Building the Skills System for my Dream RPG!

[@DevDuck]

Bit of a longer episode this time! Probably because of my slightly more technical ramble about the Field Notes. Do y'all like that kind of deep dive or no? Let me know! Hope you enjoyed the video 🙂

[@peckish1587]

It’s always such great insight when you dive into your code!

[@kuziziy4262]

The longer the better

[@ThePixelExpedition]

When it comes to dev logs, the longer in-depth episodes are my favorite. Your process is incredibly fascinating and the game is really shaping up!

[@yell9140]

These code insights are interesting, as a Godot user, because it makes me discuss my programming process. I am expecilly curious to know more about your signal bus.

[@phileon2323]

Technical ramble is the best part of any devlog

[@leetri]

Personally, I'd add a blur effect to the game world just before the "eye" closes and you black out. Maybe start it when the diving clock hits red and increase the blur strength as the seconds tick down to really sell it. Cleansed animals are able to be corrupted again, right? If so, it occurred to me that it would be easy to game the system by getting an animal in a position where it will be continuously corrupted and just cleanse it over and over again to gain a load of Conservation XP with no effort. Maybe you should only get XP the first time you cleanse an animal (but it resets every so often) so you can't max the stat right at the start of the game?

[@delugedrop1558]

The snow footage in this video gave me a great idea: You should make a island that has snowfall instead of rainfall. This island could be near the north edge of the map and could even host some unique creatures such as the Arctic Fox. Just an idea! :D

[@evan_game_dev]

Hello, DelugeDrop

[@brotherbumkin3010]

Hello, DelugeDrop

[@gigabit6226]

Hello, DelugeDrop

[@JamesGascoyne]

Hello, DelugeDrop

[@evasilvertant]

As well as frozen lakes and ice fishing!

[@sby60118]

Would the fish you see while diving form boids? Also: make the pixel art more consistent. What i mean by that is: make the pixel art seem more related. Like either stick to no outline, shaded outline, or full outline, or maybe somewhere in between. Like the pencil of the skill tab has no outline. The leaf has a shaded outline, and the pickaxe has a full outline.

[@bitbraindev]

Love this devlog! Little pro tip: you can give your nodes custom editor icons by providing a resource path to an svg or png as a String after the class_name. Especially for your player node this will help you to distinguish nodes better. I also like what you did with the vignette. Especially that eye blink is really cool!

[@DevDuck]

Whoa that's cool! That would definitely help me improve some organization.

[@bitbraindev]

@@DevDuck there is some very useful documentation about this that also explains how to access the Godot native icons docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/development/editor/creating_icons.html

[@AAlexDoesStuff]

Great video as always. The dive mask, fish and workbench are pretty difficult to guess for me without you explaining them. For the dive mask little bubbles may be easier understandable (for me at least).

[@matangoldstien5922]

Would be cool if every 10ish levels you could decide between two powerups to the the current skill. for example upon reaching Diving level 10, you could choose either move quicker underwater or could dive even lower without losing additional seconds by doing so.

[@timothymclean]

That could get complicated pretty quickly. The system as you're proposing would require somewhere around a hundred different potential abilities to be designed and built. And I'm not sure how well that kind of skill tree (skill fern?) would fit Dauphin. Perks from skill levels beyond small numeric boosts would be great, though.

[@matangoldstien5922]

@@timothymclean Not a tree, but rather a choice per X levels, more like stardew vally if you ever heard of it

[@mikael808]

Loved the devlog!! One suggestion/question: Maybe it would make more sense to make the values at the diving clock at 2:57 negative, so for example 42 m would instead be -42 m so that the player knows he's going deeper. :)

[@joshuamorris1851]

I think losing some items from the inventory is fine when it comes to failing on a dive. If you do go the route of deducting from skills when the dive goes wrong, I would deduct xp to the next level and not a skill level itself so the player doesn't feel like they've gotten weaker as a result, but rather just set back a bit.

[@castlelecs-music]

I think would be interesting if, when the player runs out of oxygen he loses some food if it is in the inventory, otherwise he can lose diving skills or something else. These way it will be clearer for the player, that he was saved by the creature

[@Aarimous]

Nice work! I think it would be cool if the player got a temporary debuff to their diving skill upon blackout (could be a stackable debuff). This would represent their lack of confidence in the skill which they can eventually overcome. Maybe they overcome it by successfully going on a diving mission or it could simply be time based. Not sure what the design implications could be but it could be an interesting idea to work though.

[@GamesBySaul]

Great video as always! - The game feels so much more alive now. Feel like you should do a Dauphin episode 1 vs now kinda thing just to see how far you've come! You should be proud! Love the skills, and I really like how in-depth you with explaining all the details this video!

[@I-OGameDev]

The passion you have for marine conservation comes across so strongly in these devlogs, it's got me so invested

[@chris_82]

For the skill page, when "inspecting" a skill, where the experience bar and skill name is. There should be some text under the experience bar explaining what that skill is, how it gets used in the real world and how you can level that skill up in Dauphin

[@dzious]

Hi, coming late here but I've been able to notice a little detail at 1:42, when the "closing eye" effect is played your player can still move I think you should block movement and maybe add a "pass out" animation like if the player felt unconscious. Instead of crafting a suggestion would be Surviving which would encapsulate everything you need to do to survive (cook, craft shelter and stuff)

[@melonafawn]

Great stuff! While the player is stationary underwater, perhaps you should add a bobbing/floating animation aside from the leg kicking. I think it would make it seem a little more immersive :D

[@Andrew-ut2wi]

One of my favorite devlogs so far! Love the aesthetic in your videos -- the nature outside, the aquarium, the workspace. A+!

[@RaneLafraze]

Love the first glimpse of the skill system! One suggestion is I think XP should group or increment when successively collected quickly. In the video, the alternating item and XP pickup list quickly grew up the left side of the screen. Keep up the great work!

[@Zachary.Jordan]

I’ve literally watched every single video in this series and I can’t wait for the game!

[@pumbbb]

i too also have a dream rpg, just started on EVERYTHING, just chose my game engine, im hyped for this journey and im really happy so far, although its been abit stressful, anyways i like how your game is looking, best of luck !!!

[@lucaskelbe]

Your doing such a good job not only with the game, but with your videos too. I look forward to the new videos and almost always watch them asap!

[@FM_GOBi]

I really like seeing some of these game architecture videos. To see what has worked for you and what hasn't. I'm a Godot hobbyist and love seeing how a full blown game is put together.

[@xremming]

You seem to have a very good grasp on how to build the systems into easily understandable blocks, you are also very good at explaining. Makes me wonder what is your day job. I doubt this game will be for me but I enjoy watching these vlogs anyway.

[@ODCrab]

The eye closing effect pretty cool. It didn't look like the vignette was centered on the player though. It could be really difficult if you moved to the edge of the screen. I also love that you went for organic leveling. With variety of activities yoi can do, it was the right choice.

[@jonathangunnink7391]

It might be an idea to make more bodies of water other than the sea, maybe some lakes on top of a mountain (which would be great with the climbing skill) or hidden rivers through the caves with rare species of animals. That would make the game even more awesome. Great work so far man, keep it up!

[@zoinked8989]

Another skill idea could be Carpentry. Much like in OSRS, needed to build more advanced and usefull things in the players house. Skilling could be done like in Mahogany Homes with the Carpentry contracts that one is sent out to do, for both money and xp possibly. And cool to hear you also play OSRS, one of my favorite games aswell :) Keep going strong on the project.

[@TheLinksOfficial]

You should probably make an animation where the character is upright moving their arms from side to side with slow leg movements as if they are trying to stay afloat but just underwater for the diving feature Game looks great, looking forward to trying to 100% it

[@destiny2630]

I absolutely love seeing this game come together. I’m so excited to be able to play it sometime in the future. Keep up the good work! 😁😁

[@sladki_pas]

Man, I love what you are doing. Can you make a cursor different when you hover the cursor to clickable things? I believe gamers will have a better UI/UX experience. Additionally, if you implement a tooltip while hovering, everything will be more understandable. Also, in the tooltip, it would be helpful to have information on how to get experience and what I need to do for it.

[@DylanMatthewTurner]

You might consider making the dynamic notebook pages into a Godot "tool," so you can see the effects of code changes and placements and things within the editor instead of needing to run the application, to help you with development. You'd also, if I understand your system correctly, be able to adjust base skills in editor and see the values change, which would help you when messing with things.

[@Atlas_of_the_universe]

I have an idea for a corrupt kraken boss that you find super deep in a trench and to refill your air you find air tanks that have fallen to the bottom of the ocean the krakens weak spot is its beak when it tries to eat the player.

[@daniel_robledo]

Great video man! I love seeing the progress in your game, I've been watching since the first devlog and right now I'm getting those little moments of Stardew-Valley-like vives when I see your game :) Keep it going!

[@jboy6553]

The right page of the skills tab dosent have pixelated numbers, maybe that was intended idk, just thought I'd point it out, love seeing the progress on your game, keep it up

[@GingerNingerish]

Oh man, I used to love Rune Scape as a kid. Awsome that you are taking influence.

[@rolo1632]

You should add blur and double vision effect when you are drawing it will make it much better in my opinion. Great progress!! 🔥

[@Zero_good_ideas]

Hey! Silly question but I'm slowly easing into software engineering with small incremental goals and working around my very busy work schedule as is. I really love the look and what I imagine the flow would be like from the program or whatever it might be shown at 04:00 would love to know what it is! Thank you for your time and new viewer here excited to slowly go thru your dev logs and continue following your progress!

[@shoespeak]

can't wait for your tutorials. you inspired me to build my first game over the christmas break!

[@timdejong1456]

Best wishes for 2022!

[@ByteOfMichael]

Always love the videos man!

[@ultrademice]

just recently discovered your channel and i love your content, dauphin looks awesome! Happy new year mate!

[@YellowsWorkshop]

Omg thank you so much this gives me a better way to handle my skills and stuff like that !!!

[@imyellowteeth4691]

Checked your channel yesterday to see if there was a new vid! Good timing

[@Ludvig.A]

I think you should either add some blinking around the timer when air is getting low and/or possibly add some bubbles around the player to show that they are running out of air. That would make it ultra clear that you are running out of air without the player having to constantly look at the clock. Sure, the darkening makes you aware of the situation, but increasing the urgency at the very end would add a bit more. I also agree with That Leetri Guy, that a blur would be a good addition as well. 😄

[@carsonhawley8838]

Wow, that's a nice chunk of progress! Love your mentality of getting the framework built first. You'll definitely optimize your progress in the long run. Just a note on the diving system: why not randomly swap between a reduction in diving skill and losing items? A player losing a lesser valued item vs some important diving experience could be the lucky break that reminds them not to push their chances. Just a thought :)

[@MikeOldani]

Two cents: pickaxe is a tool that suggests mining, which is generally destructive to natural environments. Recommending a bush/tree. Perhaps crossover foraging with a sort of planting skill.. Ecological service most often involves planting :) best of luck!

[@koltrasten]

You should make the toes point down/back while swimming to sell the look a little better :) Love your content!

[@eian_]

i literally don't know anything about any of this but it's still so fascinating

[@peregrineperry]

i love rpgs like this! good luck with development! :)

[@Morokiane]

I would suggest also having a mini version of the progress bar below the icons on the left so the player can get a quick overview on their skill progress without having to click each one.

[@DevDuck]

Maybe the background of each button could kind of fill like a progress bar...

[@Atomcrusher]

@@DevDuck insted of the climbing skill you should make a exploring skill

[@sebastianallen3727]

literally sitting her doing some tempoross. Love this even more now that the skills are being worked.

[@chrisstalter9870]

These devlogs are so inspiring!

[@weneedmoreconsideratepeopl4006]

Ikr watching devlogs is a great way to stir up the imagination and get those creative juices flowing- there's so much potential in every improvement and progress!!

[@codyplayzgamez3874]

Another great video, keep up the work! Your video way back when was the primary reason I abandoned Unity and learned Godot, and I do not regret it in the least.

[@stupidsnake8876]

really looking forward to the new plans for the year, I just switched from unity to godot so the tutorials that you are planning on making might be very useful :)

[@awisewillow]

This is a super cool devlog. I've been watching for a little while now, and I have only one suggestion. Can you make the pencil in the field notes usable on the pages? I just think it would be fun and players can add their own little touches to their pages

[@claudiosabitzer9316]

Hey awesome video as always ^^ To answer your question.. I dont think that decreasing the diving skill is an good solution for not beeng able to get to the surface.. In real life you also learn from your mistakes, so its not very logical that you unlearn something after u made a mistake.. Instead getting less experience or none seems like the better idea.. But its only my opinion ^^ Keep it up!

[@libberator5891]

I think that blackout fade as you're running out of O2 might look better towards the end if it was pulsating a bit, to match breathing or heart-rate. It'd be minimal effort for a bunch more return

[@turtlehub2731]

I think the skill icon for crafting and cooking should be either a tool (such as a wrench or screw driver) or something that symbolizes intelligence such (as a brain or a light bulb).

[@FrozenWell]

really great explanation of your field notes system, Thanks

[@calcite_dragon]

I can't wait for this game! Good job!

[@KaptenKetchup]

Hello! I haven't watched any of your other videos, so I might not see the bigger picture here. Anyway, I think that it's a bit superflous to show the air meter going down as well as the timer. The air meter is probably enough. Maybe it could be a fun mechanic for the player to get a sense about how much air they have. It's also a bit more immersive to just show the meter, I think. When you're diving in real life, you probably only feel that you're running out of oxygen. You're not thinking about how many seconds you have until you drown. Take care :) Edit: I'm referring to the interface at 0:52.

[@hodd]

What do u use to track your progress and ideas like at minute 4:09 ?

[@harveytucker3500]

I think the icons for the skills could be adjusted slighty to be more clear. Crafting could have a hammer, fishing needs to have a more basic fish without the line and the diving skill should be more water based. Great video!

[@netowgtz]

the climb skill's icon looks dope!

[@weneedmoreconsideratepeopl4006]

This is giving me Stardew Valley vibes but with a special focus on diving (fishing/hunting?) rather than farming. Cool! I've only seen most of the focus on the diving/aquatic part though so I'm not sure of the whole picture there. Still ocean exploration is wildly underrated compared to cave or land exploration in the RPG genre. Hahah you could even add a kraken, mermaid kingdom, some hidden ocean airpockets, or shipwrecks (with lore & loot sidequests) in there if you do get inspired fully from the diving/aquatic experience alone. Idk this is probably really random but just thinking about your take on your dream RPG is inspiring me to think up ideas too. Like something about a pirate's journey tasked to find a habitable land, a legend's treasure, or an herb granting powers/afflictions... while battling cursed pirate corpses 🤪🤪 But that's probably too much and an entirely different world to this- anyways it's fun to daydream about such impossible ideas. Hope no one minds my sudden brainfart on that. Props to you dev for working on your dream RPG btw.

[@JeloOW]

I love long dev logs! also what website/app did you use in 4:00?

[@KaptenKetchup]

Looks like Notion to me :)

[@JeloOW]

@@KaptenKetchup yeah i thought so but i didnt know that it had dark mode lol

[@KaptenKetchup]

@@JeloOW Ctrl+Shift+L my friend :)

[@JeloOW]

@@KaptenKetchup thanks :)

[@kingjawdev8102]

For the running out of air animation, I’d suggest doing something with the player, maybe having them drop down while the eye is closing or something, because it kind of just looks strange when they just sort of get closed out while still moving around.

[@mr.turtle1100]

Looks pretty dang cool!!

[@juliaheinzelmann7756]

I dont think I would have ever figured out what is depicted in the icon for the climbing skill if you hadn't told me. I dont think that icon is very ledgible. Great work on the others tho!

[@matthewventures]

Hey friend, make the red section of the air meter last a little longer than it looks like it should, trust me, Legends of Runterra does this with the turn timer, Subnautica does it too. Makes a big difference for game feel.

[@meemog916]

Maybe the foraging skill icon should be a basket, because a pickaxe seems more like mining

[@denovodavid]

_Yo, you can actually combine the node path and node reference declaration into a neat one-liner:_ *export(NodePath) onready var player_skill_manager = get_node(player_skill_manager) as PlayerSkillManager*

[@trashtrash1565]

Love the art style!!!

[@evasilvertant]

Another thing. I noticed in the diving clock, the ‘i’ in ‘Air’ is the same height as ‘r’, which makes ‘Air’ look like ‘A:r’. I don’t think there is a need to make the dot of the ‘i’ align with the top of ‘r’; you can easily make the stem of the ‘i’ the same height, and place the dot above it, aligning with the top of ‘A’. Your 8 also looks small compared to the other letters. I would recommend making the top and bottom of 8 square, or perhaps make only the top left and bottom right square, so the counter spaces of 8 become a bit larger. Have a look at other pixel fonts for inspiration to see what design solutions work best at the resolution you are using.

[@LinkyPlays]

I think it would really add to the whole air running out thing if the player got noticeably more worried as the air gets lower. I really don't know how it could be done but I think it would be pretty neat

[@LudumWon]

i always had a dream game where you cvould do anythign im glad your making your dream game a realikty

[@billzhang737]

I think a speed boost activated by button to diving might be cool. It charges up over time, and might be unlocked when you get enough diving akill.

[@NiccoDubs]

I like the watch design of the air meter!

[@bluff9673]

Would definitely appreciate some godot tutorials! great vid

[@Dartify]

Let’s gooooooo new devlog!

[@dashthompson6710]

I have a suggestion to add a “Notes” just a place to write and a way to make your own tasks in the corner of your screen

[@asanzramaxi]

in 13:13, the page on the left has very pixelated numbers, while the right has clear hd numbers. seems inconsistent. Anyways great job, keep it up!

[@devjoshi1848]

What do you use to make your PopOS look that sleek? Also loving the devlogs

[@DevDuck]

This is MacOS - Since upgrading to the M1 Max MacBook it's been my favorite place to work.

[@onlysmiles4949]

Maybe on top of the vignette, there could be a little beep or something like that which helps indicate that you're running low, sort of like the "Oxygen" indicator from Subnautica

[@angadbasandrai4814]

Wonderful as ever!

[@markblue777]

What about a reuse/recycle skill, could lead well into savaging and being able to use items for other things than there intended use. Not necessarily needing a complex crafting systems, just a simple get 1 of each of these types of items and it makes a fishing net, that could then lead you to build your fishing skill quicker.

[@AlexLusth]

The blackout effect is super nice, especially the eyes closing effect at the end! Have you considered pixelating it to fit the game style a bit more?

[@PaulPlay]

I believe the crafting table actually looks a lot like a helmet, i thought it was for armor at first.

[@benrex777productions9]

And I thought it is a controller.

[@PaulPlay]

@@benrex777productions9 yeah that fits as well

[@RamHomier]

I love the more technical devlog.

[@noxxedev8095]

I think it would be cool if you added some bubble particles coming from the players head to show that he can't hold his breath anymore. Great work regardless.

[@mylegocollection-x4z]

Archeology would be a cool concept for games like these. Maybe as a skill where you discover or find artifacts? RS3 has it aswell

[@Mistium]

Cool Dev log!

[@roryhill2474]

You could change the crafting table to a book, e.g. schematics for crafting + recipe for cooking

[@necoliesequovia9238]

this man is Awesome. he build up his Game to make more Interesting

[@fergleburgle4213]

Love your keyboard. What switches do you have?

[@1grommedia715]

I am so so excited about this game

[@tylermorales9043]

Can you explain how you structure the "Project Management"? Since this is a solo project, I'm interested in how you delegate tasks, features, and epics. Maybe link to your trello.

[@josiprados4986]

I think you could make the book UI a lot juicier if you added al little page flip animation whenever you click on anything with a little page flip sound effect. I think it would look very good and add a lot of life to the menu

[@dextra_24703]

for the icon of diving remove the strap would make it more clear of what it is i first thought those were nightvision goggles

[@K5RTO]

great devlog

[@TheBugB]

Ready for your exciting year!