Sapiens Devblog #27 - 3D Rendered UI and Fire Skills

[@jojo-oq4ze]

Suggestion, make them able to teach their children, so you can have very specialized people, but when they have children they can give 75% of their skill to that child

[@HalkerVeil]

That would be amazing for sandbox games but multiplayer it can be exploited. Once the best path is found everyone will do it.

[@majicDave]

yep, I do plan to have skills passed down through generations. Should be an easy enough feature to have and I see no real down sides. In the late game you're not going to be wanting to assign skills to every individual sapien.

[@MoreLaterDude]

@@majicDave Maybe they could discover 'schools' where by they could learn the basics of life instead of having to inherit them from their parents...

[@ConnorBP]

Stuart Moore or maybe they can generally learn from who they know? Maybe schools can facilitate specialization and faster / stronger learning

[@MrManNumber1]

Could have children play around working adults and learn skills by watching them being used. Then when they grow up you have individualised people who will have taken interest in different things.

[@TimmyBlumberg]

Honestly, Dave, this has the makings to be a super interesting project. I would love to hear some more of the technical details of your development cycle along with the descriptions of the mechanics. I am super happy to see this project is humming along though! Best of luck!

[@kaasperzik73]

Should have the background at the title screen animated as well. UI looks great and the logo is really fitting! Incredible looking game, can't wait to get my hands on it.

[@LittleFerno]

I thought the same thing, a bit of wind on the grass and trees would look awesome!

[@Jlewismedia]

@@LittleFerno or even to save rendering a whole scene (assuming it's a screenshot) he could have animated sprites so the grass looks like it sways and even the trees

[@LittleFerno]

@@@Jlewismedia 100%, it would look so good!

[@Obeu]

just discovered you channel today. This project is amazing. Keep it up!

[@klearlykonfused9996]

This game looks better than some AAA-titles .... this is so great. Looking forward to see your Progress in the future! I will definitely support you in the future!

[@nadivvv]

I love the artsyle for this game

[@JustATempest]

From what I've seen I can tell you, this will be one of those games that KZbinrs are going to get a hold of and your live will change. I cant wait to play this. Good luck!

[@onedeadsaint]

love the new logo! also I just happened to be suggested your "4 year" video from youtube and I glad I was! been enjoying the videos and the progress you're making!

[@jackgarrison6748]

I have a suggestion. In the AI UI I feel like instead of having the word tiredness put fatigue instead. I feel that would make it a bit better. Also I've been watching these for quite a while and I love these videos. Keep it up!

[@_Jonez_]

This is my kinda game. Keep up the good work :)

[@erroneous4744]

If you do light the UI with the world light at night you could light it like it's being lit up by a torch or a campfire

[@Zagar099]

This would be so aesthetically pleasing its not even funny.

[@noxdraeconis8251]

This project has so much potential. I can't wait to be able to play it! :D

[@jears]

This game is amazing, I'm so glad I stumbled across this channel and I'm super excited now to follow development of this game. It looks so amazing!

[@louisschelfhout1957]

Perhaps you could have skills be obtained in the form of a "research tree" where certain paths are open/blocked depending on what skills you train? Love the UI and title screen.

[@vitasartemiev]

This reminds me of a nice little project called Limit Theory. Beautiful graphics, convincing procedural elements, complex ai, made by one guy. It was going nicely for several years, and then it crashed and burned several times over. I hope this projects of yours doesn't crash and burn, Dave.

[@majicDave]

oof. I hope so too! I remember reading about Limit Theory when the developer gave up on it. Very sad.

[@rosbly]

With the direction this game is taking, I hope there would be a "Nomad" mode, where you could travel with your village and where everyone have task to make it work (carrier, hunter, etc.). It would be an amazing experience

[@MattJohno2]

Honestly, I'm always inspired by this community. Whenever I watch any kind of devlog I just can't help but fire up Unity and try to work on something. I followed Equilinox's devlogs 'til release and I hope to do so for this game. Good luck! One question: Will this game have a progression system(like in the Civ games) where you become more advanced over time? Or will it focus more on the birth of civilization like it is now?

[@Jlewismedia]

Do what the sims does, when all the ai is asleep you can speed up like x6 or something so it all flies past really quick to morning. This project looks awesome and i cant wait to see it finished 100% will buy

[@sebastianalcala1974]

or you could add some stuff to do at night . Skipping days, in my opinion, makes games kind of repetitive.

[@osjos2822]

This is probably the coolest thing I've seen in terms of games in a while! Love your dedication and how you always improve things, even if they technically worked. I think it would be cool if you added seasons, which could make more realistic hunting, gathering, and make the game change from time to time. I'm so glad I found your channel!

[@Break.Free_YT]

Great as always

[@rickard1200]

Of course

[@infinitedelete]

Honestly never cared this much about the development of a game. You’re truly amazing! I can not wait to play this game. Is there anyway to donate? I’d love to support your journey.

[@Peastable]

This game is beautiful and has obviously had tons of love and effort put into it. You've earned a sub.

[@AdobadoFantastico]

The skeuomorphism is looking great. Question on trees in gameplay, will there be options to do other things with them? Harvest branches or pick fruits instead of chopping them down, for example. Would be neat to have a maintained wood. Especially if trees affect wildlife spawning, it would have a lot of bonus utility. Random really specific opinion, since you mentioned adding chickens: I'd like to see Red Jungle Fowl, instead of modern chickens. It's a bit more thematic and it'd be nice to make use of their color variety rather than defaulting to a standard brown, black, or white broiler chicken.

[@majicDave]

I think there will be more to do with trees, yes. You can currently pull branches down as well as chop them, though the branch gathering animation is rather crude. Good call on the wildlife too, will give that some more thought.

[@lievenpetersen]

Suggestion for the build-menu: Right now you have to press an extra "build" button, i think it would be much simpler to just click on the icon to build the item. I noticed that this currently selects the tooltip for that item, so that would have to be selected by just hovering the mouse over the item.

[@merlinak1878]

This game is amazing. Haven't seen any other game with that many details. You can even watch them building a campfire by searching the parts around the place!! Thats so crazy. So excited for your game!

[@leifcrux]

A suggestion for gameplay. It would be interesting if early game is more nomadic, roaming and collecting skills. Later game being more settling down and building villages.

[@jessemaclean2680]

Realistic herds of Buffalo and other animals interactions would be so cool. Like coming over a hill on a Savannah and there a river of buffalo migrating across the landscape.

[@viktornikolayenko984]

Discovered your channel a few days ago, very informative interesting path! Following your project Dave! Lets go!!!! :)

[@louissherwood5221]

This looks great, you've made some awesome progress. I like how the skill system is coming along, you could have traits that compliment certain skill areas, either learnt or hereditary traits ;) Guessing the mammoths are coming back then with the work on hunting :D

[@leokarabeg]

This is awesome! I have just been mulling getting into making games in order to suss out the prospect of making a sort of "group based old timey survival" game. Something like a first person Age of Empires, but more PoE and survival oriented, and where every individual is important. It's really cool to see that you're so far along, and thinking sort of along the same lines. And the visuals are great.

[@simoncrann9430]

Leo Karabeg you echo where I am too! Looking into game making ;)

[@leokarabeg]

@@simoncrann9430 Cool! What kind of games are you into?

[@simoncrann9430]

MMORTS (i.e. Travian), Base building (i.e. RimWorld), Sandbox (i.e. Minecraft), Open World Survival (i.e. Sapiens ;) ) and you?

[@leokarabeg]

@@simoncrann9430 Nice. I wasn't aware of Travian before now, but it looks like just the sort of thing I would have loved at the time. I was big on Planetarion a few years before, which was browser based, but probably a good deal more weird and nerdy. I've spent a bunch of time in Minecraft too. I wish there was something like it, but better looking and harder to survive. I think a tower defense would be good first game to make, though.

[@simoncrann9430]

Leo Karabeg Exactly! I have a few games in mind : - a collaborative MMORTS (focussing on bringing people together against a common enemy instead of the traditional wargame style... hard to create and keep interesting) - an entrepreneurship serious game (focussing on teaching entrepreneurship within games) - base building survival sandbox (a new Minecraft? The ultimate challenge! Haha!)

[@jackaapacka]

Wow, this is the best solo-dev game I've ever seen! I think this deserves so much more than 7,185 views.

[@mindwinder.]

Later on in development, when adding multiplayer features, you should add the ability to got to war with someone else's people. Idk if u were already planning on this, but I think that would be so fun. Nonetheless, this game looks soooooo good!

[@MISPLACED96]

Great work I can’t wait to see where this project goes into the future

[@ethanbonin3316]

Dave. You inspire me man. I'm not an amazing sexy game developer like you, just a normal bland software developer. And it's super encouraging to see to see your personal growth and development in your game. It's so cool to see where you were and where you are now. Huge strides. Keep on pushing!

[@unorthodoxresident7532]

This is inspirational! Also love the calm soothing atmosphere.

[@piusnyakoojo1392]

I wonder if life is a game development blog. We inspire the developer to create the world and help debug how it should work. Thanks Dave!

[@thomas3328]

Love your devblog! 👍🏻

[@irusansonofarusan]

Really interesting approach to making the UI. Thanks for sharing.

[@thejakery]

Can not wait for this! I only just discovered your videos last night and I'm super excited to follow the rest of your journey. One suggestion for you, if you're happy to take suggestions, I think 'Fatigue' is a better word that 'Tiredness'. If you chose 'Tiredness' for any reason than that is fair enough!

[@rb3431]

Wow, this is going to be an awesome game! I will definitely pay 20 euros for it when it's released on steam as a still in development game. Keep up the good work!

[@TylerTraverse]

I really love this series. It's intensely interesting to me as a programmer. I'm really grateful you would put in the effort to make this series. Thanks!

[@StrayaMate1337]

Your game is what I have always wanted Age of Empires to be. It is absolutely ideal and I am looking forward to being able to play this, such dedication and attention to detail is honorable, we don't see enough of that these days in the gaming industry. Well done mate.

[@TakeAdip]

I just watched your video where you show the development of sapiens and I must say that I'm fully hooked on this project of yours. I'm planning on following it very closely :) This is the first time that I'm this excited for a development of a game!

[@headgames4945]

Hey Dave, I think what you should do for skills like fire, is have them see it before they learn it. e.g. seeing lightning and unlocking the skill. Also, what UI library did you use ?

[@westganton]

I will be purchasing this game

[@saltystinna4361]

Looks amazing man! Lots of respect for you, doing this by yourself! I'm actually gonna buy this when it's released.

[@mintyfresh5269]

Hey dave! Only been following your profect for a few weeks but i have to say I really admire your passion for this project. Good luck for everything going forward!!

[@olivermckowen135]

Saw one of your videos on a reddit post, glad I came and watched it. This is super interesting stuff. A thought I had in regards to food scarcity, and remaining in one area. Maybe work it so that you can pick up beds and tents and whatnot and play a nomadic tribe. Have them carry completed objects with them. I feel like that could be really cool on a multiplayer server, the possibility of two nomadic tribes encountering one another “in the wild” so to speak. Keep up the good work, I can’t wait for the next video!

[@zarfynn5801]

Every frame of you looking at the nature in this game can be a nice wallpaper

[@waynemation]

13:33 You could give each person a personality. When you assign a task (eg. fire) the one who's most interested will start researching it :) (you could also let them pop up on top of the list, where you assign new tasks) Anyway, nice video as always... Cheers Simon

[@More_Row]

Very exciting game, I just now discovered your channel and I’m truly impressed by the progress. You seem like a decent chap as well.

[@kyleanderson1234]

This looks great, I really can't wait to play it. There's something incredibly beautiful about watching a game like this being developed and it just makes me want to play it even more!

[@asianaaron3143]

The game feels so warm I love the vibe. Gameplay looks relaxing and enjoyable

[@Paul-ky6gb]

Keep up the great work! Btw while the rest of ur ui looks good and is a huge improvement, there is something off about the tree ui at 2:43

[@damonmcneice2722]

Just such a great job, it's come a long way Congratulations!

[@simoncrann9430]

This is fantastic watching you create such a massive world. I really hope you go down Rimworld's path and develop in-depth personalities, backstories and learning through experience and making mistakes (as a player). In other words, I want my own experience in playing to teach me which tools are the most appropriate (without necessarily having a detailed help menu). Also would be great if your game encourages and promotes collaboration between players in the whole game play experience. Keep it up!!! :)

[@beepisinthezipper9503]

very cool project, love the way your going about the AI. Having each sapien be a unique person is so cool and I can't wait to see how this progresses.

[@richardwilson9476]

Only recently found you game in progress. Looks really good already and I'm excited to try it out when you release it.

[@bret075]

Can't wait for this to be released looks amazing Dave, brilliant work!

[@nater78er]

Wow this is pretty cool, specially that you give everyone devblogs and such, and that you talk to the community, i think this will for sure get somewhere in the future, i could see big communities start if you plan to add multiplayer.

[@jhnbngtssn]

Can't wait to follow this journey (and play the game)! You should add caves and the ability to make cave paintings. And rain!

[@ace5]

damn this is looking really cool. you are crazy talented!

[@deathbyseatoast8854]

Awesome concept my dude. Cant wait for this game.

[@thijsr9676]

It's a really cool project and I'm certainly subscribing for it. Right now the trees are rendered to near, there are a few things that you could play with to make sure the player doesn't notices this to much. If it is not possible to render them further, try either fog or depth of field. This way the player can't see to far into the distance. Also the grass blends to much with the ground, like it is not there. Make it stand a bit more, and add more variation. And more variations of rocks can also help a lot. This way your game will look way more pleasing.

[@ryann7760]

the UI is awesome looking. You should definitely do the ingame-lightmap on the menu. At night if near a fire or whatever the menu could tint yellow and flicker. Another idea for the main menu is to have a fairly rapid day/night cycle with the menu transitioning between "day mode" and "night mode". I think it would fit the theme well. Another thing which you have probably already considered is adding some slight texture to the surface of the buttons to mimic stone. Noise within a color range similar to the base color might do the trick. (although shadows would be tricky) This is only the second video I've watched (just discovered sapiens) but I'm already super excited to watch the development of the game/engine. Quite inspiring I think.

[@ryann7760]

Another thing you may want to consider is a fairly in-depth farming/shepherding mechanic. I think slowly progressing from pre-stone age technology and slowly building your tribe up and developing into a small civilization (or however far you want to carry it) would be immensely rewarding. Another possible direction which is probably not where you want to go, but is an idea none the less, is rival villages and mobs dwarf fortress style. Where each has a sort of history or origin within the world and they develop rival civilizations. (not necessarily prone to war). You could also add a form of "religion" with shrines to the local deities which may either buff your villagers or through sacrifices may ward off the evil deities. (I sort of envision the greek/roman pantheon but more primitive.) All of these things I mentioned are huge projects, and may not be the direction you intend to go, but I think each of these would add significant depth to the gameplay and would layer the mechanics as to immerse the player in this primitive world. Looking great!

[@jackr.4953]

Love the new UI. The dark slate color was a great choice. I'm really looking forward to playing this.

[@wilhelm992]

Just found your video, You created blockheads? I played that a lot a few years ago! This looks like a really cool game and its interesting to see your work on it over 4years+. I am in school for 3D animation/modeling and if you need some assets modeled I would be happy to try my hand at it. Ofc I understand if you do not want my/others help. Keep up the great work!

[@jackgarrison6748]

I played that game and loved it. I didnt know it was made by him?

[@wilhelm992]

@@jackgarrison6748 was on his website so I am guessing so lol

[@ReachGaming]

Loving this so far i have a suggestion should make the trees blow in wind slightly in the menu would look nice :) everything else looks really good

[@piotrstarzycki6474]

Great work! I like where this is going. Maybe you could arrange skills in a sort of a skill-tree with various milestones to unlock more advanced skills?

[@jjgifford8274]

You should make the grass and trees sway in the home screen.

[@onedeadsaint]

13:03 yes, that does look cool!

[@Dbtclctr]

you have inspired me. That's it, i'm gonna make my own game! If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself

[@DraganDraws]

Love watching videos like these. Very nice stuff.

[@chiefcaptn1922]

Inspiring to say the least, congrats all your hard work looks to be paying off!

[@wraithfinder4656]

This game looks amazing and can’t wait till I can get my hands on it. Also I think using this game and just making a first person survival game would be amazing! Keep up the good work!!

[@sergioruizdavila]

Excellent work. I just hope you keep your motivation on the same way. Definitely I will play the game. I'm not used to subscribing to much channel that I bump into but this clearly catch my attention.

[@Roccendil]

I’ve just found your videos and this looks so cool. Please consider putting back in mammoths and other herd animals (if you aren’t already) and letting people choose between a nomadic life chasing the herds or a sedentary life of farming. Cheers!

[@jonjonesbr]

i think a cave with a fire and shadows + pre historic images could make the menu awesome!

[@theblueshadow3537]

1. will there be diplomacy? 2. will there be AI factions 3. will there be space 4. how do you win 5. how will combat work

[@KevinMcScrooge]

So, is it still true to the original concept of an entire planet?

[@leifcrux]

I cannot wait for this! Keep up the awesome work!

[@dand623]

This is amazing, Dave. I think it would be interesting to start with one tribe/villiage and then have the capability to have people leave the tribe and create new ones. It would also be interesting to have them automate gathering, building, etc. and have each tribe have their own stats (ie. population, specializations, etc.).

[@dand623]

I believe this is a way where players in multiplayer can move or trade sapiens with other players with specific needs.

[@MrMartinBoo]

Introduce "Teaching" (or "Mentoring") skill to ease the micro-management - that requires a sort of a dedicated rally point/building to do so. Or something like that. :) regarding the Skill learning micro management issue mentioned at the end of the video.

[@alejandroochoa559]

Maybe you can just have macro management UI become available by having highly qualified tribe administrators like chieftain or advisors. As you start developing your tribe and having more educated people you can gradually manage things more macro and less micro (kind of like in software inc). When you research schooling you could set schools to train certain percentages of children in different skills. This way, pivoting your production patterns would take at least a generation. This emergent management progression could make this game transition from more minecraft-like to more stonehearth-like and then finally to a more banished-like (rts) type of game. Instead of relying on abstraction only, this could become a great way of simulating fighting between asymmetric civilizatiins without a bunch of percentages (rather, having more skilled people and institutions unlocks more macro actions that would make it easier to control and manouver armies). Obviously having better tools and equipment and skills would affect damage and rng, but in this way, a player that might be tribal if very good at micro could still defeat a more civilized player that is at a more abstract macro stage of management with tactics rather than doctrine and strategy.

[@ryan651]

The embossed logo looks great, really suits. One thing, you said about possibly using the world light to illuminate the UI. Perhaps you should try a separate light which mimics the colour scheme of your world light. It would allow you better control so that the world lighting doesn't cause an unforeseen issues with the UI. Another suggestion for much later on. At night you could have the UI, towards the bottom, show a soft light and shadow of fire (I think far cry primal had something similar in their loading scenes). Could be a nice effect.

[@jakoboberg9381]

my new favorite channel!

[@braydenrudisill2310]

Dave, This game looks absolutely stunning. It has the best parts from several open-world games I've played in the past, meshed into one beautiful project. I love the gameplay as it is. I think it would be interesting to entertain the idea of adding a separate multiplayer section. The gameplay would be pretty much the same, but someone else could control their own, unique "horde?" of sapiens. This could introduce the idea of trading (wouldn't have to be a feature, would probably naturally happen, maybe a wagon or something could be used to make this aspect easier) or some form of combat. I would be very happy to buy this game as soon as it comes out. Best of luck!

[@majicDave]

The game already supports multiplayer, you can play with other people and each manage your own tribe. There isn't any way to trade yet, but that will definitely happen.

[@Crixzivion]

I'm new here and I already love it.... I have a feeling that this will bloom in the future

[@HypeLozerInc]

This awsome! Would we be able to heavily mod the game?

[@majicDave]

Very much so, yes. All of the game logic is written in Lua and I've designed the whole game and engine with modding in mind every step of the way.

[@HypeLozerInc]

@@majicDave wow im excited

[@Jacob-mh3rp]

I think it would be cool if you could show us snippets of your code and the technology behind your project

[@ZealZeal]

Idea of the user interface: perhaps you could make a radial menu for when you select objects. The options in the menu will be represented by simple icons that are designed consistent to the game design. To select an option, just release the left mouse button over that option and the menu vanishes. I think this would add a lot of mobility to the user interface so you don't have to go through tons of pop-ups and buttons to do what you want to do.

[@edbevege9681]

Tbh im so happy I found this channel even if I'm a bit late, definately preordering the first chance I get. Love the skill system , should definately add that the sapiens go crazy and cannibalize each other if left hungry for too long. An internal threat, good ol Pete the professional fire started ate his daughter.

[@Jfielduk]

Hurry up and finish this game, there hasn't been a game i have wanted to play in a long time aha, good work man!

[@speesy]

Very nice! Thank you for the presentation. You have got yourself a new sub! Thumbs up!

[@camronlupton6072]

I really enjoy how night looks and I think you've really nailed it, but I'm not a huge fan of how the day time looks. Just looks a lot less dramatic and beautiful, idk what it is, maybe the lime green grass. Beautiful game for sure love what you're doing with the UI. As a Graphic Designer I would have probably went with a more flat design but I think you killed it and the modeled/textured UI fits amazingly well!

[@oelx0]

Not sure if this has been discussed but will there be free form and grid based building? Also another suggestion is a type of overlay system where you can have characters health for example be displayed on their character similar to thermal vision but just for the characters. Essentially simple (primitive) overlays that don’t obstruct too much but help provide meaningful info through primarily visual oriented means would be interesting along with some sort of radial menu to do so, anyway great work so far!

[@devinrachels3334]

You need to stream the development of this project.

[@lluic]

Suggestion: Make so that a sapiens can remember seeing food in a place he has visited. Make an individual map in a way that everyone knows the bit they have explored but if they are close they can share the knowledge to have a common map knowledge. It can be then used to know where food is even if the sapiens himself didn't visit the place but a fellow did.

[@asphinx8593]

This is coming along great. A big question is evolution. Will they evolve? If so can people choose and decide how they want people to evolve and an economy system, where if a town/village is in good condition they will set up or you can decide to have a currency system. These are big ideas and I don't expect they'll be put it, but I think it would be fun and cool to see. Keep up the good work, can't wait to see the rabbits.

[@Gonras]

the flames of the fire look beautiful!

[@sci-fiwarrior3196]

Congrats on 6k!!! 🎉

[@lewishales5083]

You should add boulders for more variety in the landscape and that they can be mined to have multiple rocks come from them so they're practical too