Overlays

Tonight's build finishes the "Overlay" system, by which smaller scenes are layered on top of the main scene and restrict interaction to themselves only; overlays are intended to represent cabinets, closets, or other parts of the world that can be explored within a larger room.  Overlays function mostly the same as ordinary rooms, but getting that to work was a little bit tricky.

This is the first major new mechanic in the game that wasn't in Pluck, which allowed you to open cabinets and explore their contents from within the main room, and it's included here to better fit the tone of this game - having to explore small parts of the level independently should create a feeling of isolation, as opposed to the openness that was in Pluck's cabinets.  Additionally, while actions in the overlay can cost time (as well as just opening the overlay at all), your watch is hidden while you're in the overlay, hopefully adding some unease and layering on the claustrophobic  atmosphere.

This build includes just one overlay, which engine-side looks like a normal room with a slightly different script attached to the root node.  I'm quite pleased with this technical design, as it allows there to be one way to do things, and the same components are useful in all contexts still (for instance, items you can interact with are handled the same way in an overlay as in a normal room).

Up next I'd like to get some inventory and item usage support included, and then I'll be ready to actually flesh out the first level.  Sara's got the by-day layers started for the studio too, so getting day-to-day advancement in the room should be coming in the near future as well.