Vapourware Codexian Game Development Thread

[shihonage]

It does..Reminds me of games I played in early 90s..Does it have RPG elements or it all action?

Thank you.

The game in its modern state is Doom with Robotron controls, but heavily story-based, with Half-Life-style scripted sequences.

You can use Scrap Gun to make bridges across water and find little secrets in weak walls, but the other elements (resource management and 4-item inventory) have been disabled due to feeling tacked-on.

 

[GoblinGrotto]

I hate cameras. Tried to get something that feels alright when moving between unit turns last night. But I'm not sure, feels a bit janky.


Edit:
Here's the latest iteration on it. Better or worse? Made the movement less floaty and had it linger longer on the unit that just made it's turn.



Also some random statue freaks

 

[shihonage]

I hate cameras. Tried to get something that feels alright when moving between unit turns last night. But I'm not sure, feels a bit janky.


Edit:
Here's the latest iteration on it. Better or worse? Made the movement less floaty and had it linger longer on the unit that just made it's turn.



Also some random statue freaks

The iteration looks better, less jerky.

However, the camera movement may be feeling weird because there's no need to take control of camera away from the player. The player can pan the view himself, can he not. And if you want him to pay attention to something that happened beyond a screen boundary, you could put an arrow indicator or a red flash effect on that boundary or something.

 

[what am i doing]

I hate cameras. Tried to get something that feels alright when moving between unit turns last night. But I'm not sure, feels a bit janky.


Edit:
Here's the latest iteration on it. Better or worse? Made the movement less floaty and had it linger longer on the unit that just made it's turn.



Also some random statue freaks

The iteration looks better, less jerky.

However, the camera movement may be feeling weird because there's no need to take control of camera away from the player. The player can pan the view himself, can he not. And if you want him to pay attention to something that happened beyond a screen boundary, you could put an arrow indicator or a red flash effect on that boundary or something.

I mostly agree with this. I don't play a lot of such games (turn-based isometric) so I don't know how they typically handle it but as I recall in Mechanicus, which I actually really did enjoy, the camera only moves in response to units when they're actually off-screen or near the edge of the screen. If it's a unit's turn and that unit walks towards the edge of the screen the camera will pan to keep them away from the edge of the screen, and if it's a unit's turn and the unit is doing an action and the unit was off-screen the camera will pan over there, and I think the same if the player selects a unit that was off-screen - but if the active unit is already on-screen and not near the edges and is moving around in the "safe zone" of the screen, the camera just stays put.

I don't think it's a bad thing to have the game pan automatically (as I've described Mechanicus does it and it works fine) but I do think it's a bad thing to have the game pan unnecessarily.

 

[GoblinGrotto]

However, the camera movement may be feeling weird because there's no need to take control of camera away from the player. The player can pan the view himself, can he not. And if you want him to pay attention to something that happened beyond a screen boundary, you could put an arrow indicator or a red flash effect on that boundary or something.

I agree that it's unnecessary to remove camera control on the players turn, I'll try without it. But I think it would be really strange not to show what's happening on the enemies turn as it would be really easy to miss vital information. At the moment the AI is really stupid and a work in progress so they just wander randomly if there is no player in range, but later they will chase.

but if the active unit is already on-screen and not near the edges and is moving around in the "safe zone" of the screen, the camera just stays put.

I really like the idea of the camera safe zones. I'll give it a try

 

[shihonage]

I agree that it's unnecessary to remove camera control on the players turn, I'll try without it. But I think it would be really strange not to show what's happening on the enemies turn as it would be really easy to miss vital information. At the moment the AI is really stupid and a work in progress so they just wander randomly if there is no player in range, but later they will chase.

What if you pop up a secondary render window, in the corner, which jumps between enemies as they make their turns, and it keeps each enemy in its center, following them as they move. Then it disappears.

While it happens, the player will still be able to scroll around the main window, use the UI (if any) to look up their inventory or whatnot, or even queue moves in advance.

 

[GoblinGrotto]

Final camera iteration for a bit, need to continue with the AI. But for the camera changes, the player have full camera control when moving their units. And it only does big camera changes if the next unit is outside the cameras "focus area".
Still it need some sort of visual indicator when it's the players turn again. Cause right now you just have to know the last enemy finished its turn.

 

[Dualnames]

I really like your fog of war btw, GoblinGrotto

 

[what am i doing]

Final camera iteration for a bit, need to continue with the AI. But for the camera changes, the player have full camera control when moving their units. And it only does big camera changes if the next unit is outside the cameras "focus area".
Still it need some sort of visual indicator when it's the players turn again. Cause right now you just have to know the last enemy finished its turn.

Perhaps having the camera return to / centre on one of the player's units, maybe also select that one. I think that would make it obvious since the player would then see that they can issue orders. The question is which unit; it appears you've made the player free to issue orders to their units in any order so there isn't necessarily a "first", but you could keep track of the order in which the player issued orders to each unit in the previous turn, and pick the oldest still living one on that list as the one to put the focus on when the player's next turn starts.

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

Can I use Unity Personal for commercial development?​

-
If your revenue from projects in conjunction with your use of Unity is less than $200K USD (or if your business’s aggregate revenue and funding is less than $200K) in the last 12 months, you are eligible to use Unity Personal.

So can I use Unity Personal for making a game and upload that game to itch.io without paying any licence fee? I won't even make $1, let alone $200K.

 

[Habichtswalder]

Can I use Unity Personal for commercial development?​

-
If your revenue from projects in conjunction with your use of Unity is less than $200K USD (or if your business’s aggregate revenue and funding is less than $200K) in the last 12 months, you are eligible to use Unity Personal.

So can I use Unity Personal for making a game and upload that game to itch.io without paying any licence fee? I won't even make $1, let alone $200K.

Yes, you can.

 

[Yuber]

You could put in a option for player to choose which camera type they prefer.

 

[GoblinGrotto]

I really like your fog of war btw, GoblinGrotto

Thanks!

Perhaps having the camera return to / centre on one of the player's units, maybe also select that one. I think that would make it obvious since the player would then see that they can issue orders. The question is which unit; it appears you've made the player free to issue orders to their units in any order so there isn't necessarily a "first", but you could keep track of the order in which the player issued orders to each unit in the previous turn, and pick the oldest still living one on that list as the one to put the focus on when the player's next turn starts.

Yeah, I haven't really put any work into that part yet. But it will be more clearly


Took a break from coding and made some new environment art