Vapourware Codexian Game Development Thread

[gaussgunner]

Maybe the character has too much detail. Does it pick up the light color if you zoom in close?

Eh, it's probably rendered with a different shader that's not getting the sunlight color. Or has some extra white lights overpowering the pink.

 

[Nathaniel3W]

Could it be that the character's contrast is too high to catch the colorization in the same way as the environment?

Probably not a matter of how contrasty the character is, but what does matter is whether it's light enough to cause bloom. (I guess contrast matters there if most of the character is too dim to bloom, but the bloom illuminates the rest of the character or something.) Anyway, a problem that could have been happening is if the character is just that much more reflective than everything else in the scene, then it could be the right color, and it's just a whole lot brighter. I don't think that's the case though because NPCs with similar clothes and skin tone end up being the right color.

I'm not just imagining that, right? The character is too bright, right?

Maybe the character has too much detail. Does it pick up the light color if you zoom in close?

Eh, it's probably rendered with a different shader that's not getting the sunlight color. Or has some extra white lights overpowering the pink.

No. Zooming in doesn't make a difference. And yeah, there might be a problem with the character's shader. There are only a few different materials shown on screen there. The trees have two materials (the leaves and the trunks), all of the buildings share a material, and the terrain is a vertex-painted material. And then there's the character. Each character gets its own material, and some characters seem to pick up the light correctly and some don't. It's driving me nuts trying to figure out.

An extra white light somewhere.... That could be the issue. I need to look into that. I have some lights in other levels that might affect the character, but not the scenery.

 

[Pope Amole II]

Our artist has done some sneaky (as in, not coordinated) promotion art so I guess I can post it here as well. But yeah, we'll be starting all the promotion stuff soon, after all, the gameplay of X Caeli is almost done and the visual novel part is almost done too. The only downside is that he hasn't consulted me about the name - she's Alyssa, not Alice. Alyssa sounds so much better, at least to my taste.

She's kinda rich princess (non-literal one) who's burning her daddy's money to play a space pirate captain. Well, that but also a noble heroine 'cause why not combine both - she's trying to live like a Mary Sue and to drag everything into her delusion. She is kinda talented, though, but nowhere near that level. She also thinks that it's her role to educate the protagonist (an inhuman malicious eldritch deity but she can't quite grasp the context of that) into being a proper space hero. 'Cause she says he's a space hero, dammit!
Pic is big so spoilerz:

Spoiler

 

[baturinsky]

Great coloring, amateourish lines. Geomotry screwups here and there. Especially foot part of boots.

 

[Nathaniel3W]

Good luck Pope Amole II. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

I've probably spent the last week making Steam installers, different logo sizes, stealing parts of other people's EULAs, and waiting for my builds to upload. (I moved to Egypt last year and my supposed 8 Mb/s dedicated internet connection is something closer to 600 kb/s in practice.) I used to say that making a game is only 50% actually making the game. Now I'm convinced it's a lot smaller than that.

 

[Davaris]

I used to say that making a game is only 50% actually making the game. Now I'm convinced it's a lot smaller than that.

The Godot lead programmer said similar about his engine. He said making it easy to use, is more work than making an engine.

I was having similar thoughts today. I was messing about with Vim a month ago, due to return of carpal tunnel in my left arm. I've been working on interfaces for most of the year and its never been easier using Godot, but it's still a damned chore. I realized all these interfaces we have to make are because of this terrible invention called the mouse. So I get to thinking about a game that has no mouse driven interfaces. Everything is controlled with Vim like commands. Why not? lol

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

So I get to thinking about a game that has no mouse driven interfaces. Everything is controlled with Vim like commands. Why not? lol

You're in for a lot of trouble if the engine tries to read the mouse/gamepad/kb at the same time. I had to hack around the Unity UI by writing a simple hacky UI system and using the Unity UI only to display graphics. But don't let this discourage you -- I'd love to have more keyboard-driven games. Especially if there is a nice numpad-driven control scheme so I can play with one hand.

 

[Nathaniel3W]

Vim like commands

People spend more time in Vim than any other editor because no one knows how to close it. Give your game the same controls, and you can call it the world's most popular game.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Vim like commands

People spend more time in Vim than any other editor because no one knows how to close it. Give your game the same controls, and you can call it the world's most popular game.

Not really necessary. I'm using 4 keys solely for the UI control which is more than enough for me. Throw in some hotkeys to switch weapons/reload/check other stuff and it's already less of a hassle than clicking all the time.

 

[Davaris]

Vim like commands

People spend more time in Vim than any other editor because no one knows how to close it. Give your game the same controls, and you can call it the world's most popular game.

The trap I found with Vim is all those plugins. An indie game that is profitable is unusual, so popularity is not enough reason not to do it. lol

 

[supervoid]

Free shit: https://opengameart.org/content/64x128-isometric-tiles-grassland-seasons

 

[gaussgunner]

You're in for a lot of trouble if the engine tries to read the mouse/gamepad/kb at the same time. I had to hack around the Unity UI by writing a simple hacky UI system and using the Unity UI only to display graphics. But don't let this discourage you -- I'd love to have more keyboard-driven games. Especially if there is a nice numpad-driven control scheme so I can play with one hand.

Sounds like a Unity problem. I've coded mouse/keyboard/gamepad UIs in a couple of my own engines. I'm not gonna say it was easy, I probably spent a week architecting and coding it the first time. That includes the keymapping system and control setup GUI. It's nice; you can use any combination of controllers during gameplay. You don't have to select a controller in the option menu like in most games.

I've never seen a canned game engine with a decent GUI. It's always an afterthought.

 

[Agesilaus]

Work has been busy so progress has slowed down a lot, but I finally implemented the first town in my RPG:



This is cross-posted with the "I want to make an rpg" thread, because the tone is more serious here and I'm hoping someone here will give me advice. After I finish writing out the dialogue, I need to design the tactical battles so they're more interesting. After that, I need better character images and audio. At this point, the map backgrounds are here to stay.

If you see any obvious problems or have advice/opinions to share, please let me know. I would like to sell this at a cheap price-point when I'm done.

 

[hilfazer]

Work has been busy so progress has slowed down a lot, but I finally implemented the first town in my RPG:

If you see any obvious problems or have advice/opinions to share, please let me know. I would like to sell this at a cheap price-point when I'm done.

Your character moves faster diagonally than in cardinal directions.

You are using text description instead of numbers for character attributes. It's not inherently wrong but that's what Tim Cain was advocating when he lost his god status on Codex.
OTOH he was also advocating simplifying char creation and Voidspire Tactics is very well received here, so maybe you'll do fine as well.

 

[Agesilaus]

Work has been busy so progress has slowed down a lot, but I finally implemented the first town in my RPG:

If you see any obvious problems or have advice/opinions to share, please let me know. I would like to sell this at a cheap price-point when I'm done.

Your character moves faster diagonally than in cardinal directions.

Maths is hard. I have tutorials on various different ways to programme movement, so I will make a note to rewrite my simple code. I might have to increase walk speed in general.

I actually enjoy games where you move quicker diagonally. Makes it feel like you're cheating the system so you can get somewhere sooner.

You are using text description instead of numbers for character attributes. It's not inherently wrong but that's what Tim Cain was advocating when he lost his god status on Codex.
OTOH he was also advocating simplifying char creation and Voidspire Tactics is very well received here, so maybe you'll do fine as well.

I used text because I enjoyed reading the descriptions in games like Vengeance of Excalibur.

Age of Decadence does a dual system where you get a number and a description. I can do that easily enough, and then everyone will be satisfied.

Thanks

 

[shihonage]

Can anyone recommend where I can steal placeholder sprites for buildings from overhead view? Not isometric, just rectangular overhead. Also, people sprites from overhead view.

 

[Wayward Son]

Can anyone recommend where I can steal placeholder sprites for buildings from overhead view? Not isometric, just rectangular overhead. Also, people sprites from overhead view.

https://opengameart.org/
Not sure, but it should have what you're looking for

 

[Talby]

Screenshot from the prototype for my crypt defender game. Right now I'm experimenting with shadows, trying to get the right look while not obscuring the characters too much. The numbers on the right are timers for the traps being triggered by the hooded dudes.

 

[barker_s]

shihonage you could try Kenney's Assets. They're simplistic, but good enough for prototyping purposes.

Top down characters and tiles here, but there might be more on his page.

 

[supervoid]

More trash:
https://opengameart.org/content/64x128-isometric-tiles-lava
https://opengameart.org/content/64x128-isometric-hand-painted-tiles

 

[Agesilaus]

You are using text description instead of numbers for character attributes. It's not inherently wrong but that's what Tim Cain was advocating when he lost his god status on Codex.
OTOH he was also advocating simplifying char creation and Voidspire Tactics is very well received here, so maybe you'll do fine as well.

Done; I just added the underlying number to each description.

EDIT:

Just for fun, here's all of them:

//Strength array
strengthmod[0] = "Strength: (0) Skinny youth";
strengthmod[1] = "Strength: (1) You could hurt someone";
strengthmod[2] = "Strength: (2) Strong enough to intimidate the locals";
strengthmod[3] = "Strength: (3) Regional wrestling champ";
strengthmod[4] = "Strength: (4) Herakles would respect you";

//Dexterity array
dexteritymod[0] = "Dexterity: (0) Flat-footed";
dexteritymod[1] = "Dexterity: (1) You can dance without falling over";
dexteritymod[2] = "Dexterity: (2) You can dodge a fist or two";
dexteritymod[3] = "Dexterity: (3) Potential Olympic sprinter";
dexteritymod[4] = "Dexterity: (4) Artemis herself couldn't shoot you";

//Constitution array
constitutionmod[0] = "Constitution: (0) Sickly";
constitutionmod[1] = "Constitution: (1) Healthy";
constitutionmod[2] = "Constitution: (2) Fit as a stringed instrument";
constitutionmod[3] = "Constitution: (3) Horses are jealous of you";
constitutionmod[4] = "Constitution: (4) Disease is afraid of you";

//Intelligence array
intelligencemod[0] = "Intelligence: (0) Possibly an idiot";
intelligencemod[1] = "Intelligence: (1) Middling intellect";
intelligencemod[2] = "Intelligence: (2) Smart enough to be dangerous";
intelligencemod[3] = "Intelligence: (3) You're surrounded by dunces";
intelligencemod[4] = "Intelligence: (4) As clever as Sisyphus";

//Wisdom array
wisdommod[0] = "Wisdom: (0) Your nickname is Epimetheus";
wisdommod[1] = "Wisdom: (1) You've learnt not to touch fire";
wisdommod[2] = "Wisdom: (2) You know when to walk away";
wisdommod[3] = "Wisdom: (3) The gods inspire you";
wisdommod[4] = "Wisdom: (4) Prometheus respects your foresight";

//Charisma array
charismamod[0] = "Charisma: (0) Everyone dislikes you";
charismamod[1] = "Charisma: (1) You told a joke once";
charismamod[2] = "Charisma: (2) You light up the room";
charismamod[3] = "Charisma: (3) Future orators will imitate your style";
charismamod[4] = "Charisma: (4) The gods hope to dine with you";

I will change it a little; I just noticed that Dex 4 should be Apollo not Artemis, or else changed from shooting to hunting.

I was thinking just now that I'd actually have them improved at the end of chapter cut scenes, depending on what you did in the previous town. For example, if you help the meme farmer (who will have a more appropriate identity in the next version), his slide will say "+1 to constitution".

 

[Nathaniel3W]

So I just spammed my own game in Galdred 's thread. Whoops. I meant to put this here:

I'm working on making better battle maps. Here's my first attempt at a cave level, shown with and without the hex overlay.

My previous battle maps (like the beach map for example) were just too open and too boring. There was nothing interesting to look at and nothing interesting to do in the battle. Your army just rushes the nearest enemy unit while the AI spends a few turns moving all his dudes toward you. But now on this map, the bridges and other choke points should make ranged units a lot more valuable and should open up a lot more tactical options.

 

[imajia]

long term project which started using gcc 4.5. Currenlty I'm using gcc 6.3. Dev peak was 2012 to 2014, since then I've barely worked on it. Got a bit lazy (and father). Have to move my ass again .

Some statistics:

My main motivation to start my project were the scripted and dead game worlds. After Ultima 7, there was no real improvement in the liveliness of the game worlds. What especially pisses me off are games like Morrowind, where the inhabitants live in the same pub staring at the same wall. Every day. Or situations like in Witcher 1, where you can happily steal stuff from a house while the owner is sitting next to you. Etc, etc. there are hundreds of examples.

The solution is/was simple: do it better. So I started creating kind of an engine which handles the "live a life" aspect and plopped a city builder on top of it.

Here are some impressions:

Hangman watching a "criminal" burning on a stake. The gibbet is close to the stakes for a more efficient and versatile justice system.

random screen with fields, horse and graves:

a train:

a forrest fire started by an incompetent distiller:

skills of a "unit" and an indicator of how good he could become. A bad distiller might cause an explosion, a bad butcher might get kicked to death by the horse he's trying to butcher, a bad construction worker might cause a building collapse, etc.

And a shitload of other screens and features I might share in the future.

All in all it was fun so far to develop this game, but creating an iso engine, a UI, a flexible pathfinder and all the other bits which actually have nothing to do with my original scope sucked up some time

 

[Mr. Pink]

this is like the 8th time i've written a super long post here asking for help on a complicated problem and then figuring out what i need to do halfway through writing my post about it. thanks guys

 

[ProphetSword]

this is like the 8th time i've written a super long post here asking for help on a complicated problem and then figuring out what i need to do halfway through writing my post about it. thanks guys

Glad we could help. Feel free to half ask us questions in the future.