Development updates since June

It's been a while since I shipped the last demo.

Here's a rundown on what's been worked on since the last update:

New Level Workflow - Trenchbroom

Previously, Spirit Ocean was using Godot's built in CSG tools for creating the levels. These suffered from performance issues and limited design tools. With the Qodot addon, I can port maps directly from the Trenchbroom editor into Godot. Probably the most consistent level editor for Godot.

"ah, the mighty sequoia red(within the 256 color palette)woods"

Saving and Loading

Variables such as game progression and settings now persist after closing the game. Spirit Ocean is the very first video game to ever do this. 

I'm planning on shipping another demo once enough progress has been made in the story. At the moment, there's incompatibilities between save files, meaning each update will mean having to wipe your save progress. This won't be a problem with the final release.

"JASON~!"

Settings Menu

Another revolutionary feature. More settings will be added throughout development. Right now, there's just the bare essentials.

"where fov slider"

New HUD and GUI work

Some new elements have been added to the GUI. I've added a stamina system (more on that later) as well as slots for your currently equipped weapon and consumable secondary. There's also a new GUI for selecting missions within the hub area (pictured below, very early WIP)

"uhh... im not late for work, am i"

Stamina system and melee changes

Using the various alt-fires, you can perform double jumps, wall jumps, long dashes and even grapple on to specific materials. In testing, there was nothing to prevent the player from corner climbing with the wall jumps, or constantly avoiding enemy fire with bnuuy hops and dashes. A lot of the gameplay could be trivialized by simply moving away from it all.

A new stamina system has been put in place to even out the pacing in combat. The amount of stamina used per alt-fire is going to be adjusted throughout development, but the idea is to cycle players in-and-out of safe/risky attacking distances for combat efficiency.

If you do manage to get in with melee, you can dispense your stamina in combat to perform stunlocking combos. This can be used to drain a target's health quickly (and with style!) as well as avoiding enemies on the ground with aerial launchers.

The melee detection code has been updated to behave consistently across all weapons, using solid hitboxes instead of raycasts.

"drag on, dragoon!"

AI rework

Story NPCs and enemies now share the same AI code. This opens the door for all types of NPC interactions in the world (such as friendly NPCs that want to talk to you, neutral ones that remain indifferent unless you attack them, or mean ones that just want you dead). NPCs now use Godot 3.5's new path-finding to navigate around the world, making them much more intelligent.

"SPANISH TRANSLATION: Tengo que ir a la tienda a comprar mantequilla y queso."

Among other things, what's next, and when

This post covers the surface of what's been added to the game since the last demo. A lot of stuff has been changed under the hood to make developing the game much easier for me. With that being said, what's on the table for the next update? And when will it come out?

More work needs to be done on the AI for dynamic mesh loading. The same goes for the player. Being able to switch costume/face textures on the fly will make the world feel more lively. On top of this, the script needs to be expanded to support more behavior and movement types. Not to mention boss scripts, and interactions with the player's story progression (yeah, quest lines!)

Trenchbroom and Qodot have too many powerful features for me to ignore, like custom brush entities. It simply makes sense to integrate those into the project.

I can't keep any promises as to when the next update will come out, or if you can even play it, as I'm doing this all on my free time. A neat trick you can do to make the game come out faster is dropping one of those ACME anvils on your head to knock you out for several years. By the time you wake up, not only will Spirit Ocean have released, but also deadly viruses beneath the Earth's permafrost, resulting in the global population being reduced by over 60%!

At least you have walljumps.