ClickableColony backlog

This is an update log for ClickableColony, my first Godot project after Unity’s owners insisted that I check out their competition.

Update 4.14.25 There is now an ending, and it will tell you a rival colony has been spotted nearby. The rivals do nothing yet… moowahaha.

Update 4.4.25 I hit that part where I have to stop immediate improvements on the project, take a “weekend” and try to reevaluate priorities, realities, goals, oh and desires. Maybe a looong weekend. I think I can visualize the way the game needs to go as the ending arrives. I want to challenge us through the summer and fall with a rival colony, and big switch ups to the rhythm and scale established at the beginning of the game. My testing friends have been a cool audience in the back of my head for each design choice. The resolution issues are still hard to work out and I can’t just let the current version stand. It needs to do mathy maths on your screen’s XY resolution values and set the “right” value by itself. For now you have to do it yourself in the escape menu, and it still only really works in landscape mode.

Update 4.1.25 The slider was the wrong choice for changing resolution for obvious reasons (in hindsight of course). Hard to swipe a control when the control is moving around. Derp. A quick bandage and on to other things.

Update 3.31.25B The resolution has been hard to work out between desktop and mobile viewing. I’ve been grinding all day trying to learn the options and test them. For now I can give the user a slider that lets them modify all that resolution ratio mathy math to suit their eye sight. <points at self>. Also for now portrait is not an option. Just to think aloud about it… I’d have to turn all the UI groupings into scenes so I don’t have to work on duplicates, then display two different layouts depending on landscape/portrait. No thanks. Not yet. We'll say it only supports landscape and call it Boylei good.

Update 3.31.25 Making a game about ants has been in my head since Micheal Crichton’s Prey made me think about emergent behavior in code back in ‘02. I’m not a great solo developer, but I sure am persistent! I made a model a long time ago of a personified ant queen samurai https://pin.it/3uBf9TeuR I don’t think that type of 3d model is right for this project… right now. The point of distilling the user’s choices down to a few buttons was to learn Godot, make it easy-ish to finish, and so I can hook into any of those choices and represent it any way I want. To get this done in weeks I can finalize the way the game ends, balance the play difficulty/arc, and make some super simple animations that tell the story better than, or in addition to, the wall-o-text-messages I’m using now. I feel like I should do that just so I can say “done” afterwards. And just like every painting I still have, I can always fiddle with it more later if it seems productive (or therapeutic).

Update 3.30.25 I got to see Hadestown off broadway tonight! See? I don’t just stay in and make games ALL the time. And here’s proof: No game update since 3.26. I spent a day trying to solve the mobile browser resolution train wreck. Still stumped for now. I took a step back from direct work on ClickableColony the past few days and built a 2d and 3d camera rig control system in order to test out an imperial (sorry, ‘merica) ton of shaders from godotshaders.com. I’m also still learning Godot transforms, and how to reach the properties I’m trying to change. Everything is confusing at this stage, even after decades of development in other environments. I’m even still confused about the different ways to capture user input. event.button_mask? _unhandled_input? <sigh> Maybe a 42nd documents read through will help. Also, this seems like the place to state for the record, I hate underscores when coding. Reading snake case is great, but typing an underscore is the WORST. Wahhhh. I’m sticking with pascal and camel case everywhere I can. Godot users can now turn on the flames.

Update 3.26.25 Added a help/hints feature that should hide itself immediately. Also spent some time figuring out how to use Itch.io.

I’m eliminating the “royals” (alates). It’s too much. The game ends when winter starts. Score will be based on larvae that is timed to coincide with diapause (hibernation), workers, soldiers, depth, chambers, and food. The food amount is currently a fuzzy metaphor, I don’t think ants typically store food in their nests over winter. Maybe I’m wrong. I was aiming for food representing the well-fed…ness of the colony as a whole, however using it as a space/chamber mechanic is hard to resist.

Update 3.24.25 Great testing session, thanks C&S!! 🫱🏾‍🫲🏻🤟I’ve implemented your suggestions. Up next, adding help and explanations at the right time.

I’m eliminating the “royals” (alates). It’s too much. The game ends when winter starts. Score will be based on larvae that is timed to coincide with diapause (hibernation), workers, soldiers, depth, chambers, and food. The food amount is currently a fuzzy metaphor, I don’t think ants typically store food in their nests over winter. Maybe I’m wrong. I was aiming for food representing the well-fed…ness of the colony as a whole, however using it as a space/chamber mechanic is hard to resist.

Update 3.21.25B It feels like I’m about to get this across a big goal post. Playable to the “end” is in sight, with a score and everything! I refined the resting calculation to be more procedural. Less mathy more if/else-ish. More code but it’s also more predictable. I think I like it. I think the temperature should be gutted to be less mathy also. The heat in summer might be off the rails right now.

Update 3.18.25 Refined the messaging feedback.🪡

I changed how it works when Threatening. It might be OP now, but it has a little more nuance and clarity.🗡️

Experimented with “X10 care” type of buttons, and other end game features. Lots of planning.

Update 3.16.25 Fixed the soldiers. You can create them now. Fixed the lay egg button costing way too much. 🛠️

Update 3.15.25 Added Aphids that will appear more often if you love them, and become rare if you kill or scare them away. 🥰

Added indicator to show brood care. Just to see if it’s hard. It wasn’t. Now to make it “look good”? Also, brood and new ants scale as they mature.🧬

Update 3.13.25 Added a save/resume feature. 💾

Added a system that visually represents the eggs and ants. It’s bad but it’s just the first try to make a feature that stands alone and changes with the data. My daughter likes the current half-baked art, I want it to be 3D animated ants crawling through tunnels in first person! Then I wake up and realize it’s just me.😟

Fixed Overworld encounters all being Large.🦖

Attempted to implement a feature to dig when the entrance is closed, using up chambers, but I didn’t like it. Deleted.🗑️