Designing a Diving System for an Open World 2D RPG

[@dazcarrr]

It would be cool if you could sometimes find underwater caves or something - maybe indicated when you sail past one, or you could be given maps that locate them, but you could dive into a tunnel to find some rare creatures or treasures perhaps.

[@DevDuck]

It is absolutely my intent to have the player discover underwater caves!

[@elderhickory0776]

I feel like this feature should be very rare would make it super special to find one

[@chrisarmstrong5611]

As a cave diver I would also agree that this would be an awesome feature!

[@stints]

@@DevDuck I don't know how realistic it actually is but in quite a few games with underwater caves, a few open up with dry "land" and miraculously has oxygen, will those be included?

[@solsystem1342]

@@stints unless something is using the oxygen that would work. It doesn't make much sense how the air bubbles would have formed though. It's not the real word though.

[@jessewillems6465]

i really like the blur effect you made for when the player doesn't have a snorkel and I think you should keep it for when the player does have a snorkel only increase the radius around the player this leaves room for upgrades for better diving equipment and I think it looks nicer when you cant instantly see everything around the player it feels like your exploring more

[@infiniverse835]

Hey DevDuck! I started watching your videos recently and I have to say, the optimistic and healthy vibes that come from your video is special! I have watched many devlogs, but never got so engrossed and inspired, like from yours and btw, really excited for Dauphin! Keep up the good work!

[@FM-kl7oc]

You could have the tank fill to 100% when surfacing, but then you can use a compressor to fill it to 125% or 150% or something. So you can still dive pretty well without your boat and compressor, but if you have your boat and compressor next to you, you can compress extra air into your tank.

[@mikhail_from_afar]

This really is one of the simpler ideas, but it is also quite realistic and easy to use, and it also provides room for upgrading compressors in the future to fill tanks to higher pressure.

[@erickshoesmith9202]

you could also have a mode for "charging", something that freedivers do to get their blood oxygen levels up before a dive

[@CrazyMan-pm9uj]

Devduck, I just finished your whole series over a course of a week. I started on Monday, seeing your most recent one, and I backtracked and watched about 7 devlogs per day. This series so awesome!!! Great timing because I just finished lol. It's so fun to watch and I hope it continues to grow and even releases one day! You might be inspired by games like Stardew Valley, but now you are continuing the cycle, and inspiring people like me!!

[@CrazyMan-pm9uj]

Suggestion: I think it would be cool and funny for there to be a talking fish in an underwater hut. Maybe the hut can have some air pockets for you to regain your breath, too!

[@DevDuck]

Thank you so much. It's really a privilege to be able to pass some of that motivation forward - I'm so glad you find the series inspiring!

[@fantasyworlddrawing5219]

@@DevDuck I think there should be a talking underwater blobfishes. Blobfishes are so cute and funny

[@MGMac_]

@@fantasyworlddrawing5219 yes we need blobfish

[@wileep]

@@fantasyworlddrawing5219 YES. That would be so cool to have blob fish

[@vadeka]

Happy my comment helped you out previously :) Some cool things you could add to your game are: Nitrox for deep dives, it essentially works just like air but you consume less nitrogen and can stay underwater longer. You could make this a rare or expensive resource for deep dives? It also gets quite dark underwater when you go deep so most divers use a diving lamp.

[@calvinsebastian7318]

Hey Devduck! I just stumbled upon your channel and am super excited to see what comes of this game! Separating your freediving from your scuba diving could resolve the issue of when to implement refilling your 02 tank. Perhaps if you allowed the player to improve their freediving abilities through practice (oxygen consumption through movement, lung capacity, resistance to the build up of carbon dioxide, implement the mammalian dive reflex, etc. and these could all passively change over time) then there would be no concern of filling the tanks until you progress further in the game (to depths that may actually require a diving tank). You can still dive to deep depths with freediving but it would just take time to build the skill to reach those depths. If you separate these activities it would provide an educational opportunity as well, as (what may be obvious to some) you wouldn't be combining these activities in real life for safety reasons. I'm going to spit ball some additional content ideas that you may already have planned, feel free to ignore or implement them. - accurate real world information about species (latin name, family, natural habitat, life span, toxicity, fun facts) - different gas types for different depths - a minigame that allows you to synchronize your breathing before a dive to increase freedive time - equalization to reduce the oxygen penalty due to depth - wildlife tagging, capturing, releasing - diet or exercise improves diving efficiency Cheers, a fan!

[@matteomartins6007]

Last week I speedran all the devlog episodes for Dauphin, as I only just found your channel recently, and I was so excited for a new devlog! Super happy to see all the awesome progress :)

[@nicochecko]

Great update! As a divemaster, I absolutely love seeing you take a more realistic approach to the dive mechanics. Another thing you could look at as part of the upgrade tree is different gas mixtures. Nitrox is the most popular -- it can really extend dive time if you stay relatively shallow. The trade off is the risk of oxygen toxicity of you dive too deep. Trimix is the opposite -- longer for deep dives, and dangerous in shallow water. You have to switch tanks mid dive. Maybe some of this could inspire fun mechanics!

[@williamclemo7973]

Love the vision blur w/out the mask, great detail!

[@redpandacreations]

You could use the buoy itself as a air recharge point, as at the moment its just a visual marker. You could also upgrade the buoy with different things, like a retractable rope that can pull you up if you run into trouble at the bottom of the ocean

[@infinitenex8165]

Always a treat, watching your devlogs on a nice weekend.

[@Toknus]

What a comprehensive and genuinely fun video to watch, thanks so much for keeping me sane while I work on my coding projects!

[@mesolagic]

Dude I love the little mask effect you get when it's unequipped. Really nice touch!

[@lukasbuchelpk]

These devlogs are by far the best ones I've seen so far! Love the blend of work, free time and b-roll. They keep me motivated to keep working on my own game, so thanks! 😁

[@MisterBerdill]

Your videos always drop just in time for me to watch them on break! I've been watching since a couple games ago and the quality keeps going up. As long as you keep making them, I'll keep watching them!

[@mariocamspam72]

Very promising! Been watching for 1,5 years

[@MeditationwithHolly]

Same, love the dedication 😊

[@shemdogga2845]

Your series has really inspired me to learn how to code. Thank you for such a great devlog 🙂

[@tumbleweb]

0:11 I find the same thing has been happening to me recently. Whenever I have had a lazy day and more freetime on my hands, I end up getting very little done for my project. On the flip side, if it's been a long day, I'm more likely to be motivated and get things done. It dismantles the lie that all one needs is "more time" when what we really need is more follow-through. Your videos have inspired me to keep creating, and your game is looking great!

[@SkyStarGazing]

If I were to make a suggestion, I would say it might be better to have a separate set of equipment slots specifically for diving equipment. Most players probably won't want to always be wearing their diving gear while exploring the overworld and it might get tedious to have to trek into the menu to switch equipment every time you hop into the water. You get a situation like Breath of the Wild where most of the time there's a set of armor that perfectly suits the situation - The Zora armor for swimming, some other set for combat, a set for dealing with temperature, etc - And suddenly you're constantly just changing equipment to deal with every scenario. It's a lot less intrusive if you don't have to manually switch into diving gear before every dive. Just my thoughts. I love seeing your progress, it's very inspiring for me as an beginning indie dev.

[@MeditationwithHolly]

This!

[@mvrcg]

I just can't wait to play Dauphin. It looks so relaxing and I believe that it would be the new "Sit back and relax" type of game. Amazing work DevDuck!

[@jaydenmoon1165]

You're an amazing inspiration - I love watching your progress and wish you the best in the future - Keep up the amazing work - the game and the mechanics are looking great!

[@ralphcalzada4767]

been watching for a while and I've enjoyed the entire process so far

[@StaredownGames]

Me: What? DevDuck: Don't worry, it'll all make sense soon Me: Yay! It's the little details I look forward to most in a game. Awesome work, fun to watch!

[@bensosnowski]

I rewatch one of your videos and think about what i should watch and then you release your new video haha

[@kingc3409]

These videos are soo much fun to watch as a Dev

[@origami_dinosaur]

Dauphin’s looking really cool so far!

[@Skeffles]

Great to see more progress on this. I agree that having to head back to the boat each dive would be a pain. Perhaps you could add a mechanic where if you do refill the tank then the player can dive for longer than just getting air from the surface. This could be used for deep underwater areas.

[@Jova]

Maybe you could make it so the entry level scuba tanks can be refilled by either resurfacing or returning to a compressor. As the player gets more heavy-duty scuba tanks, they can't be refilled by resurfacing, but the air lasts much longer.

[@oli2245]

I think a notion tour would be super interesting for a segment of one of the next devlogs!

[@timothymclean]

It's a little weird to have a SCUBA tank and snorkel mask without a regulator (the thing that goes in your mouth so you can breathe from your air tank), but I guess that's a sprite for Future DevDuck to implement. Only being able to refill your lungs and not your air tank is one of those ideas that sounds good until you remember this is supposed to be a game. Having only a small, constant fraction of your air supply be refillable devalues upgrades to your air supply and makes exploration more frustrating. "This is a cool spot-hope I can find it after I go back to the ship and refill my tank."

[@DevDuck]

Totally agree with everything you've said! And future DevDuck will definitely be getting to work on the regulator!

[@alexandrgarlock4075]

Reminder MacBook wrong in description. LOL Keep up the great work!

[@Lestro]

Other than your game the sunrise you show us is so relaxing, thanks for this devlog and awsome video :)

[@Zawazuki]

I love the passion you have for this.

[@lxcidfer]

Hey man just wanted to say you inspired my interest in game dev. I am 16 and I am now working towards going to school for game dev! Keep up the good work!

[@josephocallaghan9790]

Nice! Feel like you can go 2 ways with the air tank - lore or early mission. Like a comment saying, “wow this air tank has a compressor on it, what are the chances?!” Or just npc gives a compressor in an in-game diving tutorial. Thinking about it now there’s actually a million good things you could do here.

[@Aarimous]

For improved accessibility, it would be nice if the font could be changed to one with easier readably. Pixel font is nice thematically, but I could see it being hard for some to read easily. Great video!

[@DevDuck]

All of these fonts need work, I agree! I'll see what I can find.

[@Aarimous]

@@DevDuck Glad it's on your radar, but TBH it's not that important right now. However, after watching GMTK's video on accessibility, I always try keep it in the back my mind as a develop projects so I don't accidentally paint myself into a corner. Godot makes it pretty easy to swap fonts with the UI themes, but like everything that depends on how you're using text. One last note, I see you too are a Packer's fan. Sucks the season ended the way it did. But we'll get them next year 💚💛 Cheers!

[@eboatwright_]

Looks great! I love your fish and shrimp :D

[@anonymouseicecube91]

Idk what you plan to do with the diving but it's a cool idea. I always thought Pokemon gen 3 were magical because once you get the dive hm you can literally explore every place you've been to again, and see how they connect or don't connect underwater. Sometimes you find an item, or a secret item, or you find a rare Pokemon, or sometimes you just find an empty room. The aesthetic being way darker also helped give the feeling of depth. Idk, maybe something worth looking into once you have the core mechanics in place.

[@Qwerty-oq4gm]

perhaps an upgradeible compressed air canister could be used that can be modified based on the players combined diving and crafting skill, and one of the upgrades could use and air compressor on the ship that will add a slightly longer time to your diving tank, and other upgrades would be cool, just a few examples here: use some of your compressed air through a release valve on the back that acts like a boost, but will also use some of your compressed air time every time you use it. or a later game upgrade that will release a lifejacket upon time running out and this will spare the item loss as a last resort but if you are too deep you will go uncontious anyway and still lose the items so people cant abuse the power of that? these are just some ideas I had floating around, if you feel like using one feel free to alter it as much as you want I'm just trying to help not force my ideas onto you! great progress so far cant wait to play!

[@ultimocontrole9980]

The feeling of freedom come from you trying and doing something outside of your previous expectations, keep that in mind

[@matthewventures]

I'd like to see a meter or non-diegetic horizontal dotted line on the screen to indicate at which point I am beyond the maximum dive depth.

[@coffeebeanbenjamin]

I think a temperature feature might be fun, sort of like in breath of the wild where you need different items of clothing to survive in hot and cold biomes, and it could be implemented in the diving too, where you need a wetsuit if you go to deep because of how cold it gets

[@Oscar-lp6zd]

I'm currently developing a game (similar to yours but more combat based and where you are summoned to a dungeon every x amount of time and have to learn spells and attacks from monsters you kill and discover in the random world) - I'm at step 0 right now, basically just have some basic terrain tiles, player movement and tilemap generation down but I was wondering if you had any advice on how to develop a game up? What is the right pace/how should I go about trying to tackle challenges/new features so I avoid burnout and don't end up having to rewrite lots of mechanics as they were rushed. Thank you also as you've been a big inspiration :)

[@zipmouthmovies]

I'd not worry about pace I find it best to try and do a little bit a day even if it's tiny

[@erickshoesmith9202]

It would be cool if you had an "arctic grade" regulator that works in icy waters while a normal reg doesn't. This isn't super realistic nowadays as regulators have gotten a lot better, but there used to be big beefy regulators for handling the cold. And don't forget a dry suit if you're going in the cold!Also an equipment spot for different quality fins-- freediving fins for not wearing a tank!

[@ForgedTony]

Maybe add an island where theres a population of like 20 people and have shops like a dock one where you can return the scuba tank. And one where you can sell artifacts or items you find on the ocean. The more money you have the more equipment you can buy. At endgame there can even be a mini submarine that you can use to go even deeper.

[@elderhickory0776]

So I had a thought what if instead of a bar that slowly moves right to left you made a heart. For me personally ive always found that bars that decrease over time in water can be ver immersion breaking but what would be cool is a heart that at the beginning of a has like a steady beat and you have to mange this heart beat overtime. Your total amount of oxygen would be hidden from the player but I feel like this would create a new level of skill where more experienced players can mange there heart beat better then new players. Also this would a new layer to the early game experience where a player can learn that certain actions have a negative effect on the heart. Idk thought this would be more interesting then just a bar that slowly decreases.

[@sufilevy]

Hey, love your vids! Great job! I wondered, sometimes I see you use VSCode and sometimes the internal Godot editor... Is there a reason for that? Thanks!

[@stints]

I think it makes a lot of sense to not aim for 100% realism in regards to the tank. I definitely agree with you having it just capable of being refillable automagically because its a game. If you wanted to you could add an artificial limit to tanks where a passive refill would only fills it up half way or something. The device on the boat to pressurize the tank would fill it to its max. Unfortunately, I'd wonder how many people would bother using it and if this would also introduce some "friction" to the gameplay. Regardless, really exciting to watch this all come together.

[@gabrielemarino1360]

Man I need a vlog with a house tour and that car!

[@zhanibek8384]

On one hand having a scuba tank be refilled upon resurfacing might remove the unnecessary tedium and resulting frustration. However it might also make the equipment feel less like an functional tool aimed to improve and enhance the player and more like a boring "+1" to stats. I feel like there needs to be some new mechanic involved with the equipment that would alter the gameplay in some way. Otherwise the whole diving experience with a tank might turn into "adventure on a slightly bigger timer" instead of evolving and improving from that initial point. Edit: having a scuba tank unlock a completely new activity might achieve the same result though (i mean evolve the gameplay). Like an underwater cave exploration? Spear fishing? Tbh idk but I think this needs a bit of experimentation to figure out. I don't think I managed to explain myself well but I hope what I said does make sense and is understandable and helpful.

[@noahrabolli29]

This game is amazing. My only idea if you are able is maybe to change up the pixel are with hand drawn stuff. Maybe a hand drawn HUD or character portraits similar to Celeste. Great work!

[@casekocsk]

Also the same as Subnautica, though rather than skill level, it's equipment level... Even from the very beginning, you can dive as deep as you want... But with early equipment, you swim slow, your O2 capacity is low, and after 100m depth, your O2 consumption is doubled without specialized equipment... You can risk it by diving deeper but be careful that you can run out of air on the return trip to surface.

[@MeditationwithHolly]

This!

[@zachgeyer8090]

Have you ever considered using a pixel perfect camera? Also love the devlog!

[@wazaDev]

Great video, Just a suggestion what if scuba tanks refilled only partially when you resurface and you would need a compressor to fill them up completely

[@sensiblegh0st86]

Seeing the message come up for advancing your skill, I think you should either freeze time/enemy around the player when they come up until they're closed, or they should be pop-ups that allow the player to move even when they're being displayed. I can imagine it would get kind of annoying if you were in a big group of enemies and that popped up, making you vulnerable, or if you had limited time to surface and were prevented from doing so because of a level up message.

[@GamesBySaul]

Great work as always :)! Was wondering, do you pause the air supply depletion when the too deep level pops up? It doesn't look like you did and I can see that being annoying! Love the blurred water effect too, like you said, adding bits of polish here and there is a great idea, keeps the game feeling fresh to you as the developer!

[@Jeykit0]

What about there an shop that sells map and with those maps you can find treasures

[@TackerTacker]

11:49 Are they actually eating something or is that just some automatism that just goes through the motions on the chance that they do grab something nutritious?

[@ordnaela1210]

Might I suggest incentives for cleansing animals would give you bonus stats for your character? Like if you cleanse 100 crabs it'll give you +10 exp in a certain character stat.

[@themustardman6665]

Would be cool if the air intake came in bursts, like breaths refilling it. Maybe lerp halfway, then the rest or something.

[@jaetriel63]

hey, a quick question. I'm thinking of doing a similar style 2d top down game and I was wondering how much time roughly have you spent doing all the pixel art for it? (assuming the art is your creationg since I've seen you do most of it on these devlogs, which are awesome btw) I'm just trying ot gauge whether it'd be better for me to just look for a decent pack somewhere online and buy it and save myself the time since I'm developing on my own, and this project would be mainly for educational purposes and to add to my portfolio

[@eswarnichtsmehrfrei]

Please offer an option for alternative readable font, like Looper Hero does.

[@JonasVloggar]

Scuba tank should be recharged at some store in exchanged for certain materials

[@henryfriendlich8041]

Will there be fighting underwater? How is that going to work?

[@DevDuck]

There will be! Kind of formulating a plan for that now.

[@henryfriendlich8041]

@@DevDuck Cool! Maybe getting hit could lower your oxygen supply.

[@lyte2882]

I’m new and haven’t watched the whole series idk what ur plan is with this game but will it be available to buy when ur done? Cuz it looks mad fun

[@shaggy1hp200]

You're building a marine biologist wind waker lol

[@alipetuniashow]

For game dev do you recommend notion

[@henrybb]

Maybe instead of a black vignette when you are running out of air try a vignette that does a heavy blur until you go unconscious and have it fade into the new background

[@loch18plus52]

I want to download the game can someone help me because I do not see the download link here

[@jayd1os400]

Hey there i have been watching your devlogs for some time now. I want to just ask you about something what would your advice to getting started on making your first full indie game?

[@tomaszstaron5105]

Refilling tank at the surface is good idea, remember its still a game. You should definitly try subnautica, diving is 90% of this game, and it's well made.

[@parkinsoft1810]

It looks odd to have the pixels become smaller when zoomed out on the boat travel… you should try to keep the resolution/ppi the same for the whole game like shovel knight or any old arcade game or NES game

[@christopherdyja5616]

i don't know if it's just me but i would prefer to have a negative number of meters visible when i'm diving. Seems more natural kinda

[@Sedicee]

Not a pro driver here, but would it be cool to have a weight attribute for things like the oxygen tank? If there was a weight and bouyancy factor that could effect what happens when you don't hit up or down keys. Would mean you need weight belts and that! That would be cool.

[@Bored-tf2gd]

i feel like the gui popping up like “you cant dive past this point.” and stopping you is bad because it still drains your air. and when it does pop up, its a bit obnoxious. its so big just for “ur attack leveled up.” i think it should be like a - symbol for skill -has leveled up pop up in the corner, for the swimming think it should be like red or blue surrounds your screen (like in raft when your drowning) when you go past your skill level

[@kmgaming9881]

What language do you use to code this?

[@pozzu4857]

I really think you should add very agressive corrupted sharks somewhere.

[@goldmonste]

how do i play this game

[@littlebarney9686]

Hi DevDuck, Maybe the player has to exit the dive state to refill their air tank?

[@m00nbl4de]

You might want to think about splitting the dialog stuff into two kinds, ones that freeze the game and ones that do not. If I got a message stating that I'm going deeper than my current level and thay my air will run out faster and my air runs out before I can read it fully, I'd be irritated.

[@DevDuck]

Totally agree, a few have suggested this. Will make note!

[@coffee_bean__]

Personally, I think the air tank looks like his other arm… looks a bit odd

[@jeffstienstra3615]

I thought the same thing. Simply changing to a darker color to match other gear would fix it.

[@level_yz]

i feel like there should be an indicator for when you dive too deep instead of the big popup window

[@Jova]

Rather than an X button on the level up notifications and anything else that pops up like that, I'd rather it be "click to close" at the bottom somewhere, so you can click anywhere on the message to either progress or close it.

[@devjoshi4499]

The diving is starting to come together! I was curious about something though, I saw that you were programming using the godot built-in text editor and you were using visual studio code. Are you using c# and gdscript together?

[@matttorres1517]

im here for the shrimp

[@jakubdthomas]

Are there or will be some parts of game, that you won't show to your viewers, so that after release they have some secrets to see? Or are you relying on procedurally generated places to be the source of novelty for those who've seen all your videos?

[@aqua-bery]

The text that appears to tell you that you dove too far down takes to long to appear. By the time the animation finished the player almost died. Maybe make it a notifications that sticks around for a few seconds no matter what you do. It could be something like: Youre diving too deep! You dove deeper then your diving skill allows. When you do that your air consumption increases and you suffocate faster. |More info| ------------------------------ When you press the more info button the game could give you info about how the diving skill works and such.

[@turkeyleg72]

I always wanted to make my rpg.

[@ledge-magee]

With the update to how air supply works, I'm feeling that the limited depth for the diving skill is a tad redundant. If you lose more oxygen at lower depths, why also block the player from diving to them? Maybe the skill allows the air from your lungs to deplete slower across all levels you dive to. Outright stopping the player like that seems to go against your point about open world / exploration.

[@robertonome2448]

I cannot understand why didn't you use Subnautica as a reference for this... It has the exact same mechanic for diving, as oxygen efficiency decreases the further deeper you are. Might be worth taking a look

[@matangoldstien5922]

I really like the change in diving system, Quick tip: make visual lines in the background so the player could be aware "below this line it will be harder to breath"

[@jimshoes]

the blur without the mask feels like it goes against the pixel art style

[@cristopherrosariolamarche3564]

The under water Lack algae and fauna marine and sharks

[@DevDuck]

That's coming soon!

[@timothymclean]

One asset and associated code at a time, Christopher.

[@jlebrech]

your tank could fill to 100% once on land.

[@EpitomeTTV]

Not a fan of the alert system so far. It pops up like dialogue and interrupts gameplay. I'd go for a corner notification personally

[@mynameislean]

Hi, I would reduce the feedback to put only the relevant information. Examples: You have advanced your Conservation skill to level 2 -> Conservation Level Up! (2) Your current Diving level prevents you from diving any deep -> Can't dive further!

[@Pepius_Julius_Magnus_Maximu...]

Woah, I had no idea Julius Ceaser supported your channel on Patreon, I bet you never run out of oil or grains.

[@soulfulfakealligator]

I haven't seen all the devlogs, but is there any use to diving yet? You seem to invest a lot into the diving mechanic even though there seems to be no real gameplay associated with it. What if diving like this isn't fun and you cut it? You'd have wasted a lot of time then. :/

[@KidPrarchord95]

The audio in this video is WAY too quiet.

[@DevDuck]

You're the second person to comment that... I don't know why that could be? If I play the video from YT on my laptop, it sounds perfect to me with full YT volume and 50% system volume.

[@JavaJack59]

@@DevDuck You should very much NOT rely on your ears to judge this, but rather the height of the audio waveform in a video or audio editing program. (IMO :) )

[@generrosity]

Definitely no issues with the level of audio compared to other videos on KZbin, I don't adjust the audio level at all on my cellphone. Also, being a little quiet is vastly better than being too loud.💚 (Ie adverts 20% louder mutter grumble) Based on commenters on other channels, could be anything from listeners' device settings (curves) and type of speaker they are listening from. If folks are serious about audio issues, you need to literally record a video of this video and another for comparison! Or something more substantive (ie db) otherwise there isn't anything actionable and you are just complaining about his video style... 😒