Devlog #15: Swinging by the River (Patreon)

Hey Farmers!

I'll start this one off right away with a little checklist I've been keeping of how far along all the new major features are:

-Yumi Sprites [25% done]

-Yumi Portraits [100% done]

-Yumi Implemented [30% done]

-Shark Sisters Sprites [0% done]

-Shark Sisters Portraits [0% done]

-Shark Sisters Implemented [0% done]

-Fat Candace Portraits [0% done]

-New Areas/Lake [25% done]

-New Sky Animations [90% done]

-Fishing Mechanics [10% done]

-Tool Mechanics [80% done]

-UI Changes [85% done]

-Building Changes [80% done]

-New Dryad [0% done]

-New SFX [0% Done]

-New Character Voice SFX/Sounds [0% Done]

-Questlog System [100% done]

-June's Potion Quest [0% done]

There we go! That should give everyone a good idea of what's being worked on and what will still need more time.

Now, let's jump into what's been going on under the hood:

The Questlog

Ever since Mocha's questline to give her the potion, a lot of people have been confused over what their objectives are to progress the story in certain places. In order to avoid confusion, I've been wanting to add a very basic little questlog/objectives tracker that tells you what you should be doing next if you want to progress!

It's meant to be as non-intrusive as possible, and can be disabled at any point by hitting "Q".

UI Additions

As you can see, there's also additional UI being added. Visual buttons for what the hotkeys are for certain functions (which are also clickable as well if you'd prefer!) so no more getting confused trying to remember that it's "B" for backpack, not "I" for inventory.

And what are those hotbar spaces for up there, I wonder?

Tools!

Tools are FINALLY coming to the valley. Kind of a staple for any sandbox game of this nature, it's a wonder I went this long without having these mechanics in already.

Sky will now be able to equip a weapon, pickaxe, axe, and fishing rod in order to harvest resources and, later on, fight off enemies!

While you can switch to any tool via their respective hotkey, these tools are also context-sensitive. Meaning if you hover over a boulder and click, you'll automatically switch to your pickaxe to start mining if you have one equipped!

You can see which tool you'll swap to by whatever your cursor changes to. You also no longer have to rapidly click to harvest these resources. Holding down the mouse works just as well.

Apologies to everyone I gave carpal tunnel in previous updates.

The River

There is now a river that runs through town! You'll be able fish there any time you want if you don't feel like heading all the way down to the lake, albeit your options of different catches will be more limited.

It also serves as a great way of letting you know if you're getting too heavy.

Building Changes

The building system has been redone from the ground up! The grid-based building felt EXTREMELY limiting and didn't really fit Gorge Valley's non-blocky aesthetic. So, instead, all furniture and decor can now be freely moved and snap to the nearest platform beneath them.

I feel like it feels a lot less restrictive this way, and will allow people to have a lot more freedom with decorating the farm, especially as things like house upgrades are added. :)

Alright, that's about it for now. Hopefully more to share real soon!

Until next time, farmers!