Hello everyone!

It's Monday which means it's time for another weekly devlog. I think as I approach the deadline for finishing the latest MVP, that I  have been slowing down in my output for the game. And of course part of that is work, familial and other obligations that I need to attend to besides this, but partially I've been pretty lax on working on the game as well now that I am so close to finishing the game for chapter 2. Having this deadline of 6 months as well as this weekly devlog is supposed to be my way of holding myself accountable for creating this, so I'm using this opportunity to say that I want to do better moving forward. With that out of the way, lets get into what I worked on for this week.

Finished Cut Scenes for Toxic Trails

I have finished all of the cut scenes for Toxic Trails. The story is actually pretty interesting if I do say so myself. It helps closes some lingering questions from Chapter 1: Tiro Town, and the atmosphere and tone of Toxic Trails makes this chapter pretty exciting. The chapter will be a lot shorter, but there will be more places for you to explore in this chapter and I really wanted this chapter to introduce our main antagonists, other characters, and tie up lingering plot threads while expanding on the lore of the world. With all that in mind, I think I do a pretty good job of it (though I would have to wait until the game is tested by others before I can definitively say it).

Battle Simulator Implementation

I am finally working on the battle simulator. Since I have finished all of the story beats, I thought I could use the rest of the time to work on the battle simulator and most of it's mechanics. I say most because in this chapter, you are not introduced to all of the different battle mechanics that the game has to offer yet.  The game will introduce new battle concepts and strategies to you as you progress through the game, since you play a fish out of water character in Tiro Town, it will make sense that you do not know everything about battle until you learn it overtime.

With that in mind, I am currently working on the UI and the overall framework of the game, and right now I love it. The UI is a huge step up from last time, and that is partially because I am able to mix up the elements from both HONETi and 7Soul. Without their contribution to the project, I would not have nearly as good quality UI elements to work with. But along with UI, I have also tried to produce a better User Experience (UX) into the battle simulator to make sure that the game is easier to understand when you first play.

Along with better UI and UX designs, I am also working on the layout the simulator, as well as how the simulator is structured. I recently went back to the v1.01 and found out that the game is so buggy that it would actually hard lock itself mid battle. I want to implement a new strategy with the battle simulator by using battle states that let the simulator know which part of the battle I should be in, and this will help determine the flow of the game.

There's a lot that needs to be done with the battle simulator, but I hope with these improvements I can create something better than what I have in v1.01.

Weekly Goals

I have completed my weekly goal of completing the cut scenes for Toxic Trails. It was fun, and I was excited to see where everything was going, I had to stop myself from daydreaming about the other chapters I have in my head that I want to work on. That's because before any of that happens, I need to finish this current version, which hopefully I'll be well on my way to.

For this week, I want to focus exclusively on the battle simulator. It's a hard concept that I want to make sure I get right, because, even if I really want you to be invested in the story, one of the fundamental parts of an RPG are  the battle. This means I need to make sure of the following:

• UI is completed and functional
• Battle states are created and implemented
• Music for battle simulator is created and implemented
• Animations for battle moves are created and implemented
• Methods for Battle Simulator is completed

I'm also going to be going out of town for a few days this week, so while I don't think I will be able to complete this goal in it's entirety, I still think it's better to aim high than to aim low as long as you have realistic expectations.

Well that's all I got for you today. Be sure to check out HONETi and 7Soulfor their amazing assets. They make really good stuff, and if I wasn't short on cash I would probably try to buy everything they had lol.  I also want to give a huge shout out to everyone who's been supporting me up until this point. This has truly been a journey and we are well on our way to completing another part of it. Your support means a lot to me. With that being said, I'll see you all next week.