Total lines of code: 3261
Of course it's now 2025 and still no demo release. Not to fear! Work continues on the game, which is technically tech-demo functional.
NEW STUFF:
- HP/Mana/Armor bar reworks: A lot of work went into creating animations for these bars in previous months. I was using Godot's built-in ProgressBar nodes which worked great until Syro (our graphic designer) and I started to work on replacing placeholder textures with new ones. Once I realized there were certain things I couldn't do with the built-in ProgressBars, I set off on a new, dumb crusade: to rebuild ProgressBars from scratch, both as a coding exercise as well as a design one. Spoiler alert: it's been like 4 weeks now.
Although the object itself runs on some pretty basic algebra (fill the bar up to remaining_HP / total_HP * bar.size.x - i.e., using basic ratios), creating the framework for it to run correctly, calculate correctly and graft it into the current code has taken a lot of time. This is one of the hazards of coding as a hobby, in that I probably waste a lot of time revising and catching up to previous days' worth of work. The object is also theoretically designed for different sizes, which can be set in the Inspector (THEORETICALLY, so that textures of different sizes can be used without altering the final, visible output).
Included in this is my obsession for the "white overlay animation" bar, which is a white bar that goes on top of the progress bar to visually show how much of the quantity has been lost. I want it to be dynamic and exciting, plus a good way to tell the player where the damage is going. This also proved to be quite the trouble, as the original design was more complex than necessary (without providing great functionality) and required several reworks and downsizing before it started falling into place.
As far as coding and design practice goes, this was a keeper!
MAJOR BUG FIXES:
- Hard to count, at this point. I don't count bug fixes to currently-being-implemented code, as that's just part of the creation process.
PLANNED ADDITIONS:
This is the exciting part.
- Placeholder replacements: Working with Syro, the graphic designer who did most of the UI elements in BB-Breakout, to create the UI textures which will replace the current fugly placeholder art. Other exciting prospects include a more consistent visual style, creating a workflow for creating new graphics which mesh with the future style, and reducing the amount of future work by improving on design processes.
- The Savior Trainer tech demo.... coming soon?