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[nathy after dark]

Big fan of the "government arms" you posted on the Screenshot Saturday thread.

[PsycheMac]

Big fan of the "government arms" you posted on the Screenshot Saturday thread.

Thank you! I'm trying to make it feel like when a government building starts controlling a lot of societal issues and they have lot of those arms that they look like a spider. Seems fitting toward the creepiness of having more power and moving closer to a centralized dictatorship.

[nathy after dark]

Made me think of Komaji from Spirited Away just now:

[PsycheMac]

Made me think of Komaji from Spirited Away just now:

Haha, thats perfect. When I made it I had this feeling that it had a Studio Ghibli vibe. Its cool to get that confirmed.

[nathy after dark]

Just so everyone knows what we're talking about here's PsycheMac's original post from the Screenshots thread:

Updated the cosmetic look for the government arms that grab issues to solve them.

[PsycheMac]

Advanced Solving Techniques

Originally only one government building could solve one issue at a time. Now a government building can solve any amount of issues at one time. Although the more issues you solve at one time with a building, the worse the resulting stats you get from it when it completes.

You can also have multiple government buildings solve one issue to get better stats from it when it completes. Although if the government buildings have officials from differing political parties. It can cause a political disagreement on how to solve the issue which will yield no progress toward solving the issue that turn .

Here's a gif that illustrates a strong dictatorial federal building solving a lot of issues at once and having a political disagreement with a regional government building over an issue. I also threw in a look at the new solve arm look as you move it around.




Protesters

I've also now got protesters that will increasingly show up as the citizens are more unhappy with your government. If enough show up, they will revolt against your government  .

[nathy after dark]

I don't know if there are specific rules about this but I feel like I'm missing a lot of content for this because it's only on Twitter or the screenshots thread which I rarely check. So like, if there's no rule against it, it'd be nice if you started double posting your Saturday screenshots here as well 

That propaganda poster vibe doe.

[PsycheMac]

I don't know if there are specific rules about this but I feel like I'm missing a lot of content for this because it's only on Twitter or the screenshots thread which I rarely check. So like, if there's no rule against it, it'd be nice if you started double posting your Saturday screenshots here as well  

That propaganda poster vibe doe.

Ha I'm sure posting work once a week from Screenshot Saturday doesn't constitute spam. Or at least I hope not. That sounds like a good idea.

I'm glad you like the propaganda poster look. I've been spending a lot of time these last few weeks figuring out a potent theme for the user interface. I think I'm honing in on the right looks.

[PsycheMac]

Less Creepy Government Building Connection Art

I've been working on changing the look for how the government buildings grab onto issues they control as I've had a couple people tell me the arms are too creepy and don't fit the look of the game. I spent a lot of time making them visually interesting to play around with. Anyone have any thoughts?

[nathy after dark]

No more of Komaji's shadow government? RIP. 

The new chain look seems more in line with what you're doing, but I think they should be more tight, like securing cables. Pulling the settlement off its axis and leaning it towards the government building, showing that tension, maybe.

The only other ideas I have are of connecting them by electrical circuitry, which wouldn't fit the look, or by roads, which would be weird because you probably already have roads as their own mechanic.

Industrial piping, maybe?

[PsycheMac]

No more of Komaji's shadow government? RIP. 

The new chain look seems more in line with what you're doing, but I think they should be more tight, like securing cables. Pulling the settlement off its axis and leaning it towards the government building, showing that tension, maybe.

The only other ideas I have are of connecting them by electrical circuitry, which wouldn't fit the look, or by roads, which would be weird because you probably already have roads as their own mechanic.

Industrial piping, maybe?

Haha yeaaaaaa, as interesting as it was I do agree that it is a bit unsettling and could end up losing its novelty feeling pretty fast. I actually was in the process of turning my chain algorithm to be a road instead. I think it works well. I don't have any other roads in this game because I'm trying to avoid this being a city builder game as much as I can. I have a quick prototype working right now. Basically the idea is you connect the road up to the issue and a truck drives it to the government building each turn. Once it reaches the government building, it is considered solved and the road and the issue go away.

Currently working on the truck that carries the issue on the road.

[PsycheMac]

Military Protection

Just finished working on a way to show what map tiles are protected by military bases and the strength of that protection.

Haven't posted updates to this blog for a while because I've been mostly working on raw mechanics and back end construction/organization which isn't as pretty to show as regular visual updates that illustrate what I've actually made.



Text-based Game Symbols

Also here's an image which shows the important game symbols that I've converted into text form so I can easily print them throughout various parts of the game in text boxes. They represent policy topics that exist like education, environment, technology, etc. I'm thinking about changing the treasure chest one which represents the government treasury. Seems like too ham fisted of an interpretation of that.

[PsycheMac]

Updated Logo

Just update the logo to fit better with new developments in the game's look and feel. Still not 100% where I want it but it is getting closer. On the left is the old logo and on the right is the new one.

Any critiques or ways it could be improved?

[s_harriton]

This is looking great! I love everything you've added since I checked last. Fun stuff =D

[PsycheMac]

This is looking great! I love everything you've added since I checked l :gomez:ast. Fun stuff =D

Hey thanks for the encouraging words. Hope your music is going well!

[s_harriton]

Work has been great! Thanks

 I'm looking forward to working on your game too!

[PsycheMac]

Resolution Settings and River System

I finally started taking resolution settings seriously and created a system for it that works well. This meant changing the game away from a static map view to one that is larger than the screen view and scroll-able. I thought that I could devise a way to make the static map view work with different resolutions but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was going to be too tedious to be worth it. Fortunately, overhauling how the map worked made the code much more organized and cleaner and had a side effect of fixing a few bugs I had.

Here is the map scrolling system and a mini map which displays where you are looking on the map.



I also completely redid the river system which did not fit well with the new screen resolution system. I went from having it be a tile based shader system to one based on just line objects. It now allows a lot more freedom and realism in the way the rivers are procedurally generated and rendered. It is also drastically more performant because there are a lot less draw calls vs the shader layering system I was using before.

[nathy after dark]

Cool stuff. I'm making my game in HTML5 so I'm hella dreading the moment when I have to think about variable screen resolutions. Your solution might be the best one, though.

[PsycheMac]

Cool stuff. I'm making my game in HTML5 so I'm hella dreading the moment when I have to think about variable screen resolutions. Your solution might be the best one, though.

Yea I should've thought about it earlier. It's one of those things that is important but not incredibly exciting so it gets put off.

Placement Graphics/Screen Shake

I've done some work on the graphics behind placing new buildings. I'm going with a sort of ethereal look because I want it to feel like a constitutional idea that is being manifested once it is placed. I also added screen shake to the game and placing a building down is my first use for implementing it.



Bringing Arms Back

I'm bringing back the government building arms which grab onto societal issues that they are solving. I think they are more interesting and iconic than using roads. I also did some graphical improvements to make them feel like they are more well placed in the environment.



Appoint Official Menu

Created a menu for appointing unemployed officials that have worked in your government before. Includes sorting to easily find the right kind of official for the job.

[nathy after dark]

100% thumbs up for the arms