Deathbed

Music

This one has been a pain for me. My original vision for the game was to have different audio experiences. Specifically, ambient would be sounds to match the environment. Such as wind and blowing sand in the desert, perhaps with the odd eagle caw and whatnot. Atmospheric was going to be music which seemed to fit the area, and Controlled was going to allow the player to change music as they like regardless of the area.

I ran into one major problem: the damn size of each area. Ambient would be downright repetitious in a map you might spend 15 or 20 straight minutes in. The same problem arose for atmospheric - how many songs would each area need to not be repetitious?

As well, finding sufficient, matching music and ambience for each map was proving not only super time consuming, but painful and unsatisfactory. There was also the challenge of adding all this in to the game in a meaningful way to players.

Finally I settled on a more simple approach. Here's what I did:

- 5 playlists available from the start of the game
- 3 of the playlists, despite different tastes of music, have somewhat similar sounds, making the game feel more cohesive.
- 2 of the playlists are a bit more out there. One being a bit more sporadic for the ADHD players out there, and another being a homage to 8-bit music.
- 17 songs per playlist
- songs are generally arranged to build up energy, then calm down a bit in rotation so the player experiences a range of emotions.

At any point, other than during battles, the player can press a key to go to the next song in the playlist (the list will loop if they do it on the last song.) They can also press a different button to go to the next playlist. If nothing is done by the player, the current playlist will just loop over and over.

For battles, I'll have a total of 5 battle songs, and the option to turn off battle music. If it's off, the playlists will continue playing through a battle. If battle music is on, it will always play the selected battle song. This allows players to choose if they want their music interrupted for an exciting battle scene, or if they want to maintain the musical immersion.

I also added the option to change music volume: OFF, 20%, 50% 80%, 100%.

With the full implementation of playlists and volume control, the options menu screen is now 100% complete. Nothing will need to be added for the battle music (it's already menu'd in, just gotta build it into battles.)

THIS IS MAJOR PROGRESS BECAUSE ALL THE MUSIC IN THE GAME IS NOW IN! As well, adding additional songs or playlists in the future would be a snap. As well, for those who want a thinner download file in the final versions, a slim version could easily be done where 1 or more playlists are removed, or the lists are shortened.


Character Graphics
Menu armor was supposed to be fully implemented BUUUUT I really hated the Makeshift Armor, or whatever the hell I called it. Seemed way too forced and my pixel art skills weren't done any justice by that one. I decided to replace it with an armor I unintentionally overlooked initially which I much wanted to have - a Samurai option! I've got the upper body and helmet done on this one so far and just need to make the lower body portion. This one will also be easier to make a walking sprite for than the other armor, which I hadn't done yet anyway.

This does create a lot of work because these graphics take a while, but additionally I'll need to edit the armors stats and associated graphics, because those were already implemented for the other armor and it really doesn't make sense that Samurai armor would do something like protect against radiation. At least not the version I've made.

I'm refraining from adding a whole other concept in that I would LOVE to have. That being different skins of the same armor - so like the Samurai could have a different mask, helm, or color scheme. Programming wise this is easy to implement, and they would make great additional finds from raids, but this would be graphics heavy and is definitely not a priority given how much more there is to do for the base of the game. So, this one is going in my back pocket for DISTANT future expansion plans... like... after raids are implemented.

Environment Graphics
Using the improved pixel artistry of my Wastescape (swamp) designs, I've redone some of my Wonderland (snow) map environment graphics and find they look way better. I then did this with the barely edged-out Godforsaken region and love the results. This style is going to be incorporated throughout the game. Another graphical setback, however it will get the game to a state where it's all custom graphics instead of a mix of mine and others, and different styles of my own that don't jive.

Overall it's a bit more cartoon. Initially the game was supposed to be quite dark but over time I've come to transition it to more hopeful and less depression-inducing graphics. Though the theme will remain dark, it will contrast against a somewhat lighter environment. This alone will be a bit unsettling - like Fallout, I suppose. Anyway, in addition to some revamps I also got further in the Godforsaken overall mapping, including concluding a portal design that was leaving me a bit confuzzled as to how to accomplish it, but for which I was determined to include in the game. I consider this another big win as it draws the overall vision a littler closer to life.


Also Done
- Dictionary of terms expanded (planning excel only)
- Item descriptions written for weapons & attire (planning excel only)
- Tutorials added to Options page (huge, time consuming, finished)
- Bugs worked out of music and options menu

There was more from the last time I got active on the game, but all of this is from this last 1-2 weeks progress.