This is the first devlog of 2022! 

Let me tell you, I missed working full time on LIFELIKE and I am bummed to be heading back to school. Thankfully this is my last semester and I only have two classes. 

I got quite a bit of work done since the last log! This month, I’m getting Track 2 to a feature complete state. Somehow, I was able to knock out a significant portion of these additions. 

• The map has been hooked into all of the new rooms in engine. Nothing fancy here. The “You are Here” portrait also changes depending on who the party leader is (hint hint). 
• I wrapped up weather system changes. It’s much more flexible and is compatible with saving now so that if a certain weather condition was triggered in that save, it will load up when that slot is played again. 
• This feature, which I won’t elaborate on, was quite a bit of fun to implement because it’s so shiny!

• Combat got some touchups (and is on deck for more) with re-selection and what I call “action bubbles”. If you decide you don’t like something a character is doing that turn during the player select phase, you may press the X key to go back to the previous character! To help with this, characters will also display their planned action that turn in a speech bubble. 

My changes for the next two weeks are larger in scope than what I've already added, but I’m confident going into them that they’ll be done by the next log. I can’t speak too much about them, but here are some vague details:

• Combat will continue to receive updates, this time expanding upon an invisible feature present in Track 1’s boss fight. Depending on how RNG (random number generation) treated you, this may have been very apparent! These new changes will make the feature visible and able to be controlled by party actions, making it less dependent on RNG.
• The overworld will see some updates to existing frameworks I built out last month. This is mostly cutscene magic and a few custom NPC actions, but I need to make sure it plays right. 
• If I finish the above additions before next log, I’ll start polishing the features I added. They’re mostly ready for players, but have a few rough spots that need debugged. 
• Expect some more streams to pop up as well! 

Stay healthy, I’ll see you next log!

Mantis