The biggest on the list is fix the pathfinding. I've been dragging my heels on it for no good reason. I've got Recast and Detour linked into the project, the modules are all there, I just need to write the code to tie it in and have the mobs use it when planning their approaches. Still, a high-powered path-planning system that can get a unit from one side of a huge island to the other is more and more seeming like overkill to me, in that all of the designs and scenarios I'm coming up with involve encounters on a rather small scale, taking place in relatively isolated little portions of the island, and only rarely would an AI-controlled mob have to cross the entire map. If ever. So far, I've just been using basic dynamic obstacle avoidance and leashing enemies to an area around their spawn point.
I also need more "brains". The current brain, implemented to test the features and ideas of enemy brains, is pretty stupid, spewing spells at random and chasing the player with a dogged persistence that is hilarious.
Another thing I need to work on is the Strengths/Weaknesses system. Currently, spells and attacks deliver ModifyLife messages directly to an opponents VitalsComponent, but I plan to build an intermediary that will handle TakeDamage and GiveDamage messages and process them first, before either firing off a ModifyLife message or sending a TakeDamage message to the opponent. In this intermediary stage I'll have the chance to apply resistances/vulnerabilities to certain types of damage, whether they are natural strengths/weaknesses or whether they are applied via a buff/debuff.
So here's what I've come up with so far as a rough draft of Tutorial Island.
1) You are teleported to an island in the middle of a vast sea by your master, who intones the admonishment to become a wizard or die trying. For this stage, I'm going to have to develop speech boxes or quest text, something along those lines. (I'm still nebulous on how I'm going to approach questing)
2) Being transported magically by a wizard who doesn't really care whether you live or die can be a strenuous ordeal. You land on the island hurt and nearly starving. You need food in order to naturally regenerate health, so while starving you will not heal and you are in such an injured state that one or two hits from a baddie would finish you. So your first order of business is to hunt a critter for meat (your master gives you a pile of throwing stones to hunt with), then gather Twigs and Flint to build a Tiny Cookfire. Cookfires are just another type of Workbench, one with which you can craft foods using raw materials. Once fed and rested, you can gather Wood Planks to build a Crude Workbench, which will give you a 2-slot workbench. The 2-slot bench will let you transmute various materials and create some starter equipment with which to venture forth into the wider world. It's pretty dangerous to stray much beyond the spawn area with nothing but throwing rocks, since they'll only do 1 damage, fine for killing a critter but worthless for killing anything that fights back.
3) Your starter weapon is pretty much just a stick, or something to that effect. Exact details aren't nailed down, but it will be enough for you to work on the next stage: building your Apprentice Laboratory.
4) Any good goblin wizard needs a well-stocked laboratory to further his research. Using the Crude Workbench, along with commonly found materials such as Wood and Flint, plus less-common materials such as Low-quality Pewter, Weathered Plank, and Forked Branch, you can create your Apprentice-level workbenches: Apprentice Cauldron, Apprentice Carving Stand, Apprentice Writing Table.
5) With the cauldron, you can now use gathered berries and sand(for the glass), and make potions. The Apprentice Cauldron, of course, has a rather limited set of recipes (one, currently), given that it only has 2 crafting slots.
6) With the carving stand, you can transmute Piles of Ash and Straight Branches to make a wand. Again, it's rather limited (one, right now).
7) With the writing table you can transmute Critter Skins and herbal dyes to make scrolls (currently no scroll recipes exist; haven't even built a graphic for the writing table yet)
8) The next little while is spent gathering the special materials you need to stock yourself with a good wand for offense, some potions of healing, and a scroll of minor shielding to absorb a little damage. The final task of Tutorial Island is to find the King Baddie of the island and defeat him to obtain a Sturdy Wood Slab, which you can transmute with a regular stack of wood to create the Sturdy Workbench: a 4-slot general workbench with which you can build a Raft. Once you have built a raft, you can leave Tutorial Island forever.
A lot of that is done, but I do still need a lot of icons, plus I need to settle on the nature of the Critters and the Baddies. The biggest thing, though, is to build a new, special-case island generator that can build an island to the general specification of what I need for Tutorial Island, with its carefully segmented nature. Most other islands I can just turn over to the random number gods, and if they turn out to be a hostile wilderness utterly opposed to the existence of any and all life, then so be it. But Tutorial Island has to be a little more sheltered.
My current thinking is that upon completing Tutorial Island, I'll probably package up and release a somewhat official early demo to gather some feedback. Maybe next week, then, although since I'll be driving a moving truck from Arizona to Wyoming this weekend, it could be iffy.
