Section 1: DoC progress

* Remade many (more to come) building models in Blender, adding smooth shading and creating cinematic-quality models.

The following image succinctly summarizes the changes:

* Added new Dock building, which can build war galleys and up.

* Implemented War Galley, War Elephant, and Scout Cavalry units

* Created custom models (and team textures) for the various units: Spearman (armed with a 6-meter-long horse sticker), Bowman, Archer, Clubman, Axeman, Javelineer.

* Fixed some 30 bugs of various sizes and descriptions.

* Messed with bump-mapping buildings. This may make an appearance as a complete feature in the future, but for now, there are enough problems with my technique that it's not worth implementing.

It looks like this: (bumpmapped reed hut)

My main problem is that the "shadows" - the non-lit side - currently display as a matte, featureless gray. If I could get the bump-mapping to act as an additive effect, it would be much easier to implement.

* Begun to add proper loading screens/logo movies to the game.

Now, on to the main topic of discussion: A little programming experiment of mine. I am attempting to make a roguelike. But not just any roguelike - I hope to make this a "life simulator" of sorts.

Here's what I mean:

* Anything you think you should be able to do, you should be able to do. If you want to light a fire (by Using a piece of flint with a rock, or an axe head, or …), you can do so - you can burn a log from a tree you cut down, or burn the handle off an axe to give you a sharp, heavy throwing implement. If you want to dig your own dungeons and populate them with baby monsters (those things have nesting holes and eggs, you know) you should be able to do so. If you want to wield a bread loaf, go ahead.

* The world should be malleable. You should be able to cut down forests, mine holes into mountains, build houses, pens, towers, walls…

* Time should have a real effect on gameplay. If you plant a seed from a berry bush and come back half an in-game year later, the seed should have sprouted. Similarly, by buying a suckling pig and taking care of it, you can obtain a good-sized portion of meat.

* The world should be consistent, yet different for each player. By creating one "game world" at the first run, I hope to make a variety of experiences for different players; yet keep the sense of a single, massive world.

* There should be a great variety of classes. By having five "critical decisions" for a new character to make, I can introduce a great variety of different classes - without actually having classes. Will you be a mage/martial artist? A ranger/soldier? A thief? Will you have a lot of influence with the rich and powerful, or will you start as a banker with money to spare? Your classes, your stat points, and your starting items will be determined by your choices. Designing characters will be much more in-depth with this system than with others.

* Adventurers should have a home life as well. Combat may be fun, but it won't necessarily pay the bills. By introducing a selection of "mundane" professions such as smithing and hunting, I hope to give ingame characters more depth. And, when your adventuring is over, you can pass the torch on to your child (controlled by yourself) and the next generation.

* Development should be fast and easy. At the moment, I have one command which defines "interactions" - such as "use flint with hard object" - which then translate directly into the game world. A few lines of code allow me to accurately describe the function of many in-environment objects. This also will make modding extremely easy - just specify a new interaction, and it will become possible in the game world.