Happy Moo Year, everyone! 🐮🎆
I’m kicking off 2025 with a small but fun update on The Cowzy Game. After enjoying the holidays with my family, I've been productive by, polishing the mining animation, learning about "Notifies", and more! It's a small step but we're just that much close to bringing this game to life!
Smoother and More Impactful Mining Animations
After last week’s prototype mining animation, I went back and polished it to make it smoother and more impactful. Now, when your villagers mine, their actions feel deliberate and satisfying. The animation flows better, capturing the effort and rhythm of resource collection. I will likely go back one more time over it as I'm still learning, but it's coming along nicely!
After creating the animation sequence, I’ve created a mining montage as well from the animation sequence. This means that villagers can now perform the animation seamlessly in-game.
Timing Is Everything: Montage's & Notify Checks
In The Cowzy Game, villagers will collect resources as they do their animation. How do we get that to work? In the Montage that we've created, we need to add something called a "Notify" that allows the Play Montage node in the Townsfolk Blueprint to collect the resources, reduce energy, etc. The Harvest notify triggers when the pickaxe strikes downwards.
What is neat about notifies is that we can do a lot more! We can implement particle effects, sounds, other visual effects like a sword swipe, and more! I'm sure in the future we'll add that type of polish.
What’s Next?
As the year unfolds, I’m setting my sights on finishing a very basic demo for The Cowzy Game. Here are the next big steps:
Villager Energy System
Every task takes effort! I’ll be introducing an energy mechanic so villagers need rest to stay productive.
Villager Inventory
Villagers will carry resources they’ve collected
Selected villagers will display their inventory
Resource Drop-Off Points
Collected resources will need to be delivered to specific buildings, adding to the town's total stockpile.
Thank you for your support and encouragement as I continue developing The Cowzy Game. Here’s to another year of cozy cows, charming towns, and exciting game development adventures. 🐄✨
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