- Eli Holding
Critter Cove Devblog #8 | Catching Up
Hello everyone! It's time for another update on the progress of Critter Cove. First, just a reminder that if you want more frequent updates you can join our DISCORD server and follow us on TWITTER. We are very active on both and always look forward to hearing from you. Now onto the game updates!
Our character customization system is functionally completed. Now all that’s left to do is keep adding to it. The system allows the player to mix and match different body parts (head, tail, ears, eyes, pattern) to form the player character. And since all of these parts can be custom colored, the results can be very unique. Moving forward, we’re going to continue to expand the choices available and do another UI pass to make it easier to navigate all the choices we have.
We'll be releasing the character customization system as a stand alone download. We want to get it into peoples hands so they can try it out. Stay tuned for more details about the when, where and how.
We’re working on NPC behavior, AI, and dialog. And the daily lives of NPCs is starting to take shape. Most of them now have a daily schedule and are reacting to things the player does. We want our NPCs to have interesting lives so that they don’t have a static routine. Instead they decide what they are going to do from a list of activities weighted against their wants/needs. This means that a hungry NPC is more likely to do food related activities, such as go to the cafe or ask the player to get them something to eat.
NPCs also react to things that the player does. If the player builds a new building, NPCs will comment about it and start using the building if it is something they like.
Our town has gone through a pretty major overhaul. Before the town was sparsely populated and less dense that would grow slowly over time. The issue with such a town is that it looked and felt barren at the start. So we decided to change things up and have a town that is mostly already in place but in a dilapidated state. Since the buildings are already in place it is much easier to communicate what must be done in order to fix them up. This gives the player superior guidance on the “what to do next” problem, as well as, tells a great visual story of seeing something go from a broken state to a clean usable state.
We decided to change how players buy goods. Instead of a basic UI with a list of purchasable items, those items are physically shown in the world. The player purchases them by walking up to them and selecting the item. Once purchased an item is sold out until it is restocked the next day. Shops can be upgraded to display more wares.
That’s it for this update. Still lots to do but are really excited about where the game is going. Adding more content and getting the world to interact with the player continue to be a major focus going forward. The goal is to make the player feel like they’re in a world filled with characters that interact with them. Thanks for reading and thank you for your support.