Info Button Update

Since I've been doing an update just about every day, it's gotten hard to stop! So here's another one. The picture shows a little i info button I added to the right menu bar. It was a good change of pace from sorting out the data structure for appointments/events. This little button will show helpful info based on where you're at or what menu you're in. It's more for how-to content, rather than more in-depth information in the game guide.

Quick Note: Secondarian pointed out to me that in my update on Monday for the next version release date I put the incorrect date in. It should be Monday the 25th of September, not the 18th which makes no sense... I failed at calendaring.

Today I've mostly been working on the "Day System", which reminds me every time I say it that my failure to come up with an actual name has resulted in a really stupid one. Despite the dumb name, it's pretty important. Unlike many game engines, Twine doesn't really have a concept of time. After all, an active clock doesn't really make sense in the context of a text game, where people read at different speeds and there's no concept of space or movement.

Because AW has both space and time, both of these concepts have to be programmed into the game. For space, we have the Map System, which creates Appletree in a series of Cartesian grids. Time is easier to do, and significantly harder, than space is. It's easy to create a time variable and add to it as events and actions happen. But when you have a fundamentally open world where you don't want to control locations or actions like in a more linear game... With time as an important controlling factor for play and numerous mechanics from satisfaction to addiction*, it's a bit tougher! It's been going pretty smoothly though, and it's been fun to set up. It's also really cool to see all the various mechanics that make up the player character coming to life. :)

*There are currently 8 addictions, and they're integrated into the clock so that your need to satisfy those addictions properly builds over time based on the addiction level for each one.