Ephemeral

[lusty raven]

do you have an story or what will you do in the game?

since it does seem like from our previous conversations you haven't made a game yet so 3hrs or less of game play might be a good start for you if you had more experience I'd say 5hrs would be good, also if your looking for an idea for a story I could suggest one or if your not looking to make a story then I could still offer some idea's

well something that helps are the two sayings are " keep it simple stupid" and "less is more" because mechanic wise it should be pretty simple and easy to understand, and "keep it simple stupid" because you don't want to get to hung up on anything this is your first game after all right? "fuck around and find out" do your best to have fun!

ok got it if you need any help w anything I'll do my best to help

also while your working I'd recommend a playlist to listen to it's harder to get bored and lose motivation

would you like one that I made?

[polar stone]

sure

and thank you for sharing your experience

i will try my best to start simple

[lusty raven]

thank you here's my playlist https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4obiVjzfw3SNMwf355HNPkViO_MvOjrT

ignore the thumbnails

I promise I'm normal 3 hrs out the day lol

[polar stone]

thank you

i will listen to it

[lusty raven]

your welcome idk your music taste but this one is full of vocaloids

also skip around a bit this playlist doesn't have a dedicated theme

[polar stone]

if my proxy allows it

sure

[polar stone]

i made a simple tileset for the starting biome which is centered around mushrooms
and i made butterfly and fly animations
i have made my base section which other sections will inherit from
also i have added a canvas madule for day and night lighting
this is the tileset

i have made a rose icon as the game's icon for now and i have set the requirements to add a parallel background to it
next i will create a tutorial level and create the player with basic movements

[lusty raven]

looks very nice you have better art skills then me lol

[polar stone]

Thanks

i improved the tileset
changed the bridge to floating blocks
added a wooden sign to help show directions to the player
added a background and a could parallel background which i intend to replace with cloud generator later on
i also added a slime as the main character
and i have made the game expand with user's screen size
thanks everyone for your helps

[lusty raven]

Wow that looks pretty good can the slime move yet?

[polar stone]

i made left and right movemenets for it just now

with velocity

but moving animations and jumping are not ready yet

and i added depth and layers to it as well

[lusty raven]

Ok well don't get too caught up on animations yet I'd work on getting all movement aspects done do you have jumping yet?

Ik jumping is a bit hard

[polar stone]

thats true

[lusty raven]

Animations should be last in my opinion they just cause extra trouble if you haven't finished all features that you want to add to that effect the Animations

[polar stone]

i made jump and double jump and gravity

i also made coyote time and jump buffer

i lowered the gravity so it feels light weight

[polar stone]

you are right

i,ll do it last thing

[lusty raven]

Ok idk what a coyote timer is I think ik what a jump buffer is I don't really make platformers often

[lusty raven]

Good idea that should pair well w your game

[polar stone]

i know it is not your style
it means the time you give the player to jump while not being on the ground

it makes your game feel fair

its a must have for platformers

[lusty raven]

Oh so it's for the double jump ok yeah I wouldn't know much about it then since in most of my platformers you can't double jump

[polar stone]

no its actually for basic jump

[lusty raven]

Oh really?

Your going to have to showcase it

[polar stone]

its the thing that makes last moment jumps possible

sure

let me fix this bug i found
i,ll show what i mean to you

so i fixed the bug
and i changed the double jump system to "extra jump system"
so the player can now have double jump, triple jump etc ...
and i set it to 0 for now
so the player doesnt have double jump
but its possible to change it at anytime
also this system allows me to give player extra jumps when interacting with some items
for example a potion which makes the player's next jump a double jump etc ...

now let me send you a video to show you what i mean

[lusty raven]

Oh that's cool

[polar stone]

i wasnt on the ground when i jumped but the character still jumped
it was because of the coyote time

for some reason i cant send a video

[lusty raven]

Oh that's wierd let me try

[polar stone]

did it work for you ?

[lusty raven]

Yeah

[polar stone]

i should consider changing my proxy

[lusty raven]

I just deleted bc it was my karaoke w no background beat

[polar stone]

you are lucky i didnt open it

[lusty raven]

I really am

[polar stone]

i,ll send you the video when i changed my proxy

[lusty raven]

Ok

Btw your using the wrong thing for when you send I'll

[polar stone]

Coyote Time is a common game design technique in 2D and 3D platformers that allows players to jump for a few frames (typically 0.1s) even after running off a ledge

[lusty raven]

Ok smart

[polar stone]

im using the wrong thing for what

[lusty raven]

You're send I,ll instead of I'll

[polar stone]

oh

lol

thank you i didnt notic

[lusty raven]

Your welcome

[polar stone]

i made a config lets see if this one is good

is it sent ?

[lusty raven]

No

[polar stone]

yay

i also added camera smoothing

[lusty raven]

Here's my live reaction

Sync it up w the video it looks really good I do like the camera smoothing it looks great on the eyes

Also the butterfly's look nice too

Also you should make the butterfly's go up and down

So they don't look stagnant

[polar stone]

i couldnt ask for more 😂

it took me a few tries to sync it perfectly

but it felt pretty good when i did

[polar stone]

thank you

[polar stone]

ok i will do that

[lusty raven]

Yeah I could see why it looks hard to do

[polar stone]

you are my main motivation dude
thank you

[lusty raven]

Aw tysm

Or my acronym for that acronym is "autism"

Tysm= thank you so much

[polar stone]

lol

i wouldnt figure it out

[lusty raven]

That's why I clarified

[polar stone]

yep

[lusty raven]

I knew was confusing

[lusty raven]

Also bc I'm a nice person and I have the confidence I will now post it and delete it for the duration of the clip and maybe a few extra seconds

[polar stone]

thank you 😂

that was too soon

i couldnt fully download it

[lusty raven]

Too bad you need faster fingies

[polar stone]

i guess so

[lusty raven]

Download?

[polar stone]

lol

im using a proxy

i better download things

[lusty raven]

What's that?

[polar stone]

slow internet

[lusty raven]

Oh

You should get a router

[polar stone]

probably yes

[polar stone]

i improved the butterfly and fly animations
added bushes
added slime platforms
made a small parkour level to teach movements
addded a directional light for moon light when i add day/night cycle
added directions for signs to point to

[lusty raven]

Oo sounds pretty cool do you have a video yet?

[polar stone]

i,ll make it a bit better and i,ll send you a video
by the way made a custom cursor for it

[lusty raven]

Lol nice I love it when games do that

[polar stone]

i added
-healthbar
-manabar
-a top left panel containing the player icon and bars
-a terrain to help me design levels easier

[lusty raven]

I would add a more defined outline to the health bar

I noticed I think that you also made the butterfly's move

Nice touch

[polar stone]

yes i did

[polar stone]

i wanted a simple HUD but if there is anything i can make better tell me

[lusty raven]

Ok

[polar stone]

day/night icon added
i also added a function to toggle the icon change

[lusty raven]

Nice

[polar stone]

i created the day/night cycle
at first i tried making it using an animation player and a timer which worked but it was too much for each section to run every second
so next i removed the timer and coded a timer in my manager to update every second and calculate time
it allowed me to also

• get player's playtime
• get the amount of days played
• set a time scale

but it still had an animation player in every scene which wasnt good enough
so i coded the daytime using the sin calculation but it still wasnt good enough for me because i didnt want the transition between day and night to take that long
i wanted it to be kinda instant yet still give the player some time to hide before its night
so i removed the sin calculation and replaced it with a custom calculation
and also added a signal to set the icon when the time of the day changes

currently each full day takes 20 minutes to complete which is splitted between 10 minutes of daytime and 10 minutes of night time

[polar stone]

i added moonlight to nights
i will only use it in the starting tutorial and rarely in other sections to help players find their way at night

i will remove the direction so that its straight from above
because i feel directional lighting is too much for a pixel art game

i also gave the player a small lighting so that its trackable at night

the player can now turn the light on and off by pressing b

[lusty raven]

Can you make a video w the light on?

[polar stone]

sure

both day and night
same path

[polar stone]

added a hiding system

[lusty raven]

Pretty cool thing w the hat btw when I said w the light on I meant the one that was toggle-able with B idk if that was it

[polar stone]

the light is not very visible its very weak because i wanted to put upgrades for it

[polar stone]

• i added a basic enemy
• fixed a ui bug which will greatly improve the ui elements i will add in the future
• improved ui manager
• added entities
• added pink slime as a patrolling enemy
• the player can hide from the pink slime by hiding in its hat
• added juice to healthbar
• added death function to player which can be used to implement dying animation and punish for later

[polar stone]

improved enemy ui
now the player chases you when he sees you

• once you are spotted you cant hide in your hat
• the enemy will move on if you are out of its vision range for more than 5 seconds
• the enemy deals twice the damage moves slower and chase faster at night

[lusty raven]

hehe speedy slime

also add a cooldown to how much damage the enemy can do per second also make the player eject from the enemy so that can't die instantly with out a chance of escape also add a camera effect to make the hit feel more real and feel like it actual hurt you and it wasn't a little tickle

[polar stone]

the timer is already added and i will give player time
the rest i will add

im now working on platformer and parkour aspects of the game

[lusty raven]

ok

[polar stone]

i was working on enemy ai for a while now
the enemy will turn around if you try to sneak behind it and hit it
also the enemy will let go of the player after 5 seconds if the player is not visible to it
2 bugs were fixed with the enemy
the night now makes everything totaly black except for moonlight and player light
there is a spot added on the buttom left side of the screen to show quests and their infos
gameplay minutes 1/120

[lusty raven]

oh sounds really cool

[polar stone]

thanks
i also added bridges and spikes
i first made the spikes so that they would damage the player for every second standing on them
but then i made them so they only damage the player once when the player hits them because i thought it would be better and less punishing
but i increased the damage a bit
so they deal one fifth of the player's health on full contact
next i added them to the tilemap so that its easy to place spikes anywhere on the map

[lusty raven]

When the player hits a spike I think every 5 seconds after the initial hit they should get damaged just so if enemies get damaged by spikes it's never a good hiding place or you can have them get teleported to the most recent area of ground and you can track that using a variable, and to make sure the player doesn't get teleported to the direct edge and get hit off by smt you should make it so they get teleported a few pixels away from that edge and give them a few invincibility frames so if they spawn on an enemy they don't get hit off then either, and to make sure they don't get teleported to a small platform you can asign certain platforms the tag "ground" and thats the only time the players position should be tracked.

[polar stone]

i liked your idea
but i dont want to teleport the player because i would want the max health to show itself in parkour so that the player needs to upgrade it even when they decide not to fight the envirement

update
i made the 5 second timer you suggested and i also improved the spike sprite and added a single spike which deals 10 damage instead of 20 (half the damage)
i made it 1 second instead of 5
i fixed a bug
removed single spike because it was a bit too small to be seen i think group spikes are fine

[polar stone]

its really fun for me to remake scripts and nodes to make them better
the first spike i designed would get the player node and then check if it matches any entities in its scan range and if so it would kill the player
the second one would get the player node and then check if it matches any entities in its scan range and if so deal a fixed damage to it
the third one wouldnt need to get any nodes and so it was much faster
and also it would deal damage to the player if they stood in the spike and for that it needed to get a timer node to start and stop and connect the timer to deal damage to the player on timeout and it needed 2 variables and a timer node for every check and the whole code was 30 lines
and the last one i made would just preload the timer and use 1 variable to detect the player and deal a custom damage i set to the player
it needed only 20 lines of code(with spaces)
and it only uses 1 variable and a preloaded node for checking

[lusty raven]

nice

when's the next video footage? I really wanna see the changes, they sound fun!

[polar stone]

thanks
sure i will send the next video today when i finish making the first room
right now im working on trees

i sorted my sprites and made a diffrent folder for this game's sprites
when i first started drawing my game sprites i thought at most 100 sprites would be needed (not including tilesets and animations)
so far i have drawn 556 sprites and 12 tilesets
about 100 of those sprites are animations or sprites with more than one frame
24 sprites are for this game + 1 tileset
so it was no longer a good idea to keep them all in a single forlder

[polar stone]

i have also made a task manager application for myself to track things easier
i couldnt find any good free task managers
if anyone knows any please tell me

i remade the task manager using pyqt6 instead of tkinter for gui

i dont think i would need a task manager anymore

[polar stone]

i made it into an actual application and named it TaskManager with LICENSE and credit
i can put the application here for free if anyone needs it

[polar stone]

-changed the quest panel looks
-added 2 new bushes and 2 small trees to the tileset
-improved night and day sprite
-improved file names and file structure in godot (one huge structure change is remaining which im not willing to do now but the current changes make me creating new files and sprites easier)

[polar stone]

i finished drawing the tree and im using it to make the parallel background for now

i will make a jump pad of some sort and after that i will start creating the first room

[lusty raven]

wow looks really good I don't think I have much to say here

[polar stone]

thank you

i added another layer of background to it
i also reduced clouds and backgrounds' visibility and also added bridges to the background
and i added the jump pad mushrooms which turned out better and smoother than i expected

a perfect jump pad in my mind was rayman legends' jump pads
so first there was a problem in which the player could walk into it and it still would made the player jump
and i fixed it so that it only works when the player jumps on it
but still it wasnt good enough for me because the player would enter the mushroom before being launched and that wouldnt look as good as i wanted it to
so i moved the detection range 5 or 6 pixels up so that it has time to react before the player is in the mushroom and it fixed it

[polar stone]

i added mud and slime paths which will make the player slower and faster
at first the player would only get the buff and debuff while on the ground but i wanted the player to be able to use them to be able to jump long gaps using slime paths
so i added a last_movement variable and fixed the code so the movement buff would apply even when jumping
im pretty satisfied with it

i think i have enough material for the first tutorial room

[lusty raven]

Yeah should be a fun one

[polar stone]

i finished designing tutorial 1
in this room the player will learn moving - jumping - slime path - slime path jumping - slime path controlled jump
2:30 - 4 min gameplay
3/120 gameplay done

i will finish the backgrounds for it and i will post it here

[polar stone]

tutorial 1

collectables will be added to the empty spots

and tutorial tabs will open to teach player the basics

[polar stone]

i,ll now make labels (DONE) -> room transition-> respawning (DONE) -> collectables -> tutorial room 2 -> 10 min gameplay -> lore -> lore fragments -> add new tiles -> new platforms -> levelups -> hub room -> shop room -> enemy ai 2 -> collectables 2 -> dying ->next 2 rooms -> 30 min gameplay -> resting spots -> new enemy -> enemy ai 3 -> new platforms 3 -> next 2 rooms -> 50 min gameplay -> background upgrade -> animations -> effects -> temperature -> heat and cold resistance -> new platforms -> new tiles 2-> new enemy -> enemy ai 4 -> next 4 rooms -> 110 min gameplay ->tabs-> quest 1 -> room improvement -> quest 2 -> room improvement 2-> quest 3 -> room improvement 3 -> new tiles 3 -> 150 min gameplay

with replay ability and quests the final gameplay time would be at least 2.5 hours - 5 hours
which is one forth of a full game's gameplay and enough for me to release a demo of it

[polar stone]

instead of tabs i made labels and its better for tutorial levels but i will add tabs later as well
i,ll continue it tomorrow

[lusty raven]

Oh lore you say let me know on that I could help get out rough story boards

[lusty raven]

That gap i. The bridge seems a little off idk how you would fix it though at that length you might wanna change what kind of bridge it is just so it doesn't look funny

[polar stone]

I will improve its looks later on
ok thank you
i dont really know what I want for lore

[lusty raven]

your welcome, I might be able to help you w lore

you could do a revenge story, a love story (kinda basic), a race to become the best, a rivalry, a hunt to find something, a journey to reclaim the old version of something, you could also do slime has to defeat big bad. but these are just a few ideas if you have your own then you make that but if you need help I'm here.

[polar stone]

hmm
i could actually use your help
but these are too heavy for my game
these would require text to be explained
and plus revenge and love are too much for my cute dumb slime who hides in its hat

[lusty raven]

Lol

Ok

I mean defeating a big bad at the end might be a fun one

[polar stone]

but my slime cant fight

i know its a hard one
if you were able to come up with anything please tell me

[lusty raven]

Tf you mean she can't fight? Atleast give a simple fire ball or acid ball she can throw maybe she has minions that fight for her but it's hard to come up w a story like that

wait actually what if she's trapped underground and is trying to get out

Or she's trapped in a mystical dream land

And as you progress through the game it gets darker and more scary

Until she escapes

What do you think?

[polar stone]

sorry someone called

i think she is a part of this dreamland

she doesnt really look like an outsider

i will give her an attacking ability but she sure wouldnt be using it much
the game is more about living peacfully with the creatures

[lusty raven]

maybe she's dreaming about being a slime

and she's really a human or humaniod creature

and her worst nightmare is being a helpless little slime that couldn't do anything

and maybe each section of the game is a new dream

[polar stone]

its more like a dream
but basically the game is about living in peace in a lovely world
i dont want a psychological lore for it
its too heavy
your suggestions are good but my game is simpler

[lusty raven]

maybe she's departed from a friend

[polar stone]

that would take away the open world feeling
i want the player to feel free of any missions and tasks and just enjoy the amazing world

[lusty raven]

that's tricky

[polar stone]

if it had a lore it would be as simple as dora the explorer's lore

lol

[lusty raven]

yeah idk then maybe she is trying to get back to her shop in the beginning or smt but you said metroidvaina so maybe she sells potions to adventurers and she get's tasks to get stock, talk to towns men, other things but she needs to learn new abilities to get different brews or other thing so she can adventure along to get the ingredients for things

[polar stone]

now thats something i can work with

i liked that

[lusty raven]

thanks

[polar stone]

maybe i change some details but that is the exact amount of lore and expandability i want in my game

can you figure out a lore for the game world as well ?
like the history - what happened to it - why creatures are more hostile in the dark - the magic
and things like that ?

[lusty raven]

ok give me a sec

[polar stone]

i,ll go eat something and come back

[lusty raven]

ok

So it all started in a town called "town name" when a dark mage sleekly casted a spell to send a mist of an unknown substance out that doesn't do much during the day but at night it condenses more, because it gets colder and when it touches monsters it messes with there mind reducing their vision. After a little bit, if a monster has too much exposure to this mist at night they will go mad. You (the main character) make potions that negate the effects for a set period of time, but if you stay out for too long you will slowly succumb to the mist and die. So it's your job to supply this potion to all people so when they go outside at night they don't go mad. You can also use magic to help with movement, and defend against wild animals that have gone mad. These times are very hard to get through so until it passes your job will stay to keep the town safe from the dangers that come at night!

got a story!

also what does ephemeral mean?

[lusty raven]

this story is also good since it set's you up for a sequel to find the dark mage

[polar stone]

it means having a short life

[lusty raven]

Oh ok

[polar stone]

when i was 17 i wrote a book for myself and named it ephemeral
i didnt have a name for this game in mind so i used ephemeral as a placeholder

[polar stone]

it was actually better than i expected

[lusty raven]

Oh ok

[lusty raven]

Thank you

My father whatch isakai animes alot so ik the plots of most of them

[polar stone]

but still i think the player's job should be more of a daily work thing
i dont want the player to have a burden on its back

[polar stone]

cool dad

[lusty raven]

Oh ok

Maybe she has a rival shop

So the town isn't fully relying on her

[polar stone]

I would add to your lore like
x years ago y cursed the happy cute fantasy land and now its a cursed happy cute fantasy land
the people in the land went crazy during night time and killed each other and so there are signs of a dead civilization but the nature has taken the land now and now its a part of the nature with magic signs
the remaining creatures are also cursed but have managed to live but they still go a bit nuts during night time
and our cute little slime is just a random slime living happily in this land and doing z for living (something to do with collecting stuff from the nature
probably as you said but we leave room for change)
and tries to adapt itself with the nature

[lusty raven]

Ok

Sounds pretty good

[polar stone]

wouldnt come up with it without your help

thank you

and also thank your dad

[lusty raven]

Your welcome

[polar stone]

lore DONE

we gotta do a lore 2 later

but for now this will do

[lusty raven]

Eh wish I could thank him too but let's just say I lose my appetite bc of him every now and again

[lusty raven]

Why?

[polar stone]

oh ok

hope everything is ok

[lusty raven]

It is

He just chooses to whatch stuff during dinner

And watches normal things before and after dinner

[polar stone]

oh thank god i thought maybe something happened

ok good

[lusty raven]

No it's just he watches modern anime and well * throat clear * they have awkward situations to say the least at times

Unlike older ones where it isn't every episode

[polar stone]

i dont have any comments

[lusty raven]

Could understand

Oh so what are you gonna call your game?

Do you know yet?

[polar stone]

for now i guess i,ll stay with ephemeral

what do you suggest ?

[lusty raven]

slime shop

wait actually if we go w my idea of mist

[polar stone]

too much spoiler

[lusty raven]

the mist

or just mist

[polar stone]

too short i would say

[lusty raven]

ig ur right

it does leave more thumbnail space though

[polar stone]

true

but still too short

[lusty raven]

cursed lands

[polar stone]

i was about to say disney land

[lusty raven]

you're gonna get sued if do that

[polar stone]

lol

i know im kidding

[lusty raven]

we should do poka-slime

[polar stone]

what does poka mean

[lusty raven]

pokamon

or what ever they're called

[polar stone]

hmm

how about something random

[lusty raven]

alkjsdhflkwsahdf

easy

[polar stone]

yes but shape it like a word

so it sounds like a word

[lusty raven]

giscl

[polar stone]

close

you are getting there

[lusty raven]

loksy

[polar stone]

good

now another one

[lusty raven]

wimsy

[polar stone]

try switching from the sy

[lusty raven]

wait thats a word

[polar stone]

i know yes 😂

[lusty raven]

thise

[polar stone]

this ? e

[lusty raven]

yimpre

[polar stone]

we are making progress

keep going

auinwd

andiow

[lusty raven]

idk how I feel about wd

[polar stone]

nehfasi

wd ?

[lusty raven]

ok

w and d sound like wood

[polar stone]

ok ?

[lusty raven]

idk

[polar stone]

im confused

[lusty raven]

just looks wierd

[polar stone]

how about nafasami

[lusty raven]

yes

[polar stone]

really ?

[lusty raven]

perfect

yeah

bc the letters gotta look right together

[polar stone]

lol

[lusty raven]

that looks less like jibberish

nafasami

[polar stone]

because its an actual word

[lusty raven]

oh lol

nafusami

[polar stone]

not english

[lusty raven]

oh

[polar stone]

nafasami in persian means 'you are my breath'

i just typed it by accident and i was like whatever lets give it a shot

should i change it or is it actually good ?

[lusty raven]

maybe what about nafesami

[polar stone]

still means the same in persian

[lusty raven]

just to get rid of it being a word

nafesumi

[polar stone]

nafasami - nafasomi - nafesami - naffasami
they all mean this in persian

[polar stone]

this one is actually meaningless

[lusty raven]

ok lets do it

[polar stone]

ok i,ll start a new devlog

[lusty raven]

why?

you can edit text

[polar stone]

can i add a picture to the cover ?

[lusty raven]

oh yeah make a new one just forward a message from here

so if ppl want they can still see what happened here

[polar stone]

ok sure

i should delete it

[lusty raven]

no

[polar stone]

because i cant be active in both devlogs

[lusty raven]

bc ppl can still comeback here

if they wanna see the old progress

[polar stone]

i,ll forward the videos again
i have saved them

[lusty raven]

ok

[polar stone]

can i forward messages ?

i,ll try

[lusty raven]

yeah