Gliding towards our Enemies // DEVLOG #7

After an eventful Devlog 6 I keep working on some more ideas, I discuss HUD designs as well as the collectibles on the planets you’ll be able to find. We then begin to build our first enemy creature that you’ll encounter on Planet 1 and even get them in-game, moving around and attacking.
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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
00:46 - KZbin Memberships & Super Thanks
01:57 - Devlog 6 Recap
02:45 - Crashsite Showcase
05:26 - A new mechanic?
06:12 - Implementing gliding
06:55 - Imagining how the HUD could look in the future
09:46 - What you’ll be collecting
13:05 - Creating our first enemy creature
15:06 - Showcasing the finished creature
17:40 - Importing the creature
18:37 - Adding AI to the creature
22:36 - Showcasing everything so far
29:55 - Outro

[@firedragon04]

Another week... another Devlog. This time I build our first enemy and get them in-game, but not before implementing one more new feature and talking about how I want the HUD in the game to work. ▶ New Devlogs every Friday! So glad I'm not feeling sick any more... who's been playing way too many games recently though? Jedi Survivor, Redfall and now Tears of the Kingdom next week - so many games keep distracting me from Space64!

[@firedragon04]

Just sat waiting to watch Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and released the Devlog for you all! Enjoy.

[@firedragon04]

And back from watching Guardians, I’ll respond to some comments now 😊

[@bluelightstudios6191]

have the doorway fog match the same colour as the red alien door frame itself, make it more of a hallway rather then a simple walk through door so that you can add build up and as you walk through have the fog slowly disappear inside of the hallway and right as you leave the entrance, reveal the entire open world map to the player with a one time jingle effect once you've crossed the end of the area. and as for the particle effects, have them glow pink instead of yellow and have them drip down from the ceiling of the hallway instead of a spiraling around in a circle, the golden circle feels too much like a portal where the dripping from the environment feels natural, also add some really small pink stalactites in the hallway ceiling for better design. also with the glider, you might want the landing to fix that too, I can see players gliding to a small platform, only to have the character roll off the other side so perhaps try and implement an immediate stop function similar to spyro's wing hover. maybe where the boots are able to make a quick jet propulsion upwards where if you miss your mark you can make a last minute move to readjust your landing and using the jet boot lift could even prevent your character from rolling forward. edit: on more thing, I know this comment is crazy long but I have a fun idea. You know the health energy bar hud image. doesn't it look kind of like a sword to you, well maybe late in the game you could do a final dungeon that would test your entire game knowledge and as a reward, you earn an energy blade that is the similar design to the health bar, once you've collected full health and energy, you can access a super powered form where the blade charges you up and you can wipe out hordes of enemies in an instant and do more damage to powerful bosses.

[@bluelightstudios6191]

@@firedragon04 did you see my suggestions? oh and I almost forgot something, don't have the character's and npc's shadows be realistic if your trying to do a nintendo 64 style game, shaders is great but that kind of shading didn't exist back then, instead have the characters shadows be black circles that follow them around below their feet like in minecraft. you don't have to do that but if you want the feel to be similar to ocarina of time then I would suggest implementing that, as the saying goes, less is best. I probably will keep giving you a shit tonne of suggestions in future devlogs and if that does annoy you then you can always let me know. alright that should be it for now, have a good one and I'll wait for your next devlog :)

[@paulvanmetre7832]

I gotta say, every time I see a new devlog for Space 64, I feel like a giddy kid waiting for Christmas morning! The new creatures you showed added a whole new level of excitement and the glider mechanic brings a whole new dimension to exploring! It's so inspiring to see your dedication to making this game come alive, and I'm 100% in to support this project. Can't wait to see what else is in store!

[@DylanJohnPratt]

Press the 3 dots by the play button on top of the editor. Then change to the "Spawn Player at" setting to "Current Camera Location". Recently learned it myself.

[@HeroGetsu]

Thanks man

[@Mazzi1132]

Found your dev logs the other day and binged them all at once. Game looks awesome so far!

[@firedragon04]

Thanks so much for the Super Thanks! Apologies for the late reply, I was replying to comments and super thanks on my phone after seeing Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and I missed a few. Thanks again so much for your support and I'm excited to keep sharing the game with everyone!

[@danyGamerCZ]

Just a minor estetic thing about the glider - in my opinion it would look better if the wings were wider - it would better indicate the mechanic while giving you more horizontal space to spred the 4 hands and making the fact (that its being hold by 4 hands) much more vissible.

[@firedragon04]

Very good suggestion. Everything I’ve added is just ideas/temporary right now anyway so always happy to take feedback and tweak things as development goes on.

[@rookrac7068]

The hopper looks dope, it’s got so much personality and charm I’ve gotta take notes

[@astrangerontheinternet6901]

6:48 i love the crunchy pixelated effect goin on

[@monopoly2170]

Due to the magic of KZbin’s playback speed option, I can say that the hopper’s hops look surprisingly natural at 1.5x speed

[@firedragon04]

Oh 1.5x is a good idea, I’ve sped it up to 1.25 atm so I’ll try 1.5 the next time I open the game.

[@Fighter05]

You're pretty talented. I know how much work this project has taken so far since I work with Unreal every day pretty much. You might be one of the better gamedev generalists I have seen. A lot of people are missing 1 core skillset. Be that like programming, networking, AI/Behavior trees, or materials/shaders, or Blender, texturing. UVs, Animation. For me its animation, one of the things I struggle with the most. But you seem to be able to do them all which is just a lot of knowledge and skills. For the multi position player start, you can't really do that because Unreal likes things hardcoded and running PIE is like running the executable on a virtual machine where it wants to reference the Gamemode data, which contains all the initialization information. A common workaround people do a lot is to use a floating text widget or anyway to record which key does what. Type out 1 - Test World 2- glide test, 3 - Monster Test, 4 - Boss 1, 5 - Boss 2, 6- World 2 Start etc etc. Then create an actor blueprint called Warp Point, Add like cone mesh or a plane and add that portal effect you made earlier in this devlog, Then make 3 variables. Level Name, Location, Warp Number. On the construction script, Get Current Level Name, Get Actor Location and save them, Make warp number public so you can edit it as you place them. Then cast to Game Instance and upload that warp data. Make Children of warp point and place. Then bind the numpad keys to your assigned warp, make a function that is like, Cast to game instance, get warp data/level name/location, get level name, if warp level name = current level name do nothing, proceed to go to location with set actor location. If level name != (Does not equal) then load level by name. This will still send you to say World two player start, but if you hit it again the names should be the same and you will still port to the warp location. On a dev world though this should all work instantaneously. Like if you fell off that glide ledge, hit 2 to go back up top, fall again, hit 2 get ported back up etc etc etc etc. Then if you want to move warp 2 just drag it to the new location you want 2 to take you to. You could remove the level load part and just have GetAllActorsofClass Warp Point and base it upon ints based upon which key you press, but GetallActorsofClass will not be able to see warp points in different levels since they are not loaded yet. The Game instance in Unreal engine acts like a data only whiteboard to store information between levels. You can always reference it because it is loaded at all times from when the game is booted up to when it closes. This is also where you will put your collectable data, The collectable actors will respawn if you reload the level, So will any unique monsters etc you want the player to be able to defeat only once. So on the collectables, you would set a simple script HasBeenCollected boolean assigned to that collectable, updated the value when it is collected in the GI. That way it knows if it should spawn when the level is loaded and unloaded. Same for Bosses etc etc. Saving the Game instance data will be critical as well to your save and load function when you get there. That way when a player closes your game and reopens it days later, the load function will repopulate the GI data which will then communicate all that world data back to the game state. So the game instance is insanely powerful tool. I recommend adding a boolean in it called DevModeOn so you can link features you want behind a simple check, like warp for example or respawn bosses. And for fun you could give players who 100% the game access to your dev worlds that they saw in the devlogs by turning DevModeOn = true at some point. Similarly to The Stanley Parable if you have ever played that. DevModeOn will usually become admin mode for multiplayer games as well with dedicated servers so its fairly common to build some in-game tooling into you're codebase as you scale.

[@DragonplayerDev]

In the ... menu next to the play/stop button, there should be a "start from camera location" option. Also in the right click menu (25:41) there is literally a "Play from here" option at the bottom

[@firedragon04]

Oh is there? I never noticed 😱 I will try that next time I open the engine.

[@RafaMartinelli]

@@firedragon04 haha 😂 right click Play from here literally what you were asking for was in your face as you explained 😊 Take care of your health priority one! Take a break, no need to keep a strict KZbin posting schedule at the price of wearing yourself down, ok? The game’s looking awesome!

[@MrClockworkable]

I feel like having the high-speed particles makes it feel like a portal to another realm, I think having them just as a black void that vanished when you get closer is a lot better. However, I do feel like the particles would work better if they weren't just seen around the doorway, like if they were just particle effect representing, air clutter? I don't know what the current term is right now. But basically like dust in the air.

[@sky_side]

any plans on having some sort of book or journal for maps and enemies encounters and stuff like that? maybe a futuristic holo gauntlet or something like that? love these!

[@IAmBael]

That would be awesome, great way to present more of the world/lore to the player

[@Tenchinu]

suggestion for the transition portals: could you make an opacity, or semi-transparent layer with a screenshot of what's behind but blurred? something like a PNG of what the next area looks like seen from that angle, but that it disappears as you approach so it lets the next area time to load? every time you post anything this just looks finished!!! dont know how fast you work... but is amazing to see this result in just couple weeks. Inspirational and scary :) Totally here for the long run tho. Love seeing how it grows

[@firedragon04]

I’ve actually redesigned them slightly and I’ll show that in the next episode. I’ve expanded the crash site too so that there’s a doorway you have to open with a “local key” to reach you about “world keys” which you need to open the main dungeon. Just a way to improve the player experience a little.

[@danyGamerCZ]

Also about the UI - it would make a lot of sence to use elements of the character technology and armor in the UI, thus making it all tie together as its basicaly a part of your character… it could give out and expresion of the person playing the character being in the armor and overall being the character 😊

[@robinHobin]

When you first walked out the crash site into the open world that was cool as heck! Can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s done! Also I think small or no trail would be good for the transition zone

[@jinenjipeke]

i forgot to tell you in the previous video: i love the music you use for the videos. nice design for the HUD. the creature looks STRONG, like massive. i love it, it is a nice design, i thought it would have been much much bigger and dangerous. one thing i take for granted in any game is that when an enemy sees you and runs towards you, theres have to be an animation about it, a scream or something. i love to see the game shaping one thing at a time, awesome job

[@99brickstudios]

It would probably look neat if there was a kind of glowing rotating halo around the pickups. And the health canister could maybe „breathe“ with the pieces floating apart and back slowly.

[@BeardedCatDad]

Alternatively to the "spawn at camera" suggestion people are making, right click and in the menu that pops up select "Play From Here" and you'll play from the position you clicked at. I find this much more useful and it doesn't change your PIE setting. Another thing that might be helpful on larger levels is to do LCtrl + any number and it creates a bookmark. From now on just press that number and it will bring you to the exact position your camera was at when you set that bookmark. Setting it again with that same number will override it.

[@firedragon04]

I've switch over to using the "Spawn at Camera" setting but that tip about bookmarks for camera positions is really useful! Thanks.

[@Morraak]

That hop animation is really cute(!?), I like it a lot! Like the texturing on it a lot too. Would love to see the hopper have a dropkick move that does a little knockback on your character. Maybe with teleport only make it so someone can teleport to a location they've already discovered it, that way you still encourage exploration but also give that QoL feature. Consistently stupefied with the amount of progress you accomplish each week and appreciate the forward thinking on resource acquisition all the way up to end game.

[@folicious6654]

Im not a UE dev but I watch a lot of devlogs, one thing I heard is adding a debug menu can be super useful! By adding it, you can type stuff, spawn, teleport while simulating the game. Might be hard to put in, but maybe it’s good for long term usage! Love the game!

[@twix7711]

I like how the area transition looks with the particles. It also draws your attention to it, letting the player know that it leads to another area right away. If it's just a black hole in the wall, it'll potentially get looked over a few times, especially in larger areas or areas with more clutter. Maybe instead of particles, it's small flying bugs like fireflies. Also, is the glider something you start with? Or something you find later on? I like the idea of coming across a few large gaps you can't cross until later on when you get the glider and return. The enemy looks cool and this series is great!

[@firedragon04]

I have a plan to have another part of the crash be outside just in the open world but if you go off the ledges without the glider you'd die from fall damage - so you need to walk over and go through a mini-gliding and boost tutorial to collect the first dungeon shard of the planet when you collect them. So in the first 5mins of gameplay you learn all the basics (movement, climbing, combat, boosting/gliding and the dungeon shards) which then means the player can glide off the high ledge they exited from the crashsite area from and then go off and explore the planet in anyway they want.

[@b-vance]

Love the progress. Warms my N64-loving heart ❤️

[@theanimesceneofficial]

Looks great! Glad you're feeling better!

[@VelvetAura]

I love the Hopper! I like the idea of making different tiers of the enemy, but I also think it would be cool if they all had varying sizes as well. Even if it was a group of 2 or 3 normal Hoppers attacking the player, it would be more visually appealing and allow the player to better keep track of which Hopper is which.

[@firedragon04]

100% The smallest creatures will be the ones I implement first, I'll show everyone another small creature in the next Devlog. But variants, almost like ranks, would be added later; for example a blueish green Hopper which is almost twice the size, does double the damage and had more health. I could also give these variants unique attacks which the other versions don't have. They could even act like mini-bosses in the world too.

[@VelvetAura]

@@firedragon04 Awesome, I think that sounds fun already! Sounds like it'll also help the environment feel more dynamic and alive which is always a plus

[@CupCakeUnleashed]

With Hopper attacks, it'd probably be easier to just have the animation call an event during the peak of the bite. Then you just have to box or sphere trace from the mouth location, and have that apply damage to the player. It's a lot simpler, maybe a bit clunkier, but that will probably match the game.

[@trizzi_exe]

Hi! In response to playing from a specific location. If you Right-click a spot in your level at the bottom of the menu, you will see "Play from here." That will allow you to start from that specific spot in the level.

[@Blasphemr]

Hey! Love your work, its been amazing to see your journey and design choices for these devlogs. And it's been helping me a ton with organizing my thoughts making my own game! So thanks a ton for being so transparent. As for feedback and thoughts, I love what you did for the area transition gates and the particle effect is a nice atmospheric touch. I was thinking maybe combining that with the glowing flowers you also implemented in this devlog as a way to maintain visual consistency. Perhaps the flowers can blink slowly on and off to signal the player a new area they haven't yet explored and when they do, the glow can be static? Also maybe a slower arc on the launch flower to help sell the planets alien-like gravity and physics? But all thats subjective and I know these mechanics are still being roughed out, either way I would love to see more of your progress and appreciate your effort in making these videos! Best of luck. Last minute idea, it would be neat to see a way for the player to negate fall damage maybe slightly by having a small boost be expelled from your boots before landing. But thats enough from me, can't wait to see your next update. Cheers!

[@vegardjohansen9589]

Never been that fond of Nintendo 64 games and that genre, but I've been following your process intently on youtube and Discord since devlog 0. And honestly so excited to see and play it at release, keep it up buddy!

[@SephirothinLEGO]

gotta say, i really like the creature design, and i hope you'll put more dinos in the game

[@firedragon04]

The Hopper is like a Dino fish yeah, there’s a lot I want to do with creatures, can’t wait to share them all with everyone!

[@MajatekYT]

Love the Hopper as a low/mid-tier enemy. Looking forward to first seeing one in-game with starter equipment and going "oh no time to run" and then finding groups of Hoppers later in the game and absolutely obliterating them, haha. One thing to note though, I feel that the jump flower pad launches you too fast and is quite jarring - a lot of these retro platformers tend to emphasise the flight time to 2 (or more) seconds so that the player doesn't get disorientated.

[@davidjak8516]

to start from ur camera view. its the button next to the play. the dots

[@BlazeHeartPanther]

Awww, I just want to pet the little Hopper on its noggin

[@karsonmock2798]

when you take damage, and it doesn't take away a full health bar, you could split the ten in half so it become triangular instead of just half the size in the same orientation. That way you can still get some of that feel from the original health bar design with the polygons, but you still maintain the sleeker sci-fi look.

[@thomasnewson1181]

Maybe for a bit later but for the shards, you could add a ring around the door to the dungeon which look like keyholes and the player interacts with the door and it fills each shard in with each press of a button. I think this would be more interactive than displaying a text prompt , not sure if it’s a great idea but this game is looking really fun

[@DoggonePony]

Loving the journey so far! Can't wait to see all the exciting new stuff the future of this game holds.

[@firedragon04]

Thank you so much for the Super Thanks! I can’t wait to share more.

[@99brickstudios]

I think gateways to other outdoor/overworld locations should be more of a glowing void rather than a black void. I think Ocarina of Time makes this distinction as well if I remember correctly

[@robinHobin]

I think the black void look nice and kinda creepy of eerie (not sure if that is correct spelling)

[@NicolasSouthern]

So cool! Glad to see you’re still doing game development, I sometimes miss the Halo CE days.

[@firedragon04]

It's been a long time! Hope all is good :)

[@brian_mayberry]

There's a sub-menu next to the play/stop button, the 3 dots. Select "Spawn Player At = Current Camera Location"

[@firedragon04]

How I’ve never seen that… I don’t know 😂

[@SephirothinLEGO]

the way jak and daxter handled loading between zones was by having these mini transition zones with lots of twists and turns so you couldnt see the loading and de-leading. basically just dont make the transition between zones a straight line and it'll feel seamless!

[@sactecnos2708]

The first part now looks really nice, I like those yellow flowers. The hopper seems to be a cohesive addition to the rest of the game. This is going really really nice My only advices are: - The glider mechanic complements the moveset in a very good way, but regarding it's aestethic aspect I think you should show some other kind of device and not a literal glider. I mean it's not something essential, but part of the charming of these space adventures is to discover new worlds, interesting creatures, and of course fascinating technology. - (This is more of a personal matter so ignore it if you want) The UI serves to it's purpose and it looks quite nice but I would encorage you to go for another presentation. Part of the style and personality of a game is mostly represented in little details such as the menu dispossal and the UI in general (check out games such as Extreme-G2, RidgeRacer Type-4 or JetSetReadio and you will see how much charisma they show from the very beginning). Many games from today have quite a lack of personality in their presentation (even if they are excellent games). So I do recommend you going for something "unsual", something that is functional and intuitive but not in the way we are used to. Others than that, I would like to congrat you again, everything it's been really cool so far. I hope you the best.

[@CraZyAlex22]

Love your devlogs! The glider is such a cool idea and it looks great in the game. I also like the design of the hopper.

[@firedragon04]

Thanks so much! Excited to share more with everyone.

[@disillusionedplayer]

This is my favorite DevLog to follow. I started watching these and then realized you were the first video I watched on the Moebius style that inspired the illustrated look of the game I’m working on. First channel I’m clicking the bell for.

[@disillusionedplayer]

One suggestion I might make regarding the health bar is that maybe you should find a way to prevent the bar from getting quite as long. To me, it looks a bit awkward when it’s full. Maybe the bars could scale a bit smaller the more you have? Or the extras that are more than required for completion could be smaller than the others?

[@jdroo]

it should be your derpy pet that just randomly follows you around

[@TSub96]

I really liked the effect you put around the doors. It reminded me of something I heard about Metroid Dread (haven't played myself yet) but that the doors have a cool dynamic system. Littles bugs fly in a particle effect if it's along the critical path to the next upgrade. It's not ever explicitly expressed to the player that that's why they're there, but it just creates something eye catching that encourages you towards the critical path so you don't get lost for too long. But anyways, the game is looking super great! You've actually inspired me to get back into GameDev and I'm starting to relearn Unity again! Thanks for the inspiration and great vids!

[@larsstecker5376]

I'm always happy to see a new video of this devlog popping up. I got a few questions and suggestions to make: - The game seems to be mapped out very well since you talk about about stuff that will be there for sure. How do you plan your game and organize your resources and developing plan? - The UI seems pretty sharp and modern while your 3d art is low resolution. That does not seem to fit as it is. - how the heck do you know while recording if it is past or future Matt? : )

[@firedragon04]

Thanks so much for the Super Thanks, much appreciated! - A lot of the stuff that isn't there yet is currently kept in my brain or in rough documents laying out plans and ideas. I also have a full story treatment for the game written - story isn't something I talk about in these Devlogs but I'd argue it's actually the most important part of the game and the part I'm most excited for people to experience. - The UI was very much me, while sick, just coming up with ideas. I could still use this design but make it more pixelated but I also have a few other ideas for the approach of the Health and Energy which I'll showcase in a future Devlog. - I'm a time traveller so past and future Matt just come naturally to me. 😂 If only! No, past Matt is me recording over the footage "live" while I'm doing something. While future Matt is me doing a post-commentary over footage which I'd recorded earlier. So the distinction is pretty easy to make while editing. Thanks again for the Super Thanks!

[@chrisb6079]

Later in development consider the aesthetics each having an extra boost to key abilities. A mini reward. Maybe each could have immunity to certain aspects of each world - could be poison, fire etc Then if the player gets all four of these outfits, it means they can complete the secret mini special world. Where each of these suits will be needed. Just a little thing to consider if there is time later in development.

[@ChristopherBruin]

I would recommend keeping the doorway simple, and remove the particles, it feels too much like a portal. Maybe add something glowing to signal to the players that there is a point of interest, similar to the temple entrance, and climbable walls. You could add fauna around (firefly like creatures) that are attracted to the plant life that frames the door, if you want some sort of particle effects in the area.

[@morgan0]

15:17 everything still being wet (like waterfalls on the central thing in the first area) makes it sound like it only recently drained, so it could be interesting to have dead aquatic creatures beached in places with a smaller number of creatures that evolved legs and land features before that. this could also be a diegetic reason for this planet being a bit easier than later ones because most everything you face was not evolved for the current conditions.

[@pendragongameart]

awww yeah, beasties!

[@Xeridae]

Loving it man. Keep it up. I was sick this past week too. Everything looks great.

[@peacefusion]

For the next creature Id imagine something like a straight fish tail at the end.

[@thecanadianfood]

This game is easily my most anticipated game in a devlog series since Choo Choo Charles.

[@MrGil1995]

@FireDragon04 one cool inspiration you could use for the creatures would be the Tully Monster, which is called like that because no one can define what it's fossilized remains used to be, it looks like a fish with a long proboscis with teeth at the tip and eye stalks on his sides like a slug.

[@firedragon04]

I just looked into this and what a weird creature, I've never heard of it before. Thanks for the suggeston!

[@longdongsilver3267]

Maybe the narrative reason the enemies drop "Dungeon Shards" is because they consume them or maybe the Dungeon Shards are like radioactive and causing mutations amongst the inhabitants.

[@firedragon04]

I’m debating changing how shards work and what they even are in the world… but this is still a good idea and actually something I’ve already considered within the story just not about the shards.

[@seraph4581]

Oh my god everything you make in this game gets me hyped. It looks stunning and like it'll be super fun to play.

[@Sunburst_No]

@FireDragon04 I'm loving how you're going about this project! Keep up the great work, let me know if u need any help with design 🙂

[@TheSpectralForce]

The hopper looks fantastic!

[@Paul_Ward]

New devlog time, let's go! I really like this game and it's retro style and aesthetics Edit: liked and subscribed

[@lathliss250]

Nice too see anther post from you! Happy to see progress m8! Keeps me inspired ❤‍🔥

[@venizz5112]

Another devlog let's go!!!

[@AviusL]

Loving these updates dude. Keep it up! :)

[@davidjak8516]

for the portal you could make a fake hole with a paralax shader. so it looks like its deep

[@firedragon04]

That’s a good idea actually yeah… a parallax pyramid almost that meets at a point in the centre could look really cool to add depth.

[@ello-olle]

Really cool-looking progress again! I think you could maybe also look at some 64-era HUDs for inspiration for the health bar and such? I haven't looked into it myself but I remember it being more (maybe a bit overly) detailed as opposed to the more sleek, minimal HUD we're used to today. It's really a small detail though lol. Hope you recover fully soon!

[@firedragon04]

Fully recovered now :) This Devlog was mostly recorded about a week, week and a half ago. And yeah the HUD is still a point of contention, I will definitely work on it more, make it look more 'N64' but there's also some different ideas I want to share with everyone on different approaches to the HUD.

[@seanomik6176]

5:25 - Think the current transition hallways look great! I do wonder if thats transition time is long enough for loading an entire scene though. For larger scenes you may have to make a tunnel or a small walking area between the scenes where you start loading the large one. 9:00 - I feel like the health bars are too "modern" and it doesn't fit the whole n64 theme that the game has been following, but I think it works. I DO think that the max health bar takes up too much of your screen, it almost reaches half way across. Maybe make the chunks smaller, or put a second row as Minecraft and Zelda does.

[@coolguyiscool1234]

You should add an enemy that similar to camouflage octopus, so the enemy looks like a coral or rock until the player gets close

[@firedragon04]

Wait until you see next weeks creature 😉

[@ashsmash666]

Thanks keep it man love this Game

[@firedragon04]

Thank you so much for the Super Thanks! Can’t wait to share more of the game with everyone.

[@IAmBael]

I would like to see the Hopper be a bit more specular to make it pop a bit more while still fitting into the environment without getting completely lost in it. I'd also recommend giving the enemies "real" names - you can still keep the "easy" name as the name people use. You could name it Hopposaur for example, but people in the world just refer to them as Hoppers. It would give them some extra legitimacy and make them feel real.

[@respecttheyoshi]

Sidenote, it might be a fun idea to have sections where your energy doesn't recharge, forcing some efficient gliding or jet boosting. Maybe, I'm unsure what a good execution of that idea would look like.

[@firedragon04]

Yeah good idea, right now using boosting or gliding does drain energy so if you're gliding it won't recharge so that already means you have to be quite precise or else your energy will run out.

[@99brickstudios]

Keep doing what you’re doing. I’m very excited to see where this is going ☺️🙌

[@firedragon04]

Thank you so much for the Super Thanks! New episodes every Friday

[@thalesmedeiros1235]

It's a ton of fun seeing all the new things coming together! Well done! Keep up the good work!

[@kreenbopulusmichael7205]

I think the black backdrop with the little white specks is fine, the lines and swirls are abit much in my opinion

[@kreenbopulusmichael7205]

also if you have no spawn points on the map you will spawn where ever the camera is aslong as your character is the default in the game mode your level is using, atleast thats how it works in ue4

[@michaelperrigo]

Awesome devlog, thanks for sharing! I would recommend you set up an interact trace that can be appended to the player and enemy instead of re-using the sword, but that was clever. :)

[@NaughtyKlaus]

Lizard creature looks like a Jak 2 Metal Head mixed with an Adventure Quest Zard.

[@RealKiido]

I genuinely love your work keep up the good work, can't wait to play this it's like LOZ (obviously)

[@JakeDevYT]

Maybe an audio cue when the enemy sees you and switches from patrol mode to attack mode. Like a fish screech or something lol. That way maybe if your back is turned to an unknown enemy you have a second to spin around

[@firedragon04]

Yeah when I look into adding sounds and such I think this is a great idea. I’d actually like to implement another mode for the enemy which is when they spot the character in general they have a taunt animation they play before attacking, such as a roar, so this idea works perfectly with that!

[@venizz5112]

Will you have some kind of monster log book to track all the enemies?

[@FunnyGuyTimmy]

I can’t wait to see this with the filters and at a more N64 frame rate. It’s gonna be sick.

[@firedragon04]

I want to make those toggleable on the settings too but they will be there!

[@RangelOblivion]

You've probably already thought about placing ship wreckage in the crash area, if you haven't already, I advise you to do so.

[@Sarimaximus]

after you've mastered dealing with ground combat, you should make sure this stuff works when you implement flying enemies (assuming you're gonna add them)

[@firedragon04]

I’m going to implement a floating red box soon and see if the AI works with flying movement and if it does then I’ll designing flying enemies. I would like to have them so hopefully it works.

[@AmeHart]

for the 'portals', it might be fun to bake a cubemap there and set it as the texture for it. i think the particles are very lovely. I like where this project is going and I completely understand where you're wanting to de-limit yourself. It kinda gives me a vibe of an original XBOX game or PS3 game. I still advocate for utilising vertex colours for a lil extra 'pop' in the shading/lighting/etc. saves on resources too. as for the "spawn here" thing, that'd probably have to be an extension to the editor you'd have to write. it's DEFINITELY possible, it just requires manual work that you can't do in blueprints. maybe see if someone in some development forums could help, or if anyone in your discord works with unreal you can try asking for help there. wishing you the best of luck !!! keep up the great work, and can't wait to see the next one 👍

[@firedragon04]

If I can build a cube map generator into the BP and then it auto applies that cube map to the flag plane of the portal, then that sounds like a perfect idea.

[@ArtofWEZ]

You make so much progress, wonderful dev log series. It looks beautiful. Front ending a lot of the visuals was a great idea.

[@nocapsbb]

this is looking so cool :) always love a good glider

[@StiffAftermath]

My opinion: Having the boost mechanic being inpractical in use (conjested spaces) makes more sense than breaking the player's suspension of disbelief by having the boost mechanic inaccessible in certain zones.

[@firedragon04]

When you cross zones now you're going through an alien relic so there's very much a lore reason now as these relics can "deactivate" some of your abilities but then when you're out in the main world it lets you use them again. It will allow for the subzones to be more carefully crafted traditional zones with combat and puzzles while the main overworld area acts more like a HUB with fun traversal mechanics.

[@StiffAftermath]

@@firedragon04 ahaa. As long as you can explain it. I had a hard time, in my game, having to explain gameplay mechanics that i wanted in the game, but really didnt fit in the game. So i cut them. Good for you if you can keep them in the game. Just ask yourself if it breaks immersion because of someone questioning it, and it will help with any decision you make.

[@platomanchi]

You can right click on the level and the menu has option to "Play from here" which will spawn your character on the place where you right clicked in level.

[@firedragon04]

For some reason that was causing me some issues but I fixed it by clicking the three dots and selecting spawn player at camera instead of spawn point.

[@rangerhfox]

God this game is looking so good already! If I were to record some monster noises would you want to use them for the hopper?

[@firedragon04]

I'm not going to be adding sounds just yet... but in my head the hopper sounds a bit like an alien sealion - as strange as that earthly source of sound may be. But Sealions have this unique sound to them, that if warped and tweaked could sound very interesting for the Hopper. Another creature, which I show next week, called The Burrower, is more worm like and the only sound I had in mind for that is when you (or any human) opens their mouths in an O shape and then moves their tongue up and down quickly in their mouths. Which again... make it sound like I have very weird sound ideas 🤣

[@KillerDudeT19]

For the doorway, what about have it open up sorta like the predators mouth or a flower or snakes mouse? Somthing like that would be cool

[@RebelPaws]

I'm so excited for this game! While this is 2 months old and I'm a bit behind. I'm working on a scifi more in the cyberpunk section for a setting; and the HUD has been a point of "AAAAAHHHH!" for me lol But it's looking great man!

[@Bbbbunko]

These dev logs are so refreshing. I appreciate what a real guy you are too and not your typical KZbin over the top person. The game looks beautiful so far. Have you thought about platforms it’ll be on yet coz I am definitely buying it! 😊

[@paulshelkov7956]

Maybe energy can also be used for energy-based attacks. This can create a natural way to keep the sword attack (while boosting) that I thought looked cool. Now you have a balanced decision to make where you may want to use your energy for a weak, drive by attack, versus doing much more damage using your energy on special moves. A player could still spend an hour safely doing drive-bys but you could say the same for spamming fireballs in Dark Souls, which is something AI can handle.

[@crispychicken143]

really inspiring progress man

[@Pokedex-Family]

I think the portal looks a bit fleshy with a hole in the middle. Maybe make it rockey or metallic like an alien made portal.

[@firedragon04]

Yeah I thought the same actually and didn’t end up liking it after this Devlog so I have changed it - I’ll show that next week!

[@dabe4917]

Very excited for this. Have you thought about pricing at all? And also have you thought about what platforms you want to this to work on?

[@firedragon04]

Currently aiming for a low price and PC

[@LastNight0]

Yeah just remove your spawn points while developing. You will just spawn where you are. Or set up a teleport system for development, there’s also a menu option that I see others talking about that I’ve never used 😂

[@firedragon04]

Oh that’s a good idea, just deleting all spawn points!

[@coneman844]

Your probably not going to read this but I have a idea for a creature make a peaceful gigantic crustacean with five legs with little claws on the end which it uses to consume little things. And I think it would be cool to make the player wonder why it evolved to be like that and I think it would make everything more grandiose maybe. Also I’ve been binging this entire series and your doing great man.

[@firedragon04]

Thanks and I’m glad you’re enjoying the Devlogs! I have lots of cool ideas for more peaceful/docile creatures and hermit crab like creatures are on the list! Love your idea too.

[@coneman844]

@@firedragon04 nice!

[@swisspunker94]

Really like these dev logs! One bit of feedback, im not a huge fan of the HUD health-bar and stamina. Reminds me a lot of borderlands and maybe some arcane games (deathloop for example). The 2 colors and the angular design feel very modern and a bit generic. I much prefer the first design you had.

[@firedragon04]

Thanks for the honest feedback. I’ll keep working on the UI and how I want to HUD to function as time goes on these were very much my initial ideas.

[@Sunburst_No]

Maybe the alpha hopper has a bigger crest on its head? Just something to distinguish it physically

[@gLoMeRiTo]

In my opinion both bars, health and stamina should be the same size. As they're now seems that stamina bar is not complete. Just my opinion. By te way, have you thought into adding pets/companions and a mount? I know you have the boots boost and the glide, but mount could be kinda final reward, and mount doesn't need stamina, so you can run and run endless. You asked for suggestions. XD Great job at all. Can't wait to play it.

[@mmmmmmmmmmm10]

Every level could have a unique mount. for example a fast running version of the derpa hopper could be a mount on this level/world. Another level/world could have a flying mount etc. If there was an underwater world/level there could be a swimming mount. So cool

[@thatpigboss]

Yippee

[@mafagafizar]

Hello, I've been following this channel for a few months now, and the game you're making is incredible. It's because of the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 that I became a designer and now work in game design for 2D, both visually and in animation. Truly, it was the golden age. I absolutely love the idea of using today's technology to create a nostalgic feeling for old games. The pixelated effect you've created is so evocative, and it's making the game truly amazing. I've watched every video of yours but never commented before. However, today I feel compelled to reach out and give you an idea. Have you considered taking inspiration from the game Phantasy Star Online? The HUD, icons, and setting of that game could be a great source of inspiration for your own game. Your character and the technology they use reminds me so much of Phantasy Star Online, whether it's on the NDS, another console, or even the PC. Whenever I watch your videos, I imagine something with a similar visual style and icons to Phantasy Star, with that RPG and technology vibe. Take a look at Phantasy Star Online - I'm certain it will inspire you and make your game even better.

[@onlysmiles4949]

Maybe you could make the portal look more like it fades into the dark rather than a harsh transition