Been continuing to polish and implement my combat and class mechanics this week, and I got a fair amount done.
Oddly, what I’m most excited about this time isn’t a feature of my project, but rather, an easy new work system I’ve developed to help track my progress and improve my productivity. Basically, I’m writing “patch notes” for everything I do and then saving it in a Notepad document inside my game’s project folder. I started with a series of goals I wanted to accomplish this “patch,” and as I achieved each goal, I deleted it and rewrote it in a formatted list of patch notes. Once I’ve achieved all of the goals for the patch, I’ll back the project up and then start a new Notepad for the next version.
This helps in a number of ways. For one, it’s nice having a readily-accessible list of goals which I can update as I go. When I start a session or after I finish a task, I can take a moment to update the notes with my progress, quickly remember the next task I need to work on, and add any small new tasks I’ve thought of to the version goals. This helps me to keep focused and keep track of the most pressing issues I need to address.
The system also helps break down the work into concrete chunks. Rather than worrying about finishing my entire combat system or all of the classes in the game, I can outline a distinct end point for the patch in advance and feel happy when I reach that point. Being able to watch the list of goals gradually shrink while the list of achievements gradually grows is very satisfying. And if I’m in a slump, I can do something small like adjusting skill costs to pad the notes and create the illusion that I’ve been significantly productive. Formatting it all like actual patch notes you see from major online games (bullet points, divided by categories, etc.) also makes me feel a bit more like a real developer.
Finally, it reminds me to back my project up regularly, and in the event that I do lose data, I’ll have a clear list of all the things I need to redo (so long as the project folder remains accessible). Hopefully I won’t have to rely on this often, but the peace of mind is nice.
As for my actual progress this week...well, here are the notes for this patch so far!
Patch v0.05 Notes:
General:
- KO state now removed after each battle.
- Hime targeting plugins removed and Yanfly Selection Control enabled.
- Yanfly Weapon Unleash enabled.
- Reworked Awakening mechanics, removed Overdrive, and fixed an SP regeneration bug.
- Removed the "Fast Advance" and "Fast Retreat" skills from all actors.
- Added the "Frontline" "Midline" and "Backline" skills to all actors under the Move command.
- The Haste state now allows an actor to move freely to any row when active.
- Adjusted the Slow status to work properly with new movement commands.
- Removed redundant Knockback and Pull states.
- Split Root into two states - one with a 1-round duration to follow Knockback/Pull, and one with a 2-round duration for normal Roots.
- Updated Root Setup state to be applied on Action Start after a Knockback/Pull.
- Adjusted all control effects to properly remove Awakening.
- Implemented Common Events for AoE control skills.
Battle Commands:
- Attack is now visible but disabled on the Backline.
- Guard is now visible but disabled on the Frontline.
- All references to Overdrive removed.
- Class skills are now visible on the Backline without using Awakening, but only Backline-specific skills are enabled.
- The Move command is now visible but disabled when Rooted.
Animations:
- Burn State
- Warm Wind
- Shield Bash
- Heavy Smash
- Magnetic Armor
- Gravity Well
- Elemental Missile LV1 (Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Light, Dark)
Classes:
Adventurer:
- Wish cost increased to 40 SP.
- Awakening: Warm Wind implemented.
Knight:
- Shield Bash set to only target the enemy Frontline.
- Heavy Smash cost reduced to 20 SP.
- Adjusted Protector's Aura to redirect 50% of each attack's total damage to the user (no reduction).
- Awakening: Magnetic Armor implemented.
Priest:
- Heal & Cleanse costs reduced to 20 SP.
- Holy Bolt now applies Slow for 3 rounds instead of 2 and can score critical hits.
Wizard:
- Removed the TP cost on the Elemental Magic LV1 Skill Category.
- Offensive spells can now score critical hits.
- Gravity Well implemented.
- Energy Burst cost reduced to 20 SP.
- Basic version of Rune Missile implemented (along with all elemental variants).
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I probably won't post these every time, since most of it just reads like gibberish, but I wanted to share just this once.
Lastly, my progress this month is making me reconsider my planned Chemist class. My original inspirations were Final Fantasy Tactics' Chemist class and the Bravely Default series' item-using classes (specifically Salve-Maker and Patissier), and the aim was to create an off-healer which could pair well a wide range of classes. However, consumable items have currently been removed from my project, the strain of implementing and balancing mixing mechanics is daunting, and potential heal-stacking issues are creating obstacles for my skill design. Given all that, I feel like I'm not going to be able to achieve either the simple effectiveness of either FFT's Chemist or the powerful flexibility of the Bravely item users. Moreover, I feel as though the fantasy of the Chemist/Alchemist archetype has gotten lost over time in my design, and there just isn't much of a fun factor left. As such, it's in purgatory for now while I decide whether it's worth redesigning, or if it's better to just introduce a new class altogether.
This coming week is likely to be quite a bit busier than the last, but I'm hoping to get some more skill design done and then maybe try to work a little more on finishing my last couple of status ailment mechanics. The latter requires some unfamiliar JS, though, so whether I'll finish that is still a question mark.
