BeeaSnez Dev Log - Jam Edition

/// July 18 - 2024 : Test and First post. /// Version 0.1

Log made before the Jam to test the Devlog feature.

 The original project was made for the Godot #71 Jam but the scope of the game was a little bigger than we thought and burnout crept on the final days. As such it was decided to add the final things on Improve My Game Jam 34 and take the days between the end of the Godot jam and the beginning of the IMGJ34 to rest and re-organize.

/// July 26 : First Day ///

We went through the project to see what was left unfinished before adding the new stuff we were supposed to add on the Godot Jam. The game goal is to enter the forest and gather ingredients to make potions, while being careful not to over-harvest the main seasonal ingredient. "Unintended Consequences" was the Godot Theme, and the way we planned to do it was making the tasks increase to the point you had to get more and more ingredients to be able to deliver the potions on time.

Fixes

• Fixed the Seasonal resource giving Spring resources regardless of season.
• Fixed the the over-harvesting mechanic. When harvesting the Seasonal resource, it goes from "full" to "leftover", and finally "empty".  Each time you harvest the leftover, you risk the resource emptying. Which angers the forest creatures and reduces the amount of "leftovers" you can find on the next season. The risk starts at 10% and increases 8% each subsequent harvesting action on the main resource. The error was that the risk was not increasing because the code was put inside the wrong IF Statement.
• Small fixes to Dialogue and Text margins

Additions

• Tree Tiles for the more Forest-y area of the map, as well as details around the whole level.
• Added a Fade out/in when switching areas as well as changing season by resting at the tent

/// July 27: Second Day ///

The idea was to get to the forest and gather ingredients, if you over-harvested, the forest would get angry and more creatures would spawn. This wasn't started nor finished on time, so you could just keep entering the forest without any risk. 

Fixes

• Moved the enemy creatures and your familiar layer to the top. Otherwise they were hidden by the forest which feels annoying as you cannot see them.

Additions

• Added  enemies that would spawn in waves depending on how angry was the forest. 
• Gave Beea health and getting KO'd by the creatures. Upon being KO'd you'd return to camp, another season would pass automatically, and you'd lose all the ingredients you had picked while on the forest.
• Added leftovers being spawned depending on how much you harvested the previous seasons. The more you left behind, the more leftovers you will find across the map.

/// July 28: Third Day ///

A small script was made for an intro that introduces the character and the goal of the game, the idea is to show it in the style of a fairy tale story.

Additions

• Added the Familiar's attack. It will shoot magic toward the enemies that get to close to it. You can click on the screen to send him manually to where you want.
• Added thorny bushes to the tileset, these will block a few paths but be gone in Autumn, changing the paths you can take.

/// July 29: Fourth Day ///

This was used as a rest day to avoid what had happened in the previous jam.  Very minimal changes and fixes were done just so it was not a zero day. Things like changing the text location and making sure it didn't bleed over the edges

/// July 30: Fifth Day ///

Fixes

• Fixed the Familiar projectile being behind the tiles.
• Expanded the map a little on the transition areas to avoid the camera looking at the void.

Additions

• Added Main Menu screen
• Added icons to the inventory in the camp scene so its easier to know the quantity or each item

/// July 31: Sixth Day ///

Fixes

• Fixed the Game over screen not triggering when the time ran out
• Added some text to some actions like talking to the Tazker and Angering the Forest.

Additions

• Added the Intro story + drawings and the game over screen.

///August - 01 : Final Day ///

Final version of the game so far.

Known bugs:

• Continue moving while changing scenes might make Beea walk with a flipped sprite, this is visual only. 
• Continue moving after being hurt also might keep Beea from using the correct move sprite
• You can enter the forest again and again without needing to change seasons. Not so much a bug but the code for changing areas was so ductaped with hopes and dreams that adding anything to fix that would need a full rework.

Final thoughts: Lots of things learned, both in the good and bad way. This is the second game we've done using Godot, so we became more acquainted with it, and the first time we've done a devlog. The original jam was a warning in how easy it was to fall into feature creep, as we got more and more ideas along the project and the scope became unnecessarily big, making us burnt out and not finish on time.

While there's probably still a lot to do for the game to feel completed, we feel we at least have the foundation of the game, and some ideas of what we can expand upon to make it feel more complete later on.