MMO Prototype - February report

As per my plans for the first quarter of the year (and following up on January):

  • (Done) Complete the path-finding logic (with a procedurally generated grid to accommodate the ever-in-development terrain) to allow NPCs to move. The grid is done, I just need to assign "weights" (so that NPCs are less likely to walk on grass than on the road) and plug the NPCs to said grid. This took slightly more time than planned primarily because, while the grid was functional, it didn't take into account the possibility that different instanced copies of the same location might have variations of that data (where a player might cut trees in his copy of the instance, etc). So that's fixed.

  • (In progress) Create spawn points that can spawn procedurally (based off available space on the terrain) as well as enabling some to be destroyed by players. This is to enable the game to dynamically spawn encounters based on player density, like pushing a wolf den away from the perimeter of player structures or having mobs appear from the depths of a dungeon and have them walk/patrol back to their designated "spawn location"; rather than just popping into existence behind players as they delve into a dungeon.

  • (Done) Allow player-owned plants to grow at a pre-determined rate rather than be subject to the growth rate of the overall ecosystem (to enable gardening).

  • Establishing a server-authoritative infrastructure for gathering/crafting/lock-picking mini-games.


I'm glad I tackled the pathfinding before the spawn points functionality because the pathfinding data is structured in such a way that I can use it to determine where to spawn stuff a lot more efficiently than originally planned. With that said, this particular function will be somewhat incomplete as I don't have enough mechanics in place to build an ecosystem with wildlife, monsters and bandit camps, etc.


Not sure I'll get the gathering/crafting/lock-picking mini-games done by the end of March but, if I dedicate a few more days in the coming weeks, there's a chance.


If you believe (especially if you're a moderator) I'm overstaying my welcome, please notify me. 

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