Beacons & Answers // DEVLOG #10

[@disillusionedplayer]

It’s crazy how much past Matt knows about what future Matt will be doing.

[@firedragon04]

Past Matt is an enigma! I need to be careful, he may take over 👀

[@RafaMartinelli]

He even has the UI future Matt is going to make! That’s a mystery for sure! 😂

[@alexatisdell]

What you can do is make the energy diamond be a child of an empty, have the diamond be offset as if the character is there, then have the empty simultaneously constantly update it's rotation towards the camera, and also update it's position to the character's position. That way it won't constantly flip, and it will just stay in place on whatever side you've positioned it.

[@firedragon04]

Ooooh great idea! This is why I love making Devlogs, people come up with creative solutions to my weird implementations 😂

[@RafaMartinelli]

I think I get your idea and it sounds great!😊 Can you explain it differently? The part about the empty confused me a bit - an empty what? An actor? A UI element?

[@alexatisdell]

@@RafaMartinelli oh! An empty game object. Idk about other engines, but in unity and I believe in unreal, every object in a game is a game object with different attributes like a mesh rendering component or collision data. And empty game object is just a game object that only holds positional data and that's it

[@RafaMartinelli]

@@alexatisdell Thanks for the reply! That's what I thought you might be talking about and it seems like a sweet solution! 😊

[@timmygilbert4102]

I was about to type that 😂 good suggestion

[@Any_key404]

You can make the health a bar that goes up the spine of the character, or is a strip a tank/backpack on the back of the character. Most of the time you see the character from behind so the indicator will nearly always be on screen and given the futuristic look and use of glowing blue elements a red element won’t break the design language of the game.

[@morgan0]

could also have the character look fairly shiny at full health, dull at medium health, and cracked with energy glowing out at low health

[@lookitStevens]

I was thinking the exact same thing and actually came to the comments to say just that. Take the Dead Space approach. With the sci-fi aesthetic of the game you could very easily make a "fuel gauge" display on the armor.

[@realfrug5694]

Or keep it as is, but have it be a hologram projected out of the suit.

[@Any_key404]

@@lookitStevens I’ve never played Dead Space and had to look up how they handled this and yes, exactly. It must be a decent solution as it’s already been used.

[@davidjak8516]

you could try putting the hud info on the back of the caracter on the model like deadspace does

[@SamiRauf1]

Great series to follow! What if the health bar was more like that of Dead Space? With the health being a visual element on the player character? Perhaps something with the diamond on the back of the suit instead of a health bar running down the spine?

[@SDev]

It is incredible that 10 weeks have already past since I saw your first video

[@firedragon04]

Thank you all for making it possible to reach 10 weeks of Devlogs and Development on Space64. I've seen all your comments on this video already about how to implement the energy diamond into the game more efficiently so that it still follows the player but never rotates around - so thank you all for those comments. I will be implementing one of those methods soon and we won't ever have to talk about this again 🤣 ▶ New Devlog's later in June... I'm cooking up some big new things for the game so please be patient. Join the Discord Server: discord.gg/c4nXf2FRtg

[@SkyeFarless]

I like health in the upper left, but if you wanted it next to the character, maybe you could tie the display to whether or not your sword is drawn. That way if you are missing just a little, you can hide the UI by sheathing your sword.

[@firedragon04]

That's actually a good idea. Only problem is receiving damage from other sources, would it just appear for a few seconds then (even if sword is sheathed) and then if your sword is unsheathed it is permanently visible... Hmmm... good idea though - it's given me some food for thought. 🤔

[@tTaseric]

I really love the diamond following the player. Really sets it apart from other games while still making it visually interesting. Will make boosting around a lot more fun as the player has something to keep their attention.

[@firedragon04]

Thanks, I think so too. It also means players aren’t distracted checking their energy in the top left all the time too. They can focus on what’s around them and in front of them.

[@utoherozv]

The beacon was brilliant in execution. :D

[@adamp3988]

Man, this game is shaping up to be fantastic! You've done great work thus far, and I really like that you're taking inspiration from older titles that also had slightly different player control mechanics than the stuff that later went on to define 3d action games / platformers as a genre. Specifically, I mean the idea of having jumping be automated as opposed to directly controlled; I feel like that's really going to help with the fluidity of combat and exploration. It's one of those things where most developers wouldn't even think to try it despite it opening up the potential for innovation in how these games can play. When it comes to limiting the boosts like in Super Mario Sunshine, I think you're absolutely right to want to restrict them in smaller areas to assist with level design! Allowing boosts everywhere would either trivialize the challenge in a level or require a lot more complexity than I think is necessary (or even beneficial) to your current design. Also, as I think you mentioned in a previous devlog, it would probably invalidate the "normal" movement mechanics... For instance, in games where the player can walk instead of run, they'll never walk if there's no reason to do so --- no one wants to take longer to get somewhere. Adding the stamina bar alleviates this somewhat, but it introduces a cycle that can be irritating to players when it's coupled with more advanced movement mechanics like boosting and gliding; it'd encourage the player to stop moving, wait for their stamina to regenerate, and then continue with the "easier" movement mechanic once it's available again. That'd likely inspire tedium, like "why do I have to wait every 15 seconds just so I can keep playing the game?" So, while I am definitely a proponent of restricting access to those abilities and limiting them to areas more suitable for the kind of movement they provide I think you might want to consider the context with which you're justifying this. Generally, players hate having things *taken* from them... That's not the same as *consuming* something, such as ammunition, or health --- both of those things kind-of imply that a "trade" has occurred. Like, you don't just "lose" ammo --- you use it to fire a weapon. Similarly with health --- it's tied to your ability to contend with the game's combat / obstacles. In this case (and, indeed, in the case of Super Mario Sunshine), there isn't really a trade going on. In Mario, Bowser Jr. just robs FLUDD off your back before you enter the area, and there's no explanation of how you even manage to get it back at the end of the level. Even in Elden Ring, Torrent dissolves upon entering certain areas without any major justification other than there's a random "magic portal" that means the area will (probably) be harder to traverse now. These things inherently feel like things are just being "taken" from you for the sake of making the game more difficult. The "fix" to this doesn't really need to be one of implementation, though! Take, for instance, the concept of a "vehicle" --- of course you can't drive a huge car (or horse, as could have been the case with Torrent) into a tiny cave, so those things are going to have to be left at the entrance. It feels less like the game is arbitrarily stripping you of something to inflate the difficulty, and more like a "logical" switch of context. I'm not suggesting you add a vehicle to your game in place of the boost boots, but rather to consider the problem like one where you need to come up with a reason for the player to "leave their boots at the door" --- even if only symbolically (i.e. the jets retract into the boots or something). I'm not sure that this would be a "good" solution, but an example of this might be by having the boots (or more advanced movement-features of the entire suit) be powered by access to (even indirect) star light. Essentially, you need to be in an area that has an open sky or is *near enough* to an open sky to reasonably power the suit (like under arches and overhangs). Then, if you want enclosed areas wherein the player can use their boosts, you present an "artificial star" fixture that powers the suit while it's within its radius. You could even have lore justifications for this, such as remnants of prior expeditions that needed to power their own equipment that have artificial starlight and cables running back to the surface or a crack in the wall. Hell, even an inaccessible hole in the cave ceiling could work, if you want to imply the reasoning to your player! If you need a "natural" solution, maybe there are crystals or ores that provide this unnatural light! And specifying star light could still work in nighttime areas, because the sky is full of stars --- it's not the visual brightness, but rather the invisible contact. Most importantly, though, that kind of a solution wouldn't require much more implementation than you already have. You only need props and "explanations" to make it work.

[@vicarofleng23]

I think you could take a cue from Deadspace and integrate the energy diamond into the player model itself like a glowing gauge on the back plate of the armour.

[@whosthatkiddx4089]

Don't mind me, just helping the algorithm 🔥

[@legendairymilkman6734]

This has became my favorite series to watch 😃😊

[@mxwoods3]

Just wanted to say I think these videos are extremely inspiring and wanted to thank you personally for sharing these devlogs. I hope this game becomes way more then devlogs, and eventually gets published for a full release. I know all of this is ALOT of hard work... I hope these comments and support help show how important this game has become to your audience and continues to motivate you to push forward.

[@KasperDevUnity]

"this is going to be a shorter DevLog" proceed to making the second longest. love it❤

[@firedragon04]

Content wise it was pretty short as I only focused on 2-3 things and I showed more working/in-engine stuff than usual. But hopefully that was okay for folks and they still enjoyed it.

[@AmericanToxin]

I had an idea for a somewhat of a mini boss that possibly shows up occasionally throughout the game, maybe on every other world, somewhat like the bounty hunters in Jedi Survivor that randomly appear, but instead of bounty hunters they're treasure hunters mainly appearing when you first open/exit the dungeons, looks are up to you but i pictured an alien creature like the Predator almost. Would love to see something like this implemented though, keep up the amazing work!!

[@Zettabit7]

Congrats on double digits! Looking forward to the next 10 devlogs.

[@timmygilbert4102]

Goldeneye had temporary health system. You had to pause to verify what's in. Zelda have sound feedback when in low health, you can probably have a mix of the two. Just make the sound ominous but less annoying, panting and a hurt animation or texture might help convey the urgency.

[@ashb899]

I love this series. It's one of my fav dev logs

[@DaydreamStudios_Official]

Number 10! I'm so happy to be on this amazing journey! I love where this game is headed. Keep up the inspiring work

[@tehaudam4129]

A sleek fix to the hovering stamina thing around the player is to make it an actual object that floats with you. Like an AI companion. Then it makes a lot more sense and is more grounded in the world. To make it fit better you could have it randomly say lines and even have it say specific lines when the story requires it.

[@kreenbopulusmichael7205]

the stamina indicator is fine being attached to the player, just make the rotation rate abit lower so it doesnt jump so fast when turning around ? could be a better solution IDK, possibly make it lerp to a certain location near the player at all times ? might be too much for what its worth though. and for the combat animations I had two ideas, the first is possibly scaling up or reworking the sword into a two hander and have both arms on the right side hold it, I think that could help with some of the awkwardness of the animations without having to become a much better animator over night. second, and this is only a suggestion because I honestly dont know if it would even work but its how I faked squash and stretch in my game, basically everytime you attack you'd want to execute a function thats just a timeline with two float tracks, one track for the z axis, and one for the XY axis, that sets the scale of your character mesh, something like a value of 1 to .75 back to 1, over the course of .5 seconds for the Z track, and a value of 1 to 1.25 back 1 for the XY track, this is ofcourse assuming your meshes are to scale when importing them and didnt need to be rescaled in engine. it could also look really terrible but its worth a try I think.

[@mmmmmmmmmmm10]

Love the music in the background. Cant hear it well but its sounds like MGLA style blackened metal. Thanks for sharing, great video to watch on a saturday morning, always look forward to it each week.

[@MythicMoai]

These videos are amazing! Keep up the amazing work!

[@venizz5112]

Looking great!

[@Morraak]

The beacon animations look good so far! Keep up the great work :D

[@firedragon04]

Thanks, I really want a close up of the player's hand touching the pedestal first and then cutting to the wide shot. I like the idea of showing the player interacting more, to feel like you're really touching the world and relics.

[@meiden7620]

I thought it could be cool if the stamina diamond was directly in the center of the character's back but then I remembered that, that would not work cause if you were gliding or sprinting while facing the camera you wouldn't be able to see your stamina( besides the one in the corner obviously)

[@morgan0]

imo the boosting would feel more powerful (“i gotta turn my boost off in here, i don’t want to slam into the rocks”) if it had much slower turning than walking, and maybe you can’t even stop suddenly, the momentum keeps you going a bit further

[@firedragon04]

It kind of has these already to a degree, the rotation especially is far far slower than walking. But I think more gradual speed up to full speed and then again a gradual decrease down to normal walking speed again would feel better.

[@NihongoWakannai]

For the stamina wheel you can just make it follow the player character's position and then give it an offset based on the camera's horizontal axis instead of offsetting it based on the character's horizontal axis.

[@godsturf8210]

BotW gives their stamina wheels multiple outlines as you upgrade it, which is a simple and elegant way to display multiple wheels with a single icon. Another solution could be to layer other colored diamonds over the original (like brighter cyans?) so that as it depletes it reveals the initial diamond, which would then deplete when the second layer was totally gone. For health, Elden Ring displays the healthbar only when enemies have noticed you, and disappears when you leave combat for a few seconds, but always allows the player to check it anytime by simply pressing the confirm button (Y), which normally does nothing outside of menus. It allows for a clear and immersive HUD while exploring but makes it hard to accidentally enter combat with low health.

[@YourFavouriteColor]

a little animation advice(from an animator!) if you observe how ocarina handles attacks vs movement, pay attention to footwork, and how the feet don't assume a ready stance, then slide back into an idle after every attack. When he draws his sword, his whole stance changes. his knees are bent and his feet are planted, so all the attacks have natural, satisfying footwork with planted feet and weight. Only after you stop attacking for a while does he sheath the sword and transition to the idle stance. So you need two idles. One "in combat" idle where the feet are planted and ready to fight, and the other as a walking idle where the sword is put away. In terms of running while attacking, it's a bit tough to pull off because it's hard not to make it look "casual" and without intensity. Most games don't have attacking while moving, as the footwork and movement is bakes into the attacks. Personally, I think there is tons of potential in running while attacking. Still, it's hard to avoid the "casual feet while attacking" problem. I have two pieces of advice for this. 1. if you attack while moving, have an alternative jog that's more of a "prance" more of an active run with some bounce, so when you're swashbuckling the sword, the lower and upper bodies share a similar energy. 2. get rid of slashing while jogging, and implement a JOUSTING system with your jet boost. While jet boosting, you can hold your sword out and clothesline enemies. do big damage, watch em go flying! so much potential there. or you can SHIELD while dashing and ram enemies into oblivion. I think you're sitting on a goldmine there. PS I think you get WAY too much dash energy. you can cruise at like mach 2 for like a minute straight. With that much in the tank, all the feelings of speed and excitement kind of just turn into a cruise control on the highway, like a commute to work rather than adventuring. I'd go more BOTW, the jet can be upgraded, but ultimately it's not designed for "road trips." it's designed for bursts of intensity. I understand your desire to feel small in a big world, but if you closed the distance between points of interest by like 20%, and you burned jet energy MUCH faster, AND you include ramming-based jet combat, you wouldn't lose the epic scope and you'd only gain.

[@Paul_Ward]

Totally agree with restricting certain mechanics in particular areas. Changing up the dynamic is a great way to keep the game engaging, from a game design perspective I would just make sure there is a reason, either in lore or certain actions, to explain why these things can't be used.

[@firedragon04]

100% will be lore focused yeah

[@Paul_Ward]

Great, I look forward to learning about it! Also, for what it's worth, I find the stamina/boost UI really jarring when it switches from left to right on the one frame. I know it might feel different when playing as opposed to watching footage, mind you. If the UI element had a smooth transition from left to right, that might be better in my opinion, but I know the character controller is designed to instantly change direction on the one frame and the UI element is a child to the character (or whatever the term is for UE). I'm not sure if there is an effective workaround for that. If it were me, I would want it to stay on the left or right of the character regardless of what direction the character is facing. Maybe it can be determined by relation to the camera? Sorry, I have no UE experience, so I'm just guessing here, so apologies if I'm coming across as ignorant

[@firedragon04]

@@Paul_Ward will definitely be revising that soon. The systems all work so it’s just tweaking it now to stay in screen space, face the camera and follow the player - rather than being attached to the player so that it snaps on rotation.

[@Paul_Ward]

Thanks for the quick replies! I did think it must be possible to have it follow the player, but my brain wasn't finding the words I wanted 😅 Also, I've been writing these comments as I watch so I hope you're all well after hearing some things have thrown you off lately - best wishes!

[@rookrac7068]

Sick

[@BackwardLaser]

It would be neat to have a few “hologram/projector“ lines from the suit to the energy Diamond.

[@MarathonGuy1337]

Yes my dumb ass question made the cut. Seriously this is a great series of videos and right now your just shy of 100 people who are interested in playing the game.

[@fluentdebreseJg]

Looks great dude!

[@jinenjipeke]

i have an idea about the pillars of the last structure: you could activate them at the end of each area and the cutscene show you the pillars in front of the structure as they activate. and/or you could arrange the pillars in a position that reminds the position of the areas or the point of interest of the area in the world, as if the pillars where a massive stylized scale model of the playable world. i like the idea of each pillar representing an area. just like the statues of shadow of the colossus, if you know what i mean. sorry for my horrible english, still learning. wonderful video, keep developing like this cause nothing will stop me to buy this game dayone

[@StiffAftermath]

"Space 64" is such a retro name! I love it 😅 ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ can on screen until nothing is happening, then it disappears. Its also weird that the camera does not lead the character...and for functionality, the more extreme camera lag may be a feature that just adds unnessessary visual motion. Some is nice though.

[@BeardedCatDad]

Unreal is also weird by having the default ThirdPerson setup use the negative forward input key (default S) to turn the character around instead of having the character back up. This results in the player character awkwardly moving towards the camera and the camera not seeing what is in front of the player.

[@BeardedCatDad]

Hell, now that I think about it this would also solve his stamina flip-flopping issue since it would always be on the character's side he offset it to be on.

[@torugolago]

About the boost and life meters: I think the ideia to keep the boost one as a 3d object within the world is great, it could be like a hologram that the suit would project at the side of the character so he could see how much energy he has left (and then you could add a light effect to make clear its a hologram). About the life meter, maybe you could do something akin to Dead Space's life meter, like little gauges build on the characters back filled with light that fill or decrease according to his life points.

[@checkbox.entertainment]

"This is going to be a shorter dev log" (is longer than the previous dev log)

[@Simi2681]

I really enjoy the boost indicator, but have you considered integrating the feature into the character's clothing? Since you already have the boost meter below the health bar, it feels like there's an opportunity to be even more creative with the one in the middle of the screen.

[@firedragon04]

Kind of yes, there’s a companion character who I want to get in game soon and they may “project” holographic things and be usable as a source of the energy indicator.

[@Simi2681]

@@firedragon04 Cool, looking forward to seeing it.

[@robinHobin]

The lagged camera is definitely better

[@AlynneTheFlorifant]

In star wars battle front you have a droid that basically holographically displays your health and hud and seach. so there is this in world thing that shows you your healthbar on the top, which i really like. Also that could tie in with a companion, or your armor, its a display, and every time you get hit, your armor flashes red, instead of your whole character. and that shows the difference in health than,

[@DawsonDDestroyer]

My Ideas: One of the planets be aesthetically based on Destiny 2's radiant cliff map. The golden grass and pink/red leaves on trees make for a very unique and beautiful world which could be admired more particularly in they type of game you plan on making. Maybe overall taking more visual inspiration from Destiny in general as well. Parry System, this one seems like a no-brainer especially with the inspiration of Zelda games, the modern games all having some sort of parry system. This also awards players for being more skilled. Each planet have a different primary function. What I mean is each planet be primarily one thing. One can be mainly exploration based and the objectives be based on exploring. Another could be puzzle based in which you primarily have to solve puzzles to progress. A third could be primarily based around combat maybe even implementing several mini-bosses you have to fight in order to proceed. And the final planet could take all of these into account to be the most challenging and climactic where players have to combine all their acquired skills. I'd also like to see some sort of story element that forces the player to go back to each planet for a little bit; My idea could be you meet some sort of final boss villain at the end of the last planet in which you get a key of some sort which can access something in the alien ruins of the other planets, now each planet would be filled with the main villains minions and you unlock a smaller new area that again implements all skills acquiring something at the end of each planet that would allow you to take on the final villain. Final Villain pre-fight. Before actually getting to fight the final villain maybe you could have an entirely unique ship combat section to disable the enemy ship in space where you then board them and get your way to the main villain. Weapons. I really really loved the ratchet and clank series as a kid, specifically Up Your Arsenal on the PS2, I am not sure how you feel about ranged weapons but in general the entire way the weapon concepts work in the game could be very fun and well implemented into your game even if it's entirely just applied to melee weapons. Taking inspiration from the series in general could be good in your game as they're both space adventures, and potential inspiration for the companion. Basically a large unique arsenal potentially with upgrades to their functions/damage. Your digger enemy could take a little inspiration from the electric eel since it is supposed to be evolved from a sea creature, electricity coming from its mouth could make it much more visually interesting and it could give players a sense of immersion if it is recognizable as inspired by electric eels. Progression. Not sure if this would entirely make sense with the story you have in mind but since I don't know what you have in mind I will give you my idea. The First and Last planets should be predetermined but perhaps you could let the player pick the second and third planet based off of some limited information and this could either alter the story/ending or it could not entirely up to you, but it would give the players at least a small amount of feeling of control. Extra Planet. This could be implemented a couple of ways, firstly if you go with something along the above idea you could make it so that the players will have to play the game again to see every planet since they didn't choose a certain one giving the game a bit of replay ability. Or a second option I thought of, maybe it is some sort of secret planet that you can only get to by accomplishing something. Perhaps if you collect all the keys on the first 3 planets you get to go to the extra secret smaller planet before going to the final one which could give you a legitimate benefit of some sort. Maybe it could even lead to an alternate ending planet meaning again you would have to play the game a second time if you wanted to see every planet. This could also tie into achievements obviously. Or it could lead to absolutely nothing as a bit of a joke, you open up some sort of super epic storage or chest for it to be empty. And if you don't want to be too mean maybe they pick up whatever would have been inside when they try to leave, maybe an enemy has it or something. Particle effects. It would be cool if your boosters stayed on when gliding. And it would also be cool if when boosting across water a ripple effect is left behind. Also I think stuff needs to physically glow more, I think that could give the game a really beautiful touch. First Planet. I think it's not saturated enough. The color scheme is fine but I feel like all the colors are dull and not as visually interesting as it could be. Sky. For the skies of the planets I think it would be super super cool if you made them all unique, maybe some skies aren't blue like earth's, maybe some of them have multiple moons or suns, maybe one is in a perpetual eclipse because of the placements of the sun and moon/other planets. Also a day and night cycle could be really cool, Daytime could have a beautiful sky and night time could have beautiful glowing plant/bug life to make the world feel alive. NPCS. I know you said there wouldn't be traditional NPCS but I think that is a somewhat missed opportunity, at the very least you could have one planet with maybe a city or something. What is the point of having a world with no one to love in it. Side characters are often the most loved characters in games. It doesn't need to be game packed with NPCS but just some for the player to love and others for the players to hate. Maybe a shopkeeper type thing that can be found on or between the planets in which you can get certain weapons and or upgrades to weapons. Maybe you could have a certain amount of upgrades available in the shop too like booster/glider efficiency allowing you to go further or faster, health and energy canisters obviously limited and expensive, and other unique things that could help the player in fun ways. Specific NPC Idea. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the avatar series (not the blue one), there is a certain character who is shown throughout the entire story, the cabbage man. He always has a cart of cabbages that gets destroyed. A character somewhat similar to this could be introduced maybe even as the shopkeeper. I imagine they would be introduced as soon as you get to the planet. Your escape pod lands on their little shop and they run away before you get out. This could also be the incentive to leave the starting area, to find and apologize to the shopkeeper. They could also sell you the traversal equipment on the first map, feed you the lore of the planet to a surface degree, and continue to be a punchline later on. Maybe something you do or something like an earthquake causes their second shop to be destroyed so they move to another planet which just so happens to be where you go and eventually the same thing happens etc... Heck they could even eventually become the final villain being a bit of a plot twist if you wanted it to be extra comical. I have binge watched 1-10 of the devlogs before writing this. These are all the ideas I could come up with for now I hope at least a couple of them are useful to you and help improve your game.

[@LadAussie]

My guy here has a big plan back that could house an energy diamond instead of having it appear next to them. Dead spaceish. Not the best for when your not facing away but I dont think that would be much of an issue. certainly would add some depth. Alternatively a projected hologram type thing, energy one side, health the other

[@StarMan_2004]

I think when you upgrade the diamond boost meter in the future instead of having multiple you can have it be a gold color something and when it goes down all the way it becomes the original color like the gold hearts in terraria

[@VelvetAura]

This is an idea that I suggested but with the stamina bar in a previous devlog comments section, but maybe add a health gauge on the character model's back? I like this for the health more, personally. I think it could be fine to have it be a detail that's always there regardless of the health bar in the corner, and maybe introduce a toggle setting for the health bar, similar to how Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have that 'Pro' HUD mode. That way, if the player wants to have that completely immersive no-HUD experience they still can, while also not having it be distracting to the player otherwise.

[@AlynneTheFlorifant]

OH also, with the "remote" swinging of the sword, it's mostly the fact that the other arms dont counterbalance you swingin a blade around, if you would have some extra animations for the rest of the arms to offset the attacking animation, it would look loads better i feel, and you can just turn those off while running. Sorry about my sentence structure and bad english btw. EDIT: you litteraly added what i was typing, while i was typing it...

[@StayHydrated41]

I wonder if you could do something like dead space where the health is always shown on the characters' suit. Like just a visual line or shape to show the health, that way when you get a heath upgrade you could also give a slight visual update to the suit as well

[@CupCakeUnleashed]

Cosmos with Dune font

[@AlynneTheFlorifant]

separatly on the diamond, the first option is definitly prefered with the camera lag. But maybe try and push the diamond always on the right of the player, i think that will help with looking weird , because it's nice if the ui never changes place,

[@silverwulf8640]

Instead of the UI that is like zeldas have you considered making the health and energy like its done in Dead Space where its attached to the character itself. I feel like it could make the character a little more interesting to look at and could lead to more customization where upgrading health and energy changes how it looks which could lead to a more satisfying progression

[@coreybananas]

I like the more dynamic camera but it's a little extreme. Try making it more subtle :)

[@ACouchpirate]

"This week is going to be little bit shorter devlog"... It's actually almost 2 minutes longer 😂 Also while I like the feedback feeling of the energy bar becoming smaller, I think it makes it harder for it to do its actual job, which is to convey how much energy you have left. Lastly, I saw a lot of people talking about diegetic UI on the character as well, and I think that would suffer from the same problem, it works in Deadspace because the camera is right behind the player, but since it's so far away in this game I think it would turn out problematic.

[@mmmmmmmmmmm10]

I think one of the issues with feedback is people will comment on small things like the hud or climbing speed or an animation. it can make you look at the finer details and spend time reiterating rather than spending time on the big things like finalising the moveset or setting out the levels in low fi. Tricky to balance.

[@firedragon04]

Very true, and I'm still navigating that balance of implementing feedback and progressing the game for myself but I feel like this episode was 50/50 on that.

[@gamongames]

Idk about Unreal but in Unity we could do that energy diamond by just having it be a normal screen space UI following a translated world position, in this case the character, with a lateral offset. Im sure there must be something similar in Unreal so it may be worth searching for it. not gonna lie, it switching positions suddenly like that is very jarring.

[@firedragon04]

Yeah it’s not ideal, there’s already been a few great ideas suggestions from people on how to fix that so I’ll work on that soon.

[@lambbonesdev]

Actually I think keeping the 64 in the name may be a good idea, I think it immediately gets the idea across that you’re inspired by those games just from the title and that may help you reach the audience that would be interested in something like this Doesn’t necessarily need to be Space 64 of course

[@firedragon04]

People may expect it to be closer to a 64 game though, and my plans are to just be reference that era not directly mimic

[@NotPayton]

let's go 😎🤝

[@mmmmmmmmmmm10]

11:45 looks good. It doesnt jump from left to right and instead goes behind his head. Much better imo. Thats me personally, i never liked camera lag and always preferred the camera to orient behind the player quicker rather than slower. Otherwise you always have to use the right stick to move the camera. I noticed my son whos almost 4 only uses left stick in games so when he plays 3rd person games often he cant see where hes going. With an option to reduce camera lag and always be behind character he could play it properly.

[@mmmmmmmmmmm10]

Probably not a big deal though either way though, seems like a minor thing either way.

[@BlazeHeartPanther]

Not only did you release your devlog today (as you usually do) but Legend 64 has returned after a while and posted his new devlog of his N64 inspired game of the same name. I definitely recommend you check out his vids here on KZbin too, his stuff is very cool. One question I have (if you choose to answer of course) is would you be willing to release a demo of the first level on Steam? Kind of like what Bynine Studio did with his N64 inspired game Cavern of Dreams a few months ago?

[@gammerboy1999]

When it comes to health you could have that follow the diamond motif somehow but it could also be an element of the suit kind of like how its handled in dead space

[@IAmBael]

Having the health on the character rather than on the hud is a modern game thing and really doesn't feel like an N64 game. People will be fine with the hud once it's polished and not just a giant meter that takes up so much screen space. I suggest not getting caught up in relatively minor visual things this early on or you'll just waste a lot of time remaking minor things that don't affect core mechanics and the core gameplay loop.

[@lukurd5923]

I feel like these low level mobs might benefit from more telegraphing, it's something games like OoT did a lot of, where the enemy would have a fairly obvious animation and maybe a sound cue to let you know it's about to attack and that its trajectory is locked so you're able to side dodge it easily. It doesn't seem like you have a shield at the start of the game so this would be especially valuable before you're able to obtain it. Afterwards it would likely make it easier to block quicker attacks. It of course all depends on how you want the combat to play out overall and given the effort you've put into this project so far I know you'll keep refining it one way or another, but this is something I'd personally suggest.

[@firedragon04]

You do have a shield to begin with actually, I just don’t show it much yet as I haven’t implemented blocking yet, I also want to add projectile blocking that bounds back at the enemy too so I can add some ranged attacks from creatures too. It’s also likely the early area won’t have any enemies that attack and instead it will be smaller docile creatures. But it won’t be long until you do have to fight and I think adding a telegraphing phase to attacks is key, right now (the hopper especially) they just attack and you have no easy way to know they’re about to and what to do about that other than take damage. So yeah, 100% got to add that!

[@lukurd5923]

@@firedragon04 Ah right, it does occur to me now that I've only really seen shields in concept art and whatnot. Excited to see what you do with them and the combat as a whole!

[@firedragon04]

@@lukurd5923 I add them in Devlog 5 and show them off in game, but I’ve rarely shown them since because all they are right now is a prop really, no functionality yet. Their deactivated state is always on the characters two left arms though, they’re little white diamonds that are always present until activated.

[@HalfDrankOJ]

What if you had that energy meter projected like a hologram from a little floating robot companion near you. You could also have the meter projected from your spacesuit. This game looks better and better with each devlog 👍

[@firedragon04]

You're close to the plan - so close! I love when people make guesses and suggestions and get so close to my plans :D

[@TabooZombie]

You could take inspiration from dead space for displaying hp

[@danyGamerCZ]

I have already talked about intergrating UI to the style of character - as it is a port of him. Maybe you could do realy something different here and out of the energy wheel / Dianond make some sorr of dron or hologram linked to the character dorectly. The drom could work exactly like the diamond now and it would be very emersive. Also! In Fortnite there are backpacks with Numbers reaching to the gameplay. - this could also work as a Stamina or health indicator.

[@coolguy-xb2yn]

turn the energy diamond into a little drone buddy

[@RafaMartinelli]

Have you thought of how you will display as the energy diamond as your total energy increases? Do you fill up a smaller extra diamond inside or does the regular diamond deplete/fill up slower?

[@Adjustvolume]

For the stamina diamond issue, could you create an invisible object with no collision that parents to the player and takes on it's X,Y,Z position without rotation, then parent the diamond to that object?

[@stiiinkyray]

Kosmos, or some say kosmosm

[@firedragon04]

Ahh someone else with good taste I see

[@rosscutsforth6217]

i have an idea that might address your issues with taking away the boosting. I think completely taking it away would feel bad for the player and could be jarring to the gameplay experience. if you make the boosting’s effectiveness tied to the player’s proximity to a shard, it could make the gameplay feel more cohesive and interconnected. so the player wouldn’t have the boost taken away immediately, it would just progressively become more ineffective the closer a player gets to a shard. i feel like this would make them easier to connect through the lore as well

[@davidjak8516]

would it not make more sense if it flashes with if you hit them but then the final blow flashes red

[@M3IYUMI-9]

name idea Wanderer

[@firedragon04]

Gives me Shadow of the Colossus vibes. I think once I start to share the story and lore more people will have more to go off for story ideas. I do like the idea of a singular name or a main name and then a subtitle.

[@STRONGDEAD1045]

What if you implement the stamina bar into the characters armor

[@BeardedCatDad]

Regardless if you have the UI attached to the player or in the corner of the HUD you should its visibility tied to combat and injury. When entering combat it should fade quickly into visibility and after X time after combat fade out. Same thing with getting injured by say, fall damage or any other environmental damage that can be done such as spikey plants. I believe this is what Witcher 3 does with its health, stamina, etc. and it feels a lot better by only "cluttering" up the screen when it is relevant.

[@firedragon04]

The energy diamond I showcased in this Devlog only appears when you use energy (boosting/gliding) but I do want a similar approach to apply to health down the line too.

[@BeardedCatDad]

As for the side the stamina diamond is on, you could reference the player's rotation and see if it is 180 (you'd want to divide by 360 to make sure you're always getting from 1-360 and then use abs to make sure it is the absolute value) knowing that it is between 180-359 degrees it means your character is turned around. You could then take the local rotation offset of the diamond and add 180 to it. When the player's rotation is 1-179 you can subtract the local rotation offset of 180. This should keep it around the same spot. Though it would be worth a try. An alternative could be to just get when the player presses "S" or whatever the -Forward vector input is, and add 180 to the diamond's local rotation offset from the character. Then if the forward, left, or -Left vector inputs are pressed subtract that added rotation value. This would be simpler. Still might require some fine-tuning after testing to see if it actually looks good.

[@BeardedCatDad]

A benefit of this second approach is that you're piggybacking off an existing system by calling events. No need to use event ticks like my original suggestion, and some other suggestions given by others. Event ticks shouldn't be a performance problem, but you can never be too careful or keep your code too clean ;)

[@firedragon04]

@@BeardedCatDad Thanks for that! I actually managed to keep it locked, I'll show it in this week's Devlog and explain more but some of what you wrote is exactly what I did!

[@BeardedCatDad]

Sorry last thought! Unreal is weird by having the default ThirdPerson setup use the negative forward input key (default S) to turn the character around instead of having the character back up. This results in the player character awkwardly moving towards the camera and the camera not seeing what is in front of the player. Setting the negative forward input key to cause the character to simply backup instead of turn around would also solve the stamina flip-flopping issue since it would always be on the character's side you offset it to be on.

[@MajatekYT]

Definitely keep the dynamic camera for the sense of speed. The static camera feels too stiff and lifeless, and making a classic N64 style game will be difficult to get good game "juice". Every little bit of modern game concessions will help making it feel polished and N64-inspired but not dated/clunky/unfun (and really nobody wants to make a Superman 64 game). But yeah, nice stuff!

[@MythicMoai]

Will there be boss fights?

[@firedragon04]

19:04 Yep!

[@miwkelzstu]

i think the stamina square thing, should just only be at one place, it is kind of unnecessary to have it two places at once

[@firedragon04]

It won't be in two places at once, I just left the bar in the top left there while still testing and figuring out the new energy diamond and to see if people liked it.

[@mitchjames9350]

Will this game run on native hardware?

[@Bulled]

FORTNITE COLLAB CONFIRMED?!?!?!?!?!?!?!🤯

[@thereptil]

You should center the stamina to the character

[@CushionSapp]

Please don't put a skill tree in. Far too many games have skill trees and I'm sick of seeing them. Same thing with crafting systems.

[@godsturf8210]

I see where you're coming from but just because something is common doesn't mean it can't stand to benefit a game. Good execution is all it takes.

[@firedragon04]

No skill trees and no crafting. It's a much more simple game than that. You explore, traverse, discovery the mysteries and hopefully want to progress to uncover the story I'm writing. You'll get new abilities and upgrades on every planet but there isn't a skill tree - it's a linear progression.

[@CushionSapp]

@@firedragon04 Thank you