Weekly Report (Aug. 11th)

Hello.

I couldn't not have diverged from the original plan, could I. Yes, as you might have guessed, I found myself working on a variety of things that are not implementing the new dialogues. I mean, I did implement them. They are in the game, you just can't access them, lol. I ran out of time and steam, so I only scripted a portion of the new demo content, up to the point where you are expected to go to the cellar and fetch ingredients. On the other hand, I made some big improvements in other areas.

Here's the list of what I've done for this new build:

- Button auto-press functionality - remember the days when you had to keep tapping WASD or the arrow keys to move around? Those days are behind us. Now, you can simply press and hold a button, and it will continuously trigger the associated action at intervals. While this might sound simple to implement, it actually took some effort to make it work smoothly. The initial version had a few bugs and unexpected behaviours, but after refining the functionality, it now should work seamlessly;

- Player movement revised - I've overhauled the system to make it more efficient. The functionality has been relocated to a different class, and along the way, I made some necessary adjustments. Now, the code's structure and flow are much more logical;

- Utility panel reimagined - this was a more extensive task. I completely tore down the existing functionality and essentially rewrote the class that controls the set of utility and move buttons from the ground up. The result is a much cleaner, more understandable code;

- Improved notification container behaviour - I've refined how newly spawned notifications are displayed on the UI, ensuring they are better organised;

- Implemented new dialogues (no scripting) - the new dialogues have been added to the game, complete with all necessary sprites. However, they are not yet fully accessible. I wasn't able to script all the new demo content in time, so this will be pushed to next week;

- Changed quest recognition - I've revised the method for accessing quests within the scripts, opting for a more streamlined solution that eliminates the need for direct references in the editor.

As I was scripting the first part of the new demo storyline content, I realised that the way I script level logic may not the best, even though previous I claimed I probably couldn't make it any better. Well, guess what, I was wrong. I see how I could make the scripting easier now. Not sure whether I'll start revising level logic scripts next week, but I will eventually. What I will be doing next week, however, is finishing implementing the next bit of the demo content. It won't take long, really. Also, I somehow ran into a bug that broke the combat skipping button mid-fight. I have no idea what went wrong. Will have to look through the code once more to see any possible loopholes.

See you next week.