I continued work on the new encounter today, focusing mainly on a new branch. And as this one involves a conversation, more branching ensued:

I might need some emergency exits in this one.

As you can see, we're starting to get more complex. A lot of today's work is in the lower right quadrant of the image above. The player can detour into a conversation, and that conversation branches.

And branches.

And branches---and branches.

\---------------and branches.

This is sort of the ideal structure I picture in my head when I'm writing conversations. I have this vain hope that the player can have this natural conversation that progresses down new and interesting topics, rather than recycling the same conversation "hub" over and over. In other words, there is no way to see all branches in the same game.

The up-side here is that it could make conversations interesting and almost strategic. Planning what to say next is almost as important as surviving on the map.

The down side is, well, I have to do a crapload of work to make it happen. That, and some completionists will probably be upset about missing content in a playthrough :)

Anyway, I'm going to try and make this thing happen. So far, I'm on a pretty good roll. This new character's personality is pretty clear in my head, so I'm having an easier time writing them.

In other news, I made a slight adjustment to the battle screen this morning. A player suggested that I mirror the battle move icon that the AI just used on the battle screen. This way, when they charge/retreat/talk, the arrows and actions point in a more logical direction relative to the player. Simple change with big benefits. I like it!

Also, I noticed a bug that prevented dropping a wheelless shopping cart in battle, so I fixed that.

That about wraps-up Tuesday! Hope everyone has a good night, and see you tomorrow!