It Took Over A Month To Make A Rope For My Indie Game - Nectar Devlog 6

In this devlog I talk about why it took me so long to make a simple rope for my game.
Steam Page: store.steampowered.com/app/25...
Discord: / discord
Twitter: / chrisfyee
An in-depth look at my tightrope blueprint: • How I Made A Tightrope...
#indiegame #unrealengine #gamedev

[@nerdchomp]

If you want a closer look at the blueprint for my tightrope, I made a video for that! Check it out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmGTqaGVa6akpsk

[@LM-cc7qz]

Hey, make sure you were using world coordinates and not local, because accidentally using local will teleport you near the origin. There is a node that converts from local to world if you need it and make sure you weren't normalizing the vector either. Normalizing would clamp the magnitude to 1 and therefore you'd be restricted to a small vector space near the origin. Looks great man! I thought this was unity at first until I saw the skybox and realized it was UE! Really impressive!

[@nerdchomp]

Yeah it's weird, I was using world coordinates, and most of the time it would behave as expected. But every once in a while it would randomly go rogue and teleport me. It would usually happen if I hit it at a weird angle. Doesn't matter now though. I've abandoned that approach and my new system doesn't have that problem

[@Tenchinu]

just for the fact that you solved the rope problem and put out the ONLY semi-tutorial for UE, this vid is a huge win. Thank u so much! :)

[@nerdchomp]

I was a little tempted to make a full tutorial, because it was really frustrating when I couldn't find any resources on this, but I'm not confident at all in my tutorial making skills. I don't think I would be a very good teacher lol

[@scaithy]

@@nerdchomp hey, is there any possibility of seeing more of the blueprints? I wanna dig into the vector math and I get that it's looping through spline points and setting their location, but just a bit more context would be really helpful

[@dracofells5390]

​@@nerdchompI would be extremely interested in hearing about your approach to the spline bouncing. My guess is that you get the point closest to the and use some sort of sine wave to animate the bounce over time on the points nearest to the central point? But I'm just guessing. This looks like really great work so I'm interested to hear a little bit about the approach even if a full tutorial is out of scope. Looking forward to your continued progress!

[@nerdchomp]

I probably won't make a full tutorial, but there's been enough interest that I might make a video showing a more in depth look at my blueprint. I just need to find the time to make it

[@pbentesio]

A well spent month. It looks wonderful great job!

[@shquapp]

I love the walk-through of something slightly more technical. Definitely helpful for everyone else!

[@blockify]

Same, very helpful for me

[@Wapcvm]

Certified gamedev moment of "What if I added this I just thought of, it'd be easy enough."

[@Igndraw]

I always like to say, the simpler the feature looks, the harder is to create lol

[@nanimo_null]

6:57 The way the vine swings during the tool/throw /attach animation is really nice!

[@darkaidev918]

For an Idle animation I was thinking of shaking about and a leaf or petals fall off so the character scrunches its eyes and lowers its head like to grow them back like its squeezing them out of himself :D + Congrats on 1k!

[@PurnimaRai-ld7ms]

Your idea is pretty soleaf

[@alex.g7317]

Soleaf

[@futureboystudio]

Outstanding troubleshooting and development, resulting in a fantastic and fitting final solution. The functionality and the aesthetics you've landed on are wonderful, and it's making me seriously consider pursuing tightropes as a traversal method in one of my own game projects. Thank you also for taking on board all the requests for a tutorial or walkthrough of your blueprinting, as this is absolutely something I would've kindly requested as well. Keep up the great work, Chris. This has been such an enjoyable journey to follow and I'll be very excited to play the game.

[@SilentTombOfficial]

Big congrats on 1k dude! Excited to see you strive!

[@nerdchomp]

Thanks, it's been very exciting and motivating for me with the support everyone is showing

[@MagmaSloth64]

this is incredibly inspiring, thank you for sharing your development process! I've gleaned many insights from this.

[@simoncoupe8294]

3:54 - I can understand the feeling of getting discouraged. You tried something and it didn't work. But remember that is also progress and you didn't settle for less than what you wanted to get around not having a plug and play solution. To me at least, that's a perfect mindset of Intended result -> iteration (including failed attempts) -> refinement -> success. Killing it and love the style of your work so far. Also thanks for sharing.

[@nwhajlawn6224]

congratulations for 1k 😊 really excited for this journey!

[@nerdchomp]

Thanks, I'm excited too!

[@alkamino]

I love this kind of videos, that describe the process to solve the problem you had. New subscriber!! :D

[@VaunaKiller]

You sound so calm, I like it. Despite that, I feel the passion for the game just from the way it looks - amazingly alive. I hope you're going to release it and it'll find the audience

[@DillonBoucherDesigns]

Amazing work. My favorite devlog to follow!

[@squidz2720]

Great video man! It was great to see this process and the end result looks amazing!!!

[@mykra2939]

Congratz on overcoming this. Amazing work!

[@imbenzenker]

This is so freakin cool. Exactly the kind of challenge that makes me love programming, and has made me so intrigued by game development. Thanks for the inspiration!

[@EvilDogProductions]

Very cool exploration. good job experimenting and especially finding your solution! Kudos!

[@chuck180]

wow loved the concepts youve shown, also pretty good polish

[@anapple.4338]

Great video, first time seeing you’re stuff and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[@speedmilesgood]

I really love your game mechanics and esthetics ❤ I'm in lack of motivation and inspiration and have seen your game feedback and your 3C with a character who feels enjoyable to control seem to me a great way to start 😊

[@JaredWyns]

Excellent technique! I may have to give something like this a go and tweak it for a fun grapple mechanic. Thanks for sharing your thought process on other approaches and why they didn't work out, i'm sure this will save some people a lot of time :)

[@GuiGFreitas]

This was such an interesting video, and seeing that what can look simple needs some clever solutions to really work as intended!

[@ainsleyharriot8324]

This was such an awesome and inspiring video man, good luck with the game 😊

[@ankyloinc.]

really hope this rope mechanic is used often and in cool ways, cause this is really sick!

[@temperboy5460]

This was such a great video, please keep making more.

[@DailyPaily]

So fun to watch, all the process.

[@antonse78963]

sly cooper series did it really well also, by having to press jump and the circle button to interact, so you could also choose to not collide with the ropes and pipes, and fall instead.

[@Greenman4890]

super interesting to see this process, cables can be a big pain

[@TheHero0538]

Background music is really chill. Sounds kinda familiar tho...

[@jjtittles69]

Such an genius solution I can already see my self coming back to this vid if i ever need a cable to interact to the player! Great Vid!

[@philldev]

As someone who has also been struggling with tight ropes (and attachable structures in general), I felt this video on a deep level... Ahah but it turned out great! Awesome implementation, keep up the good work :)

[@sabrina0013]

This is sooo cool. Really nicely done!

[@ignatirabo]

Honestly it looks amazing. Great job!

[@Poniksei]

very impressive problem solving, love this

[@ConorDrew]

Hadnt seen any of your dev log things, random algorithm to pop it up now, but it looks really good/ I want to point out I love the fact you mentioned you didn't get stuck down a rabbit hole trying to fix this one issue, as i think for other devs, they can get so focused on one thing, and it in turn hurts them, but walking away, doing other tasks, then one day, a solution or a thread will appear, and before you know it, you have fixed the issue.

[@ThePoinball]

Wow, You made an aweome and polish mechanic! Great work!

[@rucicailia3355]

Awesome videos,keep recording them❤

[@tenyar2528]

Super fun and interesting thing to see !

[@sushiman_]

If i manage to make money with my own games I'll for sure buy this amazing game, keep the great work!

[@Tbjbu2]

wow awesome, great work on this, and great looking game! wishlisted

[@whilefree]

The rope looks gorgeous. I loved it. It gives the player a nice feeling. Nice job.

[@eldhand]

Looks really great mate!

[@julianodbz]

Amazing work!

[@musemeghini]

Dude this is awesome, keep it up!

[@NNJohn]

That is smartest way to do ropes i ever saw! Good job!

[@fosterturtle]

This was fascinating, great job!

[@BobsiTutorial]

Sweet video man! And the game looks good.

[@TackleProd]

I also have bumble bee in my game!!! duuuude and nice work, glad you figured it out!

[@TUKMAK]

Very nicely done!

[@Vercidium]

The flower particles when the rope despawns are beautiful. Wishlisted!

[@jeniferbaldridge4749]

That looks great! You should feel proud of yourself!

[@alexline4131]

That was some serious problem-solving. I'm glad you went over the failed attempts too.

[@mithos56]

This looks fantastic!

[@CaptainCling]

Very creative and elegant solution. I love it.

[@ding-hobba]

that rope shake is so satisfying, high quality polish right there

[@23edsa]

Fantastic job with these

[@kkyeahyeah]

This is so cute, I would love to play this when it releases.

[@BbVortexMortinghan]

Awesome video!

[@andrew____p]

Wow great stuff!

[@arageron]

Good to see ya again 😀

[@climb-up-high]

looking really cool!

[@merrywisdomx]

Great work! Thanks for the tut. I don't know much about the overall gameplay, but I think it would be fun if you could bounce off the lily pads and make them springy like the tightrope. You could even have a regular and a bouncy variant. Just a design idea in case you hadn't thought of it!

[@VaibhavShewale]

this look ao beautiful!

[@scoobydoobies]

The petals falling when you remove the rope is amazing

[@TheFramPlays]

I'm just getting my foot in the door into game dev. This is actually really incredible! Dude you just created the first rope tutorial, you are the resource for anyone that wants this! You are amazing Nerd Chomp! New subscriber here!

[@nerdchomp]

Thanks! I just wish I was better at explaining things, because the blueprint is actually pretty complicated. I did successfully help one person set it up in their project though. I was surprised no one had made a video on the topic yet

[@TheFramPlays]

Have you thought about putting it on the UE marketplace or providing how to do it as a service every now and then? Something to be able to make a little extra cash to finance the development of your game? I’m not saying to do that, just curious if you’ve thought about it. Keep being awesome Chris and have a great day!

[@nerdchomp]

@@TheFramPlays Not really. The blueprint is very specific to my own personal project, and honestly it's kind of a mess. It would take a lot of work to get the blueprint marketplace ready. I am happy to help anyone who reaches out and is trying to set it up themselves though. One person reached out on my discord server, and after a little back and forth (or maybe a lot) we got it working in his project. If anyone else wants help setting it up, discord is the best place to reach me. I'll do what I can!

[@lillbrorsan]

Very cool stuff!

[@JanMall]

wow your Channel is growing very fast! Congrats keep it up man☺

[@nerdchomp]

Thanks!

[@WhyKev]

It was a lovely devlog! Really enjoyed learning the thoughts behind the rope!

[@nerdchomp]

Your devlogs have been inspiring me for a while now!

[@WhyKev]

@@nerdchomp Really?! That makes me so happy! I've had your character as an inspiration for myself to make more fun NPCs, to play around with "objects" more for characters :)

[@nerdchomp]

Yeah I actually reference your videos in some of my earlier devlogs. You're one of the reasons I started making devlogs in the first place. I'm happy I could inspire you as well. PaperKlay looks so creative and I can't wait to play it!

[@LocdnessMomster]

This is so beautiful

[@davidCcode]

Nicely done! By the way, you also had a pretty neat tightrope system in "Hat in Time", and it was in Unreal 3. If it was do-able then, it still should be.

[@prisnu2854]

This is awesome!!

[@jhonm6347]

it looks really good

[@MikeCore]

I really do watch anything when i don't want to do my classwork.. great job with the tight rope btw!

[@thesofshavua5132]

The game looks great!

[@beedykh2235]

I believe you. I've been struggling lately to implement basic movement system to my UE5 VR game. Now I truly know why development of games take so much time. And now I truly appreciate what the true developers do.

[@hi_its_jerry]

man that's incredibly cool

[@boxingspace2984]

"Incredible skills on display here! The amount of work put into this is mind-blowing. Thanks for sharing your expertise - truly inspiring content!"

[@Klash120]

Wonder if you fall when you despawn the vine? *Despawns at **7:58* GOTY!!!!!!! Really well done mechanic! Excited :)

[@PedroInTheBathroom]

This is so cool!! Any plans to have repeated jumps on a tightrope make your jumps go consistently higher (up to a ceiling reflective on the rope's length) like mario sunshine or psychonauts? I feel like that could expand the puzzle mechanics with the reattaching of ropes even more, allowing for more secretive exploration of areas. But it's looking great honestly! Good luck with the project!

[@ripchan1413]

Very cool!

[@HipBlooD]

Look‘s great!

[@zachhoffman8557]

you did a good job :)

[@DrKillerLetsPlay]

^_^ ..wishlisted, cant wait to play it

[@ElderSilverFox]

You should have the flower pedals (that come off when the rope disappears) linger instead of vanish when a new rope is spawned. It is a little popish that separates cheap from quality. Love your art style btw.

[@ofeklivny]

Amazing

[@germojo]

that game is sweet :D

[@nnichael]

looks worth the month

[@sundalosketch4769]

A month sounds hella impressive to figure out a tightrope mechanic where you had no tutorial to go off of. At least to a coding/barely coding noob like me, hats off to ya!!

[@Kitsune-es3lc]

aesthetics are awesome.

[@ickorling7328]

I once simulated a bunjee rope, I also just used a string of particles that had elastic bonds. I would think you can make a spline along the path of the particles, sorta like the plexus plugin in AE (it makes dots thag detect nearby dots and may add a line between the dots dynamically. Number of connections to 1 dot can be set to 2, making a chain). A similar technique may be possible and even duplicated multiple times as radially offset splines, and have them join faces to make a rope set up for collisions at any scale and realism. The outcome should be a very very customizable and realistic rope. Theoreticallt point to point distance can be fixed or elastic, and the rope can curve and get dragged, it can have sag, heck even act as a slingshot! I tested all these things in the after effects 'newton' plug-in atleast. Just a thought, I havent ever used UE5. Good luck!

[@dareczek2974]

You could add a death animation to this game, e.g. if you fall from too high a height, the flowerpot breaks and the earth spills out xD

[@DrDandD]

I think this might be the same aproach ponypants used for the ropes for the wrestling ring in his game

[@Nikolajnen]

0:50 "And in my head, I thought this would be pretty simple" ain't that the truth, It's always easy on paper 😅

[@j-bone9472]

Genius

[@myk3l9675]

Aww, Herb and Jerry are so cute!

[@nerdchomp]

😂

[@myk3l9675]

@@nerdchomp the names are going to catch on!

[@JadonBarnes]

This game will be a big success, I can just tell. So get ready!

[@FabriXor87]

Nice work!! But be careful with performance if you are planning on having a lot of them in one level! Splines and spline mesh components can get quite expenisve very quickly

[@BrutalMagik]

The way you designed the rope was great! Have you thought about adding it to the Epic Market place?

[@nerdchomp]

Never really crossed my mind. It would require a lot of tweaking and cleaning up to make it marketplace ready. Not really sure if I'm up to that effort right now, but we'll see. Maybe sometime in the future

[@sundalosketch4769]

It may make for a decent mini bonus revenue if you decide to place a price for your handmade efforts@@nerdchomp