Drag, Drop, Disaster

Hello friends! I hope you’ve had a wonderful week. Apologies for missing last week’s update; I was attending a wedding and, in the midst of the festivities, forgot to write a blog beforehand. Anyway, this week I wanted to share an update on Martian Alchemist.

I’ve been working in the Potion Making Station, aiming to integrate some core gameplay mechanics. With the basic hover and mechanical movements of the machines established, I turned my attention to implementing the ingredient input system. It seemed straightforward: select an ingredient from your inventory, drag it to the input container, and drop it in.

However, the process proved more challenging than anticipated. I found myself entangled in a web of colliders, toggling global physics on and off, adjusting Raycasting layers to detect mouse clicks, and modifying the collider physics matrix. As a beginner, it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying every possible solution without fully understanding the problem, leading to a tangled mess of code.

The outcome was janky physics, unreliable behavior, and a codebase that even I struggled to comprehend.

It was undoubtedly frustrating. Game development has a way of humbling you; just when you think you’ve grasped a concept, you realize there’s so much more to learn.

Taking a step back to reassess, I recognized that I had been overcomplicating the issue. After watching a tutorial on the subject, I saw how I could simplify my approach.

So, I deleted the convoluted code I’d written over the week (no great loss, thankfully) and started anew, focusing on simplicity and tackling one feature at a time.

• Click and drag ingredient without hitting other colliders. Check.
  
• Turn off physics when inside the container so it doesn’t bounce around. Check.
  
• Turn physics back on when outside so it falls naturally. Check.
  
• Shrink the ingredient for a tidy in-container look. Check.
  
• Restore it when you pull it back out. Check.
  

Now, no matter how many times you drag and drop, whether you let go of the mouse or not, whether it’s the first attempt or the fifth—every interaction works smoothly. And for a nice final touch: a hitbox that change the size of the ingredient when you’re in the snap zone, plus a little hover shadow so the player knows it’s time to drop the ingredient in.

It’s easy to get caught in the weeds—especially when you’re learning. Every little problem feels like it needs a clever solution, when really, it just needs a clear one. Once I got out of my own way and stopped trying to brute-force my way through the chaos, things started clicking into place.

Now that this system is in and feeling good, I’m excited to keep building out the potion-making loop. There’s still plenty to add—some fun visual effects, better ingredient feedback, probably a comically dramatic bubbling sound or two—but the foundation is there. And more importantly, I understand how and why it works.

Anyway, that’s the update for now! Thanks for sticking with me through the messy middle—I’ll be back soon with more progress (hopefully with fewer physics tantrums and more satisfying snaps).

Until then, take care, and may your ingredients always land where they’re supposed to.