Dev Log: Update v0.14

The focus of this update was mostly on redesigning the World Scene and changing the way  in which players can customize their character's face. I also put a bit of energy into fixing a few bugs and adding a placeholder Water Shader (which I intend to improve upon later in development)

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/2550910/Go_Deep_Or_Go_Home/

Recent Changes

New World

• Redesigned Starting Village (outdoor world environment). I wanted the starting world to be much smaller, and more focused on just a small number of quests, which will serve as the demo of the game. It's still fairly large, but much smaller than what I had previously.
• I created 3 exits out of the starting village which are temporarily blocked. These exits are meant for the full release of the game, which will come much later. The idea is that you start the game in the demo, and after completing quests, adjacent areas of the world unlock to open up new quest areas. 
• I designed the terrain of the new world as one gigantic mesh. Previously, I was using the tiles that I sell in the Unity Asset Store called "Core Environment: Great Outdoors". I still use a lot of the props for that asset, but I decided to steer away from the terrain tiles. Mostly because I'm a 3D modeler, and find it easier to just sculpt out a terrain in Blender, than to piece a hundred or more individual tiles together. The end result looks much the same, but I like having the control... (this may change again before the game is released, we'll see)
• Created winding paths that disappear around corners for each of the exits leading out of the starting village.

Modular Faces

• Manipulated existing line-art for character's facial features to separate into individual textures for eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows and the outline around the face.
• Wrote a Skin Shader that stacks layers of all individual facial features into one material.
• Created a system that allows facial expressions to change depending on whether the player is normal, angry, hurt, blinking or dead.
• Created Custom Character Creator to include the ability for player to choose facial features, rather than choosing from a list of faces.
• Removed the shirt and pants color control from the new character options. Defaults to brown pants and green shirt, but soon you'll be able to change the colors of your clothing in the game.
• Minor improvements to the Name Validation script. (recognizes case insensitive duplicates, disallows too short or too long names, etc)
• Character's voice is directly associated with their choice for the character's mouth. (different voices for each mouth option)
• Slider minimum and maximum values change depending on gender

Water Shader

• Researched unlit cartoon-style water shader for Unity built in render pipeline. 
• I ran into problems along the way and wasn't able to produce the quality Shader that I was hoping for, so I created a temporary placeholder for now. 
• I will likely upgrade Unity to URP to make use of Shader Graph in the future.

Miscellaneous & Bug Fixes

• Changed the chest and door progress indicator to look like a keyhole with progressive fill graphic to show unlock progress.
• Merchants will not sell item stacks unless the player can afford to buy at least one. (Max quantity not to exceed player's money)
• Grab skeleton bones from sarcophagus (instead of walking over it to pickup. Shows outline when focused on bones)
• Save Character & Inventory when Leaving the game from World Scene. 
• Fixed cemetery fences (they were not snapped together properly)
• The Shoes Inventory Item now says "Shoes" instead of "Boots".

What's Next?

Coming up next will be a series of updates to extend upon the existing weapons and armor. This includes a new clothing color change system as well as chainmail, ringmail, and scalemail versions of shirts and pants.  I want to do a better job making 3D hairstyles for the characters, and while I'm at it, design some more hats and helmets, and different types of weapons too, such as two-handed polearms, and the long-awaited bow and crossbow! I figure, while I'm at it, I might as well add some shields, gloves, and start putting some crafting tools into the hands of the player too.