Developer Log #19 :: Quirks

Now that we have some better ways to manage colonist jobs roles I wanted to start working on expanding the colonist attributes and how they effect game play. What slows me down most is usually how best to show the underlying data to the player. I’ve made some good progress on better colonist status info.

Info Tabs

When selecting a colonist you get the info window which has a break down of all of the info and options for that colonist. The system works very well, but as more content gets added the list of UI elements keeps getting longer and longer. To help resolve that issue I’ve added tabbed sections to the colonist info panel for better organization of information.

 

A big reason for this was I wanted a better break down of colonist stats information and with the existing layout, that would have meant more scrolling for relevant data.

Stats Section

The new section is called Stats (name may change) and offers a full break down of colonist needs, attributes and a new feature called Quirks. The new stats display shows all the information on what is going on with a given colonist and with this new break down I can add in a lot more options for attribute effects. Each need has any active effects listed under it and hovering over one will show how long that effect will last in game time.

Quirks

Quirks are permanent attribute effects and are added randomly when a new colonist is created. These quirks can have either a positive or negative effect on a given attribute. For example the paranoid quirk decreases the max stress of a colonist. Hovering over the various elements in the stats will display a tool tip with further information.

 

With this new breakdown of information and new quirks related to stress I’m working on new stress reduction furniture items. Some fun new stuff is in the works including the possible addition of new needs.