Two days in the workshop

Since the last post I played the game myself for the first time instead of only reading reports. That was the run on the local network, and it showed more than some weeks of planning. I sat in front of it for an evening, walked through Whitmere, died on purpose a few times and wrote down what I got stuck on.

What the playtest showed

There was no fullscreen. The minimap could not be zoomed, and the big map did not open the way you would expect. As a ghost I could not find the way back to my body, because the marker was tiny. And there were no name plates above the figures. All of it is fixed: fullscreen on the V key, a minimap with three zoom levels, a map on M, a waypoint for the ghost run, and name plates you can turn off. I looked at it again afterwards and signed it off.

What was built

Items and loot are complete. The NPCs talk now, and they look different from each other. Before, they all had the same face, because I had simply not planned an appearance field. The figures move more correctly: head and hair follow the step, and the women have a silhouette of their own. Houses can be entered, there are small animals in the fields and by the canal, fire burns and hurts, you can recall yourself to the inn, and you can sit down on benches. Sitting gives you nothing except the feeling. The recall has a long wait, so that it stays an inn and does not become a shortcut.

What I decided

The year in Vessar runs in seasons and has fixed festivals. Fishing becomes a full profession later and is not part of the first version. There is no chatbot answering as a game character. Instead there are answer cards that I read myself beforehand. Swimming comes later as well.

What I learned

Testing shows more than plans. I had considered each of these points done on paper, and none of them survived the first time I touched it. Also, many agents work at the same time on separate parts. That brings speed, but sign-off stays with me. What I have not looked at myself does not count as finished.

What comes next

Quests, chat and social features. Then the map day, when I place the houses into the maps myself. After that I play again, with more people, and write down again what I get stuck on.

Saltwarden Online is inspired by classic MMORPGs and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any other game or its publisher.