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[ashen]

It's been a month or two since the last update so it's time I explained what I've been up to.  I'm making good progress still, a health issue got in the way for a while but hopefully that's behind me now.

Stockpiles and resources:

The game now allows you to designate stockpiles and change the allowable resources that can be stored in it.  At present the available resources include loose rocks that are extracted from surface rock outcrops and can be used to build dry rock walls etc. Loose branches/sticks that are available from fallen (or dead) trees.  Branches can be used to fuel fires, make brush walls (as shown in the screen-shot), basic furniture and tools such as fishing rods.  Also, logs from the felling of trees.  I haven't created the timber industry/workshops yet, so for now logs can be hauled to stockpiles only.    

Construction of buildings:

It's now possible to build walls, floors, stairs and fences.  Walls and fences snap to the edges of each location and most walls can be stacked vertically.  Walls and fences can also be half height as you can see with the battlements in the screen shot.  Floors can be built either on the ground or on top of walls where they act as a ceiling as well as a floor.  This should allow very flexible building designs, including multiple storey buildings and being able to build underground rooms or structures. Stairs provide access to higher/lower levels.

There are a still a couple of quirks in the AI path-finding that I need to iron out but overall people can happily move up and down stairs and in and out of buildings as needed, which is fun to watch and test.
 

New in game UI:

It's definitely not much to look at but the new in game UI (seen at bottom left) is finally starting to come together.  I like the simplicity and ease of use of the Rimworld, Prison Architect etc user interfaces so it borrows from these games.  My main goals are to make commands accessible without needing to click too many times, make the UI unobtrusive (ie hide things when not in use) and ensure that it organizes the relatively large number of commands that these types of game have, in an intuitive way.

At the bottom are the main categories of commands.  You click on a category and a group of related buttons appear above.  You then choose one of those to actually build somethings or perform a command.  Depending on the chosen button you may see an additional settings/selection window.  For example in the screen-shot you can see the settings window for building flooring.  All UI components support styling and skinning so expect it to improve drastically in terms of appearance. I'm using a powerful but slightly frustrating UI library that has built in support for skins etc.


Up next:


Construction of buildings took quite a bit of time to get working decently.  But now that is in place, I plan to focus again on  people and their need for food, water etc.  They already have warmth, fatigue and hunger requirements so I now need to add hunting, fishing, foraging, crop farming, and the associated resources (meat, fish, fruit, grains etc).  I also need to add doors, windows and initial furniture such as beds, chairs and tables.