Feedback and an Emergence // DEVLOG #8

I decided to add a few and tweak a few features following some feedback from previous Devlogs and then implement another new enemy creature; the Burrower.
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Follow the progress on the game more closely on Twitter: / firedragon04
#gamedevelopment #devlog #gamedev #unrealengine #unrealengine5 #ue5 #blender #blender3d
🔖 Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:01 - Expanding the crashsite
10:44 - Revisiting Swimming
17:01 - Revisiting Boosting
18:54 - Let's get Tricky
21:40 - Glider ideas
23:55 - Making the Burrower
27:39 - Full Showcase
34:59 - Outro
36:23 - Post

[@firedragon04]

This week I incorporate some of your feedback into the game and create another new creature! Hope you all enjoy. ▶ New Devlogs every Friday! I'll be busy playing Tears of the Kingdom at the moment but excited to share another Devlog with you all soon!

[@Sunburst_No]

If you add the wing glider thing, add a roll on landing. Basically if he is gliding like that his torso would be first to touch ground, so a tuck and roll would work

[@Sunburst_No]

As far as the burrower... Pretty cool! The animation is pretty solid also, where u lawrn to do animation like that?

[@contempt5280]

consider changing the boost to "skiing" like Tribes: Ascend where it just removes your friction, that way the movement would be more interactive and not just a speed increase

[@raffaeleparise6321]

Instead of having a prompt that tells you how many beacons/shards you have to activate/collect, you could have a panel next or around the door with 15 lights that light up as you progress to open the door. That way you hint at the objective to the player without outright spelling it to them.

[@firedragon04]

I've been mocking up something similar, it's actually elements of the environment around the dungeon become active/alive again as you activate more beacons around the planet until you've activated enough and the door opens.

[@pelicano1987]

I really like this approach, and I would make the very first door require 2 keys, so, the door having 2 unlit slots. The first key would be literally next to it, and the door then lits one slot. It would send the player the idea of a door requiring more than just one key so, when he finds the 15 slot dungeon door, he will already know what to do.

[@thomasnewson1181]

I said this about 2 devlogs ago haha

[@WaveParadigm]

The sugar glider membrane is neat but i think the paraglider looks better personally

[@DaydreamStudios_Official]

Seeing these devlogs on the front page of my KZbin recommendations has me kicking my feetsies.

[@Golden_Hephaestus]

Making the enemies has been my favorite parts of this series so far! I'm not sure if it could fit into the story or not, but I would love it if the bosses or an area had a gimmick where these middle-evolved enemies are forced to evolve quickly. So when a burrower would be hit by this outer-force of quickened evolution, they turn into a harder enemy or boss that you have to fight. For example you said the burrower is almost dragon like, so you can run with that and give it even more dragon-like features, make it bigger, etc. Of course this depends on the technology of the world, and the plot for this to make sense, but I wanted to just put it out there!

[@firedragon04]

The bosses of the game aren't actual creatures - they're something else entirely, members of the main enemy race in the game which you find in the dungeons. But I do like the idea of larger, maybe slightly more evolved creatures acting as mini-bosses out in the world guarding secrets and treasures.

[@brian_mayberry]

Love these Dev Logs, props for keeping this weekly! Spread out the booster, shield, and glider over multiple very obvious mini crash sites spread over that larger open world (cut scene showing where they land?) to promote and reward exploration. Have the attached mini-dungeon areas require the use of at least one of those tools to access. For example, one area could be just out of reach, but there's a ramp or a ledge you could glide from. Another area could be infested by an enemy that needs a shield to reflect their projectiles back on them, or maybe the shield absorbs energy and lets you charge up for an AOE attack (energy grenades!).

[@mmmmmmmmmmm10]

Good idea

[@ovix4150]

maybe, given the many teeth on the burrower, it could have a stronger bite attack, for if you’re close enough. and if you walk up, as he’s using his tongue attack, it could transition from its tongue attack into a bite attack. love how it turned out by the way

[@VelvetAura]

I think it would be cool if it were able to grab the player with its arms if they get too close, maybe then taking a bite out of them if the player can't struggle out in time

[@mmmmmmmmmmm10]

​@@VelvetAuragood idea

[@CaiusNelson]

I love the idea of adding tricks and ramps in the hub world that give you a energy boost. It's a great way to make going from point to point more interesting/engaging AND rewarding you for being stylish by letting you get around faster. Great idea for a gameplay loop.

[@mezzmerritt1]

Giant Burrower Mother mini boss needed! 🐛 haha Absolutely loving this Devlog. As a huge fan of Ocarina of Time it just hits all of the best notes. Would love to see a Relic that when activated drops glowing ring/goals across the larger map area for a time trial race to unlock a shard! Perform tricks off ramps to keep the boost up and hit the next rings on time! Keep up the amazing work 😃

[@branden844]

Every game has a glider now, I like the membrane better. Also it could be interesting to show you can boost in a area by adding some sort of visual marking on the boots like a light or some sort of small texture change like they are charged or something like that.

[@firedragon04]

Yeah my thought is when you first have the boost feature + go into a zone you can't use them, they'll be a small cutscene that shows the boosts flashing red and the game will explain why (lore) and then every future time you do this you'll just see the flash happen outside of a cutscene, and when you enter the world again and can use them they'll flash green. I'm thinking of adding some sort of symbol or greying out something when you're in a restricted zone too.

[@DaDarkDragon]

40 min! your spoiling us

[@firedragon04]

It's funny because I cut out a lot of the timelapse sections where I talk over them from previous Devlogs and still ended up with the longest Devlog to date.

[@JarrodT]

24:00 I almost feel like the burrower should almost have a slight flower aesthetic or environmental feature on the end of his mouth (or part of his tongue that could stick out of the mouth while he is in his hole) to give it a that feel like it's trying to blend into the scenery and lure you in. In addition: 31:40 The thought of coming out of where you start to a giant drop feels like you need a way to establish that you can take fall damage if you are not meant to jump straight down to that world. I'm sure you are thinking of a way to draw the players eye to the side to show them the proper path to head down, but this was just my thoughts on that instance.

[@javamatrix784]

I think some FOV adjustments and speed lines could go a long way towards making the boost feel "boostier" 😁

[@firedragon04]

100% That's going to be added soon, widening the FOV as you increase velocity and streaks of particles passing by or speedlines will be exactly what I implement.

[@EnergizedBlast]

Absolutely amazing and quick work here, always love seeing how things evolve for projects like these devlog by devlog. The boost trick system will be SUPER fun to play with, though I think one thing that'd improve the feel of boosting in sections where you'd be relying on slopes or ramps would be to take the player's current slope normal/angle into account and allow for a sort of inertia when they boost off, giving them a bit of airtime instead of gravity kicking in immediately. If the player is boosting and detects it's no longer grounded, you can store the last recorded slope angle and rotate the current movement vector by it, with gravity bringing you back down normally. Pairing this with gliding, I can already see a lot of potential using the boost to ramp off something, gain height, and pulling the glider out at the peak of the boost to get across to other side of a gorge or a far away platform. Keep up the good work dude, can't wait for what's to come!

[@VistaLargaGames]

Love the box art. My next game will be n64 inspired. Low poly and blurry textures and all. The current game I’m devlogging now takes all inspiration from this era of gaming. Nothing like the 90’s. I love what you are doing here. Good work brother. Keep it coming !

[@MajatekYT]

On the idea of restricting player movement in certain areas, you could visually represent that by adding a green-tinted bubble/second-skin shimmer/glow effect with static/waves (think the Drej from Titan A.E. and the cell prison doors they have that are made from pure energy) and a lock symbol shown on the HUD. A secondary particle effect of a ring of energy descending around the character to show it "activating" could add some visual "juice". Also, I'd definitely add some knockback on getting damaged. Awesome work with making those door transitional gateways look alien and cool!

[@paul-e5t]

Perfect video for a bus ride, thank you

[@thebeastslay3383]

An idea I have for the games name is “anointed” like it means blessed with some power, it seems like a good title

[@deviaan]

I really like the light/lazer idea over the keys because it makes the world feel more organic. Instead of collecting random objects, you modify the environment to progress. It also allows for variety. The first level could be this light beam puzzle, but maybe another level has you restart ancient generators or changing a rivers path to unblock something. Could be a lava river.

[@firedragon04]

I advance this idea a fair bit in this week's Devlog (out Friday) but I love your idea of each planet having its own thing to solve. The first planet's task is to rebuild and awaken. The second is flow and heat (lava channels). The third could be to return light. The fourth could be errrrr let me think on the fourth 🤣 The four planets themes are: Coral Jungle (drained ancient seabed), Fractured Desert (broken world, overlapping tectonic plates), Root Swap (dark, gloomy, the trees are so tall you can't see the tops) and finally Frozen Graveyard (Cold, dead, skeletal remains everywhere). So the idea of rebuilding using the lights in the ancient seabed is really cool. Then unlocking lava flows beneath the desert for Planet 2 is really awesome. Then Planet 3 being dark and gloomy, returning light to it would be great. Then there's Planet 4... yeah need to think on that one. Great ideas though, thanks so much, I think having each planet have its own unique way to unlock the dungeon which reflects the world is really cool. And like I said I get started on this in the Devlog later this week!

[@reignrl]

@@firedragon04 for the ice planet, you could heat up the ice to make pond/lake sections where you have to go underwater to do stuff. ik you mentioned lava on the desert world but maybe you could do something with oases, where you have to release water underground so it reaches the surface (?). idk just spitballing

[@firedragon04]

@@reignrl It's a good idea but I think heat and light are dealt with on planets 2 and 3 so 4 needs something more unique as the final planet I think. I'll give it some thought.

[@StiffAftermath]

The portals are a great addition to wrap up some loose environmental lore and tie the areas together. I love it 😊

[@venizz5112]

Another Space64 devlog! LET'S GO!

[@DavidiiXV]

Mad hype for the shout out! Thanks man

[@firedragon04]

It was a great idea and works great now 😄

[@firedragon04]

At 32:02 I begin to talk about changing Dungeon Shards into actual things you activate around the world, rather than collectibles. I'll go into details more about this next week including showing mockups for how this might work so stay tuned for that idea to flourish a little more, I'd still love to hear what you all think about that too though.

[@adamcampbell9806]

I think the membrane between the arms is a fantastic idea. I see your point how it would be weird if he was just stationary like that though. I realize this devlog is old so you've probably made some decisions already but I think if you go the membrane route the player should have some ability to glide upwards to some degree

[@caseyflipping2021]

I was playing tears of the kingdom and going through the big sky island in the beginning made me think about your plan with the map and gameplay in every planet

[@TheSpectralForce]

Your enemy designs are phenomenal

[@SkyeFarless]

The boosting looks hella fun, esp with the trick mechanics! I would play a ton of races/speed trials

[@rangerhfox]

gotta have some classic spyro style races

[@dansanga]

I've re-watched this one like 3 times already. Really good progress: lots of additions, bug fixes and refining of the general game design ideas. I love this stage of game development where you're free to just try out new things to see what sticks and nothing is off the table completely. Loving the enemy designs so far. The membrane design looks pretty cool but maybe it could be used for like a vent/geyser updraft lift mechanic instead of replacing the glider.

[@Philipp7604]

Here is another idea for the gliding animation: Maybe you could give the upper arms some kind of sci-fi wings. And the lower arm pair the same kind of boosters you already have on the feet. Then the gliding animation could look a little bit like ironman flying. With that in place you could combine the gliding and boosting mechanic. When boosting of a cliff you naturally transition in that gliding/flying animation.

[@mmmmmmmmmmm10]

That's actually really clever good work

[@usernamesareweird4880]

Going back and fixing stuff early on is probably a good thing

[@firedragon04]

Sometimes it isn't fixing, it's improving due to the amazing comments people leave. Other times it very much is fixing things which didn't feel great the first time I implemented them. I want to devote a few devlogs soon purely to combat too which is something I worked on while sick a month ago and haven't revisited it with more emphasis yet.

[@rookrac7068]

Love ur videos man and the art is so sick, this made my day

[@tTaseric]

The burrower is absolutely fantastic

[@jh4490]

Honestly I like the burrower with the hopper's colors more than the final color, almost gives me barnacle/flower vibes Other color ideas could be using moray eels or sea snakes for reference, something bright and colorful that says "stay away!"

[@StiffAftermath]

The portals are a great addition to wrap up some loose environmental lore and tie the areas together. I love it 😊 [Edit] keys and/or beams. Do both. Some variety of keys having one purpose, and beams raising a tower can be fun. As long as you distinguish each of their roles clearly.

[@firedragon04]

Yeah I'm thinking keys for smaller, local doors - and then beacons that shoot beams to open the main dungeon.

[@daviddryden7668]

I really dig the web wings, to me it feels like a cool extension of your character and their inate abilities. I feel like with the modern Zeldas and battle royales we do see a lot of gliders popping up, and to me this feels a bit more unique

[@maunoh4659]

You should add a water splashing trail behind the player, when boosting over water, so there's more feedback.

[@firedragon04]

Absolutely, I want to do something similar when on the ground too, like he's kicking up dirt and dust with the jets.

[@RohitVerma-fj4kz]

I have some suggestion which might fit more in lore: 1) Since the hopper is hostile, u can make the stone like part on their head be eyes which opens when they detect the player. 2) The burrow shows itself before v r even in its range so u can either make them passive that wont engage in combat unless u get close or make them appear only when u r in their range for surprise attack. 3) Instead of holding 2 gliders, the other pair of hand should hold something else like a gun or a map while gliding. by the way liked ur idea of gameplay just watched all the devlog. Great work, keep going.

[@daviddryden7668]

Loving these updates. I got back and forth on whether or not I like the compression edge crunchiness of the graphics - it absolutely sells and works as evoking the genre so I think you nailed it. But I would also be interested in a Settings toggle to make it crisper or not. Just a thought! Keep it going :D

[@firedragon04]

100% I’ll make sure there’s a toggle down the road. I want to tweak the pixelisation amount too.

[@ICLHStudio]

It's all looking very cool. One of the possible things you could do is something along the lines of making the main character draw in some kind of 'planetary energy' or something, to power things like the boost/glider, and make it so that the big ancient alien tech stuff is draining the energy to explain why some areas have access to that stuff and some don't. You can reinforce this with some kind of ominous energy-siphoning alien pylons or similar visual/environmental indicators that the energy is being pulled away in the areas that it's blocked off, and would open up lots of cool new possibilities for things like progression in the game sometimes involving destroying/deactivating these pylons to open up boost-type stuff in areas where it was formerly locked off, or even having certain areas or challenge rooms where there might be some kind of alien energy storage machinery that actually gives infinite energy in the vicinity. As for the glider vs wings thing, I feel like if the game has more acquirable/usable tools (Ala Zelda) then the Glider fits better thematically, whereas if it's more about either the main-character's suit having special abilities or about more sort of build-in-powers then the wingsuit design would fit better. I also feel like you could essentially repurpose the trick-jump air-roll to be the transition from vertical falling/jumping into the horizontal wing-gliding. Also, also, the wingsuit wings could also be perhaps fit into the boost-stopping animation, having the character open up his arms for a sec to use them as a parachute to stop his momentum faster. It could be pretty cool.

[@SamSantalaArt]

So I've been thinking the arms themselves and the glide pose could be better in terms of design, but didn't want to mention it because I imagine it's a lot of work, but now you mentioned the arm folds I can actually think of a way to combine all this into something I personally feel would be stronger: - The arms right now are quite uniform, and I feel increasing the size of probably the upper pair and decreasing the size of the lower pair would create a more visually interesting design. - I feel the pose of the boost could be leaning forward more, similar to how you see images of sprinters lean their upper body forward during a boost, and I think with a combination of leaning forward pose, some camera shake or vfx or something, the boost could feel a lot more powerful than it currently does. - Now onto the arm folds, I actually think this was a great idea, as it feels less like a Zelda clone and leans into your unique world a bit more. Combine this with larger upper arms, and a more forward leaning pose and you'd have something that feels more accurate to something like a flying squirrel which would feel and look great. Also, last point, the arm folds don't have to end at the hands, it could be that there's a bar that extends beyond the hands increasing the wind resistance ration and changing the silhouette enough to read as 'this is definitely gliding, not falling' Anyway, I know this is a lot of work for a suggestion, but I hope the input helps or inspires all the same :)

[@firedragon04]

The lower arms are quite shorter than the upper ones already actually, it's a little hard to see sometimes but they are - if you go back to Devlog 1 and when you see the player character in a T pose you can see they are shorter. But I do see what you're saying and these are good ideas.

[@designator7402]

You know what the boosting needs? Some really nice particle systems, really make you feel the impact your speed has on the world.

[@onlysmiles4949]

I really like the laser approach, there's another benefit that it shows what areas you've already been to. The biggest problem I can think of is that every one of these activation points would probably need line of sight to the tower, which might be a problem for the sub-areas (especially if they're low to the ground) One idea could be that some of the shards could need a sort of two-step activation, like the beam directs towards a crystal of sorts and the crystal can be rotated to face the tower (or maybe the crystal needs to be pushed)

[@firedragon04]

I'm thinking they beam up into the sky so they have clear sight and then beam from that spot in the sky down to the dungeon.

[@Morraak]

I think the membrane is a pretty cool idea instead of a glider. Kind of reminds me of Soul Reaver for some reason. I'm liking your enemy designs so far!

[@Workof]

Small thing maybe: when swimming the upper and lower pairs of arms could alternate instead of all 4 at once, I would imagine a 4 armed creature to swim that way. Would also make the linear swimming speed look more realistic

[@firedragon04]

That's a great idea for when I go back and polish up all the animations - thanks :)

[@SephirothinLEGO]

i love the burrower

[@videorowtv5198]

The burrowers are so tiny, they're cute

[@firedragon04]

These first few creatures are small - but will have variants which different colours and sizes too. While some of the other creatures I'll be making will act almost like mini-bosses and won't have variants but they'll be fairly large from the get go.

[@pokz3989]

I think it would be interesting to have some really fast attacking enemies which require the boost ability for dodging in combat.

[@firedragon04]

I'm thinking about adding very fast flying enemies so that could work!

[@MrClockworkable]

I kinda like the activating alien relics idea, as it gives more things for the player to do actively. You can decrease the number of things they need to activate, but work on making those areas feel play through, with more puzzles, challenges etc. Almost like mini-dungeons, that teach the player actives skills they might need to learn for the big dungeon. Like if there is a unique mechanic to the water planet dungeon, like raising or lower water, or perhaps stone platforms with guisers underneath that raise up and down. Etc. And these areas don't even need to 'look' like dungeons, they could just be linear terrain areas, the player has to navigate through them to get to the beacon, to activate them. You could also still have the collectibles, but rather than having them open the main dungeon, maybe you need to collect enough to light the beacons? Sort of like the beacons have lost their power and you need to refuel so they can power the main dungeon?

[@amyphillips6631]

I think an enemy that is like an alien combined with machine parts would be cool. Maybe enemies that you find in the dungeons are fused with alien tech, that makes them more difficult.

[@firedragon04]

You're on the same wavelength as me on that one. We have a main enemy race in the game which we first properly meet inside the first dungeon - they are a mixture of flesh, bone, machine, technology and different enemies in the race adhere to this techno-fusion more than others. I haven't' revealed this at all yet so great comment to suggest something I'm already planning that also links massively into the story.

[@AviusL]

Some upgrades that the player could collect could be a boost update. Making it a bit faster. So it could be fairly slow in the beginning :)

[@dabe4917]

If you want to be able to use items while you glide, then you should probably keep the hang-glider. Also for the vertical transition problem, you could either make the jumping/falling animation lean forward more, or, because he does have four arms; you could just rotate the body while still splaying the arms along the horizontal planes.

[@dabe4917]

Also as an additional thought, should the hopper be allowed to rotate mid air toward the player?

[@theportlyone333]

I'm imagining a giant Burrower boss that actually moves around the map

[@utoherozv]

Minor idea take it or leave it as always. I'm wondering if it'd be cool to have the Burrower's "warning" attack do something small and different compared to it's threatened attack. Might be too much work, and it's great as it is anyway. XD

[@firedragon04]

That should be easy to implement, right now it attacks if the player is within a certain range, so I can just add another variable that checks if it detects the player but the player is further away than its attack range - then it can do a specific warning animation.

[@utoherozv]

Interesting! :0 I thought it would be hard to implement. It's fascinating hearing what's easy and what's not, you know? I forget my beginner frustrations with Blender and Unity are of no reflection to someone who actively uses it. XD

[@vicarofleng23]

You could transition into membrane gliding from jumping/falling using the somersault animation. It would nicely contribute to the rhythm of traversal and give you an opportunity to visual reorient the PC.

[@morgan0]

the membrane wings could be an early game glider which you fall down but also forward, compared to the existing glider which you go forward but also down. so a fair bit less far for some amount of vertical distance, but maybe you fall faster and that angle and higher speed could be used in a more vertical level, once the player has had enough time with the hang glider

[@GrunkleSoos]

Have you considered using the shield as the glider? It would be really neat if he hung off the glider with two hands and used his other two hands for weapons. It would be really neat to have some air combat with weak spots that could only be hit while you're high up.

[@rookjack117]

concerning the glider, I think the old design looks odd because theres no real need for the second smaller glider, just becasue he has four arms dosnt mean he has to have them full all the time, the new webbed design is way cooler! and it would work really well with boosting - Boost off of a ramp, ledge and the animation transisition to horizontal gliding would work far better than just jumping off something. hope that makes sense. Loving this series! cant wait to play it!

[@CupCakeUnleashed]

For visual/audio feedback, you could have the boosters "power on" when you transition from dungeon to open area. Like a "booowoop, *lights up*

[@CupCakeUnleashed]

For the burrower, since we're using stargate as a ref. Would be cool to have a "queen" version, bigger, cant be beaten through normal means, a good way to redirect the player or have them explore an area more to progress.

[@firedragon04]

Yeah I love that idea, lights and sound to remind the player they can use these abilities again.

[@firedragon04]

@@CupCakeUnleashed Definitely planning on larger variants which have larger features and different colours for all the creatures.

[@movieking-qk4mw]

you should add a trading snail

[@thecanadianfood]

The web gliding looks cool. Do a barrel roll!

[@VelvetAura]

I'm not really certain about the membrane. It's a cool idea, but as you said, a little tricky to implement. An idea I had for the glider was actually to separate the shield so that two of the character's arms are holding one glider and two of them are holding the other. I guess I'm imagining something that would look similar to Deku Link's flower glide in Majora's Mask, just cause I think it'd look cool and hopefully take advantage of the uniqueness of having four arms.

[@Paul_Ward]

The burrower needs some effects when it strikes (maybe a small splatter or something). I didn't even know that it made contact until you said there you go, look at the health bar. I know sound effects will help but deaf people would still be none the wiser. As for the gliding, I think the technological glider you already made makes more sense as it fits the theme of using technology like with the suit, shields and boost boots.

[@firedragon04]

Yeah they'll be more clear cues to the attacks, particles, and hit reactions in the future so it will become much more clear when I add that kind of stuff.

[@kreenbopulusmichael7205]

Idk man, the jetboots and glider being restricted to the open area makes sense and its basically like how epona gives you more mobility in some areas, but she cant go in the more focused, puzzle based areas. but the idea of having dungeons and puzzles with items AND those interesting movement mechanics in mind does seem pretty cool aswell. also for the gliding animation, you take the animation you have now and simply make it more expressive, have the arms fully extended and make the membrane shake in the wind.

[@firedragon04]

That's how I think of it, just like Epona. You can't take her into Castle Town, or Kokri Forest. Maybe they'll be some subzones which are just like smaller areas of the big open world and these still let you boost and glide but when you enter a cave or smaller area these are the restricted areas. It lets me create more nuanced puzzles which work best without the boost and glide and then more traversal based areas where you need to use the boost and glide to get across gaps and areas you wouldn't be able to without them. I think this mix will feel best. But if I don't restrict the player at all, then all puzzles will have to be designed around boosting and gliding and you can only do so much without that getting boring.

[@Justan_Maxe]

I'm on Team Glider! It just needs some spice.

[@gryffin20]

Using the membranes to fly there could be a jump flip to get into the landing. If there's a way to measure how close to ground or water you are it could kick in automatically

[@bombinyourface55]

I would love to see the process of an intro cut scene !

[@firedragon04]

It's a much much bigger plan but I'm also hesitant of showing too much of the story yet because it's quite unique and the intro cutscene sets up a lot of things including your companion character and who the main enemy race are. I will definitely be showing some of the intro progress cut scene in the future though.

[@-C69-]

Use four shields as the glider. It already looks like the shields come out of a device on his forearms... You should expand on that and make the device on his arm act as a multi-tool that creates different energy weapons and gadgets. Even his sword could be an energy sword ala Halo.... Imagine four energy swords! lol

[@torugolago]

I think it would be interesting to implement a "getting hurt" animation for when a enemy hit's you, that kindda pushes back or unbalances the main character for half a second . Maybe if an enemy attack's you and the life gauge reaches 1/3 you really fall and have to get back up taking a little more than half a second. Or maybe this falling animation could be a "getting thrown" animation if the enemy is big enough.

[@firedragon04]

Definitely something that I want to add - "hit reactions" and such will be coming down the road.

[@ack5593]

So for the wingsuit thing if you were going to switch I was thinking to transition between falling and deploying wingsuit you could have the player use the boost as a little propulsion before transitioning into the wingsuit horizontal animation (so the player isn't falling during the animation but maintains y position). Or because that roll you implemented for the trick actually looked really good how about rolling in midair and then extending the wingsuit out during the roll before staying in a flat position. Issue is doing these kinds of stuff takes too much 'time' if you want a snappy glider, especially for platforming it might get really annoying. I think just sticking with a glider is best but the wingsuit is a cool idea.

[@jojoholden6411]

The burrowers tounge could stick to the player and drag them into his mouth before biting you

[@firedragon04]

I like this idea a lot.

[@Pichuscute]

The membrane idea does nothing for me, personally. I think the boosting over water idea is good, although I do wonder whether it could be made a bit more interesting. Could going over water take more stamina and/or feel a bit different for the player to control? Then maybe boosting over water becomes more of a risk/reward thing based on how much stamina you have or can keep up as you move across a water-y area. I'm imagining it kicking up a lot of water as you move across it, too, but obviously that's just a visual thing. Edit: Also, fyi, the new enemy's tongue is very difficult to see because it's so small, which will definitely have people questioning how they are taking damage. I know this is early days, but that's something to keep in mind. Edit2: The changes to the shards sound fantastic to me. Wayyyy more interesting than just a normal collectable. Anyway, keep up the great work! o7 Don't forget to stay your path regardless of what comments saying. We can sometimes be helpful, but we can often times be a perfect recipe for feature creep or losing track of your original concept, so stay safe out there heh.

[@longdongsilver3267]

Keep the paraglider and only use the sugar glider membrane if you build like a base jumping section in the game.

[@VelvetAura]

Maybe you could incorporate the trick system into the glide? I really like the system but I also think it would be neat if you could perform tricks with both actions since they both do use energy. Might be harder with the glide though since then you have to balance making the energy gain + altitude loss from the trick feel worthwhile with it not being too powerful, and you'll probably need different animations for transitioning from that glide to a trick. Still, I think it could be really fun to glide around and do little stunts in the air.

[@timmygilbert4102]

Yay! Looking good, you mentioned deactivating power when you enter a zone? How that's motivated?

[@firedragon04]

Going through the new 'gateways' will limit/remove enemy usage while being in the main open area will return the access of that to you. That's the plan anyway, it will be explained to players once they have the glider/booster and they go into one of the sub-zones.

[@nat-rose]

What if the burrower (or some upgraded version of it) could shoot its tongue out like a frog to you pull you closer to it before attacking? Then you’d have a split second to jump out of the way before it bites, creating this little mini game interaction

[@firedragon04]

Yeah that's a great idea. I'm thinking of different versions of the Burrower, one that is small and just bites, then one that is larger and can grab, then another that is ranged and can spit at you.

[@Tenchinu]

was thinking that, since the glider and shield looked like powered barriers, maybe you could implement energy consumption when the alien flys or gets hit? could incentivize players not to turtle and glide forever. Would also inspire players to look for energy cells to increase their charge, and kinda tied in lore wise that the alien is a resourceful adventurer

[@Ironwolf099]

Great stuff! I'm not really sure on the shard/beacon beams if they become a constant effect in the world when you activate them. Feels like it could start to visually clutter the world/sky when you turn a lot of them on, especially when you get to 30 beams. I like this dried up coral world and its visuals and the I'm not immediately keen on their being all of these lines that like "interrupt" the space. I could be wrong. It definitely seems like something we have to see if it works or not. Maybe they're not as intrusive as I believe they would be. I'm interesting in seeing the mockups you show in the next video. Idea. Maybe when you reach 15/30 it just plays a cutscene where beams shoot out of the all the key locations to the dungeon and it's a one time thing?

[@firedragon04]

So I'll talk about this A LOT more in next week's devlog. But basically the beam would shoot up into the sky so the player would know they've already been there and activated that and when this beam hits a certain height it would blast towards the dungeon. So only the sky gets a bit cluttered, while the main area stays fairly unchanged by this, unless you're at the dungeon - which I have an idea of it getting rebuilt as you activate more beacons.

[@Ironwolf099]

@@firedragon04 Can't wait to see it next episode then. Again, definitely seems like something you have to see to really gauge it.

[@AlynneTheFlorifant]

maybe for swimming one pair of arms does a different stroke vs the other pair, a stroke for steering and a stroke for propelling

[@xei2694]

Personally, I think the burrower should be just a smidge bigger. That would make the details come across better. But I dunno. Anyway, great work!

[@firedragon04]

Yeah I may tweak the sizes and such, but they'll also be variants which are larger and have different colours and such too.

[@Xeridae]

I think the burrower enemy should have a ranged attack. Otherwise, the player can comfortably walk past it without any reason to engage it. You could strategically place these to force the player to engage them with just a melee attack but it will feel cheap. Also, it adds some variation to the combat and makes use of the shield more to block these ranged attacks. I can imagine fighting a hopper and a burrower at the same time and having to manage the melee vs ranged aspects of combat all at once.

[@firedragon04]

That’s the hope and the plan, I’ve not implemented any sort of ranged attack system into the game yet but when I do I’ll start adding it to the Burrower, maybe make an alt variant called a Spitter.

[@MasterDisaster64]

Boosting looks a ton of fun now! So tricks give you more boost if you're going down than up, as a risk/reward mechanic?

[@firedragon04]

You can only do tricks in the air and only once per jump while boosting currently - this means it limits players from spamming it over and over to get lots of energy back quickly but still makes it really fun to chain together jumps to keep your energy up high so you can keep boosting for longer.

[@Bennnist]

@@firedragon04 you could potentially keep the “over charge” of gaining energy for a further speed boost while you have more than 100% energy with a bigger particle effect and speed

[@kiy8415]

ngl it would be cool if some days you developed this on live it would be cool

[@firedragon04]

I could do that. I’ve been debating using premieres for some of the videos too so I can chat to people as they watch it live, like a mini-event. But yeah streams would totally be possible.

[@kiy8415]

@@firedragon04 Yea I think it would be a more interactive experience with your fans.

[@azordom5449]

You are making an awesome game. Your idea of beams is actually great, but what if you had an object that "filled" with the necessary parts to open the massive dungeon instead? that way you would know how many more parts you need. Like one single key that needs... energy?

[@robinHobin]

boosting mario kart style

[@TheSoulmarine]

Maybe you can use spiderman membrane thingy for slow falling instead, to remove fall damage from big heights?

[@thelordz33]

I think it would make a lot of sense if you could use up like a full bar of energy and then use the rocket boots to jump up the number of bars you use, kinda like a double jump but the number of jumps is dependent on your energy.

[@kenneydude14]

i feel like swimming should be even slower to make jumping across and seeking out platforms more worth it rather than just swim across! although a water enemy might help. great progress!

[@firedragon04]

This comment made me realise that with my new water system that adding a water enemy would be much easier now! Very excited about that now. And yeah I think cutting the players speed by a third or so while in water is a good point.

[@kenneydude14]

@@firedragon04 also, really wise rewriting the system rather than powering through something more advanced than you really needed. i find that really difficult sometimes!

[@morgan0]

32:44 maybe have some number open a door, and every few more makes some final platforming easier, though idk how to communicate that to players in a way that makes sense in the game world

[@morgan0]

so return players who are trying to speedrun it could do less early on in exchange for some much harder platforming (or more enemies, etc), while players who struggle at it could go do more and make it a bit easier

[@ShadowGirlyz]

Just found you through your old days as FyreUK. Was watching the old Mianite series and got curious as to what happened with you amazing people, so I subbed and love your content!

[@firedragon04]

Much appreciated. You won't find much (any) Minecraft here anymore but hopefully you enjoy the new content.

[@ShadowGirlyz]

@@firedragon04 I do miss the Minecraft stuff, but I do enjoy what you’re making now. Glad to see you didn’t completely disappear!

[@firedragon04]

@@ShadowGirlyz I haven't played Minecraft in over 6 years and life is much better without it so I wouldn't miss that content too much yourself.

[@antonzhirnov882]

How about to use the glider as it is now, but if you turned on a bust mode it replacing vertical slow glider to the fast wingsuite mode which moves faster an falls slower but requires much more stamina or special items. It will allow you to make a high action gameplay fliyng sections with some air rings to restore stamina or like that.

[@souzaluis251]

I like the old glider better. I fell like it could be used for other features, like a shield or something like that. The new one will make the animation look weird and can't be anything but a glider.

[@Caltuit]

I was wondering if you could show just a little of your texturing process. I have very little experience with it so some insight would be appreciated.

[@KingDylanT]

What if you add a plant or rock that looks similar to the burrower, so it a guessing game if you have to fight or if you’re safe.

[@jedyzichterman358]

9 minutes in, so you may implement this later on in the devlog, but would it not make more sense to have more mini-crystals in the tutorial crash-site area so you can make sure the player has to thoroughly explore it and familiarize themselves with the mechanics rather than having them collect one and being done with it? That would make it work better as a microcosm of the larger gameplay loop as well imo EDIT: I rather like the membrane idea for the glider, you could even implement the booster on his legs to act as counterthrusters in the animation, which fits the more advanced athleticism the character now has. I imagine boosting off a rampart and somersaulting into this bio-wing suit will have a pretty satisfying gamefeel to it.

[@hamboy2610]

Instead of the tricks being random, maybe pull a Mario Kart 8 and choose the trick you do by holding a direction then tricking. Also think it would be cool if you got a tiny little upwards momentum boost when you trick.

[@rookrac7068]

I like both of the glide animations but the one with the membrane looks a lot cleaner to me but looks a lot faster, mabey when you start the game u have the Og glider but later I can find the membrane thing or craft it or sunnin and it will just be a better glider that will let you get to places you could get before

[@rookrac7068]

Last idea I promise, mabey some like guisers or like air things could shoot up from the ground and if you walk on top of them or glide over them they shoot you up and let you glide more

[@lennysmileyface]

I think it would look cool if you replaced the climable vines with some low poly vines. It currently kind of clashes with the other plants that are 3D imo.

[@firedragon04]

I'm not sure exactly do with the vine walls yet but they are most certainly not final yeah, it's a much more "pixel art" kind of texture compared to the rest of the game, so it does clash and it's something I want to work on in the future for sure.

[@nexxai]

I know this DevLog has been superseded by more, but just wondering: a lot of this episode (like I'm sure future ones will be) consist of you pressing keys to do actions. Would it maybe make sense to actually show on screen - maybe as some kind of debug area on the viewport - which keys are being pressed/held so that rather than you saying "I'm holding A" or whatever, we can see what's being pressed to create the action on screen?

[@firedragon04]

I haven’t really thought about that, it depends what I’m doing I guess. Not a bad idea though.

[@ashantismith9926]

I think the new enemy should pull you in with its tongue and bite you when it pulls you in Also I think it should only pull you in when your like a foot a front of it

[@MarathonGuy1337]

You may already be planning this but if be very cool if the different creatures would attack each other that be a great way of show casing to the player mabye enemy attack patterns or somthing. Also it might be cool for some type of none native enemies. Your likely planning somthing like already with the dungeon but thought I'd mention it.

[@firedragon04]

Yeah for this first planet you only run into native wildlife but as soon as you enter the dungeon, it all kicks off!

[@MarathonGuy1337]

@@firedragon04 evil ancient robot cultists should have known

[@firedragon04]

@@MarathonGuy1337 I actually think when I reveal more of the story and who the main enemies are (which you first meet in the first dungeon) people will flip out, either in a good way or a bad way - but the story I have planned to tell is a bit of a weird one and I don’t think people will see it coming.