archived-game-design

[sharp zinc]

Anyway, it should not be that costy. If you struggle with optimization you can always profile and head to #archived-code-advanced, maybe someone will have usefull insight

[burnt idol]

Maybe it's just that I'm on a budget computer all the time xD

Cus truth be told, Unity is quite slow for me

[sharp zinc]

Don't think so, pretty sure I could run that on mobile.

[burnt idol]

Annoyingly slow

[burnt idol]

Haha I'm sure it is then, even my mobile can't handle a rather measle amount of stuff- Proven by my previous projects

[vapid stream]

Maybe have the fog start farther? Some of the graves are not as clear as i would like, but maybe that’s just me

[gray pecan]

thanks, yea it is kinda obnoxious
(looks way better thinner now)

[cunning wigeon]

Hi! I'm making a 2D game that's action focused, basically a breakout clone with some extra fluff. If I want to have nice graphics like the ball splitting in two or exploding, particles, things that appear to pop "up", how would I best deal with that? Should I fake 2D and just use a 3D scene with orthographic camera? Or because all of the collisions really only need to be done in 2D, do I just use 2D colliders etc with maybe 3D models (is that possible even)?

[errant shard]

Hi all, I have a concept for a game that I think could be quite fun, but I'm struggling to think of how to do the main 'mechanic' in the game.

Basic concept is that the player is in control of a space station (very basic to start with) and the game loop is all about trade. NPC 'ships' visit the station looking to sell and buy items, as the game progresses the stations profits from selling items allows the player to perform upgrades which then leads to more visitors & more profits etc.

The main part that is eluding me is how to do the actual trading part (ie, when visiting ships dock etc. how to define what they have to buy/sell and such)

Anybody have any pointers?

[buoyant sapphire]

Could be a trade interaction like in any RPG, you click on the docked ship and get a 3-column view in which you can move things from the ship’s and your station’s inventory (ie the left and right columns) to the middle one which represents the proposed trade. The value of these is then compared against each other and maybe modified by attributes of the ship and your station’s reputation/tech/workers. When a balance is achieved the ‘confirm trade’ button becomes active. Maybe you could also add a negotiation mini game.

[sharp zinc]

If you are going to integrate physical element in 3D, you should 3D colliders.

[cunning wigeon]

I'd really only use the third dimension for visuals

[sharp zinc]

Then, 2D collider is more then enough.

Obviously, if you are running mostly on sprite and not mesh

[cunning wigeon]

can you apply 2D colliders to things with 3D meshes?

[sudden pendant]

Yes

[sharp zinc]

Depends on what you mean.

You can definetely use 2D colliders with 3D meshes, however, if you want to have a MeshCollider interact with another 2D collider you cannot.

[errant shard]

Yeah, I thought that kind of thing, an added 'mechanic' would be that the 'speed' of the transaction (moving the cargo back and forth) would be dependant on how many workers you have etc. So more workers, faster transfers = more 'dockings'

[real stratus]

My game has a bit of a design issue.
It's an idle game, you just let it run in the background, your character automatically kills monsters and they drop items.
Then when you come back, you check if there are any better items and equip them, then restart the idle combat to find better items.

The core issues here are:

• if you don't get enough items, it feels like you're not progressing
• if you get a lot of items, it's too much work to sort through them all to see if there's something useful - I think a lot of looter type games have this issue, you just find hundreds and hundreds of items that are completely useless, which is not something I want for my game.

Balancing the drop rate is gonna be nearly impossible, since at some point you will need to find a ton of items to find an upgrade. The game is also meant to be hard to find really good items.
Any ideas?

[random swan]

Can an orthographic foreground camera and a perspective background camera work well together for a 2.5D game?

[real stratus]

Can an orthographic foreground camera

[random swan]

any feedback on the ui/how to improve ?

[sudden pendant]

#1180170818983051344 is where you should ask for feedback on your games.

[thorny mist]

Would adding a maximum for the number of items dropped help?

[slim dew]

Okay so

The idea was a vr party game

1 person has the vr headset
Everyone else is irl
And they mess with the person in vr

[vapid stream]

i'm trying to design a roguelike that doesn't have rooms, it's just an open world

1. is that even a roguelike anymore
2. how do i make it more like a roguelike, since my enemy spawns are kinda weird (sometimes you're swarmed, sometimes they've all spawned somewhere else)

[sharp zinc]

Does your game loop include (die, play, retry) ?

[vapid stream]

yup

and when you retry, you completely restart, no bonuses, no currency outside of the game to get a headstart or better items

so it's pure skill until you die

[sharp robin]

Give them places to hide, tunnel, or go into pre-made dungeons in sections. If they get swarmed they can try running to one of those locations...

[vapid stream]

hmmmmm ok that could be good

[thorny mist]

Zelda 1?

[sharp zinc]

Then it is a roguelike. Not sure what you could do to make it more "roguelike" except putting the focus on this tight game loop.

[thorny mist]

zelda 1

[devout gazelle]

Zelda 1

[vapid stream]

Well it’s not really an open world, more like a giant box

[inland prism]

well, animating these trees is going wonderfully...

Success! now how the hell do I assign a collider to this

[sharp zinc]

Not sure why you would use joint and rigidbody for the effect you are doing.

Also, you should use #1180170818983051344 if you want to post your progress

[halcyon fog]

For building games like trailmakers or scrapmechanic, when they place parts, do they instantiate the parts? Or do they object pool those parts. What makes me wonder is since the player can theoretically place an infinite amount of blocks, the object pool would eventually run out

[granite zenith]

Thats what Risk Of Rain 2 is like

you could look there to see inspiration

[weary thicket]

They could pull from the pool when there are available objects and instantiate when there aren't...

[thorny mist]

And Zelda 1

[vapid stream]

Oo really? I should look into that

[inland prism]

What would u use?

[inland prism]

Oh thanks

[sharp zinc]

Animation

[inland prism]

k, thanks

it needs to have a collidder

[sharp zinc]

It can still be animated. No need of a rigidbody/hingecollider.

[inland prism]

? how I didn't think you could animated polygon colliders

[sharp zinc]

You don't ? You do not have to have a perfect collider.

[inland prism]

well actually... it needs to be as accurate as possible cause I need to be able to tell if it's covering something

[sharp zinc]

No, it does not.

Every game has approximation for their collider.

Stay in known terrain.

[inland prism]

well tahbks, fo rthe help, but this works best so I'm sticking with it

[queen heron]

game design/input type question
If you're doing a click to move warcraft/dota/crpg type game, how would you allow a user to click on air, nothing, for Fly/Flight based movements?
I guess the real question is how do you assume where they want to fly? or Like, I am struggling to picture how to do this, there's nothing to click on, no surface to orient relative to, and its not WASD movement, so how do you allow them to click and fly somewhere that isnt a surface?

[sudden pendant]

Well there has to be some surface, you're not allowing them to fly into the void/non-existent part of the map

[queen heron]

Right but I am though, maybe I wasnt making it clear. I am looking for 'how do you design a system that allows a mouse click to target 'nothingness'

'fly to here' but where is here, here has no means of being clicked on because its air, its void, its nothing

[sudden pendant]

It would be the same place a walking character would go

[split pulsar]

anyone kno how to import stuff from blender into unity with the textures, only lets me import the model

[chrome jetty]

What file type are you using?

Also this belongs in #🔀┃art-asset-workflow

[split pulsar]

fbx

my fault ion usually use this server

[random swan]

Any opinions on my implementation of the player's health system?

[finite gate]

I would advise against it. It is a big screen flash that makes everything harder to see. I would advise having a indicator near the player, like a circular bar around the spaceship, possibly stylized to look like a radar.

[random swan]

I designed the health circle to render in front of the scenery, but behind objects that matter including the player, enemies, and projectiles, so the red tint wouldn't make them more difficult to look out for.

[finite gate]

The bullets are red though. It is still a large flash and annoying to look at.

[random swan]

Hmmm.... I do need to make the bullets red

[boreal ore]

can someone help me with unity it wont work for me

[finite gate]

#💻┃unity-talk

[boreal ore]

wait nvm i figured it out

[random swan]

But that also means players will notice they're being hit almost immediately

[boreal ore]

and my fault

[finite gate]

Use another method to achieve the same goal.

[random swan]

Do you have any recommendations besides a health bar?

I want the feedback to be noticed by the player as soon as possible

[finite gate]

Yep:

• Give the animation to a player after being hit. likely shaking the plane or particles, or both.
• Hit-stop. Though I don’t know how common that is in shoot-em-ups.
• Sound effects. If you make a distinguished sound effect that would help. Maybe cut the music briefly after being hit.

[solemn tulip]

maybe show a text that shows some parts of the planes is broken when hit. example:

• warning! hydraulic system is broken
• plane shield is currently at 40% (u can make this to show how many more % the health is)

and maybe just add a beeping sound to show that the plane is getting too many dmg

[random swan]

I'm trying to keep the game simple with an arcadey feel, so the plane part damage wouldn't be necessary

Would a white circle be a better choice? Since it doesn't blend in with the red bullets/projectiles

I'll add an alarm noise for when the player is in flames to inform that they are at dangerously low health

[sharp robin]

I like the overall concept. But the 3d art in the circle vs the 2D art in the game, and the gradient painting in the circle and sky vs flat painting of everything else, and finally the definition of the boat and water vs the definition of the bullets

Those are the 3 main clashes to my eyes

That said all 3 of those are subjective and not sure it matters

[random swan]

I thought it would be an interesting idea to mix an orthographic camera and a perspective camera together to produce this 2D gameplay and 3D background as a result

By the way, the game itself is completely 3D. The gameplay part feels 2D because it's using an orthographic camera

@sharp robin I would gladly appreciate your feedback/opinion on my camera technique

[sharp robin]

I love trying new things, you definitely have my thumbs up 🙂

[random swan]

Thank you! I don't see many games like these, so I want to try making my own

[sharp robin]

I love it. In that case ignore my feedback, I'm curious to see how it ends up!

[thick lark]

yo guys can u tell me a game that i can post for first time on lay store i just learned some of unity it dosent matter it can be small cause longer projects will take a lot of time and effort and i dont have those skills so if anyone can help me and give a game idea to post on phone it would be great
if yes can u dm

[weary thicket]

I like it a lot. Maybe a bit less opaque?

[halcyon fog]

the crossposting is crazy

[hard fog]

@feral nest Post in #1180170818983051344 if you want feedback. And don't cross-post.

[feral nest]

Sorry, I didn't post the pictures again here because I thought that was crossposting

[hard fog]

It is cross-posting and in the wrong channel in the first place

This is for general design questions related to GDD, for questions like "What looks better?" use dev logs

[feral nest]

Okay, I'll keep that in mind

[thorny mist]

In some cases can’t that be related to game design?

[hard fog]

It's related to asking personal design decision questions in own thread surrounded by relevant context, vs asking about design decisions that many people might find in common and might want to participate in that discussion.

[quaint crow]

if a cow had a gun that it made, what would it shoot? any ideas

[halcyon fog]

That it made? Like the cow made the gun?

Do you want a realistic answer or cartoony answer?

[quaint crow]

cartoony

trying to make a cow fight for its friend who were killed by someone

milk shoots out of its milk giving thing as a jetpack

[halcyon fog]

Heheh

[oblique spindle]

hello i never asked for help about unity and i don't know if this channel is the good one

[halcyon fog]

What do you need

[silent hull]

There's always #🔎┃find-a-channel if you haven't taken a look at it yet

[oblique spindle]

thank you

[quaint crow]

i hope u didnt make that just cuz i asked cuz my game looks like this

[halcyon fog]

I didnt lol

Its from google

[quaint crow]

phew

[halcyon fog]

I would have to be a REALLY speedy modeler to make that in under an hour lol

[halcyon fog]

What about this

I just realized it has 2 heads

[quaint crow]

yeh that looks nice

i gave my brother to play the game and give ideas

he thinks the jetpack isnt right

just a sec, imma send a vid

rate 🙏

[silent hull]

Try sending the video in a format that discord can embed

So either webm or mp4

[steady crest]

I have a pretty hard time coming up with a satisfying gameplay loop and would appreciate advice a lot on what I m doing wrong or if its a consequence of not having the experience yet

I m currently making my first top down game where you are a lumberjack and have to cut trees down and bring them home before the night starts you have 2 minutes to collect wood and bring it home to upgrade defenses and at night enemies attack you and you have to survive
with the wood you ve gotten you upgrade your axe your base and defense towers

but somehow this isnt interesting but idk why
I have made a prototype with placeholder assets but I have a hard time having fun in a game with placeholder objects

[silent hull]

Lots of milk, looks fine to me

Falling down seems a bit slow tho

[sharp zinc]

You need to ask yourself question.
For you, what makes a game fun ?

[quaint crow]

thanks, it will refil by claiming drops from enemy bodies

[stuck gulch]

I made some animation videos on my YT channel if you guys could watch it that would be really great I just started (its only 30 seconds all videos total) YT: creepy7677

[quaint crow]

they are nice, just lacking sounds.

[stuck gulch]

yes I will try and fix that

next vid is gonna be sound.mp4

[stuck gulch]

I made sound.mp4 to introduce sound

checkout my channel to see

[stuck gulch]

thanks for the feedback

[severe kraken]

This is probably a weird question, but I'm working on a Dissolver Shader Graph for an assignment. Can anyone tell me which of these effects it would technically be touching?

2. Texture distortion or displacement (e.g., UV/texture scrolling) 

3. Emission (Emissive material property) that responds to a variable (e.g., simulated energy levels) 

4. Simple vertex displacement (e.g., waves or pulsing) 

5. Texture blending based on a parameter (e.g., height, time, or custom input) 

6. Transparency/opacity control based on a parameter 

7. Texture map/Normal map intensity based on a parameter```

[hot mason]

That looks like funny game

[serene grail]

Rarely laughed that hard, it's so crazy but simple

[quaint crow]

thanks

its my first mobile game that i might publish

[cinder sluice]

can someone rate my games design? I wanna know how I did for my first game

[broken tree]

So I have tilemap and when I put my set onto paint it is in a grid. But when I save it and try to go back, it isn’t in a grid anymore and the fill feature fills all of the tiles

[sharp robin]

10 out of 10, nailed it.

[cinder sluice]

I didn’t even send a game

I was gonna dm it to someone since it’s on my website

[sharp zinc]

You could include all of those effects inside it. A "Dissolver Shader" is pretty much just playing with the alpha such as your object become invisible.

The way it is done can be varied. Using noise or texture is the most comon way.

[chrome jetty]

Host it somewhere and share the link in #1180170818983051344
Do not DM it

[feral mountain]

yeah that doesnt sound like a virus at all

"rate my game" and its on his website, that calls for a mod

@ocean comet

wait vertx did you make unity.huh.how ? If yes youre a legend 🙂

oh vertx gone @sudden pendant

(dont want to ping all mods)

[sudden pendant]

You can just use the mod tag, yes. @cinder sluice, if you want to share your game for feedback you can use screenshots or video in #1180170818983051344. If you want someone to actually play your game, you must use a link on Itch or Steam, not send exe's around. Thanks.

[chrome jetty]

Yes they did

[wanton wadi]

ok milking my enemies looks a very funny concept tbh

im not a english speaker so i really hope what i said was not an ambiguous statement

[broken tree]

Can someone tell me how to change the scene size. I want it an even square.

[silent hull]

That's resolution

Not "scene size"

https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/playersettings-windows.html#Resolution

This works in the build, for editor choose a resolution in the drop-down in the Game tab, you can add your own

[summer falcon]

Anyone knows a good place to find a water shader like this, even if for a small price? Looking for performance rather than realism (but better if it's both ofc).

[proud torrent]

anyone know any good resources/tutorials/books on how to make a starter area for an action metroidvania 2D game

and any programs used to kinda help with that

[buoyant sapphire]

i've heard metroid and castlevania are great examples of metroidvania games, one could just copy what they do.

[weary thicket]

The particle shader unity comes with is pretty decent for that sort of thing, though you can improve it pretty easily by adding erosion. Mostly, you need a decent texture and particle system.

[vapid stream]

What genre would 10 minutes til dawn be in, other than roguelike?

Since it doesn’t have “rooms”

[quaint crow]

😂 thanks, i will try to make the milk functional, maybe melee attack where the milk could kill the enemy

if u want the latest video, you can find it in #1265185860966682684

[buoyant sapphire]

Roguelite survival. Rooms are not necessary for ‘rogue’.

[real stratus]

If I look at the Steam charts, the top 1500 games have 300+ players / day, which equals around 10000* / month
Why do people keep telling me it's impossible to get this amount of players?
Are they just clueless? Or am I missing something?
Note I'm not saying it's easy to do, but it's realistic if you make a good game and put in a few years of effort not? Even as a solo dev with low budget?

[night shoal]

Because there are 100,000 games on Steam in total so that's 1.5% of all games. And most of the top ones are AAA games

It's obviously not impossible for a solo dev because there are successful solo devs but the chances of success are very, very low

[real stratus]

That's not really an accurate representation of the chance though, a large part of those games are irrelevant
But yeah, we seem to agree on the base line, it's very hard but not impossible
There are tons and tons of very simple games in the top 1500, even a lot I've never heard of

[rapid lotus]

This is Rustforge - a factory automation game with colony management mechanics.

The project is in pre-alpha stage at the moment. Currently building the inventory system and objective system into the game.

What do you think about the UI design?

[sharp zinc]

It does the work. However it really lacks "style". The objective panel is a little bit confusing.

[rapid lotus]

I appreciate the feedback. I can agree you about the missing style - it's very simplistic at the moment, not very decorative.

Can you specify what makes the objective panel confusing for you? Would help me narrow it down.

[sharp zinc]

It repeats twice the same thing without differencing them.

And, if you want inspiration for style, you can always look at other game and use AI to generate variation.

[rapid lotus]

Alright, thanks for the feedback!

[quaint crow]

rate my game design pls in #1265185860966682684

[vapid stream]

does anyone know any game that has game art that is "truly topdown", as in, you see the head of things rather than the side

[oblique moat]

Grand theft auto 1 and 2

Can't think of any others that I remember the names of, it's pretty rare

Owing to its ugliness

https://store.steampowered.com/app/678800/SAS_Zombie_Assault_4/ is another one

Steam

SAS: Zombie Assault 4

A virus outbreak on a distant trans-federation planet unleashes horrors from humanity's past. A powerful, rapidly growing zombie horde threatens the very existence of humankind, and the only ones capable of fighting back are the highly skilled, highly weaponized special forces of the S A S. Choose from 3 unique character classes, maximize the fu...

▶ Play video

[vapid stream]

Ah, so basically it’s generally worse, which is why there aren’t many?

[oblique moat]

Pretty much - look at the game above and see what you think

I think it would look far better at an angle

[vapid stream]

Yeah, i agree

Since i’m developing my game with truly topdown graphics, but it feels so limiting, or just doesn’t look right

Ok then, thanks for your help

[oblique moat]

I figure the main reason is it's just less art to make, at least for 2d

You can have a single sprite and rotate it around for different directions

2.5d forces you to draw each one separately

But I mean GTA2 wasn't a bad looking game, though I think it's carried a lot by the lighting

So it's not impossible

[vapid stream]

That’s exactly why i started with that 😂

[thorny mist]

Hotline Miami?

[high jetty]

I want to learn level design. I'm working on a 3D platformer game. I have all the abilities. The style is low poly, maybe retro, probably fantasy. Dont feel like i'm making any progress doing random stuff in blender, so i probably need a course. A youtube playlist would be best. Can anyone help?

[white juniper]

I want to make a complex melee combat system (2D and the style doesn't facilitate having "weapons" with hitboxes since they're part of the sprites) and For one attack and animation, it's easy to do. What I did was attack an empty object in front of the user and have it use a physics CircleOverlap to determine who gets hit, but I'm not sure how to scale this to multiple attacks/ animations per character. Any ideas?

[finite gate]

I personally wouldn’t use physics for a combat system

Especially a 2D one. I would personally recommend using rects/circles for hitboxes.

I would personally recommend scriptable objects for the data structure. Have each weapon be an object with a field for it’s animation, hitbox, and other parameters.

[tawny sluice]

So I don't think I fully understand how cameras and UI work. I've created a word game where in the scene view the main camera is focused on a tiny screen which is where the main gameobjects are like the background etc. The UI canvases appear gigantic starting fromthe top right of this small screen as seen in the image. The problem I'm having is one of my canvas group is the game screen, and when I'm using code to instantiate some game objects as children of this canvas group they are appearing on the tiny screen instead of the canvas, even though they're children of the canvas. So what exactly is going on here and how should I fix it?

Ok so the camera thing has to do with the render mode of the canvas. But I still can't figure out why the objects are not visible on the canvas

[buoyant sapphire]

A canvas renderer can only render canvas objects (buttons, images, text). Other objects will be rendered by the regular renderer. Canvas Scaling only works for objects with RectTransform.

Also #📲┃ui-ux

[errant wolf]

the best case i have against variable jump height in a first person game is that there isn't as clear of a visual indicator on how high you're jumping, which could make jumps feel inconsistent. the games i've played that are first person and have a "variable jump height" usually do it as a double jump or a hover ability. first person games usually express freedom of movement in other ways

one way to teach that your game has a variable jump is to have obstacles that can only be passed with varying levels of jumps.

fwiw, portal has crouch jumping, which allows you to jump "higher" than the normal amount. i don't think it was ever used intentionally, though

[weary agate]

Is my world too bright for rain?

Also my texture for the castle is way too pixelated

[bleak garden]

Hi there! My team and I are working on a first-person horror game set in a psychiatric hospital. So far, we've focused on 3D models, scripts, and the environment, but we haven't had someone dedicated to developing the storyline.

We've come up with a few story ideas, but we'd love to have people who are passionate about games help us decide which one to choose.

If you have the time, please read through our ideas here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12KLdYJ7Zw_R8zJpYNbDTR0ujGTrPpkyAhtxN1PT8_lA/edit#heading=h.esjkjdk4tzm6

And you can vote for your favorite(s) here (multiple options possible): https://strawpoll.com/BDyNzELrOyR

Thanks!

[severe iris]

Are you paying for modeler and animator?

[tawny sluice]

So building on this, this time I think it belongs in the game-design channel and not ui/ux. My intention is to create a new game mode for my word game, so not too heavy. I've already built the previous game mode in my main scene with all the UI there as well. What's my best option for creating the new game mode? Should I try and create it in the same scene by dynamically removing all the other game modes objects and replacing it with the new ones or should I just create a whole new scene. Would loading a new scene not be worth it for a casual mobile game?

[ruby hamlet]

I am a solo developer with an idea for an idle game that also allows for active gameplay. The game is still in the design phase, and I have many questions about the design.
I'm looking for someone with good game design abilities, and it would be a bonus if you have development or art skills. I would love to brainstorm and maybe collaborate on this project.

[icy latch]

When it comes to windows: Inventory -> Equipment, Backpack -> Storage etc. - do you prefer to drag items with the mouse or e.g. with shortcuts after hovering over the item "Take", "Move", "Equip", etc.? I know that it also depends on the type of game and if the interface is well made, one doesn't wonder - but according to you, players, which is better.

[silent hull]

Both

Dragging with the mouse is the most intuitive for new players, and shortcuts are convenient time savers once you play a bit and get used to them

[lilac shadow]

From a gameplay point of view, is it better to have jump buffering and variable jump height OR a double jump ability?

[sudden pendant]

Both? I don't see why it has to be one or the other

[sharp zinc]

!collab

https://discussions.unity.com/c/collaboration/46

[sturdy heath]

thoughts on a top down survival game that uses a dungeon crawler map? Planning on making it a bullet hell too

[heady portal]

sounds good

[sturdy heath]

i’ve also been planning on having permadeath for a while now, but it’s starting to seem like that would be too many genres colliding, i’ll probably just make that a separate mode

[sharp robin]

Not really my cup of tea, but they usually do well. Replayability benefits is key

[lilac shadow]

I didn't want to do both initially, bc the Coyote timer code wasnt my code and I didnt know how to get it working w/ double jump. However, after taking a while to understand how jump buffering works I have managed to get both working. Sorry if my question seemed a bit dumb, it was, my brain is like that sometime, but oh well cause I fixed it in the end.

And now I have a decent understanding of jump buffering :)

Gotta say, for the first time I really see why people say "make a game to learn skills" instead of "learn skills to make a game". I have learnt so many things I would've had no idea abt if I just used a tutorial

I also love how much control over player movement coding my own script gives me as well

Want to add a feature? No worries, I can change my script to make it work, compared to a prebuilt script where it would be a pain to get something custom in

[steady crest]

what makes this game look good? is it the lighting? because the models are all mostly very simple (if we ignore the main character)

[atomic anvil]

Assets consistency, lighting, postprocessing effects.

[steady crest]

are there any good tutorials to learn the postprocessing or lighting stuff? There really arent many videos about it

[atomic anvil]

There are plenty if you Google.

Using the tools is only 10% of the job though. The rest is knowing how to use them correctly in the specific context

Which usually comes with experience, artistic sense and feedback.

[steady crest]

aight ty

[ornate bobcat]

hi, one question, is it better to make house/warehouse layout (only 1 floor, few rooms and 2 exit doors) in unity (using some tools), or in blender and then import it to unity?

[sharp robin]

I'd use blender then into Unity. It's not a 3D modeling tool, so it'll be slower or less ideal in most cases.

But you could probuilder it etc. Just, round peg, square hole.

[wooden matrix]

Are there any game writers here? How do you format a script. I know movies and plays are written in a linear way in some sort of script editor. How are games written? Do you have an examples of game scripts that I could see?

[pastel bear]

how do you guys feel about limited air control in a platformer? (it's a metroidvania actually but that concerns the jumping part)

What I mean is that if the MC is going right full speed, I already make the MC slow down then go left and accelerate if player presses left control.

However, should this slow down and left acceleration be tampered down as the MC is mid-air? What do you think

[thorny mist]

Offering precision control (hollow knight or most castlevania metroidvanias) helps so much when there are parts that particularly focus on platforming but also it really depends on the game. Does the game require that precise control to do platforming or are their abilities or mechanics that would account for an air acceleration mechanic?

I’m also assuming that making it so it’s harder to turn back in mid air would make platforming a little more challenging (I’m thinking something like Mario 1)

Assuming precise control is needed, If there are abilities along the lines of a double jump then probably that idea will work. If there are no abilities like that it might add unnecessary difficulty.

Assuming precise control isn’t needed, maybe that mechanic could add a warranted level of difficulty to the game.

[cold onyx]

hi can someone help me

[chrome jetty]

Maybe 🤷‍♂️ how could we know?
https://dontasktoask.com/

[pastel bear]

I ended up feeling like lowering air control just made the game clunky tbh (I had some super mario bros lowered air control in mind but keeping horizontal control keeps the game's controls crispy I feel)

[sly python]

how can i make this look better any suggestions?

[hollow spruce]

ROunding corners slightly, and using transparency go a long way

also, softer colors

[sly python]

ok

[heady terrace]

it's hard to say without seeing the game, is it 2D or 3D? does it have realistic style or cartoon/stylized?
Also, the text are clipped by the yellow bar, you might need to put the text outside the bar or make it black like the green battery

[sly python]

3d

its realistic

[heady terrace]

I'd say make them all white (or black, depends on the game scene brightness), and smaller, like at least half size.

[sly python]

lemme jsut show u

games kuje dus

its lookes like this

[heady terrace]

Here's for comparison, from Ju On game (wii)

[sly python]

dis better

[heady terrace]

Much better
maybe make the energy bar smaller by 50% too, and instead of text change it to some icon outside the bar (like heart if it's lifebar)

[sly python]

oh ok sure thx

[ruby hamlet]

Is there a professional game designer here? I am building a prototype that combines idle game, rooms, with mini-games and inventory elements. It's a unique style

[prime hamlet]

how do 3d games with a 3rd person camera usually deal with the camera clipping through the wall in an enclosed space? like do they push the camera forward or like... idk make the outside black?

[thorny mist]

I usually see modern games push the camera forward

[prime hamlet]

ok so... how do i do that

ive been messing around with cinemachine and i cant figure it out

[thorny mist]

Sorry, im still a beginner at actually implementing mechanics lol

[prime hamlet]

lol no problem

[sly python]

what should i improve for the ui or is it perfect

[chrome jetty]

Make the icons more transparent. They are very "hard"

[sly python]

ok

[chrome jetty]

Also, rounding the corners would be nice, especially for the energy bar

[sly python]

ok thx

[sharp robin]

If it's obvious what it does, it probably doesn't need the word energy on it either

Usually with a flashlight game you just show the stereotypical battery indicator with a few lines.

I'm also confused why there is energy and battery.

[sly python]

like dis?

[sly python]

battery for the flashlight, energy for like the player running

how much it can run

[sharp robin]

Yeah usually you would hide that one and let them learn by feel when the player gets tired. Breathing hard and slowed animation

[chrome jetty]

That helps. The rounding would go pretty far too.

Like lloyd said, the word energy is probably unnecessary. Could be a thin sleek bar instead

[sharp robin]

I try to put as little on the screen as possible and make it more of a feel in the game.

[chrome jetty]

Or yeah, no bar could work too

[sharp robin]

Yeah rounding would definitely look better

[sly python]

will just do no bar then

[sly python]

nope actually nvm this look bette

[wind zodiac]

I'm trying to develop a game on my own, but I'm struggling to come up with an innovative idea. The ideas I have are either something I've already done or seem too ordinary. I'm looking for suggestions on game types that can help me improve my skills. Can anyone provide some assistance or recommend a specific genre?

[abstract wolf]

You're going to be hard pressed thinking of an innovative idea from the get-go. I'd pick an established genre/idea and instead create innovative ideas on top of it. That's going to be a lot more feasible.

[wind zodiac]

What would you recommend as a fixed genre or what type of game do you make in general?

[wary halo]

if you want to be innovative then you need to think 'out of the box'. For example my current project takes elements from 2 completely different genres/scenarios and melds them together

[wind zodiac]

it makes sense too much

[sharp robin]

Take steve's suggestion literally. Make a game about gettin out of a box. Or do the opposite, make a game about getting into the box

[sinful junco]

do you guys think if you improve on an idea enough and really flesh it out it can be fun or are some design of games flawed from the get go and will never really work

[sharp robin]

if it isn't a good idea from the get go, no sense making fetch happen. you want to build with the best roots possible. iterate early, get people testing early, and make sure people like it before investing time.

Unless of course you are building it for yourself

[sinful junco]

i mean thats what im asking is there really such thing as a good idea maybe what really makes the game a fun concept is the execution and the philosophy behind it

rather than the roots

[sharp robin]

The second part really just improves on the base. You can't really get far with a bad foundation

[sinful junco]

okay i see where you are getting at but maybe a bad foundation can be fixed along the way you know

[sharp robin]

Sure, anything can be adapted, improved and changed. It's just a function of time, effort and quality.

But it helps a lot to have that core foundation built first. Probably a 3x or 4x time saving

But there are processes and techniques to help ensure that happens. The biggest is getting concepts in people's hands early and figuring out what options make the core mechanics fun first before layering everything on top of it.

For example, we are working on a VR arena game at the moment. But I don't want to assume punching is fun. So we do 6 concepts, with guns, arrows, odd things, punching, etc. Each focused on a different mechanic.

Then we see which one rates highest. Do another 3 or 6 variations - and make sure a few are completely different.

From there you'll have a good idea what core mechanics are interesting and the other game layers get a lot more influential

The 3 weeks you just spent on concepts will give you a really good idea what people like before you start working on the year long project.

Could you build an entire archery game, find out it's not fun and tiring, and rework it to be a murder mystery or a gun game? Sure. But it's a hell of a lot easier at the onset.

[sinful junco]

but does that process really work at a more fundamental level because for example the game i think it was called Don't Touch The Red Button like it seems like a very boring premise but you add all the puzzles and intricacies and references and suddenly it's a very fun experience

[sharp robin]

That one is still boring to me

But I hate puzzle games:D

[sinful junco]

i see

but what i am getting at the testers and stuff who obviously don't know your plans and ideas for the game might find the game boring if you do show it to them at earlier stages

[sharp robin]

But that one is misleading. It's not a button pressing game. It's a puzzle game, reworked with a unique mechanic likely based on testing they did with people and an element of psychology

[sinful junco]

it is a puzzle game but it still has the premise of not touching the button

of course every game is not one thing only they are made up of a lot of different aspects

[sharp robin]

My question would be: what is the goal of the playtest?

[sinful junco]

is this a general question

[sharp robin]

No, if your game isn't far enough along to have key mechanics - and it is at risk of seeming to be boring - why do the testing? I suspect you won't find new bugs, and the core game is going to change a lot. Is it to see if the idea is fun? Then don't over think it and get them playing. Is it for hype? Then you probably need to flush it out more. Is it for QA? It sounds like a lot is going to change before that's a concern.

Personally, at that stage, I'd be putting it in people's hands to make sure the idea is fun. If it isn't, make sure you have enough data to figure out why and make new iterations to improve on it

The first question you usually want to check off is: is the idea fun?

In my personal opinion anyway

[sly python]

what can i improve

[final zodiac]

damn

add some particle effects

[sly python]

lol ok

[buoyant sapphire]

add a game?

[sly python]

im making the menu for it..

[final zodiac]

i am trying to make a game where you collect platforming abilities as reward for killing enmies for a short period of time

is there any game that already does this

i can learn from or take inspiration from

idk any

[hollow helm]

idk if this is the right channel for this, but what do you guys think of open-world? personally I feel like it's a promise too big to deliver on, and many games open-world games would've benefited from a more exact(? I'm not sure what I should call it) approach.

I personally quite like how Baldur's Gate 3 managed to create what feels like a massive world, even though the actual game space is fairly limited.
While Skyrim's approach did allow for quite a lot of freedom in regards to what content you would like to interact with, the big open spaces with little to nothing in them were not able to be made interesting my beautiful scenery and I find myself often using fast travel, which kind of defeats the purpose of open-world in my opinion.
In my opinion Elden Ring has done the best job yet on an open-world(-esque) game, but I have to admit that while I love the game to bit, the open-world is absolutely the weakest part of the game.

Personally I believe that open-world areas can be great, if used correctly. I haven't had the time to really think out how to properly use it but I think that if fast travel feels necessary to use/add, you're doing it wrong.

[sharp robin]

Static screen with text and two options, there isn't much to go off of, but it's very game jam intro

[hollow helm]

maybe instead of an image use a scene from the game or something?

[sly python]

i did this?

the image in the background is moving

its a video

[hollow helm]

that's cool yea

I don't have enough technical knowledge to know if a video is good or bad

[sly python]

here

[hollow helm]

hmm yea looks cool

[sly python]

oh ok thx

[hollow helm]

maybe make it a bit darker?

[sly python]

yea lemme try

[hollow helm]

have the visage be less visable to make it more spooky

[sly python]

ok sure

[hollow helm]

yea something like that

the flashing is a bit much though

I would maybe put a lighter fog in front of the visage as well, and instead of lighting up the entire scene you have a soft light at an angle on the visage

so that it's mostly dark and foggy, yet you can slightly make up a visage

[sharp zinc]

Open World are harder to make then stick&bubble (linear) games. Not sure what you want to add to that.

[hollow helm]

I just think that most of the time the execution is not there exactly and I was wondering on what you guys’ opinions were on where it goes wrong

[sharp zinc]

The games you named are objectively the best game made we have. It is kinda hard to refute what they are doing base on that.

[random swan]

Any opinions/feedback for my gun submarines? (Gunmarines?) More specifically, their death explosions

Note: I intend these subs to be one of the "Elite" enemies

[vapid stream]

Is it intentionally designed so that when you’re in between two of the guns that are shooting you, you can’t dodge anything

Since they just cage you in (i think)

Btw the circle around the plane is a bit distracting, that’s just me though

I think maybe for the death animation, make the sub start falling apart?

[abstract wolf]

It's good visual feedback that's readily apparent IMO

[vapid stream]

To make it a little more noticeable

[vapid stream]

But the change in background might make it hard for starters to see, since they’d have to spend time to adjust

Anyway, everything still looks amazing, i’m just nitpicking

[random swan]

I intentionally designed that sub to trap the player between the walls of bullets they fire, limiting their options to evade

[vapid stream]

Okok

[random swan]

The circle represents the player's current health. The lower their health, the smaller the circle

[abstract wolf]

Also the death of the submarine feels pretty great with the camera shake, but it feels like it could do with some simple particles to represent exploding debris.

[vapid stream]

I agree, debris or other indicators of it breaking down would be cool

[random swan]

I don't feel like spending time modeling a destroyed variant of that submarine xd

[abstract wolf]

I think a single burst of fiery particles would be enough IMHO

I'd make a particle system with like a 30 particle burst

and just have it cone outwards

[random swan]

Don't the death explosions have enough fire already?

[random swan]

I can definitely implement some form of effect to indicate the sub breaking down the more damaged they are

[abstract wolf]

They feel really impactful, but the explosion feels too sudden with no reciprocration. With something that large, you'd expect something to fly off IMO. It's just a personal aesthetic thing however, I do feel like it stands just as well on it's own as is.

[random swan]

It will take some time tho

[abstract wolf]

For some reason my old brain thinks back to Metal Slug explosion VFX like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVQ-tl4j2mM

just expects something like that

[random swan]

Yeah, some big debris flying from the destroyed subs would make killing them EVEN MORE satisfying

Especially with a fire trail

[abstract wolf]

Yepp you could have fun with it 😄

Neat looking game by the way.

[random swan]

Thank you!

The project's still in its very early stages, but it's coming along nicely!

You know what? Screw it. I'm going to make a separate model for the destroyed sub if it means MORE satisfying death explosions

[vapid stream]

A simple way would just to be to show it starting to sink

If you wanna save effort

[random swan]

I was actually planning to make them sink when they are destroyed

[vapid stream]

Perfect 👍

[arctic plank]

hi yall i have a question
i made a village with tons of houses in unity 2d and i want to make them enterable so should i add the inside of the houses in the same scene and just teleport the player to it when he enters or should i make a new scene with the houses ? there are alot of houses so should i make many scene or should i just use 1 scene with just the houses in it ?
give me your suggestions plz

[sly python]

what do you guys think about this menu

[sharp robin]

I can't really say if its better or worse without seeing the game for context. But I like this one better personally. #archived-game-design message

At least text wise.

[sly python]

ok thx for help

[sharp zinc]

If you want continuous feedback, you should make a #1180170818983051344

[random swan]

I have a gut feeling that the rockets don't stand out well enough from the player's bullets

Can anyone help me improve the rockets' contrast against the projectiles?

[abstract wolf]

I feel it's more of a case that the color of the players bullets is too similar in hue to the background

[random swan]

What other color(s) would you suggest?

[abstract wolf]

Opposite of blue on the color wheel is orange/yellow, but I'm no good at color theory.

And orange is too similar to red

So perhaps something more greenish

[finite gate]

Trail would help.

[random swan]

I was planning to add green bullets for a machine gun upgrade power-up

[abstract wolf]

Maybe make the machine gun bullets have a special FX instead like glowing/flashing.

[random swan]

Actually, I think I'll apply that to the rockets instead

[vapid stream]

By the way, i think having the plane and enemy bullets be the same color is kinda risky

[random swan]

Would an orange color work? Or do you have any recommendations on how I can tackle that risk?

[tired copper]

h e l p m e

[finite gate]

Do what?

[lilac shadow]

!code

[desert marten]

Posting code

📃 Large Code Blocks

Use links to services like:
https://gdl.space/, https://paste.ofcode.org/, https://hatebin.com/, https://paste.myst.rs/, https://hastebin.com/

📃 Inline Code

Surround code with three backquotes. Not quotation marks.
To format as C#, add cs to the first line:
```cs
// Your code here
```
Add a comment with a line number if there is an error message.

[feral mountain]

with what there is nothing wrong in the screenshot and you provided 0 context

go !learn

[desert marten]

:teacher: Unity Learn ↗

Over 750 hours of free live and on-demand learning content for all levels of experience!

[vapid stream]

I think having the plane be the same color as your bullets could be a good idea, but like someone else said, it might blend with the background, which isn’t good

[sudden pendant]

@nocturne valley There's no job/team postings here. You can use Unity Discussions for that.
https://discussions.unity.com/c/collaboration/46

[nocturne valley]

oh ok sorry

thanks you for link

i learn game programing @sudden pendant

can you come in vocal or something like that for 5 minute ?

[sudden pendant]

Nope

[nocturne valley]

okok

[queen cove]

Just putting out feelers: Does anyone here work as (or know someone who works as) a Technical Designer? a.k.a. takes an idea from words on paper to a playable prototype in Unity. I'm getting more interested in this and would love to talk to someone about it more if possible. Thanks!

[buoyant sapphire]

there are plenty of people here who do this regularly as part of their job. On this server you would however be expected to publicly ask a specific question for the benefit of others who might also be interested in the subject.

[queen cove]

Okay! I'm looking for thoughts from Technical Designers or people who make prototypes in Unity as part of their work. Some questions:

1.) What projects that you made showed potential employers that you had the skills needed to prototype?
2.) For someone new to learning this skill, is it best to specialize in being able to prototype certain types of games?
3.) Are there any components/plugins/assets you've found that really help in streamlining the prototype process?

Thanks so much for any help.

[old matrix]

Anyone here with any suggestions on how to consistent with the choice of color to pixel art?
I've tried to stick to a HSL rule myself. Saturation around 60 if possible and changing the Light from 20, 40, 60 and 80 for different shades. Does anyone have other suggestions regarding this topic?

[vapid stream]

I’ve looked for 2d top down movement in unity to learn from, but couldn’t find anything that didn’t involve directly setting velocity to the input * speed
Is top down accel and deccel not very popular, or am i missing something?

Do most people just use movement from platformers, but just “convert” it to topdown?

[random swan]

How about this? This effect should make the rockets stand out more

[buoyant sapphire]

not very popular, most top-down/iso "action"-games are in some way 3D even stylistically 2D games nowadays often use 3D.

[vapid stream]

Oh, i see

[buoyant sapphire]

but its ofc not a requirement

[vapid stream]

But even from a 3d standpoint, is it just a coincidence that there aren’t many online resources about top down accel and deccel

[buoyant sapphire]

top down movement in 2D has similarities to sidescroller/platforming, but there are differences, like in jumping (if at all) and gravity

typically you would not even consider converting one to the other

[vapid stream]

Ah okok 👍, so most people just use platforming controls

[buoyant sapphire]

well, not for topdown

[vapid stream]

Sorry, what i meant to say is that they convert to topdown then use it

[buoyant sapphire]

i would not say that there is any conversion going on

typically that is

[vapid stream]

Interesting interesting

Ok then, i’ll go figure this out

Thanksss

[red stirrup]

i m mainly a programmer, but i took a shot to do an entire game alone, does the game design look okay ?

also if anyone wants to try it, msg me ur email, i'll get u early access (android)

[finite gate]

Graphics are pretty swell. :)

[livid citrus]

Has anyone made a space exploration game

[livid citrus]

Better then I could ever do

[sharp robin]

Quite a few, I'm sure many others have as well, my last one was vector wars though 😄

If you have questions / ask away

[sharp robin]

I'd slow down the flashing a bit (epilepsy, you can look up the flashing rates for it) but it's a lot more obvious now. Instead of flashing I'd probably grow/shrink the circle behind it

[vapid stream]

Solo devs, do you guys tend to choose small color palettes for simplicity, or just any size palettes that have the colors you like
If you guys like smaller palletes, how small?

[sharp robin]

Personally, with our space, I need texturing and shading to prevent people from getting dizzy. So 32 or 64 colour palettes is is ideal.

[grand osprey]

The assets look good but the graphics in general looks blurry and too bright in my opinion.

[buoyant sapphire]

1. making a prototype/ jams, 2) no 3) yes, mostly things that make it easy to prettify certain things (art assets, shaders, audio), I find assets that pretend to help specifically with prototyping like topdown engine to be counterproductive, but it depends who the audience of the prototype is

[thick star]

Hi guys, I'm starting to make art into my game. I'm trying to define an art style for the game but don't know where to start. Looking online I've seen general things like making a collage or something for visual references. What are the main things to consider to create an art bible/style for artists to use

[buoyant sapphire]

It’s most important that you discuss it with your artists. Unless you are an accomplished artist yourself, you’ll not be able to make a specifically useful guide. I‘d aim for references on what vibe and tone you want and let the specific style emerge from the capabilities of your team.

[thick star]

I was looking to hire artists that fit the style, not the other way around. Is it better to find artists first then agree on a style?

[buoyant sapphire]

No, that is ofc a good idea in principle, it’s just not quite possible, your artists will either defer responsibility entirely to you or feel empowered make thing their own and to go above and beyond. You want the latter, and therefore you should get artists involved in the style development, if they can’t or won’t the project will be inefficient/difficult

[earnest cipher]

I am a programmer, i tried art for the first time (after practicing from a lot of tutorials) , any feedback would be appreciated

[waxen seal]

hi, mm i would tru to highlight the path i want my Character to follow (in this case the cat)

[earnest cipher]

Maybe I need to add a highlight gradient on top

Are the buildings fine?

[waxen seal]

or i would try to hide the background buildings with fog or with something mor muted colors maybe?, so as not to lose the sight of the main path

[earnest cipher]

I am planning to do that with particles and post process in unity

[waxen seal]

couple repetitive, but nothing else, its fine for me

[earnest cipher]

This is straight out of photoshop

[earnest cipher]

I am planning to make more variation but first I want basic parallax system done and cat walk and idle animation done as well

I wanted to hear feedback in case the art is total trash and not worth building upon

[waxen seal]

nah the art looks fine, maybe i will try to at least add some color variation to some buildings just to prevent some repetitive, but for the rest looks good

[earnest cipher]

I'm working with limited palatte, so I will bring variation to building by changing width and height proportion. Also adding more grunge, graffiti and lastly I am making some neon signs to add

Changing colors will the art style I'm going for

[waxen seal]

sound pretty nice!

i hope it looks beautiful

[rustic nebula]

what would you all say is the most important settings for a game to have?

[thorny mist]

Those tutorials really worked then. That’s incredible!

[earnest cipher]

I just hope when I make it to Kickstarter, people there think that as well

[thorny mist]

You got this!

[late vapor]

whatever playtesters ask for most

[weary thicket]

If there is one thing crowdfunding sites like, it is video games about a cat in a city.

I agree about using something to separate the foreground from the background.

[chrome steeple]

I just started as well, and my city scape looks kinda like the opposite of yours 😂

[silver wadi]

I just want to throw this out there for people to think about.... I'm working on a collaboration type project that people could join and subscribe to that would allow cheaper costs to gain access to assets that people may have trouble affording on their own....this could increase their potential to finish games and also have help from the community as well.... developers for assets would still get paid for their efforts just the same. So I'm looking for opinions...good idea, bad idea, or whatever else comes to mind.... I've already got a plan in place and how it could function....just want to know if the community would want something like this?

[sharp robin]

I don't really think assets are a barrier anymore. You are getting things for pennies or free at this point. The only time I've seen a newish developer held back by assets, is because they really want something unique to their game and aren't happy.

At the same time, every bigger asset store team seems to have their own discount subscription model they are trying to push people towards.

To put that into context, I think I have ~1,500 assets from the store? If I had to remember hundreds of vendor logins to find more content, I'd be not having it. It's already bad enough that Humble doesn't often list where assets are redeemed. So I'd be very hesitant at any price even free versus somewhere I know it is curated and ready to install on an engine.

But maybe others have a different opinion

[sharp robin]

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take 🙂 My only hesitation is this - the pages are a bit misleading. If you sort say indigegogo by the 100 most recent games that have ended, you'll often see 99 games that raised less than $100 bucks. They hide the had results sometimes to try and trick people into using the platform more. Just go in with eyes open.

[silver wadi]

@sharp robin
So in other words....save my money and essentially create my own content.... Would be better off teaching others how to do the same...Hmmm... thank you for your help 🙂

[sharp robin]

I'd definitely like more people's opinions, but I think you can build it - but also that you could build something even better

[restive beacon]

I agree that there are so many free-cheap options out there. What I think would be cool is an actual game developer (for those of us that can't code).

Plug and play. Has that been created yet?

[arctic sigil]

no man's sky 🤣

or do you mean in this discord?

[arctic sigil]

unreal engine has visual scripting do you mean that?

[grand osprey]

unity's visual scripting tool isn't that different from unreals afaik

[silver wadi]

@restive beacon
That is kinda what I've been looking at trying to do is get things put in a way where it is more of a plug and play type thing. I've tried out a lot of various resources and of course any type of game development takes work for sure....... BUT for instance I am finding MFPS 2.0 one of the more complete multiplayer shooter solutions out there, with the addon's it has a lot of what you need to make a full game experience for your players. The only thing is you have to learn how to change the UI and still make things your own.

@arctic sigil and @grand osprey
The problem with Visual Scripting is the fact that you still have to understand the coding process to make things work and the visual scripting trees can get quite hectic over time.....

What we are needing is a modular solution that all works well together without needing to modify things too much....for me my goal is still using multiplayer options so I've been thinking about creating a simple and modular system that can be placed on any game object without the need to change anything in scripts for other users to be able to use it. Sync Position & Animation, Health, Armor, Shield, Projectile, and Melee..... having just these that could be placed on any object should allow people to create Multiplayer experiences without any issues....just add the component, set your stats for them and possibly whatever type of projectile prefab you might have and just let them do their thing.

Game Mechanics are already created through various assets such as Ultimate Character Controller, Space Combat Kit, Mech Combat Kit, Vehicle Controllers, etc.... so by adding those simple components to them.... it would make things much easier to sync everything together.

My collaboration project is to be able to get these things together, make templates with them and make game development much easier by showing people how to use them properly and have it already kinda set up more completely.

[restive beacon]

Not sure, I'll take a look

[restive beacon]

Sounds like a cool idea

I'm thinking WordPress vs. Wix/ Square Space. Something like that

One website builder requires coding, the other is just click and drag.

[arctic sigil]

yeah coding process is true XD ive done it but i have some experience with coding

[arctic sigil]

gamemaker maybe XD

[arctic sigil]

can anyone help me to come up with an unique gameplay loop

[silver wadi]

Endless runner on a spherical planet in a 2.5d view zombie hoard survival where you collect ammo upgrades and zombies get harder to kill over time....that would be pretty fun....

[arctic sigil]

damn it is kinda a good one XD

[earnest cipher]

cat animation

[ruby hamlet]

i like it

Whate are you making?

[earnest cipher]

basically a stray 2d prototype for itch but later when i some experience i want to make a full 2d game based on exploration and story mainly with minimal to no combat

this will help me build up some confidence lol

[livid fractal]

Guys, need some opinions. Do you think it's a good idea for the ball to be controlled telekinetically by the character? 😂

Like, I find it both hard and kinda weird to give the ball to the character unless we make the character really big. So, need opinions on it

[unborn sky]

Just placing the ball about the character's hand position would probably look better, this plus a quick throw animation when shooting the ball will probably make the game look a bit more juicy

[gloomy bridge]

guys how does a 2d top down random maze generation shooter roguelike game sound its kinda plays like hades from a combat perspective

i’m currently finishing up the game rn

it’s my first game i’m making completely solo but 3 months in and i basically got most of it done besides the graphics

[weary thicket]

Not really how a cat moves; a cat moving fast enough to take a pose like that in midair will be pretty much folded in half when landed. Of course, with the huge body and stubby legs you'll need some creative liberties but you can peobably at least offset the landing of the feet to a more natural pattern.

[livid fractal]

Got it. Trying that now

[earnest cipher]

at first i tried this, but this was too much of speed

in a platformer game the cat dont need to be that fast

[weary thicket]

Well, of course there are different gaits

But using reference will help a lot

[earnest cipher]

i did use reference, the current animation is based on a reference for medium speed where the cat is not folding in half mid air

when i am done with level design and test, then i will get a better idea of how the animation looks in gameplay

[sleek phoenix]

<@&502884371011731486>

[hard fog]

!warn 782539548252045323 Don't post off-topic. Read #📖┃code-of-conduct

[desert marten]

sassythesasquatch500 has been warned.

[lilac shadow]

In terms of game design, is it a good idea to have a detailed plan of what you want to do?

[buoyant sapphire]

yes, once you know what works out to be fun or what specifically you want to try, its required to have a detailed plan. Without such a plan you make up generic systems that never come together. The details should primarily specify how stuff comes together to create fun and leave anything unspecified that is not important for the "fun" aspect. (you can replace "fun" with any other goal you may have)

[lilac shadow]

Yeah, thats what I was thinking, but wanted to see what more seasoned ppl think. Currently I am fleshing out the different enemies, and their abilities, the general map layout, and the lore of the world as well as the plot. I am building a combat puzzle platformer which is named DeepCore :D

[buoyant sapphire]

make sure that, before you flesh anything out, that you know what the meat is and that this meat is very tasty.

[lilac shadow]

I want the 'meat' to be combat and puzzles, similar to hollow night and celeste in those aspects. Most will be combat, with puzzles sprinkled in, however, there will be 1 puzzle heavy area

[buoyant sapphire]

well, if you say combat/puzzle, do you have detailed plans how they work?

[lilac shadow]

yeah, sort of. Puzzles are gonna be look for the clue sort of thing, while combat will just be similar to hollow night BUT with different weapons, abilities, and monsters

[calm tiger]

Guys I dont know is this is game design, but I am making an enimy trying to just follow me, but it just falls straight through the ground

[chrome jetty]

How would that be game design?

[feral mountain]

If you know its the wrong channel why do you post here ? Just post in the correct channel.

[calm tiger]

bro idk what game design means

[chrome jetty]

Scroll up and look at the previous questions. Designing levels, concepts, etc
If you have a problem with your code, then a code channel would be best.

When you don't know what something means, google it

[calm tiger]

"idk if this is game design"

getting mad over nothing

just tell me and move on

[chrome jetty]

No one is mad.
I did tell you
Also gave you a good life lesson
I ALSO told you where to post
If you act like this, no one will want to help though

what can I say, except your welcome?

[chrome jetty]

@calm tiger
Talk about being mad.... sorry that hurt you.
If you actually have a question, go where I said and ask.

[feral mountain]

Exactly what they did

no need to nerd emoji him, that just shows everyone how immature you are

You got told this isnt the correct channel and if you dont know what game design is you should make research into that as game design is the basic pricinple you need before even coding a game, so you know what your game needs and what to do, so it doesnt become a incoherent mess of ideas and thrown over concepts.

Aethenosity ~ "If you act like this, no one will want to help though" <- Also this, especially with the reaction

[blissful stream]

How do games usually handle outdated clients? Like if I push an update, I don't allow players to even launch older versions. But what about the people who keep the game open while the update is pushed?

Do you signal from the server to all clients that there is an update? Or do you have periodic checks for logged in clients to check the server version?

[sharp zinc]

There is multiple strategy that are well known. You can look at how kubernetes does it for idea. https://spot.io/resources/kubernetes-autoscaling/5-kubernetes-deployment-strategies-roll-out-like-the-pros/#a5

[feral mountain]

put it on steam or epic

xD

other then that you need an API and keep that up to date with the newest hash of your games executable

Then that you could create a method that runs on start and checks the md5 hash of itself and then sends that to the API if the versions match and if yes it allows access and if no give them an error to update

but yeah if you want a online game or coop game and want people to stay on the same version, either use steam or epic or whatever or do the API thing that i just explained

[urban bobcat]

I would use Playfab for all that. I think it handles versioning, if not, then just have a client update checker that checks latest versions througfh various apis.

[blissful stream]

Yeah, I plan for steam in a while. I'm just still in my alpha versions right now so It's a little too early

[feral mountain]

Not really too early if you have the 100$

It makes it a lot easier for testing phases and you get used to how to use it properly over time

And it handles your updates

You could also make an API, i mean if you have an online game with synced clients you want an api anyways

[chrome iron]

Hi! I am Remaking Pong Right now but with Changes, Anyone has Ideas for cool features?

[waxen barn]

Make it cool

[thorny mist]

The walls are also bouncy for the rackets

Hitting a wall with your racket bounces you towards the center

Idk if that takes too much control away from the player

[chrome iron]

ill definitly try, thanks

[untold epoch]

🤔 Does anyone know where I might be able to find a repeating texture like this?

I've looked around on a few different asset sites and haven't found a "party" floor design

Thinking I might have to make it myself

[weary thicket]

Should be pretty easy to make

[dark cloak]

If you think about it in layers you could make this procedurally

Like a circle layer, triangle layer, filled circles, filled triangles, add the ribbons

You could either bake that into a texture or make it as a shader

Or you could just copy those pictures you already sent

[untold epoch]

What software could I consider for making something like that

And tiling capable n oelss

no less*

[dark cloak]

Substance painter, unity, blender, GIMP

pretty much what substance painter is for

just, Adobe

[buoyant sapphire]

*substance designer

[untold epoch]

I suppose they both could still end up making it

[icy mountain]

Are there useful tips on not having your mechanics and such become a huge jumbled mess

Or more so, the means of displaying the information to the player

[untold epoch]

What type of mechanics

[icy mountain]

Tl;dr a clandestine drug lab lol

The player is using crafting devices to produce things

The idea is it's somewhat UI "light" and so the player is assumed to know what the starting ingredient will produce through an in game text book

The idea is it'd be fun to cause problems if the player got this wrong but I'm not sure if it would be annoying or not

I.e
If the textbook told the player you need
1g if ingredient A and 5ml of ingredient B to produce 1g of product over 30 seconds

Is it safe to assume the player understands that to make 4, they need 4g of A 20ml of B and 2 minutes of time?

[dark cloak]

woops

[dark cloak]

you could look at how the forest does it

if you want the recipes to be memorable you're going to need each recipe to be pretty unique or not have too many recipes

if what youre doing is fictional its going to be a lot harder to make relatable than something you can base on reality

[icy mountain]

it's simplified partial reality

I guess the UI system is something close to hydroneer

you essenitally have precursors which need to be converted through stages

[dark cloak]

is the player meant to guess the rest of the ingredients?

[icy mountain]

and each of these stages will either use a secondary ingrediant or not

[icy mountain]

so, A, the player is given a textbook the gives them the recipes, it's just not explicitly connected to the craftion station itself
B, once the player places the precursor in, it then tells them the next ingredient needed to complete the process

I.e, if you have a kitchen mixer, and you place freebase speed into it, it then asks you to place the corronsponding amount of sulfuric acid needed to start the process

but the player isnt given a list of recipes when looking at the station itself I guess is what im worried of

[dark cloak]

maybe do it like cooking simulator where you can pin the recipe onto a TV

[icy mountain]

oh thats a cool idea

[dark cloak]

you said you wanted it to be UI light so a diagetic approach could work

its kind of cheating but a computer with a website pulled up with recipes that you can look through and leave up on the monitor

[icy mountain]

I have that currently in the form of the textbook but the player needs to press X to access it

[dark cloak]

or have the book as a physical object

https://youtu.be/W09Lvahm0Uk
In my game announcer i literally have it so that you press S and you "look down" at a note card

[icy mountain]

Ahh ok

[icy mountain]

I have essentially this

[dark cloak]

honestly a cooking simulator approach might work pretty well here

[icy mountain]

How does that work?

[dark cloak]

You choose a recipe and it puts it up on a TV screen

[thorny mist]

That diabetic recipe UI on the TV is so smart

I haven’t played cooking simulator so I didn’t hear about it prior

[icy mountain]

hmm, the only issue is the player purchases and places / connects each machine seperately

they arnt really choosing one specific recipe to work alongside, they'll be producing many things at once

[prisma burrow]

Anyone have any tips for spawning enemies

Im currently makling my first game

Ive got to here

and I have the car moving

I want to spawn cars that act as obsticles

I have these

Idk why they look like that

[tall flower]

Working on my play store screenshot design, which do you think is best. Any tips ?

[tardy violet]

Hi all, new here! 👋 I have a quick question. I am planning on making a RPG game that you can play with (small group off) friends together. Would that still be considered an MMORPG, because of the limited mumber of players you play with?

[chrome jetty]

No

The first M in mmorpg is "massively"

[tardy violet]

Indeed. But to make it would you use the same kind of programming? It isn't a single player game persé. So is a Morpg different to an MMorpg?

The MASSIVE part would possible come later if the game works 😉

[sharp zinc]

No, you would use an architecture that is more akin to what you see in survival game. Something like Network for GameObject would fit the job.

Per to per or small dedicated server like minecraft,

If the idea is to make an Massive game in the furture, then you either plan to make a sequel for that or you build as if you are doing it (MMO).

It really is not something a beginner should attempt to make, hence making a sequel is way more sensible.

[chrome jetty]

You definitely would not want to make a change like that later, as sim said. Either do it from the start or make it a separate game.
Yes a multiplayer rpg is significantly different from an mmorpg

[tardy violet]

thanks for the feedback!

[snow nacelle]

!collab 👇

[desert marten]

:loudspeaker: Collaborating and Job Posting

We do not accept job or collab posts on Discord.
Please, use Discussions to promote yourself as job-seeking, advertise commercial job offers, or look for non-commercial projects to participate in:
• Collaboration & Jobs

[cold onyx]

Thanks and sorry I knew this probably wasn't the right place

[tawny viper]

In my game I have a central point where souls must be constantly deposited but I'm having trouble coming up with ideas for how this "soul collector" would look. Any ideas?

[abstract wolf]

Looking up interpretations of Phylactery's might be a good starting point

It's a concept often used in DnD settings for liches/souls

[tawny viper]

ok something like a gem, maybe it glows more intense with more souls

[abstract wolf]

That could work, coupled with a particle system that increases it's emission rate based on souls would look pretty swell too.

[tawny viper]

good idea, cheers

[wary sundial]

in making 2d topdown games do you put the tiles one by one or do you make a one big grid of the world combining all the tiles into one image and then putting it in the game
i feel like if you were to put the tiles one by one on your map each being seprate it would make the game very laggy but making one big image if the world would also be a pain to make

[sharp zinc]

Tilemap https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/introduction-to-tilemaps

[wary sundial]

thanks

[wary sundial]

how do i fix my tiles being like this

[gaunt mason]

yo sup fam!

anybody into procedural stuff here?

[fluid agate]

I suppose, what you wanna talk about?

[gaunt mason]

procedural climbing! thanks bud!

so I've been digging, and the only proper procedural climbing system ive seen is this one, but its developpement is discontinued, wondering if i can recreat something similar for a fun game i want to do!

https://www.uproomgames.com/dev-log/procedural-climbing

there is an available demo and some data files, but not sure where to start haha

i also want to take inspiration from the game rain world, which is also a whole world with procedural behaviors and movements from creatures, really sick

[fluid agate]

that's pretty cool, but if you look closely, during the part with the moving cirlces that the character is grabbing, when they move away from the feet nothing changes and the character just hangs in the air

I don't have much experience in procedural animation, but it shouldn't be extremely tough to do

[gaunt mason]

cool! there is some code snippets on the uproom website, but nothing else really

[gaunt mason]

ahh yes! so you mean its not fully procedural?

indeed yeah, inverse kinematics, IK or something aha

[fluid agate]

this one almost surely isn't fully procedural, it's just some inverse kinematics blended with pre-made animations

[gaunt mason]

yeah right haha but for the grabbing it does seems procedural with hands placement no?

[fluid agate]

which IS the way to do this, going fully procedural on a humanoid character for this isn't a good idea

yes, that's the IK part

[gaunt mason]

ah yea i reckon

okok dope to know

so i cant get around the trigger from ledge detection and grab point right?

and the map will always need to be treated in such a way that it holds trigger onto the crutial climbing points i guess?

ideally, i wouldnt have to create any trigger and the simple procedural animation could do most of the movement and adaption to the enviromment by itself when climbing

like doing parkour in a shit 3d mesh of the world from google map haha

ahh one sec i think i see

[fluid agate]

hmmm
you probably very much could do automatic ledge detection without using triggers for it, but it'd be a bit tough to iron it out properly, as I expect there to be some unforseen problems with this approach

depends on your environment, too

[gaunt mason]

yeaahh

[fluid agate]

rain world has relatively simple environments and procedural ledge detection is easy as hell

relatively

in a more complex map it's doable, sure, but difficult

and as I said, I can just feel there coming up unforseen issues and bugs with this approach, definitely doable but might take a minute to polish

[gaunt mason]

i understand, wise of you

this is the file with the demo and the data, dont know if there anything good in there to take inspiration from still

[fluid agate]

can't really open it rn, sorry

[gaunt mason]

no prob bud

[fluid agate]

from the video tho, it's definitely a good place to start

[gaunt mason]

part of the code

[fluid agate]

you'd have to fix that leg issue I mentioned, unless you don't care, and then figure out how to dynamically place grab/ledge points if you wanna avoid doing that manually

[gaunt mason]

also i reckon it needs the IK addon bought and active? jaja

[fluid agate]

I'd suppose so, but maybe it has something built in - you'd have to open it and run it to see

hmm, wait, is it a purchaseable asset actually? doesn't unity have some IK in it already?

[gaunt mason]

cant see much from the demo:/ the boot simply works for the test but cant import anything in unity i guess

[gaunt mason]

hmmm really?

yeah saw one at 40 bucks on the asset store

shesh didnt know they had a free one

[fluid agate]

there's this
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/animation/final-ik-14290
but there's also this
https://docs.unity3d.com/2021.3/Documentation/Manual/InverseKinematics.html

[gaunt mason]

noice

thanks bud

im cooked

[fluid agate]

doesn't seem like the most complex thing though

might need that package

[gaunt mason]

for me it is haha

im in the steep part of the learning curve rn lol

[gaunt mason]

the IK you sent?

[fluid agate]

the asset store thing
but maybe you'll be fine with the built in unity tool

[gaunt mason]

all ggggg

[fluid agate]

I only now learned they even have it, though, so I don't really know how capable it is

[gaunt mason]

ahhh okk

whats the type of games u into creating then?

if IK isnt really something you've used much

which i have no idea haha homie seems like a smart person:))

[fluid agate]

eh, you know, a bunch of different things, some mobile, some VR, currently trying to wrestle Unity DOTS into making an RTS happen, so no IK for this project either XD

I didn't use IK specifically although I did look into it out of curiosity

[gaunt mason]

okok cool!

[fluid agate]

I did a bunch of procedural UI animations, those can get cool if they're complex, but I mostly worked with pre-made 3d animations and never needed more than that

[gaunt mason]

ok well lest say i would want to start with a base of humanoid movement character with a basic procedural system so it naturally adapats to the enviromment in some way, anywhere to start?

[fluid agate]

I think the project you here is a good start for that

you can learn how it's done there, or you can purchase that asset and maybe it'll be easier to grasp

[gaunt mason]

the one i sent you is not available:/

not as an asset

just as a executable demo

well i found this to start i guess?
https://github.com/JosephStar318/Procedural-Climbing-System?tab=readme-ov-file#game-play-video

Basic Movement System
Stepping and Vaulting System
Ledge Detection System
Climbing in Move Direction
Climbing at Sloppy Ledges
Inverse Kinematics for Hands and Feet

hmm no so sure

well thanks for you help @fluid agate !

[cold onyx]

I saw an exit button at my phyciatrist appointment today so I stole it at put it in my own reality

[maiden mulch]

i've been making a project, and i got inspiration for the movement from half life's left and right camera skewing, and nixon's snappy movement from the joy of creation games, but for the life of me the ideas aren't circulating, its meant to be a sort of mystery/horror game, but i need a point of interest, and fun mechanics that can last,

i want it to be a sort of puzzle solving thing, or tasks to complete type gameplay

the place is underground beneath a forest, like an old facility, although there could be multiple areas for different levels, or different parts of the facility underground that can be unlocked later, i wish i had a better idea of what i want from it. any ideas?

(btw the video is kinda loud, lower your volume)

[waxen barn]

i've been making a project, and i got

[icy mountain]

Using light to guide the player into objectives might be fun

[maiden mulch]

like how?

[icy mountain]

Light could be in some way a resource and the cessation of light could be a threat for the player to deal with

Idk about the story though I suck at writing, I just make simulator games lol

[rough ore]

There’s a fairly well known indie game (that ironically I can’t recall the name of) that did exactly this by making the player a candle. Edit it’s literally candleman

[worthy nexus]

Hey chat i gotta ask, i've been developing some small games now (never published, just developed to learn), and now i kinda wanna make a little bit more complex game, however i don't know what to do, does anyone have an idea?

[lost merlin]

flabby birb

[summer python]

I need to credit owners of sfx I use for my game. Can I just make a text file in my game files or do I have to make a credits menu?. All other assets are made by me by the way.

[abstract wolf]

It needs to be credited somewhere. Preferably in a credits menu, to my knowledge there's no law requiring you to do it in game. You can credit it on the webpage, a text file, or something similar. Obligatory IANAL but this is what I've seen others do.

[summer python]

Oh thanks maybe I'll just use a text file; I feel weird about a credits menu only containing me.

[abstract wolf]

If it's only you, then you don't need a credits menu 😄

You NEED credits if you're using assets that require you to credit them via attribution licenses

But you can also just say

"A game by X"

If you're only crediting yourself

[summer python]

Also, if I reformatted them to another file type, e.g mp3 to wav, do I also have to mention that?

[abstract wolf]

Yes, if you use somebody's assets under attribution license, and modify it. You still have to credit them.

[summer python]

Okay thanks for the help.

[surreal cobalt]

Does anyone know how to keep UI elements perfectly anchored to a position? Nothing I try seems to work perfectly

[night shoal]

Not a game design question. Post to #📲┃ui-ux instead with the anchoring settings

[dusty sigil]

I’m creating an MMORPG, and I was wondering wether to go with modern, or more retro style

RETRO

MODERN

I love the retro, but I’m wondering what people would actually play as

[errant shard]

Hi all, not sure if this is the correct place to ask, but would anyone be open to providing an opinion on a building system I've been working on for a Space Station management/building project please?

https://streamable.com/a6wdw5

a/d controls the rotation and w/s controls the 'forward/back'. Idea being is that you can only work on the 'section' that is in focus of the camera, you click on a 'connection point' to add either new 'frame pieces' or modules (the blue boxes, I just haven't made the prefabs for those yet), the modules would be things like Corridor (for connecting the rings), refinery modules, habitation modules, life support modules etc. etc. I have it set up so that connection points can only have certain types and 'tiers' of modules that will be unlockable through research or a progression system (build one type of module and it unlocks others maybe), I haven't quite figured that out yet.

I'm not sure what I'm doing with the visuals of the connection points as yet, I'm trying to avoid the whole 'hologram' thing as it's been done to death.

Thanks 🙂

[sharp zinc]

The important is more what you want to make, given that making a successful MMO is already a near impossible task you should aim to make something you want to make instead.

[dusty sigil]

Near impossible? O

[errant shard]

Notoriously one of the hardest game genres to make, especially as an individual. Beyond the technical difficulties, have you thought about the logistics of running it long term? ie. servers/maintenence etc. Personal opinion, but you may be better off making it just straight Multiplayer (a bit like Stardew Valley or something)

[dusty sigil]

I have thought, I have an artist and a musician

I think as I’m a single programmer, though

I’ll use a prebuilt server, like Mirror

[sharp zinc]

Pretty sure it won't be able to hold the Massive aspect of a MMO

[errant shard]

I'm not sure that prebuilt server addons/plugins are designed for MMO's if honest. Honestly not trying to put you off, just making sure that you're aware of what a monumental task it is.

[dusty sigil]

Oh

[errant shard]

MMO servers hold and process a massive amount of data, and need to process it very quickly.

[dusty sigil]

Ah

So near impossible to make successful, and mirror is useless

Damn

Not worth it

[errant shard]

Using 100 players as a nice round number. It has to constantly keep their stats etc. updated and fed back to the players, that's quite a lot of processing.

The main reason MMO's fail (even AAA ones) is because of the cost of the servers. If no one plays/pays, there's no way to keep the servers running. 😕

[sharp zinc]

Usually, MMO made with Unity is only using Unity as the "client". The server is not Unity as per say. At least in MMO.

[errant shard]

Yeah like Simferoce says, you'd more than likely need bespoke server software written too.

[dusty sigil]

Thanks for your feedback

But for future

What should I use, retro, or modern?
Or does it matter more gameplay wise

[chrome steeple]

In my experience you could probably run a 100 user game server on a home pc, but you might need some bandwith

But yeah, I agree that it's probably not gonna turn out well anyhow

[dusty sigil]

I think I’ll use MySQL on a VPS

using PHP

I think that’s good, I’ll just have to worry about security, that’s all

But I don’t think my original question was even answered 😂

[chrome steeple]

I think you could pull it off with that stack, but the php code will most likely be awful.

Anyhow I fancy the retro style more than the modern at least 😉

[dusty sigil]

Thanks a lot

I’ll give it my best shot😅

[icy mountain]

It looks great so far but I think being able to hop to other frames regardless of the frame you're on would be a huge QoL addition

It reminds me of frostpunk a lot

[untold oriole]

Guy I need help I need a name for my game

It a speed running game

I need a name for my speed running game it about robots trying to kill you

[chrome jetty]

Have you tried Chat GPT? This is like the ONE use it has

Also, one idea is to make part or most of the game, and then let the name come up naturally

[ornate yarrow]

Zoomies

[untold oriole]

Is this good

[chrome jetty]

Why are you taking a blury picture of your screen. And what are you asking about?

[thorny mist]

There’s a deeper message behind this that we don’t get

[errant shard]

Thanks for the input. 🙂 I'll take a look at the 'direct selection' of frames idea thanks 🙂

And yeah I realised after I'd started putting it together that it's very Frostpunky. lol.

I've made a WiP thread in #1180170818983051344 🙂

[sudden pendant]

@ornate frost !collab

[desert marten]

:loudspeaker: Collaborating and Job Posting

We do not accept job or collab posts on Discord.
Please, use Discussions to promote yourself as job-seeking, advertise commercial job offers, or look for non-commercial projects to participate in:
• Collaboration & Jobs

[warped bear]

you could go full on skeumorphic to show linkage

[compact moat]

hello friends, anyone here is good with NavMesh Agent and navigation? I have a bit of an annoying problem

Anyone knows of a good algorithm to get animals to avoid obstacles, and get themselves out of sticky situations?

I'll provide further details on request

[warped bear]

#🤖┃ai-navigation

[errant shard]

Could go whatnow? lol.

[warped bear]

oh man you really need to read up on UI theory. skeu is using physical items as opposed to abstractions we have nowadays

[errant shard]

Fair enough

[sudden pendant]

@errant shard There's no off topic here, thanks.

[errant shard]

Oh shit, I'm so sorry, that was completely accidental, thought I was sending to a friend. 😦

[sudden pendant]

Lol no worries

[vagrant anvil]

anybody know why this is happening when i apply a spline mesh to a spline when using dreamtek splines

[grand osprey]

Never used dreamtek but seems likely that it just deforms the vertices along the spline but if there's no vertices between the start and end of the rail, there's nothing to deform and therefore the whole rail will appear as straight line. If you wanted the rails to deform properly, you would need to subdivide the mesh so that the deformation is possible

[vagrant anvil]

thank you for your feedback

[warped bear]

what's your favorite roguelite and why?

[thorn cove]

It's hard to choose favorites of games because many are appealing for different reasons.

Noita - The wand system is very flexible, obtaining power is satisfying since its not just handed to you (you have to figure out how to order your spells to get the most benefit), there are many unlocks and secrets in the world to add a "greater purpose" to each run.

The Binding of Isaac - Extremely easy to get into the game, you simply shoot projectiles and dodge projectiles while getting upgrades. However, there is a ton of depth to the items in terms of synergies and combos, and the emphasis on resource management (health, bombs, keys) provides a very addictive gameplay loop. (Many unlocks too)

Risk of Rain 2 - While the builds aren't particularly interesting, unlocking different characters with abilities via challenges is rewarding. Each character is a bit different in their playstyle. The game being 3D also makes it quite interesting and different from other indie roguelites.

Vampire Survivors - Again, many secrets and unlocks. The game is interesting because you can idle while playing once you get powerful, which makes it appealing to have running in the background while you do other things sometimes. It is sort of like Risk of Rain in the sense that there are not too many synergies (discounting the evolution system), but it is still a satisfying experience. Your power mainly increases due to permanent upgrades between runs.

Dead Cells - Very satisfying, difficult combat with many new items to unlock / find. Permanent progression unlocks new areas with new enemies, similar to Isaac. Not a whole lot to say about the game, but having fast-paced satisfying combat makes it addictive.

Some honorable mentions that don't feel like typical roguelites and are satisfying due to their slow accumulation of power are: Darkest Dungeon, RimWorld, Realm of the Mad God, and playing Diablo / Path of Exile on hardcore mode.

[warped bear]

cool, got addicted to vampire survivor for its brainless nature and satisfying grinding

[pale dawn]

hello, anyone have any advice for a beginner thats making an arpg (i think thats the rpg not turned based) that the style seems hand drawned?

[sudden pendant]

What kind of advice? 🤔

[pale dawn]

or mostly what i should know

[sudden pendant]

That's even more vague

But if you want advice on what you should know:

1. How to code complex data structures
2. How to design complex game systems
3. How to create complex art/animations

To name a few

[pale dawn]

i guess that

it feels intimidating 😭

[sudden pendant]

Well, as usual, the real advice is not to start so big for your first project. But that legitimate advice almost always falls on deaf ears for beginners.

[pale dawn]

so what do i do for my first project then? do i do my actual game later on?

[snow nacelle]

you should start with the advice that was given to you earlier
#💻┃unity-talk message
#💻┃unity-talk message
#💻┃unity-talk message

[pale dawn]

mb

[chrome jetty]

It should. You are asking how to make one of the most complex types of games there are.
Only way to make it more complex is to add in multiplayer.

Don't even consider an rpg until you have a few games under your belt, and at that point, you should only consider an extremely basic one

Not to discourage you, but rather to stop you from GETTING discouraged by attempting this too soon

[chrome steeple]

I'm currently programming the mulitplayer controllers and character switcher for my first game (which is of course an rpg)
//Deaf beginner

(I can see why your advice is a common one 😂 )

[arctic sigil]

i find it hard to get an game idea can someone help XD

have some experience with C# modeling

this is an example what i can make

not like smth real realistic but i think i have enough experience to make stuff

[arctic sigil]

I want smth that is social for example lethal company among us goose goose duck civ 6 if you play multiplayer

[waxen barn]

Go for it 🙂

[arctic sigil]

yeah but i dont know really what i want something unique but every social deduction game looks simmilar so i dont want to go for that smth where people need to discuss and talk with each other

that is what i want but i dont have inspiration for smth

[waxen barn]

Then try to find a way how people could decide who is the traitor without discussion ^^
Its not a shame to use inspiration from other games and change aspects of their game with your own ideas.

[arctic sigil]

yeah true true

but want smth unique idk but hard to come up with idea

but doesnt have to be social deduction i want smth social with proximity voicechat

i love talking to random people in games sound stupid but

in among us i founded it more fun to make friends and stuff

instead of finding out who the imposter is

want a game where you can mess arround with friends

[waxen barn]

so by talking about it you could fine cool ideas for a game.
Its not something that has to be perfect in a few hours.
Take your time and find ideas over the next weeks and you may find a good approach for a game.
(And make it small! - Big Projects often lead to not finished projects 😄 )

[arctic sigil]

yeah the end is true i have an idea now but it is kinda big with a crafting system no survival game tho

but that is the thing game idea is hard

[arctic sigil]

want maybe a horror co-op multiplayer

but dont have an idea

want it with proximity voicechat and that people can communicate good

[abstract wolf]

@warped ravine
So Two Worlds did something similar to this, where you could just try crafting with random ingredients and get new recipes. It was a notoriously janky game and had it's issues, but there was a small subset of people that liked the mechanics of discovery and experimentation.

I think, if you want to appeal to a larger audience, you should show the necessary ingredients. But if you want to encourage player creativity/experimentation, you could only highlight the object they need to craft. It's a trade-off on what kind of playerbase you want to cultivate, not showing necessary ingredients, in my opinion, will definitely make it harder to market to the average casual player.

It's definitely an interesting mechanic that players will latch onto, some people absolutely love that journey of discovery

But others just want to finish the game and be told how to get there.

Of course, designing something means you have to make it pretty intuitive or it bleeds over to frustration instead of exploration

It needs to be pretty diagetic

Which is tough

[warped ravine]

That is a really interesting (and useful) analysis, thanks a lot for your help! I think I may go with that option, just showing the ingredients and the discovery journey may likely focus on how to obtain those instead of making the player guess. Also, I am thinking of a roguelike game which focuses on this Dynamic so maybe it easier for the player to focus on this instead of adding that journey of discovery you mentioned

again, thanks a lot!!!!

[abstract wolf]

No problem, there's always a trade-off and no "better" answer when it comes to things like these. Good luck

[warped ravine]

Thanks!!

[warped ravine]

Oh and I have another question which should be better awnsered in #💻┃unity-talk

[heady terrace]

What's your opinion on double tap direction to dash/run? Is it too archaic and should be replaced with dedicated dash button?
Some (most if I may say) fighting games are still using it, but it seems that adventure games are totally abandoning it
I'm asking this since the game I'm making is still using double tap to dash, but I'm starting to wonder if it's the right choice

[chrome jetty]

Some games I have played have both. Double tap AND dedicated button.

I am honestly not sure which I like more. I am fine with either

[heady terrace]

Using both sounds like a good idea, thanks.

[arctic sigil]

been brainstorming the whoel day i can't get an idea

need some help XD

want a p2p co op game with proximity voicechat

want to have a unique game loop but i dont know smth

doesnt have to be horror tho

[chrome steeple]

I think once you start making it, the ideas will come

[slim otter]

im not sure if this is the right channel for this but how would i go about getting the 3d look of pogostuck which is a 2d game but looks 3d?

[night shoal]

use 3D models instead of sprites

[slim otter]

how would i go about getting the colliders to work? if i use mesh collider on the 3d object my 2d character falls through

[night shoal]

use 2D colliders

It's unlikely that you really need mesh collider level collision accuracy

[silver igloo]

Recently I've been feeling unmotivated is it normal for a game dev to randomly feel unmotivated for a couple of days?

[sudden pendant]

Yep

[sharp robin]

Most definitely

Sometimes far longer than a few days

[abstract wolf]

How effective are video tutorials in your experience?

I tried a more diagetic/interactive approach to teach players how to use a specific mechanic, but I still found during playtesting that they missed several key points. I reworked it around, tried hammering certain points home, but there were still some cases of players just not getting it.

So I recently just pushed an update with videos, coupled with text, highlighting how to use each mechanic combined with the tutorial that follows. I'm going to see results soon, but I'm wondering whether or not video tutorials are effective as I personally usually quite dislike them and consider it a worse approach than something interactive. Is combining interactive + video better than either/or? Or is it just information overload?

[buoyant sapphire]

You probably can never catch them all. I find short demo clips to be helpful but if you feel you need to overexplain stuff I’d look for changing the design of how it all is naturally revealed and presented to the player before doubling down on tutorials. Ideally players would have to learn each mechanic one at at time and move to the next only through a challenge that tests if they understand the key points.

[abstract wolf]

That's honestly a really great point. Gradual introduction to the different ways the mechanic can be used, thank you!

Along with a challenge that requires use of the mechanic

[half hedge]

I am making a horror game

It will get scarier as you go down...

[half hedge]

I have been feeling unmotivated for about a month now lol

[late vapor]

yes, I've felt unmotivated for months at a time

[arctic sigil]

yeah but making what 😦

[vapid stream]

Maybe you should just start with an open map with random buttons, then start prototyping by adding functionality to buttons

[sharp robin]

You really should start with the idea first and work backwards, otherwise it's just making a mechanic for a mechanic sake.

Nothing wrong with that but then just make it as is and don't sweat thinking of a deeper purpose

[late vapor]

It sounds good, in theory, if you are working with multiple programmers, but I agree that this is strange advice to give some random, assumedly solo dev

[weary thicket]

Videos can be skipped if needed =p

Very important for repeat players

[abstract wolf]

Yeah, the videos are skippable in their current implementation

Definitely would not omit that, otherwise it'd be super frustrating for repeat players 😄

[weary thicket]

Forced tutorial sections can be annoying for that too, though sometimes you can have have those be skippable too

[chrome steeple]

I hate tutorial videos. One thing I do like is a help menu with text combined with a little video window illustrating the keypress/combo/whatevs.

[vagrant anvil]

why is the hinge joint on the cube not corretley working, i want it to rotate in one axis but it ends up flying around all over the place

i am combining it with splines

[weary thicket]

Dare I ask, 'Combining' in what way?

[sharp robin]

Well, we have a process for validating concepts. Stage one is a series of samples showcasing variations of the barebones mechanic first to see what is the most fun. So there is a reason to build a mechanic for mechanic sake, but then at that stage it's best not to worry so mcuh about the specifics of what it fits into. You may already be there if you've tested out the mechanics and find it fun. At that point, sampling some variations is good. But when I say starting with the idea and working backwards, I mean putting those initial mechanics into a sample and getting people using it first to see if it is even worth pursuing. But that's just how we operate internally, everyones probably differnet. I think it is just a long ass way of me saying to go into it with a plan 😄 😄

[vagrant anvil]

adding a hinge joint to a part with a spline follower

[late vapor]

I was agreeing with you when you said you should come up with a plan before implementing something, I think I mistook iLikePizza's suggestion as being top down design, when really, it's working on mechanics arbitrarily

[sharp robin]

I also just wanted to say, complete side topic, I can totally relate to this statement

[lime rune]

in an action rpg, would you guys prefer floating damage numbers that show the raw damage amount of the skill or the damage actually dealt to the enemy (ie if the enemy has 1 health, it will show 1 since it died even if the skill did more damage). trying to decide which is best

[late vapor]

raw damage numbers

[lime rune]

kk thanks

[icy mountain]

can UI related stuff go in here in regards to game mechanics

the artistic value of my UI is horrible but im sorta just after how the player feels in terms of being able to manage information when looking at it, is this the right place to post?

[vapid stream]

To my knowledge, i think you can as long as it’s not a lot of stuff every couple days

If it was that often, it’d be in dev logs

[sharp robin]

If its "does this look cool or how should I design this" #archived-game-design I'd post it there, if it is "how in the hell do I do X in unity with UI" it would be a good fit in #📲┃ui-ux . If it is "I made X for my game" id post it in #1180170818983051344

It sounds like a fit here though if you ask me

#not-a-mod.

[chrome steeple]

You could do overkill numbers in a different colour, like red for damage and gray for overkill damage

[dry comet]

Hello Guys

[vagrant anvil]

why is my hinge joint keep falling off from the object its attached too

im tryin to achive something like this

[half hedge]

a platformer puzzle game???

[half hedge]

train sim?

[vagrant anvil]

yeah

[half hedge]

nice

[half hedge]

Im heaviy unexperienced but is it something to do with the rigidbody?

[sudden pendant]

This is a game design channel, your issues/questions don't belong here. You can use #⚛️┃physics in the future.

[vagrant anvil]

ook thanks

[open orchid]

Hello everyone

I just wanted to ask what is the best way to implement weather such as rain

post processing? dumping rain partical effects ontop of the player cam?

ive never tried to do weather before

[sudden pendant]

Particles would be the easiest

[open orchid]

But what would look cool

[arctic sigil]

not really original there are a lot of platformer games

thx tho XD

[open orchid]

Just finished my day night cycle 🙂

[ornate bobcat]

Hi, does anyone know how to fix this tilling? I use the free PSX ForeGround textures and downscaled to 32x32 in unity, but the tilling is too visible

[plain bridge]

what game should i make for a starter project

[sudden pendant]

Pong

[plain bridge]

hm ok

[chrome jetty]

Pong is suprisingly complex in some ways (depending on how you want to handle the bounces), but very simple architecturally. Good first choice. Many people also like flappy bird. I often recommend brick breaker, which has the same complexity as pong for bouncing.

[weary thicket]

Pretty sure the spline follower doesn't use physics

[winged badge]

Hi! I'm running into a design problem and I haven't thought of a good way of fixing it.

I'm making a pinball rogue like with perks(I.E: that work like the jokers do in balatro)
and I don't want the player to be able to pass from level to level with only pure skill, so they need to choose well their perks.

I've thought of adding a max play time so you are forced to having a good sinergy or you won't have enough time to point the required score before the time goes up, but I'm not convinced at all, ¿Any ideas?

If you need me to elaborate on any part I might have not developed the explanation correctly feel free to tell me, and ping me if you answer me, ty in advance

[late vapor]

that sounds like there's a danger of players having their game stonewalled by bad rng

[weary thicket]

Feels kinda against the spirit of pinball to be that heavily rng >.>

Rng is best as a spice, and much of the enticement of pinball(the game) is the promise of the high rewards for the high skill ceiling.

[winged badge]

So pinball isn't something that would match well with a "jokers/artifacts" system?

[winged badge]

But it can still display skill based reward through a combination of (for example) a bumpers build, with the skill to consistently hit the bumpers

[weary thicket]

Not to the extent that it hard walls off progress to the unlucky.

[winged badge]

With a great balance of the artifacts I think there would be no playthrough that would be impossible to win because of rng

Maybe not 100% of the times but 99%

BTW I love the name because it's so related to the current topic lmao

[noble arrow]

i'm gonna make a game about making jam you collect berries and wood then you go to your shack to put wood under your stovetop then you make the jam and then you sell it but it feels like it's missing something i think there should be some more progression or maybe there is something missing in my gameplay loop any suggestions would be appreciated

[sharp robin]

That is pretty narrow, I would broaden it.

But it's perfect size to get a concept out first

[chrome steeple]

In my highly personal opinion, you should be able to finish a good roguelite on the first run. At least reach an end.
The improvements should be there to compensate for a lack of skill

[winged badge]

The plan is to not have hard meta progression I want it more to be like Isaac in that aspect, where you still have unlockable items to add to the pool but don't have any type of progression that makes Isaac deal more base damage at the start (it's an example)

So basically it should be and will be possible to finish at the first ever run

I just want to make it hard or impossible if the player doesn't choose a right combination of fortunas (perks, items, jokers call it however you want) because I want to reward more the strategy and combination ability of fortunas than the skill playing pinball

[chrome steeple]

I wouldn’t appreciate that kind of mechanic, but you do you

I prefer skill based games

[half hedge]

Like an idle game?

Employees who pick berries, and lots of different employees who do the different steps, you need to click on them to make them work, but then you can hire managers to do that automatically.

Upgrades, faster berry picking time etc

[winged badge]

It has skill, but also including the skill of choosing well what "fortunas" to buy and how to play around those

[thorny mist]

Is it not possible to just increase the difficulty of the game so Players have more of a reason to use them?

I also personally play games in ways that are fun. If I didn’t see the Fortunas as fun or helpful, I would probably wouldn’t use them

[rich cliff]

Did you intentionally put as much blue light into your eyes? I'm sorry for you if you can't sleep at night no matter what ;-;

[winged badge]

That's the goal, but If they are the main scoring source I don't want people to be in the same round with a bad build for 2 hours just because they are good at the game, since I don't think it would be fun to spend more than 2 minutes in each stage, therefore I don't want people who is good at pinball being able to just force their way through the stages

[shadow carbon]

Hey probably the wrong place for this but anyways, Im trying to make a simple 3D space scene , how do i get it so that the inside of a cube is visible to the camera?

im trying to place a cube around a planet and the camera so i can use it as a sort of DIY space HDRI.

kinda my first time messing with 3D

[buoyant sapphire]

Set the material to render backfaces or flip your box-meshes vertex normals