Cauldron and NPC Updates

Intro

So I was able to get the changes into the Cauldron and NPC working faster than I thought I would. I got both tasks done within the first few days and while neither are release ready, I am happy with the progress I made on them this sprint.

Cauldrons

There were two main aspects of the Cauldron that I wanted to address in this sprint. The first one was that The initial UI was very confusing and there wasn't a ton of feedback for the player. Additionally none of the buttons were labeled. I added in a progress bar to each of the three stations to show that they were being used as well as labeled all of the buttons in the UI. Eventually I want to add in the herbs used on the screen to show the player what they have used so far however that will be for a later sprint dedicated solely on the Cauldron.

The second aspect is that there was a bug to where if the player clicked on one device while another one was active then both would activate despite the second device not having an herb actually placed in it. I fix this bug by restructuring how herbs were transferred to the device and then cauldron so that the herb was removed when the device was clicked on instead of after it was finished.

NPC Movement

For the NPC's I implemented a movement system to where they move between a set number of points that are pre-determined. They have a set amount of time that they "wait" at each point before moving to the next one. When the player talks to the NPC they stop moving to display their dialogue and then continue moving after they finish. The dialogue system itself still needs some work as there isn't anything to it yet but that will be for a future sprint.

Next Sprint: MVP Work

This next sprint I have actually already started working on since I finished with my main two tasks early. The next two weeks are going to be focused on getting a decent MVP up and running. Below is the main loop and as you can see there are a few aspects I still need to work on with the main one's being the helping villagers and placing the potions into the shrines. This is also going to include some new herbs and actual potion recipes which I have yet to flesh out. Currently most of the major systems are in place and while I know that this will be one of my largest sprints, I'm hoping that by the end I'll have something more tangible for a gameplay loop that isn't only written down.