RELEASED Animal Husbandry Mod (former Butcher Mod) [v2.4.1]

Discussion in 'Mods' started by Digus, Oct 9, 2017.

  1. kiwipen

    kiwipen Void-Bound Voyager

    I am just coming over here to say thank you for making this mod! It has definitely made things more fun for me and actually makes raising animals useful.
    This combined with "Breeding Like Rabbits 2.0" can turn your farm into a meat-making factory for optimal recipe-making or money making.
    I'm currently working on a farm layout that helps support this! I can't thank you enough for the cool thing you have made and I'm so impressed at your to do list.
    Thank you thank you thank you for this mod ~
     
    • Digus

      Digus Spaceman Spiff

      Thank you for the nice feedback!
      I'm currently not working on anything, I'm not having time.
      And I still have to release an update for my mods to be compatible with the new version of SMAPI.
      I might come be in the feature to work on that to do list.
       
      • Digus

        Digus Spaceman Spiff

        Hi everyone!
        It’s been a while, but I’m here to let you know that I’m back working at the Animal Contest event.
        I’m still having little free time, so progress is going really slow. But I’m excited to be working on the mod again.

        I have been testing some concepts I wanted to implement in the event, things that would not be possible just writing the normal way, but using harmony is letting me do some nice stuff.

        I think for the event to be a nice addition it has to have some variety, otherwise people will just skip it.
        I have being planning a pool of possible competitors, and some will only appear if you have already saw some of their events.
        But I have to be a little conservative at first since writing/reviewing/translating/testing/researching personalities take a lot of time to do. And I can always release updates adding new character to the possible competitors later.

        I’m now doing some basic code to put all this together and build the event.

        Considering all that has to be done yet and the amount of free time I’ve been having, I don’t see this taking less than two months to complete.
        But I thought some people would like to know about the progress I’ve been making.

        Next status I will try to post a screenshot. But I will place a spoiler tag and show as little as possible, since the most fun about events is the surprise.
         
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        • Zosa

          Zosa Cosmic Narwhal

          any more work on recipes? there are still two unused ones
           
          • Digus

            Digus Spaceman Spiff

            Which ones? As far as I know I implemented all unused cooking assets that were supposed to be meat related. I even used CAs original names for them.
             
            • Zosa

              Zosa Cosmic Narwhal

              unless i've absolutely lost the plot these have not been used;
              https://sta.sh/027hh4nl5zg7

              there are also other unused spots that in theory could be repurposed into recipes(like the tea and tealeaf spots)
               
              • Digus

                Digus Spaceman Spiff

                I used this post as reference:
                https://community.playstarbound.com...going-to-add-it-in.110988/page-2#post-2837731

                These people talked to CA directly and he gave them directions on what was meat related and where to get the stuff he removed from the game.
                I never touched anything else because he might want to implement these other things again and it could conflict with the mod. Meat was something he said he has not intentions on adding again.
                So I will probably never use these other assets.
                And I still have no plans on adding new recipes, I'm focused on adding the Animal Contest Event for now.
                 
                • Digus

                  Digus Spaceman Spiff

                  Status:
                  Most of the initial setup is done.
                  All contenders are being chosen giving their conditions, being placed on the right spot with their animals.
                  Most of custom animations already planned are implemented and working.
                  I also wrote a basic script for most contenders acts and some extras stuff. These scripts are not full dialog yet, just a general idea of what will happen.
                  I will now start to code the calculation for winning outcomes.
                  The general idea is:
                  If you do everything perfectly, you will always win.
                  If you don't get a perfect score, you will win if you meet a threshold and haven't won more than lost.
                  Marnie will be the default winner, but certain other contenders can win too if they have lost before.
                  There will be no random chance here.

                  As I promised, I will post a picture of the event. This is how you should see the begin of the first event if you start a new character.
                  First spring you will probably not have farm animals yet, so you can go with your pet. You can also just attend the event and don't go with any animal, that is also implemented.
                  [​IMG]


                  Progress is going well, but there is still a lot to do.
                   
                  • fffffffffffff0rcha

                    fffffffffffff0rcha Void-Bound Voyager

                    Question- would this mod be compatible with new BFAV animal types?
                     
                    • Digus

                      Digus Spaceman Spiff

                      I believe it would only work for animals that contains the base name of vanilla animals.
                      Like, we have "white cow" and "brown cow". The mod only look for word cow to find the animal type. So if you add a black cow, it would probably work. Same thing for "mallard duck".
                      But if you add something with the type being "Bull" or "Rooster", it would not work. The mod would not be able to identify which meat to give, which treats that type likes...

                      Adding custom types is something I could improve the mod with but right now I'm working on the Animal Contest Event, so it might take a while until I can work that.
                       
                      • Digus

                        Digus Spaceman Spiff

                        Status:
                        Farm animal winning condition is implemented. Might change the balance before releasing, but the basic is implemented.
                        You can’t win with the pet for now. I have some ideas but it has to wait for another update.

                        I saw some problems with the participant animal staying at the farm before the event. Everything is calculated when the day is loaded, and if you interact with it you could change things like heart level, give more treats and stuff. It would also not make sense to leave the farm with the animal there and arrive at the event with it already there.
                        So I manage to remove the animal from the farm. I add it back when the event is finished or skipped. If you don’t go the animal is placed back in its home at the end of the day. The story behind it is that Lewis is the one bringing it to and from the contest for you. And if you don’t go it keep the animal for the whole day since you are probably busy.
                        For pet, I couldn’t remove it from the farm. If you do the game think the player does not have a pet. But pets are NPC, so you can make them invisible. But since in the base game they are never made invisible, it does not fully work out of the box. So I had to override some methods to make it work. Otherwise you would still see emotes and be able to pet the invisible pet.

                        I also placed the medal on the animal menu when it has won.
                        Now I’m implementing some of the winning bonus.
                        I also started to write and think of the new animal channel tips. We will have at least 6 new episodes about the animal contest.

                        I wanted to show the ordinal number of the animal contest, but I don’t think I will. The base game has no method for ordinal numbers considering internationalization. So I’m giving up on it for now.

                        That is it for now.
                         
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                        • Digus

                          Digus Spaceman Spiff

                          Status:
                          All bonus are implemented.
                          Participant ribbon should now be removed from the game if not placed on an animal the day before the event.
                          No it should not crash a multiplayer game, but can only be used by the farm owner.

                          I started to write the event dialog and the first act is almost complete. Including a lot of variations.
                          There are 8 main conversations of which 4 will only happen once, the other 4 will repeat alternately. Besides that, there are other flavor things that will happen differently once in a while.

                          I will start to write the animal evaluation for each contender.
                          Still a lot to do, but we are getting there.
                           
                          • Digus

                            Digus Spaceman Spiff

                            Status:
                            I'm posting an extra status because I just got an idea and some feedback would be nice.
                            One problem I always had with the way I implemented treats is that it almost just convert the value of the treat into animal value, making it grow faster. So once you know the biggest value treat an animal like, there is not much point in giving the lesser valuable ones.
                            With the animal contest, I can have a criteria for variety, so if you want to grantee a winning, you will have to give the other treats at least once.
                            But that is also too shallow.

                            So I was thinking on spicing things up.
                            What if, when you give a treat, if it's not the treat the animal has eaten the most, it will give a 25% bonus on the amount of friendship that treat would give?
                            This way a treat would not only grow the animal faster, but would generate additional money.
                            You could also have some nice strategies when feeding your animal. Not only you would aim for variety, but you would also save the most loved treat so it can always get the bonus. It's better to get a 25% bonus on a pumpkin than on a Cave Carrot.
                            I will see if I can put a visual clue for when the bonus is applied when feeding the animal.
                             
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                            • Digus

                              Digus Spaceman Spiff

                              Status:
                              I was not able to make much progress last week.
                              I had some ideas for Marnie animal evaluation but I couldn't write properly do what I wanted.
                              I ended up skipping this act and started to write the players evaluation. That is probably the most boring part of the event, since it's supposed to be more informative than entertaining. But I placed some fun stuff here and there.
                              Had to test everything since a lot of combinations can happen and I had to make sure the reading was right no matter the combination.
                              I even wrote a placeholder dialog for when you go with a pet. I don't know if I will improve on it before next release, since I will expand on pet participation later. So there is no point on make it a bigger thing now.
                              I'm now writing some other participants acts.
                              This should go faster. Since participants alternate, there's probably going to be only two dialog for each, one for the first time, and one for others.
                              Doings things like that, it'll probably take more than 4 in game years to read everything I'm writing now.
                              That is it for now.
                               
                              • Digus

                                Digus Spaceman Spiff

                                Status:
                                I got some new idea for Marnie act. It's probably better than the first idea I had, and fit nicely with some other game events.
                                Finished writing and testing it.
                                Wrote and tested 3 joke contenders dialog. One of them is still missing the subsequent script, only wrote the "first time" dialog.
                                I also wrote the basic idea for all the contenders, was missing some of them.
                                Progress is going ok but not as fast as I wanted, and it should slow down during week days because of some changes at my work.
                                I'm anxious to release something after so much work, but I also don't want to rush it.
                                By my calculations now, it should take more than a month to go, but less than two.
                                 
                                • Digus

                                  Digus Spaceman Spiff

                                  Status:
                                  After a long hiatus I'm back working at the mod.
                                  Wrote and tested 2 more acts.
                                  To finish the contest script I need to write more two and a half acts, and write an ending act and the winner announcement.
                                  After that I will be missing:
                                  -Moving everything to i18n files.
                                  -Some code refactoring to organize stuff.
                                  -Write the letters and the TV tips (I think I have written 2 out of 7 planned tips)
                                  -Program the letter conditions.
                                  -Some assets polishing.
                                  -Lots integrated test of the whole contest.

                                  That's what I remember now.
                                  So still a lot to do.
                                   
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                                  • Marigolden

                                    Marigolden Master Chief

                                    Wow, I'd never checked out this thread before; I've just quietly loved your mod from afar. Thank you for creating and sharing such a wonderful mod and for sharing such detailed in-progress notes. It's fascinating to read about the thought process and creativity that goes into this work.
                                     
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                                    • Digus

                                      Digus Spaceman Spiff

                                      Status:
                                      Finished all participants acts. (writing and tests)
                                      I initially thought I was missing 2,5 acts. But there was one that I thought I had already written but I didn't. So I wrote what one too.
                                      One of these acts was still missing some coding for effects. It was a lot of work, but I loved how it turned out. I think this one will be the favorite of some people.

                                      I was also missing the act of one of the participants with chances of winning but in the end I decided not to include it.
                                      I don't think it would fit the lore, or at least I was not able to write an act that would make much sense. It's a pity because it had a unique animal.

                                      So we ended up with 5 joke participants and 3 serious contenders besides Marnie. Besides Marnie, only 3 characters will participate by default. The others you will need to had seen some of their events in the game.

                                      I will start the ending act soon, but this should be simple, just the winner announcement with some comments.

                                      Thank you for your words! :)
                                      I like to share, but it's nice to see that some people appreciate it.
                                       
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                                      • Digus

                                        Digus Spaceman Spiff

                                        Status:
                                        Finished the ending act with all comments. Took more time than I thought it would, but not a lot.
                                        Also finished moving every line of dialog to the i18n file. Using some regular expression to help it took less time than I thought it would. But it was really tedious work, I kept stopping to do other stuff out of boredom.
                                        After doing it I discovered that the event has more than 250 lines of unique dialog. Not at once, but counting all possibilities.
                                        After moving everything to the i18n file I only tested once the event. But it's very prone to mistakes after all that copy and changing. Some more test will be required, but not right now.
                                        Next step is to refectory the code. The event build class has more than 1100 lines of code. I want to break some stuff to make a more clean code.
                                        TV and letters are also drafted, but still have to review it and add to the mod.

                                        All in all I think I'm happy with the progress I've been making.
                                         
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                                        • Melindee

                                          Melindee Big Damn Hero

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