jan

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Posts posted by jan

  1. Posted

    I just realized that I haven't actually posted a link to the game in this thread, so here it is:

    https://janschaser.itch.io/do-you-believe-in-dot-gobbler

    5e39fbd515616_DoYouBelieveinDotGobbler_2020_02_05_00_12_10_162.thumb.jpg.34eb95f16f8ba62dd7c15d155cf7a4c4.jpg

    Thanks everyone who played it and said nice things about it!

     

    Wizard Jam was a blast. My first Wizard Jam got me to release a video game thing I worked on for the first time, and this one got me back into doing game dev after a bit of a slump, so while I sat out most of the jams, I'm glad I got to be a part of the last one. Still, I hope it makes an unexpected comeback one day.

  2. Posted

    So, I ended up neglecting this Dev Log for most of the jam. I realized that my idea for the game was simultaneously overambitious and not fleshed out enough which made me kind of anxious about not being able to finish the project in time (which I didn't, haha) and I sort of abandoned it for a while.

    But, this is the last Wizard Jam and I regret not having participated in more of them, so I'm not giving up this time. I'm taking advantage of the flexibility of the jam and trying to get something playable made in time for showcase weekend.

     

    This is my very hacky setup for the end of the game, I'm using Unity's built-in Character Controller, which is locked to always facing up on the global Y-axis, so I had to make the earth rotate underneath it (the texture is just a placeholder):

     

    Here is a selection of small to medium sized gobblable props:

    cityprops.thumb.png.e2bc3209f623d7fbf29f0086664382a0.png

     

    On 12/01/2020 at 5:56 PM, RKSanders said:

    Love it! imo he should grow in stages. It provides a little goal and reward for the player during the smaller, 30sec, game loop. It gives a clearer Idea of what you can eat. You might have tried to eat a tree and couldn't, so you won't try again till you "level up". It also allows you to put greater emphasize on the size change visuals and sound.

    Thanks for the design advice! This is honestly the part of this that I'm struggling with the most, I'm a lot better at making pretty walking simulators than designing actually fun mechanics. Your suggestion definitely helps.

     

     

    On 12/01/2020 at 7:07 PM, Synnah said:

    Ahhh! Excellent! I'm honestly surprised it's taken this long for someone to make a Dot Gobbler/Katamari mashup. But yes, I don't mind you stealing 'Do You Believe' at all! I mean, I just stole it from Cher.

    Thanks, I'm glad you approve of my Dot Gobbler-shenanigans.

     

    On 13/01/2020 at 12:12 AM, brendonsmall said:

    I would like to commend you on the subtle yet effective use of "Butt Shadows(TM)" on the dot gobbler. This is looking cool!

    Ha, thanks! The Butt Shadows™ (now sadly covered by Dot Gobbler's cape) are actually just Unity's post-process ambient occlusion. I'm using an (almost) unlit shader with a hint of PBR mixed in and the AO to give everything a bit more definition. Initially, I used texture sheets with squares of different colors to unwrap the meshes onto but I found a workflow using vertex colors that turned out to be quicker. I decided to keep the visuals as simple as possible to make it easier to model a lot of gobblable items in a short time.

  5. Posted

    Progress! It's still pretty rough at this stage, but I managed to set up some basic third person walking and gobbling.

    Since the game is in third person you can't really see Dot Gobbler's face most of the time so I decided to render a second perspective to a Render Texture in the bottom left corner. The bottom right shows the last object you picked up.

    Also I haven't yet decided whether I want him to get bigger every time he gobbles something or if it would be better to make him grow in stages. But the idea is that getting bigger allows you to pick up bigger objects. The tree is obviously a bit too big at this stage, my next step is to make more props and plan out an actual level.

  7. Posted

    EDIT: It's done! (Well, playable): https://janschaser.itch.io/do-you-believe-in-dot-gobbler

    --------------------------------------------------------------

     

    Do You Believe?

     

    Since it's the final Wizard Jam, this is the last chance I get to finally work on an idea I initially wanted to do many jams ago.
    I'm making a Katamari Damacy-inspired Dot Gobbler game in which, instead of rolling giant ball, you are Dot Gobbler and instead of dots you must gobble EVERYTHING. As you gobble up the things around you, you get bigger which allows you to gobble bigger things. Also, in this game Dot Gobbler is some kind of alien/superhero I guess? I really just liked the image of Dot Gobbler wearing a cape if I’m being honest.

     

    (@Synnah I hope you don't mind me stealing the 'Do You Believe' name from your game.)

  9. Posted

    Thanks everyone!

     

    Here is a the first cool bot:

    cool04.png

    It took me a bit longer than expected, modeling round things is hard...

     

     

    I also tried making a little walk cycle. It didn't turn out too well but in a way that makes it look more robotic:

     

    cool06.gif

     

    The next step is to give them the ability to display different facial expressions (and possibly other stuff).

  10. Posted

    Update: This project is abandoned for now, I keep having to do more important things this week, I probably won't be able to finish anything this time around.

     

    -----------------------------

     

    Hey wizard jams!

    After throwing out several hopelessly overambitious ideas I've decided to make another surreal walking-simulator/vignette thing. (I made Zombie Train last jam, the 3D one.)
    The title is derived from the episode "Cool Blob Future" and the recurring robot-news discussions of the podcast.

     

    I've been exploring this idea of robots with a big screen for a face that I can display things on:
    cool01.pngcool02.png

     

    Diversifiers:

    Wizard Jam Shared Cinematic Universe
    Building A Legacy (There will be Dot Gobbler)
    Box art
    Nice Segue
     

  11. Posted

    36 minutes ago, Travis said:

     

    Yeah, I am kind of torn on this situation. I like how some parts pop a bit more, but I kind of liked keeping it all super drab too. When you popped the colors, I like parts of it, but some of it is now too contrasting... Probably a good middle ground in there... (at least to my tastes).

    Yeah, in retrospect I like your version better. It looks more unsettling (in a good way).

     

     

    7 minutes ago, osmosisch said:

    I'd like to stress again I think it's a cool design but you picked something technically quite challenging!

    I'll second that.

  12. Posted

    I like the look of that bug. Not sure if this helps but I'm teaching myself to paint (digitally) and one thing I learned is that it's important to use a wide range of values, even in dark scenes. In your image the darkest and the lightest bits are pretty close together which could make it feel a bit dull. I did a quick edit, I'm not sure that it turned out that great but hopefully it illustrates what I mean.

    bugedit.png

  15. Posted

    I loved this game! So much Blendo Games to it :) The brains on every table, the zombies staring at you, their demeanor and clothes lol, the curtain snapping shut. It's all so good! I'm jealous of your minimalist storytelling aptitude. You make so much out of just a few assets.

    Thanks! That's a really nice compliment :).

     

    I liked this a lot! When you said it was 'very short', I was kind of expecting it to end after the second or third carriage, so I found what the game ended up doing to be quite surprising. I think I mentioned it to you in the Wizard Jam Slack, but I liked the zombie dining car, and the way they turn to look at you as you pass through is suitably unsettling!

    Thank you. Yeah, the dining car was my initial idea and probably the strongest part, the rest of the game is sort of built around that. I guess for a jam game it's actually not that short, I think I just felt it was because I wanted to put in some more carriages and maybe make the zombies show up again at the end. But now that the jam is over I somehow can't bring myself to continue working on it. ^_^

     

    I posted this in the Slack already but I'm of proud of how it turned out so I'm putting it here as well. I played around with Inkscape the other day and made a poster (inspired by/a rip-off of an old advert for the Orient Express):

    post-35846-0-37806100-1464292844_thumb.png

  16. Posted

    I finished the game today, and I really enjoyed it! Often when games try to do deserts they can end up feeling a bit small and constraining, but you managed to convey a real sense of scale without it feeling too large for a video game. I especially enjoyed the atmosphere of the different places in the world, driving towards the power lines in the distance, or looking down from the plateau behind the canyon, it felt really immersive, for lack of a better word :).

  18. Posted

    Congrats on the release! I like the look for the zombies, reminds me of Brendon Chung. :)

    Thank you. Brendon Chung's characters were definitely an inspiration.

    And thanks to everyone else who said nice things about my game! Don't hesitate to comment if you've played it, I love hearing any kind of feedback.

    I might work some more on a post-jam release, add some of the sounds that are missing, add proper pause and main menus and expand the train a bit...

  20. Posted

    I kind of lost interest in this project for a while so it's far from finished.

    I migh work on it some more next week but for now, this is Zombie Train Beyond Earth, based on the title of Idle Weekend Episode 6, the
    shortest and most linear walking simulator you'll ever play:
     
     
    Controls: WASD + Left Click
    You might have to turn up your audio a little, I think I mixed it to be a bit too quiet.
    Also, there is no pause menu yet.

  24. Posted

    I didn't have much time for game dev the past couple of days but now I'm back to it.

    Making a game where all you do is walk through a train and the only people you meet are zombies that don't talk is probably not the best thing to do in a game jam with limited time and I might have overestimated my ability to come up with interesting content a little, but this is still more of a real game than I have ever made before, so I'm sticking with the idea.

    I may have a preview build ready tomorrow, for now I have to rework my interaction system, my raycasts aren't hitting thing properly for some reason. And I still have to do something with the whole space/beyond earth theme, as of now there isn't really a reason for this train to not be on earth.

    Here are some screenshots:

     

    post-35846-0-03247700-1463090754_thumb.png

    post-35846-0-48578800-1463090765_thumb.png

    post-35846-0-79247300-1463090779_thumb.png

    Also, there will be zombies in my next post, I promise.