January 24th Update (Patreon)

This update was not really an exciting one, but I did get a few systems in place that I will be expanding more in the future.

This week I started work on the combat system, and adding sound to the game. 

Since I don't have equipment for real foley work, I started out just building the frame work for how sound can be put in the game.  Fortunately, Unreal makes this exceedingly easy, but there is a few things I had to do to add a little variety.

While you can play sound files from blueprints directly, Unreal gives you the option to also use "Notifies" directly on an animation to tell it to play a specific sound at a specific time.  You can also use these notifies to play particle effects.  The benefit to this is you can make sure that a sound plays exactly when it needs.  It also means that when you add a new animation, you don't have to go back to code and change things or edit when a sound plays.

The downside of this is that it plays the same sound every time.  To remedy this, I used the ability Unreal has of creating custom "Notifies".  For footsteps for example, I am able to make an array of footstep sound effects, and then when the notify is hit, tell it to play one at random.  This gives some variety to the sounds.  In the future, I would like it to test further and see what kind of surface the player is standing on then play the appropriate type of footstep, but that's down the line.

The second thing I worked on was starting to get the combat system in place.  Now that the stealth system is fleshed out, I wanted to start to flesh out more of the actual fights.  

While I prefer stealth gameplay myself, I do want to make the combat system fun.  Initially , my plan is for spells to have an area of effect in different areas in relation to the player.  While most spells will be cast forward, some maybe be a radius around the player, or behind them or to the side of them.    While there will be some spells that are deliberately aimed at a target, in active combat you're going to be relying mostly on enemies being in the right area to be hit by a spell.

So far I plan to have the game implement a "soft lock on" to a target enemy when you aim in their direction and attack.   Meridiana will remained aimed at that enemy as long as they are alive, or until you choose a new target.  To deselect a new target, you simple need to aim at a new target, and press an attack button again, or aim in a direction with no enemy and press the attack button in order to stop targeting altogether. 

The benefit of the targeting being set up like this is that it is really quick and easy to change targets, or break from combat. The downside, is that you can disengage from combat accidentally if you are trying to move around or kite while the attack button is being pressed.   The lock on system will likely change as the combat system gets developed. 
While I have a clear idea of what I want, if it ends up being no fun, I'm not above scrapping it.

So not a very exciting update.  Of course if you have any ideas, feedback, etc, please let me know.  I love to hear other people's input!