If you've been following development of Paper Nowhere, then you may have noticed that there hasn't really been any news or updates or anything in awhile. In fact, you may have not really heard anything from me on Twitter in quite some time. But don't worry, development is still happening! And that's what I'm talking about today!

So let's start with why I haven't been posting many screenshots and whatnots on Twitter. There are two main reasons. One of them is that I've been busy doing stuff IRL on days like Friday and Saturday, which are the days when I would normally be finding something screenshot worthy. The other reason is that most of the stuff that's currently being worked on is more on the technical side of things.

Now on to what it is I've been working on. It's actually been a lot of little things like more developer quality of life stuff (as usual), but one big exciting thing I've been working on recently is...

interactive physics props!

Doodle now has the ability to pick up and carry around small objects such as boxes, sports balls and bugs.

I've been hard at work making this feature possible and it's been going surprisingly well for the most part. Being able to pick up and carry objects is a feature that I'd considered since early in the project and have wanted to put in the game since a little before I made the crowbar. It's something that I've considered to be a necessary feature because it opens up a lot of fun and interesting puzzle possibilities as well as some character interactions and sandbox-y distractions that I believe are important for showing who Doodle is as a character.

Doodle can also throw objects, which he demonstrates by shooting some practice hoops in Gasket Ball, a popular sport in Last Frail.

One such example of character interactions that holding objects enables is being able to bring someone an object, which will sometimes result in Doodle asking characters something about that object. Characters could even have little fetch quests where you find an item that someone wants and bring it to them, not unlike the little bits where you bring people fruits in Super Mario Sunshine.

The mechanics of throwing objects are also similar to the mechanics used for aiming the mortar that'll appear later in the game. This should help players get a more intuitive understanding of how to aim the mortar since they'll likely have had a good amount of experience playing with the physics props by the time they find it.

To aim the projectile slightly to the north, Doodle steps north just a little bit as he pulls the trigger.

However, there are still some major issues that I need to work out. You see, physics interaction is one of those advanced things that you just probably shouldn't do if it's your first time making a game on your own. Especially if you're not a coding master like John Carmack or Chris Zimmerman. I am not a coding master. Not even close. I have tried and failed multiple times to learn proper coding and have failed every time. I should not be making my first game this complex. But here I am doing it anyway.

The metal crate weighs 11 tons and is too heavy for Doodle to push, but he technically isn't the one pushing it when he's holding the ball...

Some of the issues I currently face are things like any object that Doodle is holding being able to move through through walls and push other objects with an unlimited amount of force. This is just one of multiple issues that I simply do not have any idea how to fix. Fortunately, I have some simple enough workarounds that I can do instead. For example, I'm already planning to remove the physics collision on any object that Doodle is carrying and have him hold the object closer to himself so it doesn't clip though anything too much.

I'm no coder, but I still have a good understanding of programming and I have a talent for being able to engineer around a problem in a way that may seem technically janky but feel smooth in-game.

The crates have a hit-box around them that tells the Doodle actor to stay in a pushing animation. The hit-box is on a spring-arm so that it lags slightly behind the crate to ensure it stays in contact with Doodle.

I've also been doing some other things aside from all this technical programming stuff as well. I've been working on a few little level design additions here and there. Like a new exit to the boiler room and a shortcut between the suburbs and the apartment building. A lot of thought is also being put in to plans for what will happen where, what should connect to what, how the game should progress and so on and so forth and whatnots.

Shortcuts like this will hopefully make travel much faster and less tedious.

After some thought, I decided I wanted to have a short list of things I'd like to have in the next update:

• Interactive physics props.
• At least one simple puzzle involving said physics props.
• Introduction of Nerd Watcher, a character who plays a major role in the story while also offering hints to players who are stuck.
• A second exit to boiler room.
• Have the quit button ask you if you're sure you want to quit.
• Window resize buttons and resolution scaling improvements (already half done, just needs testing and whatnots).
• At least one more small sub area to explore.
• Tutorial pop-ups? I really want tutorial pop-ups but art is hard...