Weekly spoiler

[Danno]

This week's spoiler is... another look at that monster from last week!

2018-10-28 a new monster moving.gif (5.45 KiB) Viewed 777 times

This is its walking animation. There was more detail involved in animating this monster, so it kinda took a long time - completing this monster was the only thing I accomplished all week. I was hoping to have something new to show by now, but I don't, so oh well.

Since January 2017, I've been keeping track of how much time I spend working on art/graphics. I can get lazy at times, so it kinda helps keep me in line when I catch myself not spending enough time on the game in a month. It also gives me a vague goal of beating my records from last year.

Here's a look at how much time I've spent making monsters!
Birbek: 5.3 hrs
Chicken: Estimated 3 hrs
Skallug: Estimated 3.8 hrs
Tumblok: Estimated 2.3 hrs
Spinshroom: 2.1 hrs
Hasek: 3.8 hrs
New snake monster: 6.8 hrs

The birbek was our first complete monster, so I think the fact that it was a little experimental caused it to take a bit long. With that in mind, I never imagined this happy little snake would take nearly 7 hours.


As an added bonus, here's some trivial information. I present a summary of my graphics/art log for your viewing pleasure. Not everything we do can be quantified in this way, such as the time we spend planning features, testing the game, making maps, having dev talks, researching solutions to problems, etc., so keep in mind this paints an incomplete picture of our work on the game and is mostly just for the sake of glancing at it and saying "oh, neat."

This is a loose standard I've set for myself. It's a bit lenient, but I do have a fulltime job and other irl responsibilities.
Excellent month: 35 hrs+
Good month: 25 hrs
Okay month: 15 hrs
Sad month: 5 hrs
Pathetic month: Below 5 hrs

2017 graphics/art logShow

January - 25.9 hrs
Pixels: 0 mins (0 hrs) / NPC artwork 1553 mins (25.9 hrs)

February - 29.3 hrs
Pixels: 1500 mins (25 hrs) / NPC artwork 257 mins (4.3 hrs)

March - 31.1 hrs
Pixels: 1865 mins (31.1 hrs)

April - 17.4 hrs
Pixels: 1045 mins (17.4 hrs)

May - 13.3 hrs
Pixels: 400 mins (6.7 hrs) / NPC artwork 395 mins (6.6 hrs)

June - 1.3 hrs
Pixels: 65 mins (1.1 hrs) / NPC artwork 10 mins (0.2 hrs)

July - 2.3 hrs
Pixels: 0 mins (0 hrs) / NPC artwork 135 mins (2.3 hrs)

August - 3.8 hrs
Pixels: 0 mins (0 hrs) / NPC artwork 225 mins (3.8 hrs)

September - 7.8 hrs
Pixels: 110 mins (1.8 hrs) / NPC artwork 360 mins (6 hrs)

October - 36.3 hrs
Pixels: 1580 mins (26.3 hrs) / made the site (~10 hrs or so maybe)

November - 48.4 hrs
Pixels: 2905 mins (48.4 hrs)

December - 37.5 hrs
Pixels: 1995 mins (33.2 hrs) / NPC artwork 260 mins (4.3 hrs)

Grand total: 254.4 hrs

2018 graphics/art logShow

January - 33.1 hrs
Pixels: 1875 mins (31.3 hrs) / NPC artwork 110 mins (1.8 hrs)

February - 21.3 hrs
Pixels: 1275 mins (21.3 hrs)

March - 16 hrs
Pixels: 960 mins (16 hrs)

April - 69.3 hrs
Pixels: 4155 mins (69.3 hrs)

May - 60.9 hrs
Pixels: 2665 mins (44.4 hrs) / Title screen, updater, NPC artwork: 992 mins (16.5 hrs)

June - 44.1 hrs
Pixels: 2415 mins (40.3 hrs) / NPC artwork: 170 mins (2.8 hrs) / monster concepts on paper: 60 mins (1 hr)

July - 28.4 hrs
Pixels: 1275 mins (21.3 hrs) / NPC artwork: 425 mins (7.1 hrs)

August - 15.2 hrs
Pixels: 433 mins (7.2 hrs) / NPC artwork: 480 mins (8 hrs)

September - 40.3 hrs
Pixels: 1920 mins (32 hrs) / NPC artwork: 500 mins (8.3 hrs)

October - 25.9 hrs
Pixels: 1115 (18.6 hrs) / Title screen: 440 mins (7.3 hrs)

November -

December -

Grand total: 354.5 hrs

Record high months in 2017: 3
Record high months in 2018: 7
Months remaining: 2

[Errors]

Neat info, good snek

[asheknight]

Extremely proud of the progress made on this project ^-^ Amazing :D

[Danno]

This week's spoiler is... a simple newb tutorial!

2018-11-10 Simple tutorial.png (186.08 KiB) Viewed 722 times

As you can see, it very quickly explains how to play the game with minimal text involved. We're thinking it'll pop-up for new players so they aren't as confused as they might currently be.

(Possibly subject to change)

[Kokiri]

;)

[Danno]

Oh yeah, this week's spoiler. I had a fever yesterday and spent the whole day in bed. I'm still sick today. On the weekdays, I didn't really accomplish anything too noteworthy. Better luck next week!

[unit]

Oh yeah, this week's spoiler. I had a fever yesterday and spent the whole day in bed. I'm still sick today. On the weekdays, I didn't really accomplish anything too noteworthy. Better luck next week!

get better soon bud! smash back a bottle of burbon and have a sleep. always works! who needs doctors?

[Danno]

I've got a late spoiler here.

This week's spoiler is... Friend list updates! Here's the old sample:

_SAMPLE Friend Window.png (5.68 KiB) Viewed 558 times

And here's the new one:

_SAMPLE winfriend_350x350.png (7.99 KiB) Viewed 558 times

The window will be a little bigger to allow room for more information. Changes include:
-Shuffling some things around a bit.
-Displaying the friend's class and level (though there is no class system yet).
-Addition of a "trade" icon (though there is no trade system yet).
-Offline friends have their name darkened.
-Option to set your own online status as "Busy".

All subject to change, of course, as usual.


I have other work in progress, but I didn't want to post spoilers about it until it's all done. Some of it isn't too fancy or interesting, anyway. I've been doing some work on hairstyles to make them compatible with a character in a lying down pose. It's all just unseen work on existing hairstyles, basically - I skipped most of the lying down frames previously since it wasn't an urgent feature and I didn't want it to hold us back from our public release back in May.

Once the lying down pose is usable, we can allow characters to interact with beds (as seen in my very first weekly spoiler)!

[Danno]

A little late here, but this week's spoiler is... hairstyle stuff!

2018-12-02 hair progress.png (14.92 KiB) Viewed 514 times

I've finished updating all the existing base hairstyles and hanging hair attachments to have a "lying down" view. Lying down views for hair length is still a work in progress.
Due to the nature of our game's inner workings, it's kind of a hassle to add new hairstyles on a whim. Basically, all our hairstyle graphics will need to be replaced with the updated version (including lying down views), so I figured this was the perfect time to make some new hairstyles. I made a total of 16 new base hairstyles and have at least 8 new hair lengths in progress.

[Aubrey]

First of all, let me just say that the friends list update, look so good. I was really hoping that we would get a more detailed friends list window, so that's actually rather exciting for me.

Second, the new hairstyles, as well how the hair looks when lying down, look amazing. How long has it taken you so far to update all of the hair styles with a "lying down" view? It looks as though it was quite time consuming.
Also, will we being able to lie down anywhere? Like with sitting. Or will it be restricted to beds and maybe other specific objects?

[Danno]

It seemed to take roughly 9 minutes for one hairstyle lying down view, and it appears I completed 60 of them. There is now a total of 80 hairstyle bases, looks like I had 20 of the lying down views already done from a long time ago.

So, it took around 9 hours to finish the lying down views for the hair bases! Seems kinda hard to believe I put that much time into just one aspect of the hairstyles. That's not including the hair length and hanging hair lying down views (which would be about another 3 hours so far).

I was thinking players should indeed be able to lie down wherever they want. Otherwise, this view will be used when a player uses a bed or when they die.

[Errors]

Really nice Danno. Also, looks like I will have to be an archer for life now.

[Aubrey]

It seemed to take roughly 9 minutes for one hairstyle lying down view, and it appears I completed 60 of them. There is now a total of 80 hairstyle bases, looks like I had 20 of the lying down views already done from a long time ago.

So, it took around 9 hours to finish the lying down views for the hair bases! Seems kinda hard to believe I put that much time into just one aspect of the hairstyles. That's not including the hair length and hanging hair lying down views (which would be about another 3 hours so far).

Oh wow, that is really quite impressive actually! Well, in my opinion at least! I would have thought that it took much longer. They turned out incredibly well, so I would say it was time well spent. I am very much looking forward to this feature.

layers should indeed be able to lie down wherever they want. Otherwise, this view will be used when a player uses a bed or when they die.

Using it as a view for when you die, is something I hadn't even thought of! With that said, it does give me an idea. Have you thought about giving monsters a death sprite as well, and instead of having them just drop an item like they do now, maybe make the body loot-able? Though, I don't have any clue as to how much unnecessary strain that this may put on the server, if any. So maybe it isn't really so viable?

[Danno]

Really nice Danno. Also, looks like I will have to be an archer for life now.

-sunglasses face-

Using it as a view for when you die, is something I hadn't even thought of! With that said, it does give me an idea. Have you thought about giving monsters a death sprite as well, and instead of having them just drop an item like they do now, maybe make the body loot-able? Though, I don't have any clue as to how much unnecessary strain that this may put on the server, if any. So maybe it isn't really so viable?

I suppose I hadn't thought about dead monster sprites (or I don't remember if I did). Probably the most viable way to implement something like that would be for the dead monster to behave as a dropped item/loot box, basically. The player could then click the dead monster to pick it up, resulting in some RNG magic and a message like "You salvaged 1 chicken feather from the carcass" or "There was nothing useful".

On one hand, that would be kinda neat. On the other hand, it could get annoying having to dig through dozens of carcasses when only 5% of them actually have some loot.

[Danno]

I'm a little late with this again. I just started a new job irl on Monday; it's taking some adjusting, so I haven't accomplished much this week.

That said, this week's spoiler is... Santa Claus!

2018-12-09 santa.png (3 KiB) Viewed 414 times

I'll try and hurry up with this so we can have a Christmas event. This outfit will have restricted access, at least to start with. At this point, it'd be a waste of time/resources to make this outfit fully compatible with all the attack animations, so I'll just make it capable of standing and walking.
For that reason, this outfit will be for admins only. It has some other issues, too, like the top of the boots would poke out of most pants. The top piece also has a fat stomach, which may be incompatible with future equipment.

[Sholto]

I was thinking players should indeed be able to lie down wherever they want. Otherwise, this view will be used when a player uses a bed or when they die.

I could see this being really fun once factions/government/alignment comes around. Pretty sweet for ambushes and such. Picture: a bunch of players lying on the ground playing dead when an unassuming traveler walks by, then they all pounce. It'd be cool if there were some sort of potion which makes a player's health bar appear to drop to 0 for a few minutes. Would be a really small detail, but with role-playing being a big aspect, little details like this could make things pretty fun.

[Danno]

I was also thinking of this ambush scenario, though I was mostly just thinking it'd be funny in PvP if some people would just "play dead". Then I was thinking hovering a player's name to check their HP would kinda foil the whole plan and didn't think about much after that.

Cloaking HP like that is a good idea. Perhaps "playing dead" could be an actual rebel skill - activating it could:
-Cause the rebel to lie down
-Makes the rebel's HP appear to be zero while lying down
-Makes the rebel invincible for 5 seconds, but they also can't get up or move in this time

That way, they could use it when they're in the middle of being attacked to make their opponent think they've already won. There might need to be another skill like simply hiding their true HP so the damage numbers/HP bar wouldn't look weird jumping from half health to zero HP. Maybe a rebel could even customize it to make it appear as though they have really high HP or really low HP seeing as they're all about deception and underhanded stuff.

[Sholto]

And then on the other hand, maybe heroes could learn skills like "inspect" which tells them if a body is really dead or not. Hmm... this could all get very interesting. I can't wait. ^_^

[Danno]

Yeah, I was also thinking of heroes and rebels having certain skills that counter each other. There'll be leveling up within the heroes/rebels system, which could lead to situations such as a low level rebel being unable to hide their HP from a high level hero, or a high level wanted rebel being able to slip past a low level town guard hero without being flagged as a criminal.

It's tempting to start developing the hero/rebel system right away, but I suppose it might lack weight without proper combat and a bigger world.

[Danno]

This week's spoiler is... Shoulder equipment!

2018-12-16 shoulder equipment.png (9.67 KiB) Viewed 363 times

Subject to change, as usual. Drawing it is simple enough, but planning is a more involved process. I'm still working on figuring out how to make it display properly alongside all the other equipment layers and attack animations. It's a bit tricky and too troublesome to explain, I guess.

Anyway, when it's ready, you'll be able to mix and match shoulder equipment with whatever you want. There will be some obvious matches, such as the metal shoulderpads going with armour of the same colour. Here are some examples of less obvious matches:

2018-12-16 shoulder equipment2.png (4.44 KiB) Viewed 363 times