Devlog July 25 - Replanning and preparing for the first playtest

Welcome to the second July devlog!

Replanning

It was always the intention to revisit the plan we've made for the year about half way into it. This is period number 14 out of 24, so it's about time we did it.

A big thing we wanted to add to the revised plan were playtests - planned periods where we ask a few people to test the game. We decided that this required a small change in our way of working.

In the previous plan, the goal of each sprint was adding one or more big features to the game. We then had a few sprints set aside for fixing bugs and polishing the game at the end of the plan.
This means that we have a number of small bugs and missing nice-to-have additions that we plan to fix at the end of the plan.

However, if we want a test in a few weeks, these small bugs and missing features can be quite disruptive when testing. We'll get feedback about things that we already plan on changing.

With this in mind, we decided to set aside a full two periods (this one and the first August period) to prepare for a playtest in the second part of August.

To avoid potential spoilers, we've redacted a few things in the plan.

In order to get the most out of these tests, we'll also set aside a full period to execute the test and to adjust the game based on the feedback and findings from the test.

If we compare the two plans, we can see that the tentative release date has been pushed from December 2025 to May 2026. This is for multiple reasons:

- Adding the playtests require additional time and work
- Compared to the old plan, we're already a bit behind.
- There are a few things that we didn't have in the plan, such as gaining xp, leveling up or buying or selling items from shops. These are substantial features (we need to create new menus etc) and will take some time to finish, so they should probably have been in the plan from the beginning.

Pushing the release will be a bit of a strain on our resources (see the bonus devlog from last week where we shared some of our thoughts on the economics of making a game). After all, we're working with no income until we have something to release!
But we want to make a game we can be satisfied with and that requires more time.

Improvements and bug fixes

Now, let's move on to the things we've done to improve the game. Because of our focus on the coming playtest, we have worked on many smaller improvements rather than adding a new big feature to the game.

First, let's look at battlefield backgrounds. Previously, the battlefield consisted of many identical tiles and the edge was black. Now, we can draw a custom background each battlefield so we can add details to the ground and to the edge around the battle.

 

In this example the detail is grass, rocks and bushes. But it could just as easily be mountains, alleyways etc.

For comparison, here is a picture of how it looked before

This image was originally shown in a devlog back in February. We can see the dark blue at the edge, which is now replaced by nicely drawn scenery.

In the process of upgrading battlefields, we also added obstacles to the battle (such as the central bush in the above image.
Obstacles will be essential for tactical combat in the finished game.

At the same time, we fixed a bug with computer controlled NPCs and obstacles. The pathfinding was already capable of finding a way around obstacles, but we didn't check the final tile of the movement. So computer controlled NPCs would not walk through obstacles but they could end their movement on one. That should be fixed now.

We also introduced a new enemy, the wolf.

This wolf has several pink scars.

Drawing a wolf was a bit of a challenge and the anatomy is probably all wrong. But as long as the drawing conveys the idea of a wolf, it's probably good enough.

Speaking of drawing, we've drawn several more details around the farm.

Some details have narrative importance but most are just to make the farm area feel alive and interesting to look at. 

We would have liked to add more details to the farm area, but we have other areas to draw and so we'll probably call this area done for now.

Other small improvements include setting up static NPCs to face the player when interacted with (previously only moving NPCs would do so)
We made the player character able to be moved in a cutscene (previously only NPCs could be moved)

We also added a key binding for continuing dialogue. For now the default is space, but that might cause some problems since space is also the default key binding for interacting when the player explores the world. The problems seem to be fixed, but we might change it back so each key binding has a unique key.

Thanks for reading this update! 

I hope this was interesting even though it was focused on several smaller fixes and improvements.

The next update will be on August 8th where we will introduce party management and the second party member. Talk to you then!