There hasn't been new build in a few days and I wanted to post so you all knew what I am working on. It's some bigger stuff that needs to be 100% complete before I add it into a build so there may not be a new build for another week or longer. I don't like going dark, so even without a new build, I'll be updating on my progress.
Note all of this is in addition to the weapons, armor, monsters, and new flora that my artists are working on, which is what is left of most of the roadmap.
Optimize the NPC pathing
Doing some tests, I've pretty much confirmed that the pathing AI is causing a CPU load way higher than it should be once you have about 30+ townspeople. After some tests, with the pathing on and off, the framerate is 50% faster when I turn the pathing off. It shouldn't be using anywhere near that much CPU so I'm spending time trying to figure out what's wrong. The pathing system is one of the few things I didn't code myself so I'm also working with the developer of the plugin to help figure out why it's doing that. I'm pretty sure it's something I'm doing wrong rather than the plugin itself.
Update all of the buildings to use the new build system
I have the new build system up and running. Now I have to update all of the buildings to use it. Again, this is one of those things that only really works when ALL of the buildings are using it. It's not difficult work, just takes a lot of time and testing.
Update the world map
The main trees, rocks, and flowers are done, so I want to start putting them in. But, rather than just switch out the trees and rocks, I also want to change the way trees and rocks are loaded into the game. Right now they are just on the map by default. What I want to do is have them loaded and added to the game dynamically when you load a save or start a new game.
This allows me to control what trees are used. So for example, I can create a "low spec" setting that only loads one or two tree types rather than the full 12. Same number of trees, same quality, just less variety. This would give better framerate without sacrificing too much in graphics quality.
I can also let you set the type of tree, meaning for a higher end system you can check the animated trees (moving with the wind) and for a lower spec machine, you can use the default trees, which don't move, but are much more efficient and look just as good.
The idea is to give everyone options to focus on performance vs. quality depending on your PC specs. This combined with the pathfinding updates should make a noticeable difference.
Continue controller support
I want to finish adding all of the UI that doesn't use a scroll-bar. That would account for about 90% of the UI aside from the crafting, building placement, and the achievements list. Those will need special code so I plan on tackling those last.
Test builds
Once all of this is done, I'll probably also have most of the new weapons and armor in the game too. So the vast majority of the new art will likely all finish up right around the same time.
I'll try to make some test builds as I go so you all can check out the progress and I can prepare a big update that has all of the new stuff in it at once.
I want to do it that way because as I change out the trees, weapons, etc. I also need to update the screenshots and videos on the Steam page. And I really only want to do that once. :)
So, there is a LOT going on and I wanted to make sure I kept you all in the loop. Feel free to reach out with any questions or comments you have and as always, I appreciate the feedback and support!
-Jon