Learn You a Game Jam - Day 11 Work Notes

Didn't get to the Guildie actually picking up the Item last night, very unsatisfying.  I mapped out the remaining days and I have tonight to:

1) Get the Guildie to pick up the item and transform into the new Type.  This is really just moving the item from the Items Node where its on the game board, to the Item Slot on the first Guildie that crosses its Area collider.  The Character knows how to load the correct Type Core already.

2) Update the rally system so that the types will go to a spot behind the tank, not just circle around him.  Then update the "walk to main tank" ACTION to be a Rally instead. I want to make the rally system work by Type so as long as there are Priest rally points and Guildie rally points the character will match up.  I might need a GM list of "game objects" like these that specific actions will look for, but don't affect most Characters.  I also feel like Signals would simplify a lot of this, but that is for a mythical time known as "after the Jam".

2) Update the Priest type for the lottery system (basically rebuild it from our new lottery powered Guildie)

3) Create a Heal action to replace Pick Up Item.  I want it to be on  the Item itself, with the item getting a chance to contribute TICKETS to the Character's lottery hopper.  For now I'm content just making it part of the Priest base behavior.  Rally system should update on the Type change, and hesitation is the same.  We have the code for this already on pick up item, but instead of just walking there, when they are close enough to the target they will run the priest heal animation with an set increase in the target's health up to max - and then run a new lottery.

4) Create an Archer the same way - Replace Heal with an Attack.  Instantiating an arrow and sending it to its destination and having it do damage when it gets there.  This is the big question mark.  I think it should be fairly simple, but it could take hours.  This one worries me, but once its done it will be the code for every bullet-like effect.

5) Create another Enemy - A Melee Skeleton.  Basically using the MainTank as a template for melee combat.

6) Bonus 1: Update the Slime to the Lottery system - no real need to do this but I'd like the Slime to be a LITTLE less stupid.

7) Bonus 2: Melee Friendly unit.  Axeman is a good choice.

The new Types aren't as difficult as they seem (I think) since the ground work for making them has been done.  Again the only major stumbler I see is that Arrow, and I can make it Hit Scan (just do the damage to the target instantly with no Arrow animation) if its taking too long.

My schedule for the Remainer of the Jam is:

Friday is Character/Type day!  Once this is done, the bulk of the game engine is COMPLETE!

Saturday is Map / Level Design  day: I am using the insanely gorgeous Adventure Begins tileset for the background.  The GBC color pallet is especially great here because its muted tones will help the characters stand out.  The map will start at a village, then grasslands with some trees, then town outskirts, the town, and then a town Plaza for a boss fight (Boss Pending - But I have an idea).  If I can figure out the Y-sorting/masking and collisions I can make the map a bit interesting, but as a fall back plan I can just hard restrict Character movement by Y bounds the whole time with a mostly  cosmetic background going by.  Along the way there will be "doors" to houses (and trees - its in the tile set) that will generate new Guildies, so I have to make those work.  Probably use the Lottery system I have already with like 10,000 DON'T JOIN preloaded in the door's hopper and then every time it "sees" a monster die it adds JOIN tickets to its hopper and then only clears it when JOIN wins.   This generate new Guildie in the door and maybe a strong impulse to RALLY for its first moments.  The hopper is cleared and a fresh 10,000 DONT JOINS are loaded up for a new recruit to be convinced to leave his safe and comfortable home to fight for JUSTICE!

Also need to figure out the scrolling, but it can be as simple as a 1 way, always on, horizontal auto-scroller and that will work, but I'd like to do better.  Then figure out a system for generating monsters.  I could just place them and hope the distance modifiers keep them from just heading straight to the party from across the level.  I could instantiate them from a list when the Camera gets close.  I could randomly generate them just off screen with different intensities based on where the camera is (I like that, less work, can use the lottery system!)

Sunday is UI / Controls / Music / Sound / Player Experience - I want the player to have the ability to turn of and on Items Carried, Current Lottery Winner (current behavior) and even Current Lottery Hopper (list of potential behaviors and their intensities).  If I get to the point where I can add Special Abilities, I'd probably work on them this day for improvement in the polish phase.  I also want to spend this time to really think about a fresh player coming into this game and make sure they understand what is happening and what they need to do.

Monday and Tuesday - Polish, Playtest, and Publish!  I want to make it available as an Executable, Project files, as well as a Browser version.  The first two I know how to do, I don't know how to make it play in a Browser, but I think it should be simple enough to figure out.  I also want to make a video showing off the game features, structure, and code.

Wednesday Morning 9 AM - Publishing Deadline!