[RELEASE] Doctor DNA

[CEJ]

Idle Thumbs 186: Doctor DNA

 

Synopsis:

Doctor DNA was an edutainment (educational entertainment) software created for promotional purposes that was never released to the public. It was meant to be a series of educational games on every aspect of dinosaur resurrection starting with the excavation and discovery of dinosaur DNA. In an abandoned lab you find the last working copy of one of those games.

 

I haven't figured out all the specifics, but basically I'm making a game kind of like Dig Dug, but with the aesthetic and basic theme of the Jurrasic Park "Doctor DNA" cartoon.

 

Reference:

 

 

 

[CEJ]

The first thing I started with this weekend was the character, I figured the character animations would be a lot of the work. Although I haven't finished all of the animations, I need to figure out gameplay specifics and focus more on programming now.

 

 

This will be player character, I have animated and rigged it in Spriter which is working quite nicely I think! I have made a few more animations that I neglect to show because they are so similar. I have so far made an idle animation and also a dig forward and pickaxe forward. I might need to do dig up and pick up, but I haven't decided if I want to do this for gameplay reasons.

 

[Jake]

He's really Mr DNA so this is good infringement dodging on everyone's part.

[WilloughbyJackson]

Looks pretty cool!

 

What are you going to use for an engine?

 

I'm only asking because I always wanted to work with Spriter, but having investigated Spriter/Unity interactions yet.

[CEJ]

The other aspect of this game is that I want to this to play on an ingame monitor in a desolated laboratory.

 

I noticed Jake had the same idea so now I feel silly! Edit: At least the monitor idea that is. Edit2: and Jurrasic Park theme.
 Anyway this is where I have got with this so far, I am using the render texture from a camera to capture the 2D game and I want to make a cool monitor and computer to put it on.

 

Here's what currently works in the game: You can walk up to the cube and press E-key to switch from FPS-controller to the 2D-controller. I am using Unitys default player controller for 2D. I also found this  Unity plugin for Spriter called Spriter2Unity which allows me to easily import the character from spriter. Here is the Spriter2Unity forum thread also if you are interested.

[CEJ]

He's really Mr DNA so this is good infringement dodging on everyone's part.

 

Yeah, I was worrying about that, so that's good to know!

 

Looks pretty cool!

 

What are you going to use for an engine?

 

I'm only asking because I always wanted to work with Spriter, but having investigated Spriter/Unity interactions yet.

 

I am using Unity with Spriter2Unity plugin. I also linked their forum thread above. There is also

which was good.

[zerofiftyone]

The other aspect of this game is that I want to this to play on an ingame monitor in a desolated laboratory.

 

I noticed Jake had the same idea so now I feel silly! Edit: At least the monitor idea that is. Edit2: and Jurrasic Park theme.

 Anyway this is where I have got with this so far, I am using the render texture from a camera to capture the 2D game and I want to make a cool monitor and computer to put it on.

game_within_game.gif

 

Here's what currently works in the game: You can walk up to the cube and press E-key to switch from FPS-controller to the 2D-controller. I am using Unitys default player controller for 2D. I also found this  Unity plugin for Spriter called Spriter2Unity which allows me to easily import the character from spriter. Here is the Spriter2Unity forum thread also if you are interested.

 

Those gifs are looking great. 

 

I do like it when two separate projects independently come up with the same idea for a thing at the same time. 

[theschap]

Dino DNA!

[nkornek]

The number of Jurassic Park themed games coming out of this jam pleases me greatly.

[CEJ]

I'm finally putting some more time into this, now with some new art! I put a lot of time into the background art for the 2D game, and also some time into the 3D world. I finally also decided upon a new control interface for the 2D game, which is partly done. The 2D character is now controlled with classic a point & click control scheme. Movement works for starters, so I have at least proven that I can map the real mouse to the ingame mouse properly.

 

 

The main problem now is that I have been putting off designing the gameplay, I was mostly excited to create the character and art stuff and also the desktop simulation. I am ditching the dig dug idea though, so this will be more like one screen of an adventure game at best. I hope to finish one puzzle, your goal is still to excavate the ambered mosquito.

 

I would also like to add some sound effects, like some computer humming, mouse clicks and some game sound from the 2D game too hopefully.

 

So I have a lot to do tomorrow if I want to finish before the deadline. I would also like to add some tiny environmental storytelling in the 3D world, we will see.

[stackel]

My game also includes a desktop simulation and the mouse moving on the desktop is making me really envious! Nice!

[CEJ]

My game also includes a desktop simulation and the mouse moving on the desktop is making me really envious! Nice!

 

Desktop simulations are the best!

 

I have a pretty crude setup for the mouse cursor but it seems to work well.

 

 

This is how I did it, I am mapping the normal mouse position to the virtual desktop by placing a couple of gameobjects as reference points. (The virtual desktop is in the same scene as the computer.)

I only need two reference points. One in the corner that represents the screen coordinate (0,0) which in unity is in the bottom right, and one in (1,1) which is top left.

 

 

I made a mapping function which does the trick. The first arguments, Vector3 screenZero and Vector3 screenOne are the screen coordinates (0,0) and (1,1) on the virtual desktop. The final argument bool useZ was needed because you can see that I am also mapping the position of the 3D model (the mouse) using the same function. The 3D mouse is moving on the x,z plane while the virtual cursor is moving on x,y plane, so this is only used for that case.

 

Here is the entire script: http://pastebin.com/Vs0faQbv

   
    Vector2 mapMouse(Vector3 screenZero, Vector3 screenOne, bool useZ){
        Vector2 mouse = new Vector2(Input.mousePosition.x/Screen.width, Input.mousePosition.y/Screen.height);
        float cursorX = Mathf.Lerp(screenOne.x, screenZero.x, mouse.x);
        float cursorY;
        if(useZ){
            cursorY = Mathf.Lerp(screenZero.z, screenOne.z, mouse.y);
        }
        else{
            cursorY = Mathf.Lerp(screenZero.y, screenOne.y, mouse.y);
        }
       
       
 
        return new Vector2(cursorX,cursorY);   
    }
   
 
   
    // Update is called once per frame
    void Update () {
        //Cursor
        Vector2 cursor = mapMouse(cursor00.transform.position, cursor11.transform.position, false);
        transform.position = new Vector3(cursor.x,cursor.y, transform.position.z);
       
        //mouse
        Vector2 mousePos = mapMouse(mouse00.transform.position, mouse11.transform.position, true);
        mouseModel.transform.position = new Vector3(mousePos.x, mouseModel.transform.position.y, mousePos.y);
       
       
       
    }

[stackel]

Smart solution, I like that it solves the movement of both mice (Or is it mouses when talking about computer mouse?)! Thank you for taking time to explain it!   
My virtual game is in 3d and uses unitys prefab first person controller, which makes this a bit weird for me so I sadly can not use your solution!

Looking forward to release my own and play all the other games tonight! 

[CEJ]

Computer and desktop now with textures!

 

 

@Stackel, Yes its gonna be good!

[zerofiftyone]

Can't stop smiling at how good this looks   

[theschap]

This looks great!

[Travis]

I tried my very best to take a picture while driving on the freeway of a Mercedes with a "DR DNA" license plate earlier this week. I failed, and I am sad.

 

Know that this vehicle exists!

[brendonsmall]

Computer and desktop now with textures!

 

Those textures are ace!

[Jake]

CEJ I will finish and release Build The Nublar if you finish and release this!

[CEJ]

CEJ I will finish and release Build The Nublar if you finish and release this!

 

I just started watching the stream archive. Clearly I have no choice but to finish this for the glory that is Build The Nublar!

 

The Thumbs Wizard Jam Stream is also really inspiring, so many good games and I still have like two hours left to watch of it!

 

Thanks for the comments everyone!

 

[Ben X]

Hooray! I really hope you keep that stony texture in (and mimic the other, lower-down ones from that reference pic too).

[CEJ]

 

Alright I did it! It's not amazing but I consider it finished.

 

Obvs. the gamejam proper ended a while ago but I've uploaded it here anyway: https://cejlindkvist.itch.io/dr-dna

[Chris]

This download seems to be failing on itch.io. Have you got another copy uploaded somewhere?

[Ben X]

CEJ I will finish and release Build The Nublar if you finish and release this!

 

Great to see you got this out, CEJ! I watched it on the stream and it was lovely!

[Jake]

Cant believe you sold the rights to this game and its aesthetic to a major hollywood studio.