My game's first playtests went TERRIBLY | Super-G Devlog 9

[@DaveTheMango]

Josue's concept art is so wonderful. I would love to see it used as a loading screen in the final game

[@bricksbybeck]

That would be sweet

[@kbhasi]

That reminded myself of a game idea I'm working on as a side project as I dreamt of having the gameplay area and key art be in 3D while the UI and back cover stuff would be in 2D. Edit: I also imagined some 2D art being used on loading screens to provide gameplay tips but only in pictorial form, while the player would have to figure out the controls for their chosen control scheme.

[@pineball43]

i like how super g has the same initials as solomon gumball

[@alexanderrosulek159]

Fr

[@Patrick33456]

I can't imagine all the work this game is taking AND the effort you put into these devlogs. I'm so thoroughly enjoying these man. I'm a web developer hoping to get into game dev and the way you approach problems and present them visually to see... It cannot be overstated how helpful and interesting this all is. Not to mention I genuinely love this game idea. Keep up the great work dude. I'm sure you feel burnt out at times, take care of yourself!

[@solomon-gumball]

I come from a app development background as well! glad you're enjoying the vids! I do feel burnt out sometimes but that's part of the journey

[@gerreloTB1485]

Buetiful bloody buetiful

[@panpukinart]

Hell yeah dude, one step closer to an absolutely epic title!! The more goes wrong in a playtest, the less you'll miss in the final release.

[@jesperduijn8095]

The item crafting is just such a genius idea

[@nazarusstudios]

I WAS HERE!!!! I cant fathom the frustration that comes with making a diagram for everything but the results are soo clean. much love buddy, great job on the video. CritterCraft will be my entry into the ads of your world :]

[@jesperduijn8095]

Hi, first of all this game just looks amazing, I cant wait to play it. 1 small thing, i feel like having to respawn after getting hit by a missile feels like it would be hella annoying, i think maybe a spin out mechanic like Mario kart does would be better, respawning is always infuriating in games, and especially in something so high intensity as a racing game. To be fair i have only seen a couple seconds of footage of the respawn, but i still wanted to mention it. Again, i love how this game is coming together!!

[@solomon-gumball]

Thank you!! Yeah I think if you compare it to something like the shells from mario kart it is much more punishing. Overall we might have to mess around with the respawn timing. I do want it to knock you off your skis but maybe you get up much quicker. Definitely worth messing around with that timing in the playtests.

[@RodrigoTheHappyDog]

​@@solomon-gumballCould your character not just equip new skis somehow? Their skis could just... go missing (a.k.a fall through the ground and despawn) when you get blown up, and be "picked up" from under the snow. No idea how difficult that'd be to implement on a ragdoll tho

[@kbhasi]

I have to say, I'm impressed! On first impression, it looks to me like a mix of Mario Kart and Splatoon but for skiing. I could see myself playing that game!! (I had already subscribed as KZbin recommended me devlog 7 first and I added it to my Watch Later) The art style is cute and, as I found out through a previous log, the fact that both the character design and 2D concept art were done by a comic artist had tickled my inner bookworm!!!* *For context, I'm more of a comics person than a video game person as a result of my background On a side note, something I found interesting to me is, instead of discovering Puppy Knight at a Zine Fest booth like you did, I discovered it when one of the French-speaking artists I follow (even though I don't speak French) reposted an announcement that the book had been translated into French, and as you may have guessed I did a search for the author and illustrator names and added the original to my Goodreads ‘Want to Read’ list. It was only with one of your previous devlogs (episode 7) that I remembered the artist's name, Josue Cruz, and added his name to my private art style tier list (a set of Milanote boards where I privately take note on what I like about each artist's and illustrator's art style and visual development skills so I can make a list of what I want in my own art style). You having no interest in comics but having one catch your eye when someone pulled you into a Zine Fest reminded me of how a historical fiction film a family member pulled me into watching had led to a series of events that put an end to the dark ages of my life, allowed me to open up, and eventually discover books, animations, and games I like, as well as retrying digital art but with more inspiration. I was also reminded of a game idea I'm working on as a side project, as in that, I dreamt of hiring a specific artist to be the art director and lead 2D artist, chiefly because he was one of two artists who worked on the game that's serving as my primary source of inspiration, and he did a lot of the 2D art and claymation model sculpts for that. That would likely never happen in real life as I can't work on the project full-time (I still work on it from time to time due to it being solely fuelled by the game's story having stuck as my current autistic obsession), and I can't currently afford to hire anyone else to work with me. It does, however, happen that one of my projects I'm trying to focus on is digital art. Maybe one day the game would actually be playable, but for now it only exists as a collection of ideas, inspiration, and notes born out of a daydream I had, however I did also imagine reworking the game's story into a graphic novel as a last-ditch effort, but I do want it to be a game in order to stay true to that daydream. I just hope I can allocate more time to working on art. As much as I like Splatoon's use of constructed languages, I like how you and/or Josue instead went with having readable English text within the world, but mostly because I plan to do the same thing with my game idea (though in my case because I took inspiration from Aardman films that feature Nick Park's art style). I don't know why, but to my eyes, your choice of UI font looked a little off to me, however I assume that's just a placeholder, even if it somehow reminded me of Scott Christian Sava, as I imagine doing something similar with my game idea (where I'd use a placeholder UI font before deciding on or creating the final font, so I can create the art first and find or create the font later). I still have to check your other logs to see if the font is actually being used as a placeholder. (16:41) ‘…this really mediocre particle system…’ ‘Oh, that's the ability… you make everyone blind’ ‘We streamed on Twitch … and only ended up talking about Splatoon six different times’ At this point, I was reminded of Splattercolor Screen from Splatoon 3, and I now imagine you implementing something similar to that and/or the black ink from Mario Kart, something to temporarily blind other players. (17:04) and then humming Calamari Inkantation. Nice. Somehow, your game taking place in a dystopian future reminded me of the Splatoon series taking place in the distant future, and then I realise I have similar (but not identical) ideas for the story in my game idea, but in that, it'd be more like going from dystopia to utopia over the course of the series.

[@pepijnvanbreemen1112]

i also really like the 2d concept art

[@Dubcore2011]

Idea: The fastest routes through an ice tunnel should have a section with a low hanging ceiling. When the player gets close, camera automatically flips into first person and the player needs to press a button to duck/navigate through the small opening. After going through the camera returns to normal. This will make the fastest route a gamble and make it rewarding, without requiring awkward camera movement.

[@ryangrino2000]

Josue's art is so cool :0 would LOVE to see his art on menus or loading screens in the game :DD

[@matthewmathis62]

What you did with determining the state of the train based upon time is probably considered Calculus. Because "Calculus is the mathematical study of continuous change..", which includes the mathematical study of objects moving over time. Cool game! :)

[@JtooMe2]

I LOVE IT! Man it's coming along so well! The real look behind the dev with the online testing is great.

[@HaloAvon777]

Okay, first of all, only a minute into the video and it LOOKS good. I'm impressed!

[@noelc8927]

I've been aticipating these updates! Big fan of this content

[@ronnyboiii]

This game has come a long way from seeing the first devlog to this, it looks very polished. I can't imagine all of the hurdles you had to get through to get to this point. I'm a junior dev myself and having seen the amount of work you need to put into to get to this stage is unimaginable. I have an insane level of appreciation for taking the effort to film and visualize your approach to problem solving. The game looks amazing, the level design is exceptional, the pacing of difficulty looks solid and of course Josue's concept art is beautiful. Keep up the great work. I love how the game is coming together and can't wait to play it, don't run out of the juice!!

[@solomon-gumball]

Thanks for your kind words ronny!! It's comments like this that keep me going! Glad I could be of some inspiration and good luck with the dev work yourself 👍

[@bricksbybeck]

This game looks like so much fun, keep it up! :D

[@karl0961]

Game looks sick so far, can't wait to try it! A suggestion could be to add jumps, rails etc. that you can perform tricks on, and a succesful trick would give you a speed boost, while a failed attempt could slow you down. This could make for interesting races, where players can choose to do challenging tricks, to get ahead of other players. Probably gonna be hard to implement with the current controls, but would be fun! :-)

[@NerdyToothpick]

I think it would be cool if the glider on the jetpack ability had a flashing effect play before disappearing to signal to the player when it was gonna disappear, similar to the zonai devices in tears of the kingdom. I also think the decals on the road should be smaller and closer together to make the player feel faster when skiing. Anyway, the game looks super fun and I can't wait to play it!

[@xjosuecruz]

You hit the nail right on the head! The dark screen on the jet pack concept is meant to show your draining battery!

[@gerreloTB1485]

Ye like a battery Icon that could deplet le

[@howjackedcaniget]

Idk what the game is, but that is a useful form-follows-function mechanic that's in most 6th gen-ish games that have something similar. For example, Ratchet & Clank. Gotta be easily readable without being obnoxious.

[@kingofgameing0]

solomon gumball uploaded let’s go

[@Desmond-Dark]

This is one of the most fascinating dev logs I have seen. I love seeing devs go through the mistakes they made and not shy away from using blueprints either. Visual scripting is awesome.

[@snowyy304]

Wow, there's a significant enhancement compared to the previous Devlog! Kudos to you and the entire team! 😎

[@alangregoryvitek]

The ideas y’all have for this are amazing! Seriously considering the community event - would love to contribute to of this incredible project

[@NitratEntertainment]

The game looks so cool, but I feel you. When my game gets playtested im always praying that my game doesnt completly break. But its normal, you cant find everything right away.

[@andreoshea283]

Love that Josue has been getting more active in the devlogs! Love seeing their face

[@RKIOrbMage]

The ads are a great idea! It could be a fun satire spin-off of the Mario kart ads, as you said And those beautiful drawings by josue make me want a super-g comic book :sob:

[@RegularBiscuit]

Please use the concept art for loading screens! It's so lovely, and would suck if we couldn't all appreciate it

[@solomon-gumball]

Will definitely be doing that!

[@RegularBiscuit]

@@solomon-gumball yay!

[@lejoueurfreetoplay]

Was very fun playtesting ! I didn't realise I was that much behind though. 18:11

[@mcdonaldsspritee]

ngl this is one of the best devlog series rn

[@BlueBeetle1939]

Thank you for sharing your work you are a continuing inspiration in my own game dev journey

[@frogmasto]

SOLOMON GUMBALL UPLOADED

[@howjackedcaniget]

This game is very much in the style of PS2 games and it's wonderful. Very impressive. The jetpack + glider is like Ratchet & Clank.

[@That-KidDo]

You better have some stands with spectators in the crowd, it’s what makes Mario track feel so alive

[@GOO-c3m]

It is still very impressive, good fellow.

[@Riv3rz]

Dude I love the progress you've made on this game! I never expected it to become what it is with the first devlog. Iv seen a lot of people who upload dev logs and never once have I seen someone so determined and willing to try. Keep it up you're almost there!

[@solomon-gumball]

Very nice if you to say. I certainly have my low points but I’m glad I’ve been able to keep the momentum going. Thanks for keeping up with the series!

[@PhntomGamez]

So hyped for a full release, so incredible seeing how much the game has grown and the amount of detail you guys are putting in this is incredible! (also splatoon mentioned WHOOP)

[@Zettabit7]

Great to see the progress. Looking forward to seeing the vertical slice once it's complete!

[@AbnormalOccasions]

I think for at least one part of a level, you should ski over a frozen lake, with some parts of the ice potentially cracked/broken so the player would fall through.

[@NickSquaredTV]

The item combo aspect is very cool. Love that

[@pepijnvanbreemen1112]

New video yesss!! Also 20k followers congrats

[@LiamOfOzz]

This stuff looks sick as hell, I wanna try it now. good job on you three making this game!

[@racinracerxp8645]

The "add multiple button" I wish this existed

[@graham42]

the jetpack into the glider suddenly made me connect that this game reminds me of Marble Blast Gold, in a way- and that is a happy thought. if you want a masterclass in addictive downhill player movement, Marble Blast Gold is quite literally the gold standard

[@solomon-gumball]

I just looked it up. I remember playing that one a long time ago. So good.

[@jorrdan.]

i love the way this game has been developing over time, cant wait to see the final product!

[@danny_jarratt]

My partner and I appreciate and always watch your dev logs together (Big Snowboard Kids fans here!). We only watch one other KZbinr together. While it is more of an aesthetic desire than a fundamental one, we would love a playable female character, even if you presented character drawing designs when you launched the demo. Also, I love the spinning-around mechanics. In racing games, you usually see only the back of your character, and I rarely feel a connection with my avatar. They feel more like I am a blank character, but having them spin around and face you, even briefly, makes me fall in love with the character. I really love all of your little demonstration animations (like the arrow using the jetpack) and Josue's fantastic concept art! I also pray for a solo/story mode; these characters are too cool not to see them more. Appreciate the hard work and these videos!! :D P.S. LOVE the title!

[@solomon-gumball]

Thank you this is a very sweet comment. I’m glad you and your partner enjoy the KZbin series! I promise I’m going to get back on a more regular & frequent release cycle! About the female character- Josue and I have plans for a number of diff female characters (in fact you can see a preview in one of Josue’s drawings in the video) that we’re pretty excited about. Can’t wait to share them

[@ImaginaryJeremy]

Games looking great! Would love to see a snowmobile or zamboni power up

[@ishidapedro]

Online Multiplayer is a nightmare. But one of the things we learned from the devlogs is that you can pull it off. Congrats on the great work!

[@dhruvgupta8399]

Props dude Im trying to learn unreal engine now and its so overwhelming. You chose a great concept and are delivering on it well! Best of luck, excited to see what the future holds!

[@SaltySkip]

Such a huge jump in content from last update!! Josue and Gumball brought it!!

[@hypermoth]

You and Josue are one hell of a team!

[@WestIsOnFire]

i've loved following this journey from the start and honestly can't wait to get my hands on this game! keep up the amazing work and see u on the slopes one day!

[@Shikigami6]

I follow a lot of Devlogs on KZbin but to be fair, this is the first game I am actually REALLY hyped for

[@lucbloom]

You have to make a shortcut that is best taken by bumping real hard, going backwards into a corridor, then bumping out of it onto the main slope again!

[@DrSGameDev]

I'm implementing multiplayer in my project next month, tysm for sharing bro!

[@JoonyTv]

...and yet it was still a blast to try out!!

[@solomon-gumball]

Did you catch your clip in the beginning montage? 😂

[@JoonyTv]

@@solomon-gumball yea, so glad my little anime intro looking death made it in!

[@delgoodie]

Excellent networking solution for the map elements!

[@bearmug]

Always looking forward to these!

[@zplays_gaming]

This reminds me of an old school game on 64 called snowboard kids. Loved that game as a kid. Looking forward to seeing what you build!

[@backyy07]

Looking really good! And the consistent art style makes it look real clean.

[@solomon-gumball]

thanks backy hope you're doin well dude

[@foxig34]

Whoa Solomon g'ball is an absolute g playing super g Great name I think

[@brakbrak9966]

this game is looking gooood. Keep up the good work

[@ThatGamePerson]

YO this game looks sick though.

[@octopox]

This is the best game devlog in youtube rn omg

[@theminecraftplayer4463]

Let’s gooo new video drooopppeeddd

[@user-pc5sc7zi9j]

"Human-Flakes! Unleash your inner Human!" (photorealistic depiction of a real world person on cereal box)

[@Spactual]

Reminds me a lot of snowboard kids

[@TUKMAK]

It's looking really great! 🎉

[@gerreloTB1485]

He. Is. Back.

[@egementon]

Game dev is harder than people might think man... Great job! Based on my 2 years of experience I think golden rule is to building and playtesting the game frequently. Fix the bugs before they pile up.

[@solomon-gumball]

Yeah I'm certainly realizing that it would have been helpful to do playtesting much earlier on. But it took me a while to get to a point where I was confident enough with the multiplayer implementation that I would let other people play it haha. Glad we're finally here now tho

[@BlueBeetle1939]

The jetpack while skiing is very pierce brosnan james bond and thats great you should lean into that if you arent already

[@kurtisknodel]

Hey, better the playtest goes badly than the release! As someone who's also making a multiplayer game right now, multiplayer is definitely really hard 😂 Keep up the good work!

[@solomon-gumball]

thanks kurtis, good luck to you as well on your multiplayer journey!

[@coprophagichobo2377]

For some animal diversity, you should add a reptile character, but cause he’s cold blooded, have him super layered up, with only his snout sticking out of a parka or smthn.

[@jeffersonbellon4432]

The map looks really nice

[@JJ-lo1hv]

I understand how game is, I can wait for your game to be done😊

[@17abcdgh]

I hope Max’s father, Jamie, shows up to the races and waits at the bottom to congratulate his son.

[@rkneebone]

wait!what! a new video

[@BASHERSKINZ]

this looks awesome! wishlisted :)

[@TidaliCreative]

AYYYY THIS IS WHAT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!! WOOOO🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@jestfulcompany9589]

Our gumball goat is back again with another devlog 👀

[@BlaiseSewell]

Went to wishlist and already had it wishlisted!

[@Pandan3D]

That max player thing is such a common pitfall in Unreal multiplayer games, been there ;_;

[@Rulerofwax24]

Valve tend to have really crazy playtest requirements - they often playtest new bits weekly. I'm not saying you need to do that and it doesn't have to always be networked testing, but super frequent testing allows for really quick changes to things that don't work

[@solomon-gumball]

Yeah I would like to get in the habit of doing this. I kinda need to do multiplayer testing online tho cuz I don’t have people locally I can test LAN with. Next time I make a multiplayer game tho I’ll prioritize getting to playing much quicker

[@andreaspetrov5951]

A game based around my favorite Mario Kart level, Mount Wario? Sounds awesome!

[@avacado4706]

PEAK DEVLOGS IS BACKK

[@Leandro-xk3co]

I love this, is like “How I became rich with my game”

[@love_life_leafeon5955]

You should make a button to get closer to pointing in the camera direction, only applying forces so it doesn't autosteer, just something to help save physics errors and stuff

[@nawhz6292]

your characters never even skid. they just stand there

[@alvin_row]

Let's gooooo new upload

[@onenikki5937]

This looks so amazing. But it gotta take quite a while to concept, model, texture, rig, code and fix bugs. Looking forward to playing it though

[@danilkuk]

Lets goooo new videooooo!

[@yoramhamo6161]

Please make a plush of the characters they're are so marketable

[@timmygilbert4102]

Finally getting to find the G spot

[@drewhazel1121]

A playtest that goes horribly is a playtest that went well

[@gargboil]

youre so back

[@StigDesign]

the water fall and greenery reminds me of ssx tricky :D

[@PootCoinSol]

Damn this is so cool

[@fergieseyebrows]

this is soo good?!? what the hell

[@Buraasen]

Great work Solomon! 😎 Let me know if you need more Scandinavian play-testers. The ping can't be that bad, right? 😅

[@SeuJuliano]

Finally new vid

[@mateuszporzucek4786]

awesome, would be great is skis bend during tight turns

[@CheesiX8]

i wish the individual feet were more animated, where you could really feel the two feet going over different curves, with their spacing getting farther or closer instead of them acting like one whole that rotates to the ground

[@CheesiX8]

like imagine at 10:26, this shot with the feet moving around separately, distance changing as they go over the bumps in the ground, rotation partially aligning to the ground to make it feel like you are really on the surface also some trails in the snow would be huge, there's already effects for the skis (which look... serviceable) and i think combined with the feet placement changing it could really help with making the character feel alive and like they are reacting to the environment, when you go over a curb in mario kart the wheels bump, but they don't do that here.