Devlog feb 28 - Ground and Combatant Effects

 Welcome to the second February devlog!

Unfortunately I've been bedridden with the flu, so I haven't been working the last couple days. But I still have some progress to show

In this example combat, the Goblin has the ability to set tiles on fire and the elephant can put mud on the ground. 

This week we've focused on effects on the ground (such as fire or mud) and effects on the combatants (such as enrage or slow).
Currently effects on the ground can have an effect when a combatant enters the tile, when they leave or when it's a new round. The two effects we have currently implemented are:

- Burning Ground, which will deal damage to any combatant standing in it when it's a new round.

- Muddy Ground, which will apply a slow effect when a combatant enters the tile. This slow effect is a passive effect, that stays on the combatant when they leave the tile. 

This shows that passive Combatant Effects can be applied from a Ground Effect, but they can also be applied directly from a combatant ability. For example we have given the elephant an ability that enrages everyone in a small radius, giving a small attack bonus.

Every effect can have a visual indicator. For example, we have created a small red icon to signify that the combatant is enraged. 

Another thing we worked on this sprint was a little combat log. This is going to be useful for the player to parse what is happening in the game.

In this example, the combat log is showing as much detail as currently possible. Also note that we changed the font of the game to better fit the pixel art style of the rest of the game.

The combat log is currently a little busy. We have already created different detail levels, so the player will be able to change how detailed the information in the log is. We're also considering adding some colour to some of the text in the log to highlight some of the numbers for example.

The last thing we wanted to do this week was to have some abilities summon other combatants, but due to my sickness, I didn't manage it.

If I can squeeze it into the next period, I will.

But the main focus next time will be on creating the enemy A.I., that is making a system where some combatants can be controlled by the game. The game will then have to determine the best actions for the combatant based on the state of the game. This is something that I know can be quite complex and I think I would benefit from reading up a bit first. So I'm looking forward to it and I hope you are as well.

The first March update will be on March 14th. Talk to you then!