February has been the first full month that I spent working on Virtueror and I believe that it shows in the progress overview I put together in this post.
Map Editor, the beginning
As planned last month, I started to work on a map editor.
Initial progress was slow as I had to come up with a full design from scratch. Furthermore, a good chunk of work went into implementing several new features of the GUI library.
Currently the editor only allows to create a new map and to set tiles, but new features will be added soon (see the "what's next" section below for more info).
The map editor will be fully integrated in the game and I am doing my best to make it look like part of it and not an independent tool.
Quick unit selection
A key feature of Virtueror is that only a maximum of 10 controllable units will be allowed per map.
The UI now has some buttons to select and to monitor them.
In the future these elements will also show special events or states, like for example when an enemy is spotted or when a unit is under fire.
At the moment the plan is to start with a limited number of units and to grow that number with research and upgrades.
Units consume energy
Units in Virtueror are like RPG characters. They have attributes, they gain experience and now they consume energy when they do something.
A way to see the current energy level for each unit is the new quick selection button.
In order to help the player to gather more information at glance, energy values are also color-coded, as you can see from the images above.
New unit: scout
I added a new unit, a scout, which is represented by a sphere.
As you might imagine, it's lightweight and not very effective in combat, but it is fast and with a bigger view radius, if compared to other units.
Minor updates
- Main menu now shows version and build number
- Source code has been split and now there is an independent framework repository which is linked by the game repository as git submodule. Both are updated to the latest version.
What's next
During the month of March I will be able to work only 3 weeks because of some personal stuff that will keep me busy for about 10 days, but I will try to stay productive the remaining 20 days.
Obviously I will continue to work on the level editor. My main goal for this month is to add more editing features like placing game objects on the map. I would also like to start to experiment with some simple procedural generation, but considering the limited time, I am afraid I will have to delay that to next month.
A mix of level editor and procedural generation has been voted as the best option in the Discord server of the game and I totally agree it's the way to go.
If you want to take part in the next polls to influence the development, make sure to join the Discord server, where you will also find regular updates and occasional memes (ratio may vary).
Recently I started to work on a mini-map that will be accessible both in game and in the map editor.
After that is completed I will probably go back to some core gameplay elements like for example handling experience and upgrading units.
As usual plans are pretty loose, so make sure to check out the next update to find out what I manage to do next.
Support this game, wishlist and follow!
If you enjoyed this update and if you want to support Virtueror make sure to wishlist and to follow it. Thanks and see you next month with a new update!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1607580/Virtueror_The_Virtual_Conqueror/