Treachery Devlog #1

Still tinkering away on this hobby project/prototype to see where it goes. Itch keeps prompting me to write a devlog, so I figured I would try doing one and see what happens. This update has a little bit of everything added, new maps, new NPCs, new systems.  Experimenting with adding more sounds and effects, this time specifically for breaking into doors.

A big thing that is starting to fall into place is my NPCBrain system working alongside the normal RPG Maker events/pages system. I want to be able to have the brain behind the scenes handle the NPCs schedule and movement throughout multiple maps, while still allowing to write interactions using the pages & self switches normally, without the two diff systems getting in the way of each other.  I've tried various approaches to this over the last couple of weeks, but the current iteration is finally settling in, and I'm happy with how it's working out.

I still want to be able to spawn events on the fly, and ofc they need to work properly when loaded from a save game. I tried a plugin for this way back when I first started this project (back when it was still in MV), it wasn't working for me.  I tried making my own plugin based on it, but I think maybe it was for MZ and not MV and I didn't have a full grasp on the differences between the two. I should probably go back and attempt this again.

I keep adding new features to my existing plugins and in retrospect, I find I should have made a new plugin that does that one thing on it's own. Some of my plugins have grown 500-1500 lines, so I should probably refactor some of them out into smaller plugins.

My philosophy is to try to implement new features and make them as foolproof as possible. The curtains on the bottom of the map had to be placed a tile below since the double tile height images go up from the bottom of the event. This means I had to add an invisible counter tile above each one. And ofc every time I wanted to add a bottom curtain I would forget, or later move the curtain and not the counter, etc. Recipe for disaster! So I figured out how to offset the sprite and made a plugin to look for a note tag to see if there is a sprite x,y offset needed. Now I can put the curtains right on the wall where they can be interacted with, without the need of a counter tile. I can copy curtain events from one map, paste into another and it all just works. Much better!

The NPCs are one of the most critical aspects of my game, so I have really gone hard on make them foolproof as wel.  Each map an NPC can appear on, gets an empty event with only the name of the NPC added.  On a map load, the NPCBrain I made will populate everything else from JSON data files. So if I want to change the NPCs name, face, images etc, there's only a couple of places that needs to happen. I can put events/pages on the NPCs event if I want, or leave them empty for some default behavior. But it will go through all the existing things and if it finds any "Show Texts" anywhere it will patch up the name and face on the event to match the NPC. This is a super time saver when working with the NPCs!

Combat: There is very little combat so far. It's really not the focus of this game. Even in other RPGs complicated combat systems just aren't my jam.  I don't care for Souls-like crushingly hard fights. In Oblivion/Skyrim I shoot arrows or one spell over and over until the monster is dead, so basically button mashing. Dying and reloading feels like I'm wasting my time. I get why other people like it, the rush of finally beating a boss after 20 tries, etc. But that's not for me, so give me that casual mode all day, lol. I'm not sure if I should even keep combat in the game at all. But I know if I take it out entirely, it kind of defeats the purpose of obtaining better armor/weapons which is a staple of every RPG.  I've also looked into a couple ABS systems. I think that might fit this project better than turn based combat. Especially since for most of the game you work alone.  Turn based is great for parties, but is lame if you are solo. However, these other ABS plugins seem to be massive in scope with a million bells & whistles I wouldn't even use, so that is daunting. I worry how they will interact with my existing systems. Maybe I should write my own baby ABS plugin.

Going forward, one of my big goals for this project is more stealth gameplay.  I have a stealth system in place, the lighting system, and NPCs being able to see you or not.  You can see this by breaking into a door while an NPC is watching you.  The NPCs have "vision cones" but they are only shown while I'm testing, not in the version running here on itch.  Eventually I plan on making this be a skill you gain later on in the game to be able to see the cones. It's actually pretty tough to be spotted though, there just aren't enough NPCs around to see you committing crimes. I suppose I will need to add more City Guards patrolling, especially at night. But my goal is to make some "stealth missions" where you have to infiltrate places and naturally, rob them blind!  Then I can get a better feel of what needs to be tweaked in the stealth/lighting systems.