archived-game-design

[craggy grotto]

Hmm I see

I think some of those choices would automatically be created anyways, by introducing threats that can follow you too, making sure the player needs to make up their own strategy, right?

[manic wind]

If you try to eliminate the threat you're allowing the infection to remain but if you flee the wild animal might track you

[craggy grotto]

Yeah

alright so realistic durations and effects of infections (and its impacts if you dont treat them quickly) should also be a key focus

[manic wind]

Fresh bandages would give you more time but after a while you either need new bandages or to disinfect the wound

Hotter climates would add a multiplier

Colder would take longer

I'm really into survival games so I've got some strong ideas

[silver parrot]

...so I'm trying to make a Character-creator as a game, and I'm at logger-heads as to whether I should use scriptable objects or singletons; thoughts, or opinions?

so far I have a SO that represents a representative, but I'm not sure if I can nest another SO within it at run-time (via a button selection) - kinda just thinking out loud, kinda wanting some input on the topic...

...and I just noticed its really, really quiet in here right now 😛

...I'm starting to think my jargon is SNAFU...

[umbral pulsar]

I'm wanting to learn Unity, and have been for a while now, but I'm having a difficult time with a game concept. I can't think of what would be fun to work on, but isn't overly ambitious for a first project.

What do you guys do when you have "writer's" block?

[silver parrot]

I usually run through tutorials; it helps to cement key concepts

[sullen girder]

Thats the curse, simple things are not very fun, fun things require a lot of time.

[timber magnet]

Follow a tutorial, betray it later

I was following a flappy bird tutorial, replaced poles with platform to stand on

[timber magnet]

Oh no I need to a way to lose

[sharp robin]

Keeping lists of ideas is helpful early on.

I haven't run out of game ideas before, but I did make a lot of mobile apps (200+) and so would often run out of ideas of what to make there. Having a list to fall to helps

I didn't care as much about making mobile apps though, so that might be part of the reason why

[cinder hamlet]

take one of your big ambitious multi-million dollar game ideas and shrink it down to tiny sizes

[atomic mesa]

Can I use netcode for gameobjects for a fps prototype

[sudden pendant]

You can use netcode for gameobjects for multiplayer. It being an FPS or a prototype is irrelevant.

[atomic mesa]

the project is high paced like titanfall 2

[vocal kestrel]

Also irrelevant

[slate sierra]

I've got a question i could use some input on... What generally are your favorite implementations of tournament brackets? The stuff im working on for a game has me on hold trying to figure out an effective way to handle brackets/tournaments... obviously it's most likely just some UI stuff but i'd like some ideas

[vocal kestrel]

Are you wondering in terms of UI design, or bracket system design?

[slate sierra]

Uhmmm you know... thats a great question 😛 I kind of understand how im going to determine who goes against who and stuff like that but in terms of implementation that users would like... i guess i am asking more UI design than system design but im open to hearing all kinds of suggestions

[frosty zenith]

Currently trying to recreate something from a show ( a sorta fan game) and I’m dying man 💀

[lilac plinth]

any one else making use of chatgpt for game design. Giving AI just limited information and then asking what do you think does "game mechanic name" do is really helpful to see how intuitive a game mechanic is and chatgpt comes up with good alternative names and descriptions as well.

[tiny marsh]

I mentioned wanting to have a reputation system with 5 or so npcs in my game, to modify dialogue options and change their responses to some questions. Someone said its super hard to implement. Is this true?

In my mind i'm envisioning just a public variable that gets saved and loaded between scenes, and whenever a character goes to answer a question, just doing a different line if theyre above or below a rep threshold.

That isnt especially complex is it? Am i overlooking something

[cinder hamlet]

it gets complex if its going to influence the story

or other systems

you need to make sure the game works regardless of player's reputation with each NPC

and that the story makes sense

like, if a character hates you it won't make sense if they ask you for a favor or tell you a secret

[tiny marsh]

my plan for the story is that you descend into the underground to claim the demonlords crown
and you'll be able to do it in a couple of ways

most ultimately boil down to just going to the area and defeating the final boss, but if you befriend certain characters along the way you can do it in different ways. That was the idea, at least.

[cinder hamlet]

thats a lot more complex than a linear story

[wide nacelle]

i have a question about state machine, a character can stand,jump and attack. attack is possible during stand and jump state. does this mean i'll have 2 attack states instead of one? like StandAttackState and JumpAttackState, which can only be entered from the stand and jump state respectively

is this right? or is there a better way?

or just have one attack state, and that transitions to StandAttackState/jumpattackState or check whether or not the character is jumping

[sour anvil]

The "stand attack" and "jump attack" sounds like 2 different actions, just like "stand" and "jump" are different.

[wide nacelle]

thanks

[wintry plover]

can i add an image at main menu scene? i made a game logo and i want to put in at main menu because i dont want it to only be a text with the game name, if it's possible how to do it?

[sudden pendant]

Not a game design question. #📲┃ui-ux

Use an Image component on your canvas to add images to the UI.

[wintry plover]

oh! sorry, thank you for the answer!!

[manic wind]

Anyone here into designing old intro screens? Click start button.

[slim thistle]

hey, id like to make a 3d movement script that simulates a glider, almost like a paper airplane. i found a video on youtube that shows roughly what id like to replicate. however, i don't know good resources to help me code things like acceleration and lift. does anyone have experience with this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbdtOCTDHR0&t=6s

[cold onyx]

He seems to have the source code in the comments, you can use that for one of the things that may help you

[slim thistle]

i tried it but it didnt seem to work, i think he also mentioned another script working in tandem with it. but ill at least check out some of the code segments they write again

[frosty mulch]

I'm a 16 year old developer that comes from a 3-year highly successful career in Roblox Studio (25M+ play sessions). Now, I've been learning Unity for the past few weeks, got some understanding of it, and even made my own A* algorithm (with a tiny bit of help from a friend). I mainly got into Unity to create mobile games, but I can't come up with a small beginner project that could use my A* system to really get the hang of it. Does anybody have cool and simply ideas for a fun mobile game that uses A*?

[cinder hamlet]

keep things simple, do something basic like a twin-stick top-down shooter

keep in mind that unlike in roblox, making a multiplayer game here is a lot more complex

[frosty mulch]

I'm not looking to make a multiplayer game tho. Just singleplayer is fine and I have a solid understanding of coding and how to tacke things.

[manic wind]

replicate the same results from other games you enjoy for practicing

try coming up with simple gameplay mechanics

some fun gameplay loops

[patent smelt]

What makes a good polished and fun to control character in a game that involves racing?

I discovered in Mario Kart Wii, that most things are done with polish and sound effects. The only control that matters might be "drift". All other variables such as speed, or acceleration are toggled different for character and kart combo.

How much is achieved through polish and flair and not actually code? I get the feeling a lot is sound and feedback to the player. (I found Mario Kart 8 to be more "boring" as on straightaways you had less options/agency such as wheelie.)

[sleek phoenix]

https://youtu.be/216_5nu4aVQ

[patent smelt]

I am asking specifically for racing games, and how much of the game feel is produced by Code versus polish/flair?

What aspects of feel are produced from good code in a racing game? From my analysis, it seems to be only "Drifting".

[cinder hamlet]

Code is what controls the visuals and audio

[patent smelt]

The rest would be Sound Effects and extra polish/ flair like wheelie, and like the sound when accelerate from boost.

[cinder hamlet]

also code can make subtle corrections to player's actions

example of that is the coyote time mechanic in platformers where you can still jump for a few frames after walking off a ledge

[manic wind]

Just make it fun dude

[frozen kindle]

Quick question, is there a chat where I can post a question of my code? kinda at a standstill with my program lol

[sleek phoenix]

#archived-code-general

[manic wind]

Is it possible to make a game that uses no more than 6GB of VRAM?

How would I check?

I'm also thinking about challenging myself to making a video game you play using only a mouse.

[cinder hamlet]

obviously, people were making games long before we measured RAM in gigabytes

[slow panther]

i’m new to unity and decided to make a blacksmithing game and i was wondering, how i would make an object malleable?

[manic wind]

you could make an ingot shape and after X amounts of hits swap it for a flat piece of metal shape

keeps swapping until its a sword

[slow panther]

well i’d like it to change where you hit, not just change when you hit

[manic wind]

hitboxes

i would cover the shape in 2D planes which act as triggers when hit

[slow panther]

how would i change just that part of the ingot? scaling it would scale the whole thing

[manic wind]

i don't know that's too advance for me

[slow panther]

ah

thanks anyway

[cinder hamlet]

that's going to be too hard for a beginner probably

since you need mesh deformation and stuff

[real junco]

am i able to get help here?

well ima ask

so im working on a game and i have this maze that i want to make a collider for but i can only get a box collider. how do i get a collider onto each wall so it works? im doing this in 2D

this is a 3D asset fbx

pls @ me if any body wants to help. thanks

[lilac knoll]

Hi, I am looking for some opinions. Do the corners of the sprite with size 42 look too blurry? Also, are the corners of the sprite with 64, sharp enough or should I stick to 128 pixels?

[manic wind]

i like 128

[vocal kestrel]

I'd think the corners should be consistent across all sizes. #📲┃ui-ux

[manic wind]

^

maybe round the corners by percentage

[cold onyx]

Any good font suggestion for a roguelike game? Anyone know a beautiful hidden font that might share?

[lilac knoll]

That is whats going to happen, but I need to know the right size

[granite mountain]

@real junco I’m new to Unity but I used TileMaps for my 2D game and when you use a TileMap collider, every tile will have a collider and you can essentially paint your maze.

[real junco]

I think my plan is to make a maze algorithm and code the hit boxes to that

[granite mountain]

Ok. That’s definitely too advanced for me😂 I just noticed no one commented so I wanted to try and help

[real junco]

Thank you

[grave latch]

In my game you wake up in a dark room with one light and a table with a gun on it

Then you hold e on the gun

And all you hear is a bang

And you wake up in your bed 3 years later Everytime you die you wake up in the room

And there’s signs on why you did what you did

On your 7 death a door opens on the side of the room and you have a choice of sh or walk through the door and never go back to the room

And you can’t die anymore

Being that you accepted therapy

And the horror stops

[cold onyx]

Hi all! I’m wanting to come up with a game, and i was wondering if there was anyone who could voice there opinion and concerns, point in the direction to get started, offer any advice or anything?

[cinder hamlet]

You mean you want advice on how to come up with game ideas?

I personally come up with them by remixing the games that I like and adding some of my own ideas

its important to not overthink some aspects though

[high jetty]

I want to talk about predictability and tactis in pve real time games combat. Games like this I picked up only recently, most of my life I've been playing pvp or in general multiplayer games. And my biggest disappointment in their combat systems is what I'm calling predictability. The fight goes like this: enemy acts, player reacts, there is no enemy reaction. A simple example are FromSoftware games - boss starts attack animation, you have to time the dodge. Now this system can be improved by giving the player different meaningful choices on how to react. The direction where you roll in dark souls doesnt matter, but In Hollow Knight endgame you can chose between your dodge abilities, which will affect your next move in the fight. You can also give the enemy some ai with randomized decisions, like V2 fight in ultrakill where it changes distances at will. But is it really a reaction? it does solve the predictability issue, but doesnt make the fight feel tactical from the perspective of the enemy. It's hard to make myself clear. What i'm saying is, you can watch a 1000 chess bot games and each time it will be interesting, but the TAS speedrun you watch will be the same each time (except imagine chess is a real time game). I'm making a game myself now and want to tackle this somehow. I think i'll have to use both randomized decisions and good ai, and somehow make it feel fair. I havent mentioned games like doom eternal, which have an ai between many units, each having its role, cause i cant say where or how it works, i simply didnt notice, but i would certainly like to learn.

[cold onyx]

GAME WITH CASH PRIZE?

[fiery bone]

One

[tawny canyon]

how the hell do you design a game.

like this sounds vague as hell but i genuinely dont know anything

where to start, which direction to take.. anything...

[cold onyx]

You can’t simply ‘design’ a game
Game design is multiple things like proper Audio, graphics, style and gameplay

[tawny canyon]

i know... its just so much pressure and i dont know where to start, i dont even know how to ask for help

i dont even know really what im doing, but i feel like i cant get a grip because of the fact i know nothing

[cold onyx]

Are you new, because if you’ve just started, game design isn’t the thing to focus on

[tawny canyon]

like ill come up with a game idea and itl be flawed in every aspect but i cant tell if thats the fault of the idea or the execution

[tawny canyon]

idek what "new" really is, ive been making games for about 3 years so i guess im pretty new

i just havent released any of them, i can program them fine i just cant design them

i can make something that is fairly well programmed and organized but i can never release them in a playable state because the design usually falls short

[cold onyx]

What part of the design

[tawny canyon]

dude idek

ig just sorta everything, thats genuinely the best i can describe it

sorry if im being really vague and stupid but

[cold onyx]

To make it fail less you gotta have a solid understanding of what kind of style, graphics etc you’re looking for

[tawny canyon]

and i dont know how to get that solid understanding

like how does somebody come up with graphical style, gameplay style, setting, any of that stuff

[cold onyx]

Write it down

[tawny canyon]

when i see a finished game i can evaluate why the design is good, "oh yeah this style lets developers model less, oh this style makes lighting easier to handle while still looking appealing"

[cold onyx]

Then follow it when you’re developing

[tawny canyon]

write what down?

[cold onyx]

Your ideas for the style etc

[tawny canyon]

the issue is that i struggle with designing a style

like its just really cloudy and hard to explain but like

i struggle with making something like..

ok idek how to begin to describeit

[cold onyx]

If it’s foggy try to describe it by combining already existing styles

Like. Low Poly + Realistic textures

Simple colored + high poly

[tawny canyon]

well for graphical style of my current game itd be: realistic models + realistic textures + illogical machine design

but that paints a super vague picture

it isnt descript enough

but when i try to describe it it begins to get really foggy and messy

like.. ok so for my current game

if i had to describe the graphical style in detail

actually idek how to describe it in detail

its genuinely just that foggy

[cold onyx]

maybe it’s not a good style if it’s impossible to describe?

[tawny canyon]

maybe so

or maybe its just many different styles but used cohesively

like the style itself at a bare minimum is just realistic models + realistic textures

everything shares that style

but each element has a different sort of "sub style"

[cold onyx]

So alright, realistic models and textures = Basic realistic style

[tawny canyon]

for example: the enemies all share a style of being made of oil and mixed with organic material

[cold onyx]

And let’s add on top of that

[tawny canyon]

well its hard to just "add on top of that" because everything breaks from the style in one way or another

[tawny canyon]

like this exampl

not EVERYTHING in the game has this style

the walls and floors arent made of oil and mixed with biological material, but as far as enemies go they are all consistant within this style and all adhere to the "basic realistic style"

[tawny canyon]

they have realistic textures with realistic models, but they also share this style, but only within the enemies of the game

[cold onyx]

Alright so your base game style is: Realistic

Your enemies have a: ‘Fictional’ style

Your enemies don’t really have to contribute to the main game style

[tawny canyon]

well the enemies have a fictional style but still share realistic elements

[cold onyx]

Alright so that doesn’t technically really go against your main style

[tawny canyon]

yeah

ok so the weapons also have varying styles that still sort of go with the main style

all weapons have a different style, one might be sci-fi, the other might be more modern-day looking, some might be just plain fictional looking

but they still have realistic models with realistic textures, just unrealistic or varied designs

[cold onyx]

So right now I can kinda see your game as: Basic realism with fictional mixed in

[tawny canyon]

yeah basically

but the main issue doesnt really come from the graphical design.. instead it comes from the gameplay...

[cold onyx]

Alright, so for gameplay design, it’s usually best if the play style stays consistent

[tawny canyon]

right now the basic gameplay design is like this: the player must grow this chia pet, to do this they simply take a bucket and go get water, they dump it on the chia and it grows, thus the name "chia simulator" arose for the game, however they also have a generator to keep track of, refueling the generator is where it gets interesting, see theres no real way to prevent the generator from going out, its inevitably going to happen, but when it happens it spits up enemies made of oil that try to kill you, you can technically play the game with the generator off the entire time, its just more difficult, which incentivizes the player to kill enemies, because they can throw their corpses into a chute to fuel the generator and get it running again

its a mixture of gameplay styles

a little strategy, a little combat

and it might sound simple with the basic design

but the complexity comes more from the replay value

because beating the game once will unlock items useable in the game to do more things

maybe you unlock a weapon that assists in healing at the cost of firerate, maybe you unlock an enemy detector that will go off when an enemy walks past it, maybe you can unlock a machine that will passively water the chia pet at a very slow rate

its a very all over the place game

the design has many issues tho, if you couldnt tell

[cold onyx]

The best thing I can suggest is trying to fix those issues and try to simplify the style

Don’t confuse style and the game play through, though

[tawny canyon]

how do you incentivize the player to grow the chia, how do you tell them that the chia is even the main mechanic, the generator seems more like a main mechanic because the chia isnt a necessity, how do you even incentivize the player to replay if they can beat the game just fine with the normal items, how do you vary the gameplay without changing what players learned from their first playthrough

[tawny canyon]

saying "fix those issues" is easier said than done

ive been trying to fix these issues for a month

ive made little to no progress

ive made good progress on the game itself, though

but i havent gotten to the part where i design the main gameplay loop

which is why im stopping now to try to evaluate the issues with the gameplay before i make it

i feel like im just wasting time though, i dont know where to go for help

i mean coming to a half dead channel like this doesnt seem all too productive, i appreciate your help but i dont feel like im gunna get anywhere here though

i dont wanna spend money on a game designer, nor do i know where to go to understand how to design a good game

[daring bear]

I’d suggest looking for videos on YouTube about game design. There are several channels that are dedicated to game design, especially for Unity

[cinder hamlet]

There are great design videos on youtube, check out channels like Game Makers Toolkit and Design Doc

[high jetty]

How would I go about making a combat system where player cant evade all the damage? I'm making a real time game and combat will probably be the most important part of the game.

[cinder hamlet]

what kind of game exactly

[high jetty]

fps

[cinder hamlet]

hitscan damage then

they cant be dodged with 100% reliability

[high jetty]

yes I know, I'm asking how to make it interesting. I know I said fps but I would like to hear general advice.

[cinder hamlet]

How much gamedev experience do you have?

[high jetty]

I know how to code

[cinder hamlet]

have you ever finished a project?

[high jetty]

no

[cinder hamlet]

Then you're getting a bit overambitious here. Multiplayer FPS is a very complex type of videogame and definitely not something a beginner should touch. I recommend you start with a simple singleplayer 2d game for now.

You can't climb a mountain without learning how to walk first

[high jetty]

i'm not making a multiplayer game and i dont have a goal to release it. i'm doing what i'm interested in

[cinder hamlet]

oh wait my bad, I thought you said multiplayer somewhere

still, fps is quite complex

[cinder hamlet]

Why exactly do you want the player to not be able to evade all damage?

why not let a highly skilled player dodge it all

[high jetty]

I think you will be able to dodge if you make the right choices beforehand. for example if you want to not get damaged by minecraft zombie you just keep your distance, but if you stay close its attacks arent telegraphed so you will get hit.

[cinder hamlet]

Well, then you very much can evade all damage, by evading the enemies

[high jetty]

well it's a basic example, maybe i should rephrase the question to "a combat system without telegraphing".

[cinder hamlet]

I suppose you need to make sure the player can see the enemy approaching, and has the tools to tank and heal the damage

[fiery bone]

What is the purpose of that system? What value does it add for the player? I'm not saying not to do it. But it would help to understand the value you want to add

[shy relic]

How do I make a psx/ps1 graphics?

[high jetty]

I think I want to make the combat more tactical that way, rather than reaction based. So that choices matter long term and you cant just dodge at the last moment.

[tawny canyon]

i eventually turned to reddit and got the feedback i needed there, thanks for the suggestion though

[forest forum]

This is what i have so far for my endless runner game. Its called space piggies and is about 2 guiena pigs that have lost their carrots in space. I have the basic down but i wanted to add some more features to make the game more unique and fun to play. As of right now it feels very basic. All critisim welcome!

[tardy temple]

So sideways thought, where you have to actively fight to load your save file, maybe as a minigame, or better somehow integrated into the game world. Where if you do well you can gain some extra resource, while doing badly carries a penalty…. Do badly enough with the higher difficulty setting could delete your save all together. Probably have it only kick in later in a playthrough to shield new users, or have it as a kind of opt in system, like choosing to gamble. But to prevent player abuse by continually save/load. There could be some kind of cooldown based on in game time spent in the loaded file.

[gray ermine]

so because i'm curious and like overly-challenging problems i'm messing around with trying to implement a voxel terrain system that uses a hexagonal grid instead of a square grid. I've read through the article on hexagonal coordinate systems over at Red Blob Games ( https://www.redblobgames.com/grids/hexagons/ ) and I'm going to be using cubic coordinates but i'm having trouble figuring out how to locate voxels in space vs just on a plane, do I need a set of 3 cubic coordinates, or just one?

[gray shore]

can anyone reccomend a good city to use for my open world car game??

[sudden pendant]

#💻┃unity-talk message

[quiet spruce]

Look on the asset store.

[fiery bone]

I would assume you'd need a 4th unit for depth. If I understand correctly, you're taking a 2 dimensional plane, and trying to use a 3 dimensional point coordinate system to represent hexagon shaped spaces in that 2D plane, but it's still a 2d plane

[frigid magnet]

Any ideas on how to make a guide map in my game, like a pirate map? For now I did it by using an orthographic camera and the output of that camera in a top down view of the full map, and for icons I placed a sprite renderer in my player which I can see from the camera, but it looks a but bad, my idea was to have a 2d image as background and the icons to be above the 2d image so I can follow the player in real time

looks like this so far

[cinder hamlet]

yeah, an image can work, though you'll either have to update it manually whenever you modify the map or code it to update automatically

[frigid magnet]

And that s what I don t know how to do ahah

[gray ermine]

honestly I'm still trying to wrap my head around using a 3-coordinate system to locate a point in a hexagonal grid. I think the answer is 'yes, 3 coordinates are needed for a planar arrangement of hexagons' so I guess I'd need 4 coordinates for a 'point cloud' that follows a hexagonal structure

[fiery bone]

From what I gather, you're not locating a "point". You're locating an entire hexagon. That hexagon has a center point, yes, but the notion of continuous space loses meaning, as you either lose horizontal or vertical adjacency

So you can't, for example say "find the point at 1,1, -3"

[gray ermine]

I guess like, i'm trying to implement a "point cloud" but with points that have a hexagonal grid arrangment

My plan is to deal with the 'hexels' (hexagonal voxels) separately from the geometry, so meshing is a second pass, or dealt with separately.

A hexagon is a geometric shape and can be represented by triangles but I plan on constructing a mesh based on the data in a volumetric hexagonal point cloud

I may not be describing it well because I don't fully understand yet but that's the fun, and what i'm working on 🙂

[sudden pendant]

@forest forum You can ask for feedback in #archived-works-in-progress

[acoustic portal]

anyone know how to make this fullscreen map look good? should i just make some art for the world? does the actual physical level just need environment stuff in it? im not sure whats missing here, There is supposed to be trees but those clip out of render distance. Im considering just drawing art for the map but im not really good at it lol

[manic wind]

are you the Asteroids guy?

[acoustic portal]

uh no?

this is a horror game thats set in a forest (for now, there will be other maps)

and its multiplayer

[slow panther]

I'm making a blacksmithing game and was wondering, how i would form the mesh into the right shape? I'm thinking maybe changing the height of the vertices when it gets hit but I'm not sure

[cold onyx]

You can change the vertices positions yeah.

But you need a lot of vertices to make it look smooth

[slow panther]

alright thanks

[cinder hamlet]

You could make simple art, like a makeshift map, fitting for a horror

just sketch something

[acoustic portal]

what should i search for a reference?

[cinder hamlet]

uhh hand-drawn map I guess

[cold onyx]

What do you think about this type of UI Design?

[spare gull]

seems pretty convenient

[cinder hamlet]

as long as you put images/icons, it's good

[radiant gyro]

you guys know how to fix this issue where the fog is in the scene and not rendering in the game?? also this is my first project so im making some minecraft ripoff for fun and im on an M1 Chip fog used to work now i aint i ned help 😦

[sudden pendant]

This isn't a game design question. Make sure your fog is turned on in your scene window.

[radiant gyro]

everything is turned on but the fog wont show up in the game

[timber magnet]

So for making a 2d game with cool animation

What camera angle should be used?

Would something like subway surfer be better or platformer?

[sharp lagoon]

Hello everyone, question about the overall feeling for a platformer controller.

How do you work on the moves, jumps, like.. Do you just tweak using a primitive shape character, an animated version, when do you say, "this is the controller I wanted"?

[cold onyx]

Yeah. I was also thinking when you hover over a button an image kinda appears near your cursor showing what the object is

[ashen sage]

Doing some market research... thoughts? https://twitter.com/WildMMO/status/1644051033243504642

WildMMO (@WildMMO)

🔮 Doing some research for a mobile #rpg game and I can't decide. You can help.
Please keep reading thread for description of Active vs Passive Dodge skill. #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame 🧵1/3

Twitter · Apr 6, 2023, 6:54 PM

[manic wind]

Do you ever play video games you wish you made?

[ashen sage]

that's a great question... I honestly haven't played a lot of mobile rpgs

I have a pretty good idea what it would look like on PC fwiw 🙂

[manic wind]

Me too but sometimes people make my ideas

Why steal my ideas I'm thinking about

Not fair

[ashen sage]

ok... its just a question of preference. Doubt I'm gonna reverse engineer your code from that 😉

[manic wind]

Get ChatGPT to code for you

[ashen sage]

heh I can code, get GPT to autogenerate rigged models and I'm interested

[manic wind]

I saw some trying to code FlappyBird only using AI

[cold onyx]

is chat gtp free?

[wintry briar]

yes

[cold onyx]

ok

[acoustic portal]

this is a screenshot from alien isolation, how do i get a background for my pause screen to look like this?

my issue is that when I pause, my game just looks darker

this one looks like a proper pause screen background, not sure how they got it to look this way

[slate forum]

make a UI elemet thats like a pannel

that covers the whole camera view (do it on a canvas so it supports all screen sizes)

then in your pause code make sure you enable it and all other button elements and shit

to blur it you can use a postprocessing element
Depth of field, then adjust it to how it should work from there!

@acoustic portal

lmk with any questions

[acoustic portal]

yeah uh

my main problem is

since my panel is so dark, the sun turns from yellow to orange in my game, its really weird and annoying to look at

[slate forum]

you will have to tune it to what looks good in your game

what works in one game may or may not work in another

especally here its an indoor scene so darkening it works really well

[acoustic portal]

yeah mine is in an outdoor scene

not sure what would work better there

[slate forum]

hmmm, i would say instead of a full pannel

wait lemme show u

[acoustic portal]

shit

how do i stop the post effect from affecting my UI

but only one because i want the brightness effect to work on my UI

[slate forum]

💀 i came on here to ask how to make post processing effect ui

i dont know sorry

[acoustic portal]

how does this look @slate forum

im gonna put a background behind paused as its still hard to read

[slate forum]

i really like that

nice one

[acoustic portal]

thanks!

[cinder hamlet]

I can see that this also has a vignette effect

consider adding it as well

[acoustic portal]

good idea

[manic wind]

do you think modding games is a good entry point into video game development?

[atomic mesa]

i have a unity hub problem where should i post the question

[vocal kestrel]

#💻┃unity-talk probably

[cinder hamlet]

you still need to learn programming either way

a good entry point for that is Scratch

[manic wind]

Do you mean for scripting?

I can code

I'm learning low poly asset modelling in Blender and I'll import into a video game

[pine sleet]

you can use the volume override exposure settings or postprocessing to darken the game camera stylistically

[acoustic portal]

yeah, i want to affect my scene and my UI differently

dont want my UI to dark on pause

but i do want my scene to darken

[pine sleet]

that is what the volume override will do

[deep badge]

game ideas for beginner to clone?

[acoustic portal]

@pine sleet this thing right

[pine sleet]

yes

create another volume that is your pause menu volume

then turn it on and off

to make it take affect

put in only the overrides you need for it, which might be exposure or whatever

[acoustic portal]

@pine sleet but i want brightness to affect my UI camera

just different

and i want depth of field to affect my scene

but not my UI

[pine sleet]

if you want to reduce the brightness of your ui elements, put a big non raycast target transparent black rectangle in front of everything

[acoustic portal]

increase

[pine sleet]

you shouldn't be using a separate camera for your ugui based ui. you should be using screenspace overlay

well

i think you are at the start of your unity journey

and there are a lot of things interacting that you don't totally understand yet

your ui is right now not screen space overlay

so volumes affect it

make it screen space overlay

then its brightness will not be affected by the volume

you shouldn't have a separate camera

for your ui

[acoustic portal]

i do want its brightness affected by the volume

anyways there was some issue i had when it was on screen space overlay

lemme try it hold on

[pine sleet]

then do what i suggested and make it overlay and use a transparent black rectangle to modify brightness

[acoustic portal]

i want it brighter though

[pine sleet]

you are not using your brain

use your brain

if you want it to be "brighter" keep the darkening rectangle turned on all teh time except when you are in

whatever it is you are doing

does that make sense

[acoustic portal]

i have brightness setting in my game that should also affect the brightness of the canvas, allowing increases and decreases in brightness

got this funny warning but im assuming its just a byproduct of having my canvas on screen space camera

also wtf is with that A

this looks normal in screen space camera

Anyways, what is the actual reason I shouldn't use screen space camera for my canvas? it gives me a lot more control over it and it lets me affect brightness on my canvas

like very simply, which is one of my favorite things to try to do, just making things simple

AHA i figured it out, I want volume mask in the camera settings, so I can have a volume with my global effects, and then a volume with scene specific effects, very cool

[rich forge]

can anyone give me some ideas on how to make that look better?

theres something that feels off about it but i literally cannot figure it out

fixed it a tad but imo still weird

[late vapor]

...normal maps?

anyway, this isn't the right channel

[rich forge]

sorry

[lilac plinth]

making an SCP game? nice! love the SCP universe

[tender oxide]

Please message me if anybody is willing to help me understand how to utilize my imported 2d asset package. There are so many folders and I do not really understand what is what.

[cold onyx]

Post processing, normal maps (and other texture stuff), cracks or dirt decals, small dust particles

[fiery bone]

Asset Package

[rough folio]

Hi, I'm trying to think of game mechanics that would make my game have a point, but can't think of any.
I'm creating a pixel art (side scroller) walking simulator set in nature, that's supposed to be relaxing and just fun to walk around in. Problem is, that sounds like it could be very boring... I would really appreciate if you could suggest things that could maybe bring the player a purpose to keep going forward? Feel free to dump the dumbest/weirdest/funniest ideas...
Hope this is the right channel to ask this in
Thanks!

[manic wind]

you could make a trail with collectables

when i'm hiking i like exploring and finding stuff on the ground

sight seeing

talking to interesting characters

finding unique animals

different weather patterns

unlocking new areas

different transport systems

walking/running/cycling/rowing

could even add bus stops are waypoints for fast travel

"you discovered Meadow Lane"

[fresh salmon]

Progressing the story feels like the single most important thing to motivate the player going forward in those kind of games.
If you feel like just walking is too boring you might add some obstacles (puzzles, platforming) on the path to make it more interesting, but you'll basically abandon 'walking simulator' label, not that it's a bad thing tho.

I think you might look into something like Oxenfree, specifically free roam sections, to get some inspirations.

[timid tendon]

Can I just make a scene in Blender or should I build pieces in blender and assemble them in unity

[manic wind]

thats a loaded question

[rough folio]

Awesome ideas!!! Thank you so much 🙂

[manic wind]

do you mean scenes for levels?

[timid tendon]

yes

[manic wind]

you can do that in Unity yeah

@rough foliohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usBVx4J4CUM&ab_channel=NintendoofAmerica

[rough folio]

Thanks a lot!!

[timid tendon]

is it more optimal?

[manic wind]

yeah

if you mean a modular level pack

[timid tendon]

Essentially i literally just started, I have the level basically built in blender but idk if I should rebuild it in unity from separate pieces instead

[manic wind]

show me!

[timid tendon]

essentially this is a test level to see how to export into unity but this is what I have. I have other objects I can import into this level when I figure out what to do

[manic wind]

i would make it separately

[timid tendon]

just finished a conveyor belt system so that helps

[manic wind]

oh very nice

yeah make it separately and snap them to each other in the Unity scene

[timid tendon]

Your advice is greatly appreciated, I hope you have a good day. Thank you

[manic wind]

also its called a modular level kit

[timid tendon]

Good to know

[manic wind]

if you wanna find tutorials

[analog mountain]

Hello. I need help. Is someone on to answer some questions??

[sleek phoenix]

https://dontasktoask.com/

[analog mountain]

I see. I'm wanting to make a game like jackal survival reborn. But don't know how. I need help?

[cold onyx]

That’s still extremely vague, you need to ask actual issues and not just “how to make this game”

[analog mountain]

Well I wanna know how to set up the background and behavioral type of things. The coding stuff. I don't wanna remake that game.

[sleek phoenix]

still very vague. have you ever made a game before?

[analog mountain]

No I have not. I just now have unity and cannot make the asset packs I downloaded go into my computer. So I'm stuck to basic shapes. For now.

[sleek phoenix]

yeah uh I wouldn't suggest remaking a big game as a first project, you need to learn how to walk before you run

[analog mountain]

What would you suggest I try as a first time thing? And I mean the mechanics of that game.

[sleek phoenix]

flappy bird

[analog mountain]

Jackal survival reborn is merely an example. Of what I wanna make.

[cold onyx]

Yep, this is why Real-time GI is so cool

[manic wind]

haha yeah

[prime pagoda]

yeah, it's cool! I have it enabled in a horror game i'm working on, and it makes the flashlight way more convincing

[acoustic portal]

Yeah you wanna export stuff seperately
One very important detail, colliders, you do not want to have a mesh collider for an entire house, they are quit expensive, and manullay place box colliders for the house would be a pain (big understatement)

[prime pagoda]

My entire world has one mesh collider

Good luck!

[timid tendon]

Thank you sir

[acoustic portal]

that sounds so painful lol

[cold onyx]

Yeah. I use it for even my non-horror games.
I use it for my sandbox game and it is extremely cheap, like it doesnt affect performance at all

Makes the game look a million times more realistic

Try to guess which have Realtime GI, pretty easy guess lol

[prime pagoda]

It's a lot faster than SSGI, for sure

i tried adding that to my game and it makes my 2021 macbook pro sad

in hindsight, I should've sprung for the the model with a better gpu

I bought this right before realizing I really enjoyed game dev again, haha

(it still works pretty darn well, but HDRP is very taxing beyond 1080p)

[cold onyx]

Im surprised

Well depends on the complexity of the scene ig

[prime pagoda]

yeah, lots of factors

[manic shore]

i just recently learned unity after quitting roblox studio, yall got any 2d game ideas?
i want all ideas

[manic wind]

make Terraria

[manic shore]

ZAAAAAAAMMMMN

[cinder hamlet]

Make a simple platformer

to get started

[manic wind]

make Flappy Bird

[sudden pendant]

@lilac island !collab

[desert marten]

📢 Collaborating and Job Posting

We do not accept job or collab posts on discord.
Please use the forums:
• Commercial Job Seeking
• Commercial Job Offering
• Non Commercial Collaboration

[manic shore]

Nice thx

[high hawk]

i need help desingning my game can i post a pic and someone can tell me how to make it look nicer

[manic wind]

sure

[high hawk]

thx

[manic wind]

crazy stairs

[wintry briar]

crazy indeed

[paper path]

I did scary monster for vr game is this going to be enough

[manic wind]

Squid 🐙

[normal knot]

Hi, I have just started on an aircraft marshalling simulator game and i am stuck in making the aircraft move with respective to the air marshaller wand does anyone know how to get started for eg.Player moves wand left aircraft turns left

[acoustic portal]

input?

I have to setup the grid system still but just demoing the icon

[fathom cypress]

needs less negative spae

[acoustic portal]

wdym

[fathom cypress]

which Minimap functionality looks the most fun.. (think of a looter shooter/shootem up)

[fathom cypress]

the white block shouldnt be so big

or if it is it should be like a background element.. and have a smaller box that fits more with the items u have

[acoustic portal]

sure, I was mostly demoing the icon atm, I still am on the extreme basics of the menus

[fathom cypress]

one that would scale.. or one big enuff to fit the amount of items u plan on carrying, unless its a ton of items and u need that space

the icon looks great

a bit of shadow behind it would make it pop

[acoustic portal]

do you mean behind the whole block?

[fathom cypress]

behing the icon square

but better

[acoustic portal]

hmm yeah

would that fit with a horror game aesthetic though idk

i guess either way it looks cool

[fathom cypress]

if ur just gonna have a bare grey square then yea..

i mean. how well does that fit with a horror game aesthetic ykno?

[acoustic portal]

hmmm not sure how to get that to render honestly

[fathom cypress]

but.. whatcha think about this

which Minimap functionality looks the most fun.. (think of a looter shooter/shootem up)

[fathom cypress]

just use a image/ raw image.. with a empty sprite.. and set the color to black, set its opacity to something low.. and tada u have a border

[acoustic portal]

i think thje first one they show up too close on the radar and the second one is pretty cool

[acoustic portal]

but my icon is partially transparent

which means if i put black behind it it darks the whole thing

this is what i mean

the black IS behind the icon box

just the icon box is transparent

[fathom cypress]

ahh yea, ok. not a good idea for transparents

unless u use a sprite like this

[acoustic portal]

maybe

i will stick with the basic one for now

ok how about this menu (one sec)

and yes it scales i tested

also there is normally a highlight when a specific menu is selected

lemme show that hold on

[fathom cypress]

coolio.. 👍 looks good for a beginner.. could use a ton of improvement tho

[acoustic portal]

like this

[acoustic portal]

for sure

my only UI trick I know is

align stuff

and transparent stuff

idk why but transparent stuff just looks better to me, i found out when i tried making UI in roblox about 6 years ago lmao

[fathom cypress]

add juice to it.. make buttons wiggle or scale a little when u hover.. make sound effects when u click and everything else..

[acoustic portal]

oh yeah

[fathom cypress]

add background elements to the fields.. use custom images for the sliders and stuff.. et

[acoustic portal]

good ideas for sure

[fathom cypress]

u know what u need to do 😄 lol

[acoustic portal]

yes i was jsut gonna say this

[fathom cypress]

great start tho

[acoustic portal]

i need extra sprites etc

[fathom cypress]

make em

not too hard

look on the internet at button UI stuff

[acoustic portal]

yeah there is also really good websites with free licensing

yeah

[fathom cypress]

or even use an asset pack

how u like my prototype UI?

😄 its all over the place atm

[acoustic portal]

and this is my pause

[fathom cypress]

does time stop?

[acoustic portal]

its multiplayer so no

but camera controls do

[fathom cypress]

ahh..

yea

[acoustic portal]

i also spent a bit of time making a sort of framework to keep my UI code seperated relatively cleanely

which is personally my favorite part, trying to make code that is nice to work with

at first i had two massive scripts that controled the functions of every button, slider etc, and one for the context of the menus, now I have one script that handles game settings, one script that manages every menu, one script for each menu's context, and one script for each function a menu provides, like graphics options function, controls options functions, etc

it works pretty well

[cold onyx]

I would remove the panel, make the buttons bigger and use a different font, and maybe darker colors for the text

But yeah I think the game will turn out well

[manic wind]

jared?

[acoustic portal]

Lmao its a joke in my house dw about it

[manic wind]

good one

[acoustic portal]

Bigger buttons? Sure, different font? Sure, darker colors? Yeah i would like that good idea

Those buttons you show dont fit with anything else in my UI, and I want to keep the panel

Maybe it can go without the panel but i have a sneaking suspicion the background will break the visibility of the menu if i dont put a panel

Because I have day and night

[cold onyx]

Yeah then def leave it in

the image size is also weird, dont put the thing in actual scale

Just a quick idea @acoustic portal

[acoustic portal]

wdym?

[acoustic portal]

yeah

btw are you an expert on making UIs work on all resolutions

[cold onyx]

The size of the buttons isnt proper, I did the image on my phone so its hard to get the proper scaling right

[acoustic portal]

oh, sure

[cold onyx]

Uhh dont really know lol, im kinda good at UI but idk about that

[acoustic portal]

alright

[manic wind]

do you enjoy getting damage multipliers during combat until you get hit?

[prime pagoda]

this also grabbed my attention, haha

[sweet estuary]

A) Red to Black + Blue to White
B) Red to Orange + Blue to Light Blue
Image

checking in the morning

[manic wind]

D

[nova plover]

Out of curiosity, what would be a good reason for a designer to either give struggling players either a lot of health vs making the enemy attacks weaker?

[manic wind]

they suck at the game

both are the same outcome no?

[nova plover]

That is what I am thinking, but I'm curious to see what each of these psychologically would mean for a player... Assuming the enemies hit hard, if the player has a higher health bar, they can still see large chunks of their health disappear with every hit so they know to be more cautious about getting hit (think how in Spider-Man PS4, punches and gunshots especially hurt a lot).

But if you make the enemy attacks weaker so they don't take that much health, the player could approach things a bit more recklessly, but there's still the risk of making players feel the enemies aren't challenging enough.

[manic wind]

i guess being stronger is instantly rewarding whereas enemies being weaker you have to discover it

rogue vs tank?

[nova plover]

I should note that when I say weaker enemies, I'm talking about how in Jedi Fallen Order, enemies on lower difficulties take less health from the player if they hit.

[manic wind]

oh i thought you meant armour

[prime pagoda]

Some fighting games do the latter

you lose less health when your health is lower

this can make things feel more tense

[manic wind]

sounds like a fun mechanic

[wintry briar]

Do y'all like small numbers or big numbers in games?

Like you did 1 damage to a 10 health monster or you did 100 damage to a 1000 health monster

I think big numbers are better because they make each attack feel more impactful and more meaningful

[manic wind]

@wintry briarpersonally i like both its fun dealing 1/2 hit points of damage against a snail and then dealing 777/999 damage against tank enemies later on

https://www.slynyrd.com/blog/2019/11/12/pixelblog-23-parallax-scrolling

this is very useful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXKs1ZSgMic&ab_channel=GameHut

[prime pagoda]

me like big number

smash

[wet sluice]

i have a question

how can i do something like this

it example but what i dry to do is a garage underground but when i'm doing terrain the grass pass thru the dryway prop

How can i fix that

[sudden pendant]

Not a game design question, #⛰️┃terrain-3d

[wet sluice]

ahh sorry

[acoustic portal]

any have good ideas for the color of the "Item Info" label? (the cyan one) i tried white but it looks kinda dark since my background is white

[manic wind]

try orange

[prime pagoda]

I would add a dark gray header

it'll add some contrast

both to the text and to the UI as a whole

[manic wind]

Unity?

[lime pebble]

yes

[manic wind]

2D?

[lime pebble]

yes

[manic wind]

nice

[lime pebble]

but i don't speak english very well

[manic wind]

ok

[sudden pendant]

@lime pebble !collab

[desert marten]

📢 Collaborating and Job Posting

We do not accept job or collab posts on discord.
Please use the forums:
• Commercial Job Seeking
• Commercial Job Offering
• Non Commercial Collaboration

[acoustic portal]

alright, ive just gone for a new design of the UI, so im working on that now

[pastel kernel]

should I ask about collider boxes in here or in unity-talk?

[acoustic portal]

#⚛️┃physics

[pastel kernel]

ah thanks

[manic wind]

how can i design and develop a tutorial system that doesn't interrupt the gameplay?

[acoustic portal]

it depends very strongly on your game

what kind of game is it?

[manic wind]

survival game but i want the player who do whatever they want and i just educate them on whats happening

for example they pick up an apple and i wanna give them a tutorial on scavenging

[cinder hamlet]

look at RDR2's tutorials

[manic wind]

i don't wanna guide them you know

no go here and do this

i want the player to do whatever they want

[acoustic portal]

you can add a log book maybe, and just say "Scavenging added to guidebook"

[manic wind]

not a bad idea

i hate when tutorials interrupt the gameplay by pausing and give me a lesson

or appears on screen for a few seconds and disappears into the abyss

giving me no chance to read it

it interrupts the players enjoyment

[acoustic portal]

Im making a tablet for my game that will have an animation of the player bringing it up to their face so they can use it for managing stuff in the game, but how do I make sure the tablet animation always fits inside the screen? because i cant seem to find a way to scale physical objects based on screen size.

Also, should my tablet have world space UI on it or should I transition to screen space UI once the animation completes? (my guess is the second one)

[manic wind]

why does this have depth without shadows?

[sudden pendant]

It does have shadows

[manic wind]

mine always looks flat

[sudden pendant]

The bricks are darker, and they have self shadows at the bottom. They're also smaller to imply distance, since your brain knows what a bricks size is since Link is standing on them.

[manic wind]

its so good i've got a lot to learn

[uncut pecan]

pop-up tips on the side of the screen that dont pause gameplay, just give a brief description of the systems etc and then have a logbook for players to look back on if they want to look into it in more depth

[manic wind]

maybe i'll make a tutorial book with chapters

[uncut pecan]

or you could do a little more abstract way and use visual clues to guide the player towards the item or something

like glowing red berries that stand out from the environment

and they can figure it out on there own

it depends on how intrusive/guiding you want the tutorial system to be

personally, I would integrate a non-intrusive tip system along with a log book aswell as the visual cues for items etc

[manic wind]

just whenever the player engages in combat it adds combat tutorial chapter into the book

without interrupting the combat itself

[acoustic portal]

bump

[swift plinth]

after a couple days of working i have came up with this game idea. can someone please read through it name all the flaws and improvments i can make to it, and be brutally honest wether you think it is a good game idea or a terrible one. Thankyou!

my main consern with the game is replayability any ideas on how to fix that issue (procedural world generation is out the picture i dont wanna spend ages messing with that mess)

[manic wind]

check out HADEs

[lilac plinth]

good idea, but you need a lot more details on what you want to focus on, do you want to have native fauna to fight and protect against? Will it be mostly a survival game or a base building game? There are many games that do similar things in extremely different styles, such as how different Factorio is to Terraria or Minecraft. There are a lot of ways to approach this topic and where to focus on. Try to find a couple of concepts or game mechanics that are important to you and build from there. Having a central theme as Factorio does Automation for example helps in having a focus on the game and helps differentiate your game from others. Try to think of what the minimal viable product would be and think about each individual moving parts, what do you want to have and how feasible and time consuming is it.

[lilac plinth]

throw in tips on the main screen or loading screen as well, little helps like "Did you know that cooking your meat decreases the chance for getting sickness", or "You can always press F10 to get an overview over all crafting recipes in game", but not full blown tutorials

[lilac plinth]

Here is a website to suggest colors that work well with each other for UI design. I always sucked at art class and have no idea about how colors interact with each other, it's much easier to just follow UI style guides than trying to find colors that work together yourself, because let's be honest, unless you have a career in design or are an aesthetic person, the colors we choose always look bad. https://flatuicolors.com/

[lilac plinth]

small numbers can look better if done right, as in you don't show HP as a number but as hearts. If you do not have those visual aspects 100 Health is probably better than 10 and also than 1000, because bigger numbers can be visually confusing, especially in fast paced games, then it depends on how important those numbers are, when you have a lot of strategy, the numbers should be clear enough so that you can see them fast and react and do mental arithmetic fast, so 100 is better. If it's not strategically important and it's mostly just damage numbers for the sake of damage numbers and a visual mess is preferably, think vampire survivors, then big number can be great as it gives the feeling of how powerful the character is. So in conclusion, 10 for visual games with hearts as health bars or puzzle games, 100 for games that have strategically important choices and need the player to actually take numbers into account and do mental calculations, 1000 for games that are fast paced where the player is not meant to calculate anything, but just sees the damage numbers to indicate that they are doing something powerful.

[manic wind]

GTA 5 does that and it annoys the hell out of me cos i'm trying to concentrate on driving and i cannot read the tips at the same time hahahaha

they disappear once i am finished and gone forever

[lilac plinth]

with loading screens and main screen i mean areas in the game the player is not actively engaged in the game. in the gta series areas are loaded during gameplay which makes it less attractive as an option.

[manic wind]

oh what if i made a Help! dialogue choice for NPCs? 😮

tint it yellow

[lilac plinth]

didn't expect there to be many npcs in your survival game, what's the setting?

[manic wind]

i'm just thinking

i know i don't wanna do notes

unless i make spirits like orbs

[lilac plinth]

i personally like a book or page or something like that that describes all game mechanics in short sentences the most. but that's personal preferance. and games do not necessarily need tutorials if the mechanics are intuitive enough.

[manic wind]

well i don't just wanna throw the player into an empty world like Minecraft with no help

also don't wanna handhold either

its a balance

[lilac plinth]

just have a tutorial game mode that explains stuff in detail and people can choose to do it or jump straight into a random world

[manic wind]

maybe i could have a little tutorial island that teaches the basics

[lilac plinth]

if they struggle in the standard game, they may decide to play the tutorial after trying stuff out. not sure, tutorialization really depends on the complexity of your game mechanics

if you have a campaign mode you can put a tutorial as the first level so to say, even if most of your game focuses on custom scenario to be the main game

[manic wind]

nah no campaign

just exploration and survival

[lilac plinth]

i also like when keywords in games you can hover over and after a second or so a little hint screen pops up with the definition of the keyword

in a survival game you could hover over resources and it shows the things you can craft from those resources maybe, that would make exploration fun

[manic wind]

yeah there is no right choice lol

[lilac plinth]

it's always a choice between advantages and disadvantages, need to know what's best for your game and after having a working prototype get feedback from other people.

tutorials is especially reliant on others to improve, much more so than game balance.

[manic wind]

maybe i could make the tutorial a PDF that comes with the game

old school

[lilac plinth]

haha, then just make it a page inside the menu besides options and controls, much easier accessible

[manic wind]

i miss reading physical manuals 😦

[lilac plinth]

if your game mechanics are too complicated and hard to understand you might also want to take a step back and consider simplifying systems

if your game aims to be old school and has the visuals and the mechanics a pdf is also justified, but people may not read it and skip it even more than how players skip tutorials and complain afterwards about things that are clearly explained, you usually wouldn't want that.

[manic wind]

i'll figure something out 😄

gonna try devoting one day per feature

[lilac plinth]

good luck, i have so many features in my design doc but the game is not playable yet. But i started working on asset creation so there is that at least

[manic wind]

well maybe feature is the wrong word lol

[lilac plinth]

progress is progress, anything is preferable over procrastination

[manic wind]

yeah make anything even if its shit

[lilac plinth]

if it's shit make it modular enough to improve upon the system later, don't make foundation for other systems bad, that will lead to even more headache

[manic wind]

you don't have to use everything you make

doesn't matter if its good or shit just make something

consistency is key

[lilac plinth]

yeah, same goes for running and going to the gym. doing a little regularly is better than being motivated for a day and then not doing anything for weeks. every time starting from scratch is rough.

[acoustic portal]

Maybe not always just 99.9999999727% of the time

[fiery current]

I have a half-decent idea for a game for once, and I wanted to ask if anyone could give me some feedback? Thank you :))

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16XynGX0EbxHtademFLTFKj7TTteFn7pAfjsTeDbfQnQ/edit

[sharp zinc]

This is definitely a start, but you are missing critical section in your "pitch".

• You need to define the core mechanics of your game. (Is stealth your core mechanics ? Is it dialogs ? Is it combat ?)
• You need to define the art style. (What would the game look like ? What is the atmosphere ? ) (https://www.juegostudio.com/blog/the-importance-of-video-game-concept-art-a-complete-guide)
• You need to define the genre. (Is it 3D ? Is it isometric ? Is it 2D ? Is it RPG ? Is it a Visual Novel?)
• You need to define your "inspiration". (Which game are close to what you want to do ?)
• You need to define your selling point. (How is it different than other game ? What you are going to focus on ? ) (https://www.gamemarketinggenie.com/blog/highlighting-your-games-usp#:~:text=Gamers value authenticity and your,will help generate more interest.)
• You need to define your 2-3 guiding points. (In two to three adjective/qualificative, I would you describe your game ? https://orioldedios.github.io/Game-Design-Pillars/)

At the moment, the only things you really defined is the story and a bunch of "maybe" mechanics. Try to come up with a more defined concept. This way, we will be able to say if the game is "interesting" and "realizable".

[fiery current]

Okay, thank you for the feedback :))

[sharp zinc]

You can also just go in and do whatever you want. You are free to do as you wish. I merely pointing out points that should be addressed to increase the chance of your game being a success.

[surreal cobalt]

Major releases this year:
Apple: You play as the apple that got eaten by adam and eve. The ending of the game reads, 'You're the apple of my eye."
Eye: The disco ball eyeball villain from Persona 4 returns as the main character to attack the planet and consume all life.
Golden Eye: The disco ball eyeball has finished consuming the earth and has become a golden eye that shoots laser beams.

Sonic Frontiers 2: Eggman has decided to retire and Tails decides to pick up his legacy. The story is the same as every other sonic game ever except that Tails builds all the robots, and you find Amy has become a gambling addict in the casino levels.

21st Century Monk: You play as a 21 year old monk in America that lives off of mountain dew and has recently gained supernatural powers.

Tree: It's just Elden Ring but you play as a tree

[sudden pendant]

@surreal cobalt We don't need the silly ideas. If you insist on spamming them, put them in a thread.

[surreal cobalt]

but.. neighborhood watch man..

[sudden pendant]

I'll remind you, you've been warned previously for spamming meaningless nonsense. If you want to be removed, keep it up.

[lilac plinth]

try to think about all mechanics the game needs, write them down and consider critically what your ability is. For example I am not good at making characters, so the characters in my game will be round balls with legs mostly. Think about the mechanics you want inside the game, how you can create them and what the user experience will be like. My design doc is like 35 pages full of math, tables and ideas of how to implement stuff, the more detailed the better even if you still change a lot during implementation, that is normal, but especially with a story based game you should go into detail and have a masterplan, because otherwise you might have issues if for example your school is not big enough and you have major story changes that affect a lot of moving parts of your game. the broad strokes should be figured out when you start, and you can change details, but the foundation should be strong, so that you don't have to throw away half your game when you find out that you misjudged something in the planning phase.

[high hawk]

my sprites are coming out in black and white when i instantiate them but the orginal ones have color,anyone know why>

?

[manic wind]

why do you keep posting this here?

[torn ice]

Does anyone know how to make cartoony looking water using shader graph

[manic wind]

toon water shader

[torn ice]

Yes with urp shader graph

[sleek phoenix]

thats something you can google pretty easy

[torn ice]

Yeah but most of the results sent what I'm looking for

[craggy grotto]

Which button do you guys prefer as a "Use" button in a survival game? E, F, LMB, or something else?

Ive seen many games use either E or F as Use button, but Im not sure which I should choose

[manic wind]

E

always E

F for vehicles

M for map

left Ctrl for crouch

left Shift for sprint

[manic wind]

is note reading a fun mechanic away from combat?

good pacing option?

[rigid frigate]

depends on the type of players you are hoping to attract, some people love lore and gaining extra insight, others might only want notes with info that impacts gameplay i.e. hints or opens dialogue options

[cinder hamlet]

plenty of games let you read various notes you find in the world, just make it optional

great way to build lore

[manic wind]

is it fun though

[cinder hamlet]

for some people its fun, for some its boring

[acoustic portal]

Yeah unfortunately a lot of stuff is very preference-dependent so there often isnt an exact science to it

[craggy grotto]

Im making a realistic primitive survival game and one of the first things the player needs to do is to make fire, of course.
I want the process of making fire to be realistic, but also something that can be mastered and requires skill, not just chance. If the player has no idea how making fire works it should be painstakingly annoying, frustrating, and very hard, until they find out which wood to use and which technique to use
Any thoughts?

[manic wind]

what i would love to do is have a mini game like this

where the player has to balance the stick while causing friction

maybe flint n steel where you have to time each strike to create sparks

failing a strike would loser the players energy level

IE; calories burned

there should be a basic fire or a basic fire crafting skill

[craggy grotto]

Yeah, but Im not sure how I can implement a "technique"/"skill" that makes it easier to make the fire, using the friction method

[manic wind]

allow the player to level it up

"fire making efficiency"

just pitching ideas

from a survival player enjoyer

[craggy grotto]

I thought of that, but it doesnt require any skill. If someone already knows how to make fire irl, it'd be stupid if they struggle with it a lot in-game.

[manic wind]

i don't know what that means

[craggy grotto]

well

uhh

[manic wind]

i would design some fire making mini-games

[craggy grotto]

Wdym with mini-games?

[manic wind]

you know lick picking in Skyrim

[craggy grotto]

The idea of making fire in my game is you sit down (all animated) and you start making fire

[manic wind]

squats in Final Fantasy 7

[craggy grotto]

Yeah idk

[manic wind]

i don't know what you're asking then

[craggy grotto]

to make fire you obviously need to know how to do it. You cant just take 2 sticks and rub em together for 20 minutes. You might end up with some heat but unless you're doing it properly you won't get much.

[manic wind]

okay

i would have a basic survival book at the crash landing zone or something

maybe in a backpack

or on a dead person

[craggy grotto]

Hmm yeah

[manic wind]

acts like a tutorial book

you can read it until you're done and use it as fuel for a fire

[craggy grotto]

Yeah that's a good idea. I'll use a tutorial book that covers most of the basic stuff

[manic wind]

maybe enough supplies for one night and then its up to the player to survive

[craggy grotto]

I was def going to do a backpack as well. Im also planning on giving the player an empty notebook which is used when the player discovers recipes, plants, animals, etc. and it also allows players to make their own notes about things

[manic wind]

yeah backpacks are handy

a lot of this is done in The Long Dark

hehe

[craggy grotto]

Though it wont be a minecraft backpack, where you can store a few thousand trees in just 1 backpack

[manic wind]

yeah small backpack would be fun

maybe you can bury it

[craggy grotto]

eh beginners might not know it exists

but I can make it wash up a few days later

from when the player starts

[manic wind]

well the player could wake up from being unconscious

not knowing where he is or what happened

finds a girls backpack with some basic supplies

goes from dawn into the night and then dusk

then you head out into the world

[craggy grotto]

wdym with "basic supplies"

that can mean anything

[manic wind]

medicine, a book, tinned food, a premade fire, sticks

water

it doesn't mean anything with survival

very specific

you can buy basic supplies survival kits online

[craggy grotto]

Theres already quite a few games that do that, which I kinda want to leave out because otherwise it would be too similar to other games. So I dont really want to include medicine, tinned food, premade fire nore clean water. I guess I can add it in an easy mode, but I dont want that in a normal mode

[manic wind]

ok

[craggy grotto]

Have you ever seen the Primitive Technology youtube channel?

[manic wind]

i have

[craggy grotto]

https://www.youtube.com/@primitivetechnology9550

that one, not the others

[manic wind]

i still have

[craggy grotto]

Thats basically what I want to recreate. To my knowledge, there's no games out there that focus on primitive survival without unrealistic things.

[manic wind]

very nice

sounds involved

[craggy grotto]

The forest: zombies or whatever
Stranded deep: you can make airplanes? Not very realistic
Green hell: some weird psychological part going on there.
The long dark: takes place in the modern world (not on some lost island)
Rust: I mean... guns
etc

[manic wind]

sounds like a lot of asset designing

[craggy grotto]

yea... it is

lmao

Seeing as Im the only one working on it so far it's quite a lot of work

deadline is in 39 years or so

lmao

[manic wind]

most people don't make it very far unless its a passion project

[craggy grotto]

it is

The game is focussed around the last remaining island that's untouched and unpolluted by humans. There's a group there that protects the island, and Im using that island in my game.

[manic wind]

just focus on your own project and don't compare yourself to others

[craggy grotto]

True

[manic wind]

make it like no survival games exist

[craggy grotto]

I won't compare myself to companies that spend 200 mil on a similar game lol

[manic wind]

i'd walk outside and take pictures of nature

[craggy grotto]

I do that all the time lol

I live in the netherlands though

no jungle here

😭

no reptiles too. very sad

[manic wind]

plenty of bicycles

[craggy grotto]

...

I hate biking in this country lol

It's just cold

rainy

and windy

[manic wind]

i'd preorder a survival game that allowed me to cycle

[craggy grotto]

...

[manic wind]

cycle around the jungle

[craggy grotto]

I mean, a game that allows you to mountain bike through jungles would be pretty sick

[manic wind]

yeah that would be while being chased by dinosaurs

[craggy grotto]

...

[manic wind]

i'd love a Jurassic Park survival game

[craggy grotto]

lmao

Doesnt that already exist?

Ark?

[manic wind]

oof

[craggy grotto]

oof

[manic wind]

no Aliens gifs

[craggy grotto]

rip

[manic wind]

yeah but Ark looks so janky

[craggy grotto]

But isnt Ark already a dino survival game

thats because it is lol

thats also why I didnt buy it

[manic wind]

like Ark but good

[craggy grotto]

But I dont think anyone's going to recreate ark but a little different. Those kind of games take a LOT of time to make and you'd just be making something that's quite similar to something that already exists

[manic wind]

i've never cared what already exists 🤷‍♂️

i just do me

[craggy grotto]

that's a good lifestyle

[manic wind]

there was a game i wanted to make but it already existed so i didn't make it

changed my mentality now

[craggy grotto]

rip

[manic wind]

sometimes i try to replicate someone elses results as practice

i'm only an amateur though with little to no skills

[craggy grotto]

I need some more advice. The island Im recreating is 118km² and 99% is covered in a rainforest. How can I make it fun/necessary to explore? I'm already adding a hidden headhunter tribe in the middle of the jungle but it should also be interesting to explore the rest of the forest, without it repeating constantly

I don't want to add ruins

nor other human made things

I thought of making different types of habitats, but not sure how to do that

[manic wind]

i'm really into designing dioramas at the moment

[craggy grotto]

dioramas?

[manic wind]

yeah create a grid system top down over the island and then design each grid

really helps to break it down into smaller chunks

just a thought

easier to design a 1km by 1km square

one block could be for designing a species of bird and nests

[craggy grotto]

Ohh that, that's really cool

Why not make a game out of it?

The visuals are really nice

[cinder hamlet]

A Short Hike has visuals like that

except pixelated

[manic wind]

not my work just example images i found

[craggy grotto]

ahh alright

[obsidian grail]

Need Ideas!(something FPS)

[manic wind]

@craggy grottohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEl-Y1NvBVI&ab_channel=PrimitiveTechnology

dude is doing the technique i suggested first lol

you wanted to copy him 😛

[craggy grotto]

Yeah I saw that one as well, it seems much more effective than the simple "take two sticks and rotate 1" method
I think I want to include both of those methods but make the one in the video a bit more effective, as it takes longer to set up

[ruby ginkgo]

Im wondering if someone can help me with a problem im having with my game

For some reason the player (Capsule) everytime i start the game

it just flies into space

its crazy

(Its third person)

Im using Rigid Body rn

and im also using a charcter controller script

and player controller script

theres no errors

and i cant find anything on yt

i also check all the physics in rigidbody

and the capsules collision

and its all looking normal

[sudden pendant]

@ruby ginkgo This isn't a game design question. You can't mix a rigidbody and the character controller.

You can ask your question in #💻┃code-beginner

[ruby ginkgo]

OK

[slim drift]

some free pixel art courses for beginners?

[timber magnet]

Saint11

Btw do people prefer to have full control or they prefer automated help

Like player automatically facing the enemy in 3d rpg

[cold onyx]

Automated help may sometimes be annoying

Having an option to turn it on or off is useful

[vocal kestrel]

In no man's sky you can hold down s to lock on to the enemy ship, which I kinda love and kinda hate. I don't like it, but can never aim with it off.

[wintry briar]

I think a bit of aim assist could be okay. Make it an option to turn it off/on as Juka says

[timber magnet]

I wanted to free up mouse from standard uses like aiming and camera

So I can have a cursor in a 3d game

[heavy spindle]

Are there any discord servers where they roast a game in terms of design for getting feedback?

[manic wind]

haha that would be fun

[prime pagoda]

i feel like that's called "the entire internet"

[manic wind]

i've roasted renders on reddit before

[cinder hamlet]

you can make a thread in #archived-works-in-progress or #502171626805133312

though if you want a good roast, I think reddit is a better chance

[acoustic portal]

r/destroymygame

you ever been there?

[acoustic portal]

^

[manic wind]

nope

[pine sleet]

what is the goal?

[manic wind]

constructive critism without holding back

[hard fog]

@thin wren not a place for ads.

[thin wren]

sry...

[dry blaze]

Not sure if this is the best channel to ask this, but I’m a bit stuck!

I’m having trouble knowing how I could structure my plan, or even how to figure out how to figure it out! If that makes sense

In my idea characters will procedurally spawn as you play. This character will be generated in name, and looks (I already did this. It saves a json for each one, which is what i want)

These generated characters will continue to exist in the world and do their own thing and you can come across them if you are in the same area as them. I just can’t wrap my head around how to even start on this idea

[manic wind]

i'd suggest starting with a much simpler idea if you cannot envision it

work your way up

[uncut wave]

Get a design doc and start asking yourself questions-
Why are characters spawning randomly generated?
What do these randomly generated characters do?
Etc

[cinder hamlet]

split it into smaller problems

-Make system that will save & load what NPCs live in each area
-Make system that will actually spawn the NPCs
-Make the NPC ai which will control their actions

but I'd not prioritize this kind of task at least until you have a prototype of the game ready (unless it's absolutely essential)

[fathom cypress]

Zeus — Today at 11:30 AM
looking good 👍. needs more recoil
SpawnCampGames — Today at 12:21 PM
doesnt have *any* atm 😄
Zeus — Today at 3:40 PM
lol ya didnt think so. you have the rest so complete it looks missing though

i got this response from a viewer.. lol

then i started think.. rocket launchers don't create recoil.. 🤔

what shoud i do.. /add or what would you do to add a bit of something there

[wintry briar]

Rocket launchers do create recoil.. well maybe just a little but even then you should add some knockback or feedback for that game JUICE

[fathom cypress]

yea.. i had a brain storm session with some colleagues

most of the force comes out the back of the tube tho..

and i cant really see that from first person... so for now i think imma add some smoke out teh front, maybe a tiny bit of pitch to rotate it upwards and some screenshake

and that'll flesh it out for now until we can reiterate 🙂

[fathom cypress]

yup, we also talked about that.. its a game.. rocket launchers may not have a ton of recoil. but is anyone gonna be worried about that? or are they just gonna want that nice feedback

[lost merlin]

the rockets seem to disjoint out of the launcher when you move. Could try spawning them out a little further

[high jetty]

I have a gameplay goal in mind but dont know how to get there. I think a lot about it and write down the ideas, but brushed off all of them. Sometimes i sit for an hour and just think. This feels like a time waste because there is no progress being made. What should I do?

[manic wind]

try drawing your ideas

your game has no personality thats the problem

[high jetty]

This is a good advice. I'm making a 3d game so i use blender for that, usually starting with 2d in paint. Dont know what you mean about personality

[manic wind]

2D or 3D what art direction what concept art what environment art?

what camera perspective

all games have a personality

what comes to mind when you think Resident Evil?

prerendered backgrounds

tank controls

fixed cameras

zombies

puzzles

3D

[cold onyx]

What is the best way to imply the feeling of always being on the edge of death in an FPS game?

[manic wind]

high rise high reward combat

reward the player for being aggressive

[cold onyx]

More specifically the player should sweat buckets and at the same time feel gratification

[cold onyx]

Please more detail

[manic wind]

yeah glass cannon

high dps and low health

the player gains health by attacking enemies

[cold onyx]

Nice point

What about damaging him for being idle?

[manic wind]

yeah slowly bleeds for being idle

and dies

so he constantly fighting and feeding

the more he kills the strong he feels

[cold onyx]

Yeah I was thinking about something like that

What about the enemy types

What type do you think is the most striking

[manic wind]

undead

ghouls

deamons

slugs

parasitesx

leeches

[cold onyx]

And a gory old background?

[manic wind]

yeah lava

dirt

mud

blood

stains

stone

[cold onyx]

Should parkour be a part?

[manic wind]

yeah jumping over terrain while doing combos

sliding

wall jumps

[cold onyx]

Like double jumping and wall running

[manic wind]

airborne attacks

slashing

[cold onyx]

Nice

[manic wind]

depends on your skill level

[cold onyx]

The player skill level?

Yeah will adding a progression system would be nice

[manic wind]

no yours

game development level

[cold onyx]

Oh ok

Hey then what ideas do you have about adding progression to such gory games

[manic wind]

leveling up system i guess

[cold onyx]

I was think about a path system

So maybe the player at the start chooses like a random pathway and along the game more abilities become unlocked for his use

[hard fog]

Make a thread, please

[cold onyx]

Oh sorry for speaking that much I am done anyways

Thanks for the help @manic wind

[manic wind]

np

[hidden root]

So I have the base of a game idea, and I just wanna know if anybody is willing to help figure out the kinks in it
This is what I have so far and here's the link to the song I'll use
https://opengameart.org/content/chaos-castle

[candid dragon]

ever realize your game idea may kinda suck whilst you're still working on it
making a top down game thats like a split screen single player. you have two characters and you control the left one with the left analog and the right one with the right analog
thats,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, way more fun in theory than in practice

[cinder hamlet]

yeah it typically feels that way, this is why you have to make and test a prototype of the game as soon as possible