Adding movement mechanics to my multiplayer skiing game - Devlog 6

Devlog 6 - This time around we’ll be adding the first 4 movement mechanics to the game. Subscribe for more ✌️
WISHLIST ON STEAM: store.steampowered.com/app/24...
DISCORD: / discord
TWITCH: / solomongumballtv
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
00:31 Menu Updates
01:15 Flags and Towers
02:26 Ice Cavern
03:20 Rocks & Cliffs
03:46 Penguin Missile
04:16 Snow Volumetric Effects
04:58 Adding a tail
06:19 In Game UI
06:50 Boulder sequence updates
07:13 Movement mechanics Intro
08:20 Ability 1 - Boost
10:05 Ability 2 - Bunny Hop
10:55 Ability 3 - Skiing Switch
11:58 Ability 4 - Tuck Position
12:55 Camera control scheme
14:20 Outro
#unrealengine #devlog #gamedev #indiedev
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[@zavierwildtv9502]

Bro never misses, and he is a good game developer. Dang.

[@levdue6310]

Yess, solo gamedev is really hard, but he just keeps going.

[@E_Fig05]

I really like the idea of a carve meter. A ton of racing games have the mechanic of "Drift = Get Boost" Resulting in players Snaking around the track, spamming the drift button. The Carve Meter feels natural in a skiing game, where Carving is actually a thing.

[@ranchonbread4905]

For the signpost menu concept, you can have the main signs like 'Play', 'Settings' and so on, and for sub-menus (like server lists and settings menus), you can pan over to the right, and have it be an post board on a wooden ski-lodge or somethin like that. Idk, just an idea (and I think I explained it poorly), but if you still want to go that stylistic route, its an idea! Love the progress, exited to see where it goes.

[@samuelsmithart]

Makes total sense, it seems like it would look great and be easy to implement

[@E_Fig05]

I think for one of the options it should pan over to a what looks like the sign you see that shows a slope's difficulty.

[@claudiusraphael9423]

Oh, nice! And imagine you find a flyer, for a ski session a day ride afar, in a small special resort (sooo different from the regular levels) ... Oh, what is that on the back of the flyer? A personal note, reading: "! apply for the local crew, the "Avalanches", Tuesday, sunrise - Wilders Slope.

[@cdaw9165]

I love how you actually have to turn around to throw something backwards instead of something like just pulling back a joystick. That's incredibly inventive.

[@lucbloom]

This has to be the most technically challenging DevLog I’m following at the moment. What with the physics, netcode, camera controls and player movement and all. Super impressive.

[@Egg_Enjoyer]

Adding a brake mechanism where u put the ski poles in the floor would be pretty cool. Maybe u could put 1 pole in to brake/quickly turn left, and the other pole to go right.

[@lucbloom]

This would be cool. Only 1 or 2 levels could have a section where you have to make some low-speed high angle turns, which require you to break. Ah, who am I kidding, I actually never use breaking in Mario Kart…

[@clickism]

It'd be nice if there was a smoke trail behind you reducing the visibility of other players when you're braking

[@jamesdadabo]

Imo braking should be done with a gentle hockey stop or side slip to be more true to life.

[@Egg_Enjoyer]

@@jamesdadabo yeah i dont really mind how its done and i also dont know a lot about skiing but that sounds cool

[@chameleonedm]

Please no, as a skier this would be too much of a break from reality. That isn't how you slow down or turn on skis If there is to be a brake mechanism, it should be a snow plough or a parallel skis

[@amacd_]

Man i just love these devlogs, its so satisfying to see the game develope over time!

[@MinecraftMarket]

the penguin and skiing switch combo just seems perfect

[@PeterOeC]

Skiing switch and throwing penguins in the face of your friends behind you has got to be the biggest taunt ever 😂 Nice one! I love games that are easy to play, and hard to master. I look very much forward to the release of this game 😄👌 Nice work!

[@Mikester4411]

I think this is my favorite ongoing dev log series, the game has come so far, it always amazes me how much progress you make each episode! Looking forward to seeing how this ends up!

[@solomon-gumball]

Thanks that means a lot, friend. It's changed a lot but I think that's just part of the journey. Certainly learned a lot along the way. Thanks again for following, excited to share the next one with you

[@CillianM.]

So exited to play this when it comes out, love your devlogs soooooooooooooo much

[@duidiot644]

I think your first menu UI with the sign post to be very interesting and unique. Regarding the different transitions, maybe you could implement the submenus as text / items on empty ski slopes with some objects around them (e.g., a ski hut) and each submenu transitions to another slope or area of your winter wonderland?

[@blueboytube]

Here’s an idea: When the player is in tucked position for a while the bunny hop instead becomes an actual jump. This could help you cut corners or maybe even dodge obstacles but also doing this on a ramp could give you a huge boost

[@funagengames1177]

One thing I love about this devlog series is how it shows the “procedural” component to game development, that is, you start with a specific plan or idea in mind, and then as you go through the process of making the game you’re forced to adapt and make changes due to unforeseen challenges, limitations, and accidental discoveries. I think the fact that you roll with these changes as they come up shows that you’re a good game developer. Love seeing the progress of the game, man. Keep it up!

[@ukeman1143]

I actually think this game has the potential to get a big competitive scene. All these new features definitely look like they’re opening the doors to creative and technical gameplay if you want to. Great job.

[@_Cotton]

8:26 is an interesting shot

[@ABONKERSCHICKEN]

These movement mechanics sounds like they're going to add some real depth this is great

[@cdm8909]

loving these devlogs man, and very excited to play this with my friends when the game comes out, keep up the good work!

[@solomon-gumball]

Thanks, man. Can't wait for you guys to try it out

[@eva1777]

This is the first thing I see of this game but I'm so excited about the result already! I love skiing, Mario Kart and Crash Bandicoot. It's looking really nice so far. Good devlog!

[@jackrsearle]

this game has really come into its own in this devlog.. the caring, jump, tuck, switch, and slide mechanics really help set it apart from similar games. using switch to shoot backwards is an awesome idea.

[@theeyeofmango]

Just learned about this channel and I'm blown away that one guy did this with a little help from non game dev friends.

[@goat2476]

I love finding little gems like these in the corners of youtube

[@christofferhamberg3158]

At 6:10 there are these signs with arrows. they show up again later in the clip. I just felt it would be really cool to go under the sign, between the arrows, and that would be like a shortcut. but maybe you really need to make no mistakes when taking these smaller shortcuts. like, if you hit the sides there would be deep snow between the trees that would slow you down if you are not spot on the track. Or you could crash into a tree and and be reset in some way :) It's a really cool game you're working on. I've been watching your progress for a while but never left a comment before. thanks for for nice content and good luck with this project

[@solomon-gumball]

Hey glad to hear you've been watching for a while, chris! I like the idea and eventually I do want to add shortcuts. The tricky part is that they have to have some kind of risk, or be hard to execute like you mentioned, otherwise they would be preferable to the main route 100% of the time. I like the idea of a really tight path between some trees, we would just need to figure out how the reset mechanism would work. Would it bring you back to the standard path? or beginning of the hidden forest path? Things like that. I'll definitely be thinking about this as I develop this map abit more

[@FreeSki4Life720]

The jump into turn looks fantastic. As a long-time skier myself I think you got the traction and smoothness spot on. Love the vlog style and commentary too btw. Keep it up, you're killin it!

[@casperdecrook2612]

Idea 💡 : you can dodge a penguin by making a sharp turn to hide behind a rock, making the penguin collide with the ice block and therefore ‘escaping’ the penguin

[@ApplPne]

You should add an item where a snow owl picks you up and you go like 5feet or whatever above the ground and you go like 10% faster. This could last for 10 seconds maybe. I love your dev log and game I can’t wait until it comes out!

[@TravisRayLive]

When the boost gauge fills up to max, the player should emit a particle effect (blue ring, something like that) to show that it's full without the player having to take his eyes of that portion of the screen. That plus a small sound effect would be a nice way to let the player know he's got a full boost gauge. Awesome looking game so far.

[@futuregamedev7]

These movement mechanics add so much depth to the gameplay. Also it's incredible how much progress you make in short amounts of time. Keep up the great work!

[@DocGeraud]

Really cool devlog, and nice game too!

[@Mr_Pringle593]

I think you could make the camera look backwards for skiing switch, but you have a faster top speed, so it rewards people that take the time to remember the map

[@dbweb.creative]

so basically playing a game blindly... blindly pressing inputs.... in a VIDEO game. Oh so much fun that is... not seeing a VIDEO game. This is definitely NOT the way to do the "reward a player for learning/knowing the game". A good way in this context would be something like placing a tighter corner every now and then, or making it beneficial to be in a certain spot of a lane at a particular time, with or without a short notice.

[@Mr_Pringle593]

Jeez, I didn’t mean like you couldn’t see anything, but if riding backwards just makes you go faster, there’s no reason to not do it, and you should have a mechanic in a game that makes you go faster, or more powerful, or whatever the case is, and not have a downside. Yes having the camera JUST be backwards, that would suck, but how the camera was in the earlier game devs, or just have it zoomed out enough where it being backwards, you can still see what’s just about to come ahead, kinda like in speed runners, when the red box starts to come in, or something along the lines of that. And as an indie game dev myself, I somewhat of an understanding to these things.

[@Mr_Pringle593]

And because of this, people would have to time when they use this, like on straights

[@dbweb.creative]

I would imagine it ending up being abused and the whole experience of playing the game would be players riding backwards almost whole course. Also messing with "camera" to this extent can be a major fail. I do agree that there need to be some kind of situational power ups though. I'd make the paths more bumpy to leverage smooth transitions in and out, which would give higher speed. Basically have bumps in places that would be both an obstacle and a boost if you are good. This way beginners can avoid these, and pros hunt them for extra acceleration.

[@RKIOrbMage]

Man these devlogs are awesome! I love seeing them pop up in my recommended. For a cooler name instead of boost: in French, there's a position called "schuss" in ski where you sort of curve up into a ball and that makes you go a lot faster because of areodynamics or whatever. There's also another expression called "tout schuss", that translates to "full schuss", and that's when you just do schuss for a long time. Full schuss could be a cool and accurate name I think :) Edit: nevermind, I just got further in the develop and saw that you already implemented it, apparently it's called tuck in English, lol

[@TheStupidGuyWithBlip]

For the optional right stick camera controls you could potentially also look at / take some inspiration from how Rocket League does it, where moving the right stick doesn't cause the camera to "start rotating" in a direction, instead the camera angle directly correlates with the stick position (with some smoothing/lag), meaning it also resets when you let go of the stick, and also lets you look behind you by pulling the stick backwards.

[@FrethKindheart]

I've been watching various devlog videos for a while now. Today YT suggested your devlog series, so I started watching it from the beginning. This game is shaping up to be a winner. I'm loving your design choices and attention to detail. I've subscribed and added your game to my wish list.

[@RedzSR]

I love how you can shoot items behind you by doing a 180 and skiing backwards, i can see so many sick moments with that in multiplayer

[@DaveJuice]

Best channel ever. I would recommend making the thumbnail photo for this video a lot more engaging, and aesthetically pleasing like a painting composition. Maybe add a Snowy Landscape with a sunset in the background. I think it would be more catching to the eye

[@solomon-gumball]

Yeah I did end up changing it. Thumbnails and titles are such a pain but so important. Thanks for your advice.

[@eboatwright_]

_This looks soo goood!!_ Jumping, sliding and carving looks so satisfying

[@PeterOeC]

Also, doing 180 or 360s off jumps for extra boost would be awesome :D (possibly with a ski grab and forming an X with the skiis mid air). There's the bunny hop, which I like. But there could also be a mechanic for "powersliding" while turning. For eg. preparing for sharper turns. Hold a button to powerslide while turning. On regular skis you can also turn your skiis while not breaking much, and you can apply how much you want to break by leaning. However it might be too many mechanics? Just an idea, you can test it out 😊 Love the videos! And looking forward to play your game!

[@SpikeStudio]

The way all the movement works off one another is going to make the "easy to learn, hard to master" quite well, cant wait to see where this goes!

[@Squidge]

You should invert the controls when skiing in switch but allow for a higher top speed, making it really difficult but rewarding at the same time, great video/progress btw!

[@roadtobufftoni]

This is coming together super cool! Love ur dev logs keep em coming :)

[@BenjaminBlodgettDev]

Awesome stuff. Keep up the good work!

[@PuppyGamerYT]

Amazing devlog as always! And the game is looking great!

[@protophase]

Very impressed! This looks fun! The devlogs are also fun to watch

[@nazarusstudios]

Really Love your approach on your devlogs! Excited to get my hands on this game!

[@Seancstudiogames]

Really love the progress, that camera control was great!

[@evanlane1690]

Great work!

[@3OHT.]

amazing to see the improvements and additions, great work!

[@henningKO]

Wow, this is looking great: lotta progress since last time!

[@GabrielCodeSWE]

This is insane keep working on it i will buy it for sure !

[@87Romez]

Looks amazing, congrats on this awesome project!

[@ChristopherCricketWallace]

You did A LOT of work. Great job!

[@MarcelE80]

Game feel looks really good! Nice job

[@nathanfranck5822]

Beautiful level art! This is inspiring!

[@kip2389]

It's so cool to see things starting to look super clean! Amazing work as always and looking forward to the next one :)

[@Chaogardenx]

Damn! this is a huge step-up from the last devlog! Great work, looking really fun to play

[@foveal]

Goddamn this is coming along really well, very inspirational stuff!

[@TheGeniziz]

This is really turning out good!

[@jamesjohnstone1207]

Woah i love the new improved cave! Looks so much better! Good job and keep it up. Loving the videos!!

[@ColladoxGamer]

This looks amazing omg

[@thenimalu]

I have to say this looks really promising. Great job!

[@ThePascalbriand]

Excellent as always

[@marcomoutinho7611]

Really really cool updates! Waiting to play it!

[@pyruvicacid3757]

The way you explain things is really nice and the presentation keeps improving!

[@alexanderlinderson2655]

Really impressed by your gamedev journey and the game! Subscribed & wishlisted, really looking forward to more stuff!

[@ojakgnuy3551]

very well thought out mechanics, game looks super fun

[@luckyankraj]

Living this so far

[@tomkc516]

Great progress!

[@gregory6099]

Amazing, the movement, the speed looks insane!

[@Mgreat]

Looking amazing, very impressive.

[@David-ng9qh]

Damn this looks really good so far, keep on going man. I'm definitely going to wishlist this even though I have nothing to play it on.

[@devinprov3554]

Wow! What a great video, these changes are awesome. I can see that Carve into Tuck timing allowing interesting competition! Keep up the great work

[@Tbjbu2]

great devlog, always excited when I see a new one from you!

[@Babe]

This is starting to look fantastic! I've been following since devlog 1, but this is the episode that has really made me want to get my hands on it. Keep it up! :D

[@beanau5245]

looks really good

[@dhanveersolanki1604]

Amazing devlog yet again.

[@3bomb]

You are quite good at this. Love the carving mechanics.

[@liadra_]

amazing, super impressiv :)

[@uhhmir]

the visualizations are amazing

[@supim]

the game look soo good gg !!!

[@Brosquini]

This is looking so awesome!

[@BrackersProductions1]

My favourite dev log. Given me some great ideas and motivation for my project so thank you! I’ll wish list this on steam it looks great

[@Buraasen]

Really good work, Solomon! 🥳I am always surprised by the leaps of progress you do in each video! 😎

[@solomon-gumball]

Thanks buraasen, always happy to see your comments

[@cadensullivan2984]

This game looks incredible keep going bro

[@junoestro]

this looks so unbelievably fun

[@sugarsores6521]

great updates here! The controls are lookin super tight fr

[@zzzkk0]

this game looks like a great little gem, looking forward to seeing more

[@extremepivotDX]

Your is turning out pretty cool and fun! It reminds me of this skiing minigame ape escape 1 had!

[@MrLeyr]

Having to fully turn 180 to fire things backwards is really smart and such a naturally addition. One thing I think might be worth assessing is the visual language on the carve meter. Right now it looks a lot like a spedometer, so seeing it decrease when you're boosting doesn't come across as very intuitive. When you combine that with the smaller numbers around the curved bar, it looks like you're slowing down when you're actually speeding up. I think it might be better to separate the two, or at least find a way make that clearer to the player, so when someone picks it up for the first time, the mechanic is complimented by the UI and that's communicated to the player.

[@MatthewRumble]

Keep up the great work bro been following since the first dev blog

[@peachenelle]

Holy heck I'm glad I found this! Its like the best components of my favorite games 😭 Looking amazing!

[@williambuurmareyes8570]

Dudeee I’ve been waiting for so long for the drop can’t wait

[@omegaadev]

It's Here! Production quality is top notch this time!

[@johnmanardiii3308]

yayy! new solomon gumball vid!!

[@Shlopen]

This devlog is great. You've been very proactive and organized. The fact that you acomplished all of this in such a short time frame while being new to unreal is trully inspiring.

[@timderekker1510]

Really cool game!

[@StevenNewman2008]

Good devlog. Cant wait till the next.

[@lel7531]

Amazing game ! Can't wait for the future updates

[@ProblematicBear]

Keep it up!

[@DarkDax]

This game is looking good!

[@snaker4642]

this dude is a legend, congrats !