Olivia, and interactivity

We'll start with a very quick "Olivia Update."  After two days of seclusion in one of our bedrooms, she has slowly started to emerge into the rest of the apartment.  

She is incredibly flighty and rarely spends more than a minute in a single place before moving onward.  He tail position tells us that she's cautiously interested in her new surroundings, and while their relations are not 100% friendly as of yet, the older cats tolerate her presence, when she pops into a given room.

We have had to shut off the YouTube videos of birds that we play on the living room TV, because Olivia gets just a bit too excited - she came VERY close to knocking it down the other day.  She has also started to put on weight - when she is presented with a bowl of kibble, it's like watching a steam shovel at work.  I figure this is a habit she picked up in her days as a stray: "When you find food- grab all you can, because you don't know where your next meal is coming from."

This past week has been all about getting the interactivity just right.  This included changes to a few systems- particularly the UI.  

Follow:

In the first iteration (which was included in the previous alpha,), you walked up to another cat, and they just immediately followed - they also tended to get literally "right up your butt."  Our lead coder has improved this in a few ways.

Firstly - there will now be an icon on the screen that shows you which cat you are in control of - please forgive the present bad layout- this was all coded last night, and we've not had time to improve the visual design, as of the time of writing.  Quite frankly, I want to remove those "stat bars" entirely - but that's another issue for another day.

Now, when you approach another of your cats, an icon will appear above their heads.

Press "E," and the cat will join your clowder, and their icon will join that of the "Lead cat."

You will now be able to form clowders of up to four cats.  If you switch to another cat in the clowder, their icon becomes central. 

Leaving the clowder is easy- just transfer to the cat you want to "peel off," approach another member of your clowder, and press "E".

We have also added the ability to "cycle" through what a cat might want to do with a certain object.  Say, for example, that you have a well-fed "Alpha" cat that encounters a piece of food.  While that cat might have the option of eating it, and "topping off" their stats, you know there is a "Beta" cat on the other side of the island who is hungry, bored, and not moving too swiftly.  Now, the Alpha cat also has the option of picking up the food, and bringing it to the Beta cat.  The same goes for toys, quest items, etc.

Seeing this "management" mechanic finally come together bit by bit has been immensely gratifying.  

Lance - our lead coder - has been amazing in his dedication to the project .  Our only problem is that the rest of us have a hard time keeping up with the guy!!!

I have to go and assist laura with integrating her interiors with the main project, so I unfortunately must end this week's update, here.  

See ya'll next week- thanks so much for your support, and confidence!