I spent this week working my way through a to-do list of tedious tasks for Atonal Dreams! Here are a couple of the more interesting additions.
It's been a mixed week! I hadn't worked on Atonal Dreams for a week or two, so getting back into it was difficult and slow. But once I did, I had some great days where I remained focused on some creative thing or another all day, even going to sleep reluctantly, eager to wake up and do more!
Not that I have a ton to show for it, really. I'm still working my way through some seemingly bottomless list of tasks remaining before the next alpha, which is hydra-like in that for every one I remove, I end up adding more. They're mostly things I've been putting off and feel reluctant to tackle, too. So it's a bit of a trudge, but I'm making progress at least!
Mostly it's bug fixes and behind-the-scenes technical stuff, or writing dialogue scenes, but I can show a couple of additions in this 7-second-long video clip:
The most obvious is a return of potions. I had these in the game ages ago, where they worked by combining pairs of elemental reagents to create a wide variety of different concoctions... but I felt that added unnecessary complexity, and removed it months ago. I decided while playtesting the other day though that there were a couple of situations where expendable items would be really useful - plus it gives something to fill treasure chests and give as rewards and stuff - so I added them back in a different form.
I wanted to keep things minimal and streamlined, to avoid cluttering up an inventory with a vast collection of variably potent or specific-case potions the player would never use. So there are only six types of potions in the game, one for each element, with different useful effects. Only one heals, but it heals 200 HP (more than most characters would ever have) and revives KO'd allies. Another can be used to add 100 points of Light for quick taming. Deciding what each of these six potions would actually do took some time! (As did effectively recoding the throwing mechanics since I'd removed what I had before, and it wasn't compatible with some recent changes anyway.)
I like the silly idea of using potions by chucking them in your allies' faces, so I'm glad to bring that back!
I also finished adding the glitter system, where you can acquire a currency by defeating figmon or using their skills while they're tamed allies, and can spend it in the menu to add XP to your own skills. It all works as intended now! At the end of that video, you can see a box at the top that shows glitter earned for defeating the Rabbish.
The next milestone - doing another alpha - feels like it's just over the horizon... as has been the case for months now. Feels like I could get there in another week or two if I really focus, but I have reason to doubt my predictions of how long things'll take, so let's just see how it goes. I'm at least making steady progress, even if it's slower than I'd like.
Neither of my parents died from COVID, and they're both testing as negative now, so that's good. I haven't done a test myself because I haven't had any symptoms, but hopefully that's not just because it's taking a while to incubate...
I've also still not set up my new PC!! I've taken it out of the box, at least. I'm planning to do that on the weekend - so I'm getting this out of the way on Friday - but I keep putting it off because it'll be a lot of effort shifting everything around - in both the physical and digital spaces - which I lack the time and energy to do. One of many things I've been avoiding/shirking, I suppose. I'll do it eventually!!
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