but, are there any good examples of a dynamic crafting system that goes beyond X + X always equals 5 damage sword or potion of healing for 20HP
#archived-game-design
remote topaz
flat atlas
You could do a minigame style system with various crafting activities where the player's actual skill translates to better stats/outcome on the item, then throw some minor randomization in the mix. Like a potion will heal 8-10 if the player performs average, 13-16 if they perform well. Is that kind of what you meant?
remote topaz
hmmm
i mean it'd be interesting yeah, id only want that to play a part of it though
crafting systems have always been fascinating to me, and i want to make an incredible one, but like you also dont want immense over complexity
a level or skill based crafting would be interesting
do you mean by skill based as in like, a potion skill increasing it or a minigame thing
flat atlas
Like a player's skill in the minigame. Knowing the motions and having built up the muscle memory for it
remote topaz
hmmm, ok hear me out for a second then
flat atlas
So crafting is actually a major part of the game rather than supplementary
remote topaz
cause having a minigame for each crafting instance
would be tiresome and tedious
what if you can use the minigame to make a version of said item
like, i mixed X items together to make a potion that ended up healing and fortifying armor
then i can refer to recipe that randomly will make the potion equal to or worse than the one i made based on level and random chance
flat atlas
That could be cool, but might frustrate players when they get a bad roll
Imagine trying to make an op sword for 20 min and getting the worst roll on it every time
remote topaz
Hmmm
Well I'm worried people won't use the original sword they created, but maybe that's non issue
Maybe it just created around that level I guess
dense talon
@remote topaz I like the crafting system in guild wars 2, it's very simple but the mats are not simple. Since most endgame gear that are legendary can be crafted, the items that you need may require a lot of help from guildies and such to obtain.
But if you want a complex system of mutation crafting you could always have a chance to fail the experiment or like "fusing these two potions together may result in these two potions, but may also blow up in your face!". There are so many ways to make a crafting system more complex, but that is also a really good way to make your game very hard to balance ^^;
flat atlas
Could also have more simplistic items that you can craft on demand or en masse, and then more powerful items that you have to take time/effort to create
dense talon
kinda like the minecraft modding community, a lot of mods require simple parts at first, but then when you get down to the mass production of things it requires many complex items. 🙂
stray steeple
Hey all. My friend and I came up with a pretty cute idea that I'd like to make for VR, but I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out a fun style of gameplay for it. The only reason I want to make this game in VR is really to learn how to make a game compatible for VR - so emphasis on the learning part. But as far as designing mechanics: I want to have a scrappy humanoid-cat character, who is essentially a unicorn bounty-hunter. There are some obvious applications with VR games that would apply like Space Pirate trainer, or some kind of other arcade / duckhunt experience. Was wondering if anyone else might have any other ideas that would make for a challenging VR game.
cold onyx
does anyone here know game design? im making an assasin game and i dont know how to model for crap
my idiot self spelled assassin wrong smh
cold onyx
Game design generally stands for designing...
- Targeted platform, audience, key selling points, etc
- Game controls
- Camera handling
- Gameplay mechanics
- Enemies, including: attacks, AI behaviors, etc.
- Skill trees
- Game systems
- Game menus
- The lore of the game, the story, plot twist, etc.
- World locations
- Game structure, save game, etc.
- Etc.
Planning the game, conceptually. On paper
@cold onyx
dense talon
@cold onyx The guys in #🔀┃art-asset-workflow knows about modeling, but there are plenty of tutorials on youtube too for blender and several other modeling tools. I would suggest you take a tutorial or two before asking basic questions.
dense talon
@cold onyx This is a very broad question. I mean, making a map is not something most people just slap together if it is a 3D model creation like Dark Souls or Styx. I would recommend building rooms as prefabs. This can make your future mapmaking much easier since you can technically build the majority of the dungeons or whatever and then later add other objects inside of them.
When it comes with 2D games, just make a sprite sheet and use the tilemap really. You can use a tilemap with 3D objects too ofc, just fewer people who choose that path.
Settings depend on what type of project you are making.
plugins also depends on what type of game you are making.
If you plan to use a heck of a lot of items and objects in the scene at once, you should look into the DOTS programming pattern.
dry thicket
hey guys when i play the game that im making my tiles got lines between them and no its not the anti aliasing thats disabled
i can se each cell thats what i mean
u can se the lines
hard fog
raven hatch
@obtuse talon my thoughts on inventory system.
Approach 1 - may be great for turned based game if you envision lots of playable characters. This will let the player manage less but feel like each char is unique to their style of play.
Approach 2- if the game is targeted around a small group (3 or less in my opinion) or one main character the player uses.
Approach 3 - if you want to create a feeling of scarcity and do not want to have stackable items. This is best in survival style game. Adds layer to the shape of what you can carry in your pack. Not something to be used with encumbrance style systems.
obtuse talon
Not something to be used with encumbrance style systems.
Todd Howard wants to know your location then
That's valuable feedback, thanks
raven hatch
Lol. Well rules are meant to be broken haha
It’s just kind of mean in my opinion. The one that I think about for approach 3 is Resident evil and survival horror seems harsh already 😄
@cold onyx I suggest graph paper. Great place to start out and have a feeling for size. Even cut out a bunch and find the size you like. Align them on the ground/table imagining how the player would go through the level. Use miniatures too if you want.
.... or just copy and paste the one you like over and don’t forget to mirror it too. Lol. Think of how real world architects do it you can see streets filled with the same house just slightly altered
@obtuse talon Here is an inventory system I’ve made that can handle approach 1 and 2. https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/inventory-buddy-156756. It’s for point and click style interface. Not sure what you are planning... let me know if you would like a free voucher. It’s new and still needs reviews.
obtuse talon
I quickly checked it out and not what I need, actually. But I like where it's going just by looking at the pics, specially the custom window for the list of all items. I'll recommend people to check it out in the event someone asks for such a thing.
raven hatch
👍
cedar ledge
Hello, you know how in Fifa, there is an online market for players? How would you have a system like that in unity
raven hatch
@cedar ledge Not familiar with it. 1st thought is you would need to set up a currency system. I have one here https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/packs/currency-gold-silver-copper-score-111310 that gives you some ui and can be added and subtracted from. The next thing would be a way to add and subtract players from the online list and move them to the players list. If this is a multiplayer game there will have to be some type of save data for the server to know if a player is available or not for purchase. Think that should be about it
cedar ledge
@raven hatch Thanks Man! Right now we're trying to spend as little as possible, but if I can't setup a good currency system, I'll think about buying this
cold onyx
Can someone gimme an idea for a 3D/2D game, please specify 2d or 3d, and also @ me so i see it.
@everyone
why is someone's name everyone
@Programmer
||HI||
autumn onyx
Hey guys, any ideas on how you could twist a stick-fight like game? I currently have a decent game but it feels too similar.
strong oyster
Can I get some help involving trying to use a RigidBody2D and a BoxCollider2D at the same time?
Following a tutorial and the guy is using them, although they are conflicting Unity says.
rustic cypress
Does anyone use houdini for procedural stuff?
median zodiac
@strong oyster You may have figured it out by now, but in the screenshot you had a Rigidbody component, not a Rigidbody2d. Easy to miss, but they're rather different.
strong oyster
...I am blind. Thank you, Zaffre.
median zodiac
@strong oyster Hah, no problem- I still make mistakes like that sometimes, man. It's just a matter of paying extra close attention to the more obvious things that we tend to overlook.
cold onyx
@autumn onyx too similar to what?
cold onyx
Surely you've made stick fight, so you know how to make a game now
Don't listen to me only though
cold onyx
Go and make that original game
rocky pewter
@autumn onyx
How about
Movement and fight only with grappling hooks
Or characters could walk and jump but be very slow
flat atlas
Could give them super powers and a sort of class system for them?
Like you can pick a guy who can fly or a guy who can teleport or whatever
Or just randomize who gets what superpower
autumn onyx
yeah those are some good ideas
i dont want to only do grappling hooks since i already have made other weapons
flat atlas
You could also do a larger map game mode. I played a 2d platformer shooter yeaaaars ago called Raze that had large-ish maps and you played a team deathmatch style game in them
flat atlas
As far as I understand, stick fight is super fast paced with small maps. Diverging from that could be neat
autumn onyx
ah thx
flat atlas
depending on how different you want to be and if the game mechanics support it 🙂
autumn onyx
😉
flat atlas
Good luck!
mystic stratus
Ok so, after experimenting on and off for over a year, I decided to build a full fledged multiplayer FPS with some time control features.
The order which I'm going on right now is
CharacterController Setup, Shooting Physics, Time control try outs, Level design, NPC setup, multiplayer implementation.
Is this the correct order to go about developing it? I left integrating multiplayer for last as I'm not quite sure how I would go about doing so with the different timelines for all players.
Also, am I missing any key steps? 
Any insight would be appreciated, thanks!
flat atlas
definitely ask about how you should handle implementing a multiplayer system up in #archived-networking and #💻┃code-beginner. As far as I've been informed, you need to go into the game understanding that it will be multiplayer and build it appropriately or you'll end up having to go back through everything to set it up to run in multiplayer.
Besides that, looks like a pretty good plan 🙂
mystic stratus
Thank you! I'll definitely do that
sinful imp
Script error: OnCollisionEnter
This message parameter has to be of type: Collision
The message will be ignored.
im confused with this error pls help
gaunt rampart
Your parameter. It needs to be of type Collision. E.g.:
void OnCollisionEnter(Collision collision) {}```Common mistakes include leaving it as Collider after changing from OnTriggerEnter.
cold onyx
any ideas on how to make a rolling ball game fun?
river patrol
hi guys, what would you think of this kind of jumping? basically the gravity is lower when the character is going up - i am using this to have more precise control of the variable jump height
nocturne crest
any ideas on how to make a rolling ball game fun?
@cold onyx S C R E E N S H A K E
cold onyx
That would cause headaches, not be more fun
snow rock
Can someone help me? I want my character to have an animation and also that when I look down his head look down to so its more realistic, I want him to move because I want to make the game into a lan/online parkour game in which you can have fun with your friends
pine dagger
so i just got started and im followign this tutorial
and his camera stays on the player
but mine doesnt
it will follow it, but as soon as i hit something, i cant seee my player
help
oh i figured it out lmao
it was because i had it parented
versed osprey
how do I see the color in blender that i made in vertex paint in Object mode and Edit Mode?
tropic crest
I have having a problem in C# Unity 2D.
When I try to shoot my bullet it explodes instantly?
I'm trying to make it were when ever it hits an object it explodes.
Can you please @ me if you know how to fix it.
sharp raptor
I have a question about designing a simple melee spell
in Unity 2D, for a platformer, I'd like my character's most basic attack to be a close range fire explosion
would it be best to code and animate my character's attack movement, and then code and animate a separate explosion that appears during the attack, or bundle everything together and include the explosion in the character's animation?
as in, in one case the fireball/explosion would be its own entity, in the other it would be just part of the animation
hard fog
@tropic crest Your projectile most likely is being spawned inside the collider and being triggered by it. Turn off collider for a few frames or ignore collision with self entirely.
tropic crest
I tried that but it’s not it? Could it be something with the code that makes it explode instantly?
weary thicket
@tropic crest How is it SUPPOSED to trigger?
worn scarab
has anyone here made a large map?
weary thicket
define 'large?' Supraland? San Andreas? Outer Wilds? Kerbal Space Program?
limpid ocean
Do this
misty ivy
Anyone know why this is happening?
I add a new sprite and set it as background but its not a full square
worn scarab
@weary thicket fortnite map size, I am making a battle royale, and I need a map designer. I am willing to pay.
bronze ruin
That looks like the Sprite itself is shaped that way @misty ivy
deep sandal
@misty ivy it seems that the material is black as you made it and the shape is the same as you made And if your trying to make a black background try changing settings in main camera
regal birch
anyone want to help me with my game?
My game is A game That starts off low-res and medieval but the more you progress, the better the graphics and the more advanced enemies and weapons.
cold onyx
What do you think is a good character-progression system in a SciFi-shooter/RPG like Alien Breed / Diablo?
It's very.. "easy" to design in a fantasy setting with the most common attributes like Strength, Dexterity
as well as equipment where damage simply increases on "better" axes or bows
unreal imp
is it a bad idea in your opinion to put a boss in the middle of a stage
like in a 2d sidescroller/"metroidvania" type game
sturdy parcel
So im trying to do water reflection in unity.. but when i created the cubemap for the water.. it came out really blurry..
and I dont know if i did anything wrong to it. I even changed the face size to see if that'll fix anything.
but it seems it didnt.. any tips ?
median oar
i'm trying to design a level, but all the tutorials i can find tells you to make a level around the movement, but i'm making a story based game. any good tutorials for a story motivated level?
earnest dagger
if it's a story based game then the kind of level that you will need will depend A LOT on the story
regal birch
@cold onyx The Idea is like the character grows more and more when going to the future like here is immortal.
versed osprey
how tf do i apply color in blender in Vertex paint? Like in edit mode i select the object i want to draw and then in vertex paint i select the color and with the brush i click and swish it and nothing happens
median oar
this is unity
regal swan
@versed osprey #🔀┃art-asset-workflow ? otherwise blender has their own discord...
deep pendant
Hello there, people of the internet. I m a 3D modeler making a game and I have an extremely problematic asset issue. I checked the textures in Blender normal maps and they all work flawlessly, until I import it into unity.
If anyone has a clue about the issue please feel free to mention or DM me
cold onyx
when making game assets it needs to look great in Unity
not Blender
Blender doesnt render graphics like Unity.
You cannot and shouldnt use Blender as visual preview
worldly crown
I am trying to make a game with layered tilemaps to place and break, sort of like "Minecraft," but overhead viewed.
I am trying to detect what block is in what layer, so the tile name in the tile layer, so I can manipulate that one tile, without affecting other tiles underneath. How would I get this data off a click?
And then of course manipulate it?
dense talon
@worldly crown How would you even visualize that a tile was under the other? There are plenty tutorials online how you get the specific tile from a click however. You could potentially shoot one ray for each layer, if they are not many or one ray that hits the first tile collider.
To be fair, you don't even need to have several layers if you are not going to move them separately, you can just change the tile value to a sprite that is "lower" and have a data on each and every single tile. Which layer it's on and so on.
worn scarab
can anyone design and model me a battle royale map for my new game? I am willing to pay for it.
sonic tide
Right, I'm going to say two words. Hate me if you must but I need to say them.
Metroidvania RTS.
dense talon
@sonic tide So how would the game mechanic of that work?
sonic tide
(Deep inhale)
You have a fleet of vehicles, think something like Homeworld: deserts of kharac.
each vehicle fills a military or support role and you can always build more depending on recourses.
"Metroidvania" relies on you being able to get new abilities to open new paths, in this case your new abilities would come from getting new recourses and building infrastructure. Need to open a door? Set up camp and hold out till the drilling is done. Need to span a gap? Set up and start refining to build a bridge.
other things like tech and vehicle design can also help widen it all out.
dense talon
@sonic tide It's not much different from a normal RTS when you can create a flying unit that doesn't give a hoot about your obstacles.
But I get what you mean, one thing that you should keep in mind though is that RTS people are serious about their game, they will try to optimize the shit out of it and you may end up in a "meta" unless you come up with a strategy that can give the maps a bit of flexibility but still keeping it even.
Don't know what became of SC2 TBH, have not seen it a lot lately and it's still a great game, could be useful to read up on why that is no longer streamed.
But then again, if you want to make a game just for the fun/pasion you have for it, god speed!
sonic tide
@dense talon
DM me if you wanna go down the rabbit hole of design. I have been working on this for several years.
uneven egret
Hi ! I am currently developing hollow knight and celeste - inspired game named Shards of Gravity ! You can join my discord or twitter to check out more about the game if you like it 🙂
PM me for discord link if you would liket to join👍
crystal swan
Anyohe can reccomend me simple free city scene to download? I want to test my fps controller on a proper map
I dont want stuff like Sun-Temple thats huge and overcomplicated
tiny musk
Hi everyone!
(i'm from Colombia, so excuse me for my english)
i need help with a game
it's a game made in Unity to help autistic children, the game uses Virtual Reality
and i want a little explain in a topic
It is a research project of my university and we need help to make the graphic environment (programming is not a problem)
clarification: it's not an online game, it's a software for those childrens who need it
versed osprey
@regal swan on the blender discord they only have on channel... the rules channel
nvm i found out how to open other channels
distant eagle
This is just a matter of taste, what would yall think a good starting hp value would be? even with no knowledge of the game.
I'm trying to keep scaling pretty low so somewhere under 100
lilac shoal
@distant eagle 20
flat atlas
Depends on the game. I'd go in jumps of 5, 10, 20, and 100. Anything between 20 and 100 is kind of awkward imo.
So in a platformer I would probably go with a 5-10 system since you're supposed to avoid hits and each hit is a health point or two depending on the enemy. In a shooter, I would probably go for 100 so that you can play with bullet damage and have a variety of damage spread across weapons. Same for a RTRPG, so you can really mess with damage values with abilities and weapons. If we're talking turn based I would probably put it at 20 so that things are a little simpler on that front and it'll make all the other complex balancing and optimization a little easier.
rough slate
Hi, what is considered best practice for tiling maps? For example, 2D pixel art, what are the pros and cons for tiling the map in Unity, or tiling it in Pyxel Edit?
flat atlas
You might want to ask in #archived-art-asset-showcase for specific info, @rough slate.
stable spear
snow crest
@stable spear I'd just call it low poly & desaturated.
vast surge
How long should a platformer game be like how many levels should I create
sonic oracle
The more the better😉
weary thicket
Make as many as you can and cut out all the ones that aren't great
Ideally before doing the full art/visuals pass
restive cairn
im making a open area but im struggling to make a good looking yet functional game level like with bounderies
guys?
zealous wren
BOTW had some great ideas for using shapes to guide the player experience
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz_UmRDesMyvQkdOWV9rVjlKaDQ/view?usp=drivesdk
stone bolt
@main monolith you should ask in #🔀┃art-asset-workflow - game design is not that kind of design :)
main monolith
@main monolith you should ask in #🔀┃art-asset-workflow - game design is not that kind of design :)
@stone bolt Okat, sorry
worn scarab
Does anyone want to go through the journey of building a battle royal with me?
dm me
ebon talon
How you deal with large maps? Im creating open world game. Is better create one super big terrain or many scenes some way?
And edges. Just add mountains or sea. What you prefer
unique arch
Hello guys i want to start making art for my game but i dont have photoshop or a drawing :l
flat atlas
There are plenty of free alternatives. You'll probably have the best luck asking up in #archived-art-asset-showcase. Be specific about what kind of game you're making and what you're looking for in your software.
@unique arch
cold onyx
hiya. I've made a mobile game using unity and I am trying to update it but I am unable to figure out how to change the version code... Any ideas?
oh what channel do I want lol
ok thanks
pearl kettle
can anyone help me with skeleton animations i have difficulties pm me
flat atlas
The people in #🏃┃animation might be able to help you, but this channel isn't really for that type of question. @pearl kettle
I would recommend outlining your difficulties in your message, though, so that people know whether or not they will be able to help you.
wheat holly
Hi, I would like to reproduce the spinner in figure to make a widget.
You configure it with a chance of success and it will create a blue “arch" proportional to the chance of success. Then it spins and when it stops it checks if the needle is within the blue arch (success) or the red one (fail).
The general idea is to do it using colliders bu I don't know how to create those parametric arches. Any help? Thank you
frosty dawn
wicked grove
does any one know any different system that can be used instead of ''energy'' systems on mobile games?
zealous wren
Depends on what your goal is. Are you more focused on getting IAPs, getting the player to play often, or slowing down the player's progress?
terse sleet
Do somebody there know how to use book of the dead pack from unity ?
flat atlas
@wicked grove That depends on a lot of things. What is the genre/theme of the game, what is the goal in the game, and what is the goal of the energy system?
wicked grove
@flat atlas i guess point of energy system is to slow down progression
flat atlas
Well, depending on the genre of the game, here are a few things that popped to mind.
1.) Time-Gated earned currency. The player has to actively do something to earn the currency that can then be spent but the game limits how much they get over certain amounts of time. So let's say it's Gold Coins, the player can send out "caravans" to sell goods after X min/hr. When they get the Gold Coins, they can then upgrade their character/farm/kingdom/whatever and take part in various game activities.
2.) Level completion scaling reward. For completing levels the player gets points that can be used to level up or whatever to complete later levels. Replay levels to get more points but they'll never get as many as their first completion of the level and the cost of upgrades scales dramatically so they'll be farming levels for coins to beat later levels. It's kind of a soft gate where a player who plays nonstop will be able to advance faster, but with daily bonuses or other ways of earning points passively, casual players will be able to advance as well.
3.) The classic upgrade times, from games like Clash. It takes real world time to upgrade game mechanics or generate troops, hard capping how far you can advance at a time.
4.) Pedometer based resource generation. Pokemon GO handles this really well, where you can just walk with your phone to gain various items/rewards throughout the day. A person can only walk so much in a day, so it'll soft cap your progression. This would have to tie in directly with game mechanics, though.
5.) Locking certain features to reset. Having optional of couple levels every day that can only be completed once per reset that reward your currency/energy to take part in other progression. Reward could be tied to time/skill ratings or difficulty modifiers.
wicked grove
oh wow thanks man! that's a big help.
flat atlas
No problemo 🙂
wicked grove
just wondering what are your opinions on armour/weapons that have random numerical values on drop just like in path of exile or a system where drops are static like world of warcraft(not counting forging). i cant decide which i should pick
flat atlas
Ooh that's a difficult one. I absolutely despise the forging in WoW (I played for about 4 yrs and quit with the most recent xpac). I was always a dungeon scrub, so running Mythic + was aces for me, but the fact that I had to farm not only for a piece of gear I wanted, but that it had to war/titanforge for it to actually be an upgrade was infuriating.
With that said, I've been playing a ton of Destiny 2 lately and I love their random roll gearing system. Each piece of gear, even if it has the same name, will have a random stat roll. So, you can get an insane stat roll on a piece of generic legendary gear from doing whatever piddly activity. You can then upgrade that piece with higher level pieces to keep it relevant when you do find a really good roll that fits your build. They also roll random perks on weapons that mix up how that gun should be used effectively in pve/p. Some perk rolls are objectively better than others, but most are still useful without being mandatory to go farm up a good roll unless you really want to.
d2 also has "curated" rolls on certain weapons, where they will always drop with specific perks. So no matter how you get that piece, it will always be the same.
So I guess my answer is, I like a mixed system. I want something with a bit of randomness that I can farm, but I don't want to be held back significantly because I have shit luck and can't get the drop I'm after.
wicked grove
hmm never played destiny. ill look into their drop system. thanks again 😄
wicked grove
does anyone know any games with similar art-style like darkest dungeon but less grim?
harsh drift
cold onyx
I dont know if this is the right chanel to post this but could anybody explain why this happens when i add my animator to my player?
he shouldn't be in the ground
inland pilot
Here's a question how you guys handle fixedDeltaTime and deltaTime?
I want to make sure graphics and physics simulation stays separate
How do I achieve that?
flat atlas
@cold onyx That would be a better question for #🏃┃animation
@inland pilot The peeps in #💻┃code-beginner or #⚛️┃physics might be able to help you with that.
This channel is for discussing game mechanics and theory, not so much the technical implementation of those mechanics and theory.
inland pilot
Sorry my bad.
cold onyx
thanks
granite prism
Hey, wanted to get some opinions on this. This is an idea I'm thinking of for a manual spell casting system.
The directions will include diagonals as well, allowing for a lot of different combinations
distant eagle
@granite prism I like that, reminds me of Lost Magic using joystic. You'd have to keep some spell designs relatively simple/intuitive to keep the combat fluid
The healing spell in that game would be like 1->4->3->2 on your circle thing there
most werent that complex
With spell mixing in that game, you could cast heal first, then the fire rune and it would do a heal+cure burn type thing.
granite prism
oh yea, for sure
I was thinking of giving the player 1 slot at the start for casting a spell with a single button press, more gained throughout the game possibly
and already had plans for spell mixing and repeating the same spell to power it up
distant eagle
Im stuck on what to implement as the special attack for this sword.
Charged thrust or slash, projectile slash?
The ability will cost SP (blue bar)
granite prism
why not both!
distant eagle
Well... Given this weapon is meant to showcase physical melee, I will do the projectile with another weapon
glass flame
I have this problem where my tilemap is expanding to a way bigger size than what I need. Anyone know how to fix this?
flat atlas
I know they deal with a lot of tilemap issues up in #archived-art-asset-showcase. They might be able to help you out with that problem 🙂
sand citrus
How to edit a sprige
Sprite
I have a png picture but it doesn't appear png
So I gotta edit it
But no idea how to
sacred forge
where can I find ready-made game designs
worldly sage
Do you mean like the art or the actual mechanics and flow of the game?
patent pecan
yo anyone have any ideas for types of rooms where you would blow stuff up, like the objects and stuff
flat atlas
Not sure what you're after @sacred forge. Do you mean a shell where you just have to drop your visuals in, visuals where you just drop in some code, or just write ups for games?
@patent pecan
Offices: Printers, boxes of paper, computer monitors, filing cabinets, folders/books, and aerosol cans can all give awesome visuals when you blow them up.
Kitchen: Stoves/ovens w/ gas lines, stacks of dishes, shelves, large fruits/meats, cabinets with stuff inside, knife racks (could have knives fly everywhere when exploded), refrigerators.
Apartment/Home Rooms: Couches/recliners/any furniture with fluff inside, lights/lamps, ceiling fans, TVs/monitors/speakers, knickknacks.
**Bathroom: **Stacks of toilet paper, aerosol cans, sinks/toilets, exposed water lines.
Construction: Bags of dry concrete, tanks of various explosive material, generators, overhead lights, gas tanks, various equipment like fork lifts and backhoes, insulation, stacks of light material like drywall, collapsible framing.
Does that help?
autumn onyx
Hey guys I've been making a game that keeps on steering towards Stickfight even though I want for it to steer away from it. I'm also pretty far along in production so I would want just some quick fixes rather than redoing my entire game. Currently this is what I have:
Similarities with stickfight:
couch muliplayer made for playing with friends and having a fun time
play as stickmen
fast paced gameplay/level switching
silly physics(in fact my physics might even be sillier)
similar types of weapons
crazy environments
simple art (cause Im not an artist so can't really change this one)
Differences
Instead of picking up weapons and dropping them, you force pickup and throw weapons
I have a slide and a flip mechanic
My game has modifiers to modify settings of the game (like gravity or jump height or bullet speed etc)
You can play as teams
You can change your players colors
Will hopefully have some pretty smart AI stickmen in the future (thinking some type of team v AI gameplay could be super interesting but thats all dependent on whether machine learning actually works with creating these AI stickmen)
Camera that moves with the players (rather than a stationary camera)
No hand on hand combat (only with weapons => a bigger focus on weapons)
Some weapons that stickfight doesn't have (like grappling gun, baloon firing gun, etc..)
Anything else I can do to differientiate my game further since currently it looks like Stick Fight with some cool features? (not really a game designer myself so I'm a little inexperienced in this field)
flat atlas
Some form of deeper character customization, like hats/sunglasses/mustaches etc that can be unlocked by playing, more game mode styles/changes (some that come to mind include being able to res dead teammates, capture the flag or 'deposit the bomb into the slot' type gamemodes, respawning in objective based game modes), npc enemies/obstructions, power ups that give unique powers (could be random drop like weapons or chosen by the player).
Really, if the art style looks similar to Stickfight, you're always going to struggle with being labeled a Stickfight ripoff, no matter how many unique features you add. Just focus on making a fun game 🙂
autumn onyx
yeah the game modes and character customization sounds good will definetly implement those
yeah i agree that the art style is really is killer - im really bad at art in general so i was just thinking something pretty simple which is probably what the devs of stick fight thought too lol. any ideas on how to diversify my art knowing that im not too good of an artist?
granite prism
https://gyazo.com/5119048ab5e2335c0c1263fde6dd3434
https://gyazo.com/65d151383de206e945bc0c8300d98c36
so I have a couple gameplay elements here, that I plan to use in a full metroidvania game, but right now I don't want to get too out of scope.
you can basically program a sequence of aerial moves with the right stick or arrow keys, and I can easily implement power ups to give you more slots and such
I've been doing a lot of working on this system to make it feel good to use, but I haven't put much thought into how to make it fun. Anyone have any ideas?
dense talon
@granite prism This kind of reminds me of Magicka where you combine different key clicks to make up spells, pure chaos that game.
granite prism
yea! my roomate said the same thing
Planning on playing that with them at some point
dense talon
It's hilarious. especially with friends since it has friendly fire and some spells don't go so well with others...
granite prism
I do plan on having spell combos, but before I put in a bunch of things like fireballs and such, I want to make a more simple-non combat game thats just platforming puzzles maybe? but that also doesn't sound too interesting, even with the magic input system
I was thinking, puzzles that require you to prepare your movement spells in a specific order
maybe some powerups in the air you can collect to slow down time temporarily, allowing you to input more spells mid-flight
patent pecan
Thanks that’s awesome @flat atlas
autumn onyx
Also any ideas for the name of my game? https://discordapp.com/channels/489222168727519232/532311577576210432/695307900188491856
granite prism
https://gyazo.com/e43ec7cce7cb768f9a7122ca92e581f2
finally gettin somewhere
dense talon
@granite prism You for sure need some more animation on the body when in the air and such, the cat lizard thing looks very stiff.
cold onyx
gg
cold onyx
Which looks better? Bottom or top? https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/693352200843296918/695694500269654097/unknown.png https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/693352200843296918/695694511560458310/unknown.png
flat atlas
top
granite prism
@dense talon yea :P
this sprite was made as a placeholder, the jump/air anim is one frame
they have a falling animation, which is 3 frames, but that won't work well here
I do like the character though, I did a bunch of touch ups on them, and changed their shield to a tome, and I want to add more animations for air dashing and casting and such!
gonna go all in on this character
bronze grail
you're getting there :)
sonic tide
Wild Idea, Imagine a reversed Metroidvania. instead of getting new abilities and opening new zones you start with everywhere available to you and all your weapons/ability from the get-go.
As time goes by things happen to take away areas and powers.
Maybe there's a war and the different parts of your city are being destroyed around you, or a blacksmith is killed and soon you can't repair a weapon you were using.
devout magnet
How could I make it so gameobjects appear in the hierarchy and game view only when played?
frozen moss
Guys, what do you recommend for character selection? Adding all the characters to 1 prefab and enable and disable models OR create each prefab with each character and instantiating the selected character? I have doubts about how this could affect performance.
blazing kraken
@sonic tide it might sounds cool conceptually but I think it would make for a very poor playing experience. One issue is that giving everything at the start to the player is overwhelming, and the second problem is that taking the cool stuff away overtime wouldn't feel good. Some game use this concept for a storytelling moment where at the very start of the game you have all your powers for a couple minutes, then right after that, they're taken away BUT you can work your way up to regain then.
jolly arch
cold onyx
👍
desert shoal
is bob running ? 😮
flat atlas
@sonic tide Realistically, I don't think the concept really carries water. I wouldn't want to play a game where halfway through I lose access to my favorite weapons/abilities. You want players to feel a sense of progression in the game, rather than regression. From a narrative standpoint it could be really cool, for a book or movie, but for an interactive medium I think you'd find more people turned off than are enjoying it.
marble lagoon
Patchworth, how about instead of them being removed from you, you can choose to combine certain weapons / abilities to make new ones? That way you get a sense of progression, but also lose access to some of the weapons along the way?
You could alternatively do a similar thing to the Half-Life games, where you go from having all the weapons in the game to having a single weapon, and building your stock back up as you play?
Just a suggestion :)
uneven quail
Hi everyone, I have a problem here🙁
It says : all compiler errors have to be fixed before you can enter playmode!
What does it mean? Anyone knows? I need a favor💯
flat atlas
@uneven quail That question is better suited for #💻┃unity-talk or #💻┃code-beginner.
sonic tide
@flat atlas @blazing kraken
The way I thought to get around that is to give the player opportunities to "save" certain gear. for example, saving the smithy or advanced gun printing machine. these would normally be "either,or" missions.
"Oh no, the thing that gives you power A is being attacked at the same time as the thing that gives you power B, you can only save one."
It would also help if there were a lot of repeat/redundant powers to lose lose along the way, or ones that get in the way and technically let you be more powerful when you lose them.
@marble lagoon
I like that. I like that alot. I can see a players weapons getting broken and they have to combine the parts to make them work again, but with the effects of both now. There is probably a gooder way to flavor that but this is what first comes to mind.
uneven quail
@flat atlasthanks
marble lagoon
Sounds great, Patchworth! :)
cold onyx
@uneven quail it means you have to fix some errors before playing the game
amber gyro
Could you guys recommend turn-based games that take a different approach on the turns?
I'm looking for games that deviate from the classic gameplay style of:
-Player A takes turn
-Player B takes turn
-...
I'm looking for examples of games that do weird things with turn-based systems
the only ones I can think of are XCom or Mutan Year Zero
any recommendations?
placid pagoda
octopath traveler comes to mind
amber gyro
@placid pagoda thx! I'll check it out
violet wigeon
Anyone experience in Unity who would be willing to take some time to help me out with (a multitude) of problems I'm having? I'm in a game design program at school, and they gave us unity to learn at the end of the semester, expecting we would have class time for it... Only for Corona to cancel it, and we have to self learn, and I have no freaking idea what I'm doing 🥺 It's all really simple triggers and stuff... I'm just clueless, and without any classes, I'm very lost.
please private message me if you are a kind soul who can save my semester with some simple help 
blazing kraken
@violet wigeon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j48LtUkZRjU&list=PLPV2KyIb3jR5QFsefuO2RlAgWEz6EvVi6 this might help
it's a playlist of unity beginner tutorials
errant helm
cold onyx
hour 11 in developing a random room generator. I feel like I am close but cant keep going much more. Additional coffee just makes me laugh maniacally at this point so no more of that. How can I escape this irresistable grasp. (jk) 😂 or not 😂
cold onyx
getting somewhere now...
sharp robin
@violet wigeon it’s better for you to just watch tutorials
You could pay someone on unity live but honestly, if you are at square one, the tutorials will help and they are free right now anyway
distant eagle
So i'm working on implementing ranged weapons in my third-person game that you can aim using the crosshair, in this case a bow. I've already implemented melee/magic weapons that dont use the crosshair to aim.
How should I handle determining the arrow trajectory based on the crosshair?
Would i do a raycast that originates from the camera and then make the arrow fire from the bow to the contact point?
The cursor is faintly visible in the very center of the screen
dense talon
@distant eagle There are many ways to do this, I prefer shooting the raycast from the player so you know there is a clear path between the characters POW.
distant eagle
@dense talon you mean verifying between the enemy and the player?
dense talon
yeah, but usually the player is to the side in third person shooters. Which is why I like to make sure the player will hit (you can color the crosshair with red if path is clear for example).
since your character is straight down below the crosshair, it might not be needed
distant eagle
People have suggested i shoot a raycast straight out of the camera then triangulate the trajectory
Have you seen Risk of Rain 2? The game has crosshairs directly above the player
dense talon
I've seen it, never played it.
distant eagle
going for something like that with this type of weapon. Other weapons dont depend on crosshair for use like some magic and the melee
I was thinking id incorporate some long-spear type weapons you can aim
javelin or something
dense talon
but can't the arrow handle it's own velocity, no need to triangulate anything really x)
Oh wait, are you planning to let the character raise aim towards people further away and such?
distant eagle
like this
Camera is the eye up top, your crosshair is lined up somewhere
raycast to the point, then make the arrow shoot from the bow to that point
dense talon
you character doesn't need that information though
raycast give you the point in world space where you can shoot, right?
distant eagle
While you are drawing the bow the player will face the camera's direction and the crosshair will become more visible
But this is what the movement looks like
dense talon
yeah, I would just simply let the character control this all together and only use the crosshair to get the position to aim.
distant eagle
On the other hand, a weapon like this is meant to be more horizontal but still involves projectiles and melee
Yeah only need to get the position once for the arrow
doesnt depend on crosshair, its more of a twinstick rpg type thing
dense talon
just shoot an object from the character straight forward in the cameras direction really, no need to do anything complex unless you wish to add velocity depending on how long you hold it charged.
you could just shoot a raycast from the character to the point the crosshair is aiming at too, that way you get the angle and everything you need without the math
distant eagle
ill see what happens, not going to sleep any time soon
snow wyvern
Hello!
cold onyx
imo skill ceiling should be as high as can be
to the point where a new player sees an experienced player, and his first reaction is "wtf"
flat atlas
At a point you're just adding mechanics to complicate the game, not add to the experience. It might be more acceptable in pve games, but if there are any aspects of pvp you're going to drive out any new players the moment they load up the game.
versed osprey
i have made an png file in krita and want it as a photo in unity. But i can only attach it to objects and i dont want that.
k
flat atlas
You're better off asking in #💻┃unity-talk to get someone who knows where to point you. I'm not sure what other channel that would be relevant in. @versed osprey
versed osprey
ok thanks
prime spire
I'm designing a game with character customization (Nothing fancy) AND dismemberment. A modeler told me "there are several ways to go about it" but never clarified. Is it on me as a game designer to determine how characters should be modeled? Or is that the character artist's job? I'm not familiar with what methods the artist may be referring to.
Tried Google searching a couple times but no helpful results.
brisk cave
Those are two very different things kinda so hopefully someone there should know the best way to go about it
So someone on your team needs to determine a workflow
You're the designer
You tell them what to do
And they do it the best way possible
prime spire
Yeah, I have the character customization (Really is just character body texture change and different heads, hair styles/textures, and facial hair styles/textures) and even provided a diagram of how the character dismemberment should be built into the character, but was still posed the question by the artist how to do it or how it'll be done. He's an experienced professional artist too, so I'm assuming I'm lacking more design but not sure what since the artist disappeared when I had asked what he meant and to explain better. lol
weary thicket
Well, for instance modeling for completely dynamic dismemberment is different from modeling predefined parts that come apart
They need to know if they need to include seams in the body, whether they need to model the interior parts, etc
Like in left for dead they use textures and shaders to cut away missing parts so they don't need special modeling, but in other games you do.
flat atlas
I had no idea l4d used shaders rather than actual dismemberment. It's so cool all of the creative ways devs manage to get various effects.
@prime spire The designer needs to know the basics of basically everything in order to effectively manage the project, since they're pretty much a project manager. You might not have to be able to sit down and do it yourself, but you do need to know the jargon, the differences between various methods and styles, and when to apply what. You should be able to sit down with your artist and explain the way you want the project to be done so that they can do it the way the project needs to be done. Same with your coders and writers.
This is particularly important with freelancers. You need to understand exactly how the mechanic is going to work in order to get the correct model from them. Otherwise you'll be working at the whim of your freelancers rather than the other way around. If you get a model from one guy and you let him do it however he wants and work around it; then later you get another model from another artist and let him do it however he wants, he might do it totally different and one of your models is now incompatible with the game.
cold onyx
what do you do when you're working on a game and suddenly can't decide if you even like the entire direction you're going with it???
flat atlas
Depends. Are you in a team? If you're solo, either redirect it the way you want it to go or scrap it and work on a project you do want to work on.
If you're in a team, you might need to sit down with them and discuss the issues you're having. Either they agree and change direction/projects, or they disagree and you nod out to allow them to continue the project.
When writing my first book, I had a similar crisis about halfway through. I went back and rewrote a few chapters and changed the direction entirely. It takes work to totally swing the direction of a project, but I feel better for having done it. It's so hard to be passionate about something when you're just kinda meh about the whole project
cold onyx
@flat atlas solo, trying to get further along before getting anyone else involved. That’s a great anecdote about writing, very similar. The main issue for me is that I’m learning things but I feel the final concept might not be very fun to play
I’ve been working on a project that uses mirror so I’ve learned a lot about networking but in the end, I feel my game may feel very similar to many others..
Doesn’t help that i don’t play a lot of games. So im having trouble seeing the end goal since
flat atlas
Then the only thing you're losing is time, but you've still got the experience you gained from it. It's not terribly challenging, or it shouldn't be, to add in new mechanics to your game to make it feel more unique, particularly if you're not too far into it.
What kind of game are you working on? Maybe we can brainstorm some ideas to get you invested again.
cold onyx
Okay don’t laugh because this is so typical but right now it’s a runescape inspired 4 player multiplayer game. The only features are combat and cutting down trees. It’s actually all mostly complete thanks to Brackeys and Mirror documentation, but the actual gameplay is very dull.
You left click to move, right click to attack or chop a tree or pick up an item. That’s about it. I can keep adding features to it, but I feel it’ll just be a knockoff of an old game. Idk
There are no stats or levels lol
flat atlas
Well, you've already differentiated yourself from RS by making it limited co-op. So that's a big +1 for you
What is the goal of the game? What are the players trying to achieve?
cold onyx
That’s exactly the issue! Don’t have one. RS is about grinding to max level which imo totally sucks, I wanted to make something sandboxy and fun, but the click combat is pretty lame. Perhaps a building system would be fun? It’s 4 players only because that’s simpler atm
I had another project that was more typical combat oriented, WASD fighting, third person.
Also I started this “RS click project” about 5 years ago sooo 😂
flat atlas
Alright, let's come up with a goal for the players and work our way back :)
We'll start with the game mode: Is this a persistent world/server or will it be round or match based?
OR a story based narrative?
Depending on which one you like the most, you'll have a different goal. If it's a persistent world, thinking Runescape, you'll want to have some form of open ended, kind of grindy, goal. If you want a match based game, you'll want a simple, competitive, objective that can be completed in 20-40 minutes. If we're talking narrative, it opens a big ol can of worms with story and character motives and worldbuilding.
cold onyx
I’m thinking persistent, I just want a fun open ended world for friends to come together
I’ve thought a lot about changing the movement style and combat style. Having jumping and all that. Thanks for helping me btw. What projects do you have?
Sword in the stone is my fav movie also @flat atlas
flat atlas
It's mine too. Such a classic, and the animation is just fantastic.
Currently I have a variety of projects lol
I'm working on my second novel, a continuation of my first, as well as two side stories, and I'm trying to get good enough at 3d modeling to start learning map design and maybe get on a team as a writer/designer 🙂
cold onyx
I was literally thinking of making a main location in my project inspired by that movie, and or the book “once and future king.” I think they had a small castle in the beginning mostly focused on hunting surrounded by trees? Would be cool to design
Such a great story, and the movie like you said
Overall mine is for fun. You seem to be doi. pretty wel on stories 🙂
flat atlas
You mentioning runescape hit pretty close to home, tbh
So I can see exactly what you're trying to stay away from
I really like the idea of having a little keep in the middle of a forest as the start of the game. If we're doing open world you'll want resources scattered around, so trees, a mine, a creek/river, and maybe a few merchants who live in the keep with the Lord so the players can trade for gold to buy harder to obtain stuff.
Maybe for now focus on making that little map, and have a deeper forest and maybe a cave/dungeon with monsters in it.
The goal can be to go kill the big bad boss monster for the time being.
Make the dungeon sectioned so the players have to make multiple dives to make it all the way through.
The overworld can be for casual resource gathering and crafting, kind of like runescape, and then have the dungeon for the exciting combat part.
Keep the scope small and doable for now, basically.
Could have four primary resources for crafting, and then each player can kind of do their own thing for a bit, everyone comes together and crafts their first set of gear and goes for a dungeon dive together?
One guy can go mine ore, one guy can cut wood, one guy can go fish/farm/hunt for food, and one guy can scavenge for potion supplies and such.
My fiance and I love playing Stardew together because I'm very combat oriented while she loves farming and gathering. She'll spend a lot of her time farming while I'll go fight things and we pool our resources and then go do things together. I think a system like that could be neat?
You could also weave in a simple story. Like the monsters from the dungeon are threatening your lord's keep and you have to go take care of it.
But you and your team are kinda goofballs and don't know a lot about fighting or crafting or any of that and the A-Team is off fighting a war or something. So you have to start building your characters from the ground up and learn all the crafting and fighting and stuff
cold onyx
These are fantastic ideas @flat atlas is that your completion cape?
flat atlas
Just max cape.
I was a few months away from comp when I retired, though.
All I had left was 120 dungeoneering for it but I got sick of the developers and the direction of the game, so I quit and cancelled my sub.
Apparently now they have 120 farming and herblore as comp requirements and added a new skill, so if I were to return I would need to finish off 120 dungeoneering, then farming and herb, and then max the new skill, just to get comp 😭
Not worth the time investment imo.
I love a grind, but RS has taken it to an extreme.
cold onyx
Agreed. I was more into old school, I got my quest cape in 2013 and then quit. That’s all I wanted was the q cape with all the classic quests, not interested in maxing. Now what I really enjoy are games you can pick up, put down, and pick up again later. I don’t care to play (or make) something that takes so much time and energy to play and grind for so long
Maybe things like checking in on your kingdom, doing farm runs, but not like grind training ya feel?
Minecraft is such a good game cuz you can just hop in and be creative
flat atlas
Are you familiar with Terraria? You could implement a system sort of like that where the world and the character are independent. You can join someone else's world with your character and all of your stuff to help them or just play with them. Or, you can start a brand new character and jump into a world.
So that way people become attached to their character and it has its own stats and levels and they can jump into any game with it (maybe restrict it so they aren't bringing super op late game weapons into fresh games).
You have the grind for people who want to grind, but you also leave it accessible for people who don't.
cold onyx
@flat atlas yes and I love terraria! One of my most played games. It is a great example of good game design, especially making the game open-ended, fun, without it being a Minecraft clone or something
flat atlas
Exactly!
cold onyx
There’s so much content to terraria. Brilliant game. One thing I love about it too is there isn’t exactly min maxing like in RS. RS has gotten to the point where everyone wears the same BIS gear
flat atlas
I don't know if you want to go down the road of building in a similar way, but characters could definitely create crafting stations or choose what to build on nodes, etc etc
cold onyx
The BIS and efficiency focus kills the fun for me. Yes, I definitely would like to try and create such a system. It’ll be hard but a fun learning experience
flat atlas
That way your world is semi static with customizable aspects to be tailored to what the players who are invested in it want
You could even see a community spring up of players who have tailored their own world to a specific purpose and others join to utilize it. Like if you can level up, idk, a smithy, to forge really good gear. A person could customize a world to be a smithing heaven and their friends could join to forge good gear after gathering the necessary resources.
Efficiencyscape as we call it is not fun for me. Either you play how you want and see no progress comparatively, or you play like the sweats just to keep up.
In all honesty, I would wait to mess with any of that. Get your map set up with some basic mechanics and maybe a few monsters and go from there with the grand scheme in the back of your mind 🙂
And if you get a playable demo, hit me up, I'd love to check it out 😄
regal swan
are there any experienced level designers here, who have any tips to make a low poly style level look interesting. from the few attempts I have done so far they end up bland... I cant find a good process on designing a level.
when you make a city for example, there are various elements that are key to the game that they should be there. blacksmiths, shops, an inn, etc... but then the terrain also has to be interesting. Do i just make an interesting looking terrain and match the elements to fill it up so it looks interesting? Or do I layout the elements in the scene and fill in terrain around them.
I honestly have little idea how to start, im mostly looking for other people's workflow, so that I can adapt it and find my way to becoming a good level designer
brisk cave
to make it look more interesting
You can add more variation
Moving elements(npcs)
uh
that's all I can think of rn tbh
You can just search up some references and look for patterns
blazing kraken
@regal swan I'd say that first of all you need to understand what's the purpose of specific level/area cause that define what you need to take care of
I recommend looking at these
regal swan
@blazing kraken those videos are rly helpful! tyvm
blazing kraken
no problem 🙂
regal swan
I am making a story-based game and want my environment to do most of the heavy lifting. Guiding the player through the world is one thing very deeply explained in the videos. For making levels and maps I assume its just an iterative process until you get something that works?
@blazing kraken
while keeping those points in mind ofcourse. starting from a 2D layout and creating it in 3D is what I would see as a logical plan of action
blazing kraken
kinda, knowing principles of composition like mentioned in the video helps a lot. There are many ways you can guide the player, some more obvious than others.
I'm developing a narrative game myself, this is what I have as the first thing you see currently
I use the moonlight to frame the character and then use lamp post and path to guide you along
then I also have some more obvious effects like glowing butterflies that indicates the way, altho that's a pretty cheap way to do it
regal swan
the mountain in the background is also somethign i noticed
but the indication of a path with lanterns always works. as well as the fact that there is a npc walking on that path
I have a fantasy setting, so I can actually use embers to guide the way to an extent
but I dont want to just have the wisps show them the way, becauuse that would be boring
blazing kraken
indeed
in general colors, light and leading lines help in every case to guide the player
also the more open it is, the trickier it becomes to have a linear narration
but that depends on your game
it's fairly easy to capture the attention of the player but it's a bit more complex to capture it in the correct sequence with big open spaces
regal swan
well, my game has a semi-linear story. where I have 3 different approaches to the same story from a different viewpoint. Consider a world where monsters from another dimension roam around. It is the source of power for one race, while the other 2 are disgusted by it. You view the story from each races standpoint but have the option to roam around and look for clues as to why it is happening as it is
I have defined a human race that lives on the plains, a dwarven race that lives mostly underground and an elven race that lives in the forest (names and descriptions are subject to change to make it less generic, but its easier to explain like this)
the player travels the world in search of answers would be the rudimentary way of explaining it. Therefore I though of making a world map, and going from there to define smaller sections of it. But I have come to realise the worldbuilding of that doesnt make much sense, since the world I have then built has no actual impact on how the story is told. So I am now trying it with a chunk-based system. where I take a certain key area and try to make it look interesting. when I have the main towns and locations, I can fill in the blanks
@blazing kraken
you just got wall-of-texted 🙂 
blazing kraken
if the world doesn't matter for the story that might be an issue
from what you said I imagine something like Skyrim, but then it becomes really a challenge to direct the player without using cheap methods like objective markers of effects that mark the way
it could also be fun if done right though
personally I like walking from a place to another in skyrim without looking much at the map and just orient myself with landmarks and roads
regal swan
thats kinda what I am going for, although on a scale of breath of the wild for the map
blazing kraken
yeah BotW had that issue I mentioned earlier
where it's easy to draw attention to point of interest
but if you had a chain of those it becomes hard to convey linearly
without using markers, written instructions and the likes
I guess push the design as much as possible and then resort to markers/guide as a last thing
regal swan
im tempted to make markers like that optional, like they do in black desert online
blazing kraken
how will your story be told tho?
regal swan
sorta substories similar to quests I was hoping
so i can navigate when I have to. but you also just wander around
blazing kraken
so the player will have a quest journal of sorts then
regal swan
thats a possibility, I have figured out the details yet, im working on the game flow
trying to think what system would make the most sense, which is still in an early phase
blazing kraken
I see, yeah it's pretty hard to plan for something large scale as that tbh
you might wanna start with something smaller and then expand just to test if the flow is working
make an area, add a quest line
and see if player can follow it
regal swan
that was the plan yeah. making the entire map is impossible with the amount of worldbuilding experience I have
there is no way I can make a map the size of skyrim and make it look interesting instantly, hell even bethesda probably cant do taht
blazing kraken
yeah indeed, I mean if you managed to make something the size of riverwood and surroundings that'd be great enough imo
there's a lot you can do with a village and a tiny bit of wilderness
regal swan
the elves are kind off a tribal race, so they live separated from each other, but still have the overarching structure
so their structures are small, but there are a lot
that would be a nice starting point to have 2-3 villages and make navigation between them interesting
maybe have a main city which is lore-bound with some minor villages in branching paths around them
once I get everything working pretty ok. I can use that as a demo for the world and have some playtesting. use the feedback before I start scaling the world
regal swan
ah fk xD
maybe one village and a path to it. it doesnt need to final. just for testing the possible navigation 😄
blazing kraken
yeah 😄
inland lava
Hello guys i have an idea to make a wizard tactical "shooter", and i want to make you can cast spell just swinging your wand in the correct shape, and i know about you can do it with line renderers but how?
regal swan
@inland lava that is not a game design question, but a functional one
either way, find a way to recognize shapes you draw and compare a pattern to the shape. so you know what was traced
flat atlas
@blazing kraken @regal swan Really interesting read :)
You can also take the path of general pointers for your quests and world navigation tied into the story and lore of the world. It's really easy to explain when you have magic, too. Sort of like in Assassin's creed where you don't have an arrow pointing to your objective all the time, but you can activate an ability to light a path or get a general direction to go. The Spirit could shoot off in the direction the player is supposed to go, or the Ephyr device could spark a short line of embers showing the direction. Not really a flat out guide system, more like an arrow the player can use to get their direction and then set off again. Kind of to supplement the markers and milestones in the world.
blazing kraken
yeah something that you trigger could be nice
flat atlas
Also, a mechanic I haven't seen done but I think could be kind of neat. When the player gets a quest, the general area of the map the quest is in, if the player is expected to travel to it, is revealed. You don't get so much a quest marker as a general idea of where it is and a description from the npc of the thing you're looking for in that area.
regal swan
that could be really interesting
sacred zinc
hi, so i want to ask for some advice on how i can carry this out
so i'm planning to make a 2D turn-based strategy game in unity
so there's gonna be a map grid, and units that can be moved around, etc.
however, when two units enter battle with one another, I want to make a system similar to this game series called Super Robot Wars
where the game transitions to a sort of "battle scene," and attack animations play out there
sort of like this
i'm thinking of making a scene that loads every time a battle happens, and that scene loads the units/backgrounds/etc. based on variables that're set depending on who's fighting, what attacks are used, and whichever map the battle takes place
would that work?
blazing kraken
That would work but I'd recommend setting that data inside a scriptable object
sacred zinc
so like, have a scriptable object exist in the scene with variables, and then other objects set the data inside the scriptable object?
blazing kraken
basically both scene reference the SO, you set the data in the first and read it from the second. So you don't have to do any weird thing with data between scenes
sacred zinc
aight ty
blazing kraken
np
cold onyx
Hey, is there a way I could build for Windows on Mac
hard fog
Yes, you can install the module and build for Mac.
cold onyx
Would I have to reinstall unity
cold onyx
General question guys, If I have some transparent symbols that I want people to be able to select as an emblem on a shoulderpad, would I use decal projectors for that or is there a better way? I hesitate to use decal projectors because I want to try and make sure they can only project onto one particular surface
unlike something like bullet holes, where it doesnt matter
or do I do something like make sure the decal projector is ULTRA thin and only .0001 above the desired surface?
blazing kraken
you can make decal only project on a certain layer, not sure that's the best way to go about it performance wise though. Also wrong channel 😛
an alternative would be to have a single texture with all your symbols and swap the mesh with different UVs pointing at different symbols. Or have a multichannel uv with symbols on a separate channel and then make a shader that offsets the uv coordinate of the second channel to go to different symbols, this one would probably be the cheapest if it works
cold onyx
@blazing kraken could I create a material for each, then increase the material array size by 1 on the appropriate mesh, and swap them out via script during runtime?
I asked in general but nobody knew, so thought I would try here, my bad
blazing kraken
you can but it's usually recommended avoiding multiple materials on a single mesh for performance reason
if it's a one thing only you can probably get away with it though
cold onyx
@blazing kraken i'm going to basically create the game, optimizing as much as possible until it looks how I like, then i'm going to dive into the Entity system and see if I can convert, last time I used it the FPS jumped from around 25 to over 100 lol
blazing kraken
then I guess yeah, don't worry about the double material for now
but maybe make a note somewhere so you don't forget where you use them
you could also just make the symbols a simple separate plane mesh with a single texture atlas
and just activate/deactivate gameobjects when needed 😄
cold onyx
@blazing kraken thanks!
blazing kraken
No prob
livid jetty
Hey
flat atlas
Hello there.
I've got a conversation starter for you guys to kick off the new week.
When it comes to an open world RPG (mmo, single player, or limited multiplayer), do you guys prefer an open world with artificial markers and UI assistance or do you prefer a system where you're encouraged to explore and go your own way; and why?
blazing kraken
Aren't those two things complementary? I imagine that an open world with no markers actually encourages you to explore and go your own way
flat atlas
Not sure how I managed to repeat the same statement, but I meant them as opposites lmao
A world with a heavy ui system with markers and directions or a world without them.
🤦♂️
blazing kraken
haha yeah I figured 😛 personally I'd rather have an open ended world to do whatever I wants. That's mostly how I play those kind of games. That said some kind of indicators come in handy from time to time, especially for main story quests. Specifically when I play skyrim I enjoy walking from place to place, either following road signs or my acquired knowledge of the world, but trying to do quests without markers is downright impossible
dense talon
In my experience the masses prefer the UI based quest system, since most kids prefer visual markers compared to reading. Personally I prefer running less UI but with quest logs that are extensive so I can backtrack in case I've been away from the game for a long time.
flat atlas
I think a big problem with most of the limited guidance games is that they don't really take into consideration the realistic implications some of their mechanics have. For instance, if the player has a map, the map isn't going to have areas blotted out until they walk into them unless they are actually drawing the map themselves. Fog of War makes absolutely no sense in a game where the player character has a premade map. It makes equally little sense that they can't make markers on their map. It also makes no sense for huge areas to be blank on the map despite there being multiple known landmarks in that area. For instance, the farmer asks you to go kill the wolves near the Golden Grove. Your character would pull out their map and go "Whereabouts is the golden grove?" and the npc will be able to point to a general area, even if it's not perfectly accurate. You know what I mean? A lot of the "realism" mechanics are just put in place to make the game difficult, not to add an actual sense of realism.
blazing kraken
Still need to find a game that is able to implement quests in a way I like. But alas I think it's just convenience, making more rich quest descriptions to describe locations is A: More expensive and time consuming. B: More fail prone for the player, and you can bet there'd be a ton of frustrated people that complain that they can't find the location. But I like the idea of having a general area highlighted/indicated with maybe a quick description of the place, that would do for me
flat atlas
I guess it depends on the marketing and who you're trying to cater to 🤷
blazing kraken
yeah, if it's mass audience that could be a problem. Altho it might be enough to have optional markers
so whoever wants them, can use them
flat atlas
I like the "hardcore" implementation in Runescape where people were running Ironman characters for years before they implemented an official game mode that enforced the mechanics they were already playing with. They reward you with a title and a set of armor to showcase that you're playing on a harder difficulty. It's totally optional to play that way, but you get some prestige from playing that way.
Particularly if you get more difficult to acquire gear and items to show off along with your title.
dense talon
I kinda like Divinity's take on a quest log, just wished it was a bit more extensive and included details, but it's really hard to do with a game like that, so I kind of understand them for doing it a bit more simplistic. ^^;
blazing kraken
Well yeah, it's pretty hard to get lost in Divinity imo. Never felt much like you could "explore" even if the game was cool and full of neat things scattered around
dense talon
Oh, for me I found it super easy to get lost since I never try to do the quest the intended way, so my quest log is all kinds of fucked up.
but at least I see what you have done, but not necessarily what the puzzle was about ^^;
cunning knoll
Yo guys I'm not sure if this is where I post this but, I'm stuck with a melee weapon idea for my game. I want to have something that's THE melee weapon that sort of defines the game, like how Half Life had the crowbar. I want something original but everything seems to be already done. And, it kinda has to make sense in the setting of being in a sort of facility. Like for example the crowbar isn't technically a melee weapon, but it would be there as a tool lore wise. Any one have any ideas at all because I'm completely stuck
marble lagoon
-Big ol' sledgehammer?
-Bit of a metal pipe / something broken off from part of the facility?
-Emergency fire axe?
-Wrench?
-Spanner?
Just some things I thought would be fun :)
flat atlas
Well, you're not going to come up with a melee construction weapon that's not in anything else; so it's better to focus on the implementation and getting the player attached to it rather than on the weapon itself.
Players will get attached to anything you give some significance. Say your character picks up a pipe out of desperation for a weapon, uses it for a few levels, and then during an encounter has it knocked out of their hand and is struggling against some enemy. The pipe bounces off the wall and rolls over, within reach of the character, and they club the enemy with it and give the pipe a kiss. Suddenly the player is far more endeared to that specific pipe because of the character's attachment to it.
dense talon
@cunning knoll if it's a bit of a stealth game, I always liked the idea of cardboard cutters or like a screwdriver as a melee weapon when it comes to the office environment. 😄
flat atlas
Box cutters shudders
The image of someone getting stabbed with a screwdriver is somehow considerably more pleasant to me than someone getting cut with a box cutter
dense talon
box cutters are super clean cuts in meat, so it can be as clean as a razorblade but can also be a filthy one covered in paint or something making the cut more sloppy 
been butchering moose in my days and they do come in handy if you have nothing else, pretty easy to clean too when you remove the blade completely.
flat atlas
I work with box cutters every day and, having been cut with them, just the imagery creeps me out lol
The scene in breaking bad made me physically cringe
dense talon
Yeah, I get a similar feeling when I see people hurt their backs.
Feel from a tall stool and landed with my lower back straight over the foot of the stool a year back, couldn't properly breath for like 5 minutes.
Those videos make me physically remove myself from the screen nowadays 
Super scary shit
flat atlas
Same concept hahah
Just like the needle in the eye visual a lot of people are using now
because it gives most people just a visceral reaction
dense talon
Like, bathtubs and stools with bad footing are like my worst fears ATM.
Crashing plane? At least I go out with a bang and not slowly suffocating in my own home alone.
I stick to less gruesome games I think...like a monster battler or tactical RPG without blood. 😄
flat atlas
Same hahah
cerulean estuary
Uh, Unity just told me I had to update, and its never done this before, I am running on the latest version>
?
flat atlas
That's not a game-design question in any way. The guys up in #💻┃unity-talk will be able to give you some answers, though, @cerulean estuary
cerulean estuary
@flat atlas sorry
flat atlas
s'all good man, just trying to direct you to the best place to get some help 🙂
@livid jetty The guys in #archived-art-asset-showcase will be able to point you in a good direction to improve your art 🙂
livid jetty
I asked there as well
flat atlas
Then you'll want to wait for a response or wait an hour or so and ask again. The mods don't like cross posting questions.
regal swan
neither do other people, the channels are separated for a reason. everything has its topic. if there arent any people around try again at a later time. posting in unrelated channels will not get you an answer, they will redirect you back to the channel the question should have been posted in @livid jetty
hollow tartan
uh, is there a way to import garrys mod models into unity?
sacred zinc
hi, got a question on how i should be making this sort of 'battle cutscene' thing work for a strategy game i'm planning to make
so it's like, a turn-based strategy rpg game, like Fire Emblem
but when two units fight one another, the scene switches to a battle scene, where attack animations and stuff play out
battle scene sort of like this
so right now, i'm trying to make it work like this, but i'm wondering if i should like
separate the battle scene into 'parts'
like, one part being player unit moving onto screen and doing animation, then next part enemy getting hit by player attack, then enemy attack animation, etc.
or if i should just code/design everything as one thing
mystic stratus
So I made a basic FPS, which doesn't exactly feel great because the bullets hit exactly where the crosshair is pointed at. I tried adding some basic recoil to it but still, it is really easy to control that recoil while doing a spray-down.
I did some research and came to the conclusion that most games don't exactly hit where the crosshair is, but depend upon an accuracy value which is basically a small circular area in which it randomly selects and hits, the higher the accuracy variable, smaller the circle.
This is fine, but while fine tuning the recoil I came across multiple methods.
Two which I found most appealing were the ones shown in the image, one is upwards recoil with a fixed border for horizontal deviation (left) vs fixed upwards recoil with random horizontal deviation in both directions. Or a third one which would be a fixed recoil pattern depending upon each gun.
Or there is another option of a cone fire type. where the radius of the cone increases as you fire for longer durations but covers a more general area around your crossfire as compared to the other two methods
So, which one should be chosen for a team based small maps fps? I don't personally prefer the cone thing, as in small maps it would lead to easier aiming but the other 2 options seem dull, unless a fixed recoil pattern is decided
flat atlas
I enjoy the Destiny 2 method of recoil balance. Guns have three base stats for their recoil. Recoil Pattern: How vertical/predictable the recoil is; Accuracy (hipfire): How perfect the projectile follows the crosshair; Accuracy (ads): How perfectly the projectile follows the sight. These values change based on what the gun is. So for instance, most submachine guns have very low predictable recoil and kind of bounce all over the place while heavier guns like Scout Rifles have a way more predictable recoil and accuracy
cold onyx
how would you describe a character controller that's 3D, zoomed out a ways, sort of top-down but perspective angle? The cursor freely floats the screen and the character turns in the middle of the screen to shoot where the cursor is, but the camera stays fixed (or rotates if a key is pressed or mouse dragged). Has anyone made a controller like this?
there's gotta be a name for that or an examplegame
cold onyx
Doesn't diablo have click to attack? I haven't played it, I know that's disgraceful lol
dense talon
diablo is a bit more advanced than that, if you hold shift you can stay put and fire from a distance or swing mid air, it does have a feature to auto-walk up to a mob and slap it around too.
but the base controller sounds for sure like a twin stick shooter type
cold onyx
I found this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoot_'em_up thank you, I think you're right
dense talon
You are however mixing the camera controller and the character controller together.
cold onyx
how so? Does Diablo not let you spin the camera around the player?
dense talon
nope
cold onyx
ah 🙂 mine would have that!
cold onyx
might suck on PC though, always rotating
dense talon
nah, not at all, it's just an artistical choice really.
I mean, if you build the game around the fact that you don't need to rotate the camera, then you have saved the user some effort.
Most companies that add the rotating camera probably do it to either use it as a feature, like secrets hiding around corners or whatnot.
But in a hack n slash game, why bother with camera angles if the controls are good, ye? :p
cold onyx
that makes sense!
dense talon
but I do think your camera controller should be separate from your character movement controller.
that way you can easily add on another camera controller to it if you wish.
cold onyx
oh yes, of course. Separate scripts.
mystic stratus
@flat atlas Do you possibly have any resources for setting something like this up? the only way I see to determine accuracy of either ads or hipfire is a circle with deviation from the centre, depending upon certain factors as I simply have no control over the bullet after its release
flat atlas
I don't really know how to technically implement the feature and am generally more of a design/art kind of guy 😅
I would assume, and assumptions can be wrong, you would want to cycle between two different circles when you hold the ADS key and match your animation up with the delay in between the swap since you don't want the player to instantly ads. So with the right mouse button unpressed, the circle is big, when the player holds the rmb after a certain duration, to allow for the animation of aiming, the circle switches to a smaller circle until the player releases, at which point it snaps back to the large circle.
Again, the technical side of this I don't know, but from a practical standpoint it seems like any other hotkey in the game as long as you know how to get it to perform the right action.
(That action being switching the circles in this case)
Hope that helps! Sorry I'm not able to really give any technical info
cold onyx
I was making a prototype and basically had a completely new idea based on a bug
You can only rotate an A.I. controller character in all axis, and everything else is handled by the bot, you can see what its thinking: targets, state (attack, defend, escape, etc) and every ability is designed to react to how you rotate the character. The A.I. has a bar of "energy" that determines how long it can rotate independently for and doesn't recharge until you clear a level, and you activate by holding a button.
This is all really rough ideas, but I see potential
mystic stratus
You gave me information that I did not have previously, so that surely helps! I started developing a loose skeleton for something like this, lets hope it feels better than what I have right now.
And yeah, from what I can think of right now it only seems a job of making a mechanism for selecting/switching circles but it rarely is that simple. Anyway, thanks!
cinder notch
@mystic stratus honestly my favorite gunplay ever has been in CSGO which has set spray patterns but recently they added a bit of random deviation - but they still have set spray patterns
just with a lil random spice
basically makes it so that just because you're good with 1 gun, doesn't mean you can use any other very well
and also in general the first 2 or 3 bullets are going to be accurate-ish and the rest will be wherever the fuck, so if you burst fire you can have insane accuracy but otherwise you have to know how to control the spray for that weapon
vagrant skiff
idk how to use c#
mystic stratus
@cinder notch Yeah I have played CSGO extensively and most rifles have like a initial vertical recoil followed by a circularish thing, burst fire imo doesn't work with smgs, or maybe im just not good at playing with them 😅 spray and pray is the only way to go with'em
comparing assualt-smg random deviation it is really hard to control smg recoil over longer sprays and longer distances
assaults have more recoil but easier to control the spray
cinder notch
Yeah I get you, it's definitely doable to burst smgs accurately - just not easy to do consistently
For the most part you just have to rely on headshots for the first bullet or 2 of the bursts.
cold onyx
hey guys, just wondering, can a decal projector be used to make a certain spot transparent? for example, a guy shoots a bullet through a banner and rips the banner?
regal swan
I dont think decals can adjust the mesh they are projected on, all it does is add a layer on top of the mesh. tho Im not sure if this belongs in #archived-game-design @cold onyx
cold onyx
How do a make a good, working door in Unity? Are animations preferable? Idk how else to do them in Unity atm.
Slap a rigidbody in them and let the player kick them down!
blazing kraken
Animation is definitely the easiest approach, you can make one straight in unity for something like that. Not the right channel for the question tho
manic radish
Hey guys, I was wondering what is the best way to keep a list of all the different skills the players can have and use. For now I have all my skills in an array in a static class, and each player has the indexes of the skills that they have. However, I don't know if this is good practice and good for optimization...
cold onyx
Then what is?
blazing kraken
@manic radish you might wanna look at Scriptable Objects
cold onyx
@blazing kraken where would I ask for getting working doors?
cold onyx
deft patio
Can i ask for opinion here? Not a right wrong answer?
cold onyx
Go ahead
regal swan
your animations are restarting when thye reach the end @cold onyx
aka you are going from the left to right and back to left
you wanna probably use a trigger instead of a boolean
deft patio
It's multiplayer game for the "difficulty to dev" context
Im in a dilemma of making either of these 2 concepts. Theyre all very fleshed and well thought, but im just asking in terms of viability scalability:
- Single room playground ongoing battle but gets reset every week, some persistent player stats carry on tho. Casual in terms of commitment. In terms of scalability, bcoz it resets, would be adding new mechanics
- Story driven MP, like Man of Medan. Some more unusual feats. Story wise its quiet settled but definitelt gotta add sidequests.. gotta say graphics would be main hurdle but episodes can be released gradually in terms of scalability
Which one is recommended? Im a solo dev =D
cold onyx
@regal swan Hey thanks, a lil late but I used a Boolean.
regal swan
yeah, you shouldnt, a trigger is a boolean that resets after its used. thats probably better @cold onyx
cold onyx
@regal swan I needed to put a Condition down that makes it so it only cycles to the next animation if the Opened boolean is true, and closes if it's false. Problem is that mainly that I'm afraid that it could lag, as I'm using this for a VR game world
if you click it while it's opening/closing (can't figure out how to make the trigger collider go away when animating) it cycles back to whatever it was when its anim is complete
so if you double click a door by accident or on purpose, it will open, wait for a second then close again
regal swan
use an animation event to disable the trigger when the animation is playing
cold onyx
ty
cold onyx
Protagonist, are you still there?
regal swan
I am
cold onyx
@regal swan is this healthy Unity behavior? I made the animation for the door being opened/closed 5 frames with no movement, and it does this rapid-fire thing which looks like it could cause network or game lag. I tried to make it only one frame, but for some reason if I delete the other frames Unity defaults it to being a 1-second animation by adding its own keyframes to the anim.
problem that causes is that even tho I specified No exit time on the Animator, it still waits for it to "finish" before opening. (at least it did with a Boolean.) Do I have to set up an interrupt?
regal swan
hmm, im not sure about that. doesnt sound healthy but no idea whats up try the folks over at #🏃┃animation maybe?
snow harness
guys what do you think can I progress this ladder to the bottom perfectly?
cold onyx
Yesssss.
snow harness
Spoiler Alert! ~no~
Spoiler Alert!
no
@snow harness
But I like that you tried to think optimistic
dense talon
@deft patio Considering the fact that you are a solo dev, I would for sure make the first option. To make a story driven game with a lot of art takes a lot of effort to make it good. By creating a game which re-uses a lot of the assets in different shape and doesn't change much of the scenery you will save a lot of trouble. It's much easier to make content for that.
deft patio
Thanks. Yep, leaning towards #1.
It's actually an old project that i gave up on due to using photon PUN (terribly wrong decision). After a few more projects, now i have more confidence to actually make a good remake
dense talon
As long as you design your code for easily scaling content, then it should be fine.
Once I even made a quick flutter app so I could create story content for my game when I was on the run ^^;
silent topaz
can anyone tell me some necessary assets that i can use in my [ ADVENTURE ] game ?
blazing kraken
Not a game design related question. But you can check POLYGON assets on the store, they have a great variety
blazing kraken
cold onyx
Does anyone know how i can add an animated 2d player in unity
cold onyx
Stupid question but what do you do if you’re halfway through a project and you start to feel like the whole premise is stupid 😮 like how do you motivate yourself to keep going if you start to feel like the idea isn’t good
dense talon
@cold onyx Jump ship. If you yourself don't believe in the project or feel no joy doing it, then what is the point?
I have met this several times and I usually harvest some good code from the project and start over. But I work alone in most cases, so it makes it easier to do this...
If you are in a team it might be harder.
cold onyx
That’s what normally happens, or I stop for a long time and pick it up again. It’s rough because you wonder if the idea is good and you just lost motivation..? @dense talon
dense talon
Most of the time it's me not believing it will bring any profit, I find someone who did it already OR I don't have enough spare time to do it myself.
I have one project I do because I find the game idea to be unique and it's more of a passion project, the other ones are just for profit or to make my wife happy. x)
Made her an idle game I didn't even release on the market since it has a lot of inside jokes between me and her. :p
cold onyx
That’s true, if you can motivate as a passion project that could be the best way to finish! It can be frustrating when you plan out your project though and you get far into it and start to think “is this even fun to play?”
blazing kraken
try to understand if that's true or you're just discouraged cause it takes a long time. It's hard to finish stuff but it's really good when you manage to do it
upper rose
hey everyone looking for some information on map making like RTS style maps, I want to create my own map with the fuction when I zoom in more things become visable, similar to games like total war, can anyone point mine in the right direction .
dawn shore
This is a follow-up to my post in #533494613332459531, but as it's questions about world design, I thought it fit here. If you want more details, check my post there.
In my game, you dive down a dungeon with floors (100 planned, to be exact). I plan on having sets of five floors, with a boss on each fifth floor, and a safe-level after every third boss.
Each set of floors will share a similar theme, aside from the safe floors which will have their own unique themes.
Now, for the first set, I want to do caves-- as I find them primitive, and I like the idea of the dungeon getting more detailed and dangerous as the player plays. I also would like each set of floors to have some resemblance to the last set (i.e; caves might contain crystals, so the next set might be crystal caverns..) however, aside from the first five floors, the first safe floor, and the last twenty floors (which will be based un the underworld), I really don't have any idea what to use as a theme..
blazing kraken
@dawn shore I made this a while back, might help https://perchance.org/environmentgen
dawn shore
@blazing kraken That is really helpful!
cold onyx
Hi,I'd like to make a first person survival shooter,I've already decided art and gamestyles but I don't have ideas for maps,how do usually get them?
flat atlas
Well, @cold onyx, what is the objective of the game (besides survive) and does it suit a scale closer to Escape from Tarkov, DayZ, or a smaller map?
Do you intend on implementing story or is it more of a make your own story kind of game?
cold onyx
The objective is to be funny and simple,but not fast to complete,I was thinking to create easter eggs to complete and keep people playing it and maybe implement multiplayer,but I am alone,for now,as I said,I'm not sure about maps and ambientations,plus I'm alone,I hope I have the time
Oh,it will be in 3d,I'm not good with 2d graphics but I already have 4 years of experience with blender 3d
flat atlas
When I say objective I mean the objective for the player. What are they trying to accomplish in the game?
Depending on the player objective and story, we can determine a world scale and style.
cold onyx
Revenge?To the final boss?
A sort of quake 3 or doom but survival and with larger and fewer maps?
Like,you die once and you have to restart the level and searching the ee to complete it
flat atlas
So it's survival in a level based game? Okay, so you'd probably want to come up with the player's objective in each of the levels and then design the levels accordingly.
Do a rough outline with the number of levels you want, the objectives for each level, and then figure out a size and theme that would fit with each of those. After that, start blocking out some of them in 2d, either in a drawing program or just on a piece of paper, then block them out in 3d for playtesting.
When you said survival I automatically assumed it would be open world because of the recent trends and how open world lends itself well to survival games.
cold onyx
@flat atlasnah,there are too much of this,I want to make something that it's mine ,maybe people will hate it,but if I'll do something that I like I'll be happy,thank you for the help,I started asking myself questions
flat atlas
Good luck, man!
pseudo halo
Hi guys!
How are you doing?
I want someone to make me a profile picture, with 2 letters, simple. Who can do it for me? Please.🤗
flat atlas
Hey @pseudo halo. You'd probably be better off asking for help up in #archived-art-asset-showcase where all the artists hang out 🙂
pseudo halo
Okay, i will. Thank you 🙂
cold onyx
hmmm, is it better to duplicate a prefab in the hierarchy, or unpack it + duplicate the object as many times as you need then drag-and-drop the entire set of objects to create all unique prefabs? I heard it's better to have as many prefabs as possible? can't remember where...
brazen burrow
Hi all, new here
Alright this might be a bit of the ramble but here I go
I'll preface this all by mentioning that I've literally started working with unity 2 days ago and my only other development related experience is 2 semesters of c++ back in 2018. So if I sound uninformed, I am.
I'm wanting to create - or form a team to create - a 3rd-person view game where the player flies a plane with fairly realistic physics. I was basically thinking about combining these 2 assets
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/physics/silantro-flight-simulator-toolkit-128025
https://github.com/brihernandez/MouseFlight
The main challenge I see would be reworking the mouse aim controls so that they actually force the plane to undertake real controls based on the proper physics, instead of just rotating it and ignoring those. In addition, I've never actually worked with a unity toolkit like this
And if you're thinking "hey that sounds kind of like War Thunder - yeah, it does because i'm a longtime War Thunder player who is fed up with the way they manage their game, and I'd rather try to make something better than spend more time there. I also think there is great potential for 3rd-person PvE content with WWII aircraft as the setting, and would love to explore that.
So basically, proper plane physics, responding to mouse input, and I'd of course like to add actual gameplay like fighting a bot plane or attacking some kind of ground targets with guns too in the future
How out of my depth am I as an almost-complete beginner, and what kind of resources should I look for to gain the skills needed to use these tools and actually make things work
Thanks
As an addendum, if I wanted to just work on the concept and gameplay and hire a dev to do the technical work, what skills should I look for? That might be a more feasible option for me since I am new and this seems - to me - like a pretty complex project
blazing kraken
@brazen burrow in all honestly if you're completely new to unity and game dev I would highly recommend you find something way easier to start from. Even if you managed to form a team it still requires skills to make sure something good can happen. Just pick a beginner serie and follow it to familiarize with engine and mechanics.
cause even if you grab packages that do what you want, as soon as you run into a single issue (and it will happen) you'll be stuck if you don't know your way around
brazen burrow
thanks for the advice
blazing kraken
no problem, I'm sure that's not what you want to hear 😄 but unfortunately that's how it is
north cosmos
finding a team of equal inexperience looking to learn together is always encouraged, as group support tends to yield the best results @brazen burrow
also, contrary to popular opinion the only way you will learn is to pick things apart yourself, find out how they work and what you could improve on your own design.. otherwise you're running in the dark, and potentially learning some bad habits which would be hard to break in the future.
packages are a great way to learn*
cold onyx
@blade I think you can definitely do this, just might take some hair pulling. Just do it one piece at a time. Start with one thing: get the plane to fly, stationary camera. Next, make the camera follow the plane. Next, try adding an "enemy" that just flies in a straight line. You get the idea.
@brazen burrow
if you have patience (and free time), you can learn anything.
flat atlas
I suggest not starting your learning process with your dream project. I know you want to get into game making to make your dream game, but you're going to have to totally remake your game repeatedly, correcting mistakes, reworking mechanics after getting new information, and getting rid of bad habits you may have picked up.
It's really easy to get burned out and discouraged on a project like that because it will feel like nothing is progressing and you're constantly fixing stupid mistakes. It's far easier to stay motivated by learning things in little side projects with your big goal in the back of your mind. You're more likely to experiment and go crazy with stuff in the little side projects and really learn things if you know that the project is just for learning.
brazen burrow
good points, i'll start with something else and come back when I have more experience
zealous kestrel
Hey all. So I am new to Unity, but I've poked around game development for many years. And while I totally have the urge to drop on and look for a team to make my dream game come true, I realize that's not going to happen without building connections with people first. So...here goes:
Anyone looking for a writer, story editor, narrative consultant, etc.? I am an award-winning sci-fi, fantasy, and horror author. And writing is my passion, but writing for games is basically my dream. And I'd love to work for you, to give your characters, descriptions, and world a little extra life.
In addition, I have a deep understanding of level design theory, an incredible appreciation for lighting and art direction, and have previously worked in audio and foley. I also do magical things in Photoshop. I'm a pretty jack-of-all-trades creative type.
Wasn't sure if this is the right channel to put this, but this seems to be the place people go when they want to get involved
mystic stratus
I really like shooters, and I really like shooters with time bending capabilities.
Original Game - A single-player 3D FPS along the lines of Superhot without the time slow thing as of now.
Ideas :
-
Exactly like superhot, just with more weapons, so as to increase the effect.
-
Time slows down for a particular time on a powerup kind of thing => but you can still move, something like Quicksilver's kitchen scene in X-men Days of future past? Something that gives the effect of moving really fast.
//Somewhat like the time slowdown in Max Payne but you could take out a whole room of enemies and minus the god-level gameplay :x // Or even go back to prince of persia slow down time, just with faster movement -
Bullet time! Absolutely no idea how would I go about this but, just bouncing off ideas! This is just a random thought I had while thinking about the Matrix. Could be something like the player creates an energy sphere around him that slows down all incoming bullets?
Which one do you think would have the best effect, or something better if it comes to mind?!
flat atlas
@zealous kestrel The best way to find a team here is to share your own projects and works-in-progress, make connections with people who are doing similar things (or the things you want to be involved in) and have a conversation with them. If you're thinking more of a professional position, I would recommend checking out Unity Connect, where people post job positions for their teams as well as one-off commissions. As a writer myself, I will tell you that most small/indy teams aren't looking for writers. Writing/Storytelling usually takes a backseat as people assume anyone can write a coherent story (And you see where this mindset gets Indy devs when you look at all the asset flop games pushed to steam). Best of luck to you my man!
@mystic stratus Rather than trying to clone effects from other games, why don't you mix and match to come up with something more unique? Most people will just label you a clone of something if you rip a primary mechanic (usually happens if your mechanic is also the primary mechanic for your game). For instance, if you make a game about building with blocks, BOOM, minecraft clone. Make a game based on existing God lore, BOOM, God of War ripoff. Yaknow what I mean?
I think a mechanic that lets you shoot enemy bullets out of the air or curve your bullets (thinking of that crappy assassin movie from ages ago) for creative kills could be neat. You can combine those things with a time-slow to "charge" up the attack. So long as you're doing something different from what everyone else is doing, you're headed in the right direction. Hope this helps a little!
uneven quail
Hi guys, I need a favor, may I?
If I already a character in blender 2.8 and it was rigged and animated... I want to import the character from blender 2.8 to unity.... But I won't make sense with our keyboard when we click on either one W, A, S, or D button, right?
What I have to do is to make some scripts for this character? I decided to make a fps game
mystic stratus
Yes, you need to use the scripts to call the animator/move your character
craggy abyss
i want to create a joystick for android which is used to aim weapons, like this
https://giphy.com/gifs/brawl-stars-5zvYoxkED5DjroMOwh
can anyone help me how do i proceed ?
blazing kraken
you might have better luck asking in code, not exactly a design question
little swift
i want to create a joystick for android which is used to aim weapons, like this
https://giphy.com/gifs/brawl-stars-5zvYoxkED5DjroMOwh
@craggy abyss
Get x/y axis input fro joystick and set that as the target vector. Then set rotation of the character to this vector
dense talon
I think he's referring to the actual joystick, not how to move the characters.
Isn't this basically it @craggy abyss ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVxnvXonGXY
dense talon
@cold onyx why are you posting that here?
cold onyx
because it's related to game design
texturing
"shared anything related to game design"
dense talon
I would maybe have put this in the 2d art section, but that's just me.
In theory you can place anything used in unity in this channel with that mindset. ^^;
blazing kraken
"Game design creates goals, rules and challenges to define a board game, card game, dice game, casino game, role-playing game, sport, video game, war game or simulation that produces desirable interactions among its participants and, possibly, spectators." Those icons would go into 2D
game design is not the same thing as game development ^^
cold onyx
bruh who said this was game development
noble flame
Not sure if I should talk about this here, but anyone familiar with NavMeshAgents and have a few minutes to bounce some theory around?
cold onyx
still not here lol
blazing kraken
Well you implied it when you said that it's related to it. Which is not
cold onyx
Game design is roughly defined as "Design for a game"
blazing kraken
@noble flame sorry, same thing 😄 Don't wanna be mean guys, just trying to keep the content of the channels on point
noble flame
This isn't the place to chat about game dev theory?
I figured this would definitely be the channel.
noble flame
It's partially technical.
cold onyx
There's too little channel on specific topics imo
noble flame
Well, I'm looking at my game and working on some AI. I looked at a few tutorials and such on how to do it. The way I've been looking at the overall design of my AI is that they're like the player. They have pretty much all of the same attributes. However, they need some way of being independent, so they have NavMeshAgents on them.
However, I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to merge the player movement (that uses a CharacterController) with the NavMeshAgent.
I mean, they basically do the same job.
But if I want to keep consistency, then merging is necessary.
blazing kraken
I'm not sure why you would need to merge them though. Is your player a navmesh agent aswell?
noble flame
Nah. Player moves as they would normally. I just remember reading some theory that suggested that shared code is a good way to go. Like NPCs are just players that the computer plays instead of the player.
Which is how I've tackled the A.I. issue.
blazing kraken
if they share a big chunk of similarity you could simply make a script called CharacterBehaviour with that stuff, then make a PlayerBehaviour and AIBehaviour that boht inherit from CharacterBehaviour, in which you'll put the stuff they do differently
Say if everyone has an Health attribute, stamina, inventory, etc
you make a parent script, and then inherit and differentiate for the specific case uses
noble flame
I have that now.
blazing kraken
then you don't need to merge anything imo
noble flame
So there's a Body class that every entity has. From that, there's an NPC body and a PC body.
However, players move with CharacterControllers and NPCs ALSO use Character Controllers.
That part is shared between the two entities currently.
blazing kraken
and you can't move it to the body?
noble flame
I guess what I'm trying to figure out is is it worth it to keep them the same, or should I strictly go with NPCs using NavMeshAgents to move and only the player uses the CharacterController.
blazing kraken
depends on your needs. What kind of game is it?
blazing kraken
I would switch to NavMesh for the AI and keep the charcontroller for player only
especially as I imagine you'll have obstacles and paths in your maps
navmesh is pretty handy and easy to implement and use
noble flame
I think we might be getting into programming territory here, but do NavMeshAgents have physics or collider properties like CharacterControllers?
Do people generally only use NavMeshAgents in their games?
I don't know enough people working on Unity projects to know what the norm is.
blazing kraken
yep, your agents can have rigidbodies and collider, and normally interact with the environment
well depends a lot on the type of game I'd say. A lot of games don't need pathfinding
more advanced programmers might just write their own pathfinding and obstacle detection system
hard fog
I'm not sure how NavAgents use physics exactly, but from my game jam experience with it agents can be setup to be pushed around and push themselves or not as well.
blazing kraken
from a design standpoint of view is all a matter of achieving your desired behaviour with the least amount of effort and issues
noble flame
I would normally do that, but there's only me working on the game, so I'm looking to use Unity tools if I can.
As my game has a lot of moving around going on with NPCs, the NavMesh system could work even if it's super finnicky as hell.
blazing kraken
Yeah I'd say go for it, I only did some experimenting last year with Navmesh. https://gyazo.com/a67f00e25fa16cd12bc4000905249f05 nothing crazy
but you can see I have a patrol that goes between certain waypoints
but when noise triggers him he switches to investigate a new point
and if he doesn't find anything, goes back to his patrol route
it's real simple to setup
noble flame
I have the base AI system in place. I decided to go with the ScriptableObject method as I think it's pretty robust.
The issue I was really having was whether or not to splinter my "move around" states as the code was written for all entities in the game and they use CharacterControllers.
However, transitioning to NavMeshAgents for NPCs will take some work to convert things over.
As it doesn't have stuff like .isGrounded. And the like.
blazing kraken
well like you said you're working on it solo, if you don't use NavMesh it means you have to make a custom pathfinding and collision avoidance system. Which is probably a ton more work than just converting, imo
noble flame
True. I'll have to look into what I can ultimately do with NavMeshAgents as opposed to CharacterControllers.
blazing kraken
good luck 😄
noble flame
Thanks. I appreciate the discussion. I don't have many friends working with Unity to throw around some ideas with. Almost everyone I know is using Unreal. 😦
blazing kraken
Yeah I can relate 😄 hit me up through DM if anything else comes up, I enjoy this kind of discussion
craggy abyss
Get x/y axis input fro joystick and set that as the target vector. Then set rotation of the character to this vector
@little swift
This is what I need, thanks alot
@dense talon thanks for the help <3
little swift
no problem, thats what this discord is for.
spare quail
So I’m pretty wack at anything art related (modelling/animation/texturing) - I was thinking I could therefore make my game (an FPS) with a low poly ‘Unturned’ art style (though with more detail than that game but still with 0 textures). Should I do that or should I think about just hiring someone?
solemn fractal
hello everyone,. i was curios about sprite sheets. for example if i have a set already imported, would it be possible to open that sprite sheet and modify to my needs. would that sprite sheet be updated in unity, or would i have to reimport
thank you in advanced
next roost
So I’m pretty wack at anything art related (modelling/animation/texturing) - I was thinking I could therefore make my game (an FPS) with a low poly ‘Unturned’ art style (though with more detail than that game but still with 0 textures). Should I do that or should I think about just hiring someone?
@spare quail you could by some nice assets or find some free in the unity store or https://sketchfab.com/ but most of you could download Blender et follow nice tuto 😉
light olive
Some things related to game design : You should always have a theme, you should always have a genre too. Next you need A GDD, one that has some of the more important concepts of your game. Goals, Rules, Actions, Transitions, and Setup. These areas should be well thought and written down. Now before you go making a game, What mechanics will you create and what dynamics can be arisen from these mechanics? Now when all that is is done. Now obviously you should look at the scope of what you create! What can you realistically accomplish within a set amount of time, How good are you a coding or game art? these are things to consider. Ideas are a dime a dozen, Its all about how you plan it out. If we go back to some of the things mentioned we can learn that goals are broken down into short term goals and long term goals. These all work to the main goal. The rules define how things are to be whether they are internal or specifically for the player. Your actions should be meaningful more than not meaningful. Transitions are your different states of the game ( menu, in game, options , etc...) When working with mechanics follow the TPM strategy ( train , practice and master) or even twist 2 or more mechanics but still follow the TPM. Think form the player perspectives and learn to make use of breadcrumbs. There is a lot to the aspect of General Design or any design of that matter whether it be Level Design, Character Design, Story Design. Another quick tip learn to keep a player in flow. Another words adjust the challenge and skill in a way that it keeps the player going. If a player sees that it is to easy in skill and challenge, then it will be come boring just as if it requires too much skill and a very high level of challenge, it can be quite frustrating. You want people to stay within those bounds so that they stick with the game to completion. I hopes this helps some out, keep developing. 🙂
spare quail
Alright boys, looks like I know what I’m doing today😅
blazing kraken
Having a bit of a design dilemma. I'm making a narrative first person game (think firewatch) focused on folk tales. I didn't realize I accidentally introduced an inconsistency in my design.
Basically as the player you are the spectator of the story, you find yourself into the world where the tale unravel and you watch it unravel. In certain spots though I made it so to progress the player has to do something.
Example: "The king opened the drawer to look for the key" in a situation like this the player would be opening the drawer and find the key to push the story forward, even tho he isn't the king, and I realized that I don't like how that feels.
At this point I either remove the player completely from the story, still let him interact with the world but without pushing the narrative forward with actions (limit gameplay/puzzles in between sequences). Or make the character the protagonist of the story (which might add complexity in scenes were the main character of the tale shouldn't be present).
What do you guys think?
vague wren
well the easier thing is probably to remove the player from the story completely, right? So would not doing that -- adding those interactions instead -- meaningfully enhance the experience enough to be worth the extra effort? I think it depends on if you have good ideas for how the player would influence the world.
flat atlas
@blazing kraken You could also introduce a mechanic where the player takes on the role of certain characters in the story to progress the narrative. You'd have to make it clear that the player is still spectating the ongoings and hasn't "become" the character, but rather is viewing it from a specific character's eyes. It could be accomplished by swapping to a 3rd person view of the character the player is taking control of while they are viewing from their perspective, or do a visible camera swap to the character they're controlling if you want it to maintain the 1st person perspective.
Otherwise it might take some minor rewriting to keep the observer perspective to prevent the character from taking on that active role in the story.
blazing kraken
Good ideas guys. Someone else somewhere actually suggested the same different character thing, it might be interesting to try
flat atlas
If it doesn't work, you can always scrap it and go with the other solid suggestions 😄
Oh, you could also make it kind of pause the narrative until the player "views" whatever the key item is, and then the act goes on as if nothing happened (in the eyes of the npcs) while the player has a deeper understanding of the scene after having "interacted" with it.
blazing kraken
oh yeah that's how I already do it
flat atlas
Ah okay gotcha
blazing kraken
sequences needs to be pushed by player going somewhere or interacting with stuff
flat atlas
Ohh okay, I see what you mean now
@blazing kraken Will you be releasing a playable demo soon? The environment shots you keep teasing look fantastic 🙂
blazing kraken
thanks man! Actually yeah, I'm thinking to make a small prototype with a few different gameplay variations to see what people feel when playing
then I'm aiming for a demo which is one complete tale
flat atlas
Hell yeah, can't wait!
blazing kraken
Cheers 😄 I'll let you know!
cinder elbow
Anyone run across see this before. Been happening a lot recently and cant find anything online.
blazing kraken
Pretty hard if you don't describe what's happening 😛 also probably not the best channel to find an answer to technical issues
abstract plinth
cinder elbow
@blazing kraken I couldn't find any dedicated channel and one of the other ones said heres pretty much a free for all. 😆
blazing kraken
oh dear, we need to change the understanding that the game design channel is free for all lol. Anyway, what are you having issues with specifically?
cinder elbow
😆 Well its just those black dots see to randomly happen on transparent areas and water. If you stop and play again it could run fine. Don't think it happens in builds though.
blazing kraken
are you using HDRP or URP?
cinder elbow
HDRP
Its for college so im stuck using 2019.2.1 which already is a nightmare to use shadergraph with anyway so I'm wondering if its just a version bug.
blazing kraken
honestly sounds like it could be hdrp related, maybe try to ask in either shaders or lighting
cinder elbow
Cheers my man
drifting frost
List vs Slot inventories?
flat atlas
Depends on the item tbh. Like in Skyrim, I like the list inventory for the crafting items but I hate it for the gear/weapons.
I feel like a nice grid just lays out the items so much more neatly but can be a pain to navigate if you've got a ton of items, like the Vault in Destiny 2 where you have to flip through pages of items to find the one you're looking for.
So my answer: Depends on the game/use of the inventory.
lean shard
Hey I'm not really sure in which channel to ask this question, but can anyone explain a way I could line up when the animation on my character swings his sword to the enemy taking damage, the problem I have right now is that as soon as I click the enemy takes damage but my character only started to swing
blazing kraken
@lean shard maybe animation channel. Either you have a trigger in front of the player that mimicks the swing of the sword, and you add an animation event in the animation clip where the hit would occur and fire the hit. Or have a trigger on the sword itself and when it touches something check if isenemy and attackanimation.isplaying then inflict damage
or a combination of the two where you enable the attack functionality of the sword in the animation clip. So if something gets hit during the clip it fires the damage function
lean shard
@blazing kraken Interesting I'll try it out, thanks for the help
blazing kraken
no prob
weary thicket
@blazing kraken You could just add a 'possess/take control of the right character to solve the puzzle' as part of the puzzle.
Maybe even having the game react differently if two characters can solve it differently.
Like the King is the king, so he is allowed to go anywhere and can go get the key he owns, but the princess would have to take a different route.
flat atlas
Ooh actually making that part of the puzzle. Neat idea
blazing kraken
Hm I like the idea but I think it adds too much complexity and development time
it's basically adding branching gameplay
Of the different proposed solutions making the player the protagonist is probably the more feasible one I'm thinking. Cause turning the player into complete spectator and adding puzzles in between narrative sequence makes it so there could be too long of a pause in between said sequences. But then if you make the puzzles completely trivial to speed up the narration, why have them at all. Cause then it would feel like the world is on pause while you figure out how to get to the next section
if that makes sense
it's basically a simplistic version of what you proposed with possessing characters
at this point I'm not even sure about the "puzzle" element, if it's something like Firewatch, you could simply interact with stuff
open nest
how does one get over the fact that your idea is not unique? I get a very strong urge to dumpster any idea that has been done before.
I'm beginning to question whether I should even make games.
spice herald
Hey can i use stones in the "paint tree" section
blazing kraken
@open nest I think it's fine doing something not completely unique. It builds experience and it will lead you to better ideas, it's kinda pointless waiting for the perfect idea
altho I understand the frustration
dense talon
I mean, JRPG's have done the same thing throughout several decades and they are still good x)
flat atlas
@open nest There will always be concepts to compare your project to. No matter how original you try to be, someone will come along and say "That sounds like X!".
It's better to make a solid project and be compared to an existing thing than not to have made the project at all.
regal swan
im annoyed by how accurate that statement is
flat atlas
That comes with a caveat, though. When moving from a hobbyist or student building a portfolio into a more professional setting, you will want to, depending on the positions you're looking to occupy, consider how a concept has been tackled before to make sure that you're not rehashing something that has been done incredibly well AND to avoid a concept that is plagued with issues.
For instance, Zombie games. They've been so overdone for the last ten years and most people are so sick of them that even mentioning a zombie will send players running for the kills. Even if you have a cool concept for a zombie game that is genuinely good, the chances that it will be monetarily successful without the aid of triple A money is slim to none.
blazing kraken
Yeah, unless you manage to give it such a unique spin that makes your project stand out
regal swan
whats your preference for an inventory system. a page based system (ex. breath of the wild) or a list based system (ex. pokemon)
blazing kraken
Depends on what I need to do with said items. Both can work but depends for what purpose
regal swan
@blazing kraken good point, i ll try both ands ee
cold onyx
anyone know how to change the FOV of a Cinemachine Freelook camera? is it the lens focal length? I changed that to 90 and it zoomed in instead of showing more 😦
aha!, changing the focal length actually changes the FOV on your Main Camera, so you can match it up
cold onyx
looking for devs to help make my game
flat atlas
@cold onyx
What positions are you looking to fill, what is the pay, are you looking to assemble/lead a team or are you looking for a freelance crew to contract, and what is the scope of the project (genre, style, core mechanics, the length of the project/development time)?
nocturne summit
Anyone have opinions on how to make a FPS controllers? I'm starting a new project for a FPS stealther. Say like the sneaky parts of Prey or Deus Ex, so little emphasis on shooting.
I slapped in a basic character controller just to view my scene, but from that I'm already feeling like I don't like how zippy it is
too exact in full speed to zero speed
I'm also wondering about if it's uncommon or not to have the X speed slower than Z
storm harbor
Character controller is probably your best choice, Rigid body will have more realistic acceleration but will cause way more problems than it's worth
crystal iron
hey anyone got an idea of how i could make a 2d game in a 3d project that follows a non linear path?
a 2.5d game ofsorts
steady kiln
Anyone willing to give me some feed back on how "fun" the game mechanics in my prototype are? I can't decide if I should speed things up a bit. I'll probably introduce shielding and enemy turrets etc, but shields and engines can't be used simultaneously to balance it out. This is a mobile game but I have a WebGL version for testing.
https://stingray.games/A0/
Some quick & dirty gameplay footage (sped up 2x)
https://i.imgur.com/7zdjI5Z.mp4
cold onyx
u die too easy
steady kiln
I'm going to be adding shields but they'll only work when not firing thrusters, should help survivability
uneven quail
Hi guys, I have a question
Anyone knows how to code for weapon switching based on what kind of weapons the player has?
If I code for the pistol switch to rifle, but how the system knows what types of guns the player has?
mystic stratus
Add a code number for each type of gun there is and check the previous code and the next code and work accordingly
That should get you started
mystic stratus
@steady kiln I don't think that you die too easy. if you play even decently you could clear the level in one try. I played a 3 levels and got 3 stars in all of them :D. Just a little thought, I assume that is water, so when you are in water use MORE fuel? Also in the GIFs those little black mine bombs which follow you and detonate if you get too close, they are amazing! Also fuel stations?
steady kiln
@mystic stratus Yeah the first 3 tutorial levels are super easy, but it does get a bit annoying on level 10. Shields should help, especially when I introduce turrets that shoot at you 😈
It is water, though the shader broke and doesn't render properly on WebGL. I will make it consume more fuel and maybe increase drag. There are fuel pickups but I'll probably add landing stations as well.
Thanks for your feedback!
dense talon
@steady kiln One thing that you could do is to have difficulty levels where in lower levels you can take 3 hits or something similar. I do know a lot of people enjoy hard games like super meatboy and such, but the masses are more leaning towards casual games sadly :p
steady kiln
Yeah, my idea is to add shields, but they are only active when not thrusting, as both shields and thrusters use fuel (i.e. if you hit something and the shield absorbs it, fuel will drop slightly). So it becomes a balancing act, and the more stuff you hit the less fuel you have to finish the level. And since later levels will have fuel scarcity anyway, it'll become that much more important to not hit things
At least it sounds good in theory we'll see how it plays out
blazing kraken
https://gyazo.com/70eabbc7dcaad96433000ee9f1 @steady kiln not sure if intended but at that specific angle you just explode as soon as you push on the thrust
steady kiln
Gyazo says page not found
blazing kraken
https://gyazo.com/70eabbc7dcaad96433000ee9f1331a5c @steady kiln try now 😄
steady kiln
Ah yeah, it's finnicky if you are trying to rotate the ship as you take off. I'll fix it, thanks 👍
blazing kraken
I like the overall idea I think it's a fun little challenge, but I'd recommend to polish the controls and allow for a bit more forgiveness
I recommend watching this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCnZhs-92j0
basically sometimes the game feels like it's jus trying to punish you unnecessarily
especially noticed that when landing on level completion
you can be off by a very minimum amount and you'd still explode
Also I'm not sure if the levels are just random but the difficulty ramps up a ton between level 3 and 4 (I think) basically the one where you introduce bombs, lasers and that thing that pushes you
you want to limit the new mechanics to 1 per level
and slowly ramp up the difficulty
introduce a single laser first instead of 3
then use more later on
this way you give the player a chance to understand the mechanic and go over it without issues
steady kiln
I'll check it out. And yeah I agree I'm trying to reduce the frustration aspects of it. I try to introduce 1 thing per level, I just haven't made levels 3 & 4 yet so it jumps from 2 to 5 (and then to 10 which is way harder)
honestly level creation is what I hate most and I need to make a decent # of them
been experimenting with procedural generation a bit
I appreciate your feedback 👍
blazing kraken
no problem 😄
reef rover
hey ive been trying to concept out a looter shooter idea that might never be made, but it was instead of getting pre made guns, the game gives you gun parts, then you create the guns the game gives you. ive heard of many different responses from people that it would or wouldnt work and wanted to ask the idea here from teh game-design chat
spice herald
Hey do someone know why Polybrush is so buggy?
valid adder
I am a coder just finished making a small platformer if anyone is interested in creating levels fr it dm me
cerulean river
I'm working on a semi-atmospheric puzzle game called lightwarp, where you travel across mysterious lands discovering parts of them story, with a mechanic of controlling light, and changing the lights color, will trigger certain objects to move which would allow you to solve the puzzles, and I have a question, since this my first game project that I want to release publicly, I was wondering, how many levels would be optimal to have in the base game if the levels take 5-10 minutes to complete
tldr: atmospheric game with puzzles and control of light mechanic, how many levels?
blazing kraken
@reef rover that's not a lot of information to go off from, there are many other parameters that would dictate if the game would work or not. The concept itself is fine imo, think borderlands with added gun crafting, it could definitely work, would it be better than the current system? I don't really think it would make a difference for the gameplay. The only way something like that becomes central is if combining pieces in different ways creates different gameplay experiences or emergent gameplay that makes the user feel awesome for having discovered a combination
@cerulean river is it paid/free? Which platform? Target audience?
cerulean river
@blazing kraken well i still havent decided on the price, aiming for free with a paid dlc, mobile, target audience? pretty much all ages
blazing kraken
Depending on how long it takes you to make new levels you could just start with 10 and then drop new updates with more levels. I definitely wouldn't wait to have 100 levels before doing it
people will usually play couple levels at a time
blazing kraken
most will drop out after some amount, so you definitely don't need to have a ton to keep the majority engaged for a bit
just make sure to pace them
cerulean river
@blazing kraken the problem is, I have a planned finale for the game, so id have to release other levels as side content
cerulean river
@blazing kraken well id rather have the finale be part of the 10 levels or atleast somewhere in the base levels in the final release (not beta or alpha releases) if this makes sense
(oh and sorry for the ping, its a habit)
blazing kraken
no problem. I think it's fine, you might just want to separate them into 2 modes then
like a story mode with the 10 levels
that kinda act as an introduction to the game
and a free play/progression mode that unlocks after the player beats the story
cerulean river
makes sense
that could be fun
@blazing kraken if I could code a random rogue game mode than generates levels based on the patterns that would also be cool to implement
wouldnt be exactly easy tho
blazing kraken
if this is a puzzle game of sorts (which I think it is?) random would probably make for some bad results
cerulean river
@blazing kraken yeah another good point
probably ill add handmade levels to the progression mode like you said
and just to be clear this is a sidescroller
blazing kraken
how does the light mechanic works?
cerulean river
@blazing kraken well theres a bar at the bottom which you bring up by double tapping, and when you select a light color in the bar it triggers objects that are marked with a colored translucent material to the responding light, those objects then move, so in some levels, its a matter of triggering the objects movement in the right order, if the object has only one movement, triggering the light again will just reverse the action
why do you ask?
blazing kraken
I wanted to understand if it's something that can work with the random generation
blazing kraken
yeah doesn't sound like it would work
good puzzles are some of the hardest thing to make imo
cerulean river
crap i should post that in the art channel
reef rover
@blazing kraken thank you for your detailed response and yes its not a lot to go off of because im silll working on it and how it will work. the reason i asked here and wanted a response because ive heard mixed responses from other people and other fans of the genre. it could be a variety of reasons why. but yeah thats the idea is to make the user feel good about themselves for discovering different weapon combos. but ill have to see. ill probably run my friends through a playtest one day if it gets done enough so i can see if its fun. but yeah i just wanted a new opinon
blazing kraken
@reef rover yeah I'd say don't mind people opinions this early on. Cause people will get an idea that might be completely different from what you're trying to achieve.
dark orbit
How easy would it be to make a RTS game with little coding knowledge?
blazing kraken
@dark orbit not to discourage you but that's probably one of the hardest genre to make with little coding knowledge
reef rover
@blazing kraken thats actually a really good point. i never thought of it like that
desert oar
flat atlas
@desert oar You might want to ask in #💻┃code-beginner or #archived-networking to get help on that. This channel isn't really for technical discussion or implementation.
livid shuttle
ok so im making a gun right and i set it to an automatic fire, when i do that and shoot the gun it fires really fast but the sound doesnt play all the way because it is so fast how do i fix that
i already went into a sound editor to try and cut it to the gun shot starting immediately and it still has a silent part at the start
there is that small space in the front which is making it sound like its muted how do i get rid of it or make it so sounds can overlap each other
little swift
@livid shuttle you can edit the sound in a program like Audacity easily to get rid of the "silent secobd" in front. That has nothing with the ability for the sound to overlap eachother tho.
That depends on your code. It sounds like your code wait till the sound finished playing before playing the next sound
spice herald
Can someone explain why my terrain (Imported to Blender, made it low poly and imported back to Unity as a fbx) is behaving like that?
The green one is the mesh collider which is placed correctly, the dark blue one is the pro builder which is behaving strange
It is like the right side got folded and placed into the left side
And if no one can help with that, could someone tell me what the lines are called? (The green lines from the mesh collider or the dark blue ones from the pro builder)
flat atlas
@spice herald You might find more help for that up in #🔀┃art-asset-workflow.
spice herald
@flat atlas Alright thanks!
left rose
Hi! Im just new to c# and i was hoping i could get linked to some good beginner tutorials for c# in unity.
flat schooner
@left rose https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDjSxB3UhEk
cerulean river
Lightwarp Levels and Emblems for the final puzzle
Chapter 1 - The Radiant Sea - Emblem of Unity
Chapter 2 - The Kingdom - Emblem of Royalty
Chapter 3 - The Temple - Emblem of Knighthood
Chapter 4 - The Cubes - Emblem of Knowledge
Chapter 5 - The Lantern-Warpers - Emblem of Power
Chapter 6 - The Surge - Emblem of Intellect
Chapter 7 - The Healing - Emblem of Bravery and Emblem of Precision
Chapter 8 - The Fall
Chapter 9 - The Melting Point
Chapter 10 - The Towers - Emblem of Heroism
I've planned out the 10 levels in the storymode of Lightwarp, the emblems you get help you beat the game in the final puzzle, the final emblem you get is one that represents you, which this kinda ties into the narrative and I won't get into that, any feedback, I can provide details if need be
blazing kraken
Do embles introduce new mechanics? or are more like a "key" or support item?
cerulean river
@blazing kraken well the emblems are accompanied by mechanics and often give you another lightwarping skill or another use of it introduced, but in the finale they're more of a key
ashen grotto
Imagine a multiplayer game like a mmorpg like wow, where you play a single character. But with a turnbased combat system. How can the combat be made, so that it feels strategic and with many choices and exciting. And not just like who has first turn always wins. What compenents could be included into the combat?
cerulean river
The emblems are essentially items that represent the spirits that guide you
@ashen grotto what if you added cards into the mix, so it's not just a standard turn based fighter, but it also has the benefits of charms or abilities of playing cards strategically
Not like a classic card game, cards as in an added level of depth
cerulean river
@ashen grotto abilities I think would be cool
flat atlas
@ashen grotto Introducing abilities that dramatically impact the combat would help with that. Put them on a long cooldown so players aren't spamming them. Players will know what abilities their opponent has based on their class/spec/armor/weapon/however you choose to change abilities so they can predict what they might be able to use and it becomes about outplaying the enemy rather than just spamming a button.
Using WoW as an example since you brought it up, when you engage with, say, a death knight, you know he's a death knight before you start the fight, you know if he's blood, unholy, or frost based on what weapons he's using/his minion(s). You know that blood is a tank and has extremely high survivability and will heal off of damage dealt to you. Unholy you know he's going to power up to summon minions to kill you. Frost you know he's got a big ol breath attack and his winds to slow you. You, alternatively, are a mage, so you might wait to use your blink to teleport away AFTER he's popped his winds, so you don't get caught in the brunt of his slow and he can't get the damage boost off of freezing you.
Hope that perspective helps a bit!
ashen grotto
Thanks @cerulean river for the cards idea and @flat atlas thank you very much for that detailed explanation about those abilities. I will explore that further and try integrating cards that will hold abilities. Especially cards that are somewhat in relation with the kind of weapon and armor you are using. Maybe you can receive cards as rewards. Maybe i will base the whole fight on cards, instead of relying on basic attacks.
I plan to make the players only as strong as the weapon and armor they hold. If you die you lose most of your inventory, just keeping your secure purse and of course the content in your safehouse. Without wearing armor and weapons you are like someone starting new, cause there will be no lvls and classes.
flat atlas
Be careful if there will be heavy pvp elements in the game that the battles are somewhat predictable. Like I mentioned above, you get a LOT of information about what a player can do just by looking at their character. Start throwing in totally unpredictable or RNG elements and you'll see players become frustrated with it and only the sweatiest sweats will play your pvp.
It's like if the Death Knight in example one suddenly uses Lay on Hands (a paladin ability) in the middle of our fight to heal to full. I'm gonna be pissed and confused because why the hell is a DK using loh.
ashen grotto
Haha, yeah that makes total sense. Especially if the price for death is rather high in my game.
flat atlas
Exactly 🙂
Players should have a general idea of what they're getting into when they engage, otherwise everyone will avoid fighting because the guy they're fighting might have a god roll of random abilities.
and they lose all their junk
ashen grotto
All that input is really appreciated. I have also written down the sentiment about some kind of rolls on abilities. That would give it a cool twist, if it is somewhat predictable.
Thanks man!
blazing kraken
@cerulean river a new mechanic per level sounds a bit like too much, depending how light they are
pun not intended 😛
cerulean river
@blazing kraken not it's not a new mechanic
I just explained they are not tied in
@blazing kraken some act as new mechanics but nothing major
That makes it more clear
cerulean river
@blazing kraken guess it's alright then
cold onyx
hey what would you like to play more? a 2d horror puzzle game where every level is a movie and you play as different characters or a online mission-based zombie survival game (2d top down for both)
torpid grotto
@cold onyx that "every level is a movie and you play as different characters" sounds like a good concept but i dont know how you could handle copyright unless you parodied every movie changing character names and that stuff