Staying Upbeat | Yahtzee's Dev Diary

[@LawkzBro]

On a obscure videogame's credits: Sauce pan sound effects - Yahtzee

[@bonjoviwankenobi8533]

I never realized I'd want Yahtzee as a professor so badly before I started watching these

[@OperatorError0919]

I think you mean "compound" instead of "confound". Students would build on it and make it worse, not confuse the stress itself.

[@quintuple_lained]

Rename boss fight to BASS fight

[@Carlos-ln8fd]

@@phantasos12 treble could be the name of the next boss. The final one would of course be MASTER.

[@Willothemask]

The boss is a singing fish. Defeat Big Mouth Bass in the Bass Fight! Multiple Puns!

[@cuno34]

Instead of an actual boss the music should just go really fast for a while.

[@nauziraf]

I'm torn between BASS FIGHT and BAWS FOIGHT!

[@Fuzzout]

Here comes treble!

[@grayshadowglade]

Tertiary Game Loop Suggestion: Place collectible Blocks in the map that the player must hit or pass over to collect. Add a swanky music flourish for that collectible for extra flair. (Like a drum fill or guitar riff.) Once they collect a specific number of them award based on time taken and restart. If a block is missed subtract one from the collection counter. Maybe for an audible punish play a sour note when they are missed and fall off the screen. Start with a low number of blocks, increase as levels go up. This allows for infinite levels in the tertiary loop without adding too much complexity to the overall game play. Additional musical flourish will keep the sound from getting monotonous. I honestly feel this is why Rez is playable for long sessions. Otherwise the tracks would get boring like they do in Eden if you haven't beaten it yet.

[@osten222312]

this guy designs

[@grayshadowglade]

@@osten222312 that I do. Just not for video games. I am however using this series to help my 12 year old niece to better understand game development since she loves video games and wants to create one.

[@Audiojack_]

That was the best walk-cycle tutorial I've seen.

[@4-kathryn]

I've always been intimidated by walking animation yet you made it seems so easy. Now I feel I can try this out in my old photoshop

[@LemonMoon]

Walk cycles can be easy, and also very hard. From the side angle they’re easier to get down, the only thing you have to worry about is spacing, but when I comes to other angles it becomes way harder. Never be afraid to look for reference if you can’t figure it out.

[@SuperCaitball]

Another option for accounting for decimal frames is to simply make a float variable that keeps time, adding 1.0 for each frame, then when it's >= 37.8 (so for example 38.0), then trigger a beat, and subtract exactly 37.8 from the variable. So now it's 0.2. Adding one at a time, it'll become 38.2 and so on, so for the majority of the time it'll have a beat every 38 frames, but once every five beats, it happens on the 37th frame instead (it'll be at 38.6, it subtracts 37.8, it becomes 0.8, thus 37 frames later it becomes exactly 37.8), so it syncs itself. You can use delta time in this way, too, if you want. Finally, now... I'm a proud user of 1.4 and I can swear to you we had functions for checking the playhead position of a sound playing, and I'd put some green on the possibility that those functions still exist in GM:S2. It's how I made looping music that looped at sections rather than the entire file.

[@ALifeOfWine]

I'm by no means a programmer but this is what I thought would be the solution to such a problem. Glad to hear it would work!

[@nex]

Yup, that's a basic technique every programmer should know. (My favourite way of introducing loop invariants is Bresenham's line drawing algorithm; this is a good example of how that is applicable to much more than just graphics.) But on modern platforms, that by itself isn't sufficient to maintain sync; for the same reasons you can't just time-stretch the sound files to the exact length required: audio and video aren't running on the same clock, and both are subject to jitter and lag caused by all kinds of stuff. So the best solution would be to allow for fractional loop offsets _and_ optimise the audio data _and_ implement an algorithm that keeps everything in sync as a matter of principle. But Yahtzee, pragmatically prioritising the strict development schedule over idealist wankery, expertly solved the one issue that matters the most (and also compensates for shortcomings elsewhere), and then promptly moved on to actually finishing this fucker. Chasing the playhead would have accomplished the same, of course. Quite an apt and elegant solution in the context of a rhythm game. P.S. Should I mention that even if everything was on the same clock, a float variable would eventually drift off due to its limited precision? Nah ...

[@__alt__568]

The only issue with this solution is that eventually the floating point arithmetic errors are going to add up and cause a de-sync. That said you only start hitting floating point errors either on lots of consecutive operations or on very large numbers so I think this is a fine solution for this particular game.

[@SuperCaitball]

@@__alt__568 yeah I was gonna say, there would be floating point errors, but they could be minimized to the point where the only song that could see an issue like that would have to be an hour long.

[@MrMortull]

Yahtzee, you need to stop being so helpful about these things. You're in danger of becoming one of those people who gets forced into education.

[@Starphoenix]

Truly a fate worse than death...

[@TheNikoNik]

Ironically considering that the comment that shows right above you for me is asking Yahtzee to be a professor.

[@Scylithen]

Sub teacher for when Gabe is working out too much and can't be bothered to teach the class.

[@morrowdisca7554]

These have been quite insightful. Thanks for all the effort being put into it.

[@e.y.d.6079]

Maybe "good" and "perfect" jumps? Highest score for hitting an all-perfect run on the song, a la Cytus. A difficult idea I'd imagine, but it could be useful.

[@HaberdashingRogue]

Not that I would know, but it feels like the sort of thing you could bind to the metronome? If the input is detected within 1-3 frames of the metronome it's an "excellent", 3-6 is a "good".

[@johndoe2790]

with the de-syncing issue, it might be hard to pull off

[@e.y.d.6079]

@@johndoe2790 True. Like I said, probably a difficult idea.

[@Yal_Rathol]

@@johndoe2790 he set it so the desync fixes itself and occurs so slightly that a human wouldn't notice, so it would probably be fine.

[@jackobrien47]

bloody hell I never realized a simple sprite was so complicated.

[@Bombom1300]

Yeah, and that's ignoring the jumps, rolls, and wall hang pose.

[@subtlewhatssubtle]

This is why many pixel animators I know laugh and then transition to crying when people claim that working with sprites is easy.

[@Surkk2960]

Yup, not only do you have to synch it with the movement speed, you have to make sure each frame fits within its box. There is a lot to it... which is why people saying pixel games are easy to make have never actually built one...

[@CJWproductions]

Yahtzee didn't even touch on how he makes his sprites readable. Since they're so small, and have such low resolution, every pixel really counts!

[@Yal_Rathol]

@@subtlewhatssubtle it becomes easier the longer you do it, because you build a library of sprites you can use. doing something totally original is never easy. there's a reason undertale looks like it was made in microsoft paint.

[@MobCat_]

Boss song is you just smashing pots together >__

[@henryglennon3864]

Wow. That edition of Photoshop is old. It's only one release after the interface stopped being written in Babylonian cuneiform.

[@Blastercadre]

I had the Assyrian version. It looked like, well... really bad.

[@Vsor]

For what he is doing it may actually be better (less cluttered and bloated I mean)

[@brycemcewen6146]

I know the Phoenician version was such a good idea

[@Carewolf]

@@Blastercadre Still better than the most recent versions.

[@henke37]

Another approach for a music game is to not use the system timer. Instead use the playback of the music as the game timer. Doesn't matter what the system clock does as long as the music keeps playing smoothly.

[@pacmanshooter247]

"They keep moving all the functions around and I can't be bothered to retrain." - I feel this in my soul.

[@Dogfire45]

I look forward to these Dev diaries, I have a lot of respect for you Yahtz. As someone who went to College to study Game design in my undergrad I realized how difficult and time consuming it was. Could explain why I went into Cyber as my master. These are really help full and make me want to try to get back into Game development and make a small game on the side

[@Kingirl1]

I love these videos, simply because yahtzee finds problems and always finds an incredibly smart way around them

[@LabrnMystic]

This has been great not only to see your creative process, but your hints and resources for up-and-coming designers.

[@agoeller117]

I love this video series! If you’re looking for ideas for the tertiary loop you always have levels change when you have to do the action. For example, you can start with a basic 4/4 time signature where you have to do something on every beat, then you could speed up the tempo to a 8/8, where they have to act quicker, or make it more difficult by only giving them a chance to act half of the time like a 2/4 time signature. Tempo increase could also make it more difficult as well

[@Stormer636]

You made the walk animation thing look incredibly easy...

[@15oClock]

"If it was for the atmosphere of a room with too many sauce pans in it." Or The Terminator is hunting you.

[@MechaPlays]

Straight in for the gold! Always good to watch a new yahtzee video!

[@thirdvect0r]

Man's still out here trappin' making games on windows xp

[@bluehampar]

Delta time is the time between frames which is the standard way you work with variable frame rate which could be used to sync the music btw

[@dragoniraflameblade]

I'm blown away - i have NEVER heard a walk animation broken down like this. It's so simple and helps a TON. Thank you. For the tertiary, all I can think of is a competitor (you're dancing you both are way to the top!) trying to sabotage you and each BAWS FIGHT is his latest attempt to thwart you. Or "something something" drones.

[@Tigerman9001]

This walking animation tutorial is a little too sexy for me. 10/10 infinitely helpful!

[@ShinyGaara65]

Here's a suggestion for you, Yahtz. Maybe have a way in-game for people to upload their own MP3 files? Choose where to load the song, pick a BPM for the metronome, and suddenly they're dancing to "Concept of Love" from Jet Set Radio or, I dunno, "What Does The Fox Say." Like the custom songs in Guitar Hero mods, or CD swapping in Vib Ribbon.

[@keanucoetzee1310]

This series solidifies it. Yatzee is my favourite creator. It started a couple of years ago when I saw his reviews of up and coming games, and the black character on a background of yellow speaking so fast I barely have time to laugh at his jokes before a new one comes along really made my day. Then I read "Mog world" and "Will save the universe for food". Golden, and the audio books bring the chacters to life. And after all that, this series? You sir are a creative rolemodel.

[@DeathAlchemist]

I love the player character in this one. Looks very suave.

[@galrjkldd]

I want to say that I'm glad Yahtzee put the end credit bits back into his video game reviews. they were an extra bit of humor I enjoyed. And I felt like someone in the know for noticing them.

[@aprofondir]

They never went away if you watched on the website as opposed to YT

[@lowenergyvideos4658]

Christ I went from "oooo update" to "Ohhhh god I am so glad I did not study how to make games"

[@rowanthearchitect3227]

Yep, even doing the simple stuff is a right bitch. Speaking from experience.

[@lowenergyvideos4658]

@@RaTcHeT302 I bet but my had is truly off to people who do this for a hobby/livelyhood

[@jkruszer]

I tinkered with game making for a project for class in college, i probably spent equal time coding and drawing, never even got to sound...I wont to restart the project but im also very afraid of it, and i can say, game makes simplifies a lot of stuff that would be even harder to do manual (had to do manual once as well)...people who do this stuff for a living are a devoted bunch that i could probably never reach

[@lowenergyvideos4658]

@@jkruszer I have so much respect for game makers...maybe not the digital homicide type but the rest, hats off!

[@marco39120]

This video series has got me into coding. I'm doing basic stuff right now like coding in Notepad and seeing what all I can do with that but I hope to get into the more challenging stuff when I get better at this.

[@VerbenaHA]

I adore these development videos. I like the little lessons and wit! Thanks Yahtz.

[@TerrolAxelor]

Thank you so much for doing this series, so much inspiration here!!

[@Zademandel]

That was an excellent walk cycle tutorial, breaks it down nicely and simplifies some of the harder aspects. Thanks for sharing.

[@crazytim8256]

I really admire how much experience Yahtzee truly has in the video games scene: he's played thousands of titles, critiqued all manner of developer and game genre, and he's even game jamming for a full year based on his programming expertise. That's a renaissance man if I ever saw one.

[@SizarieldoR]

I want Yahtzee to be my narrator for online programming tutorials

[@seanowens5423]

Maybe the boss fight could be a multi stage affair who affects the tempo. Like stage one is at normal tempo, then he ups the tempo for stage to, and again for 3. Only downside I see is that this would be more of a test of player reflexes at a point than skill or mastery of the mechanics

[@Ichinin]

Just store a frame tick value with the song, then add a float value of the remainder (float = value - cint(value) = .8) for each frame. When it reaches remainder * 10 (8) add one frame tick, and reset float.

[@pixelpaggos]

I've been practice pixel animation so I've watched a bunch of walking animation tutorials. This is surprisingly the best explained I've seen.

[@takuansoho5836]

That little animation tutorial was sooo good, first time I see something like this

[@Bombom1300]

Holy cow, Yahtzee just offhandedly solved an issue I'd been having with a program for my class in the first minute with the increment pixel by pixel to check for collisions thing at the start! Thanks!

[@allooutrick8266]

Yahtzee, eloquently explaining key frames as an important part in designing his walk animation. Good work.

[@mikec1222]

Single most useful sprite animation tutorial I've ever seen. It'll come in great handy when I start using Fuze, when it releases soon.

[@mrbenman97]

I think it would be cool if the music got more and more complex the further the player progresses, with mixed meter beats and other things like that, or where the melody tries to throw the player off of the underlying beat to make the game more difficult. Looks great so far cant wait to see where it ends up.

[@MalkiaxMedia]

For a boss fight you could make it so the user has to remain in sync in a kind of dance off while also having to remain in a marked area of the screen (left, right, centre, top right, bottom left) and the more beats they keep in that zone the more they "out funk" (damage) the boss. Additionally you can add projectiles later that the boss throws, you would also have to decide if the boss is a physical threat or if he is a background that throws things (baby bowser in yoshis island style)

[@Deejy1]

This series is super interesting. I love it

[@caseycoker1051]

Speaking of those point and click adventure games, I actually really liked the Trilby games. Good stuff.

[@CowCommando]

I was starting to wonder if I was the only one in the comments who had played those games.

[@Interesting_Failure]

This is the best goddamn explanation of how to do a walk cycle in 2D spriting I have ever seen

[@computersocsci]

You are extremely talented, Yahtzee. (And talent is the result of hard work, so bravo for that too!)

[@GuvernorDave]

This series is so good.

[@EiriolsInsanity]

As a tertiary loop, you could potentially add things like a decrease in randomly generated platforms that appear with the screen slowly panning up so you have no choice but to go up to survive. And, if you do that, a timed survival mode might be fun, with a full combo bar being some sort of power up or something.

[@andrewhickinbottom1051]

That sprite creation tutorial type thingy was brilliant. You talented bastard, you!

[@Rycluse]

What a delightfully energetic walk animation

[@fishpop]

Look up "The Ego Review" on Yahtzee's channel to see him play through his games with a mate of his.

[@DeathandGrim2]

if you're using gamemaker studio 2 you can just clamp your X to 0,room_width during the end step and you won't have to worry about running a for loop for movement to keep the character in bounds x = clamp(x,0,room_width) would be the code

[@ScholRLea]

*_/me sets copy of GIMP on Yahtzee's front porch, lights notional fuse, rings doorbell and runs_* *_/me runs back before door opens, attaches post-it note with explanation of the concept of 'partial figure cel animation', then runs again_*

[@isabellamorris7902]

LOVING the walk cycle! Obeys the "quick peak-slow descent" rule as well

[@orhuninan2575]

Idea for tertiary loop: change the game rules. Stage 1:dont move when beat hits Stage 2:move when beat hit Stage 3:beat changes color of the tiles (green to red etc.) try not to stand on the specific color of tile Stage 4:combination of other stage rules. Player would have health (or energy) and when player does something stupid or ignores the rules then you can punish the player by taking their health away (this part would be secondary loop[try to survive])

[@DreamskyDance]

This series is awesome and gets better and better. As a web developer who knows PhP, javascript, Java, android and phyton ive realized that games like these are within the domain of my skillset and tips about game development are very helpfull... it actually inspired me to try to make small game of mine ^^

[@Huvpalto]

I'm not sure you read any of these but i find these vedios incredibly interesting and want to thank you for all your work. Info is basically useless to me since I'm not a game designer and never aspired to be one. But then, what is useful in life anyway, everything is toying with gravel on the march from mother's womb to grave. What I'm saying is that looking at a master at work is always very satisfying and fulfilling. Its like those blacksmith or carpenter videos. Now yahtzee is filling not only my thirst for good humour in both z.p. and his books. Keep it up, I basically learned English with z.p. and l.d.o. many years ago and you (he) stays one of the best content-creators on the internet.

[@strykerdomagtoy965]

expanding on the score attack mode you could try to get the player to do tricks such as front/backflips to get a higher score or something along the lines of that

[@ryangudger91]

This is depressingly the best guide to animation on KZbin

[@gammabeam02]

Yahtzee sir, as a tertiary loop ***suggestion: 1. I would consider the location+separation of blocks with certain stretches of "combo-beat_lvl" --- the longer the combo you make; there becomes a limit to how infrequent certain surfaces are. 2. Add basic obstacles or feats past certain combos of beats *like not touching the ground from combo beat 12-24*or having a coin dropper as you come in contact with the floating creature across the map when combo over 20*or option ; toggle ; of having hostile combo-chains (combo-killer-blocks) on/off) (coins may buy some silly hats for your main character!) 3. I would also recommend a pseudo theme selection at the title screen (different *basic* themes (and feat hats) with the same song-sync - think of it as having a favorite team for the same sport - or like the difference between wanting to slide over bananas or drive over bubble-rap with the same radio-theme going on.) if you have the time of creating the environment for this admirable game, I hope the learning curb was fun. Now from the players zen enjoyment may be thought of as zoning-out just to keep a ridiculous beat going!!! Thank you for reading if'you've'thus'far I'm a huge fan and admire the critique-work you put out there for us to take meaning from. Take care, keep it real for gamers too -Stove -

[@hjalfi]

I really like your code, by which I mean I think it's terrible: you've clearly worked on it just enough to make it do what you want, and then you've resisted all temptations to refactor, clean up, make it generic, switch to a better language, improve the abstractions, prettify or otherwise do anything which isn't directly and explicitly aimed at the goal you have in mind. Laser-focused pragmatism is a rare skill in a programmer, and it's one I'm particularly bad at. I wish these videos were longer --- I feel like I'm learning!

[@DavidXNewton]

Thanks for the in-depth look at your walk cycle process - the single most difficult part of making a game :)

[@gravyoverlord5346]

What about adding "dance moves" like single beat poses that you can make the character do with other keys, for those kind of in-between frames where you don't have anywhere to jump to? Like dropping into a leg split, or a Michael Jackson hat tip? Maybe the tertiary loop could involve unlocking moves as you progress levels?

[@modestbadger7558]

Reposting this idea I had for the tertiary loop: I think it could be interesting to have enemies in the game that want to damage and or stop you from completing the song? Maybe you're a cultist (or a Hellblazer-esque warlock) trying to summon a chthonic elder god through the ancient ritual of dance, and the antagonists are trying to stop you? Maybe you could introduce spells that the player could use to damage the enemies by pulling off combinations of dance moves (i.e. basic attack could be executed by aim with mouse and left click, but if you do: jump jump pause left right pause jump click, you could summon a massive fire ball to do massive damage)? EDIT: I know I'm just adding more mechanics now, but perhaps before each mission you could fit out a grimoire with 4 spells that you could design yourself (similar to how Remember Me and Absolver had custom combat combos). The longer the player designed combo, the greater benefit the spell could provide them - but also have a greater chance of failing based on their length... This could feed into how you reward the players too. I.e. You could scatter the base spells as collectibles throughout the levels and perhaps you only start with one prepared spell. But as you progress through the game you unlock the ability to have more spells in the spellbook (organically increasing the complexity of the game, but leaving the level of that complexity in the hands of your players). Further thoughts: I suppose if you were going to implement this system you would perhaps tell the game that you intend to pull of a spell combo by pressing a key (say one of the number keys) then you get prompts to complete the custom tai chi moves to the time of the beat and if you succeed you get to use the effect. You could limit players spamming the special ability by having another mana bar that fills with actions on the beat too... Christ... This was supposed to be a 2 sentence comment... Sorry Yahtzzz....

[@Waffletigercat]

Super impressed by that dancer sprite. Amazing work, especially for so fast.

[@sharpsonmusic]

My god I love this series. I wish it was more than once a month but I know that it would kill Yahtzee.

[@Cosmitzian]

A bit late to the party here, but Remember Me had a fantastic way of incetivizing keeping combos up in combat. The more and better you fight, you build up a 'song', starting from disjointed fragments, they coalesce into this really groovy vibe, really feeling like it rewards good combat skills. But in any case, Remember Me had a brilliant soundscape and used sound fantastically.

[@NewExile]

At first I thought the comment about banging saucepans together was a reference to Trilby's Notes - in the Special Edition it's mentioned that a lot of the creepier sounds and music were made with saucepans and varying quantities of water.

[@flamethrowex]

upbeat guy reminds me of dad egbert

[@noahwolton7662]

For music creation, try Auxy it’s quite a bit of fun

[@Sion67Productions]

I wish this series was more frequent, I love it

[@saucercrabzero]

Awesome that the Escapist now has more than one show on it!

[@ahmadmomenai1154]

You could add a function that if the player is standing still or doing the bare minimum and not jumping around there be a penalty to encourage moving around the whole game

[@michaelcrain-zamora3271]

Upbeat is looking like the most interesting game you've made in the series so far. Your character design and animations are too notch!

[@ink3988]

Perhaps have the dancer nod their head up and down to the beat while they walk? It would have to be a separate sprite to match up with the beat, but it would extenuate the beat so the player can feel it on the dancer when they're not doing moves.

[@fireisawesome1466]

Maybe the terseary look can be costumes where you change costumes and level background themes

[@clochard4074]

It would go well with Yahtzee's forte: procastinating with sprites customization!

[@lettuceprime4922]

*Tertiary

[@adamj.mc.3078]

That's probably the most flamboyant spritework I've ever seen

[@terrytarot]

Loving the work yahtzee.

[@magnatorra5325]

idea for a challenge mode! same general idea as the base game, except there are now little notes scattered across the level which the player now has to collect also, if you ever decide to add more music and levels to the game i recommend using a wide variety of genres. classical music for the easier levels and stuff like dubstep and heavy metal for the harder ones

[@GreatFox42]

it was nice seeing Trilby again, even in passing clips

[@thedarkercarter]

Love that walk cycle. Animations has been one of my biggest problems when making games.

[@bearmandev]

H-Holy crap. That was a genius walk cycle tutorial.

[@TheAtb85]

Trilby!

[@IanZWhite00]

Speaking as someone with a background in music theory and composition it really doesn’t take more than a good ear and an ableton trial to make something really creative and interesting. With a few video tutorials and a midi keyboard you’d be a fully-fledged one man development team no problem

[@gamer10350]

So 3 ideas for you 1 give it an endless mode where you can see how long you can last for. 2 PVP where you and another player can see who can last longer. (Just need to add different color spirits) 3 add a critic that will take away random platforms to make the levels harder.

[@Yahriel]

You made that walk anim look so easy, but you know in the time it took to create both the game and this video, I'd still be trying to figure out where the knee goes.

[@Vampyria1836]

I feel you on the "not wanting to move to an new version of a software because they've moved things around" thing, Yahtzee. It's why I still use Word 97 and Excel 97 for documents and spreadsheets.

[@frostsoul4199]

I think a good idea for the third loop is getting a bonus version of the level with much more impactful and overall better version of the song that was on it in order to add some extra challenge. or perhaps the system that Devil May Cry 5 has which is a dynamic music system based off of how well you played up to a certain point where the game jolts in difficulty with a more amped up version of the song playing.

[@Shigbeard]

Perhaps a tetriary loop could be some sort of mini collect-a-thon, encouraging the player to move a bit further out from their comfort zone in the level to collect some sort of item which they will be scored on by the end of the game. Entirely optional but still, points yo.

[@DmitriLowell]

WHOA My question was answered in this video! That's dope

[@smokingspitfire1197]

Things you never hear Yahtzee say.. "You know what? You're right"

[@AlejandroSilva-mr7yy]

For some reason the sound of his breathing here is missing in zero punctuations so here he seems a little bit more human

[@fakedeltatime]

I'm in the same basket when it comes to music, it seems like the most difficult artistic medium. You can come up with things that look nice in your head to paint, stories to write since you've lived and have a memory, games to make since you have a feeling for what would be fun (if you do), but music is so extremely abstract to me, there's nothing natural in the world that's like music to me. How does one come up with a song?

[@UnlimitedFlyers]

Oh Yahtzee, you lovely sociopathic gamer MADMAN!!! You are actually doing this!!! So PSYCHED!

[@rjlundholm89]

this really wants me to try my hand at gamemaking again.

[@hunbunn4308]

I am learning so much from this series. It makes me want to try to make videos games.