Magic System Devlog

I am not sure where to begin on this one. The spellcasting system is functional and ready to expand upon. Right now there is a fireball spell that can be used and modified with a few modifiers. It took a lot of time to fix all of the errors that continued to plague the system, but all should be expandable now.

The system works in a relatively simple way. First, the player will draw a sign. They do this by creating a spline mesh component and moving the marker, which marks along the “whiteboard”. This just reduced the axis we have to worry about. At the same time, the system is gathering points where the spline bends or turns. Next, we use these points to see what size and locations we need to change in order to be within the predefined measuring area. Thirdly, we regather reference points now that we are in the right position. Finally, we run a check against multiple tables to see which shape we are closest to, which triggers some sort of effect. 

This is much simpler in writing than execution. During making this happen, I had nightmares dealing with world to local space, making sure the math mathed correctly, and invisible errors causing headaches. While it was annoying, these problems amplified when moving to VR. It's still buggy, but consistent enough to utilize in gameplay. 

Ive seen other games do this type of casting system, but I havent seen them do it and also let the player run around. I see why now. The ability to move leads to several issues that I am not sure have perfect solutions

Overall, I am happy with how the system is working. Like I said, it still has some work needed to make it fully functional. It is pretty fun to just draw the spells and throw the fireballs. I am also looking forward to making more spells and modifiers in the game.