Day 86
Given the headache from trying to get the rails to properly spawn out of the barrel of the rifle, this time I wanted to shift to something more fun. Maybe I'll add the alternate dialogue for playing with all companions from the start (though for that, the sound department recommends I wait for when everyone's awake), or expand Scarlet's diary (since it does not go into detail for all her weapons). Another idea I liked is to again take a page from Metro Exodus, with a Gameplay toggle option for "Creator Commentary", to spawn a few interactable objects that would play some voice lines from me that would point out some of the more exciting highlights to making the game.
2:50 AM, good morning, Wednesday! Let's get started!
3AM, game engine update! Also I'm focusing on the alternate dialogue, plus coding in all the unlocked companions so they show up inside the Badass Bunker.
3:10 AM, gonna need some more dialogue variable checks for all the bonus dialogue. Same sort of setup that I had with Duke's introductory talk. And also, a branching check in the middle of that discussion, to see if you're playing with all companions unlocked. As I said, doing that completely rewrites the story, and I meant it.
3:20 AM, testing to see if the new behind-the-scenes objects spawn companions inside the Badass Bunker. Everyone applicable should be visible once you use the "All Companions Cheat". Some are in the Armory, others in the Bunk. Game engine has to rebuild the whole game because of the update, and since it was not intended for cartoon graphics but for pixel graphics, that means it takes a couple real minutes for that to get done. Maybe it's not the game engine's fault, maybe that's just a physical limitation of computer technology of the time. I have no idea.
I'm thinking about taking Duke out of the bunk, since he's also in the foyer.
For the test, they're all working...except Karl, and I'm not sure why. Also I want to put the companions on a different layer, so that rather than Scarlet being all superimposed flopping 2D image on top of 2D image, maybe we'd have the illusion of her walking behind them. The illusion only works for characters at the bottom of the room, and the opposite is true for characters at the top. Characters in the MIDDLE will COMPLETELY break the illusion.
At least I figured out why Karl wasn't loading in. He'd get deleted, as the original Obj_Karl was used for other purposes, rather than the placeholder state of the other companions. SO, to not interfere with the structure I had for Karl elsewhere, I created a separate "Obj_KarlBunk", deleted all the code in the new copy, and told the bunk spawner to point to that new object.
3:30 AM, after a couple minutes of tweaking precise coordinates, the companions are LOOKING GOOD!
1 hour of work, and already I've got the companions to spawn in the bunker, plus I've gotten Duke's alternate dialogue working for all companions. No voicing, because it's too early in the morning and I don't have the isolation I need to get loud at all hours I desire.
Now Duke's dialogue was easy to implement since the variable and most everything else was already implemented. Building whole new dialogue chains for each companion is very tedious, but clearly doable. Especially now that I know how to make it work, thanks to Duke.
4AM, gonna need to recharge the creative juices for writing. Got a little dialogue with the Colonel, but I wanted to do something more with the chemistry of Violet, Earnest, and to scheme up something obscenely goofy for Super Hobo!
So I got a little caught up with watching Youtube (by about 4 hours), as the writing groove hadn't yet come. But that's OK, because while thinking about some ideas on the official Discord server, I was looking ahead to a month from now, daydreaming about a live Q&A session doubling as creator commentary, to give a tour of the game as it'd stand at that point in time. It'd be a good chance for scumbags to crash the party, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. While there's no rigid schedule, I imagine it'd go about 15-30 minutes, and be fossilized on the publicly visible parts of Youtube for historical preservation.
Point is, it'd be very cool to see how much could get done in 1 year of zero-dollar budget and part-time schedule, with this completely "When I Feel Like It" attitude to creation.
So, at 8:05 AM, I got a bit of writing for Violet and Colonel. Not a lot, mind you, but it's enough to get started with some flavor text in this alternate playthrough. The next step was obvious: giving dialogue boxes for them. No sound this time, for behind-the-behind-the-scenes reasons.
And yes, Scarlet CAN hug her father the Colonel!
2 hours of grooving with drawing, and got some dialogue cooking here with the Colonel. Again, early happy birthday and all that. I've got other plans for today, so I'm hoping that I have enough time to get this in-game, voice or not, and send today's Dev Diary to you. This will show a good pace for progress over one real day, not the whole half-month time warp we've seen with Dev Diary Day 85.
10:45 AM, finishing up Colonel's Chapter 1 dialogue, the sort of thing you WON'T see without the All Companions cheat.
10:50 AM, now let's get these new dialogue boxes implemented in-game! Gonna have the check systems in place so when Scarlet's sprite is colliding with his, press F and it should start the chain.
I count 9 dialogue boxes done in 1 day, taking about 3 to 5 hours of effort grand total (not counting the 4 hour break I had in the middle there).
11:10 AM, OK got the base code structure. Let's test this, see if the Colonel's willing to talk.
First try, it ALMOST works! Last dialogue box just keeps jumping to Scarlet, and won't delete until after she's moved a ways from her father.
I guess I really DO need that dialogue variable, after all. AND add it to the ScarletBoots.ini so that it gets saved.
11:20 AM, everything works! Got all the read-and-write bits for the menu buttons, Scarlet's save and load hotkeys (F5 and F9 respectively), even the autosave in the foyer to the Badass Bunker! Wasn't particularly painful, either. And NOW, everything works 110% as intended!
So, with the clock running down on plans I have behind-the-behind-the-scenes, combined with all the effort it took to bring you 9 fresh new dialogue boxes, I'm going to call this a done day's worth of work, and prepare the video!
One more SUPER SHOCKING revelation! Just as I was going to copy-paste the Dev Diary onto Steam (since I promised they'd get the UNABRIDGED version), I found that the game build is APPROVED! The big green button saying "Release as Early Access"...given that we're 1 day away from my birthday, if this truly works, it's going to be incredibly cathartic!
I'm hoping I'll have off with tomorrow, June 9. Why? BECAUSE BIRTHDAY! YAY! To think, I'll be 30! Looking and living like a teenager, this is how I'd want to live if it were sustainable. Sadly, reality hasn't dealt me that kind of hand. So, best enjoy it while I can before reality inevitably doles out a fate worse than death.
https://youtu.be/6IT5V-VouXU
See you anywhere from Friday to Monday, if all goes well. If not, well, that's why I say "When I Feel Like It!"
Semper Bellum!
Jay