[Dev Log] Build the Nublar

[nkornek]

*EDIT* Looks like some of the thumbs are also working on a Build the Nublar Game, you can find theirs over here: https://www.idlethumbs.net/forums/topic/10875-dev-log-build-the-nublar/

 

Going to be trying to make some sort of dinosaur park-building sim that always inevitably goes bad and results in a lot of innocent people getting chomped on.

[Toureiro]

Oh wow. Sounds like you'll have your hands full. But I do love the idea. Especially if things go spectacularly bad!

[nkornek]

Haven't had a ton of time to work this weekend due to mother's day and other stuff, so I just worked on some basic environmental stuff and the camera system.

[WilloughbyJackson]

NICE! I look forward to the chaos...

[Spenny]

That's some pretty great looking terrain. Dinosaurs are cool too.

[prehnRA]

Looks really nice so far. This theme is one of my favorites.

[root]

That's a pretty sweet lookin' nublar, dude

[nkornek]

I'm suddenly starting to feel like Nublar is a euphemism

[Jake]

What engine are you using for this?

[Patrick R]

Don't answer! They're trying to beat you to market!

[Jake]

I thought it might be Unity terrain but I don't recognize that "Build" button.

edit: Oh god why am I questioning the presence of a "Build" button in the UI of a project called Build The Nublar. Goodbye everyone.

[Xeneth]

Ha ha ha, *remo fart noise*

 

Seriously though, this terrain already looks pretty sweet.

[nkornek]

I thought it might be Unity terrain but I don't recognize that "Build" button.

edit: Oh god why am I questioning the presence of a "Build" button in the UI of a project called Build The Nublar. Goodbye everyone.

 

Haha yeah, that is just very basic Unity UI.

 

And yeah, I'm using a combo of Unity terrain with some geography generation tools and custom simplified textures so that it doesn't clash too much with the low poly models (I am sooooo not an artist)

[nkornek]

Alright, finally had time to jump back into coding. Knocked out the whole build system, so now I can start making many more building models and working on behaviours and interactions.

 

[nkornek]

Time to start digging for that Dino DNA.

 

[Vasari]

This is looking really cool! I can't wait to see how the Nublar falls.

[ke51n]

Haha! That's awesome. The quality and scope of games for this jam have really gone up I think.

[Patrick R]

So I am going to be doing the music for this, which will be a good challenge for me. The goal is to have a music system that's reactive, so that it dynamically changes whether you are doing well or poorly. My current idea is to have a good base loop of percussion, bass and piano that maintains throughout, with other instruments dynamically layering on top of those. So if things are going bad, maybe things get darker or dischordant or more manic, and when things are going well the music sounds more pleasant and harmonious.

 

I think maybe my approach will be to first write the music at it's fullest and most prosperous state, then work backwards to establish the foundational track. Because it will be much easier to make the track sound worse than better. 

[nkornek]

Workin' on some dino pens

 

[Ash_NR]

Those pens man, real nice! My son will be keen to see this project.

[nkornek]

Those pens man, real nice! My son will be keen to see this project.

 

Thanks. I'm really hoping that I'll have time to put in everything I want to do but I may keep updating it after the jam is over.

[nkornek]

Finally had some time to get back to work today. Working on some of the basic building interactions and some character behaviours.

 

[Patrick R]

So here's a round-up of the music I made for this game (all links to soundcloud)

 

Sound Demo
I first made this as a sort of demo, to show nkornek the direction I wanted to go. The idea was to demonstrate how different tracks could layer on each other, so that the music became fuller as the player did well, but became crazier and more synthy as they did worse. I'm not actually capable of making music where the instruments are genuinely convincing and natural, so I went back and listened to the soundtracks of Theme Park, Theme Hospital and Sim City 2000 to see how they made naturalistic sounding music in a low fidelity context. Theme Hospital ended up being the chief inspiration.

 

Base Track

I futzed around for a while trying to figure out ways to incorporate John Williams' score into the main gameplay music, but ultimately without sheet music and more time it didn't seem doable. So after taking about a dozen stabs at various simple chord progressions and melodies, I finally settled on this. The trick was to make the base track work on it's own as a piece of music while still being able to be built upon, and to make it loop simply enough that layering new melodies on top would be easy while at the same time not being so simple that it ends up annoying the player. I think I did alright finding that spot.

 

Base Track Plus "Happy Layer"
So after I finished my base track, I went back and added a new track where all my "Happy" layer elements (that is, the music that's added as you do a good job) would be. I decided the lead instrument on my "Happy Layer" would be the "Hot Air Flute" plug-in, because it's pleasant, it's light enough to not overpower the track, and it sort of implies that Central/South American vibe of Isla Nublar. I also added a cowbell because cowbells make me happy. For the purposes of the game, this Happy Layer had to be rendered as it's own separate audio track to be crossfaded in at will. But for the purposes of demonstration, this is what it sounds like layered on top of the base track.

 

Base Track Plus "Angry Layer"
This was really fun to do, in part because it's closer to the kind of cacophonous aggressive percussive electronic music I like to make, and in part because it's a lot easier to make a track sound worse than it is to make it sound better. I decided a manic and fevered mood would really hammer home that the player is fucking up (and be a funnier backing track to watching dinos break free and roam around your park), so I went for a drum n bass approach. All the textures of the synth sounds had to be rough, so I used a lot of fat saws and deformed detuned leads. There's also a layer of total noise and random blips and bloops, but you can probably only hear it if you wear headphones and listen really carefully.

 

Menu Music

I figured someone playing a game jam game isn't going to spend a lot of time in the menu, so I went with simple rising action on a Marimba because it's an earthy natural sounding instrument, but it also implies a certain level of darkness or danger.

 

Game Over Music

I had to slip some John Williams in here somewhere, and this felt like a no brainer. This is a "Tin Trumpet" instrument (which I think refers to the percussive echo that plays at the start of each note), with an echoing bell under it.

[nkornek]

Spent most of the day finishing up all of the UI for interacting with buildings. Also, finally got around to starting the dinos, which is weird that it took so long to get to.

 

[nkornek]

BUILD IS UPLOADING!