Gamedev log 5# - I am terrible!
Once again i am sorry for my irregularity in posting…
Hi. Today i want to show you few updates i have been working on. It wasnt an easy time during past 5 months. I had been working hard on multiple fronts… doing youtube, game servers and other community stuff. Dont take me wrong it is also important as much as development of the game. Building a strong community that i can share my progress with is maybe even more important. Thus i do not regret it.
Mechanics
However… back to the development.
I figured that there were some (and still are) gaps between the mechanics i want and those
i have. Even though they are probably the most important thing about the game. They make
the game feel good and force people to like it despite of its poor technical state or bad
graphics. There are multiple examples of this phenomen in the gaming history. Take Kenshi
for example, or Arcanum (main games i am inspired by) or we can pin point more mainstream
titles like Skyrim. Do you get me? Those games have many flaws but they are overseen
because they offer enjoyable mechanics and even the buginess is a part of the process that
makes them feel unique and fun. Look at Skyrim combat system without mods, or look at Arcanums
mysterious extensiveness and buginess of several mechanics that create a space for a gamers
fantasy and creativity. Dont even let me start on Kenshi. Suprisingly… those are the games
that are loved more than some of the triple “A” titles. Because they are fun and they are not
generic.
In my game i want to use as much inspiration from my favourite titles as possible. I want to
use Kenshi skill system which is kinda similar in Skyrim too. The player will have to work
towards the progression. (They) will have to use certain type of weapon for example to get
better with it. Or they will have to gamble multiple times with local thugs to get better in
haggling and trading.
Thats why i have created a similar system. In my game there is around 31 skills. They range
from a combat types to more common civil skills as harvesting. Specific tasks or activities in
the world will reward you with an XP point in certain skill. Harvesting a tree for example
will give you 1 XP. There is a range of 100 levels for each skill starting on 50 XP necessary
on level 1 + 6% increase for earch level so it requires a 16965 trees on level 100. Of cource
i will not make a player cut so much trees. There will be quests rewarding you in a skill
increase and there will be multiple types of trees with different XP increase.
Still player should work for each improvement. The game will not give him anything granted.
And each upgrade will feel good, because it was earned.
This also colorates with my other intension to make game significantly harder in terms of
combat and dying. There will be several zones requiring player to grind a certain skill to be
able to enter and compete in combat. Imagine a Runescape progression for example.
Dying is another problem. That i have not solved yet and didnt even find the right direction.
I want it to be harsh, unforgiving but not fatal… on the other hand i dont want to just be
a simple respawn. Once again look on Arcanum where you die, and the game ends. You have to load
it. Or look at Kenshi where you “die” and in most cases you are just badly wounded and loosing
a lot of blood lying in comma in the middle of nowhere hoping that some random NPC will either
heal you, eat you or sell you to the slavery. These are some really interesting ideas, that
i want to draw from but not copy them, which is not even possible with my current programming
skills. I need to find a middle point. Something like a debuff when you die and respawn. Or
something like a small % chance that you will suffer a fatal limb damage, that will force you
to use a prosthetics. I also kinda like the idea from Outward that you will respawn in nearby
town but your belongins might be lost on the place where you have been defeated forcing you
to get on your feet and try to run for them. Thats in the end pulled from Diablo franchise.
The possibilities are endless and the ideas too.
Nomadic human with a two handed spear in leather armor.
There is even more to combat then just bulking up the skills. I have also added a stagger bar
(i am not sure how to call that for now - i refer to it as a fatique). It is responsible for
your spell casting but also for your posture in combat. Posture regenerates automatically
for a few points and even more when you are out of combat. But each hit from an enemy has a
staggering effect on you which will decrease your stagger by 10%. On the other hand your
attack are refilling your stagger by 10%. You might think “why do you have a stagger bar then?”
Its simple. Imagine a situation where you have a den of hyenas for example. You just cannot
afford to simple walk in and kill them all even if they are on lower levels. Each hyena would
reduce your stagger by 10% with each attack and you would not be able to refill it that quickly
leaving you staggered when your fatique drops on 0% for a 3 seconds unable to dodge or protect.
After that your fatique will get back to 100% inmidiatelly so you are not stun locked on one place.
Another thing i have changed recently are the weapon types. For now we have more then 10
weapon types with different animations when equiped. Each weapon has its own skill of course.
And its specific style of fighting. Some are faster but on close range and with more static
animations and others are the complete opposite.
I have also added some reactions on impact. Like blood spouting, pushback, sounds and more
details.
UI
Lately i have also came across AI. Specificaly MidJourney. It helps me a lot in creating
interesting UI ideas for my game and generating icons. Its not always perfect but it saves
a lot of much needed time and money. Check it out and let me know on my Discord if you like it
more or less then before!
Here you can see an inventory. And there is also a health bar, stagger bar and energy bar.
3D models cleaning and remeshing
Since there have also been a lot of old models i had to optimize them and prepare them for our
masking shader. Thus i have remodeled all monsters and fixed various animations on them.
I have also prepared a lot of new armor sets for players to wear. Arent they nice?
Oh yeah… a Kenshi inspired hat! and i have finally created beards and hairs!
Remodeled Chopper! Only 2,5KK quads and better animations! + new shader!
A Valrug with bow and very strangely deformed Asian hat :D
