Hey all. First game jam, first game. Decided to try something fairly simple for a first attempt so I have a chance of finishing it.

I'm working on a small-ish in browser idle game. I've taken inspiration from the old dungeon keeper games, and ideally the final version will let the player improve there dungeon and defend against invading adventurers.

First steps involve putting a basic list together of features I'd like to include (making it look nice will come much later) and  blocking out the page's layout to make it easier to add things.

Update 1

I've got the basic layout in place. The plan in the end is to have the resources and tabs hidden until they're unlocked to make it less cluttered when starting. That is currently planned under 'would be nice if I can get everything else working'.

The only tabs that currently have content are Core, where you can buy 'buildings', and Entrance, which I want to set up so you can manage a group of friendly goblins you meet at the beginning of the game. I don't know whether it would be better to put the extra information - like the effects of the goblin roles - to show up in something like a popup if you click on an info box? I'd also appreciate any suggestions on getting a log to work.

Other than that I've got a bunch of variables that don't do anything yet and a button I can press to make a number go up. So, progress.

Update 2

Not a whole lot of visual changes in this update.

I've tidied up the code a bit and added comments everywhere to help me remember what each section does. I've got a log now that will show recent actions/events. I've also now got upkeep costs for insect minions, and should just be able to reuse the code for other types, which will automatically remove minions if mana drops too far. 

Next steps: I need to figure out how to get the dungeon layout to work, and how to assign minions to specific places.

Update 3

All types of minions now (technically) exist within the game. Newly purchased minions will now go into the first available space in the dungeon (empty room closest to surface), and when their upkeep cannot be supported the first instance will be removed and all the other minions will move along to take their place. The position of minions is now also shown on a map of the dungeon, which should automatically update with their movement.

I've just started on trying to get invasions to work, the way I'm doing it probably isn't the cleanest or most straightforward method but it seems to be working so far. I've also been putting together a list of upgrades that could be added to a research menu, as well as one of images I'll need for the final version. I'm trying to keep everything as placeholders for now otherwise I'll know I'll use working on images as an excuse for putting off working on the code side of things.

What I'll be working on next is finishing invasion mechanics and fleshing out the goblin tribe at the surface - at the moment you can change numbers assigned to roles but it's purely visual, the different jobs don't actually do anything yet.

Update 4

Invasions are done. Either the code is working properly or I bodged it well enough to have roughly the same effect. Either way I'm not touching it again in case I break something.

I had less spare time this weekend than I was hoping, and only a bit of that was at a computer, so didn't get as much done as I'd like. Other than invasions, I've neatened up a couple of the tabs, and added boss monsters. They work much the same as normal minions except all their variables have 'boss' in them.

When I've had access to paper but not a computer I've been:

•  roughing out how I want the goblin management to work
• Making a list of adjectives
• Planning possible upgrades
• Sketching out layouts for the various menus that will somehow need to be converted to code
• Finishing the list of images that I either need to make of find placeholders
• Endgame???

As I didn't get it done this weekend next I'll be working on the goblin section.

At some point I'll actually need to start thinking about the economy as all costs are very much placeholders at the moment. Similarly the stats for invasions.

Update 5

Making some changes managed to break everything completely and I've no idea why. I went back to an earlier save and put the changes in again one at a time to try and find the issue, but it all seems to be behaving now. Which is kind of good, but also means I have don't know what I did wrong the first time. Probably not going to mess around with the CSS so it'll be functional but mostly plain looking.

I'd call the main bit of the coding ~80% done. I've just got to link the upgrades to their effects and get various elements to show up when they're needed, and get out of the way at all other times. At this point I feel like the economy balancing is going to be me picking random numbers out of a hat. I shouldn't be adding/removing any major elements any more so I can start replacing placeholders with actual images, so that's one of the next jobs.

I haven't even touched on saving, but it's fairly short so I could(?) maybe get away with not having that as an option, as I don't really know where to start for that.

Other than that, I need to come up with some sort of endgame, or even just a win condition to create an actual stopping point.

Final Update

Game has been submitted. Remaining true to my brand, it seems like roughly 80% of the work got done in the last 48 hours. Every time I thought I was done I'd test it and something else would have somehow broken - I really wasn't intendind to leave it so close to the deadline. I think I managed to catch everything (this time) so its now open to all. Placeholders have been replaced, a limited save system installed, and an 'endgame' is in place.

This has been fun, but I think I really need to brush up on my basics - maybe then I can be not quite so confused the entire time. I can definitely say it was a learning experience.

I'm gonna go sleep for 12 hours then I'll be back to try out some of the games people have submitted. I've been having a look (in between periods of shouting at code) and they look really interesting.