Arborlands Dev Blog – May 2021, Week #1

May, May, first week of May.

To me, this week was a continuation of the last week of April in that I was still finishing up the CSS and HTML design for the website. But after that settled down, I also did a two other things.

1. Animated Water, for the first time!!

One thing I am really looking forward to in Arborlands is creating places. Places are magical. When a place has a personality of it’s own, it feels like it vibrates with a unique energy. I really love the idea of oases and secluded locations, there’s something peaceful and untouched about them. In that vein, I created this first sprite as a distinctive location. I had never animated flowing water before this week, so I was happy with the result of this first experiment.

The rocks use a four-tone technique for highlights and shadows. The water uses a three-frame animation. I want to be sparing with the amount of tones and frames I use; this way, I don’t spend too much time on single elements of the game. Furthermore, I want the art to be stylized, so I don’t want it to look completely realistic. As I find my true pace, I will see if I have time for more polish.

2. Camera follow

In Arborlands, you will control one troop directly, this troop is called Troop One. But, you will also have to survey the land and make decisions for your forest. This means the camera – your view of the game – should be allowed to drift from Troop One.

Before this week, as covered in Arborlands Dev blog – April 2021 Week #2, I had panning controls that allowed you to look around the map.

This week I added a camera “follow” mode. This keeps Troop One in the middle of the screen, even as it moves.

This is a particularly useful screen mode for adventuring – when the player must leave the forest and explore the world beyond their communal home. Just thinking about the possible stories and scenarios is getting me pumped up. 👊😆 Yeah!

See you in the next blog entry, or Tweet!