DEV LOG 6/20/21

So one thing I noticed today was that, all the time I originally spent at the start, adding the script/dialogue I wrote for all of the characters and NPC's? That was all done at the wrong time. I mean, it wasn't a "waste of time" exactly, but it didn't push the game towards a "completed" state because technically, I could have made the game without most of that dialogue. What I'm saying is, even though the dialogue adds information and deepens the world, making it more vibrant with knowledge and lore, making it more real and believable, it isn't necessary for the game to actually be completed. Some of the dialogue could be cut out from the npc's and the game's story and essential plot could still be written from start to end.

I'm not saying it's wrong to have these things. Absolutely not, as that kind of experience is exactly what rpg gamers love, myself included. The reading and the learning is part of the fun, taking in all of this interesting lore about a new but somewhat familiar world. However, I should have waited until I had the rest of the game - at least most of the rest of the game - finished before I added most of that npc dialogue in. Being able to ask a shopkeeper about themselves and their shop isn't exactly necessary... yet it's interesting!

However when testing the game to get it all completed and figure out what prevents progress and how all of the variables need to be adjusted for proper playtime, most of this dialogue gets skipped over or not triggered at all because it's unessential to the core of the main plot. Again, all that means is I should have waited before adding that stuff - I only wrote out all of the dialogue and figured out all of this side information about the world because I was waiting for the VN maker to go on sale for christmas anyway, or else I might not have even written all of it yet and I know for sure that next time, at least if I work alone again anytime soon after this, that stuff should be held for later.

So I mostly bug tested the combat today (like 4+ hours of this). I added a debt tracker underneath the giga tracker. What today has shown me is that I need to add sidequests. So far I think the rate of progress is okay, such as leveling up and stuff. However I might want to make it happen twice as fast once I add the physical upgrades for health and stuff and armor upgrades for defense. Which only means doubling the amount that a data packet sells for.

I've also fixed the reward system so that it properly compensates the player for the difficulty of the match based on the level of evil of the enemy, their difficulty rank. I only had it set so that all monsters rewarded the lowest value reward for initial testing but found it time to expand to what the intended version is.

>added debt tracker

>bug test

>test bug

>punchy kicky buggy

>built the full and proper reward system for monster fights