Monday Dev Update #16

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Hello there and welcome to this blog.

Work on the Outpost-building system has continued throughout the week. While we won't meet the initial objective of having it all wrapped up this month, it's still pretty satisfying to see all those systems come together. They kind of make up one of the two lungs of the game, without which the overall experience lacks structure and direction. So we're looking forward to seeing it all stand on its feet. Here's what we've been up to:

Completed the logic for placing Facilities & Extension in relation to one another
Added a radial menu to handle Facility/Outpost placement and dismantling
Finished and improved mechanics for Resource Expenditure when it comes to building Facilities
Implemented toggle for Outpost RTS Camera and Player Camera
Added Outpost Secondary Stats:
- Readiness: Enables raid & defense type events
- Resourcefulness: Enables adventure & research type events
- Goodwill: Enables diplomatic & spiritual events
- Labour: Enables construction & harvest events
Fixed Resource Expenditure & Resource Expenditure Logic for Facility/Extension Placement
Added Progress Bar to Facility/Extension Construction
Implemented Labour Hours for Facility/Extension Construction
Implemented Logic for Labour stoppage if missing resources
Implemented Logic for Labour cancellation if missing resources for 3+ days
Added Radial Menu to Facilities Extension, containing:
- Operator Toggle: Activate or deactivate Facility NPC's work schedule
  - Facility with Operator has more services but higher daily Upkeep
- Facility/Extension's Special Event button: activates Facility's Special Event, at Resource Cost
- Facility/Extension's Inventory button: accesses Facility's special upgrade slots & item production
- Dismantle button: Destroys Facility
Implemented new Inventory Framework

This is most of what we've been up to when it comes to dev work this past couple weeks. It required a bit of planning, fixing & design adjustments but it's getting there. Those are the mechanics by which the gameplay gains organic purpose, as you'll want to see your Outpost grow and thrive in the face of adversity, and you'll venture out in the Wild to ensure that, whether you're reaching out for Resources, collecting characters, gathering intel about locations to plan Expeditions, etc.

There is a lot coming up with this system, it's really the game's hub. The idea is to make it experienceable in a direct way (seamless play between Outpost and Wilderness) as well as in an asynchronous manner (play isolated game modes and see your winnings shipped to your Outpost), so that you can choose how involved you get: if you just want to have a quick half-hour play session, maybe you shouldn't need to go through all the steps of loading up Outpost Mode, checking out on the news there, setting up an Expedition and so on. Instead, you could just load up some gameplay straight from the main menu, do your thing, and later on when you have more time and load up Outpost, receive there the resources you unlocked previously.

Just the same, if you just want to chill and watch your characters live their life without any particular gameplay obligations, then you can load up Outpost Mode, let it run, and only intervene minimally. At the end of the day, it's all yours, so while the overall experience should build up in the same way for everyone, the moment to moment should be yours to determine according to your desires and expectations.

There's much more planned for this, including Social/Multiplayer components, but let's not get into this just yet, better to talk about things when they're well on the way to being functional already.

Upcoming High Priority items: