Hello, little deities! Welcome back to our monthly update, and thank you for your continued interest in the project.
September has been quite a unique month. I was on vacation for almost two weeks, yet I managed to maintain a good level of productivity and keep progressing toward my goals. The two weeks of rest were truly "miraculous," allowing me to return fully refreshed. So, without further ado, let's dive into the updates.
This month has also been filled with reworks and improvements. Unfortunately, most of these changes aren't directly visible, but don’t worry—there’s still plenty to showcase.
In recent days, I've implemented the "Social System," a procedural system that assigns a "personality" to each family. This system activates whenever members of different families interact, and their compatibility affects the relationship between them. These values will then be used to enhance citizen interactions, allowing them to engage in activities influenced by their relationships. Integrating this system revealed a bunch of bugs; it took some time, but now it seems to be working great! 😉
Another significant rework involved the Faith System, aiming to simplify the information presented to the player. We shifted from a system based on the faith of each individual citizen to a single value representing all followers. Along with this, I implemented much of the deity's "power" system, which governs the gathering and consumption of the resource that allows the deity to cast spells and enchantments. In addition, I revamped the structure of the Temple to reflect the current Faith value (through the size of the tallest blue flame, which shrinks or grows based on Faith) and the current level of Glory (or Fear/Love, depending on your alignment) through the smaller braziers.
Another major feature that landed in Deity's Domain this month is the ability to draw runes on the ground. Creating a system that accurately recognizes what the deity has drawn was no easy task, but it seems like we’ve achieved the goal. In short, I collect the drawn points, use the camera's direction to define a canvas for the drawing, and then convert this into a texture. This texture is divided into 16 sections and compared against a database. Based on the matching value of each section, a final similarity score is generated, and it's working well—even for runes that are quite similar.
(And the keenest among you may have also noticed the floating message that appears after the rune is activated; it’s part of a small implementation aimed at enhancing the user experience in various situations)
Finally, let’s wrap up with an update on the new citizens. We're transitioning from concept art to 3D models and running the first rigging tests to ensure a smooth transition from the old to the new models. We can’t wait to see them textured and wandering around in the world of Deity's Domain.
The project is moving quickly. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I keep finding new features to add to the game. Or, as in the case of the Faith System, I realize that already-implemented systems require major adjustments to better integrate with the game's structure, which might slightly extend the development time. However, the current goal remains the Demo, and month after month, I feel we’re getting closer to reaching the quality needed for this milestone.
Don't stop following us to stay updated; big things are on the horizon!
As always, if you have any questions, curiosities, or suggestions, feel free to comment below ːsteamhappyː
See you soon, and keep following us, little deities!