WhileIterating's game – Devlog

A daily devlog documenting my journey building a turn-based RPG, with many other elements mixed in for fun, in Godot

Project maintained by Brhando Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

🗺️ Day 7: Overworld Map, Scene Buttons, and Inventory Persistence – May 26, 2025

💡

Progress Made

Designed and implemented a functional Overworld Map, using symbolic icons and buttons to represent Home Base, Town, Resource Area, and Dungeon.
Created custom mini-sprites to distinguish the overworld visually from in-game levels, maintaining asset cohesion while improving clarity.
Added scene transition buttons to the map, linking each location with a corresponding scene using GetTree().ChangeSceneToFile(...).
Structured transitions using TextureButtons, improving readability and interaction feedback.
Modularized Area2D portal zones into a reusable scene for returning to the overworld.
Used signals to cleanly connect the portal’s interaction range with UI display in parent scenes (e.g., PlayerUI).
Verified persistent inventory system successfully maintains player items across scenes.

Challenges

Initially failed to trigger button presses—traced to a nested class structure that Godot could not instantiate.
Resolved by flattening class hierarchy and ensuring signal subscriptions were made inside _Ready().
Faced difficulty connecting PlayerUI from inside a modular Area2D scene—resolved with custom signals and clean communication between scenes.

Next Steps

Start prototyping a Crafting Workbench and design a placeholder recipe system (e.g., 3 Wood → 1 Plank).
Continue refining the Day/Night cycle using CanvasLayer and ColorRect.
Add visual feedback for button hover/click states on the Overworld Map to improve UX.
Begin thinking through early combat polish and integration with the overworld structure.

Reflection

This was a shorter workday, but a deeply satisfying one. Building the overworld made the world feel cohesive, and seeing scene transitions working fluidly while keeping inventory intact felt like a major step toward a fully connected experience. I’m proud of the clean architecture used today—especially with reusable scenes and signals—and excited to keep this momentum going.