bridge-site-outside

Technical Roadmap (Baby Steps)

I’m going to lay this out in phases so you can work in 45-minute chunks.

Phase 1 — Movement and World (you already started)

Goal: Walking around a world that feels like a place.

Tasks:

  1. Player movement (done)
  2. Camera follow
  3. Tilemap for terrain
  4. Collisions (trees, rocks)
  5. Multiple terrain types (grass, forest, water, mountain)
  6. Map boundaries
  7. Simple day/night lighting
  8. Footstep sounds
  9. Wind / ambient sound

45-minute tasks examples:

Phase 2 — The Dryad Companion

Goal: She exists and follows you.

Tasks:

  1. Dryad sprite
  2. Follow player behavior
  3. Idle animations
  4. Occasionally walk ahead / behind
  5. Simple speech bubble
  6. Trigger dialogue when pressing key
  7. Region-based dialogue (forest, river, hill)

45-minute tasks:

Phase 3 — Campfire System (Very Important)

Goal: Core gameplay loop exists.

Tasks:

  1. Press key → place campfire
  2. Campfire sprite + light
  3. Sit animation

  4. Campfire menu:

    • Talk
    • Sleep
    • Eat (later)
  5. Longer dialogue at camp
  6. Save game at camp
  7. Fade to night when sleeping

45-minute tasks:

Once this phase is done, you have the core loop:

Walk → Camp → Talk → Sleep → Continue

That’s huge.

Phase 4 — Memory System

This is what will make the Dryad feel alive.

You do NOT need AI memory magic. Just a simple system like:

memories = [
  "First camp",
  "Crossed the river",
  "Cold night",
  "Old ruins",
  "You picked many berries",
]

Then occasionally she references memories.

Tasks:

  1. Memory list
  2. Add memory when events happen
  3. Campfire dialogue references memories
  4. Dream triggers from memories

45-minute tasks:

Phase 5 — Dreams / Faerie

Goal: First dream sequence.

Tasks:

  1. Sleep → dream map loads
  2. Dream movement (slower floaty movement)
  3. Dryad leads, player follows
  4. Strange dream environment
  5. Wake up at camp
  6. Unlock memory or map marker

45-minute tasks: