When I finished PWO v0.09, I mentioned that I wasn’t sure what to focus on next. The big goal right now is to finish the basics for the Interp-Theory Mind so characters could make intelligent decisions. That’s the key piece I need in place for so much of what I want this game to be, and I think it will also be the core of what makes PWO special. Plus, once the ITM is in place, I’ll feel a little better about the idea of taking a break from PWO to work on other stuff for a bit! So there’s lots of reason to dive in on it, except…<\/p>\n
Well, building the ITM is basically the biggest challenge in this game’s design. It takes a lot of work and time. And v0.09 was supposed to be a light, quick update, but it turned into a bit of a beast when I really got into developing animations. So I felt like jumping straight into another long, slow update would be discouraging– for me, and for the players. So I put the question to my supporters. I offered a lot of ideas for smaller things I could work on, and asked if they wanted me to focus on one (or a few) of those instead for a little while, and ship a smaller update in between these big chonky ones.<\/p>\n
And the results came back pretty clearly in favor of taking a break to work on some small stuff! I’d put together a list of a lot of things that would be less labor-intensive to add that I thought players might get excited about, and they rated a lot of them pretty highly, but in the end, there were two clear winners: adding an upgrade that lets you “bring along” a few NPCs you really like when you save and load your game; and a system for more long-term progression, where you can gradually unlock options for “modifiers” to new games when you start them, like changing the balance of spawns or how NPCs behave.<\/p>\n
So I’ve been working on those since! As of writing this, the “NPC Saving” trait is already built and seems to be working, though I’ll want my Proofers to give it a thorough workout still. Now I’m working on the design for the long-term progression system. I’ve been excited to try out a system along these lines for some time, but figuring out all the details for how best to implement it has been challenging. I don’t want it to be over too quickly or feel like too much of a drag. Challenging, but fun, and hopefully helping teach the game in the process. Plus making sure it’s balanced fairly between people that are interested in different content!<\/p>\n
The funny thing is, while this should certainly be a lighter task in terms of programming and such than most of what I’ve got on my plate these days, I find myself actually getting pretty anxious about it. Most things I build are still “in progress” to some extent, and I can make big changes from one version to the next to tighten things up. But long-term progression feels like something I should mess with as little as possible once I’ve published it to start with– something to add to, but not take away from or modify too much. It would feel super unfair to be close to a big achievement, only to load in the new version and find it’s even further away! Or accomplish something really difficult, then find it’s suddenly much easier for those that come after you! Plus, the changing design could make some things harder or easier, or just a completely different process! Some things could become meaningless when the mechanics they’re based on are completely replaced.<\/p>\n
So I’ve had to rein myself in some on this before it turns into another big crazy deal. I’m forcing myself to accept that some changes may be necessary, there will definitely be additions, and probably removals. It’s even very likely I’ll have to have a cutoff at some point down the line and force everyone to start from scratch on a certain version. I’ll include warnings on these things, and focus on making it good in the long term, rather than perfect right now. That principle is often a challenge for me, and this addition caught me off guard a little on that front. Hopefully, I can do a good enough job you can enjoy it now, as well as later!<\/p>\n
Now, I have one last thing to address before I close this out. I’ve been getting some reports here and there about v0.09 consistently crashing or completely refusing to run. We’ve been discussing it on the Discord, and it sounds<\/em> like this is mostly restricted to newer Samsung devices. It sounds like it might be a combination of the big new additions and also certain devs not caring too much about compatibility? Keeping games working on Android seems to be surprisingly difficult– we all know the tragedy of Flash, when a great mass of games all lost support, but it seems like Android is a constantly moving target. Every few months there’s some new issue with some version or other of my work no longer working for folks.<\/p>\n I’ll be looking into this to see what I can do to improve the situation. I’ve been sticking to a certain build of Unity for some time since the controversy a while back, but my best guess off the cuff is that I’ll need to upgrade to be sure I can reach everyone. I haven’t done a version migration before, but I’ve heard they can be a bit of a nightmare. I’ll be looking into my options there, and hopefully v0.10 will be working for more folks across the board, but I’m afraid I won’t be shipping a hotfix for this issue for v0.09. None of the proofers or supporters reported an issue, and I was too deep into the new changes for the coming update when reports started coming in. My apologies if you’re stuck unable to play for a while! If you have any other devices available, they may be worth a try in the meantime.<\/p>\n That’s all the big news for the moment. I’m pretty happy with the changes the supporters voted for, I hope it’ll add a lot more long-term replayability for folks while you’re waiting for the next Big Update. The other big chunk of the Interp-Theory Mind is a looming mountain on the horizon, and I’m already getting ready, starting to spin through the ideas in the back of my mind. I’m excited to meet the challenge, and to finally have this critical piece in place, but I know it’s going to be a grind before it’s done. I want to do everything I can to make it easier for myself going in.<\/p>\n So, that’s where I’m at! Thanks for taking the time to read my rambling, and I hope you’re excited for everything that’s coming up! Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" v0.09 was supposed to be a light, quick update, but it turned into a bit of a beast when I really got into developing animations. So I felt like jumping straight into another long, slow update would be discouraging– for me, and for the players. So I put the question to my supporters. 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