15 May 2023Developer postOriginal post (opens in a new tab)

May Update, Week #2!

Hello all, if you prefer this update in video form, here is a link to the YouTube video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iQGCyzAFQ8&ab_channel=CatIsland

Let's get straight into the update!

Artwork

Ruben has been hard at work producing new models!

Fences for our stockpiles
New workbench model
New tool bench model
New roofing models (Peaks and sloped)
Sloped blocks
Spruce trees
Two chair models
A nice, large table
And he touched up some plants

New Additions

We've been doing a lot of work under the hood but we'll start with our additions!

Detailing System

The detailing system is done and implemented! It took a ton of planning to implement it seamlessly but players can now place objects such as the previously mentioned chairs and tables anywhere without the limitation of the voxel grid. This allows for very detailed buildings and tons of customization!

Multiplayer

We have made the decision to switch from P2P connections using Steam to using Unity's built in transport layer. This was a big choice but ultimately we decided to drop Steam's implementation to speed up our development time. Steam does not support two instances of a game open at once and since even the editor counts as an instance you would need two separate computers to test. Previously it would take upwards of an hour to test and fix one bug! Now we can do that in less then a minutes.

I have been hard at work making our existing systems compatible with Multiplayer but so far only player movement and world syncing is implemented. I hope to have the rest transferred over by the end of the week!

Dialogue System

The dialogue system is done! Writing new dialogue is as simple as creating a new json file. The current system not only supports any amount of NPCs, but it also allows for branching dialogue and conditional topics. For example an NPC may only talk to you about certain parts of the island if you've already explored it! While the system is great I would like to develop a new tool to easily visualize dialogue trees and create new ones quickly.

More Progression[/h2[ We have slowly but surely extended the first part of the game. With our new dialogue system we have allowed the player to speak to Onyx and implemented a new HUD element to show the player's current objective!