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Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
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A rigidbody just tells the physics system 'this is a thing that I expect to move around' because for optimisations sake the physics system takes all sorts of shortcuts and assumptions about what anything in any given scene can do.
A character controller is kind of like using a kinematic rigidbody, in that it assumes you'll be handling its interaction with the world rather than making it physics driven - it has a number of useful features builtin like checks for when specific parts of it are touching things (like top, bottom, sides etc) or setting its 'skin' width so theres a bit of leeway between results actually being implemented to help with handling those interactions.
(I'm not on Unity 2017 yet, but I believe they added a 2D character controller which I assume handles much the same way as the 3D one which is the only one I have familiarity with)
For a 2D Platformer, most 'traditional' platform games did not use "a physics system" at all - they used translates rather than impulses, so if its that kind of feel you're after you're probably going to want to look into raycasts and transform translates.
Something like LBP wouldn't work without using a physics system, as its full of interactive physics objects, something like Super Meat Boy would never need more than box collider triggers
False.
As I replied earlier - you can write your own movement rules, gravity, etc and set velocities on the RB directly. That's how I do it. I don't move using physics, I set the speeds directly. Using translate will require your own collision system and a kinematic RB, which is fine, but I'm of the mind why do that if what you need is handled just fine by Unity's collision detection?
IIRC, Unity has their own set of tutorials on how to do just this to take things from physics-y feeling to game-y feeling. If those are words, I dunno ha! But the methods are the same as with translation, you roll your own gravity, movement, etc and set the speed of the translate - with RB, you do this the same but set the velocities on the RB directly vs moving with force and clamping.
If anyone wants a 3d modeler or ue4 dev I can do some stuff. http://dsymeou.co.uk/3d-modeling.html also made a game for Giant Bomb in the last GameJam https://dits.itch.io/giantrom
Well, for all the places where the built in collision doesn't work very well, obviously.
There's a ton of edge cases like slopes, one way platforms, ladders, moving platforms, thin platforms, fast moving projectiles, etc where things go really wonky really quickly.
This is where continuous collision detection comes in as well as making sure your object scale allows for a large enough collider so they don't pass through at high speeds. It's stuff you need to figure out when you start your project, even with translation. Then it's just a matter of camera position, FOV yo get the proper scale on screen. I've used both methods and haven't had any of those problems with either.
The only thing you've mentioned that I had a "huh, really" moment with switching to RB is moving platforms since a non-kinematic RB will slip, even if childed. Then it's just a matter of picking your weapon by either adding the velocity of the platform to the player or adjusting the player's position by the movement of the platform, either work. I'm sure there are other ways but those are simple.
I've done all of those and more with far less code using RB as my base than when I rolled my own everything with translate. Fewer casts, checks, etc.
One thing I know people get hung up on are box collider sticks when two overlap, RB cam get stuck on corners when moving over them, which is easily avoided with an edge Collier. Box colliders aren't continuous, they are 4 edges. A single edge collider with points is continuous and won't get stuck.
That's about it. I've found it easier to get all of those things handled with RB. A lot less code to write and debug. My game is very much so jump, platform, zip, wall jump, corner collision, etc - very heavily movement based this time around with greater range of movement and control and I see no drawbacks.
For beginners, RB is definitely easier. I fancied my custom controller with translate for a long time but got over it when realizing I could do the same with a lot less code and headaches.
Just my .02. I'm not above taking the easiest solution when it works. I still like my controller with translate but if I can do everything I did before with less code that's what I'm doing :P
I almost never get to post into indie threads anymore since most of the stuff I'm doing nowadays is secret. But I thought this would be cool to share:
Nintendo sent us some Switch Devkits a few weeks back and to learn how to use em, I spent an evening porting my old 'Super Turbo Drifters' project to it. Was super fun, my hats off to Nintendo, the dev environment for the Switch is pretty damn simple to maneuver! Regarding the video: This shows one of the ripped tracks from Mario Kart 8 (wanted to test how my driving controller works in a 'real-world example'. This is completely unoptimized with lots of inefficient code running in the background without me adjusting anything for Switch and still it runs at around 30fps, which is neat :)
Nintendo sent us some Switch Devkits a few weeks back and to learn how to use em, I spent an evening porting my old 'Super Turbo Drifters' project to it. Was super fun, my hats off to Nintendo, the dev environment for the Switch is pretty damn simple to maneuver! Regarding the video: This shows one of the ripped tracks from Mario Kart 8 (wanted to test how my driving controller works in a 'real-world example'. This is completely unoptimized with lots of inefficient code running in the background without me adjusting anything for Switch and still it runs at around 30fps, which is neat :)
Hi everyone, happy to see this community moved over.
You might remember I'm working on a game called The Godbeast. It's a cel-shaded, atmospheric action-adventure game, where you fight monsters and explore a big city at night. Engine is Unity3D and I hope to release it on PC/Steam in early 2018.
I hope I can be a bit more active than before and show progress or give updates more frequently.
You might remember I'm working on a game called The Godbeast. It's a cel-shaded, atmospheric action-adventure game, where you fight monsters and explore a big city at night. Engine is Unity3D and I hope to release it on PC/Steam in early 2018.
I hope I can be a bit more active than before and show progress or give updates more frequently.
Well...Screen Shot Saturday (Ok...video Saturday)
The most Generic 3rd Person Fantasy RPG game.
Inventory, Store, Conversations, Quests done (with bugs) Now Moving to combat. After combat, then it will be "Crafting" (which in my case is putting a rune on a sword...maybe shield...maybe armour)
Just did the upgrade from Unity 5.5 to 2017.2 and implemented the Post Processing stack. Still needs some work
Anyways...Here is Inventory stuff
and here is the Level Up
The most Generic 3rd Person Fantasy RPG game.
Inventory, Store, Conversations, Quests done (with bugs) Now Moving to combat. After combat, then it will be "Crafting" (which in my case is putting a rune on a sword...maybe shield...maybe armour)
Just did the upgrade from Unity 5.5 to 2017.2 and implemented the Post Processing stack. Still needs some work
Anyways...Here is Inventory stuff
and here is the Level Up
Well, indirectly. One of my key inspirations for this is Goldeneye 007, which is technically the precursor to Perfect Dark :)
I find that to really get the most out of what you'd expect from a character controller in Unity, nevermind make it work well, you have to really knuckle down and do some custom code or get your hands on an entirely custom controller. Unity simply doesn't have a character controller right out of the box that does everything you'd expect in a modern game engine or works adequately in all the areas it tries to do - the depreciated character controller component is old as hell and doesn't play nice with physics, and the newer character controller examples are a bit of a mess.
UE4, on the other hand, immediately provides you an in-built character controller that is actually usable and doesn't have those niggling issues, from my experience, though it helps that Epic is actually building off of actual game dev experience with character controllers. It's just one of those reasons why I've finally settled on UE4.
So reintroducing my project - I'm basically making a third-person action/fighting game, with a real-time dialogue system and point-and-click style interaction system, both entirely custom. It's basically a mixture of Smash Bros (two types of directional input), Kid Icarus: Uprising (a mixture of ranged and close-ranged combat), and Dark Souls (focus on individual attacks rather than combos and to a lesser degree a focus on committing to attacks). Currently in prototyping phase, I'm basically stuck trying to do what I can while also looking for people who can handle character modelling/animation.
Here's some slightly old footage, once I'm less focused on uni studies I'll hopefully have some footage of PvE enemies in action.
UE4, on the other hand, immediately provides you an in-built character controller that is actually usable and doesn't have those niggling issues, from my experience, though it helps that Epic is actually building off of actual game dev experience with character controllers. It's just one of those reasons why I've finally settled on UE4.
So reintroducing my project - I'm basically making a third-person action/fighting game, with a real-time dialogue system and point-and-click style interaction system, both entirely custom. It's basically a mixture of Smash Bros (two types of directional input), Kid Icarus: Uprising (a mixture of ranged and close-ranged combat), and Dark Souls (focus on individual attacks rather than combos and to a lesser degree a focus on committing to attacks). Currently in prototyping phase, I'm basically stuck trying to do what I can while also looking for people who can handle character modelling/animation.
Here's some slightly old footage, once I'm less focused on uni studies I'll hopefully have some footage of PvE enemies in action.
Very cool! I'm actually a graphic interface designer myself. Once in a rare blue moon, someone will run into my stuff and contract me for something small here and there. But I mostly just make stuff as a hobby so other indie developers can make use of it. Here's some crap I made:
Some random RPG UI:
And even some accurate fanboy recreations lol:
I'm still an amateur and very much learning though, so I love opportunities to learn new tricks, make new stuff, and just improve little by little.
Some random RPG UI:
And even some accurate fanboy recreations lol:
I'm still an amateur and very much learning though, so I love opportunities to learn new tricks, make new stuff, and just improve little by little.
Did a little more on the game jam game tonight and got some THUNDER BLADE buildings going
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Hey guys, was wondering if I could get some advice. See there's this contest going on, the Indie Game Maker Contest, that I had entered earlier this month. I had this sweet idea that I was thinking about before and this was the perfect way to experiment with it and maybe win some cash/prestige if it goes well. But 5 days into it, life decided to throw a curve ball and I had to take custody back of my kid brother. Combine that with running around getting legal business done, school, and having to pick up extra shifts to balance out having another mouth to feed, in the near month that the contest has started I've only got the bare bone minimum of my project done. I want to turn something in this time because the last couple of contests I joined I had to quit part way in because of life problems like above, but at best it'll be a small thing that wouldn't be anywhere as good as I want it to be and wouldn't get my idea across well to the players. Should I just go ahead in quit or just go with what little I have and be proud of that?
Keeping in mind I don't know the full circumstances of your personal life and of your project, so I'm limited by my own perspective, but I say: go for it with whatever you have! "Shipping" experience (or "finishing" anything, depending on the context) is some of the most rare, and most valuable creative experience you can gather. Too many devs fall to the trappings of neverending finish, and something always comes up to prevent actually finishing what they intended. The thing is, no piece of media is ever truly "done" - at best, you'll be lucky to be somewhat close to your original intention, and you generally just have to make peace with what you currently have and manage to release it, in all senses of the terms, and that's a hard learning process. So indeed, your project may not be what you envisioned it to be, but in most likelihood, it never would be - but the fact that you *have* something, no matter what it is, is an achievement in itself, and what you should be proud of. So I'd recommend to release that, and come what may - and if you're not satisfied with what happens, there's always next time, and you'll have the benefit of having more experience :-D
Is there anyone developing for the Switch here who is allowed to say how you started the process?
It is discouraging to me because the Wii U process was so easy, yet as far as I know the Switch process is still completely closed other than one email to which you can send a trailer to possibly be selected, meaning you need to have already developed the game.
The only developer I have talked with was not even allowed to say how they began the process due to NDA etc. so it all feels very mysterious.
It is discouraging to me because the Wii U process was so easy, yet as far as I know the Switch process is still completely closed other than one email to which you can send a trailer to possibly be selected, meaning you need to have already developed the game.
The only developer I have talked with was not even allowed to say how they began the process due to NDA etc. so it all feels very mysterious.
Yeah your right. It won't be anywhere near what I wanted it to be, but I would like to enter something, just to say that I did. Thanks for the advice.
A question for the more experienced animators here: any trick to animating the super fast wing beats of an insect? Would it just be a case of switching between two frames, one for the up beat and one for the down?
Ohhh, really like the texture work on this one. MGS inspired, I would guess. That's actually something I'd like to replicate too.
Overall it looks a bit dull for me. But that's difficult to judge when
not seeing any vibrant enemies or something similar in contrast with the
background.
A bit late to respond but this is an area I spent way too much time on. The character controller is definitely better if you're ok with its restrictions. IE it can't be rotated (so you can't change the direction of gravity) and it can only be a capsule shape.
For my game I needed a cube shape and the ability to rotate gravity, so I used rigidbodies for the first prototype. However in my experience rigidbodies are just not comparable to character controllers in terms of physics quality. They might work great in certain games for player physics but it's not universal. Instead I ended up having to program my own custom character controller. It was a huge pain and I wouldn't recommend it unless you can't make existing options work, but it's an option to keep in mind.
Being self-employed in the Trump era is a massive expense and I'm not sure how much longer it can last for me. Health insurance alone is going to cost me $1800 extra this coming year, it looks like. :(
Yeah. Waypoint did multiplearticles earlier this year about how well the ACA has served a lot of indie developers, and that marketplace being sabotaged and slowly dismantled is probably going to cause a lot of problems for some indie devs.
I fear that many young single indie developers may decide to risk not having health insurance at all, and that can quickly lead to total financial disaster if you have an unexpected medical issue. Without insurance, you can easily end up with tens of thousands of dollars in costs even for a relatively minor outpatient issue like a broken bone or appendicitis. Something more severe that requires long-term treatment like cancer will obviously be even worse.
Yep, I had appendicitis and insurance and it still cost me like $5000-6000. Without insurance it could have been life-destroying.
Same. I had appendicitis earlier this year, something that comes completely out of nowhere with zero warning, and it maxed out my $7000 deductible. Without insurance, it would've been closer to $40,000, and that's a relatively simple surgery with no hospital stay.
Thanks for the input. It's just theme, colors, shapes at this point. Nothing is lighting up, animated, etc. There's going to be a lot going on visually but at this point I'm looking at the theme, not composition or execution. Pretty sure everyone missed that point.
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Weird, had to upload my GIF to a different host to get my post to stop only showing an "IMG" starting tag in text form.
It's mentioned earlier on this page, but check out https://www.resetera.com/threads/important-message-regarding-image-link.2007/
I'm a fan of a four frame approach. Upbeat, downbeat, different upbeat, different downbeat, repeat. That helps it from looking too regular.
I started trying to type an explanation of multi wipes but then I realised I could just explain it better with a crudely drawn example. basically just have 3 frames(i've seen people get away with 2 but 3 looks better) and draw multiple wings at different points in each frame and then play the frames really fast.
and the individual frame looks like this.
You can make the extra wings look like after images if you want too and the speed lines are also optional. I drew this very quickly so apologies if it looks bad.
Yeah sure. But I think its hard to judge this stuff in isolation. For it
my happen that if you add other stuff on top of it I may say "wow, it's a
perfect match now" esp. given the colors.
Hi Mikado! Good to see you again. Electronic music is something I wanna give a
try as well. Btw; If your gaf nickname means anything to you, you can reclaim
it, see;
Username Disputes AKA "Someone took my username or is impersonating me!"
I started trying to type an explanation of multi wipes but then I realised I could just explain it better with a crudely drawn example. basically just have 3 frames(i've seen people get away with 2 but 3 looks better) and draw multiple wings at different points in each frame and then play the frames really fast.
and the individual frame looks like this.
You can make the extra wings look like after images if you want too and the speed lines are also optional. I drew this very quickly so apologies if it looks bad.
Ah excellent. Thanks a lot for the detailed reply. I'll have an experiment.
I'm about to buy a desktop iMac to run Game Maker 2 - will the 21.5'' suffice in terms of processing power?
Building an Armada-like space RPG.
Building an Armada-like space RPG.
I hear you. I guess looking for feedback before I have any meat going is going to be hit or miss. All weekend I've been programming so I haven't done much art yet. Can't really convey what I see in my head vs rough drafts of themes XD
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On another topic I am diving into Spine today. I won't be using the animation system inside of Unity but instead exporting frames to retouch in Photoshop.
Working on mining and monkeys today.
http://steamcommunity.com/games/679270/announcements/detail/1459590331399501440
http://steamcommunity.com/games/679270/announcements/detail/1459590331399501440
A pretty good rule of thumb is if it can play the games you want to play then it can make them. GameMaker doesn't have a sophisticated profiler, so the only overhead you'll ever have is if you're recording video of the game.
Having said that, I personally wouldn't be that excited for the computer you're getting. Compared to a gaming laptop I bought for six hundred dollars more two years ago, it has half the RAM, a CPU that scored about half as much on PassMark (4008 vs 8139), and a GPU only a sixth as good (1476 vs 8729)
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-6200U+@+2.30GHz
https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Intel+Iris+Plus+640
These threads are so inspiring for me to look at. I used to just lurk in the old threads but im trying to make an effort to actually participate more. I already posted this in the Waypoint thread earlier this week but is the first gif I i made of my game Whippa Stitcha.
First of all, me too! I'll try participating more too. Secondly, what a lovely gif :D
Is it zoomed-in though? (or only showing a fraction of the screen?)
Anyways, here's a GIF of my game...
First of all, me too! I'll try participating more too. Secondly, what a lovely gif :D
Is it zoomed-in though? (or only showing a fraction of the screen?)
Anyways, here's a GIF of my game...
Yes, my gif is croppped, most of the stuff outside of the frame isn't very polished haha.
Nice Backgrounds!
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