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[Devlog] Into the Snow

A topic by searift created Jan 08, 2017 Views: 2,133 Replies: 40
Viewing posts 1 to 30
Submitted(+1)

Title in the works ! I'm using Unity to make a sidescroller about being a sphynx cat trying to find more winter clothes on your way to your friend's cabin. Every new article of clothing from charitable animal locals helps you get closer to not freezing. I imagine it to be pretty simple and peaceful aside from the freezing part.

I've never made a game before outside of an intro to programming class where I used a different language and program, so this will be something! My goals are to grow more familiar with Unity, the game designing process, and to end up with a finished project.

For the first week, I aim to get the visuals down and learn my way around Unity to get the game to function more or less. Soo that means:

  • making a timer mechanic and items that can increase the time
  • designing levels, basic char designs, and dialogue
  • tying down player controls and basic animation
  • creating a checkpoint system
  • and essentially making the game work from start to finish.

Then I hope to make things a bit prettier and fix everything I destroyed without knowing ! Whooooo

Submitted (1 edit)

Day 1

http://imgur.com/9CqKbRK

Oops I can't figure out how to insert gifs without having a broken link, but here's yesterday's progress ! Dived into some Unity tutorials and ended up with some basic player controls and assets. Slow and steady

Submitted

Yeah, imgur is weird with gifs, I guess! I got around this by pasting the link they gave me into a new tab, then right clicking the image and copying the image url. For some reason this works?? But if it doesn't, I would look at how imgur formats its other urls and try to copy that (just with your gifs id instead).

I love your game idea, btw! Really excited to see how it turns out!

Submitted

!! Thank you, I'll try that out next time ! Who knew there'd be so much struggle w/ gifmaking

And thanks, I'm excited to get it up and running \o/

Submitted

Day 2

http://imgur.com/Tm2j9lf

Lots of wrestling with Unity today ! Made a wonky jump function that I'll need to fix sometime or other, but now I have some simple character controls. I also made a timer that acts as a health bar and an equally wonky checkpoint system that will be used to teleport Sphynx to the beginning of the level if the player runs out of time.

I still need to make all the uh other checkpoints work and make game objects that can add time to the timer. I might need to remake the timer since it's only an image that is basically chipped away right now, so maybe I need to give it a number value or some sort of speed. So, to fix: time adding things, checkpoint system, jump function, timer?

(Timer script, addTime() def does not work. Hmmmmm)

Next to dos:

  • Mess around with level designs and put in some basic ground
  • Figure out if I can make the background a single image or if I need to make different scenes
  • UHmmm figure out that thing where the foreground/midground/background can move without relation to each other?
Baby steps!
Host

you can post images using: <img src="imageurl"> in html mode! i dont remember if imgur has copy paste code for that.

the premise for this is so cute omg... and the character controller is looking really good so far! keep up the good work!!

Submitted

Mm I did try that, though by now I think it must be imgur that's being wonky ! The pitfalls of gifmaking OTL

And thank you !! I aim to 馃挭

Submitted (1 edit)

Day 3

I didn't make a log yesterday, so I'll recap what I did ! I tried my hand at setting up parallax bgs for a bit until I found a very very generous someone who shared their easy to use parallax scripts. In time I think I'll sit down and learn how to code properly, but for now... o(-< I also tried to start up a dialogue system for a while after going down a rabbit hole of tutorial videos, but no go. I must be messing up somewhere because it was surprisingly complex for me oTL For now, I'll put the dialogue system on the back burner but keep my failed scripts just in case I figure out where I went wrong.

(ty hardheadjed and J!)

Yep there's just a bunch of shapes lying around. The white circle is to test out item pick up to refill that timer/bar (not workin). The block is from today to test out dialogue (also not workin). Gah !

Submitted(+3)

Day 4

After suffering and flailing around in code, I took a break to go back to my comfort zone and design some characters and levels. I'm thinking three levels? (if you can interpret any of those blurry scribbles)

Then some characters, whoo ! The winter clothes are mostly volunteer made from fur trimmings from the local hair salon, except for those snowshoes I guess.

From my layout, I figure I need to make:

  • a dialogue system with menu choices
  • rest stops with colliders where the player can stop and refill their timer/warmth meter
  • new animations with new clothes that activate after dialogue ends/the right choice is made
  • an intro scene and ending scene

And after flailing some more with dialogue earlier today, I instead procrastinated to play with menus for a bit \o/ hoorah. I really need to get the warmth refill mechanic fixed up, so back to that tomorrow ! If it doesn't work out, I think it could be cut out p easily.

Submitted

I really really like the concept of this game! And cute art btw. I'm looking forward for more progress.

Submitted

Ty !! I hope to get some more exciting stuff done soon 馃挭

Submitted(+1)

Day 5

Finally wrote a super simple dialogue script I could wrap my head around, with much tutorial help fpfhp

I'll need to touch up the UI of course, partly because I imagined a system somewhat like this, TWEWY style

and because I'd need menu choices to act as mini tests for each clothing item! The warmth meter seems less and less vital, so I think I may start to work on visuals while finalizing the UI, dialogue system, and levels. Especially since I'd like to make some animated sprites. Oh, and find some sounds!

Not a ton done today, but starting a workable dialogue system is a huge relief //

Host

honestly mashing up a lot of pre-made scripts is a totally acceptable workflow for games! i always think of it like cooking--you don't have to grow your carrots to cook them in a dish, but it might be helpful to understand more about them. when you use scripts it can be ok to throw them in and tweak them to your needs--but going into them can help you understand how they work and even replicate them in the future. exploring making these systems on your own though is a really great thing to do!

also i love your sketches aa they're so lovely!

Submitted

Ty, and ty for the encouragement !! I def want to learn my way around scripts after this jam, esp since I am most def doing the programming equivalent of microwaveable meals..,, o(-<

Submitted (1 edit) (+2)

Day 6

Almost halfway to the deadline?? ! I've mostly made everything I prioritized, including a dialogue system with sprite options, so now to do the actual putting together of things. I also put in some char animation, albeit really wonky animation, but it works for noww.

I'm also starting the visuals! A color script and a basic mockup for the first level. Next up is MORE ART, fixing resolutions/tiles and actually making the levels ahahaa.

Submitted

omg the art is soooo adorable! <3

Submitted

Oh gosh, I love your art for the game! It's really neat to see this starting to come together visually

Submitted

Oh man, that background. I'm practically in love with it! Love love LOVE the color scheme. The main character is super cute too. I can't wait to play your game!

You're a wizard. I adore this so much. All of it. I'm pumped for this!

Submitted

I love the shading on your background art!

Submitted (2 edits) (+1)

Day 7

Thank you all for the support !! I hope the game will soon be solid and ready to play, but if not there'll be cute animals to look at at least \o/ Today was an art day ! I drew the player sprites and updated the character animation in Unity, both of which took a lot longer than I expected :I6

The animation's pretty stiff, so if I get the change I'd like to tweak it a bit. Also, began working on NPC sprites.

Other than that, I matched up image resolutions so they'd be neater and easier to arrange and drew some decorative bits for the environment. It's all leaning towards a more atmospheric-y game than I planned, which I wouldn't mind as a starting point! I just gotta beef up my programming skills. Still need to draw lots emore things since all this environment stuff is just the first level and this cat needs some warm clothes darnit.

Submitted

Your art and character designs are so cuuute. Reading through your devlog has been very fun, and I wish you the best of luck on your project! :>

Submitted

! Thank you !! I'm glad they're fun to go through since they're a lot of flailing around \o/

(1 edit)

Your character designs are really good and I love the premise :V

Submitted

Thank u !! Cute animals are the way to go 馃憣

Submitted(+1)

Day 8

Not tooo much done gameplay wise because of endless arts to make, only I arranged some of the things !

The gang's all here ! And we're p much at the halfway mark ! I hope to kick it into maximum overdrive over the weekend to get lots of art done so I can lay out the levels and dialogue and stuff over the course of the last week. There's more to jot down but IIII'm going to sleep now.

wow! all the art in this looks awesome. cant wait to see the final result!

Submitted

Thanks, I had a lot of fun w/ it !!

Submitted(+1)

Day 9

I just realized that I maaay be numbering these wrong. Anyway, thank you all for your nice comments ! I'm not sure what to say besides "Thank you very much!" and "I super hope this game will playable so yall can have something for your niceness!".

Today was the day of fixing the screen res and resizing art ! Whoo ! Note to self, decide on a screen res in the beginning. At least everything's nice and at least 100 kb smaller now. Today was also a distraction day so not too much done akldvjaw. I did I lay out some more of the first stage and make the chats look prettier (just needs a non-arial font)

Dialogue still needs some tweaking because I imagine that the player would need to do something first in order to get some more clothes, like a mini quest system. Iiii have no idea how to start, but it'll be a learning experience? I'll save tomorrow for more level layouts and figuring out quests, maybe then I can arrange the forest stage!

ALso, a daily searift confession, this game looks like it'll really rely on visuals/dialogue rather than gameplay, which sorta bums me out but I'm also pretty happy with just drawing cute things ahaha

Submitted(+1)

Day 10

The deadline's getting closer and it's very scary ! I'm inching closer, though now I'm getting worried about the file size of all this ?? My unity folder ain't so pretty. I might need to spend a day just to keep the size back under control ahaha.

So I laid down a bit o the forest and some trees. I don't know why, but I started out by just drawing each branch individually when i could have really just drawn out the tree? Not rlly thinking things through.

Everything about the chats are also really kicking my butt rn for example:

Submitted(+1)

Day 11

Everything's laid out now to make a nice, peaceful sidescroller. Some screencaps of the in game view:

Visuals/levels are more or less functional, onto literally everything else ! Not much to say bc it's distressingly late. Looking at this though, it might've been fun as a visual novel seeing that there's not a whole lotta game mechanics. Maybe in another universe

Host

aaa your backgrounds and char designs are so beautiful! even if you have pretty basic mechanics that is a really good start for a game--if you decide to focus on one mechanic or expand it more in the future you have a really good basis and probably better idea of the workflow used to get there. this is looking really fantastic.

Submitted (1 edit)

Thank you !! Now that I have some exp I do think I can have a better idea on how to start more exciting stuff 馃挭

Submitted

Day 12

!! Not much to show except for some insignificant visual stuff, like extra details here and there. Towards the end of the day, I did try my hand at a simple choice system w/ boolean on my own ie press a or b at a specific line in the string to choose something to say, but I can't quite grasp it yet o(-< It sounds simple in theory so I may be able to figure it out by tomorrow? It's not exactly necessary but it'd be nice to have some sort of interaction with NPCs !! I also wrote a few scripts for the endings based on how warm you are by the end of the game according to an integer rather than that warmth bar. (it should be easy peasy !)

To do:

- figure out how to change char sprite in script + clothing art

- start menu/ending screen

- dialogue choicesssSSS and multiple dialogue holders with sprites and all

- final homely tweaks for NPC areas

- playtest

Submitted
This has such a beautiful art style! But I think I've told you that before :) I hope you can finish it! I'm looking forward to play it.
Submitted

Thanks !! It's nice of you to say it again aha, it's a teeny thing I hope to finish too :^)

I need to play this so hard. Unngh. I can't get enough of your artwork! It's SO LOVELY AHHH.

Submitted

Thank youuu, it's such a tiny game but I hope it'll be enjoyable \o/

Submitted(+1)

Day 13

AAAAaaaa?! Still have much to do and I'll be busy for much of tomorrow, may need to dedicate this Friday night to some good ol crackdown. I put together some dialogue and tasks today to get yourself some clothes. It's pretty unorganized but isn't that noticeable in game ahahaa. I also searched for some royalty free bg songs that are closer to my professor layton-y soundtrack dreams. I would really like to more or less finish by tomorrow and save friday for final tweaks and art, so we'll see how that goes! Not much to show except.... everyone's still a rabbit....

Submitted(+2)

Day 14

Yeaah I misnumbered these ahaha. Today was fairly productive since I've gotten 3 of the NPCs all done and drew some cloothes finally. Didn't reach my goal of basically wrapping up but I'm getting there! I have a lot more time tomorrow also so I'm hopeful. I gotta sleep, so here's a piiic

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Last Day

Aaaaaaand we're done! The game's up and looking spiffy on my profile*_* A nice lil 10 min nugget of a game that I also renamed to MTN Trek 馃憣

This challenge was really fun, and I doubt that I would've taken the extra step to finish a game without an impending deadline ahahaaa. Good work everybody, esp considering recent events if you live in the US !! I'm gonna spend the rest of the day deflating and playing some nice games