It was a solid week with lots of smaller, but important, improvements and fixes. I added a few new map features and need to make sure that I do this every week, because map content variety is one of the key aims of the game.
- Fibonacci weighted randomization. This is an extension of the existing weighted randomizer that adds the capability to automatically set weights based on fibonacci numbers. I created this because I kept needing a random number generator where each outcome was less common than the outcome before it, and the number of possible outcomes was variable. Fibonacci numbers naturally worked for this. I start at the second 1, so the outcome weights are 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 and so on, and the weights are assigned in reverse order so that the most common outcome has the largest weight. I use this primarily for rarity-based random selection.
- New sound effects. I added sounds for hitting webs, stalagmites, and bones and an ambient looping sound for braziers. The physical material-based sound effect configuration, in which the sound played is based on a combination of the weapon used and the physical material of the target, is becoming unwieldy. I will probably remove weapon-specific sound configuration and create a global configuration based on combination of weapon damage type (slashing, chopping, bludgeoning, piercing), weapon physical material, and target physical material.
- New Map Elements. Added statues, grass, pots, and rugs.
- Removed redundant Map Elements. Some common patterns emerged as I continued to create new Map Elements and it became evident that I could combine some of the elements. For example, there were dedicated elements to place a single actor such as a fountain or a shrine. The only difference between the elements was the actor. So, I removed these variations and created a single Actor Map Element that takes an actor type as a parameter.
- Rubble tile variations. I got really tired of seeing the same rubble tile everywhere. I bought the Oryx 16-bit Sci-Fi sprite set primarily because it has two more rubble variations (that’s how much I like making my own art). The variation helps, but some of the rocks are too big. I’ll live with it because all the artwork is going to be replaced anyway.
- Player corpse. When the player dies, there’s no visible indicator beyond the “Game Over” message. So, I made a corpse sprite (for the Knight; I still need to do the other player classes). As with the enemy corpse sprites I made, I used a simple process of rotating the sprite 90 or 180 degrees, slightly shearing it, and dropping the blood sprites above or below. The results are ugly but serviceable. Now when the player dies, a corpse will be displayed.
- Animated Bones improvements. Animated Bones, which are piles of bones that come to life when the player approaches them, were improved. Now they animate when the player is diagonally adjacent to them and when the player attacks them from a distance with a ranged weapon.
- Equipment hotbar design. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about how melee weapon switching and ranged weapons should work from a UI standpoint. This week I finally figured out how this should be designed. I still need to implement the design to validate it.
- Added unit tests for select utility classes. I practiced some test-driven development this week, which is a rarity. I found some issues with the Fibonacci randomizer right out of the gate, so the new unit tests already paid for their effort.
- Bug fixes. Fixed ~10 issues that directly affected gameplay, which felt very satisfying.
Next week, I expect to mostly work on UI, specifically the melee and ranged weapon hotbars.
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