Adding Environmental Effects to my Marine Biologist RPG

Welcome to another devlog for Dauphin! In this episode I try to recover from a recent bout of burnout by taking a step back from my Trello board and working on some fun and unplanned features. Specifically, I make great strides towards a day/night cycle and weather system, and add a new organism to Dauphin! Hope you enjoy, and as always, thanks so much for your support of the channel!
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[@Mohkentohkenn14]

Perhaps one of the weather effects could be the high- and low-tides? Have low-tides uncover some hidden caves for the player to explore.

[@DevDuck]

Tides would be such a great effect. Will jot it down!

[@Nnif_Boots47]

Thats such a good idea

[@Atlas_of_the_universe]

@@DevDuck you should add boss fights like whales of different kinds or sharks with like diving to de-corrupt in specific spots in the map

[@Atlas_of_the_universe]

@@DevDuck also there should be a city that’s basically where you start the game and your lab is there so you can keep the creatures away from the corruption

[@theearthburner6159]

@@DevDuck and also high tides could bring some cool items from the ocean.

[@Fevir]

The healthy work-life-hobby balance just oozes from your videos

[@boruok]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aYS6aHapitd8r5Y

[@bitbraindev]

Thank you so much for the shout out and I am glad you found my tutorial useful. Great devlog as always!

[@hugomontenegro4374]

There comes a point where a game in development stops looking like a prototype and you can start to see glances of what it will look like as a finished, cohesive, FUN, product, and it always surprises me. It comes so unexpectedly. Dauphin is at that point for me now I think. I now can see Dauphin be really fun some day!

[@leetri]

The rain definitely needs some splashes on the ground, that would really sell the effect.

[@nevreiha]

to show depth it could terminate the raindrops at random y values as if it were hitting the ground on screen rather than flying past

[@Pivot-Shorts]

In the final release, I think the player should be given the option to choose between using the operating system time, and a regular day night cycle. Alot of us only play videogames at night, and will probably want to experience the game at both day and night.

[@PlayWithFurcifer]

Even the simple version of the rain makes the game feel much more alive. Really nice :)

[@rileysandford9036]

Me: checks to see if devduck uploaded Devduck not even 10 minutes later: upload!

[@RobertBMenke]

Would be cool if the creatures you saved from corruption came to your aid during boss fights in some way

[@DefecTec]

He could maybe add a village on this huge end-game island and they could help you

[@flopi1179]

Dauphin isn't a game I'd play but your videos are just sooo high quality that I can't stop watching them

[@kjellbeats]

Id play i it think

[@screenzombie1393]

It very much depends on what the final version is like for me. I don’t think that I can judge whether I would play it or not yet.

[@kjellbeats]

@@screenzombie1393 yeah same

[@Noir-mt3bw]

I think a good addition for the graphics would be to make some flora, like the trees or bushes, sway a little bit in the wind to make the scene more alive. It would also be interesting if you could make another weather system to tweak how strong the wind blows to make them sway faster! Great devlog as always, keep it up!

[@Luka-sf3vu]

Dauphin evolved a lot since I watched you at first, good to see your making so much progress.

[@h_m21]

Yeah it's surprisingly a lot of fun to see the creation of a game from start to finish.

[@hindisijeff3184]

I decided to take computer science in college because of this channel. thank you for being an inspiration keep up the good work, I hope I can make games like you someday

[@sad_man10]

I didn't know bananas could go to college. I thought college was only for humans...

[@samuelhulme8347]

@@sad_man10 banana land! Banana man is the president. Banana land is on Mars

[@anthony6098]

We can now get demons at 3am truly legendary

[@KoltPenny]

Just like in real life!

[@brickyy3106]

@@KoltPenny HUH

[@Pontypants]

Awesome progress! Really great video! :) I love the sand piper 🐥

[@b.rileyjowett6925]

I wonder if for the sunrise/set you could have a heavily blended fade from regular daytime shading to a pale yellow, to kind of a light desaturated orange, then a slightly desaturated pinky color, then (maybe) a very desaturated bluish purple, and finally a dark greyish blue for night. I’m not sure how well that would work in a game but I do a lot of digital art and that’s generally what I use to communicate time of day without directly showing the sun. Anyway I hope this is helpful!

[@mikebutenhof7187]

I really appreciate that you seem to promote a healthy work load balance. Too many devs recommend “just starting” or “just work on your project”. In my opinion experience that’s the quickest path to burnout

[@superdude1542]

This game looks awesome!!! Keep up the good work! Also, with the rain, a cool feature could be that while it’s raining, the sand on the beach gradually gets darker as if the rain is making the sand wet, and then when it stops raining, the sand gets lighter as if the sun is drying it

[@sharksuperiority9736]

One thing I’m excited for is gimmicks like fishing and diving. I love the collection aspects of games, and finding a bunch of marine animals to study would be super cool Maybe there could be a documentation system where the more times you encounter certain creatures, the more you learn about them in some kind of compendium or something That’d be very cool Another cool upgrade to the weather could be actual weather systems. Like a block of rain would roll across the map, this way certain areas would have different weather, without making it feel super static Granted, I’m not a programmer so I have no idea how difficult that would be to make

[@its_saval]

yay a new devlog, thank you for making these

[@AstonJay]

This is very enjoyable. I love your dev logs. It's quite "serene" and it keeps me wanting to see more of the game as well. I like the art style and the game mechanics seem to take great shape. Well done!

[@asp1280]

you could add trash or other corruption on the actual island and when you defeat the boss of that island, you get a cutscene where the island is clean. You could then continue this to make an achievement system with each major island being an achievement to cleanse

[@crumstopher]

high school graduation: shorts and t-shirt new devduck devlog: suit and tie

[@MarkIsAsleep]

Its gonna help to have a feeling of the sun is moving above the player if shadow is added that is moving or positioned according to time. Example if its sunset shadow is longer and in position in the direction of light

[@OurobourousOB]

Hey! Love the vids man!

[@SwelIy]

I know that you didn't have all these great additions on your Trello board, but they are still "new features" imo. You may think they are all small details but I think the addition of a day/night cycle, weather effects, and a new creature will be vital for the continual growth of the game. You're doing awesome, Ben!!

[@BigManOgy]

Maybe later in the game there could be a Coconut Crab as a stronger version of the normal crab.

[@vanterbaba4110]

This looks great so far! You should make the sky a bit more gray when it rains tho

[@DevDuck]

Agree!

[@vanterbaba4110]

@@DevDuck i wrote sky but i meant colors of the game... Anw you probably understood what i meant

[@theemeraldfalcon9184]

If you don't want to deal with converting the time to seconds, you could just use Unix time!

[@nevreiha]

I heard him talking about a 12 hour clock being converted but I am european so I use a 24 hour clock and I do not know how well this would work on my computer

[@theemeraldfalcon9184]

@@nevreiha OS clocks are 24 hour clocks, Unix time is just how many seconds have past since 1 Jan 1970.

[@nevreiha]

@@theemeraldfalcon9184 Ah. I think I have heard of this before. thank you,

[@DerpyPotato-cf8qh]

The new bird definitely needs a walking animation but everything else about it is amazing!

[@Mobilnator]

Wow seeing a new upload on your channel just puts a smile on my face.

[@catzdoesstuff]

I needed this video, I've been so stressed thank you.

[@DefecTec]

Hey bro if you’re stressed you can always watch a skyblivion twitch stream where they make their game

[@catzdoesstuff]

@@DefecTec i know i dont use twitch

[@Deccoyi]

Great video. I have a suggestion that you might already think of. Rain would change how sand and grass looks. So you might need to change textures depending on weather

[@DevDuck]

Definitely! I reckon I could probably work out a shader to help with that...

[@GamesBySaul]

Great work as always :) Going through burnout just sucks really, currently going through the same but like you said it's best to step outside more and take it easier. What I tend to do is work on something smaller but completely different! Daynight cycle is looking really nice! - What could be fun for you maybe, is have a list of organisms to add and add one each devlog maybe, or have a vote on YT about which to add :)

[@Jasmine-dg6dt]

I'm loving these devlogs!! It could be interesting to add trapping as a method for removing corruption, where you could set up a trap with bait (probably varying based on what animal you're after) and have animals that come into contact with it be help there until you free them.

[@LittleBigLucas51]

One thing that would make the rain feel more immersiveis if it would start slowly with just a few drops, and gradually increase over the course a few seconds so that it feels more dynamic. :) Although you said weather isn't the biggest priority, I thought I would just give this advice regardless. Keep up t he good work man!

[@DevDuck]

I tried this! It seems to be a limitation of Godot's current particle system implementation that I can't modulate the particle amount over time. Hoping to see that changed in 4.0!

[@LittleBigLucas51]

@@DevDuck Ah I see, a shame that it doesn't work, but we'll see in the future I guess! :)

[@jantala3243]

Its amazing you are adding this because small features add quite alot to making the game nicer to play

[@DanJonJr]

Hey man, I just wanted to say that I love these devlogs and really am excited for the next videos!

[@keeganator9176]

Me too

[@Dekade07]

I just binged this whole gamedev playlist up to now and I really like it and enjoy the videos so I subbed but I have a just three ideas 1 I think you should make the horror crab a bit harder because from what I’ve seen it only takes like 3 hits to kill it I’d maybe up it to ten or somewhere around there keeping us somewhat easy for begging players. 2 I think you should make weather that makes the boat harder to sail like a thunderstorm or something like that could be cool. And 3 (this one is a lot more of a commitment) I think the idea of a kraken style octopus boss you can fight either from a boat or on an island being attacked from the water could be super cool. Keep up the good work👌

[@fglass]

Avoiding burnout by ignoring the backlog is a great shout and definitely one I should do more... solid dev log as always, keep it up!

[@woohoo1092]

I have a suggestion: on the day and night cycle you should make reflections in the water to reflect where the sun is. So like have a beam of gold light on the surface of the water when it is sunset

[@MikesCustomProps]

Love your videos, the balance in you work and life is an inspiration to me!

[@fennecfugames]

Day and Night cycle looks great and the weather system is so smooth. It reminds me of running around in minecraft, getting hit by a rain storm.

[@Bobby-td4qr]

To the rain, you can add water splash into the ground effect that's maybe will look cool

[@enderduck4253]

The day-night cycle looks pretty good! Although, a little suggestion: When it's night and the player starts emitting light, maybe play an animation where he puts on a headlamp or something? For example, in Rise of the Tomb Raider, when Lara enters a dark area, she puls out a glowstick and attaches it to her belt. Maybe something like that so that the glow has a more realistic touch to it?

[@s.owl9]

I just had a few ideas to share. The conflict in the story of Dauphin is pollution, so I thought as you progress in the game the world could get darker due to dark clouds, rain could have a weird color, the evening could be a crimson red and night time could have creepy glowing particles in the air and water. Also, since you made it possible to walk into the water, I saw the Horror Crab walk out of the water aggressively to start the boss fight which was scary and awesome, and I loved how it looked at night time which really made it scary. Maybe you could have the horror crab be hidden in the water until you approach its area and start the fight and it could be scripted to be night time when you fight it. That way you can’t see it on the island when you’re sailing.

[@seppoday]

Love new bird creature. I am really impressed how flexible some of the systems looks like. For example that horizontal, vertical, both wandering states. Pretty nice stuff.

[@FurquimRafa]

These devlogs are always so chill and relaxing. Nice work!

[@natezzz4694]

love these dev logs so much been watching them for about a year now kinda makes me wanna look into game dev a bit myself

[@verrofy]

Devlog days are my favorite days

[@jasper8712]

Maybe there could be a weather effect of a rainstorm where the tide goes up much further. Great video!

[@hellb0rnmusik236]

Every time I see a new devlog im just stopping whatever I am doing and watching it :)

[@joebartolozzi7259]

You could have the horror crab appear by when you enter a detection circle and a cutscene of it crawling out of the ocean

[@sylvainsmusicdump]

Holy shit, I remember seeing the first episode of this devlog forever ago. After forgetting about it for a while I came back just to see how much progress has been made. That's so cool.

[@KaspianKronberg]

Loved this! Cool with the weather features 👍🏽

[@thatpalkesz3667]

It just occured to me. If you want the loot from the creatures to be used, the current system will make it very easy to farm. Now, it's not necessarily a bad thing, but players will optimise the fun out of the game if possible. Maybe clensing could provide some resistance/diminishing returns? Maybe both. Or a huge insentive to clense an island completely. Wich would make farming loot practically impossible. By the way, I love the sand pipers. Cutest little bundle of pixels. I think you nailed them.

[@ryangatchel]

I'm really vibing with the music my friend!

[@Fullrusher]

Would you consider adding a flash light ? So he doesn’t just glow in the dark? Great progress and video

[@evasilvertant]

I think for the morning part of the light cycle, it might work better to use a yellow tint, and use the red tint for sundown. I really liked the rain while it’s sunny as well. It could be cool to have some light rain while it’s sunny sometimes, and the sky gets darker when heavier rain is coming in. Maybe make the light rain drop down vertically, and the heavy rain more diagonal to simulate wind.

[@taisublack2599]

Dude that’s looks seek!! I’m really happy for your, well I started doing my RPG game

[@mikeohc]

Can totally relate regarding save system. It's very necessary but a major burn out if that's the only thing you've worked on for a while. The weather system really gives the game more life!

[@mr.quackers1429]

For weather effects, a frog rain would be very cool!

[@Akkaren79]

I love the new additions to the game! But maybe you could tweak the morning/evening time a bit. Here it looks like it takes the same amount of time as the entire day/night. In RL it's way shorter. Also you might think about implementing a console, now that you have day/night and weather, so you can change these ingame. Keep it up, I love watching this game getting shaped!

[@yobladeyo]

One word: Inspirational

[@笨蛋-p1f]

I’m definitely gonna buy this when it comes out

[@clearcontentment3695]

Your setup is awesome

[@maximuzmusic1261]

You should make the sails a separate sprite layer so you can easily animate it, customize it, and change it independently to the main ship sprite. layered sprites make life 100x easier later on especially with RPGs that have multiple weapons, clothing options, upgrades etc

[@josewenzel]

First, great stuff you do brother! keep it up!

[@BearOfZU]

Hey! Just wanted to let you know you're doing a great job and to keep it up! You've been my biggest inspiration to become an indie game dev myself! I've loved watching your progress for this game and I can't wait to see how it turns out! I, unfortunately, don't have the means to support you financially quite yet aside from watching your videos, but once I get the financial means to do so I'd love to support you on Patreon! :)

[@parmie1001]

amazing!

[@sirspegy1390]

Dang you really work fast

[@chained8749]

man the background of dauphin at the start probably will look good as a background for a pc

[@wherr10]

Loving those weather effects :D I feel like it would be cool to have the birds come back after a certain amount of time, or if you leave the island and come back. That way the player can completely clean the corruption on the island and not feel like they missed out.

[@dyslexcii]

The sandpipers will need the vertical movement if they are on the left or right of the island at the water :)

[@Menji_x]

a interesting gaming mechanic would be bird seed (if there are going to be more then one type of bird) and a sneak function so you can get close to the bird without spooking them...then wack them with the sword lol. or making the radius of the bird so big that the player needs to sneak in order to spray them, that may be more humane.

[@ScriptLineStudios]

I know from experience that save/load systems can be a real pain to get working But it looks like you are making good progress, Congratulations!

[@skelecats1701]

Looks neat

[@wariare12world95]

woooooohoooooo!! new devlog!!

[@deusxyz]

Yeah 100%, I get the burnout feel when i work on backend for too long!

[@spiderbro9496]

Hey DevDuck its my bday today so thanks for the video :)

[@jumi6051]

I think it would be really cool if u would add little Rainimpact Splash effects on the Ground, obviously they would have to be in the layer in front of the ground but behind the trees/environment. But that would make rain more interesting.

[@eyitsgallery]

I love this series

[@Morraak]

It's always important to just take some time to add some fun things!

[@Chorwacjen]

He finally ate his cake and uploaded the vid

[@fantasyworlddrawing5219]

I can't wait to play it

[@franciscocatanach2257]

Another great video!

[@nickdeluca6914]

You should give missions to the player when they arrive on a new island to save 8 crabs 2 birds, and something else ect. Then also give the player a researching task of finding as many islands and animals as they can. Maybe enable the player to bond with an animal if they feed it and protect and the animal will follow you from island to island, just my thoughts

[@SteadyPaceVince]

Really like the way you say dauphin, not sure way but I like it

[@benjaminlevesquekinder4283]

Great video!

[@TostiGamer]

Very nice!

[@tristanw9201]

I think the anchor would look better on the front of the boat

[@namrivegeta]

Looking forwar for more creature s in the future! Keep up the good work man! 💪

[@Teabone3]

Near my house I have a couple birds that look like that , that run around near the shoreline of the river.

[@connorb.6216]

I think a better transition could be a wave which comes up from the bottom of the screen, and then goes back down after everything has loaded.

[@TheYoungestof6]

This might be overly complicated, but it would be cool to have the game check the current weather at Dauphin Island, AL, and replicate that weather in game

[@monstergamesx4705]

Add a hermit crab that appears only surfing rain and it is able to block by going in its shell

[@PixelirPlus]

I didn’t read the title, I just saw DevDuck and I clicked.

[@HowItWorks360]

This would be really interesting if you created a tides system. explorable areas based on time of day due to tide.

[@markthorson2713]

Another great video! Really enjoying seeing the progress! My question is though, at this point do you have any regrets on changing engines ?

[@Skeffles]

Awesome additions to the game! I like the look of the new bird. In regards to the weather effects. Is this always going to apply to just 1 island or will you expand it to cover multiple and the sea between them?