I started reviewing the original design goals this week. For each goal, I’m assessing whether the game currently meets the goal (on a scale of 1 to 10), if I still want to have the goal, and if I want to refine the goal. I wrote the goals down before a working game existed. That was six years ago. I’ve reviewed the goals from time-to-time, but haven’t evaluated, at least formally, how close I was to meeting each goal. It’s been a valuable and, at times, eye-opening exercise. Now that I have half a dozen years of experience building and playing the game, I can see which goals were unrealistic, which goals were better on paper, and goals I should have added/removed. I’ll write an article about this and link to it in next week’s update.
Keys, Locked Doors/Chests
Maps can now contain locked doors and chests that can be opened using keys found elsewhere on the map. This required creating a new map generator capability that can spawn an associated entity in a different area, which will be useful for other purposes such as levers and teleporters. Standard wooden locked doors can be broken down. Metal locked doors can’t.
Keyboard Input (Continued)
Expanded keyboard support to the Title, Continue, Select Class, and Settings screens. It was a good amount of work that involved button lists, a scrollview (saved games), and a grid (select class).
New Content
- Rooms (4): Fog Corridor, Roots Room, Locked Treasure Room, Locked Chest Room
- Objects (4): Locked Door, Locked Metal Door, Locked Chest, Hidden Door
- Items (3): Keys (Copper, Iron, Gold)
Next week, I’ll wrap up the design goal review, continue adding keyboard support, add triggering objects (levers/pressure plates), and work on more interesting rooms.