Dinosaursssssss

January 28, 2020

Alright, I wanted so save some fun surprises so I stopped posting while I was adding text and whatnot, but here it is:

https://dinosaursssssss.itch.io/the-wizard

January 27, 2020

Yep, if you message me with a link to the game page on itch I can add it for you

January 21, 2020

2 hours ago, brendonsmall said:

If you change the normals from imported to calculated in the model import settings in unity, it should maybe smooth that skull out a little bit

(just realized "Smooth that Skull" sounds like a good Idle Thumbs episode

title)

Ah yeah, good call, I was trying to use Blender's auto-smoothing but it's working really inconsistently. Maybe related to the modifiers I'm using? Not sure.

Anyway from some advice on slack I fiddled a bit more, narrowed the upper jaw, flattened the...lips, I guess, gave it a little more forehead, and it feels a little more human now. Could still use some work, the back in particular needs some work, but I think it's shippable now.

Blender:

In-engine, with ramped lighting material and recalculated normals:

Capture.JPG.9f5eb09f3cab92984c5c8e1ba49b6304.JPG

edit: ok talking to theschap in chat, I think the issue with auto-smoothing was the faces need to already be shaded smooth for it to apply.

January 20, 2020

Trying to spruce up this wizards house a bit, this was my third attempt at a sorta low poly skull...you don't wanna see how bad the others were.

Something I hadn't really considered about a low poly art style, especially paired with the lighting I'm using, is my polygon layout is very visible, anyone who plays this game who's remotely knowledgeable about 3D art will immediately recognize how bad I am at it.

January 16, 2020

Cool, this is kinda in the same vein as the game I started last jam (but never completed cause I suck at js) where you'd play a game over a Bon Appetit youtube video. I think there's a lot of potential for really interesting new gameplay around this kinda hybrid content, Twitch started going down the path with stuff like Stream Legends (which was a coop RPG you played with other people in a Twitch channel) but they sorta abandoned it for some reason.

January 14, 2020

I can't for the life of me compress this to a gif of a remotely reasonable size, so here's a very low res image and an ok res video.

Interior lighting test:

https://imgur.com/N0GpaX6.mp4

The interior uses the same ramped lighting shader as the outside, but with more steps. It looks pretty rough with two light sources; where they overlap, there's a hard edge, and shadows work really inconsistently (I think they're applying from the directional light, but not the point? not sure why that is, probably I need to add some unity macro into the shader) but I like it. Still needs to be arted up a bit more (the walls in particular feel barren) but I'm gonna try and lock down more mechanics first.

January 14, 2020

Cool, sounds complicated but it looks like you're making good progress! Also the models are pretty sharp, A+ mustard application.

January 12, 2020

Built a tower interior the other day; I wasn't sure what the best approach would be, but it seemed like the easiest thing would be to just make a separate mesh so that I wouldn't run into issues with lighting and cause it's a little easier to work with in Blender. Not too exciting, but it's a good opportunity to look at some weird polygons and judge my very mediocre 3D skills. I fixed all the interior faces up, who cares if there's z fighting and missing faces on the outside.

I also did a quick modification to brendonsmall's First Person Exploration kit to allow for UGUI based journals. This probably wasn't worth the time I spent on it; by default it only handles journals with a single image per page, but it really wouldn't be that hard to set up a template in photoshop and crank pages out of that. My thinking was that this'd improve iteration but how many books and how many edits am I gonna do in two weeks?

journalui.gif.2f175bacc6ce14d58ae771e6f73cefc6.gif

Text is all temp but it tells a very compelling and coherent ~8 sentence story about a vampire cowboy. I may have a writer to help out with some of the text, I need to check in with them but it's someone whose work I have great admiration for who's also just an absolutely lovely person so I hope this tiny collaboration works out.

It also occurred to me that I need to decide more clearly how I'm using color and stick with it...the book and UI should probably all be grayscale. There will be some color in the game, it'll come from a secret feature that I don't want to spoil. I started working on that last night and I think it'll be fun and cool!

Anyway today I'm going to try and get that Secret Feature a little more solid, I'd also like to spend a little time redoing some sound and UI elements in FPE. Since brendonsmall gave some keys out to other folks as well, I'd like to make sure that The Wizard feels distinct. First I'd like to change some audio, add pitch/volume randomization to footsteps, maybe pitch shift or filter the other SFX (jump, open journal), and redraw the UI elements.

January 9, 2020

Cool concept! Sounds similar to TimeWatch (FPS that was shown at GDC Experimental Gameplay Workshop I think last year (two years ago?)) but I suspect doing it in 2D will make it a little easier to keep track of what's going on.

January 9, 2020

Little gem from the Obra Dinn TIGSource thread:

image.png.8974f5f4c19d5f65ef5c9eaacd9f0898.png

January 8, 2020

3 hours ago, z_bill said:

This is gonna be a sad one isn't it?

I'm hoping to use a slow, dark intro to really sell a fun surprise later on, we'll see how that plays out :lol:

12 hours ago, Mythalore said:

Lovely idea! Might be worth looking at Lucas' Dev log he goes into quite a lot of detail on how he did the dithering from what I can remember.

I read a little bit of this stuff when it was on TIG Source; my memory was that he talked about it at a pretty high level but I'll go back and poke around. Thanks!

January 8, 2020

Here's a higher resolution still so the lighting is a little more clear. The tower is a cylinder but the lighting really makes it look hexagonal.

I'm not sure how I'm gonna handle lighting the interior; the light on the doorway fades when you get close by, I might have do a weird trick like turn off the directional light and switch on some points or bake lights or something to get it to look right.

January 8, 2020

Thanks all! I was having trouble with the dithering so for that gif it's using much simpler ramped lighting with 4 steps; my real goal is just to get a little away from the default unity look (which I think largely comes from using the standard shader and lighting system). I might just leave it as is and add more post processing rather than fiddling much more with lighting.

It turns out custom lighting isn't nearly as complicated as I thought, it's largely based on the toon lighting example here (just using a math to do the steps rather than a texture map) https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/SL-SurfaceShaderLightingExamples.html

January 8, 2020

January 8, 2020

Hello!

For this, the final Wizard jam, I'll be making a short vignette about visiting a Wizard. You'll arrive outside his tower to find that there's a note on the door, you just missed him; the Wizard has stepped out to buy some milk. He'll probably be back soon, but the door's open, lights are still on, why not stick your head in and see what he's been working on?

I think I'm gonna be a little busy during jam time so I wanted to get a bit of a head start; originally I was gonna do an update of an older game, but the other day I was hitting random on the episode list and this classic popped up, and I had a little idea and immediately knew in my bones I just had to take a swing at it.

Here's the start of a wizard tower from last night; I hadn't spent any time with Blender 2.8, it seems pretty good so far. I can kinda make a model if I have to, but I never really learned how to texture...that'll be the big challenge here for me I think.

I'd also like to write a sorta obra-dinn-y dithered lighting shader...I started writing this earlier today and it ended up a little weird (but did kinda work). I think it needs to be triplanar and I might also be getting the wrong normal but it's not a bad start.

wizard.gif.1b21c7c51c75f318e5239801af92b98b.gif

I'll also be using fellow reader richardsmall's First Person Exploration Kit to handle some of the gameplay code that I don't feel like writing so I can focus on...writing a triplanar dithered lighting shader, apparently. Seems solid so far!

December 20, 2019

Cool, thanks!! :tup:

December 10, 2019

WIZARD JAM X - THE END OF WIZARD JAM

https://itch.io/jam/wizard-jam-10

Hello and welcome to WIZARD JAM 10 — the finale of the long-running Idle Thumbs community-run game jam!

Greetings Wizard Jam community! With the announcement of Wizard Jam 10, we want announce that Wizard Jam 10 will also be the final Wizard Jam. At the ripe old age of 10, we felt it will be better to give the event a grand send off instead of watching it slowly peter out. We trust the community will get on board with this idea, not as something to mourn, but something to celebrate. We have announced the dates far ahead of time so that even if you can't participate during the specified dates, you can do something beforehand.

We've loved running Wizard Jam for the community, and hope you'll join in making this the grandest of finales.

Thank you all!

- Travis, Elvaq, Spenny, ZeroFiftyOne and Dinosaursssssss

Wizard Jam is not a contest; the main emphasis is to celebrate the Thumbs community through sharing and collaboration over the course of a fortnight. We write devlogs and post GIFs. We offer support and volunteer music, sounds and other assets. We play each other's games and stream them. It's a lot of fun!

The other thing we try to emphasize is encouraging people to try making something new and unfamiliar; or to try game development for the first time entirely (quite a few of the entries we've had in the past are from complete first-timers to gamedev!). We run the jam over the course of two weeks to give people the room to try something weird and see how it turns out.

We're gonna be posting dev logs, forming teams, and chit chatting over here in the thread on the Idle Forums and the Idle Thumbs Reads Slack channel; come hang out! There're also lots of experienced game developers kicking around who'd be happy to offer advice and help you get what you need to make your game. Not in the Slack? You can join us by CLICKING HERE and join the #WizardJam room! We're here hanging out in between Wizard Jams too, come say hi!

We have a twitter account, @wizard_jam, to help share everyone's progress or just let the fans follow along! Tag @wizard_jam or use the #wizardjam hashtag when you post progress updates so we can retweet your stuff!

Wizard Jam - Friday, January 10th to Sunday, January 26th

Showcase Weekend - Saturday, February 1st to Sunday, February 2nd

kE%2F3TK.png

Choose an episode title from any show on the Idle Thumbs podcast network and use it as a theme prompt for your game. Use this site to browse through show titles: http://randomthumbs.danjohnmoran.com/

(Thanks to Broxxar, Panzorfork & matt.ishii for providing the site).

This jam is not a competition, and there is no minimum level of game development experience needed to join. People from all backgrounds are welcome to participate. If you're new to gamedev, let us know! Join us on the forums and on Slack; where you'll find help, advice and encouragement from the community. Wizard Jam began out of a desire to help people get starting making games, so don't be shy!
Aside from the next 2 administrative points, there are no rules. You don't HAVE to use an endorsement. You don't HAVE to make your entire game in the 2 weeks allotted. Most people will, but if you come in a little late, or get started a little early, or submit something unrelated to the podcast that's A-OK!
Entries containing any form of harassment or hate-speech are not permitted. Anything crossing into this territory will be removed.
If an entry is clearly from someone trying to use the jam page on Itch to promote an unrelated game, or any other sort of spam, we'll contact the submitter and the entry may be removed.
Stay spicy!

January 11, 2019

It's on ya'll!!

Good luck with your games, and remember, if you need some encouragement, or help with anything, please please pleaaaase drop by the Slack and let us know what's goin' on!

January 5, 2019

I just realized I forgot to link the BRAND NEW Wizard Jam twitter account! @Travis has been posting some old Wiz Jam classics and also we don't really have a way to keep people updated on stuff other than the slack and this thread so please follow it!

@Wizard_Jam

January 5, 2019

https://itch.io/jam/wizard-jam-8

Hello and welcome to WIZARD JAM, the bi-annual Idle Thumbs community-run game jam!

Wizard Jam is not a contest; the main emphasis is to celebrate the Thumbs community through sharing and collaboration over the course of a fortnight. We write devlogs and post GIFs. We offer support and volunteer music, sounds and other assets. We play each other's games and stream them. It's a lot of fun.

The other thing we try to emphasise is encouraging people to try making something new and unfamiliar; or to try game development for the first time entirely (quite a few of the entries we've had in the past are from complete first-timers to gamedev!). We run the jam over the course of two weeks to give people the room to try something weird and see how it turns out.

Use this subforum to make development log threads, recruit folks, and chat about development related stuff! There's also the game development subforum and the #wizardjam slack channel. Not in the Slack? You can join us by CLICKING HERE! We're here hanging out in between Wizard Jams too, come say hi!

@Spenny also made two threads for finding team mates! Team Seeking and Team Recruiting

We also have a twitter account now! Follow it to see some classic old Wizard Jam games and stay updated on what's going on: @wizard_jam. That's mostly run by @Travis, thanks Travis!

Here's the itch.io page where you can join the jam and submit your games : https://itch.io/jam/wizard-jam-8

The wonderful @zerofiftyone has been kind enough to make some Wizard Jam splash screen images / logos that you can use in your game if you'd like!

Wizard Jam Splash Screen (Grey)

Wizard Jam Splash Screen (Transparent)

He also made the many lovely images you see in this post (and also wrote most of the text) (and also ran the last...5? I think? Wizard Jams more or less solo). Thanks Ben!!

Wizard Jam - Friday 11th January to Sunday 27th January

Showcase Weekend - Saturday 2nd February to Sunday 3rd February

Choose an episode title from any show on the Idle Thumbs podcast network and use it as a theme prompt for your game. Use this site to browse through show titles: http://randomthumbs.danjohnmoran.com/ (Thanks to Broxxar, Panzorfork & matt.ishii for providing the site). And if you're curious about what titles have been used in the past (there's no rule about duplicates, but maybe you're curious) @atte made this handy spreadsheet!

This jam is not a competition, and there is no minimum level of game development experience needed to join. People from all backgrounds are welcome to participate. If you're new to gamedev, let us know! Join us on the forums and on Slack; where you'll find help, advice and encouragement from the community. Wizard Jam began out of a desire to help people get starting making games, so don't be shy!
Aside from the next 2 administrative points, there are no rules. You don't HAVE to use a podcast title. You don't HAVE to make your entire game in the 2 weeks allotted. Most people will, but if you come in a little late, or get started a little early, or submit something unrelated to the podcast that's A-OK!
Entries containing any form of harassment or hate-speech are not permitted. Anything crossing into this territory will be removed.
If an entry is clearly from someone trying to use the jam page on Itch to promote an unrelated game, we'll contact the submitter and the entry may be removed.

After the jam finishes, we'll be hosting Showcase Weekend; an opportunity for everybody to step back from the game making process and look at what everyone else has made; with an emphasis on giving feedback and comments to fellow creators. It's covered in the schedule below, and there'll be more details to follow (which I'll edit into this post).