[0.0.8-A] & Sandbox Progress~

First and foremost, we have an update to Arkavite. The games UI has been overhauled to support keyboard and gamepad inputs. Please note, the game does not currently support button remapping. This will be added at some point in the future.

The next key change has to do with choice colouring. I have updated the choice visuals on highlight, select, and disable to make selected choices stand out more from those which have not been selected. A number of the game's UI animations have also been tweaked as a part of the controller/keyboard input update. This should make it easy to tell which buttons you are currently hovering over.

Sandbox Development Progress

Next up, we have a lot of progress to report on sandbox development. As a quick disclaimer, please note the sandbox environment is not yet accessible in game as it is very much under development. In the coming dev log, I will be detailing what needs to be developed before it's ready for testing.

Anyhoo, without further ado, the sandbox. I have developed a prototype environment in which to test the core game mechanics. In order to make the map function as intended, I've developed systems to manage player movement, entity collision and sprite sorting. This should allow us to create maps with all sorts of configurations and varying elevation levels.

I've set up the core game clock, which not only manages the timing of events, but also the world's day and night cycle. Arkavite being a world of its own, has its very own calendar cycle. 426 days, 13 months. The first 12 of which having 35 days, leaving only 6 for the last month. But every 7 cycles there comes a leap, bringing the 13th month from 6 days to 7. In an attempt to not go too far off the deep end, I think I will be keeping the day length at a familiar 24 hours.

I've set up our small test world to cycle through day and night, which should allow me to get a feel for how certain dynamics could shift at different times of the day. I've also built a little night light for the player which comes on as the sun sets, and interacts with the environment to cast shadows for added ambiance.

We now have a functional player HUD. It displays your hearts (HP) and your arka (MP). The UI animates between values when you lose or gain HP and MP. I've built in a fun initialization sequence for this bit of UI (see the videos below). I think it will be fun to see your progression each time you load up into the world.
In addition to what's currently appearing on the player HUD, I will probably add status affect icons to convey various status affects. I don't think I'll be tacking on more than this, as I wouldn't want the HUD to become cluttered. The clock may work as an optional HUD element you can toggle on and off, but l'll leave that for another day.

I have developed an inventory and item framework. You can access your inventory, view your items, filter by item type, see how an item will influence a number of your core stats, and most importantly - use the item.

On the topic of stats, as you may have noticed, there are a number of bars above the item description window. From top to bottom, these bars are visual indicators for your following stats:

• Hunger: This can be thought of as the fullness of your belly. Eating food fills you up and may in future grant a general wellness buff. I have yet to decide whether the player should be stopped from overeating, or if I should add a chance for puking and or exploding if you keep eating without remorse. I think the latter would be rather funny, and could potentially be weaponized if I were to add caustic blood or some other silly sim focused mechanics.
• Hydration: Hydrobro has got you covered. Hydration is how hydrated you are. Staying hydrated will boost AP generation, and being dehydrated will tank it. Running out of hydration for a couple of days won't kill you immediately, but you will get a progressively worse and worse debuffs until you do kick the bucket.  
• Energy: The energy meter shows off the amount of kcal you're currently processing. You receive energy from food, and some potions. Energy is transformed into ap as foods are digested. If you run out of energy you won't die, but you will start converting fat into energy and that energy into AP, and if you run out of fat, you will die. On the other hand, if you have an over-abundance of energy, some of that will be converted into fat.
• Lewd Points (LP): This is the fabled horni meter. The most important stat when it comes to performing lewd actions and telling just how lusty you're getting.
• Action Points (AP): The points you need to take action! Running around, swinging a blade, passively restoring mp and hp. These all consume AP. As previously noted, AP can be restored by gaining energy, and in addition to this, by resting.

• ADDED: Controller & Keyboard support for all menu systems
• FIXED: Character Creation - Issue where choices without stats would not display their requirements
• CHANGED: Controls Page - Now displays Keyboard and Gamepad controls.
• CHANGED: UI SFX - A number of UI SFX have been updated to make the composition feel more consistent.
• CHANGED: UI Animation - Small changes here and there to some of the UI animations (highlighted & selected buttons etc.). This was done to accompany the new controller/keyboard support. 
• CHANGED: Character Creation - [Breeding Season] can now be taken with Futanari
• CHANGED: Character Creation - Choice colouring for added clarity. It should now be easier to differentiate selected choices from choices which are not selected, and choices which are not selectable (because they are disabled).
• CHANGED: Updated Credits Page