posted in Projects Of Some Degree Of Interest

Last week was a modelling one. There aren't a whole lot of new mechanics but it was still a productive week nevertheless.

Custom Font

Firstly, I've previously talked about creating a custom font to display some of the GUI icons.

Well, with the use of FontForge, we were able to add vectorial art in a TrueType font.

For those who don't know, FontForge is an open source font-making app.

It's pretty advance and can actually make good looking fonts. There's a pretty acute learning curve though.

If you're using it on Windows, you'll need to fiddle around with the setting though. Otherwise, it can really run with a whole lot of hiccups and crashes.

With FontForge, you can actually import vectorial graphics right into the font. Because I've already had SVG files of most of my used icons, it was just a matter of a couple of clicks and everything was imported. However, it wasn't a piece of cake: although imported, we still need to properly align those graphics up so they could be properly displayed.

With FontForge you can export the custom font to different file formats. Thankfully, we can export in TrueType, which is exactly the type of font file Unity uses.

Once the TrueType file is created, we can then use Unity's dynamic font rendering to display our GUI icons at any resolution we need without rescaling and rerendering any texture.

However, there's a big drawback: fonts are always monochromatic. If we want a coloured icon then we'll have no other option besides using a traditional bitmap texture. (Colour fonts do exits... However, their support isn't really widespread)

But anyway, here's how it looks:

New rooms

Secondly, there are also two new rooms.

All of these rooms are linked to crystals.

Now that the player can know the number of crystals they currently have, those rooms can safely be integrated and tested without any hiccups.

The Temple

When visiting a temple, players can donate their crystals to gain back health points.

To do this, the player simply needs to interact with the box at the back of the room while holding a crystal.

Temples are modelled after Japanese Shinto temple/shrine. I've taken some liberties here and there but the overall theme is Japan.

They are also much more open compared to other rooms. When the sun is right, the lighting can be quite charming.

The Pawnshop

The pawnshop isn't finished yet, but it's functional nevertheless.

The player can exchange their crystals for a small amount of money by interacting with the yet-to-be-modelled cash register.

Once finished, the pawnshop will have some fancy props here and there much like a typical pawnshop: things like guitars, jewellery and, of course, crystals.

But for now, the room is kinda bland and boring...

Minor updates

There are also some new models and code refactors.

For once, the diner now has a nice sign up on its roof:

Aside from that, there aren't a whole lot of minor differences.

Next week

Like I've stated before, a lot of rooms can be added into the game now that most gameplay mechanics are coded. And there's still a whole lot of rooms to implement.

Of course, I still need to model out the pawnshop and add its details.

There might be some polishing to do with many gameplay mechanics and maybe a refactor or two.

There's a lot of work ahead of me.