In January we announced that we will be developing the sequel (working title "Idosra 2") in Godot Engine. For a number of reasons, primarily to add features we felt were missing from the original game, we would be porting "The Electric Renaissance". Since then, we have been hard at work, mostly writing the low-level code that handles all of the game's data, communication with the OS and hardware, handling user input, etc. It's a lot of work that doesn't produce much on the surface to show (unless you're a programmer and like to see data structures and algorithms).
We have now breached the surface! The low-level code is done and game features are falling into place.
In this announcement, we'll give everyone a peek at what the sequel has in store, and what features and quality-of-life improvements are coming to "The Electric Renaissance".
But first...
Porting a game to a new engine after it has been released is not common practice, but the relationship between most games and the game engine they're built on looks like this:
where the game code is supported by the engine. Idosra's code is more parallel (hence why we refer to it as "Idosra Engine") working alongside Stencyl Engine:
While this does result in redundant code and inefficiencies (the primary reason we're switching engines), the benefit is that porting the game to a new engine isn't quite as daunting of a task as it would be otherwise. "Idosra Engine" is written in Haxe, and we just needed to reprogram it in GDScript/C#. If you're not a programmer, changing programming languages is a bit like writing a novel in English and translating it to Spanish. Yes, all of the words need to be changed, and some phrases don't translate perfectly, but the plot, characters, etc. are all the same and so don't need to be redone. The creative element can be reused. In our case, we can use the same data structures, algorithms, and methodologies used in the first version. It's still a lot of work, but we're not starting over and we feel the changes will be worth the effort.
The biggest difference you'll see is in the UI. The parallel relationship between "Idosra Engine" and Stencyl made UI challenging to program. Bugs and requests that seem simple on the surface could require extensive rewrites to implement. From the player's perspective, this is most evident in the way the hints system and in-game menus work.
The current version of the game has a list of Marika's objectives (selected from the inventory screen) and hints and observations (selected from the map screen). We have now merged all of these features into Marika's journal.
The journal allows the player to see all of the information Marika has collected at any time. This is especially helpful for hints and observations, which previously could only be viewed from the map screen.
Under the hood, the new UI code allows for new objectives to be triggered at any time. Previously, new objectives could only be given in NPC dialog sequences. This will let us notify the player about new objectives when they make the most sense.
Objectives are also now tied to the area they were learned from and the area they concern. (Not shown) when the player opens an objective in the map screen, we can add a button that lets the player fast travel to that area (assuming the area has been unlocked). This will make it easier for the game to guide the player where to go... especially in Chapter 3, where there are a few different story arcs running simultaneously. We'll also be able to replace the old fast-travel system. In the old system, if the player received two new prompts at the same time, they would only be prompted to travel for the most recent one. We can now fix that problem so that travel prompts aren't missed.
The new UI code also allows for scrolling boxes. This is most evident in the new options menu, but also allows for more text in inventory item descriptions and pop-up dialogs.
Overall, the new UI features will make it easier for us to add guidance directing the player where to go.
Perhaps the biggest visual upgrade will be the lighting effects. Lights, and shadows, can now animate!
The reason lights can animate is that we're now using hardware lighting (built into Godot Engine) rather than the CPU-driven lighting effects. Have you noticed that interior rooms have a loading screen, but exterior rooms don't? Exterior rooms are rendered using tiles, and interior rooms are rendered using arrays of screen-sized bitmaps. The game merges the tile images into bitmaps, then draws the shadows on top. This is the reason why lights don't update often: the images need to be redrawn any time the lighting changes (such as when a gas lamp is destroyed).
It's also now possible to add lighting effects to exterior maps. Because the existing levels were designed around exterior environments being fully lit, they'll be left at 100% (flat) lighting. But we do intend to take advantage of this new feature for "Idosra 2"
Some Windows users, particularly those using 40x0 series GPUs, needed to use the "Lighting FX Disable" workaround that disabled interior lighting effects. This workaround will no longer be needed.
We can't really list every single update... well, we technically can, but the list would be impractically long. However, one notable quality-of-life upgrade is how save games are handled. You're no longer limited to six save slots. Internally, save games are handled in a much more intuitive way. This also means it's easier to cheat. While we'd appreciate you at least trying the game the way it was intended, if you bought it then it's your game, so we want you to enjoy it however you wish.
While code, and the port of "The Electric Renaissance", have been the priority, we are just starting to work on assets for the yet-to-be-named sequel.
We do have a few snippets to share, but will expand and elaborate more when we can build entire environments. Still, here is a preview!
In the first game, Vallan structures were influenced by Prairie School architecture, which had its heyday in the late 1800's to early 1900's Midwestern US. If you have never heard of Prairie School, you may have heard of one of its most well-known architects, Frank Lloyd Wright.
We're expanding on this aesthetic in the sequel. It's a fitting style for Vallas, whose technology is similar to that found in this time period.
We're giving the player more environment toys to play with. If you prefer a more cautious approach, there will be more ways to explore manipulate the environment.
We're giving Marika more equipment! "The Electric Renaissance" has four different types: tunic, boots, bracer, rings.
We're planning more varieties, along with more special-purpose equipment
Our original goal was to have at least a beta version of the "Godot Port" finished by the year's end. So far, it is looking like we'll have that beta available sooner. If you're not a programmer, it's hard to articulate exactly where we are in development, but here is an analogy: If we were building a house, we have the actual structure finished. We are now working on the interior finishings, furniture, etc.
If you're in North Carolina, we make frequent appearances at Triangle Interactive Arts Collective's live playtest nights. In addition, keep an eye out for Games and Geek Expo in early September, and Oak City Indie Games in mid-October, both live events in the Raleigh-Durham area!