So part 3 and this week I’m focused on buildings and their buttons.

I’ve decided to change things up very slightly this time around. In Tribloos 2 if a building button was unavailable (eg. the building could not be built due to lack of workers/resources) it was faded out. If it was available it was presented with a green glow. I wanted to make the distinction a bit stronger this time. Now if a building cannot be built yet you’ll end up with a “dotted-line-button” that should be instinctively un-clickable.

And of course the opposite is also true; eg. if the button is visible at all it’s clickable! Exciting stuff eh?

Tribloos Building Things
“Temporary” Tribloos building things..

Uh, okay that’s not exactly “mixing it up”, so lets talk about some real change.

Let’s make some wood

This is probably one of the highest requested features for Tribloos 2 but something that wasn’t easy to add that late in development.

And it’s centered around resource production in buildings like sawmills and toolsheds. Previously when you had sent a worker to a sawmill to make wood you’d have to count down or guess when they’d be finished. This was to be as efficient as possible so you could click on the toolshed to get them to make some tools the very second they’d produced that wood. Well guess no more!

When a worker now reaches a sawmill or other production buildings (again such as toolsheds, refineries, locksmiths, etc…) and starts to make resources, a small progress bar will pop up on the side of the building. This will show you how far through that particular worker is done with making wood or tools or whatever.

Worker Progress Bars
Tribloos making wood – new progress bars!

I’m especially pleased about the way this has worked out.

Like I said this was one of the most requested features from the previous games and I’m really pleased to have finally managed to get this in!

That’s it again for this week, I hope you’re all excited about the game so far. Next time I’ll be talking about the new cut-scene manager and how it effects the story.

The Tribloos 3 Development Diary
Welcome to the first in a series of development diary updates regarding our upcoming title The Tribloos 3.

I completely failed to write one for Tribloos 2 and I really regret it. Therefore I’ve decided to start up this up for the third game for anyone interested enough to read my hopes and frustrations while making the game!

So first off I’m actually writing this at the start of February 2015! I’m hoping to surprise any Tribloo fans with a trailer I’ve been working on in top secret. With any luck that came out recently and fans of the series are terribly excited. I decided to start writing these entries early so I had enough material to keep posting when I’m likely in the latter, slightly more consistent stages of polishing.

[2016 edit: “oops, not there with a trailer yet! Stay tuned…”]

But I’m excited today because I’ve finished the first iteration of the path-finding code I’m going to use in the game and especially pleased that it’s performance is so good!
Continue reading “Tribloos 3 – Development Diary 1”