I'll check into this. Thanks!

I've just been a bit too busy with other projects, but always wanting to go back to this one :) I'm thinking on doing a weekly thing where I pick randomly from a group of top projects (this one included) to give it some love one day a week.

• Keyboard movement
  • Often want to take a single step but end up taking two. 
  • Often hit walls without wanting to
  • Visuals, might need a slight and quick "jump"
  • Shift + Direction to auto run corridor?
• Visuals
  • Have arrows flight straight to enemies (but draw the pathfinding in the floor before shooting)
  • In the pickup panel, stack icons of items of the same type.
  • I believe stats detail level 3 should be shown by default. (If this is to avoid flooding more casual players with a lot of stats, I believe this is the lesser of concerns)
• Cannot scroll long diary entry, gets deselected.
• Allow drop on item to replace equipment.
• Love the quick summary of drops, maybe allow configuring speed
• Allow panning the main view.
• Add an icon on top of the monster to differentiate variation of similar species? (Large Kobolds look too much like normal kobolds?)
• Add button to switch between preset perspectives (top down, tilted, etc)
• Consider a scrolling mode with a "dead space" in the middle (so it's not always centered in the player but he "pushes" the viewport when walking near the borders.

makes sense, thanks!

Hello Adam, are you part of the review committee?

Thanks Paweł!

I haven't played Don't Starve, but I could see how the game could be similar to other survival games. But indeed, it is intended to be chill and not very stressing. The challenge is of course making it fun without a strong pressure or sense of imminent peril, I continue working on that :)

For this game I made the mistake (yet again) of believing "getting lost" would be a fun thing for player (or rather, trying not to get lost without any external aid). That just doesn't work... players will never manually map the world like they maybe used to do it in the old times. I'm planning to add some "waypoint" thing, which could be justified as the player referencing some landmarks.

All other points have been noted and added to the tracker. Thanks!

Glad you have enjoyed it so far! the sound aspect is pretty important for the game, we continue working to make that part even better.

Current version makes it easier to reach these hard to reach spaces to plant (in previous version you could do it by pressing Shift+direction). Animal catching is intentionally fiddly, so that there's at least some difficulty :)

@ took a 2½-hour nap and only recovered two Fatigue #s. Something is very wrong here, lol. That long of a nap should be at least 5 #s, especially if @'s hunger is low.

Added to the list #108

When you hit the end of the procedurally generated world, it should say upon examination, "You see: A steep cliff with no bottom."

I'm going to add unbreakable mountains or cliffs there. #59

Eating "Coffee" should reduce your fatigue! Actually, shouldn't a lot of non-sickening food cause you to feel more refreshed? Especially the berries, I would think...

Added to the list since that was planned but somehow missing on the list.

The game is unable to resume focus when I change tabs and then try to go back to it. I had to close the tab and lost a lot of progress from this.

Interesting, are you playing the itch.io version, or the standalone at slashie.net?

What is the point of credits? The game doesn't say anything about what you get from them...

There's still nothing to do with them, besides growing the number. We are planning for you to be able to exchange them for batteries and other supplies.  #8

I don't understand why I can't move diagonally yet animals can. I thought, because I couldn't move diagonally, nothing else could

You can move diagonally using the numpad. Still figuring out a solution for non-numpad keyboards. Maybe using the WASD side, and removing all conflicting commands

Is there any way to generate more seeds from your garden without finding them in the world

Yes, you can extract them from fruits using "T"

Will think about it!

Added to the tracker:

94 okoyos Upgrade tools to use less stamina.
95 okoyos Add a strength stat that the player can develop to consume less stamina.

Sounds like a good idea!

Added to the tracker

96 dahernandezt Build roads out of stone
97 dahernandezt Build bridges out of wood
98 dahernandezt Reduce stamina spend when walking on roads.

Sorry, I meant these items were already in the TODO list :D

Thanks!

You can still play at the website at https://slashie.net/emeraldWoods/, not sure if that helps with your fullscreen issue but I'm also going to add an easier way to switch into that. Eventually we'll also have a native executable with that on by default, and separate help screens.

Newly added to TODO

• Only remove animals if not in sight (for x turns)
• Fainting at 2AM with full stamina is not very clear. Options:
  • Remove 
  • Change it so that you get more tired as you get closer to the night
  • Change max stamina based on time of day.
• Plant berries, create berry gardens.
• Add wooden gate: Cost 1 wood
• Produce 2 or 3 units of wood per tree.
• Min stone produce should be 1 per rock.
• Rest command to recover 1 stamina point.
• Stamina recovery when resting or sleeping should be based on how comfortable you are. (Instead of just safe/unsafe/fainted and fullSleep/nap)
• Craft chair, you can rest on it for higher stamina recovery.
• Resting or sleeping next to a fireplace should boost stamina recovery.
• Easily accesible full screen mode
• Reconsider Ctrl as default pick up due to issues with Mac

Already in the TODO list

• Improve "Nap", less prompts, more stamina recovery.
• Sleep in bed
• Save game

Sorry! I understand things happen, but part of the challenge is trying to find ways to overcome these things during the 7 days window: changing plans on the march, reducing scope, coming up with ways to tie together unfinished stuff...

You are welcome to both submit your WIP, finish it as an Out Of Challenge 7DRL, and of course, try again next year :)

Maybe you didn't finish the submission, email me and we can sort it out... slash at slashware dot net

Maybe instead of moving with the arrow keys and shift-arrow to change facing, instead maybe make it so that the first arrow key hit in a given direction changes your facing in that direction, and you only move if you hit an arrow key and you're already facing that direction.  I find I spend a lot of time just fiddling with that, and I suspect this would be more intuitive and easier.

I use mostly the numpad (and there's a bug with unicodetiles.js that prevents using Shift+Numpad grrr). I believe this is also a matter of preference that could be configured by the player.

I got you wrong, I think this is actually a good idea. Will experiment and see how it feels :)

I feel like the "you're tired" versus "you need to sleep" thing is confusing and ambiguous.  Maybe it would be better to just unify those two mechanics - you get tired when you run out of stamina.  OR you can have a separate bar that shows how sleepy you are or something so you know when you should be thinking about going to go sleep. But right now, you can watch your stamina bar but it doesn't seem coupled with when you need to sleep.

This requires some thought, it's hard to balance things so you get tired around the time you'd normally go to sleep. Adding another bar might be too much. Will think about this :)

I feel there should be a command that lets you rest without sleeping.  I.e., if you wake up and chop a lot of trees, so you're tired but it's only been an hour since you slept, you ought to be able to rest a bit and then resume chopping.

Current version has you "Nap" for a couple hours if it's daytime and you try to sleep. I plan to polish that a bit to reduce prompts there, and also balance stamina recovery and sickness chances

Related to the above, the character's circadian rhythm seems off.  I often find myself sleeping and waking up in the middle of the night. Maybe have something a little more tied to daytime / nighttime cycles so that you get tired at night, you wake up in the morning, etc.

I think this was an issue in the version you tested, but should no longer be the case, except if you faint before going to bed,  maybe.

Maybe show your credits somewhere?  If you have a lot of messages when you wake up, it zooms right over showing you your current credits.

You can check them in the PEX machine in the latest version.

Is there something I can actually spend the credits on?

Not for now. Maybe it shows the futility of money, or maybe I didn't manage to implement it :)

What exactly can you put in the machine?  Only plants?  It appears to let you put animals in...?

Produce in general, plants, animal produce, and animals too. Because in theory you might want to breed and sell animals

It would be nice if I could "fix" a random tilled spot that I didn't mean to till, just so the land around my homestead looks nice.

Using the hoe maybe?

Some decoration blocks would be nice.

I'm planning to add "paint" so you can change the color of blocks, and also craft statues and maybe furniture. Any ideas are welcome.

Being able to range around and find new things would be fun. 

Of course :) I'm always coming up with new ideas to add interesting stuff.

A compass to get back to your homestead would help with that.

I wonder how that would work, hmm, you mean like a "waypoint" indicator?

I don't like control to pick things up.  It's in an awkward spot; it was better when it was comma.  Also, if there is nothing in front of you to pick up when you hit that command, maybe check the tile you're standing on.

As always, it's a matter of preference. In general it has been received positively. But I can always add a keybindings option.

Added to list of improvements

• A craftable "gate" item that you can walk through that animals can't would be a really solid quality-of-life improvement.  Or don't make animals move diagonally, so that you can safely enter a paddock.
• The "memory" of the map that shows the last state you saw on map tiles that are out of view is a great addition, but maybe it shouldn't show animals. It's very confusing when you see two "p" tiles and go looking for two animals. (This is especially true at night where "memory" tiles are very difficult to distinguish from "nighttime visible" tiles.)

Fixed already in the final 7DRL version

• Make an explicit key for eating something ("E" maybe), rather than space bar. I find myself accidentally eating things all the time, which can kill you in the early game if you eat the wrong things.
• I kept losing seeds, and I realized it's because you can accidentally plant two seeds in one plot
• Also, I think I accidentally tried to use rocks on a mushroom, and the game froze.
• The number of animals that showed up around my homestead suddenly seemed to jump at one point in the game, where there were dozens of animals roaming around. Might be a bug, or maybe it's intended behavior once I get a farm going?
• It appears that monsters spawn on water tiles, making them trivial to catch because they cannot move; you just raft over to them and pick them up.
• I encountered some mushrooms growing in caves. That was neat, but it seemed like all I could do was destroy them? Seems like I ought to be able to harvest them. 

It's ok, you can just have a itch.io page, pointing to the external website and with a note about it. Try fixing it tho, contact them, they are helpful :)

Thank you so much for all your feedback! I also see the potential for something bigger here, so maybe this is just the start. (But as you mentioned, it's already a solid entry, perhaps my best entry ever to the challenge).

Some of these things were fixed or addressed already during the Day 7 Final Rush (TM).

I'll edit this reply tomorrow addressing every point, too tired now :P

Thanks!

Day 7 Report - 10 dev hours - Success!

Last day, lots of things in. Here are the most relevant changes amidst many UI improvements and fixes:

• Changes in colors and character for items (mapedorr)
• Audio for actions (quietgecko)
• Back to using handcrafted animal races for better descriptions and names. 
• Tamed animals producing eggs and reproducing.
• Ambient audio based on time of day (quietgecko)
• Play music sequences with random behaviour (quietgecko)
• Add plant types and crops
• Make animals eat plants
• Forage berries and mushrooms
• Nap or sleep until next day
• Endgame
• Regen HP
• Remove animals that are not captured

It's up now at https://slash.itch.io/emerald-woods

Total dev hours, around 40

Will probably write more about it later, but gotta recover energies first.

Day 6 Report - 8 dev hours - Check it out! http://slashie.net/kobaloi/

Added contributions from Mateo Robayo and QuietGecko!

• Tests of new palette
• Changed some character representations
• Audio setup
• First version of environmental audio for forest
• Sound effects for some actions (axe, pickax, till, etc)

Beside this, the following was added

• Build objects into the world directly (instead of adding them to the inventory)
• Change field of view depth and color based on how deep you are into a cavern.
• Place buildings in the map procedurally.
• Make the "memory" system remember displayed tiles including items and animals.
• Render memorized tiles in a different color than the environmental darkness.
• Make trees solid and opaque
• Add "notes" with hints
• Show current day
• Open and close doors.
• Craft Raft and row above lakes.
• Allow breaking down walls and fences

Hi Murray!

Just Join the Jam at the main page at https://itch.io/jam/7drl-challenge-2020, then a "Submit your Game" button will appear 

Day 5 Report - 5 dev hours - Check it out! http://slashie.net/kobaloi/

• Hunger system (and starve to death)
• Sickness (sleep well or you'll get sick and die)
• Add trees to map (procgen)
• Create animal races procedurally (but with a seed, same everytime you play).
• Spawn animals based on rarity and spread across the map.
• Examine items and animals using L
• Change field of view depth and color based on time of day.

Day 4 Report - 8 dev hours - Check it out! http://slashie.net/kobaloi/

• Instructions
• Setup map preview tool for procedural generation works
• Camera follow with dead zone
• Generate map procedurally (see below)
• Mining
• Spend stamina while walking
• Place crafted objects one by one in the map
• Opaque and solid objects.

Procedural generation was the bulk of the work today. My initial approach was a three stages generator with the first one generating a low resolution sector map, the second one seeding the sectors and the third one running some Cellular Automata.

That didn't work very well... the transitions between the different areas were just too apparent, and no amount of CE could fix it. 

I decided to discard that initial idea, and instead place the "sectors" as irregular blobs in the Stage 1 generator.

Of course, that was just the beginning. I then had to tweak a lot the seeding and the Cellular Automata rules, and add additional logic for the mountain borders, ending up with this:

It looks interesting! However, the rules say development of the game should have taken place during the challenge week.

Creo que si nos vamos con temas narrativos puede ayudar a que cada equipo use sus fortalezas para producir algo chévere, ya que no es un jam exploratorio de mecánicas sino algo más de comunidad, en mi opinión.

Day 3 Report - 3 dev hours

• Drop produce into exchange machine (to get credits ($$$) next day)
• 'S' command to extract seeds from plants
• Implement facing, perform actions in the direction the player is facing
• Display list of items and selected item
• Make time go faster while sleeping
• Make plants take a long time to grow
• Capture and release beings
• Drop items from movement move

Not really... I'm just winging it. :P 

Hopefully will discover a meaningul and fun thing along the way :D

Inside the house, or a cavern maybe :)

Day 2 report - 3 hours of dev

• Item stacking
• Crafting (Create a fence using wood)
• Plants that produce fruits
• Sleeping

yeah, the plan is to have no combat at all, and also no townspeople to buy with gifts. Just making a living in your farm and building cool things. Exploring the caves around (I've heard there's some people that likes stuff like that). There may also be a mysterious experiment going on that you need to find out about (or not).

Still not sure what will be the point of the game. For now having fun making a roguelike Stardew Valley clone.

Day 1 Report - 3 hours of Dev

• Base setup using JSRL
• Till the ground using Hoe
• Switch current tool using Tab
• Plant seed
• Make seeds grow into plants
• Display Time of the Day
• Place buildings in map
• Faint at 2am
• Spend stamina using tools, and faint
• Display stamina
• Chop down trees

Numeron is in the house!

A straight answer, thanks WraithGlade :)

The rules are there, but at least make sure that:

1. You created your game within the challenge timeframe.

2. Your game has roguelike elements.

The challenge has barely started and we already have two submissions which are clearly not made in less than 1 day. As organizers we'll keep an eye on this and remove offending entries.