2020 is here and 2019 is behind me. It's roughly 140 days since I have done any work at all on Lunar Pioneer, which is a shame. A lot happened last year, some good, some bad but the main result was a disruption to my progress creating my first ever proper game.

Getting back to it isn't a new years resolution or anything like that, in fact I was honestly getting ready to abandon Lunar Pioneer and instead start working towards something new. This focus toward something new was mainly brought in by the thing that broke my positivity for this project way back in August, and that's the low resolution I decided to create the game in.

See, being a complete newbie, one thing I didn't realise is that the low resolution would have some pretty serious implications when it came to screen movement, something that could be overcome by precise pixel movement, but not during any movement that may involve sub-pixels. The combat area in Lunar Pioneer relies upon sub-pixel movement and the result is a stuttering mess when the camera moves.

However, after my break I do now have a few ideas to bring this project back to life in a way that I'm happy about:

1. Having being inspired by the absolutely fantastic Moonlighter, I'm going to work in the mechanics of the player running their own shop. This shop will sell the goods that the player farms, along with the excess oxygen that the player collects. I like the idea of the player affecting their relationship with the other village characters by over or under charging for oxygen. It creates quite an interesting moral dynamic.
2. The combat area is now going to function like Zelda dungeons, clear a screen then move on. This will also allow me to bring in secrets, bosses etc.

With these two changes alone, I feel like I have re-ignited my passion for the project so, if my day job permits, Lunar Pioneer will be coming back to life very soon.

Happy new year to you all!