Using paper to visualize data

I made so much progress lately that I even forgot I had to also write on the devlog.

This progress includes:

- A generic text box system, to display text char-by-char like Zelda ALttP (or all at once as well)

- A generic menu system to simplify navigation in the inventory screen and on the starting menu

- An opening screen!

- The logic behind recipe preparation and buying/selling items inside the game

- Actually buying items inside the game

Remember I'm using Construct2 to develop, so a lot of these things are not available as plugins yet (no first-party at least), so I might have been reinventing parts of the wheel doing those generic systems. But I felt productive and learned a lot, there's the highlitght.

Today I want to talk about using paper to visualize data.

Of course we already use paper a lot to draw and sketch visual arts and game objects, user interface, etc.

However, I think that paper has not been used for visualize game data as much. We have debuggers in most tools, so it's very unusual to use paper for that matter.

Using Construct 2 limits the debug power, lots of events don't allow breakpoints to be set in the "code", so sometimes it's hard to find the issue when some sprite is popping up and changing color when it shouldn't be in the screen at all.

So I sort of "imported" the basic tool of "test tables" from when I worked as a programmer.

It's a very simple idea, I'm not revealing a secret skill here, of course. Test tables can help you visualize math problems of your code, for example, when that object you needed to be on the other side of the screen doesn't go where it should, or when you try to make your objects fade out, but right after they disappear, here they come again at 100% brightness and fading out again.

Mostly I've been using paper to visualize the inventory screen UI and the recipe preparation screen UI. I also created some tables to catalog the ingredients, products, equipments and skills the player can use. This allowed me to create a comprehensive logic for recipe preparation, because I can reference a lot of things from one table to the other and create very specific recipes for the player to find out.

Of course, the game is a work in progress, so I still have a long way to go before being able to show you all of that working and create lots and lots of (realistic?) recipes and items in the game. But I'm being very productive lately, it's a good sign I'll have a good pace in that long way.