v0.3.0 Housekeeping

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Hi Everyone,   I'm back from the dead. My last post was well over a year ago, announcing v0.2.0. v0.2.0 was a bit of a mess, strung together to make nice looking GIFs and screenshots. The code was an absolute nightmare, and there were some fundamental problems with my engine that really worried me about the reality of this becoming a game. It became really daunting to work on, and I ended up falling out of the project entirely for a few months.   During this lapse in progress, I was able to spend a lot more time making pixel art. A lot more time writing. A lot more time with the piano. A lot more time playing other people's games. It was a needed reminder that I was making a video game because video games are made out of the things I enjoyed doing, not the other way around. So, here we are. Version 0.3.0, and its quite the doozy. Grab a snack because this is going to be a long one. Highlights  World Design We have a new town! The town design has been fleshed out pretty well no
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v0.2.0 A Whole New(ish) World

 Hi everyone,

So it's been a while. I'm back with another update.

Before I get into that, today is the one year anniversary of my first post on this site so there's some celebration to be had there. 2022 will also mark 3 years since the PixelEngine in its current state came about, so cheers to that as well.



To make up for the lack of updates the past 4 months, this one is jam packed, and is a full v0.X release.

Let's start out with the obvious, the new art. I've added quite a few new things to the game. We have trees and vegetation now, as well as several new buildings and ground tiles. I've been trying to pick up the pace with the art so I don't get buried in it.
 

 

Next up, I have added the framework for NPCs into the game. Currently they're very basic, but they can walk around and the player can interact with them (right now they just have some arbitrary dialogue appear over there head when you interact with them). From here it will be very easy to add things like shopkeepers, character dialogue, combat, etc. so things are really going to start picking up from a playability standpoint.

 

To go along with NPCs, I've implemented Character Customization. There's only a few options currently, and until I decide how I want menus to look its only hard-coded, but I've added debug commands to allow you to do it on the fly if you choose. 


And finally, there are a bit more art assets that I've added, but you won't see them out here....


Map switching with transitions have been implemented, which means building interiors are now available! Go on in and get cozy!

That's all I've got for you for now! I'm not sure when the next update will be out, but I've got some big plans, but I won't tease them here. If you'd like somewhat more frequent updates, you can check out my Twitter, where I post smaller updates and art that I'm working on.


Thanks for reading!

Nick









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