Magical Ebb and Flow

So, generally when I post here, there's a funny mix of reasons for it. Foremost, is that when you're here reading it, I'd like to share the cool new thing I've done, or the thing I'm working on with you directly. I don't know how you've found my little dev blog, but you're here, and generally more of you turn up each day. So welcome. I also post to keep myself on track with what I'm doing. It's a way to solidify what I've done, so that it feels like it's progressing - which it is, though sometimes it feels like at a snail's pace compared to what I'd like it to be. Sometimes it is also to jot down what I need to do next, so that I can see it the day after, or the day after that, and remember the things I need to do next so stuff works.

What I rarely do though, is post the higher level over-arching ideas and concepts. A good part of that is because I want to let those come out in the game, through different story arcs and through little connections that can be dropped in random places, so that the really clever you, who is paying attention can join the dots in the ideas I'm having on how things work.

Today is a day that I can share one of the early concepts I've had about this game world, and one that's been there from basically day one of my thinking on how the world will be.

There are three moon gods that circle the world, and each of them has two faces, or sides. They're like opposite sides of a coin, and depending on which side is looking upon the world, is what magical energies are strengthened, and what powers will be wane.

Infernus and Pacific are the faces of Fire and Water on one of the moon gods, and depending on which one (if any) are facing the world, spells, abilities and creatures aligned to that deity will be empowered, while the opposing side will be taxed of energy. I'm working on the tuning of it, but generally the bonuses far outweigh the reductions - so there's a big net positive between them. Same goes for the moon that has Earth and Air, and again for Life and Death. As these power and drive the way magic interacts and flows into the world, I want there to be a fourth and final effect, which is Chaos and Entropy. When the gods are heavily focused upon the world, and they are strongly enhancing the magical powers, the interaction of magical powers enhances Chaotic energies, while when the faces of the moon gods are focused on one another, rather than turned towards the earth, all magic will wane, and Entropy will reign.

I'm scratching at the surface here, as there's a lot, and I mean a lot, of story and myth that I'd like to get into in the game itself, but, in a very wordy and long-winded way, I've been hard at work, finally writing the code that will insert all this into the game - it's been long in the simmering, while I've been creating all the other functionality. But right now, I can finally, and I say finally, start working on how these cycles interact with abilities and effects on characters and creatures. 

Of course, in the way these things inevitably happen, it means I'm going to need to rewrite the way some code functions - but it isn't massive changes, it's rather just making it more efficient, in setting the impact on the ability or effect itself, then passing that particular object to the code, rather than what I do now, which is passing an ID of the ability around. Anyhow, all that isn't important. The important thing is that it's really all coming together in the last bits of "things I need to work" before I can start considering the core aspects of the game working.

The plan for the remainder of the weekend is to really get into this code change, and as I do this, also tie up the loose ends with Reagents and just how the work on both abilities and effects.