If you sit on this bench, you can play a fun trivia game and win something usefull. Speaking of birds...
You can now see wild Tucas and Freegulls flying over your head in some places. It's just a little detail to make the world feel more alive.
New Abstráctomon screenshot s!
I added more detail to buildings, like roof tiles and a brick structure.
The player's house looks more unique and has red bricks now. It looks a little like the houses typically found in the area I grew up as a child.
You may find an overgrown house in the Tuca Woods now...
I finally finished the bicycle time trial race I wanted to add for a long time. I had the race timer functionality working months ago, but now I implemented it in the game. I made a cute little finish line and added the NPC conversation.
Professor Rich has now an assistant who is developing new apps for the Abstrácto-Dex. If you visit the lab once in a while and show them your progress, your Dex may get a handy upgrade! Like...
...the new Photo App. That's a fun little toy that lets's you take pictures of your team and yourself.
Right now you can include up to two monsters and your avatar in the pic, I may include more features in the future. The current time of day and weather is shown, too. The images are saved to the hard drive (in the "Drawings" folder in the game's directory) and can be viewed inside the app, too.
You could share your pics online or you can just use the Photo App to get an unobstructed look at the battle backgounds!
Here are some pictures I took with it.
The final Abstráctomon Screenshot Update of the year!
There's now a suspicious looking tree hidden in the Tuca Woods...
I finally connected Herringtin and the Tuca Woods with an area called Tuca Track. It's a lush green route with plenty of birch trees and meadows. When leaving the starting village Herringtin, you can take this easier path or explore the more difficult Atoneel Tunnel to get to the other side of the island.
The children of Herringtin love to play outside and are always up for a battle!
I wish you happy holidays and a happy new year! I'll continue to share my progress (and the game, finally?) in 2020!
I added 3 new berries to the game! They all have different growing conditions and effects. Take a look at this chart I made!
The Moon Berry for example, can be found in dark caves. If one of your Abstráctomon holds a Moon Berry, it will illuminate the area around you, making navigating underground much easier!
This is what it looks like without a Moon Berry. Pretty dark, eh? Only your bicycle's light helps a little bit.
Back outside, why don't you take a look at the new shoreline of Herringtin? I changed some of the cliffs to mauve colored limestone, decorated with fossilized corals.
And I made the final section of the Water Gym a little more interesting by adding a maze of currents.
That's it for today!
I recoded the lighting engine to make it more efficient. While it looks the same as before, it is easier on the framerate now.
Especially in underground areas the frame rate took a hit, but it's much better now. Before the lighting script always included every light source in the room, now it ignores those not visible on screen. As a bonus, the lighting works on the zoomed out map view now, too.
The laboratory looks a little different now, doesn't it?
I added an upper floor. If you climb these twisted staircase (I'm really proud of the animation; that took some time!)...
...you get access to a new astronomy themed room. What will happen if you take a look through that large telescope?
The start menu looks nicer now with colored text and a little animated icon in the top-left corner.
I improved on the indoor lighting. Sunlight that shines through the windows now has the shape of the window (and things that are in front of the window). Below are some more examples from different times of the day.
On Saturday felt the urge to try to program a prototype for automatic island generation. If this works out, I could add randomized island to the game you can visit to catch more Abstráctomon.
My code scans the image and places the corresponding tiles on the map for each color.
So far, I managed to place the tiles for the beach from a tiny 32x22 pixel image. It also creates a unique island code & name that players could share with others.
Next I want to add gras, ponds and objects. We'll see how it turns out! Below are the results of two days of work on this:
Stay home & play video games!
Here are some zoomed out screenshots of some areas from the upcoming game Abstráctomon.
