Hello community! We'd like to provide an update on a few of the things we've been working on recently.
Ropes!
Once we decided to add shimmying to the game, we implemented it using our tiling system. But the resulting static pullies felt a little stale. So we made the decision to convert them to actual ropes with physics to spruce things up. Since we use a custom engine for Ambrosia, this had to be developed from scratch! That implementation is now nearing completion.
Rope collision detection really tests the limits of our physics accuracy! A small error can result in the player falling through the rope without grabbing it! As a result, we noticed very small discrepancy in reported speed versus actual distance traveled -- the equivalent of ¼ of a pixel. In most cases this sub-pixel inaccuracy has no real effect, but since our logic assumes a zero width rope for efficiency, it could on rare occasion cause a missed collision!
For now it seems we've worked all the kinks out of our ropes, but we will continue our testing. Next up on the rope agenda will be visual customization, so that we can do things like add planks to rope bridges.
Expanded Character Palette
Previously we were limited to 64 colors for our palette system. That may seem like a lot, but it wasn't enough to allow for color variants of all the different pieces we wanted. We've since updated the system to support up to 128 color indices, which gives us more options for color customization of Iris! Currently Iris' pieces of clothing change color based on her equipment, but we may add other features to the game that lets players customize other aspects of Iris, such as hair or skin color. (Ian wants me to note that this customization will be available upon game start, but since I haven't coded that in I cannae guarantee!)
Art Preview
We plan on going into more detail on our updated environment and tiling system next month, but here's a little teaser of some of the things our artists have been working on recently.
That's all for now, but if you have any questions feel free to post them on the forum!
-Nathan