fabian Posted June 1, 2017 The game is now available on itch.io! https://fabiandenter.itch.io/transmission-lost ===================== Original post: Hey there, this will be the dev log for my wiz jam game called "Transmission Lost" (named after this episode)! I decided to try something that goes more into the direction of a walking simulator with a small, interesting world to explore and not too much gameplay. This is directly linked to my inability to code (my skills there peak at "using google and copy what other people made") and my ability to do some hopefully nice 3D art. I'll be also using some assets from the asset store that will help me to not only have a functionless level with that standard Unity FPS character and to have some basic "game things". I hope I will figure this all out, as this is the biggest concern I have - getting this all to work together. My plan is to write a short story outline over the first weekend and then do a very basic blockout of the world very early and try to implement the mechanics there. My hope is that I can use the second half of the jam to mass produce art assets and replace the blockout world while maintaining functionality. I do have two weeks off from work starting tomorrow, so in theory I have plenty of time.. But will it work? We'll see! BTW this is my first game jam and also my first game. I do make game art as a hobby, but nothing coming close to a complete game yet (though I'm working on pre production for one with two friends for a couple of months now). So it's not impossible that I'm in tears and despair after a couple of days. If that happens, I hope I can count on your help! I'm also excited to see all the stuff everyone makes! So, let's do this! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Travis Posted June 2, 2017 Sounds like a good plan and concept! Glad you're joining in the jam. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mastersmith98 Posted June 3, 2017 I'm just picking up Unity my self, but I'm a fairly experienced programmer. Feel free to PM me or hit me up on Slack for any advice or help you need! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fabian Posted June 4, 2017 I managed to implement a lot of the gameplay features that I need for my game. A programmer-friend helped me with the doors, they were pushing the player away with my approach so he fixed that for me with his own system, that I can reuse for drawers and such things, too. Then I configured an exploration kit asset from the asset store in a way I can use it with the rest of the game. All of the pickup and inspection things come from that. Another thing I finished is buttons that play an animation + a sequence of audio clips, though this is still a bit buggy as not all audio clips play each time I click the object. Maybe I just put them into one big audio file and let that play, could be easier. I also put a save system that I already had in the game and I can go from one level to another (even with a nice fade to and from black!). These are the two trigger boxes you can see at the end of the .gif. First one saves the game, second one brings you to the next level (just literally, though). I'm happy with where things are going. I think I can start blocking out the environments soon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hedgefield Posted June 4, 2017 Heyyy really nice! Great idea to have the door stop when it hits the player. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the story/setting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fabian Posted June 5, 2017 Couldn't resist and started modeling. I don't know if this is the way to go, but it's much more fun for me Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
One8Two8 Posted June 5, 2017 Wow, that looks great! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
infamous space turtle Posted June 5, 2017 b e a utiful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JTerry Posted June 5, 2017 Wow, the lighting in those screenshots is wonderful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fabian Posted June 7, 2017 Thx, I hope there is enough "game" in there at the end, I'm currently having some problems with a few things :/ But I also made some progress on the art side, as the whole day was spend in everybody's favorite program zbrush to do some rocks. I also added some speedtree grass that I had lying around here. Hope that the scene is not too heavy for the average PC, though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JTerry Posted June 7, 2017 1 hour ago, fabian said: Thx, I hope there is enough "game" in there at the end, I'm currently having some problems with a few things :/ What problems are you currently running into? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fabian Posted June 7, 2017 Many small issues. Triggers not correctly triggering, physics bugs for a mini game in game, bugs with interactions... that stuff. All these small things that distract you from the work you actually have to do. But yeah, I scrapped the mini game for now and try to concentrate on the more important things. Though the mini game had potential. But it gave me too many error messages and behaved weirdly (like the ball suddenly rolling out of the case or disappearing when putting the object back, or the object sinking into the surface when putting it back...). This was a first version, maybe if I have some time at the end I will come back to this: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SharedControl Posted June 7, 2017 Game is looking awesome! Super impressed by the area you made in so little time! About the physics minigame, i think the best way to do this is faking a lot of the physics by programming it yourself, a lot of work to do though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Travis Posted June 7, 2017 Your environment is gorgeous! Keep it up! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phill Posted June 8, 2017 Holy shit that looks amazing Fabian. Great stuff! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fabian Posted June 8, 2017 Today I modeled and textures some props for the small house and also made some dummy recordings of some dialogue ideas. I also finally wrote down a step by step guide for myself of what the player will do / be supposed to do at any given time in the game. And I realized that this is still a huge amount of work for the time left. But yeah, it's called step by step for a reason Here is a small GIF of the latest progress: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fabian Posted June 8, 2017 15 hours ago, SharedControl said: Game is looking awesome! Super impressed by the area you made in so little time! About the physics minigame, i think the best way to do this is faking a lot of the physics by programming it yourself, a lot of work to do though. Thx! I ditched the physics stuff for now, it's way beyond my league unfortunately. I'll see how much time there is at the end, maybe I'll come back to it. 11 hours ago, Travis said: Your environment is gorgeous! Keep it up! 3 hours ago, phill said: Holy shit that looks amazing Fabian. Great stuff! Thanks! I hope I'll finish in time.. it's still so much to do! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fabian Posted June 9, 2017 Made some good progress today, especially on the art side Set up my first few scene transitions, blocked out another area and started to build a cave area. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zirrrus Posted June 10, 2017 Wow, stunning visuals! Those rocks are amazing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bolt Posted June 10, 2017 What zirrrus said, this art seems way above jam quality Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fabian Posted June 12, 2017 Had some sort of mid-jam-crisis over the weekend. It felt like there was almost no progress and also a few things broke for no reason. But there was also some light: I found a voice over guy on youtube who did voice work for some Skyrim Mods and he now is the voice of both my characters. I think he did a fantastic job on those lines and now I need to edit them and put them into the game. Also, out of frustration, I played a bit with garage band on my phone and got a few nice soundscapes. Will probably go back to that when I finally decide what to do with sound and music, but it is a start And then today I made good progress on one of the major areas of the game, which is also nice Those stairs are probably the least important asset that anybody could spend 2 hours in zrbush on, but hey, I got some really nice stairs now! I also just realized, that my rocks almost qualify for the Texture Thrift diversifier as I'm using them ALL over the place, and they are only four different assets Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zerofiftyone Posted June 12, 2017 Looking good, my dude. Where is that logo btw? You should totally post that here, it's great. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
infamous space turtle Posted June 12, 2017 Love it. God, I know that crisis feeling, had one on saturday haha. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brendonsmall Posted June 12, 2017 I am really looking forward to playing this! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fabian Posted June 13, 2017 17 hours ago, zerofiftyone said: Looking good, my dude. Where is that logo btw? You should totally post that here, it's great. Oh right, I made a logo! Someone in the wizard jam slack made some good suggestions to improve it so I'll probably do it, but here it is in its current form: I also did some graphic design things (for posters and stuff to find and read) and this gif now exists: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
