Grid Connections and Managing

Author: Armando J. Cardoso 

Posted on 11/10/2023

Hey everybody my name's AJ and thanks for coming back for another blog post. 

Problem 1: 

So this week finished our system build which had us worried but content at the same time. I think I truly had 2 problems this week. One being that I didn't know how to access the grid from the player or from anywhere to be honest. The reason why this would be a problem is because if you can access the grid you can't actually use the grid. And when you try to you would probably think the game had froze because nothing and no one was moving. Another problem to that is that I wouldn't be able to click on a certain aspect of the grid, move to that location, or access the buttons. And since this is a turned base hexagonal grid strategy game; I think it's kind of important. 

Solution 1:

So I came up with a quick fix for now. I had to decide to incorporate the movement functionality in our tile code which allowed the player to actually move on the grid on mouse click. This made it easier to know if the tiles were walkable and even functional. I had a good idea to see if my code was functional and that was by adding a print to string to each tile that was clicked and if it printed I know all I had to do now was to implement the BP Character to walk to the selected tile. As a team we were a tad bit worried that it would not work but luckily it did. The next item we are working on is pathfinding and at the moment we're able to see the neighbors of each tile so by next week we should be up and running. This is important because we want to give the player an opportunity to see if this is the most optimal path.

Problem 2:

How can I as the Project Manager / Producer / Generalist programmer... Make sure everyone understands the vision and next steps for Quest for Dominion.

Solution 2:

Everyone says it's a simple fix to that problem and it can be answered in one word COMMUNICATION. Our group has done a great job at talking and communicating with one another. And understanding what the other person needs. But there are times where we do go a little off the rails and start talking about other things. Because we enjoy each other's company. Which is a great thing because it shows we are becoming closer as a group. So to make sure that we don't completely fall off the rails. I always make sure we find a way to relate our discussion to our game. So I would ask... how does a tie back into our game and it seems everyone likes how I reel them back in. It's good that we all like to talk to each other and work well with each other. But we have to make sure that the times that we can talk to each other is very productive because since we're all in different parts of the country. I have to make sure this time together is very valuable. So those hour to 2 hour meetings that we hold are very, very productive for us. It also helps that I enter these meetings with a plan and a goal we should strive for. So to fix that problem, I say it again. It's the easiest thing in the world to do, but also could be the hardest.... COMMUNICATION is KEY.