Adding movement mechanics to my multiplayer skiing game - Devlog 6

[@PhoneUser89]

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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@MinecraftMarket]

the penguin and skiing switch combo just seems perfect

[@amacd_]

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

[@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

[@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!

[@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

[@CillianM.]

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

[@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!

[@arnaucs03]

When you click play, it would be cool to do like a zoom into the bottom of the mountain instead of the animation of the closing black circle. Also you could see an overall look of the track, before being able to controll the player.

[@torgeirbull]

In Norway we have this chocolate that every Norwegian eats while going on a hike or skeeing. It's called Kvikk Lunsj (quick lunch). How about a boost (maybe a chocolate in fairly the same colors) called "quick launch"? 😁

[@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!

[@Adkit2]

8:11 Ooh, that's what's missing, visually, from your game. The sun glaring off the snow. Remember, snow is a bunch of small bits of ice and ice catches the sun. For the future, I guess.

[@solomon-gumball]

Yeah the snow effects certainly have a ways to go, a bit flat right now. I'll keep that in mind. I think games like grand mountain adventure do a great job with snow I'll probably be referencing that quite often. Let me know if you think of other games that do this well

[@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!

[@pageostrich3333]

you can also do it so that if you are skiing backwards, you turn faster,sharper

[@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!

[@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

[@caffeinated-studios]

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!

[@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.

[@belo.2]

hey solomon, I really want to be able to play your game when it comes out or even see my favorite streamer play it. But one thing can hinder the range and experience when playing, which is the speedometer, which is in imperial system (mp/h). Considering that much of the world uses the metric system (km/h), including me. This simple change would be greatly appreciated, as it would not only improve the scope of your game, as I said before, but also the experience of some players. Good luck on the project!

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@JudgeRich]

Hey Solomon, I just wanted to say what a great Job you are doing: Not only are you developing a (imo) great game, which I believe can reach a significant playerbase, but you are also creating great KZbin videos. Handling both so elegantly is very inspiring. Thank you for your devlog, and all the best for your future endeavors.

[@ABONKERSCHICKEN]

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

[@I-am-literally-a-racoon]

for the meter should be shown to be increasing by a coloured partical at the snow when you gain it

[@Readous]

I wouldn't make skiing backwards give any constant benefits like speed because that'll cause your players to have to skii backwards for most/all of the match if they want to keep up with others doing the same, which may hurt gameplay or not be as fun. You trade off fun for competitive edge. Something better would be to give it a situational or temporary benefit

[@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?

[@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.

[@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.

[@kip2389]

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

[@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

[@Chaogardenx]

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

[@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

[@alexanderlinderson2655]

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

[@DocGeraud]

Really cool devlog, and nice game too!

[@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

[@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

[@supermroz]

Great job, both on the progress and on the devlog itself! Some ideas I had while watching that might be interesting to explore: - Instead of having the jump speed, jump height and various other stats dependant on the character itself, it might be wortwhile to extract it into a "riding style" - this way, people could choose the character they like and the play style they prefer as well. - Instead of having the various top speeds defined statically, maybe it would be cool to have them based on the level, or even the level portion? On a steeper part of the hill, the number could be higher, and so on. Overall, this was really enjoyable to watch, thank you!

[@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

[@eboatwright_]

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

[@blueboytube]

I think the character should have some more wiggle in its fur. The spiky fur on the left and right should slightly wiggle in the wind and the ears probably should as well

[@peachenelle]

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

[@janilehto5376]

U are really killing it with these devlogs!! I would like to see a shortcut, that is made from ice shards, and is available when you shoot it with penguins. I feel like clever shortcuts really add more competition and fun in racing games. It also adds little learning curve, that you will have to learn the map fully to utilize it to the fullest. Good luck!!!

[@4EVRL1T]

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

[@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!

[@protophase]

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

[@xelefdev]

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

[@KavanBahrami]

6:35 it might be nice to have a timer board that is shown and live updated with finish times, so you have something to watch when you're first and waiting for the last player to finish.

[@jojoviviator9258]

I've followed this since the first episode, and this is the first episode that truly got me excited. You're making consistent improvements and focusing on the right stuff! I love the penguin missile behaviour. I can imagine some insanely skilled shots with those, and they are also charming and silly. I would say that the character models, though still improving, don't seem to be your forté. Perhaps something you could commission? A game like this would benefit from charming and quirky characters, and designing those is an art-form. Anyway, good luck on development. Excited to see what the next devlog brings!

[@nazarusstudios]

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

[@Tbjbu2]

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

[@Seancstudiogames]

Really love the progress, that camera control was great!

[@_Cotton]

8:26 is an interesting shot

[@zzzkk0]

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

[@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.

[@roadtobufftoni]

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

[@uhhmir]

the visualizations are amazing

[@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!

[@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.

[@joel6376]

irl different skis have different carve radius, just dropping this here in case it is useful down the track. Awesome looking work

[@jbaidley]

Many games use track based clues to ensure the camera handles sharp curves, etc. One option is to have a point ahead of the player on the track that you try to keep in view, the other is to manually place special triggers on the track to handle particular corners where the default camera isn't getting it right. I think needing the free camera to handle difficult corners is going to really hurt inexperienced players and lead to a bad play experience.

[@MrLeyr]

Yeah, if it's pure free camera, you really really need to nail the visual language so you know where to go at all times. The absolute worst thing you can have in a racing game is not being sure where you're supposed to go. Signs and level geometry can definitely help guide players, but having a slight pre-emptive curve for hard corners does help communicate direction to your players and help give them an idea of how they're supposed to ride the course.

[@omegaadev]

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

[@henningKO]

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

[@3bomb]

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

[@AnWannabegamedev]

I love it ❤

[@87Romez]

Looks amazing, congrats on this awesome project!

[@wafi5576]

this devlog is very informative .. a real look into game development.

[@gatoninjahyaah]

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

[@gregory6099]

Amazing, the movement, the speed looks insane!

[@zhrake2214]

This game looks so fun already. This would be epic to play with friends

[@itamar7735]

Already the skill ceiling looks high with tons of room for skill expression. exited to see what's coming next :)

[@LionKings]

ive been watching you make this game for a while now and just seeing such progress you have made and where the game has come and gone is crazy

[@solomon-gumball]

thanks man, I watched the first devlog I made at the start of this year. Soo different 😆

[@LionKings]

@@solomon-gumball cant wait to see what else you do for the game. also the main menu that you created looks amazing as post signs thats really gonna pop for the game

[@jamesjohnstone1207]

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

[@NateNorgaard]

I love where this is going! Big progress in this devlog. For the automatic camera movement, I recommend looking at second order dynamics. There's an excellent KZbin video by t3ssel8r. Second order dynamics would allow the camera to move quicker the further it is from the desired point, while still smoothing it slowly once it gets closer. It could help with your problem where the camera isn't getting into position fast enough. And at the same time it provides excellent parameterization so you can fine tune the snappiness of the movement. I use second order dynamics all the time when I want to smooth movement to an ever changing destination point (camera is a perfect example).

[@nixielee]

For the bunny and slide ability to really shine you probably need to drop the 25 cap. Think Mario Kart and it's three drift speeds. You have your boost and tuck for straights, but this would mainly be for cornering with a varied speed increase depending on timing. Overall the game looks good, things are progressing.

[@TheDario64]

Always love seeing your videos pop up in my notifications. I'd suggest that skiing switch reduces your speed a little bit, or maybe slows down your carve meter gain/disables boost whilst in switch mode. Being able to shoot items backwards inherently benefits players closer to 1st place, so nerfing speed I think would be a perfect balance to that.

[@solomon-gumball]

That's a great point about the reverse shooting favoring players closer to first.

[@PuppyGamerYT]

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

[@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.

[@martinx9027]

Hey! For the camera problem you could try an aproach such as Fez does. It allows the player a "threshold" of movement to both sides of the screen starting from the middel where you can add the rotation lag, but once the player surpases that threshold it starts moving towards the player again, there is where you could unclip the rotation lag and snap it to the player, so during close turns where the player moves a lot from the center it snaps to it, but during long continuated hills where turns are wider the camera is smoother. If you dont really get what im saying GTMK channel has a video talking about cameras and it shows that fez example, could be worth a try. Really great devlog too! The game is starting to look super nice ^^

[@jackchandler4434]

This looks incredible! If you are interested or ever get the time, adding different weather and time options somehow would be HUGE. The vibe of skiing at night or during a foggy snowstorm would be unbeatable. Makes me think of Wii Ski, it would have still been great without the day/night cycle but having it adds so much.

[@thenimalu]

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

[@ACatWithACrown]

great updates here! The controls are lookin super tight fr

[@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.

[@ojakgnuy3551]

very well thought out mechanics, game looks super fun

[@MaxHDeveloping]

wholy shit this devlog added the coolest features! These features made this game actually enjoyable. Beforehand it was some generic skiing, but now you differentiate with excellent movement mechanics! I want to play this game, and I will definitely wishlist it on steam!

[@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!

[@foveal]

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

[@nathanfranck5822]

Beautiful level art! This is inspiring!

[@Onur_Yasar]

We all know to best name for the boost abilitie is "FART".

[@solomon-gumball]

☁➡

[@Tbjbu2]

really love the main menu idea (that you didn't end up doing), would be great to revisit if you have time later!

[@solomon-gumball]

Yea, I still think that idea would be a lot of fun. It's certainly not out of the question it's just something I may come back to if I have extra dev time at some point, or feel inspired

[@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.

[@3OHT.]

amazing to see the improvements and additions, great work!

[@nhobb]

The bunny hop to go backwards is so cool. As a suggestion, I feel like you should be able to do it in one hop with a bit of drifting. The videos look like it consistently needs two hops. Great stuff as always!

[@Shortsplus1]

You should make some more levels!!

[@GabrielCodeSWE]

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