Hello again, everyone! I hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend! The season is officially changing where I live and it’s starting to get chillier outside every day. It’s a welcome change from the oppressive heat that we had during the summer months.

I had some extra time to work on things this week so I got a bit more done than I expected, but never as much as I hoped to get completed. I was able to get some stuff done yesterday since I had the house to myself, and finished up with some extra work today. I might actually get the chance to do some relaxing for once tomorrow instead of working. But I know that’s not why you’re here; you’re here for the updates. So, without further ado, I give you my work log for this week.

Cursed Crown Updates

• Addressed Issue #14: Create Door Prototypes
  • My initial plan was to create three door prototypes here, but I settled to two instead.
  • Door type one is a physics-based door that swings on a hinge. As a player, simply walk through this door to open it. It will swing shut behind when the character is no longer in the way. It works well, and it’s based on the metal bars that came with the Lordenfel asset pack. The only thing that I didn’t extensively test on this one was whether the door allows AI pathing through it. I’ll need to experiment with this so I know how to use or not use this door in levels later. I plan to extend this to allow different assets as well. Sometimes wooden doors might be better than metal ones, for instance.
  • Door type two is more of a hidden door. It looks like a wall and requires manual activation by the player. Upon pressing the interact button, the door starts moving in one of five configurable directions. (Up, down, left, right, or backward.) It moves a configurable distance at a configurable speed then (optionally) is destroyed so it doesn’t get in the way of other geometry. For future updates, I want to add some sort of stone-on-stone scraping sounds, some dust or smoke particle effects, and see what can be done about removing the interaction box that pops up when the player is nearby. It’s not very secret if it announces itself after all.
  • Door type three was planned to be similar to door type two, but using something like bars or a gate instead of the wall. A lever or switch of some sort would be nearby and be the actual interaction point. Due to lack of appropriate assets and animations, I scrapped this idea until beta.
• Addressed Issue #29: Experiment: Update Overgrown Ruins Environment
  • After previous attempts to update the lighting in the environment, I wasn’t actually confident I’d be able to get something I was satisfied with and I was trying to accept the fact that I might close this issue with no actual progress to show for the work. But I’m happy to say that I was able to get the actors configured enough that I liked the results. I won’t say that I’m confident the nighttime stuff I put together is better than the daytime settings that were shipped with the product. So I compromised.
  • Instead of just setting the actors to day or night, I cloned the actors in question and created a daytime set and a nighttime set. That’s right, both are included. I created a new blueprint based on the ACF interactable blueprint that lets the player switch between daytime and nighttime in the tech demo. I’m not going to spoil where it is, but it’s not super well hidden, so you should be able to find it in the build when it’s released.
• Addressing Issue #39: Document Patreon Plan
  • This one is going to take a little while, and it’s not going to be something that’s obvious in the build because it just isn’t something that’s going to be referenced in the build at all.
  • I want to have the plan for Patreon set up and ready for when I officially release the tech demo. I plan to have a few tiers where you can support the development of the game and I intend full transparency as to where the funds will be going. I have always been a bit hesitant with some Patreon campaigns when I can see x dollars going into a project, but the output appears to be worth far, far less. I want to make sure that you can see what I am spending the money on so you can be confident that I’m not squandering your hard-earned money. Plans can obviously change, and I will strive to keep everyone as up-to-date as possible.
  • But first, I need to get all of my information laid out as neatly as possible. I’ve actually created the Patreon page already, but I haven’t published it because I don’t feel there’s enough information to warrant it.

So that’s what I’ve accomplished (and am accomplishing) this week. It always feels like it’s long grueling work and it takes me all day to do, but when I lay out what the results are in these posts it never feels like I got much accomplished. Such is the life of a developer. I tend to feel that way in my git logs and notes at my full time job as well, so c’est la vie, I guess.

Anyway, some more actual news. Just to see who’s reading this far and who’s just skimming the Cliff’s Notes. I intend to have the Patreon campaign opened up by the end of this year. And I intend to have a working, freely-downloadable build on that page when it goes live. That’s right: tech demo build in December 2024.

27 of the 29 issues identified for the alpha build are complete. Only two remain: #39 (Document the Patreon Plan), and #18 (Tech Demo (Alpha) Release Checklist). I’m working the Patreon plan now, and the release checklist is basically “what needs to happen to put the alpha build together.” I know what you might be thinking: “But doesn’t that mean it’s ready now?” Well, yes, technically. But I want to have some time to polish the build where I can and add in any last minute things I can think of for that extra je ne sais quoi. But don’t worry, I’m as excited as you are about this. I really want a project to release and succeed. I’m not expecting immediate success, but with continuous work and supportive fans, I think there’s a real chance that The Cursed Crown could be the start of something very big.

Thank you all for joining me so far on this journey. Keep the faith just a little longer. And until then, keep on gaming!