Update 0.2.0

Well despite my best efforts the porting process for Stelestial Contact: Solar Storm is taking longer than I expected. As a result in an effort to keep my once a month release schedule going I’m instead here with Rise version 0.2.0.

Though much of my focus for the past month has been on my aforementioned porting efforts and getting Stelestial Contact: Solar Storm into a state where I can once again work on adding new features to it and refining old ones. This version of Rise has nevertheless seen some quite substantial changes, additions and updates. The first of these new additions comes in the form of a dialog system with support for player responses and simple branching paths. To access this new system, simply walk up to a character and press the interact key, then choose the response you want to give from the available options at the bottom of the screen and continue doing so until the end of the conversation. Like most of the new things I implement this system is still very much in development and as a result you can expect it to be expanded on and improved in the future with more options and support for things like conditions, where you might need to have a specific skill or level before being able to choose a given option.

Utilising into this new dialog system there is also a new trading GUI and with it, the ability to buy and sell items with characters. For this purpose a new character has also been added to the slums. The shopkeeper. Accessed through the new aforementioned dialog system from within this GUI you can select items and equipment from your own inventory to sell for one of three currencies. Gold, silver and copper. This currency can then be used to buy items from the very same character from within the very same GUI.

The third major addition in 0.2.0 comes in two parts, quests and events. Events are something which can be triggered either through dialog or by stepping onto an event point on the map. Once triggered they will play an animation, start a new piece of dialog or both. Taking advantage of both the new event and dialog systems the quest system is as the name implies a system for quests which will help to guide you through the story of Rise and allow you to earn rewards while doing so. For now there is only a single example quest, but future versions will expand this number with a selection of main and side quests for you to choose from.

In addition to all of the above I should also mention I’ve made an array of improvements to the save system. Including adding support for tracking objects and enemies on maps. This means that if you have picked up an item or defeated an enemy they remain that way even when you leave and reenter the map. To go hand in hand with this I also added support for object and enemy respawning which means that returning to an area after a set number of days will allow you to collect those items and defeat those enemies once again.

As always if you have any questions or queries then don’t hesitate to ask and similarly if you have any feedback for existing systems. Or indeed if you have any ideas, features or changes you would like to see implemented then also don’t hesitate to let me know.

Finally as this is the second release of Rise and so there’s now actually a change log to look at and in keeping with the tradition I’ve adhere to with my other devlogs a full list of the additions, updates and changes pertaining to this update can be found below while a full list of changes from every other previous version can be found in game.

• Added support for setting your own player character name
• Added support for dialogue when interacting with other characters
• Added support for character effects which can be gained through both battles and item use
• Added support for events which can be triggered by stepping onto an event trigger in the local map
• Added support for quests which can be started either by an event or by talking to certain characters
• Added support for three different sets of currency: copper, silver and gold
• Added support for characters having a set starting inventory
• Added support for holding down the shift key to highlight all interactable objects
• Added support for defeated enemies dropping items
• Added support for object respawning
• Added support for character and enemy respawning
• Added support for gaining experience points and levelling up
• Added support for character stats
• Added a new character to the slums map, a old woman who you can talk to for helpful information
• Added a new character to the slums map, a shopkeeper who you can buy and sell items to
• Added a settings GUI where character movement animations can be turned off and the message display speed can be adjusted
• Added a quest GUI where current and completed quests can be seen
• Added a item trade GUI where you can buy and sell items with the target character
• Added a post battle GUI where you can see what items were dropped and select which ones you want to keep
• Added a level up GUI where you can select which stats you want to increase
• Added a way to set the current target in battles by clicking on a valid targets character box with the mouse
• Added a way to save and load settings between sessions
• Added a new item, the restoration potion which gives a 1 hour restoration effect when used on a character
• Added a new item, green slime which when used restores a small amount of health
• Added a new map object, the event trigger which can trigger events when stepped into by the player
• Updated the message box at the bottom of the screen to type messages out a character at a time instead of displaying them instantly
• Updated the save and load GUI to also display the save date
• Updated the resume button on the main menu to load the most recent save if there is one
• Updated the in game main menu button to display a confirmation box before loading the main menu
• Updated the item use logic to be stored with the item information
• Updated the inventory GUI to list all of the effects given by the currently selected item
• Updated the character GUI to also show a list of all effects currently applied to the selected character
• Updated the character GUI to support displaying the characters current level and experience points
• Updated the character GUI to support displaying the characters current stats
• Updated the character container to display the current value of the health, hunger and thirst bars when the mouse is placed over them
• Updated the character container health, hunger and thirst bars to update smoothly instead of instantly
• Updated the movement path to be drawn behind objects and characters
• Updated the current movement path to be cancelled if a movement key is pressed
• Updated save files to include any current or completed quests
• Updated save files to include any current or completed events
• Updated save files to include characters other than the player
• Updated save files to include character inventories
• Updated save files to include character equipment
• Updated save files to include map objects
• Updated save files to include enemies
• Updated save files to include information from maps other than the current one
• Fixed a bug where not all previous data was cleared when starting a new game, or loading a different save after a previous one had been loaded
• Fixed a bug where it was possible for characters to be healed past their maximum health value
• Fixed a bug where it was possible for the player characters hunger and thirst to go below the minimum amount
• Fixed a bug where it was possible for the player to move while the map transition animation was playing
• Fixed a bug where the post battle message would be printed more than once if the battle finished on the final turn
• Fixed a bug where the GUI wouldn't update after a battle until the player character moved
• Fixed a bug where the automatic movement wouldn't trigger object interaction unless the given path was a direct one
• Fixed a bug where the automatic movement would no longer work if it had been used to enter a battle which you later won