Now that the new version of Fief is running smooth (thanks to libGDX), I’ve focused on the next bunch of goals. In particular, I intend to focus on getting plants and crops as a useful source of food. To do so I have completely rewritten the way plants are handled.
Growth:
Plants track their growth now in a more systematic manor with a value from 0.0 to 1.0.
| Growth | Label |
|---|---|
| 0.0 – 0.1 | Seedling |
| 0.1 – 0.2 | Sapling |
| 0.2 – 0.3 | Very Young |
| 0.3 – 0.4 | Young |
| 0.4 – 0.5 | Maturing |
| 0.5 – 0.6 | Mature |
| 0.6 – 0.7 | Prime |
| 0.7 – 0.8 | Old |
| 0.8 – 0.9 | Aged |
| 0.9 – 1.0 | Ancient / Overaged |
| 1.0 + | Dead |
Each stage of life has a particular range of growth values associated with it, with changes visible at a few main points: 0.0-0.3 (Seedling), 0.3-0.5 (Young), 0.5-0.7 (Mature), 0.7-1.0 (Old). Between these points you can also set the daily growth rate to describe nearly any type growth pattern. Two examples below:
Tree Example
The tree in this example takes 3 years to reach Young status, 15 years to reach Mature, 20 more years until it is considered Old, then 1000 years until it dies of age.
Annual Plant Example
This example annual plant takes 14 days to reach Young, 60 days to reach Mature, 10 days until it is Old, and another 2 days to die.
This new growth system will greatly enhance the detail available to describe the life-cycles of most plant species. This also makes it easy to add new plants since all that is needed is the average number of days between each life-cycle change. Of course, soil moisture, soil fertility, and weather patterns still affect how that daily growth value is actually applied in the game, creating great variation that can only be inspired by nature.
Plant States:
There are a number of new seasonal status states that a plant can be in. These apply mostly to perennials, as annuals do not experience budding, dormancy, or retreating states. Each perennial plant has an image associated with each state for most growth categories.
| State | Trigger | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Dormancy | plant's minimum temperature | Plants in dormancy do not grow. Represents the winter hibernation of perennials. |
| Budding | increasing temperatures | Budding represents the first shoot of buds and leaves which is typically in Spring. This state triggers the countdown towards Full status with individual plant variation in timing. |
| Full | Avg. number of growing days reached after reaching Budding state | Full represents the full green growth of plants in late Spring/early Summer. This state triggers the countdown towards blooming with individual plant variation in timing. |
| Blooming | Avg. number of blooming days reached after reaching Full state | Blooming represents the state of flowering. This state triggers the countdown towards fruiting with individual plant variation in timing. |
| Fruiting | Avg. number of fruiting days reached after reaching Blooming state | Fruiting represents the fruit/nut/seed producing state of the plant. From here plants with the Multiple Harvests tag will cycle between Blooming and Fruiting until Death or Dormancy or Retreating is triggered. Other plants will return to Full status until those conditions are met. |
| Retreating | lower temperatures and shorter days | Retreating represents the Autumnal retreat and preparation for dormancy. For many trees this is where Fall colors can be displayed. |
The Fruiting state is of course when Harvestables are generated and can be picked off the plant. Of course, this only applies to plant’s with the HarvestType -> Fruit, Nut, or Fungi designation. Perennial Grass, Fiber, or Grain designations can be harvested anytime after Full status is reached on a Mature or older plant, but after harvesting the plant returns to a Budding state beginning its countdown to Full again.