The Engine War Arc

Scaling, Scaling… Why?

Feb 26 – March 2, 2026

(If you missed Dev Log #1: that was optimism. This one? This one is character development.)

This week was not about building content.

It was about fighting tools.

And winning. Eventually.

Feb 26 — “It’s Just a Simple Map”

Started making RPG Maker map prototypes.

Imported them into Godot.

Immediate chaos:

• Resolution wrong
• Scale wrong
• Blurry
• Emotionally offensive

Apparently engines do not cooperate just because you ask politely.

Feb 27 — Redo Everything

Redid the map.

Then again.

Then again.

Then once more for character development.

Also resized the entire project because that felt productive.

It was not the real issue. But it felt powerful.

The UI Villain Arc Begins

Added viewport UI:

• Chat box for NPC dialogue
• Expandable right-side panel for inventory / skills

Then the UI chose violence.

Opened tabs → everything vanished.

Collapsed quests → entire UI disappeared except chat and map button.

Fixed it → still unsure what I did.

Turns out it was a leftover bug from an earlier UI setup.

It is now fixed.

I still don’t trust it

Full-Day Engine Fight

Spent an entire day wrestling RPG Maker and Godot.

Finally got a legible map into Godot.

Not perfect.

But readable.

At this stage that counted as a win.

Feb 28 — Stability (Suspiciously)

• Space bar now opens the map (this feels illegal)
• UI finally stable
• Space bar is for jump again, m toggles map again (crisis averted)
• Map icon now actually looks like a map

Which sounded easy.

It was not easy.

March 1 — Tiled Enters the Story

Tried Tiled for the first time.

Watched a questionable number of tutorials.

Discovered quadrants are serious business.

Then found a Godot plugin that imports Tiled maps…

And they animate.

They just work.

Meanwhile RPG Maker is pretending it doesn’t hear me.

Considering switching the original top-down overview map to Tiled.

Decision pending.

March 2 — First Tiled Victory

• Built first successful Tiled map
• Imported into Godot
• Created animated gate sprite sheet setup
• Testing gate animation

If it fails, I’m buying Aseprite.

If it works, this was always the plan.

Current Status

• UI: stable
• Map pipeline: functional
• Tiled integration: promising
• Gate animation: testing
• Emotional stability: fluctuating but operational

This week was less about visible progress and more about taming the foundation.

And I think… I’m finally starting to understand the system instead of fighting it.

Next Goals

• Finalize map pipeline (RPG Maker vs Tiled decision)
• Lock resolution and scaling rules permanently
• Finish gate animation
• Continue UI expansion (inventory + skills system)

*Side thought.. remind myself to add a 'save draft' button to this.

Will also build out a section for a bug counter + screen grabs/gifs of said bugs.