Good day keepers!
This weeks blog post will focus on UI, some dynamic objects, helper bots and a few other items of interest. Let's get stuck in!
Multiplayer
So let's talk about the biggest change in the sequel which is multiplayer. From the main menu you you play alone as Single Player, or choose one of 2 Multiplayer ways to play with your friends.
When hosting your world you can choose from a Direct connection world or a Server listed World
If you are hosting the world on your local network connection you can use the direct connection which just needs an IP and port number, and off you go! You can also use the Direct Connection to play with friends outside of your local network using port forwarding techniques.
To connect to a Direct Connection world, you can simply enter the IP address and port number to connect to the host.
Now in case you are playing with friends from far away, and port forwarding is a foreign concept to you, you are in luck, we can use a server list and connect you anyway!
When creating a server listed game, you will simply give your world a name which can then be found on the server lists.
To connect to a server listed game, you can search the server list for a game to join and then connect to the games.
Small disclaimer: Our server lists are hosted by Unity to help with connecting people across the globe
We are currently in the process of working on a video that shows off some of the multiplayer game play but felt that we should mention something very important! There will be no features in this dev log that are locked to single player. Anything that we mention or discuss will be fully playable in multiplayer.
There are particular features that do need to be designed to consider the synchronization of objects for Multiplayer. So there will be some elements from the single player portion which will have some features that must have a good compromise to keep development flowing.
As an example, let's talk about the helper bots. We've discovered that there is a reasonable number of helper bots that P2P can handle without causing any issues with synchronization or performance. But if we were not creating a multiplayer game, we could have 50 helper bots flying around.
So the theory is this, design the game with the shortcomings of multiplayer, but still make it fun and balanced to play as a single player game. It's wise we discuss and remain open on this because this type of development process will save us time and allow us to create content much faster than trying to combat two different variants of the same game.
Dynamic Objects
While developing Shoppe Keep 2, we wanted a far more flexible way of creating content. Items, spells, equipment, displays and NPC's are objects that can be removed and added quickly and easily. Additionally, we are considering supporti got Steam Workshop for player made items that can be usable in game. Once we reach that point, we'll talk more about it!
We are currently working on an Item creator app which will ship with Shoppe Keep 2. Right now the priority is not on that particular feature but it currently works as intended but have not yet tested it with Steam Workshop. We'll reveal more info later!
Blonde hair
We've added a new hair colour, Blonde! It joins six other available hair colours in Shoppe Keep 2.
Helper Bots
Helper Bot Mark V appears in Shoppe Keep 2. Major adjustments have been made to make him more useful with entirely new tools Unfortunately, as we work to strive towards more advanced bots, they seemed to have picked up a few personality traits!
In our online stress tests we've noticed that 5 helper bots is a great number to maintain core duties and responsibilities without affecting synchronization and performance. In response, we've made the helper bot upgradable so that you start with one, but can go up to 5.
We will be making the helper bots much more useful in time but right now they are able to do the following:
- Stock items
- Fix furniture
- Manage the farm
- Travel to other towns to buy or sell stock
Defense is also planned, but we need to work out a few kinks!
The helper bot's core path finding has been completed and so is his decision making. But not all features are complete and we will talk about them in more detail as they are further along in development.
Right now, they can stock items, all bots share a container that you will fill up with items. They'll pick up an item and then place it within the shop. Because the Mark V helper bots introduce arms, you can even see them visually holding the item that they are going to place.
There's not been too much to share this week. We spent quite a lot of our time working out some issues with multiplayer. Multiplayer had worked since Day 1, but because we attended EGX (which required focus on single player game play) we had created many features and had not tested them fully in multiplayer. So time has been spent working on those and debugging them in a multiplayer environment. Of course, loads of bugs were found! But we've been spending our time making sure that features currently in the game will work with a friend.
That's it for now, Stay tuned as we reveal more information (probably same day next week!)
Indie DB