Weekly Update - More Bug Fixes, Merchant Shops

My focus this week was to resolve the remaining issues that would prevent us from testing, and then I also added a system to buy things from merchants and worked on the Isle of Kasau some.

I'm going to try to keep this week's update brief, as I was mostly focused on solving bugs that would get in the way of testing.

Testing Preparations

Last week I crossed most of the items I had sitting on my list of major remaining issues, including:

  • Check Launcher Status - I ran some tests of the launcher distributing a new dev version of the game. The launcher will need more attention sometime, but for now it appears to be doing it's job downloading and installing the game files.
  • Limit Terrain to the Isle of Kasau - I've restricted the world data to just the Isle of Kasau, which reduced the download size to 8 GB from 24 GB. You can still view Antilia in the distance and the full world map is included, so from the perspective of walking around on the Isle of Kasau nothing has changed.
  • Exit Game Interface Screens - I finally resolved a long-standing issue where hitting the escape key while in the character menus (inventory, skill grid, map, etc.) wouldn't work correctly until you clicked off the current window.

Even with three of those tasks resolved and the fourth nearly complete, a number of new issues came to my attention while testing this week:

  • Add Multiplayer Server - I made more progress on this, but there is one final step that needs to be completed.
  • New Characters Can't Interact - While creating new NPCs this week I noticed that newly created characters can't interact with anything until the server is restarted. That will have to be fixed this week.
  • Crash on Toggle View - When creating a new character there is a button to toggle between "View Face" or "View Full Character" which is causing a crash - a very unpleasant surprise to discover when I was 90% of the way through creating a new character. (This also has me thinking that character creation should save your progress as your make changes, but that'll have to wait.)
  • Color Drop-Down Doesn't Disappear - There is a drop-down color selection during character creation (favorite color) that gets stuck on the screen. There are a number of additional smaller issues in character creation, but we'll ignore those for now.
  • Confirm Delete Server - Adding, editing, and deleting multiplayer servers all work now - but the Delete button really needs a confirmation pop-up before deleting anything.

And a few more "wish-list" items if I find the time:

  • Export Characters - There is a complex issue brewing in game saves that'll need to be refactored at some point. I'd really like to have a character import/export system if possible to help carry over character designs should we need to perform a world reset (which we will probably need at some point.) If I don't get to this now I'll try to add it before any future resets.
  • Loading Screen, Pause Client Simulation - Joining a multiplayer server is a bit ugly right now. Local physics simulation begins before all objects are loaded, so if you log out while your character is standing on a bridge you may fall through it before it loads when you log back in. This shouldn't be too hard to fix, but it isn't game breaking.

Perhaps the most significant thing I'll be doing this upcoming week will be to set up a server for testing. I haven't set up the Antilia server in the cloud for quite some time, and admittedly that has me a little worried there may be more surprises that take time to resolve or add more items to this week's to-do list.

Item Shops

Last week I also got the other side of NPC shops working in the game - buying items! Not all of the items in game have values yet, but some items like food, fish, weapons, and bait have values that are calculated dynamically based on their stats. Cooked fish are automatically scored higher based on their nutrients, and the value goes down as the fish begins to spoil. I also added a system to fill in merchant tables with goods to buy, so as items are bought more items will spawn in to replace them. There can even be rare goods that'll appear on merchant tables from time to time.



NPC shops are now in the game - just click on the item on the table you'd like to buy...


... and a window will appear with the option to buy it. Clicking on the merchant character will allow you to sell them your items.

New Characters

And finally I've added some of the new characters to the Isle of Kasau. Frankly I was a bit surprised at how much time it can take to create characters and get them set up in-game. There are also several of the original MMO characters I plan to return to the island soon.

The new characters include:

  • Cheikan da'Lantros - A blacksmith who enjoys crafting armor, and is also fond of adventure stories. He has a weapons and armor shop at Maulei Beach.
  • Josiima da'Chalei - A former mage who now offers alchemic remedies in Wei Garden and who has an interest in learning Tasiiama medicine.
  • Mahalii da'Ariiel - A volunteer member of the Tasii Garden Defenders and a furniture craftsman. There are whispers that he was once an expert on matters of security, but he doesn't like talking about it and insists he has moved on to legitimate work.
  • ... as well as a new chef, a Tasiiama Seafarer, and another merchant in Maulei Beach.

That's it for this week - thanks for reading!