Vapourware Codexian Game Development Thread

[vonAchdorf]

Unity has the advantage that he can find many (beginner) tutorials. He should start with something less ambitious than TW though.

 

[DavidBVal]

Should be fixed.

isn't. Links to Grimwah.

 

[Wayward Son]

Should be fixed.

isn't. Links to Grimwah.

Dafuq I just fixed it
Edit: Just tested it and it worked beautifully

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Apparently the best ideas come at the worst possible time. Took me a few minutes to implement the 'crippled' state for the robots, which blocks their ability to move, so they can only turn and attack you if their DC is below a certain percentage. Should make running away from certain enemies rather trivial after feeding them bullets a few times. You're still at risk of getting shot once or twice (or more if you were unlucky enough to encounter someone in a narrow corridor), but ending the battle by kicking someone in the balls and running away safely instead of just running away should be a nice addition to the options available to the player.

inb4 I get more ideas that can be implemented and tested in a matter of minutes and the demo ends up requiring a separate manual to list all of the features and possibilities.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

ITZ OUT!
DOWNLOADING NOW!

Spoiler

In a couple of hrs.

 

[Zep Zepo]

It's not coming out.

Zep--

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Ahem.

ITZ OUT
DOWNLOADING NOW

ITZ OUT
DOWNLOADING NOW

You can grab the demo here:
https://surt-r.itch.io/das-geisterschiff/
http://www.indiedb.com/games/das-geisterschiff/downloads/das-geisterschiff-demo-v044
https://gamejolt.com/games/das-geisterschiff/299106

Should take roughly 20 minutes to beat (less if you know the level structure, more if you keep fucking around). Feedback is appreciated. Enjoy!

 

[shihonage]

The style looks good, nice soundtrack. You need to get rid of "slow typing effect", and make combat have more feedback. Right now combat is way too abstract. WTF is going on, can only be understood by text prompts. You throw a rectangle at the enemy, and then the enemy becomes a rectangle back at you?

Also, the idea of having a multitude of sub-menues... IMO these need to be reworked. Finally, consider splitting the dungeon into different-colored sections. Not just red, but blue, green, etc.

P.S. This could look more interesting with CRT television type shaders. Not just plain interlacing, but something more visually authentic to how an old TV looked. Just enough inter-pixel color bleeding and distortion to be atmospheric, with a hint of interlacing, maybe an occasional scanline. And when you get damaged, the screen would get messed up, image would zig-zag or something.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

You need to get rid of "slow typing effect"

Already getting rid of it in many places, but FYI it appears slower on video since it's tied to the FPS and I record at 30 while the game is expected to run at 60.

Right now combat is way too abstract. WTF is going on, can only be understood by text prompts. You throw a rectangle at the enemy, and then the enemy becomes a rectangle back at you?

It is somewhat abstract, but yeah, a lot of it is based on text prompts since I'm no artist and have to use both graphics and text. 'Throwing the rectangle' is the aiming animation, while the 'enemy turns into a cube' part is a transition between the states of the entity (idle/attacking/dead), which proved to be an effective method to create stuff faster without investing weeks into 'kewl animations' that will feel awful after 10 minutes of gameplay. So it was the case of 'if you can't do it at least at ok level, then don't'.

If you have any suggestions about feedback, I'll appreciate that.

Also, the idea of having a multitude of sub-menues... IMO these need to be reworked. Finally, consider splitting the dungeon into different-colored sections. Not just red, but blue, green, etc.

I've found that menu system is not very intuitive for many people, that's why I implemented hotkeys for the majority of common actions. The menu remains, however, if you want to play with one hand on the numpad & arrow keys.
As for the different-colored sections -- I'm considering that, but not in this project.

The style looks good, nice soundtrack.

Thanks for the kind words and honest criticism, pal.

 

[ProphetSword]

Any particular reason why the typing is tied to the frame rate?

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Any particular reason why the typing is tied to the frame rate?

The loop adds 1 char per frame, which was the first idea that came to mind. Works fine and fast enough at 60 fps, so I never had the need to look for another way to do it -- at worst one can press a button to show the whole message.

 

[Zep Zepo]

What's the chance of the Dorf Gunthershit demo running in XP?

Zep--

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Since I'm using an old version of Unity with DX9 I'm sure it'll run on XP, just make sure you've got at least ~200 mbs of free RAM.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Since I'm using an old version of Unity with DX9 I'm sure it'll run on XP, just make sure you've got at least ~200 mbs of free RAM.

Maybe I will DL and give a try then tomorrow.

Zep--

 

[Zep Zepo]

Since I'm using an old version of Unity with DX9 I'm sure it'll run on XP, just make sure you've got at least ~200 mbs of free RAM.

Maybe I will DL and give a try then tomorrow.

Zep--

Well, After the initial Debriefing (the Crows shit, which seemed to run well), I get some music and then a blank/black screen, then nothing, just black screen-ness with some ambient "music"..

You got me, you filthy German. I hate you.

Zep--

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Since I'm using an old version of Unity with DX9 I'm sure it'll run on XP, just make sure you've got at least ~200 mbs of free RAM.

Maybe I will DL and give a try then tomorrow.

Zep--

Well, After the initial Debriefing (the Crows shit, which seemed to run well), I get some music and then a blank/black screen, then nothing, just black screen-ness with some ambient "music"..

You got me, you filthy German. I hate you.

Zep--

Too bad, getting this thing to run on older rigs would be quite an achievement especially when Unity turns that into an adventure in itself. Thanks for trying.
Could you try the tutorial demo and tell me if it gives you the same results?

 

[Zep Zepo]

Could you try the tutorial demo and tell me if it gives you the same results?

I thought that was the Tutorial Demo?

If not, where is it. Link me, I'm too lazy to search.

Zep--

 

[ProphetSword]

The loop adds 1 char per frame, which was the first idea that came to mind. Works fine and fast enough at 60 fps, so I never had the need to look for another way to do it -- at worst one can press a button to show the whole message.

Are you using the Unity Update function? If so, you might consider looking into FixedUpdate instead. I had a similar issue with a timer in one of my games, and was surprised to find that the timer ran faster or slower based upon the frame rate of the computer. FixedUpdate took care of that issue.

Of course, this is only useful information if you haven't already used it or you have a desire to alter it.

 

[barker_s]

ProphetSword , zwanzig_zwoelf :

If I remember correctly, Update() runs every frame and FixedUpdate() runs every physics step. In this case it would be better to use a coroutine instead. Or you could use my asset from the asset store which does exactly this (i.e. it prints letters). If you think you might find it useful zwanzig_zwoelf hit me up on PM and I'll fix you with a voucher for the full version. It stopped selling ages ago anyway :D .

 

[ProphetSword]

ProphetSword , zwanzig_zwoelf :

If I remember correctly, Update() runs every frame and FixedUpdate() runs every physics step. In this case it would be better to use a coroutine instead. Or you could use my asset from the asset store which does exactly this (i.e. it prints letters). If you think you might find it useful zwanzig_zwoelf hit me up on PM and I'll fix you with a voucher for the full version. It stopped selling ages ago anyway :D .

According to
https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/topics/scripting/update-and-fixedupdate
the difference is:

Update - is not called on a regular timeline. If one frame takes longer to process than the next then the time between update calls will be different.

FixedUpdate - is called on a regular timeline and will have the same time between update calls.

So the things you don't want to be reliant upon frame rate should be placed in FixedUpdate. As I said earlier, I went from having a timer in my game that varied based upon the speed the computer could update the frame rate to a timer that was consistent across all computers.

 

[barker_s]

You're right that FixedUpdate is called in regular intervals. However, as I said before, it runs every physics timestep, which can be changed in Project Settings:

By default it will run every 20ms and if you never ever touch it, you're ok, but let's consider a scenario that you need to change it for some reason - in that case, if you rely on FixedUpdate to actually measure time, you're gonna have a bad time. Here, I made a little test scene to visualize it:

Default timestep value (0.02)

Spoiler

Modified timestep value (0.05)

Spoiler

So I stand by my original point, that it's way more elegant in this case to either use coroutines, or even a simple timer in Update() method using time.deltaTime.

 

[ProphetSword]

Cool, I guess I learned something new, then. It still works for me, though; because I don't modify that value, but I understand turning someone else away from it if they might. I'll consider myself corrected on the matter.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Could you try the tutorial demo and tell me if it gives you the same results?

I thought that was the Tutorial Demo?

If not, where is it. Link me, I'm too lazy to search.

Zep--

Here: https://surt-r.itch.io/das-geisterschiff/
Right after the main demo link, marked as [OBSOLETE].

Are you using the Unity Update function? If so, you might consider looking into FixedUpdate instead. I had a similar issue with a timer in one of my games, and was surprised to find that the timer ran faster or slower based upon the frame rate of the computer. FixedUpdate took care of that issue.

Of course, this is only useful information if you haven't already used it or you have a desire to alter it.

I'm using a coroutine and since the game runs fast enough on modern rigs it was never a problem for me (main reason why I never bothered to change it). I'll think about it if it ends up being a problem.

If I remember correctly, Update() runs every frame and FixedUpdate() runs every physics step. In this case it would be better to use a coroutine instead. Or you could use my asset from the asset store which does exactly this (i.e. it prints letters). If you think you might find it useful zwanzig_zwoelf hit me up on PM and I'll fix you with a voucher for the full version. It stopped selling ages ago anyway :D .

Thanks for the offer, I'll think about it.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Here: https://surt-r.itch.io/das-geisterschiff/
Right after the main demo link, marked as [OBSOLETE].

Same thing, after the press enter to start, I hear music and see a black/blank screen.

Zep--

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Here: https://surt-r.itch.io/das-geisterschiff/
Right after the main demo link, marked as [OBSOLETE].

Same thing, after the press enter to start, I hear music and see a black/blank screen.

Zep--

That sucks. Can you send me the output_log.txt from the _data folder?