List format!
- Further optimisations
- Literally halved the number of AJAX queries and reduced the total amount of transmitted data by about 30% (with 0 compromise on any user-end aspect)
- Entirely rewrote how interface updates are sent and received. It is now much less grueling to set up a point of communication between the interface and the update system and we can send more interesting updates to the interface:
- Updates used to be restricted to text and the text would appear in the various panels. Setting up the targeting and deployment of these messages was a pain the bottom so it's has been thrown out, simplified and re-written.
- We can send other stuff now, too! One example is view dimensions; you can walk into a dark cave and the view shrinks so you can only see three squares in any given direction but then when you pick up some kind of light emitting item, the draw distance is increased to eight squares or something like that. Previously this would have required a refresh.
- Objects used to behave in an "out of sight, out of mind" kind of way. By that I mean if you're being chased and you manage to out run them to the point that you can't see them anymore, they would no longer move. It also meant that if you were standing in a spot where you couldn't see any other objects, you can be sure that no objects would enter the screen. The system would only action visible objects. Obviously this needed to change or else having a really tight view range in a dark cave would actually be advantageous. There is now a much larger, fixed "action area". this is obvious and it probably should have been like this the whole time but hey, I'm still feeling this stuff out.
- Other little things have been added like other experimental NPC behavior and pushing blocks now slows you down so you really need to push.
- NPC behaviors now include an NPC that will follow you when spoken to and stand still when spoken to again (much like the NPCs in the Half Life franchise).
- Objects with chasing behavior no longer track the player but instead track a "target" object which may or may not be the player. This is another step in the direction of complex interactions happening between NPCs without player involvement.
- Other stuff, I can't remember it all. It probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense to people who have never interacted with the engine in the first place. Just letting you know that things are moving forwards!
- Soon to come: Major change to the way the interface is laid out. Floating panels get the job done but ultimately suck. As the information on the UI gets more complex and varied, the panels are less and less able to communicate the game state effectively.
I'm not on either of my Asciilands dev machines so I can't give you a screenshot however I will share this:
I have the best girlfriend in the world and she made me these pancakes:
This is the first ever Asciilands fan art AND the first ever Asciilands food-via-social-media post!
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