Here’s all the updates from the 1st of May:

31st May

Added verification by checking if any fields are blank, and only allowing players to progress when they have filled everything in.
Need to add in some kind of verification that a name isn’t already used to prevent conflicts.
Turn taking and drop out system are in! Very simple use of a hash table with each player against a boolean, if they’re inactive the game checks if anyone else is still in the draft, and changes to next player or announces the draft done depending on the outcome.

30th May

We have what I’m calling pack support! Players can have a moddable roster and things to kick off a game with – in most games this would just be hard-coded very easily, but I wanted full mod support!
This is a major part of the project I wanted to add in – there is a lot to improve on, but I’m thrilled to have all my mod support added at long long last. Next will be the roster draft, and committing a new game save that combines player input and the pack for the initial save…
Started a process of checking if players have inputted the minimum info to start a game save. Currently mega buggy. 🙁

A huge change that… looks like nothing changed – players now can load their save files in from the right folder, and can “mod” the game for the first time!
There’s also a settings file that informs Unity which save file was last interacted with, so that the “continue” button is up to date.
Up until here, I was using a Resources folder because it was quick for me. Now I’m at the save creation/new game side, I wanted to finalise how I wanted the file structure to be in the final release.
There’s a thing called persistent data path that is dynamic across all platforms, so that should theoretically allow easy mods on any platform.
Added in the save file templates (I call them “packs”), and am working on a selector for them in the new game screen. Here’s where the roster, towns, titles, and stables will live, and packs are only loaded for a new game save.
The plan is that if a player wants a different roster, they make or download a pack, pop it in the packs folder and it’ll be selectable for the next new game they start.

Reworked the save file system to use actual save files instead of the Unity Text Asset that I use for testing. An XML file can have unlimited saves inside, but I envision players making a new XML for each game they play as the files are tiny.
This is a step towards release, and also towards having default character “packs” that players can use as a template scenarios for their new games. (CWL season 1 for anyone feeling old school for example).
Selina in CWL suggested a feature – an in-season character edit menu to keep rosters fresh and keep the show up to date with gimmicks without digging out the text editor.
Note: Had a break from 25th to 28th, healthy Adam is productive Adam.

Players can now change their show name and select a day of the week to run their show. Currently one player per day is manageable, but I might expand to run “head to head” once I’ve got some more critical features in.
Sanitised player input to prevent people’s wacky names breaking or being evil with the SQL saves.

Started on the player input system for adding their names etc. Players can now indeed add their name and have it stored in a temp hash table ready to make a build save!
There’s a page/tab system to enable many players to navigate and set up each player.

Added new game settings and my first UI screen!
– and + buttons work by triggering an event that adds or subtracts what I need them to, then refreshes the text to reflect the change.
This stuff will then be there ready for writing the new game save.

Added in the screens and Nody setup for the draft on accound of it being pretty straight forward to do so. I like having the UI ready to plumb in features.
Finished the past match ratings screen, and tested it with a few example match cards. It didn’t explode and now shows the ratings.
Added some… and I mean some of the logic behind the draft picking (in truth I poached from the roster management code as it was reusable).

Big roadmap made – this will be its own post at some stage this week!
Results now display in the results section with the winners and losers – I still have a lot to do here with ratings being shown and such, but it’ll get there.
I had a chat with a wonderful human who is interested in deciding who wins matches, so I’ll add a feature for this to my shiny new roadmap. Watch this space, some cool things may be around the corner if all goes well!

Calendar improvements!
We now can look ahead and into the past to view months!
The game is now linked “under the hood” to the results in the save data (it knows to go and look up shows by date, and passes it through.
The game now knows the difference between past and future, and won’t let a player select a date in the future (there won’t be a record there, so it makes life nice and easy for the player).
Next stop… parsing all the string data so that the results display as they should do…

“Would you like to save” confirmation button when your turn ends
Calendar now loops, checking if there’s a show, recolours buttons if there’s a show and is slightly more efficient. – Need to wipe colours after leaving UI – maybe a nice nested prefab to revert to?
UI scaling improvements – now works with Ipad and a bunch of aspect ratios – just mobile to sort next.
My laptop is alive and works!

Scroll views now scroll up and down when using controller (can see stuff!)
Can play whole rounds of gameplay – controller UI works fully! (test pending)
Added UrFairy’s wonderful screenshot custom action in tools/screenshot. Expect nice screenshots in future!
Fixed issue where info bar covered the game text (moved everything down)