Dynamic chunk save/load system

this week's focus was on reworking the old chunk save/load system. The old version was created before modding support was added to the game and was far from being done. As this system is the last major technically complex part for the game’s foundation I decided to do it this week after having it pushed into the future for quite some time. Since the generation and spawning systems are all in place (at the very least in their core functionalities) the requirements for the dynamic save/load system were much easier to identify. The new system is incredibly flexible, fully modding compatible and very easy to use (including for modders). Saving an infinite procedurally generated world while maintaining good performance is/was difficult but the current version is very satisfying to see working. There are still a few small things to be taken care of to fully save all the necessary data currently in the game (items, terrain etc) but none of them I see becoming problematic as I have done initial tests on how to do it already. I hope to be able to start working on gameplay features going forward for at least 2-3 days a week while spending the remaining time on creating new spawners (various room types, buildings, points of interest etc), polishing and extending existing systems (more variety in the terrain shape, add support for rivers and lakes etc) and generally optimize, extend and cleanup existing systems. This technical foundation for the game has been the core focus of my work on the project for about the past 2 years and I am incredibly happy and relieved that I was able to accomplish those goals I set myself that long ago. Until the very end I was unsure (still am a bit as I am not 100% done yet, but chances are incredibly low now) if what I want to do can be done and most importantly can be done by me with my expertise and budget. There has been internal testing of the initial tech demo of last week already and results were great. I plan on having the next tech demo version next week with hopefully the majority of the chunk save/load system to be part of it. If you are interested in testing it (again tech demo means very limited to almost no gameplay) feel free to reach out.

Notable tasks this week:

• Implemented dynamic & generic chunk save/load system

• Implemented procedural zombie spawning (see image above)

• Finished core technical foundation for the game after ~2 years

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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.