Dev Blog
Hi, this is the Stranded III development blog (see also Forum Thread, Comment Thread).
Entry 47 - Website Update, Lifebuoy & Skills - June 19, 2016
Website Update
Stranded3.com has been improved a bit to deal with the increasing number of dev blog entries in a better way. There's now another page navigation and also an overview page.
Moreover I gave all entries titles so you can easily see what they are about on the overview page.
The bottom of the page is now doing wavy animation stuff using ugly and slow JS/CSS/jQuery code. It might not work in all browsers and it certainly looks pretty f*cked up in some browsers. There was not particular reason to do this, just wanted to try it.
I basically added a lot of divs with different background image position offsets and I modify the x-offsets with sine in JavaScript for the animation.
The header/background graphic has been updated as well. The navigation bar is now more curvy and the leafs and the fire are more shiny.
Textured Lifebuoy
Here's the textured version of the lifebuoy I've shown in the previous dev blog:
click to enlarge
I also optimized the mesh a bit so it has only 476 instead of 544 tris.
Some Thoughts On Skills
Stranded II had the following skills:
Digging
Fishing
Hunting
Planting
Woodcutting
They were automatically improved by just doing related things and improving the skills automatically unlocked new stuff and improved efficiency.
In Stranded III I want to make the skill system a bit more interesting: There will not only be more skills but also skill trees - one for each skill. You will still earn skill points by just doing things but when you reach a certain amount of skill points for a specific skill you will be able to manually choose a perk. Some perks will lock/unlock others so you have to choose wisely.
Wait, you said there will be more skills? What can we expect? Some movement related skills like
Swimming (how long & fast can you swim)
Diving (how long, fast & deep can you dive)
Running (how long and fast can you run)
I'm also considering to add some
Climbing (where/what & how long can you climb)
stuff after seeing some "Zelda: Breath of the Wild" game play videos - but I'm not sure about this yet.
The hunting skill will probably be split up into several individual fighting skills. It would be nice to have one for each major type of weapon. Including weaponless fighting.
It may also make sense to split the planting skill up into several independent ones for different plant types.
Moreover I would like to add some other new skills:
Fire-Making (success rate, new fire place variations, fuel efficiency)
Gathering (efficiency/speed when collecting items from the nature)
Crafting (unlock new item combinations)
Constructing (new buildings)
Cooking (new meals & food related buildings/items, speed)
Tailoring (new cloth & armor items, speed)
Herbalism (production of medicine)
Blacksmithing (new tools/weapons/armor made from metal)
Pottery (new items made from clay)
Taming (ability to tame / breed more animals)
Trapping (new traps, trap re-usability)
...and some more. But his is just a "would be nice" at the moment. It depends on how much content I have for specific skills. e.g. Pottery might not make much sense unless I add a good number of different pottery items to the game.
What are your thoughts? What type of skill would you like to see in Stranded III?
Stranded3.com has been improved a bit to deal with the increasing number of dev blog entries in a better way. There's now another page navigation and also an overview page.
Moreover I gave all entries titles so you can easily see what they are about on the overview page.
The bottom of the page is now doing wavy animation stuff using ugly and slow JS/CSS/jQuery code. It might not work in all browsers and it certainly looks pretty f*cked up in some browsers. There was not particular reason to do this, just wanted to try it.
I basically added a lot of divs with different background image position offsets and I modify the x-offsets with sine in JavaScript for the animation.
The header/background graphic has been updated as well. The navigation bar is now more curvy and the leafs and the fire are more shiny.
Textured Lifebuoy
Here's the textured version of the lifebuoy I've shown in the previous dev blog:
click to enlargeI also optimized the mesh a bit so it has only 476 instead of 544 tris.
Some Thoughts On Skills
Stranded II had the following skills:
Digging Fishing Hunting Planting WoodcuttingThey were automatically improved by just doing related things and improving the skills automatically unlocked new stuff and improved efficiency.
In Stranded III I want to make the skill system a bit more interesting: There will not only be more skills but also skill trees - one for each skill. You will still earn skill points by just doing things but when you reach a certain amount of skill points for a specific skill you will be able to manually choose a perk. Some perks will lock/unlock others so you have to choose wisely.
Wait, you said there will be more skills? What can we expect? Some movement related skills like
Swimming (how long & fast can you swim) Diving (how long, fast & deep can you dive) Running (how long and fast can you run)I'm also considering to add some
Climbing (where/what & how long can you climb)stuff after seeing some "Zelda: Breath of the Wild" game play videos - but I'm not sure about this yet.
The hunting skill will probably be split up into several individual fighting skills. It would be nice to have one for each major type of weapon. Including weaponless fighting.
It may also make sense to split the planting skill up into several independent ones for different plant types.
Moreover I would like to add some other new skills:
Fire-Making (success rate, new fire place variations, fuel efficiency) Gathering (efficiency/speed when collecting items from the nature) Crafting (unlock new item combinations) Constructing (new buildings) Cooking (new meals & food related buildings/items, speed) Tailoring (new cloth & armor items, speed) Herbalism (production of medicine) Blacksmithing (new tools/weapons/armor made from metal) Pottery (new items made from clay) Taming (ability to tame / breed more animals) Trapping (new traps, trap re-usability)...and some more. But his is just a "would be nice" at the moment. It depends on how much content I have for specific skills. e.g. Pottery might not make much sense unless I add a good number of different pottery items to the game.
What are your thoughts? What type of skill would you like to see in Stranded III?