Devlog: November 2020
Well, 2020 is fast reaching its end (thank the stars!) and the days are getting shorter and colder. The changes to Hokko this month were few, but all of them quite a bit of work. Let's take a look and see!
Map Generation
I was running around the world of Hokko recently and thinking about how it felt. I realised the area that you naturally gravitate towards for customisation felt impersonal and didn't really invite creativity. It was cramped and had a set layout, which would mean all player's towns would be somewhat similar as they started from the same base.
I decided to tackle this in November, and set about setting up a simple map generator for this area. As it's so late in development I didn't have the time to do anything really complex, so I came up with a simple system that combines level "pieces" together in random combinations to give around 60 different variations. This system can be expanded on later on too, with more pieces added to give even more variety. At the same time I more than doubled the space available, so there's more space for homes and decoration.
One of the large pieces used in level generation
The new layouts generated feel a lot more unique and interesting, and provide plenty of areas for players to get creative with. I'm really happy I made the decision to do this, as it really alters how the game feels and your relation to it!
Level Updates
Alongside the rework of the "home area" I also tackled two other levels in the world which I felt lacked any good direction. They felt a bit strange and uninteresting, so I spent a day or so on each and changed their layouts.
The grove area got expanded, opened up and its pond enlarged
The small wood area also got opened up, given a better layout and features a different type of tree
Online
After some discussions I decided to partner with LootLocker for the backend services for Hokko Life and set about implementing it into the project this month. They provide a service for uploading/downloading player content, as well as a whole host of other things, and have been working with me to build out LootLocker to fit Hokko Life.
It took a little while getting the fundamentals running, but now the game works well and players are again able to upload and download furniture. I used this time too to add the "weekly challenges" to the game. Each week there will be a theme set up, and we'll pick out our favourite creations from the community that match this theme to showcase on the start screen of the catalogue. Players can then download these creations into their game to decorate their world, or even add their own twist to them in the Design Tool.
You'll use a computer in the world to access the catalogue, and so the ui is styled a bit like an old computer
Icons
Jonas continued this month working on icons and patterns for various parts of the game.
Icons
Patterns
Animations
Alex has also been continuing with animation work this month, and has produced a bunch of lovely new animations for the game.
Thinking
Digging
Changing your outfit
Art
The artists over at Team 17 have been continuing to add items to the game, so there's more and more stuff you can decorate houses with!
New items
They also got started on reworking the fish in the game!
Look how cute this little one is!
So there we have it. Now we're headed into December, and a very different Christmas this year. I'll be taking a little time to myself in December, but as I can't visit my family, I'll be spending some more time with Hokko before 2021, trying to get a head-start on next year!
I hope you're all keeping well, and I'll speak to you soon!
from Robert