This week, an SSL (Shelter Scripting Language) command "MACH_LVLCHK[]" was created to check if Master Achievement branch is between levels X and Y, and whether no branch of such Master Achievement has been earned by Player at all.
The default NPC greeting that they used to take from individual files of randomized phrases, has been discontinued. Instead, root-level dialogue bricks are now used to define what NPC says when you click on them.
The base condition for a variety of greetings the NPC uses, depends on MACH_LVLCHK.
Simply put, the "gossip" section of NPC greeting, the simple part where you freely navigate an open, static dialogue tree, the quest-free section, as it were, changes dynamically based on your reputation with NPC faction, which is monitored via Master Achievement tiers.
If you've not done squat for them, the greeting will be cold, and the following dialogue tree will be cold. Once you get in the habit of helping their people, their greetings will warm up accordingly, and "gossip" trees will change.
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Items that lie on the ground. So far there hasn't been any. I was hoping to avoid putting this in, but it will have to be done.
The big world map is 3000x3000 squares big. Shelter's big world is a combination of tricks, where small maps are detailed, overlayed over the BIG (travel) MAP, which by itself occupies merely 18,000,000 bytes. I do not look forward toward increasing those memory requirements, so I found a different solution for handling items-on-the-ground problem.
Upon entering any detailed map (a settlement or an ENCOUNTER), all items in the world will be queried for their "lying on the ground" status and coordinates, and placed on the map accordingly. This way, the BIG MAP remains the way it was.
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I am playing with the idea of destructible environment. The mechanism to save and load dynamically altered maps has been in place for a long time. The ability to target individual tiles via low-res transparency mask generation is in the engine as well.
I am thinking of making settlements destructible, tile by tile, by attackers. The settlements' populace will rebuild it to its former state. Gameplay implications of this are questionable, but "[re]building the settlement " functionality will be useful should we proceed with the "Follower" system.
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I am also playing with the idea of the "Follower" system. People who are predisposed to gaining certain skills that you are superior at. If you let them follow you around, they will learn from your use of that skill.
Getting X followers to their skill cap will increase your "Teacher" Master Achievement tier. The higher the tier, the more followers you get. At some point the tier will change the name and become "Faction Leader". That's when you willl go to a preselected map and your followers will build a base there. YOu will become an in-game faction with much influence.
Made emergent enough, Followers could get their own Followers...
How this translates into "fun" I am not sure, but something about this feels right. It will also open way for "Fetchers".
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... I am also playing with the idea of having your followers be your lapdogs. The game would allow you to give them orders to retrieve items YOU are supposed to retrieve, based on your quest log. You would only be able to send them to locations you already know .You may also send them to kill people you've already met.
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All of this may be too ambitious, but on the other hand, I never liked the idea of remaining a loner in the game. I want the Player to be able to start alone, and then become
a) Joseph Stalin
or
b) Joseph Stalin who runs a kitten rescue agency
or
c)Mother Theresa
or
d) Mother Theresa that runs a bordello, if he/she so chooses.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to tend to the Warp Gate. There's been an unscheduled offworld activation.
