Late-May Feature-Test

A major addition and minor improvements to the game have been made

This video, while a little outdated, still demonstrates a good chunk of the change notes in this dev log.

Terrain3D

• Tokisan Games' Terrain3D addon was selected for Ventury to use in the overworld.
  • The addon is excellent, and is the premiere terrain solution for Godot 4 by many a country mile. Libraries are pre-compiled, the architecture well thought-out and documented, and incredibly clean. What would have otherwise taken months extra to do in Blender, even more can be done with Terrain3D.
  • Terrain LOD/Draw Distance is configurable from the Settings sub-menu on the File Select screen.
    • Lower Draw Distance is better for low-end hardware. Best configured alongside the game's Resolution.
  • Weapons have detection for Terrain.
  • Footstep material can be retrieved from Terrain.
  • Navigation for Terrain is baked, then retrieved from-disk during runtime.

Note: the baked navigation technique used is not finished. Though there is desire to share, it isn't perfect, and is prone to fault.
The streaming technique may be shared in the Tokisan Games discord server in the future, when it is ready enough for the community to take and run with.

Ambient Areas

• Ambient sound and environment context can change as the player moves to different locations.
  • Environment context was extended to give characters perceived wind.

• Areas can be marked to change ambient sound and environment context as the player enters.

Note: while this has been a feature for a while, it is worth mentioning here because it is easily observable in-game:
when Rixin or Aria enter a hot or cold area, they will react accordingly. In the cold, their faces turn red, and may shiver or sneeze. In the heat, they might groan or fan themselves.

Miscellaneous

• The File Select screen will appropriately show whether a file can be created or loaded.
• Footstep sounds were normalized. The noises before were loud, or a little too quiet.
  
• Fixed Reina's step sounds becoming desynchronized with her animation.
• Hotfix for player input. Controllers connected mid-session will be registered.
• Skeletons will now experience knockback impulses from blocking attacks and being harmed by weapons, similar to Rixin.
• Skeletons can wear different helmets, making it easier to keep track of them in groups.
  • Nick was nice enough to make some extra models. Expect some more from him in the future! ❤
• Rixin can execute different strokes with swords under certain conditions.
• Rixin's model was updated.
• Reina's mane has physics, and textures were made for both the mane and tail.
• Rixin and Aria make ruffling or rustling noises depending on what they are wearing.

From glossydon:

I have unfortunately been forced to crunch recently. It is not something I wish on anyone, because it is a big source of distress. A lot of people in the industry and observing it from outside know it to be bad, either because they have felt it or seen the negative effects of it on products.
I understand it now, and it sucks.
Video games are an art, and art made to placate pencil pushers' pensions are always lesser than art made to express something human.
Human expression takes time. You may be talented or committed to an art form, but your seeds don't bloom just after planting them.

I've also recently gone through a schism with friends, which dealt a good deal of psychological damage to me on top of the crunch. I had to take a few days break from work because my head would pound with pain nonstop - no amount of hydration or medication for migraines (which I took responsibly) made it go away. I am fine now, but that kind of stress is not something I've endured before, and I hope to never go through that again.

Beyond my game developer nightmares, I've been making strides with the silly elf game. Other game developer friends have been enjoying successes and limelight, and I couldn't be happier for them.
My birthday is creeping in, and I plan on celebrating.

P.S. Thanks, TimelessWonder!