Happy New Year, adventurers! December was a highly productive month for Tales of Elondria. It’s been a busy month filled with feature implementations, bug fixes, and new mechanics, all building toward an even richer and more immersive experience. Here’s a recap of everything that’s been achieved:
Skinning & Butchering Mechanics
The month began with a focus on creating skinning and butchering mechanics. Players can now acquire tools like the Butcher’s Axe and Skinning Knife from general stores or loot them from NPCs. And with these tools, they can choose either to skin or to butcher the carcasses of other NPCs. Different NPCs drop unique items, such as:
Wolves: Bones, wolf meat, and wolf pelts.
Goats: Bones, legs of goat, and hide.
Deer: Bones, deer meat, and hide.
Dogs: Bones, dog meat and hide.
Humans: Bones, human meat, and human skin (yes, cannibalism is a thing!).
The mechanic now integrates seamlessly into the game’s ecosystem.
Editor Tool Development
The new Editor tool took center stage this month. This feature allows players to create custom maps, laying the foundation for community-driven content and more dynamic game worlds. Highlights include:
Map Creation: Players can spawn and manipulate hex tiles, choose decor elements, and set city types and names.
Multi-Select & Shortcuts: Drag to select multiple items and use shortcuts like M (Move), R (Remove), and C (Clone).
Save/Load Functionality: Players can now save and load their custom maps.
Dynamic Resource Detection: The tool automatically populates its menu based on available assets.
After weeks of refining and polishing, the Editor tool is now functional, with more features planned for the future.
"Getting Dirty" Mechanic
Adding a touch of realism, characters now accumulate dirt over time, depending on their activities. This affects their Charisma stat:
Dirty: A debuff that lowers Charisma.
Clean: A buff that increases Charisma, achievable by bathing in taverns (15 gold) or ponds (free).
Visual indicators on character portraits reflect cleanliness levels, adding a new layer of immersion.
New Stats and Particle Effects
Three new stats have been introduced:
Wisdom, Constitution, and Luck. These will play pivotal roles in character development and interactions.
Additionally, new particle effects now enhance actions like skinning/butchering and bathing, adding a visual flair to gameplay.
Performance Improvements
Stress testing the new Editor-made map revealed performance bottlenecks when spawning large numbers of animals. Optimizations are underway to improve the game’s handling of such scenarios, ensuring smoother gameplay even in densely populated areas.