Complete save/load implementation & further art style experiments

This week was split into the continued implementation of various systems into the save/load system and more experimenting with the new art style for the game. Almost everything important in the game is now included in the automatic save/load process. Only specific objects and some player data remains to be implemented but with the available code foundation those can be done alongside other tasks as they will likely not be taking a lot of time to add. I also continued with the art style experiment and feel like I am on a good track so far. It involved quite a bit of trickery to achieve this look with the models I use since low poly texturing is usually very different from regular texturing. This is due to the excessive use of texture atlasing and per face coloring. This means many faces share the save UV coordinates (position) on a texture. This makes it more difficult to apply overlays like grunge, dirt, rust etc. Luckily there is an amazing shader I purchased a while back that offers this feature regardless of the UV layout. This allows me to apply all those effects without having to worry about how those models are textured. I’ll be conducting performance impact tests for this art style next week since the impact of this overlay method does require more resources than usual. In the case the impact is too heavy I already have a plan on how to reduce the impact to a fraction, which if it works out will definitely make this art style possible to be used in the game. I should already have all the required information about this for the next devlog.

Notable tasks this week:

• Added item & inventory saving/loading

• Added the majority of character data to saving/loading

• More experimenting with new art style

• Lots of testing and project management

Wishlist on Steam

Join the Discord

That’s all I got this week. I hope you are all doing well.
Stay safe out there and I’ll see you next week.