Devlog Summary: Manager Progression System Overhaul

This session, we focused on a major overhaul of the Manager system, transforming it from a static bonus provider into a deep and engaging progression feature.

Key Changes & New Features:

1. Dynamic Manager Skills & Progression:

   • Replaced static manager bonuses with a full-fledged leveling system. Each manager attribute (Extraction, Warehouse, Capacity, Speed) now has its own upgrade path.
   • Introduced max_level, upgrade costs, and unique Curve resources for each skill. This allows us to define distinct progression paths for each manager, making their specialization more meaningful. Some might have linear growth, while others have exponential curves, rewarding long-term investment.

2. Dedicated Manager Upgrade UI:

   • Created a new “Managers” tab within the Research panel, providing a dedicated space for players to upgrade their hired managers.
   • Developed a new reusable “Manager Upgrade Card” scene that cleanly displays each manager’s skills, current level, bonus percentage, upgrade cost, and progression curve.
   • The UI is now smarter: it only shows attributes that are actually upgradeable for each manager, preventing clutter and confusion.

3. Enhanced UI/UX & Player Feedback:

   • Manager Selection Panel: The panel for hiring managers now clearly displays the unlock requirements for locked managers, guiding the player on what they need to achieve next. The manager’s name is also colored according to their quality (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic) for better visual distinction.
   • Planet Panel: We added a clear visual indicator (^ button) to the planet info display, making it more obvious that it can be clicked to open the management panel. The button highlights on hover for better interactivity.
   • Clearer Information: The planet panel now also displays the energy consumption for each upgradeable infrastructure component, giving players more strategic information for managing their power grid.

Technical Implementation Details:

• Refactored ManagerResource (.tres files) to accommodate the new progression data.
• Updated the GameManager and SaveManager to track, save, and load the individual skill levels for each manager.
• The logic in planet.gd and transporter.gd was updated to calculate bonuses dynamically based on the manager’s current skill levels, fully integrating the new system into the game’s core mechanics.
• Resolved several tricky runtime errors related to scene instancing and node pathing (Unrecognized UID and null instance errors) by adopting more robust scene structuring and scripting practices, like using find_child and call_deferred.

Overall, this was a significant step forward in adding long-term goals and strategic depth to the game. Players can now actively invest in their favorite managers, tailoring their bonuses to match their playstyle.