Rebuilding the Combat System for my Dream RPG

[@Pontypants]

Would be interesting to hear you talk about the finish line for this game - ie what does this game look like when it's "done". Size, objectives, story, main gameplay loop from start to finish. It's easy to get caught up in the details 😁

[@davidt01]

He did that a little at the beginning.

[@DevDuck]

I agree! It's been a while since I've taken a step back to talk about the big picture, at least on the channel. I'll keep that in mind!

[@timothymclean]

Sounds like a good video for a week when DevDuck had other obligations tying him up. Organizing and presenting your ideas is more time-consuming than it looks, but it's a lot easier than doing game dev and _then_ organizing and presenting whatever you did.

[@hansa5867]

@@timothymclean I don't think he was saying he should've done that instead. He's just interested in the project and wants more content(?) 🧐

[@ridlr9299]

Here’s three tips I have from previous experience making top-down combat: 1. Make the player swing their wand faster, and using an ease-in-ease-out kind of motion. This helps communicate the weight that Adam was talking about in his video. 2: Although it might seem more realistic, rather than change the collision bounds during the swing, I would pick a single frame (at the greatest extent of the swing) where collisions are calculated, and only perform the operation once at that point in time. This helps sell the impact, even if the organism isn’t directly in line with that part of the swing. Finally, 3. Make the slashing effect larger than it currently is (along with the hit box of course) and increase the range of angle it swings from and to. Nuclear Throne is a great example of a game that implements these three techniques. They might not all work in your game, but I would highly recommend at least considering them for future videos. That being said, great changes so far!

[@DevDuck]

This is amazing feeback. Thank you!

[@delugedrop1558]

Aha! I saw that comment you typed at 7:56! Looking forward to seeing your new dog in the next devlog :D

[@SkidesGames]

Hey I've been a lurker on your channel for a while now and just wanted to say that your videos helped me to balance my time as someone who also works a full-time job, and I entered into my first ever Game Jam and won! Keep up the great work and I'm excited to see you release your game!

[@DevDuck]

That's amazing to hear, congratulations!

[@randomish2757]

Idea for a magical attack/tool, the “Crab Sceptre”. What it does is when it’s used, it shoots out a crab pincer a little ways in front of it, then the pincer closes, stealing some corruption from the corrupted thing, comes back to the sceptre, and then that corruption that is taken from the corrupted thing is converted into healing that slightly reduces the corruption on the player. It would require something dropped from the Horror Crab as well as maybe 10 Sand Crab Shell Fragments at a crafting bench. Just a thought.

[@DevDuck]

This is exactly the type of cool thing I want to be able to create with this "magic" approach!

[@randomish2757]

@@DevDuck im glad you think my idea is cool. I have another one that may be harder to create, but it’s the Seaglider Fins. They could be made with 4 Sand Crab Shells, 6 Seaweed Pieces, and perhaps 4 Leaf Weaves, which are obtained from leaves that fell on the ground. They would boost your speed by a small amount while underwater. Just another thought of mine.

[@arseneleclerc3707]

Can't wait to meet the puppy! And great devlog as always🙂

[@pants3760]

I like the idea of adding a ‘heavy’ attack where you sort of slam the wand into the ground and have magic come up from under the targeted enemy. I also think that one of the most overlooked parts of a game since there is no simple way to accomplish it, making the flow of exploration feel natural. Finding the things that let you go deeper need to be in the harder places to explore, look to subnautica for a perfect example. - live the vids btw

[@randomish2757]

That sounds cool, the heavy attack. It would take longer to use, have a slight cooldown, and would deal extra anti-corruption damage.

[@DevDuck]

That's what the `use_secondary` function of the `Tool` will be for! Already have a generic 'cast' animation that will support this.

[@michaellese3604]

Keep up the great work! I love how chill the vibes always are and the game is so awesome!

[@grapesmash3517]

I'm still curious about how exploring the world is Dauphin works, with the generation of the islands, the deeper story with npcs? , and the whole sailing mechanic we haven't got a look at in a while! It's real exciting to see the progress in the game!

[@DevDuck]

I definitely need to find time to take a step back and talk about how all of this stuff fits together. I plan for some islands to be procedural, and others (maybe most) to be hand-crafted, to help accommodate quests as well as maybe skill-gated entry points, to allow for progression as you explore.

[@indieprogress7170]

Nice work and progress. It's awesome to see the development from just one year ago. Great thing about game dev is you can start off small then expand and improve your project as you develop your skills and knowledge. Keep up the good work!

[@bwcaboy4853]

Your videos are always getting better, great work!

[@null846]

I am loving this devlog, I'm shocked on your motivations levels, I thought you would be burned up by now, but from the looks of it, you can keep on going ! I hope Dauphin becomes something great !

[@theisaackielofproject3973]

These devlogs are so relaxing and gets me so motivated to continue working on things in passionate about

[@MichaelD115]

This is you first video I have seen and your work looks magnificent! Love the art style and the concept. looking forward to watching more videos and the game being released

[@scottyponcin1483]

The environment you work in looks very comfortable and the way you have everything planned for your project makes your work very inspiring. As a beginner programmer I find it very difficult to implement stuff inside your game in a clever way so that it doesn't make you lose time because you have to refactor later. I'm pretty sure that when you're a beginner it's better not to focus on that and just focus on making stuff, then you'll learn from your mistakes what you could've done smarter. So I aspire to have the level of organization that you have as I learn to build games !

[@Benjabenjaaaa]

Amazing Video! keep them up have been whatching this channel for a long time

[@calebross6052]

Some cool ideas for lore, to explain magic, could be that like the ocean has some type of sentience, and is being corrupted by some evil magic, and it’s desperate to be cleansed, so it reaches out to the first person it can find and shares its magic with them. Like the character is just chilling on the beach, finds a message in a bottle, and the message is the ocean asking him to save it, and boom the adventure starts, or something like that… lol

[@nullFoo]

4:40 so we just aren't gonna talk about how incredible that frisbe throw was?

[@datdev]

Nice work, I have just started with working on Godot on my channel

[@bobfish278]

Very happy to see when you finally release this you can you count me as a player

[@objcactus2876]

Really love the new combat and magic system, it also adds to the more fantastical portion of the game. I also love these devlog's and always enjoy seeing the aquarium and the fish :D, keep up the great work!

[@deadrats6781]

The game looks already awesome, great progress. And nice video editing.

[@UnofficialTranslator]

I really love that you keep updating all parts. Edit: the moving forward may be a little bit too much. It goes a little too fast but I like the idea.

[@markymarc49]

Great work as always! Loved your hidden message too

[@generrosity]

Cool! Embracing the fantastical in a oceanic seeing is so good, I'm looking forward to how your special blend goes! 👌

[@matangoldstien5922]

The new fighting animation is so satisfying to watch, in my opinion it is worth it

[@bitbraindev]

Really cool idea to use the concept of magic. I do not know how dark you want to make this game but some "love crafty" magic with tentacles etc. would be dope. It could even "absorb" corruption to then fight bosses etc.

[@sasquatchbgames]

that....is an awesome suggestion

[@lemongummy7047]

from whacking with a bronze sword to giving the ocean their own medicine. i love it.

[@GamesBySaul]

Great video and congratulations on the partnership IQUNIX has looked really impressive to me for a long time, was really tempted to go for them for my first mechanical keyboard, maybe next time! Nice revamps to the combat system, I personally love magic in games and I think it will work well in dauphin, makes me excited to hear more about the lore/story of the game too!

[@lukasbuchelpk]

Some exciting progress in this one! I really like the chain attacks too, such a small detail but really makes the mechanic so much more fluid and nice to look at! :D

[@Coda02]

Maybe something you can add to the sailing is adding a changing wind current. When if you manage to sail into will make you go faster. And maybe add some quick time events to make it interesting

[@turtlehub2731]

Suggestions for magic: Oceans (different types for each deepness level, could also tie in with diving) Grass Sand Glacial Swamp Coral Rock Hope some of these help :)

[@Nauticoah]

It would be cool to see a progression line on the weapon. Thinking you could use a trident as the end weapon and maybe a sword fish's nose somewhere in the middle. I think the wand really looks cool but it has to much of a similar color scheme of the corruption. Use a lot of green and blue and green/blue mixes for a better color scheme and more of a good guy vibe. Also it would be cool to see you implement a more aquatic attack as the slash seems very sharp and controlled but when you think about it water is fluid and loose. A more rounded bigger slash might add to an overall ocean theme. Also if your adding magic items that originate from the ocean they could help the player's under water abilities. Like maybe it could increase the player's air supply and/or make them faster. Another ability that could be useful to get away from the jellyfish would be some sort of underwater sprint/lunge that shoots you forward a small distance. Either way this looks like a sweet game a I love to see the ocean games so keep up the good work and get this thing out please😀!

[@sethcushman5454]

Love your game. Really excited about the source of corruption. A few suggestions: a driftwood wand might make a good starting weapon, and it would make sense if the magic was water based. One critique is the lunge animation needs work, it sort of just looks like he is shifting his foot and sliding forward. Anyway loving the devlogs, super excited for the game! Great job coming up with and designing this interesting game idea!

[@jgarale]

the game looks super cool!!! congrats!!

[@PanthersGamingSessionYT]

Also to go along with my dead fish weapon you should add a fish that will occasionally drop this weapon!

[@PanthersGamingSessionYT]

I'm thinking a Tuna or a Sardine!

[@NeatGames]

The magic is a great idea! Might be cool if people wore more "wizard-like" clothes mixed with modern clothes in this world. Would show more world-building and the modern+magical culture~

[@DevDuck]

Well that's an interesting thought. As if magic weren't solely available to the player...

[@damori3604]

The pixel art is really nice

[@Skeffles]

Brilliant to see how you're taking the combat! I'm glad the player doesn't have to bonk corrupted creatures anymore. I wonder if cleaning them and capturing flying creatures with a net would work well.

[@varikshockey614]

Hey man! I've been following your content for a good amount of time now and I love how creative your story telling is. I'm a dungeons and dragons dungeon master and I use this book called "The Lazy Dungeon Masters Guide" that has helped me improve my world building skills and npc creation. Although this isn't DnD I could see it helping immensely. Just a thought, keep up all the good work and videography :)

[@gravity_mxk5663]

You should consider looking at POPs (persistent organic pollution) For inspiration for how corruption could potentially spread, as POPs generally accumulate in larger concentrations as you move up the food chain so as a result, the higher up on the food chain an organism is, the more corruption they will absorb. But idk I’m just spit balling loved the update as usual!

[@calebross6052]

You could have a weapon that puts things into bubbles to “stun” them, a weapon that when shot at an enemy chains to nearby enemies, a weapon that makes plants grow out the ground to deal damage, etc.

[@CryoCyanide]

This already feels like a Fully developed game! But the added bonus of the fighting mechanic is amazing!

[@sparkspass]

I love these devlogs

[@sparkspass]

I don’t mean to be mean but I think the sword will look better with a outline (in my opinion)

[@calebross6052]

You could have magical items/clothing to buff you, like a magic shark tooth necklace that buffs your damage or something like that.

[@calebross6052]

A magic pearl from an oyster (or clam, which ever one makes those), that buffs luck or loot drop rates or something

[@allisonsmith5754]

maplestory priests have a healing move that heals themselves - but around zombies it does damage to them or purifies them. I think a mechanic like that could be interesting to use because its not a traditional "attack" in the sense that you wave a wand or sword to hit an enemy. Its more of a area of effect and enemies in range get hit by the light/healing. Could be interesting to use as a secondary attack with a lot of cool down & also moving away from wackn' stuff. Nice work you've inspired me :)

[@TheTrampBear]

Love the progress you're making! I was wondering if you might like the idea of player sacrificing himself by absorbing the corruption from the creatures, and he would be the only one who can destroy it within himself. The destroying/cleaning corruption from a player would require him to stop, making him vulnerable which would require some strategizing when in battles. This may avoid "magic", while just keeping corruption as something alien to the world. It would also enable the use of different "weapons" and their stats, since range, corruption picking intensity, speed etc. could still be applicable here. A boomerang could be used as a ranged weapon for example. I don't know it's just an idea

[@philippe5984]

Congrats to 140k subscribers 😊

[@kiisshen244]

Would it be crazy idea to have a hand net which you can swing near a corrupted creature, which would make you catch it in the net. Swinging again with the creature in the net would release it. Then with captured creatures you could cure them and in the process collect the corruption and use it to make potions, since you are going for a spell based combat?

[@GMrClayG]

Would love to see some more pixel art creation, for example in the form of time lapses.

[@timothymclean]

6:07: That's one of the glorious things about writing fantasy. Things can work exactly as you want them to, fitting the plot and themes you want to include _perfectly._ As to marine aesthetics/categorization...the first thing that comes to mind is how the ocean is often used as a symbol/synecdoche for chaos in various mythologies. By contrast, industrial waste (as a product of civilization) is arguably an order-ey sort of thing. So maybe the corruption is a side effect of those diametrically opposed forces clashing, and the player's magic does something to resolve how that conflict manifests in individual organisms?

[@olon1993]

Combat is looking great!

[@joshuahoem8740]

Loving the new combat system! I'm probably commenting a little late for consideration, but I would love see some combos with this new combat system. It feels like the next step as having a cool big hit would be satisfying. Might be a lot, but even making some of those big hits or combo finishing moves unique for the spell or wand that is equipped. (Been playing a lot of kingdom hearts recently and it's satisfying getting those big hits off)

[@itsdabenji9518]

I am very excited for the next devlog for, well, if you know, you know. I won't spoil the surprise :D

[@Prismatics157]

For the combat system, maybe if as you chained your attacks together the magic got more powerful and changed colours to indicate it's strength. Just a suggestion, loved the video.

[@wakajak8634]

I decided to also use a left and right swing with my game, and found the combat to be a lot more fluid, but I used the arrow keys to nudge the player whiles attacking, instead of using the cursor position. This meant that, if the player didn't want to nudge forward whiles attacking, they simply didn't press an arrow key and then they stay still instead.

[@i_hasbeen_slain5034]

I’m loving this series, cannot wait to get it when it releases! (If it does)

[@TheSeanC]

Oh yay! I think I was one of those commenters about the blunt force weapons.. 😓 The coral wand looks super cool!

[@benrex777productions9]

This new combat looks really smooth.

[@YellowsWorkshop]

Hello, awesome work ! I would animate the feet too when attacking. I like the idea of a water pump like mario sunshine to help clean and when under water it turns to like a vacuum to suck the corruption.

[@MolassesLover]

It's always lovely to see the little shrimp tank throughout these videos

[@ricardorachaus]

Perhaps it is a little too late for ideas to weapons and attacks, but I think that a “corruption vacuum cleaner” could be an interesting mechanic. It would be like a tool that was developed to save the creatures and it would not be an attack to them. Also, another idea that I had would be a “anti-corruption gun”, that you would “medicine” that would clean the corruption. Anyway, just some suggestion if you are interested. But great work developing the game and it is looking really great!

[@zutrong]

I love your smartwatch UI element

[@brunoviana9837]

Suggestion, think about to implement a post process effect to turn the ambient darker dependending how much corruption have around the player. Sorry about the English

[@matthewazada5242]

Keep up the good work man! On a random note, does anyone know if the screen on the macbook is a wallpaper at 1:22 ? I'd love to find out!

[@MC4IOSgamer]

Love seeing this game continue to develop!

[@beanverse]

Oooof, that keeb sounds c r i s p y. The new animations are much, much better! Dauphin is really looking good!

[@Throckmorpheus]

Are you thinking of integrating magic into the skill system you've already set up for the diving stuff? Not as in having a 'magic' skill or anything, but as in having your skills of preservation and exploration and what have you grant you magical abilities and/or bonuses to different types of magic weapon? Maybe if you wanted to integrate both you could have special attacks that you learn from your skills that change based on what weapon ur using?

[@jorgeofthej6928]

Thought on combat. With the wand could left click swing left to right and right clicj be right to left. Depending on which you do first it could effect what "spell" you preform. In addition this could allow you to make combos? As you learn new "magic" you learn different combos to cast a spell.

[@n0rice4u39]

id say the sword can still be used to defend yourself and "faint" like Pokémon. Maybe once they are unable to battle they can be taken to like a quarantine healing pool or something and released back to the ocean. I love the message this game will bring!

[@MuffinMan_Ken]

Just a thought: Rather than using timers for your swing, you could have signals (or function calls) triggered by the animation player. This way the timing of your swings is all in one place which can make future tweaks/polish easier to do. It would also make it simpler to add status effects on the player like speed or slow.

[@BluntApe]

Yeah you got to start of with somthing and flesh it out and improve it over time. Makeing a game is so hard. Alot of people don't understand how hard it is and how much work a goes into making a game even a game that is just pixel art. Keep up the good work mate. It seems like it's going to be a very interesting game 💪. Also have you took alot of inspiration from the startdew valley guy and trying to do it all yourself? Because that will be an amazing achievement if you do. Can't wait to see it finished 💪🔥.

[@sondrehimmelrikbarstad3414]

I know you just made allot of new frames of animation. But i feel a magical creature would fit this better. a nymph, a kind forest spirit, a hermit. pherhaps like that wizard from Ponyo, the Ghibli studio film. I love the direction this game has taken over time, and good job!

[@rahulmandal6139]

Adding SHRIMPS to Dauphin would be great!! 🔥🔥😅😅😅😅🔥🔥

[@fabledbagel2392]

I think it would be interesting to have the character find and collect pieces of scraps that allow him to create different devices that can help fight the corruption more and allow longer underwater breathing etc.

[@Myshio]

I think the magic animation should be something that gives the idea of sucking the corruption out of the creature, so rather than it looking like you're attacking it, it can be more like you're healing the creature.

[@alexturcu8768]

One pretty simple way of doing the left to right attack is to get a bool variable called for example nextAttack and set it to true after the first animation finishes and get a delay(i dont know if it exists in unity I don't really program inside there) for 1 seconds and then set it to false and always check before attacking whether nextAttack is true or false and if it is true do the other swing and set nextAttack to false

[@Aarimous]

Sometimes it's best to use non-video game systems as motivation for game design elements. In my head, it feels like the "corruption" is supposed to represent climate change, and the player will need to fight against force by cleaning up the trash and removing corruption. Not sure if that is your angle, but using Climate Change could help ground your magic system and be a good underlying theme for the game. Great work!

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

I was thinking more of plastic, sound and other polutions but easly could be both.

[@kingofnothing2260]

Think about a catch or kill option. A net or Bola to easily catch an animal in 1 quick action and pick it up or for large or dangerous animals hit with divers knife or harpoon to damage but takes many hits so you are encouraged to capture. Captures can give research points and kills give meat to heal or for hunger

[@elijahlamont9517]

Can you please tell me how you colour your different topics within board view in notion? i've searched everyhere!

[@xsmallmusic2174]

I think you should definitely have a Shrimp based magic spell/attack, that would be so cool!!

[@AndrewMaksym]

I love your computer setup! I need to figure out if I have enough room to do something like this.

[@dardasaba7971]

Ayy new devlog!

[@MONKEIGH_YT]

2 ideas i had for the game is one a system where when you have uncorrupted enough things you can upgrade certain items giving you more powerful attacks and two maybe make it so the npcs can be corrupted and you have to help them or they die

[@patrykszewczuk1305]

I think that magic is a great idea! I have a question though, but more about the software you are using. I saw that on the MacBook you have a software that runs an animation, tells the time and works like a to-do list (example 6:11). Can you give me the name?

[@jragon5184]

Maybe a melee magic weapon could have a attack where bubbles are left behind for a few seconds that deal damage

[@saluk7419]

Under "better way to do this" in the CoralWand you could implement a spawning autoload. I do this in my game. Anything that needs to spawn something would just say, for instance, coral_slash_instance = Spawner.spawn(CORAL_SLASH_ATTACK, initial_position). You could handle finding the right ysort you want to spawn into from there, and if you change how you do your layering later on you only have one script to change.

[@sasquatchbgames]

Really liking that new mechanic, fits much more thematically but looks just as much fun to use as the bronze sword. Just wondering, do you have a goal in mind for the completion date?

[@polymakegames]

Lmao. Call it what you want. You smack the mob and xp go brrrr.

[@newosso]

It would be cool to have a critical hit feature, so that when you press the attack button right after finishing the previous attack, it does more damage or build up combo.

[@origami_dinosaur]

Maybe instead of the red circle for the jellyfish attack, it could be a dark blue or purple to fit in more with the ocean setting 🏝

[@bun__bones9473]

Would a spray of some kind from a pump or gun style object be more realistic for removing corruption

[@ilaik]

I really like your videos! keep going! btw what's the name of the to-do list software you use? and when the player launches after he attacks, if the user would spam the attack key won't they move faster than walking?

[@aditgoyal2659]

Hey DevDuck, first of all congratulations on your progress in Dauphin!! Love your daily schedule and to be fair, I'm a little jealous because its hard to actually adapt to the morning after being the nocturne that I am. I wanted to ask, as a student, what kind of a laptop should I get for game development. I was seriously considering a macbook at one point but that would defeat my purpose of showing interest in game development (always wanted to make my own games) because I won't be able to run a tonne of games on macbook. So what's your recommendation on that? Keep up the good work!!

[@theowillis6870]

depends. if your doing heavy 3D games with very modern graphics. you may want to get a gaming laptop with a nvidia in it. if your doing basic 2D games probably something simple you may want to choose a middle ground also. if night time works for you. don't bother adjusting. a nocturn person is just as hard working as a morning person. there is no time of day that makes u more productive aslong as your healthy and motivated you should be good.

[@theowillis6870]

dpnt feel bad if you cant work in the mornings

[@starfoxandstellar9917]

Maybe in the future you can collect stuff from the seaweed/kelp to craft a seaweed whip you can use to cleanse creatures from far away, maybe like the crab boss or smth

[@popadom4529]

@DevDuck where did you learn how to program in Godot?

[@waynetastic1746]

It's funny how I watch all these ingenious game developers create skits, tutorials, jokes, and entire games, yet _know_ that I'm never going to be good enough to do any if it lmao

[@Paul-tb2om]

Have you been updating your steam page recently?

[@Critters]

IMO you should have a backpack and a Ghostbusters like weapon where you wash the corruption off the creatures using water. Returning to the ocean to recharge the backpack.

[@soundzythedev]

What size canvas do you use in aseprite? Also how many frames would you recommend for a smooth animation?