Devlog #5: World Generation & Backpack

Hey folks! I know I’m long overdue for a devlog. I actually took a month off at the start of the year but still make a lot of progress since the last post.

Here are the highlights:

• Added water shader
• Switch to new “dual grid” rounded tile-based world generation
• Add correct collision to generated islands
• Activating pylons animates adjacent islands lifting out of water
• Editor tooling to preview world generation
• Islands are now generated on demand when pylon is activated
• Created a new grid system compatible with islands
• Belts can drop items from cliffs
• Launcher can launch up cliffs
• Rewrote Orbiter logic to support cliffs, turn taking, and compatibility with other movers
• Rewrote Rotator logic to support cliffs, turn taking, and compatibility with other movers
• Rewrote Piston logic to support cliffs, turn taking, and compatibility with other movers
• Complete rewrite of cavity shader effect (now applied when rendering objects instead of in post processing)
• Added a backpack to the character model
• Made backpack hoverable and clickable
• Prototyped a world-space backpack UI

Also, I’m trying out a more structured approach to my development. I’m now working in two week sprint intervals to keep the work more focused on the higher priority tasks. Just wrapped up my first sprint and I’m pretty happy with how it went, although there are some parts of the process that I’m still figuring out. There are several reasons for this structure, but the main benefit for all of you is more consistent and frequent status updates.

The next sprint will focused on a new interaction system! Have a good weekend!