helow, it’s been 7 days, 1 hour, and 3 minutes since my last post, take this info as the truth because it’s not made up and because I’m always right.
diegetic UI, diegetic means nobody cares and my plan is to make the background shift and UI would pop out of the wall, but I am a tiny bit stoopid so who knows!
!elloh I was messing around with coins, mainly trying to figure out a few designs on what the UI should look like, and I found a few designs for a typical string of cash coins on the ol’ google.
“Today is opposite day.”
This isn’t something random, I swear, I’ll put it into the game. (´。＿。｀)
did somebody touch it?
Hello!
I was sketching out some of the animations for the clicking, CD, and inspecting icons for the cursor.
I was having a bit of trouble figuring out how I wanted to do it but I think I’ve got a good foundation, it just needs some more work to refine.
Sooo… I’m a bit late… whoops
I mentioned it a few weeks ago but I’m working on a small project that has nothing to do with DOTK.
I’ve realized that I need to focus on one of them since I can’t work on both at the same time.
This means that’s DOTK’s development will probably be on hold for a month or two.
This is unfortunate, to say the least, but, if you want to see what I’ve been doing here’s some art for the title.
Sorry about all of these delays, but once I’m done with all of this I’ll get back to DOTK as soon as I can!
Have the first meme of your upcoming game!
Ooooh “Sunfall”! Sounds interesting (and the title art looks really pretty, as does most art you make)! I look forward to seeing what it becomes. Also, I have a question about the development of DOTK. While you’ve been making this, have you actually been coding stuff as well, or have you just been focusing on the art? I only ask because I’m curious about the methods by which other people go about developing their games. Personally, I do all of the coding first and worry about art later.
@chrisdakiller I’m glad you asked this!
While making DOTK I’ve only been doing art, no coding has actually been done.
This is what I would normally call a rookie mistake since you always want form from function.
That basically means: make sure you’re game actually works before making it look cool.
EX: If you make a walking animation the speed of the subject may look slower or faster than the actual speed of the subject.
Same animation, different pixels(distance)/sec. You want to know how much you want the subject to move before animating it.
Now, I said normally since this is just a rule of thumb, but most of the art you’ve seen is just concept, all of this is just in preparation for the “first step”. My main goal is to plan out some of the basic components of the game to know what shortcuts I can take while making the code to prevent rewiring things to account for new mechanics.
Should you do this?
No, no probably not.
I know that this is a bad idea but doing art is fun sooooooooo-
It’s a do as I say, not as I do kinda thing~
Great question! I usually don’t go off topic because it detracts from the game glowbug is developing, but this seems like a good place to clarify how development (for anything) is done.
The first step to game development occurs entirely in your head. This step is the birth of your game- the
ah-HA! moment after you get a really cool idea.
The second step is planning out your game (to its entirety). All ideas you get during this period of development should be plopped down in your trusty notebook ASAP. You can elaborate on and improve these ideas whenever you have time.
The third step to game development is prototyping. This should be the first time you touch Flowlab for development reasons. Your prototype is a mini version of your game to test its most important aspect: Funness (not a real word but you get the point). This prototype should NOT be pretty, elaborate, or polished. It just needs to work.
Also, if you find your game isn’t fun, you should scrap your mechanics and objectives and start over on those.
The fourth step is the actual creation of your full game. This phase is also known as Alpha.
The fifth step is known as Beta. This is where you have people test your game and see what you can improve on. This is also where you squash the most bugs. This is basically the phase where you polish the game and complete it.
The sixth step is release. You throw the game into the world and people (hopefully a lot of people) play your game.
Sup.
Hello!
So… it’s been a while ( / '•-•)\
First of all, sorry for not saying anything in the last post, I wanted to just keep working on some stuff for things other than DOTK so I didn’t bother with a long message. I wanted to take a bit of time and talk about the extended leave and also some of my plans since I never stopped thinking of things I wanted to do for DOTK.
I said I was going to come back in 1-2 months, but then finals came in and hit me like a truck and sent me flying into the salt mines for an extra month. Sorry for the extended break but now I’m back on track and I can get some work done!
Currently, I’m getting some basic animations done so that I can start work on some code, although it’ll be just a proof of concept. I’ve separated each limb onto a different layer, which is 1) a massive pain to animate and 2) gives me the ability to have each limb play animations at the same time. If I separate the upper body from the legs I can have the upper body bring up a shield to block while the player walks without having to animate a new animation or interrupt the current animation.
Technically I could just do this with some code that manually tells what frame the animation is on and have it go into a router that switches between two different animations but it’s just an example.
It’ll give me more freedom to do stuff with animations since I can control each limb individually!
Understandable break. Great layer thinking!
Heloo
So sorting 120 different frames of animations after labeling, exporting, organizing each of them into folders, and then uploading each one into Flowlab’s sprite editor is kinda time-consuming…
I’ve been working on the code for a bit, mainly just trying to find a way to organize it, but next week I should have a small test of all the placeholder animations working!
Sorry for not having much to show, I’ve been a bit short on time, but I’m beginning to get into the rhythm of my work schedule so that I can work on DOTK, SOL, and practice some art!
Igloo
Well, here it is! The first actually code done for the game! If you ignore all the junk code lying everywhere then it almost looks well done!
The code makes it so that the animation completes itself so that it can transition back into the idle pose but the animations are a bit slow so the player continues to walk after you let go of the movement keys, I’ll need to figure out a way to make the code alow the animation to stop before frame 0 but for now, I’m happy with the way this little test came out! I also slapped the movement code on at the last second so there might be a bug or so that’ll keep you moving, I didn’t really care to fix that since it’s not too important for all intents and purposes.
Anyways, this whole thing is a great way to remind me how bad I am at coding, as well as how long I take, which is why when I participate in the Flowjam I’ll be taking some of the time away from DOTK so that I can make that stuff faster. now that’s a smooth transition
Does that mean DOTK will be on break?
no
I’ll still be posting stuff, although I’ll probably be talking about random stuff like the story, meta progression, and maybe I’ll make a road map for the next few updates after the jam!
It’s moonwalking time.
yo
Meta progression! I only now realized that I said that DOTK was a roguelike and not a roguelite, so that’s something that needs updating.
In most games, meta progression can come in the form of unlocking things the further you get in the game that can be used at the beginning, a shop with the currency you bring back with you, or items you can bring back with you after you die.
In DOTK, once you die you return back with nothing, but anything you’ve done in the dungeon will stay the same. The bodies you leave behind stay there, as well as the thing that killed you.
The door will have a special effect that’ll let you know where your body is, although since the dungeon layout is randomized you’ll need special items that’ll lead you to your items.
You’ll only have 5 bodies before they disappear, having anymore will remove the last body or the current body.
Although beware, some items you’ll obtain may disappear on death, but that also means that some items will be brought back with you, although they may begin to lose their durability.
Anyways, that’s all for now!
Sorry for being a bit(?) late ( . ﹏ .)
I’ve been working on my Flowjam entry so I started on this a bit late.
I also wanted to say that the link in the previous post doesn’t work anymore. (gotta make room for the Flowjam…)
Strange thing is, I’ve deleted the game but you can still access it for some reason, probably gonna report that… (nvm, it’s just a soft deleat, so say goodbye to the game with nothing in it before it really does have nothing in it!)
Somewhere along the way I wanted to copy the code and have it saved in a bundle but it disappeared soooo… gonna have to do it again, not that I wasn’t going to do that anyway so I’m not too worried about it 〜(￣▽￣〜)
To end on a positive note, since I don’t actually have any good news, here’s an idle animation I made for the Flowjam!
bai
aaayyyyyy, the first time I’ve missed an update, let’s gooooooo… eh hehe… haaaaaaa <( _ _ )>
First of all, an update on what’s going on. I’ve been busy with some stuff, mainly the Flowjam, so I decided to focus on what I was doing instead of this. I’ll still do this again this week so that I’m caught up on what I need to do.
Now what I wanted to say last week was just laying out a road map, mainly as a way to plan things out but to also give a bit of insight as to why I’m doing what I’m doing.
As a side note, I have a notebook that I just write stuff down in, generally, stuff that comes to mind, so what I feel is most important on the list that I make is what I try to focus on, it’s a nice way of keeping track of all my ideas before I delve too deep into things.
When I began animating with the placeholder I realized that the sprite I originally made was far too complex. It used tons of different colors that blended in with itself, the actual outfit of the player is also troublesome due to how bulky it is. The reason I bring this up is that I need to do a bit of redesigning of the character, so that’ll be the first thing I’ll need to do.
I know I have a ton of player animations I want to make, but they take quite a while so I want to get the basic movement down first, starting with idle, walk, first sword swing, and roll animations.
Moving away from the player I also want to get started with making the world by making room mockups, that way I can make sure everything is to-scale and also open up my ability to make UI.
Most of my work, for now, will be from these things, but for now, I’ll be reinstalling my brain.
Oh, and since I mentioned this last time, I did participate in the Flowjam, so if you have time, check it out!
Yo
During the past few days, I’ve not been doing much, just outlining concepts and a few sprites.
I’ve also been on Pinterest for a while looking at a bit of reference for clothing and pixel art. (totally recommend using it to look for stuff like that!)
The reason I’m making everything at such a high resolution is to design everything first and then try to fit them into a sprite to flush out all the details and make sure they’re what I want and then when I make the in-game sprite I know what details there are and what I can or can’t get rid of.
Although, since I’ll be keeping things pretty low-res there won’t be much detail.
The backpack is a new addition that, to be honest, I haven’t really figured out. My main concern is that from a character design standpoint is that I can’t put a sword sheath or shield strap on the back, so I might also find another way to integrate both features later.
At some point in the game, I might consider adding save points, that way you won’t lose progress mid-run, although saving is something I still have no idea how to do. But if I do, the save points will be small little campsites, using the cloth on the backpack.
This is part of a thing that’ll be going on for a few weeks, I’ll add more and more as I try to design the character. I’m having fun kinda doing whatever, but I do want to pick up the pace to just draw more stuff, or at least try to move away from the blog post style with walls of text since, I too, like to look at pictures.
You can look at the back accessories in the Master Chief Collection version of Halo 3 for references of backpacks, swords, and shields can fit on a warrior’s back