This will be a very short post. I’m currently working on being able to chop trees. This is probably the most difficult part of the game to develop. I have to cut the tree, remove the branches, cut the logs, bring them back to the cabin. And I have to make sure the tree falls down in the right direction. I’ve already cut up two trees (in 3d software). I may add a third tree, but it’s an insane amount of work. So for now, there are only two variations of trees (I have a total of 5). Oh, and the tree planter needs to be able to plant and grow trees. Those are available in the Megascan trees made available by Epic.
But first, we need a saw to cut down the trees. And yes, the trees he’s going to chop down are the ones behind him in the image below.
No axe or hand saws for this guy. Built-in portable circular saw. Instantly cuts trees down. A few challenges here. I’m going to have to disable collisions with trees so the robot can get in the forest. Otherwise, this isn’t going to work. And I’m going to have to ignore a lot of stuff that may be around the tree if it falls in an unusual spot. I don’t really have a choice. So next step is doing the animations and I may do them in all in C++ instead of in the editor because I need to ensure everything lines up properly. I mean, I don’t have to. But it’d look a lot nicer.
This is one of the main resources in the game (planks from logs), so this is a big milestone in the game. All the assets are ready to go for cutting down trees. Just got done the saw and adding skeleton sockets to attach the saw. The other two big milestones are carrying resources from one place to another and stacking them (and taking the top one), and figuring out conflicts if more than one robot is picking stuff up from the same tile. And lastly, being able to construct buildings. If I can get those three things done, that will be the core mechanic of the game in place and the rest is details.
