It has been about three weeks since my last development update, and honestly, the end of the semester completely consumed my life. Finals season hit hard, but even with school taking most of my attention, I still managed to make some major progress on Tharendell and the Forge42Engine.
The biggest milestone is that the first stage of the spellcasting system is now officially in place.
Players can now create spellcasting characters and select spells based on their class and level progression. This lays the groundwork for the larger magic system that will eventually drive combat, preparation mechanics, encounters, and campaign progression. It may seem like a small feature on the surface, but under the hood this required building out foundational systems that the rest of the engine will depend on moving forward.
Alongside spellcasting, I also cleaned up several long-standing combat stat issues:
- Attack bonuses are now calculating correctly
- Initiative values no longer display as constant zeroes
- Saving throws now properly reflect the correct character values
These were smaller fixes individually, but collectively they make combat and character sheets feel significantly more polished and accurate.
Outside of development, this weekend is a proud dad moment for our family. My daughter graduates from the University of Arkansas on Saturday with her accounting degree, and we could not be more excited for her. Watching your kids cross that stage is one of those moments that reminds you how fast life moves while you are buried in projects, classes, and deadlines.
Now that this semester is finally complete, I have a short break before summer classes begin on June 1st. That gives me roughly 21 days to make some serious progress, and the plan is ambitious:
- Finish the full spellcasting system
- Integrate active combat spell usage
- Begin building out mini-campaign functionality
Mini-campaigns are the next major evolution for Tharendell. Up until now, much of the work has focused on combat systems, infrastructure, persistence, narration, and engine mechanics. Campaign flow is where the world itself really starts to emerge.
More updates soon. Time to build.
~ Babble Baz