New navigation system and player stats balancing

It’s been a bit of time since I last updated this blog, because I was also in the process of fixing bugs, but I figured it would be best to give an update regardless.

I’ve finally decided on a navigation system where the player has the ability to unlock new areas based on their energy levels, as seen in the video below:

In this video, we see the player unlocking new areas of the map after sleeping.

It was a bit tricky building this, because I first needed to build up a grid system in order to track cells on the map to know which ones were accessible and which ones weren’t. And in order to do that, I needed to build up a map.

Here you can see the full map, with the shaded parts being locked areas.

You can also see a bunch of objects being highlighted - this was mostly for debugging purposes. :D

Additionally, I also reworked the balance for the player stats of hunger, thirst, temperature, and energy. For example:

• Temperature is adjusted to a realistic range: from -50 - +150 to 90 - 105 (in Fahrenheit, for now)

• Temperature goes up and down with the time of day

  • When it gets too hot or cold, the player starts sweating or shivering, which then impacts thirst or energy.

• Hunger, thirst, and energy are adjusted to more realistic levels after sleeping

• Energy decreases as you move around, and increases as you stay still

There probably were a few other balancing decisions I made, but for now, those are the main ones that I’ve put down.

On a side note, it’s been quite difficult figuring out how to make a mini map - I probably spent about 3 hours trying to create one (and with a border around it!), before finally deciding to put it aside.

My general plan for now is to do what I can, and then ask other experts for help once I’m in a good spot.

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog post!