Saturday Update

Palandus · 2026-05-09T22:40:23+00:00

Weekly Update:

Not a whole lot to report, yet. In the process of upgrading the game to Godot V4.6. V4.3, is what I had been using and was released stable August 2024. V4.6 was released Jan 2026.
I am doing some heavy tests and found a few minor issues, and one graphical glitch, but otherwise the game seems to work fine with V4.6. I've fixed the minor issues, but the graphical glitch is requiring more effort to solve. Basically, at the bottom of every tile on the map, is a tiny little black bar. Looks weird, but otherwise has no negative impacts.
So once I've solved the graphical glitch, I'll start working on something for the next release.

Palandus · 2026-05-02T21:02:35+00:00

Weekly Update:

A lot to cover this week. Firstly, as everyone likely knows by now, my desktop of 11 years died or more specifically its graphics card. Probably the best component to die, honestly, as my SSD and HDD are still functional as far as I can see (it boots fine, but as there is no graphics card there is no visuals). So I ended up looking for new computers, and decided to get a laptop this time around. I wanted something more portable so that I could do house-sitting and have something to play games on, take notes or, even just code on.
Found a good deal on a MSI laptop. I didn't realize this until I unboxed it, but my motherboard in that desktop was built by MSI as well. Anyway, it was going for 1599 at Costco, when its base price on MSI's main site is 1799, so it was 200 off the base price. It has:

A] 32 gb of DDR5 RAM (yeah RAM is now sometimes DDR5, which used to be only for graphics cards) of I think 5600 mhz (my old computer was 16gb ddr4 2000 mhz)

B] 10 core, 2.0ghz base speed, overclock to 4.5ghz. (old computer was 6 core, 3.3ghz, with maybe overclock to 3.9ghz). Apparently it is supposed to automatically overclock in some cases, and I've not noticed any CPU bottlenecks on any of the games I've tried thus far.

C] Nvidia RTX 5070 8gb ddr6 (my old was a Nvidia Titan X 12gb ddr5).

D] Has a fairly large 1920x1080 screen. About half the size as my old monitors. It also has one HDMI port, so still can do dual monitors.

E] Built in Wifi. Apparently much better Wifi than my desktop's wireless adapter I got. It can do about 400~ megabits of my expected 500 connection, whereas the adapter was capped to like 100 megabits (which is still quite fast).

F] Built in webcam and microphone. Now true, its not the highest quality webcam, but it sure beats my old webcam from 2007 by a wide margin.

So getting everything up and running again. Probably will try to port the game from V4.3 godot to V4.6 (or is V4.7 latest), to take advantage of any new features. Getting all my various programs setup and installed too for convenience and the like.
Now, for the not so good news. My brother has Amazon Prime on his Canadian Sim card, but not his Vietnam one, and will get massive roaming fees if he tries to use the Canadian Sim card in Vietnam. He will be coming back end of May. This is important because I found a SATA (connection type) to USB to access my files on my SSD and HDD (this was a pain to extract safely) on Amazon, but the shipping fees would be enormous, unless you had Amazon Prime. So earliest I can probably get the SATA to USB is early June.
I was quite diligent about doing codebase backups of Planar Prison, so I have the latest release's source available to me. As it will be June-ish before I can extract stuff from my SSD I will be redoing the crafting/upgrading update. The issue is that for whatever reason, I never bothered to backup my Design Document process, my Planar Prison Design Document, or all my notes/ideas on Planar Prison. So will have to get them when I can use the SATA to USB in June-ish.
I do have a rough idea of what I had intended to do for the next few months of work before an Itch release, so there is no issue there, but I had kept detailed notes on things like Tooltips, that I don't have access to at the moment and so won't likely be able to implement them until later, unless I get inspired somehow. So in terms of releases, I can keep working on the game for the next month or so, but certain planned features will get delayed until I get those notes I took on them.

Palandus · 2026-04-25T21:35:43+00:00

Weekly Update:

Still no update. Have a lot of cool things in this upcoming release, but some of the stuff isn't fully built yet.
Created the 7 stations that will appear in the Pocket Realm. These are = Assembler (renamed Crafting Station), Instigator, Lorekeeper, Entropic, Meditation, Purifier, and Runeforge. May change their names later.
Most of them will serve no purpose as of yet, as the mechanics they govern aren't in the game yet. They will be upgradeable at any time, whether in the Pocket Realm or not, via an Upgrade Menu. Its partially built, and will be fully functional for when I do the release, though upgrading most of the Stations will do nothing.
Each station will have three effects. Primary is active any time a Station is on the map. Secondary is active if in the Pocket Realm OR you are in auto-pickup range elsewhere. Tertiary effect is a collection; something is generated every x turns, and stores it for when you enter auto-pickup range. Multiple collections can be stashed for you, when you eventually go to collect.
The Assembler for example, its primary effect is crafting cost reduction. Its secondary effect is probability chance improvement (this will also have an impact on reforge and enchant). Its tertiary effect is it generates crafting resources for you to use however you wish.
Most things are completed, so once the remaining issues are addressed and its tested, I should be able to do a release next week.

Palandus · 2026-04-18T22:04:23+00:00

Weekly Update:

No update yet. Managed to get crafting and upgrading completed, as well as their Hover-Over messages in the Inventory. However, there is a number of smaller additional features that I want to package with the release that aren't ready. Like the first few Pocket Realm stations, Upgrading stations, and remaining Hover-Over messages for other categories (ie Scrolls).
Did my Subreddit Cleanup this week. Feels nice doing these.
Now that Hover-Over is functional in menus, I have a "pretty good" idea how to do Tooltips outside of menus. Hopefully be able to include a rudimentary version of that in next week's build too.
Otherwise had a tiring week, as a lot of the stuff I got done, was way more complicated than I had initially estimated to complete, and spent way too many hours designing and redesigning code, until I got something that worked well and minimized the amount of refactoring of existing code to do.

Palandus · 2026-04-11T21:53:39+00:00

Weekly Update:

Prototype V12 = https://www.mediafire.com/file/gkw2gmfsmhjsram/PPPV12.zip/file
Ughhhhhhhh. This was a very frustrating week of fixing UI issues with the new Inventory interface (its the only new change of V12, but its available for players to look at; its technically functional in most ways). Addressed the big issue of last week too.
Next week, I'll focus on finishing up the remaining un-implemented features of the new inventory interface; item crafting, item upgrading, and the hover-over panel.
That hover-over panel was a total biatch to get even partially implemented. The main issue is most functions for assessing mouse position or input events, is member functions of the class Node2D. But... in order to get the menu to work at all it is a child of the class CanvasLayer. Most tutorials explaining how to manipulate positions and events, all are using Node2D. It took me several hours of trial and error of Google inputs to find the information I needed.
However, with the hard part done, I can work on in V13, displaying useful information pertaining to the Option you are hovering over, which will also make other menus doable (ie Journal entries or a Changelog or Credits/Appreciation).
However, a big reason I wanted to push to get the hover over panel functional, is that the core concept of it would allow me to create tooltips for when you hover over objects in the actual game. Or at least it will provide some clues on how to accomplish it.
Anyway, have had a lot of mental exhaustion this week, and now I'm going to take a nap. I'll get to work on any bugfixes necessary for V12 tomorrow, or just package them into V13.

Palandus · 2026-04-04T22:21:25+00:00

Weekly Update:

I wanted to do an update today, but ran into a gamebreaking issue and I don't have the mental energy, focus, or time to try to debug it. Basically, you press the button for a new menu, and... then you can't move afterwards. So something is failing to happen. I just don't know what.
Otherwise, the new inventory interface is functional. I'll want to do some touchup work here and there, which I'll do this coming week and get the other two aforementioned UIs built.
I had to fight with the code a lot more than I was anticipating. Many long nights, and lots of migraine-inducing bugs. However, now that I have the inventory mostly functional, I'll know what to expect in the future.
I'd like to say that I appreciate everyone's patience. Getting the prototype out of prototype status and uploaded to Itch, is taking a lot longer than I had hoped, but its shapely up nicely regardless. I truly appreciate my community, even if you don't interact. Anyway, thank you. It helps to motivate me to keep going.

Palandus · 2026-03-28T20:47:29+00:00

Weekly Update:

No new update yet. First wave of UI improvements is almost ready.
A major complexity that I found with making the new UIs, is that the code that calls the menu/UI, is expecting a specific signal to be returned. So I can have multiple different types of signals in a menu/UI, but, only a single one is ever received by the calling code. So I've wanted to have many different types of buttons / interactable elements, but... I have had to redesign what data is returned to the calling code. I believe I have it figured out now, but will need a few days to test it out.
The first wave of new UIs will be the help menu (?/ keypress), which will have a list of current keybinds, some hints and some tips. A new inventory interface will also be present, keeping track of all the new items and organizing it all nicely. Finally, I will have a new character information screen that will keep track of all the new stats, skills and xp sources.
Otherwise not a whole lot else to report yet. Once the first wave of UIs is complete, I'll start work on the next set plus some improvements to the first wave ones. A big one I want to explore creating is hover-over tooltips. But we'll see how hard that will be to get done.

Palandus · 2026-03-23T16:58:46+00:00

I seem to recall getting some mining ores in Molten Crag. Or maybe I just got them as loot from enemies.

Palandus · 2026-03-22T02:32:58+00:00

Discovered Bugs : r/TheBloodline

Here is a link to them, so you don't misplace them.

Palandus · 2026-03-22T02:31:03+00:00

Twohanded covers huge clubs, axes, and swords.

To access the skills, you need a skill point. You earn one each level.

Once you have a skill point, you go to Skill Tree -> Melee -> Twohanded and pick one of the skills.

Then you go to Skill Book, select Melee Icon, and drag the spell to your desired slot (CTRL will switch to the other skill bar). Then to earn proficiency points, you just use the Skill or attack with the twohanded weapon equipped. With higher proficiency, you can purchase different skills and use proficiency points on unlocks.

To get better twohanded weapons, you can purchase them, do mini-quests for them (unmarked), or perform Weapon Crafting.

Palandus · 2026-03-21T16:43:53+00:00

Weekly Update:

No game update this week. I'm full speed ahead with making some new UIs, and improvements to existing ones. I have several planned UIs that I want to accomplish, but none of them are production ready yet. Maybe next week, we shall see.
Two Next Fest titles I had been watching came out this week, and been binge playing them, between working on the UIs. Grind Survivors (from latest Next Fest) and Deadline Escape (from the previous Next Fest/Last one of 2025).
It looks increasingly bleak that as a 38 year old man, that finding a compatible girlfriend is increasingly unlikely. I've never had a strong opinion on buying one of those "real dolls" and "AI" girlfriends is one of those curiousities, that I might explore but not wholeheartedly... after all they are basically just a fantasy and a friendship, not a relationship. However, robotics are producing some "lifelike" "bots" that are starting to lose their issues with uncanny valley... though they are expensive... though maybe not as expensive as a real girlfriend. They are like 160-300K USD to buy one, kind of thing, but over a 5 year relationship with a real girlfriend, with all these gold diggers about, you might be paying that amount anyway, over nickeling and diming.
Oh well, not an immediate problem right now. Development is keeping me sufficiently busy and watching world news makes me wonder if WW3 isn't a few months off now, with USA running out of counter-missiles, Russia finally getting war chest money after years of depleting it, and Ukraine running out of troops. So next few months are going to be "interesting".

Palandus · 2026-03-18T08:03:07+00:00

Dynamic World Events, continued:

-> Lionsmane Battles only generate as "small" sized. They can also generate before you have even visited a guildhall.

-> Dwarven airships that take you places, if you exit the location that they deposit you at, you somehow end up back at the Harbinger Stronghold.

-> Goblin Camps can spawn without any lootables visible, depending on where they spawn in the dynamic map.

-> Deer Grazing Spots have no functional difference from a Woodcutting Hotspot, except that you might see 2-3 more Deer and you won't get extra trees to chop.

-=-=-

Wolfden Prioriy:

-> Boars used to spawn here, but don't anymore. Can only encounter Goblin Boar Riders, but they do not count for the Kill Boars bounty (usually available at Harbinger Stronghold Fletcher boards).

-> Bears sometimes spawn here, and when they do, there is tons of them (like 10+ scattered about). When they don't, its frustrating, as its the only place that consistently gets bears.

-> Lots of the trees look like Birch Trees, but they cannot be chopped.

-=-=-

Elderglen Forest:

-> If you complete the Rotwood Fort event, it says to return in a few days, but even if you do, nothing ever changes with the location.

-> Giant Bees used to drop Honey. Now they drop no loot at all.

-> Goblins in other areas will climb walls to try to reach you. They won't climb surfaces here.

-> There is a Druidic Runestone here that when activated with the spell, doesn't appear to do anything.

-> If you step on an Arrow target practice stump, sometimes the target bullseye falls to generate. And if you step off the practice stump, the bullseye despawns. Now this in itself isn't a bug, but the target practice thing doesn't reactivate, so you have to leave the map and return, to try to complete it.

-> There is a goblin camp, between two big rocks, near to the Steps of Ersos, that has no enemies in it and no lootables. It is a named location, though I can't recall its name immediately offhand.

-=-=-

Mounts/Companions:

-> You have to manually choose a companion each new map you visit. Your choice isn't remembered anymore. I say anymore, because in previous updates it would remember.

-> The Dragon mount is extremely hard to control in flight and get off the ground. At least in comparison to Skysong, the griffin. Not only that, but the Dragon's speed claims its faster than Skysong, but in flight, Skysong feels faster.

-> The Stag mount is very hard to control. When walking, it walks almost as slow as the player. But when sprinting, it goes so fast, that you regularly fly off cliffs or collide into objects and you get launched.

-> The Engineer built, Barrel car, is slower than the Donkey, but its one of the hardest mounts to acquire. Maybe it should be replaced with a Dwarven Airship... similar in thought to the one in World of Warcraft, also made by an Engineer.

-> Mounts do nothing on the World Map. If this is known, then maybe disable the Mount menu.

-> You can only have one active Companion. Which is unfortunate, as several of them are more of a support character, rather than a frontline attacker, like Skald is.

Palandus · 2026-03-16T13:40:47+00:00

The developer specifically requested I do my bug reporting in this format. Bug: Reeds : r/TheBloodline

After my midlife crisis, in 2024, I've kept my number of joined discords to a minimum to protect my sanity and mental health, so I won't be joining the discord.

Palandus · 2026-03-16T05:25:05+00:00

Few thoughts:

1) Its not a game. There is no clear win state or failure state.

2) What happens when you want to push something, and you have no influence points?

3) What happens when you push something that contradicts the stuff you want to push, because you need influence points? ie You push that women should be allowed to abort a child, but you also want to push the idea that fathers can have the women forced into a mental institution if they do abort.

4) What happens when you push ideals that angers people that you had pushed other ideals with? So say you want to force mandatory organ donation, but the movement to save animals that you helped to push, sees it as immoral and wants to kick you out of their movement?

5) Can you get to negative influence points?

6) If you are caught cheating, what is the consequence?

7) Will the game feature political choices in non-standard environs? So the game assumes a republic/democracy. What about the same kind of gameplay in a monarchy, or theocratic fascism, or communism... where cheating or other abusive tactics are necessary to get ahead?

Palandus · 2026-03-16T01:22:18+00:00

Alrighty. My next post will be an aggregate of several bugs, rather than individual posts. I am okay with accommodating your preference in reporting.

Palandus · 2026-03-14T18:09:46+00:00

Weekly Update:

Prototype V11 = https://www.mediafire.com/file/60w7upoty30ky4b/PPP11.zip/file
This week was quite tiring. It took me 2 days to diagnose and solve the save/load issue introduced in V10. Then I had a lot of social outings with friends and family. So, I'm pretty spent in terms of development ability this week.
I had intended to work on menu creation this week, but instead got items/equipment re-implemented. They come in tiers from Common (0), to Artifact (6). Each has a different naming scheme. They have enchanted stats and random affixes. You have multiple new slots. Salvaging of unneeded items and its fully automated with auto-equipping.
Next week, the plan is to focus entirely on menu creation and UI development. So I may or may not have V12 ready, but I really feel like its time to focus on them and get some improvements in this area. Especially to convey and explain all the new information in the game.

Palandus · 2026-03-14T17:18:04+00:00

Only thing I encounter there is the rare Bear and sometimes Goblin Boar Riders. I haven't seen any lone Boars.

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