I’m back to recap the progress. And there has been some – but this is always a busy week every year. With a bunch of family things going on it was tough to really get into a groove. I really only got to sit down the last couple days and get some stuff made.

What’s new?

The art! It was a big step back from where I was a week ago! This is a drastic change actually. I had a talk with myself (completely normal we assure you) and I decided that if I have to focus on the logic of getting all the art to mix and work well – I will eventually get sick of it all. So from that I moved to a much simpler visual scheme. Although it looks like a bit… simple; I assure you this will only make the game better. I was really beating my brain up with the old format where I wanted to layer weapons, armors, faces, hairs, etc. In this format I will still have those variables but it will only be in reference to a face sprite to accompany the Hero. This way the player still feels each hero is unique, but the game play doesn’t have to suffer to achieve it.

I drew the town – looking fantastically empty, but it is functional. The town will eventually have houses, blacksmith, shop, etc. I’m thinking also at some point there will be access to another tavern with stronger heroes – so when you get your heroes to level 10(where the max is 30 I think) and they die, you can go to the better tavern and hire a level 10 or 5 or what ever.

Weapon/Helmet/Armor is all class specific now. My initial plan was to include flags so some gear was worn between a few classes. Now I’ve gone with a simple set up so you can only have mercenaries wearing merc gear. At this point I’ve got 15 unique weapons/ helmets/ armors in data — not actually named equipment but there are slots that I can start UI work with. The upgrade method also is out of the window. My first plan was to have 10 unique weapons then the blacksmith would add a + to the name and stats would increase. So instead, I went with 15 unique equips and I’ll add a plethora of accessories I think to give players the stat increase and customization they want. I’ll have to slowly start making these weapons and armors in 32×32 sprites so when it’s time to actually get them done, I’ll have a good start.

Random descriptions. I think this will be a bit of a work in progress right until the end, just to keep adding unique content.

I worked a little bit on that prototype with my friend – Here’s a piece of poop character sliding about.All of the art is made by my friend Drew.

Just today (an hour ago) I updated my children’s app – Chikie Poo – A game about hatching and selling chickens then buying them hats. If you have kids 3+ to probably like 6 years old, they might get a kick out of it.

Next on the Agenda

I’ll be touching up that equipment data shortly – after a shower – and then I’ll start working on the UI in the guild. I’ll start by managing the equipment of the Heroes. Click hero, select the equip slot – and then you’ll get a drop down of what you have available. On the click I’ll most likely have the game iterate through the section of the equipment grid, check if there are any available, and draw what can be worn. It should hopefully be something I can rough out by the end of the week.

And now I bid you farewell. Be sure to watch my twitter for updates!