ruaidri
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So, what's Ru been up to lately, anyway?
🕑 Added 2024-03-07 23:23:49 +0000 UTC(TL;DR - just skip to the bottom you'll see it, though it might take a bit to load)
You may have noticed there hasn't been a tremendous amount of art coming from me lately. As always, this means I'm working on something in the background. Unfortunately, this time around it's honestly probably not something most of you will be terribly interested in, but I feel like you might at least be curious to hear what it is if not the nitty gritty details, so I'ma jump into short overview of what I've been doing.
I recently watched a youtube video wherein the creator described having a creative idea as being "poison". There's poison inside you and in order to get it out, you have to make the thing. This really resonated with me because that really can be what it feels like sometimes. When I get an idea that really demands exploration it can kind of eat away at my soul until I finally give in and start at least tinkering with it.
My current poison is a game idea that's been eating away at my mind for years. Nobody else seems to be making it, at least not exactly how I'd want, and the poison doesn't seem to be leaving my system on it's own, so I finally had to give in and start tinkering with this idea. Long time followers may remember I've tinkered around with game dev before, but I never made it particularly far, bouncing off after only a few days usually. But this time it really seems to be sticking.
Unity recently decided to become evil right around the time I was really getting eager to dive back into exploring game programming so I decided to give this other game engine I've been hearing about called Godot a try, and it really seems to be gelling with me in a way Unity never did. I had so little experience with Unity that it was easy to drop and start picking up the new engine. I just started fiddling around, seeing if it would catch my interest or if I'd get bored after a day or two.
I started by learning how to spawn a cube into the world. Figured out how to scale it randomly, and turn a couple of cubes into a "room". Once you can make a room, it's not terribly hard to string a bunch of rooms together into a "dungeon" of sorts. Worked out how to make a minimap out of the dungeon. Then figured out how to import a blender model into Godot and get it moving around.
From there I started fiddling with an inventory system and... that's honestly where most of the last month went. An RPG inventory system (that's what I'd like to make, and ARPG of sorts) has a lot going on under the hood that you don't even think about while using it, and it's tied into so many other systems that it took me a long time to wrap my head around things. It's worth remembering I'm -not- a programmer, so I'm working out both a programming language (and good programming practices generally) and how to use Godot at the same time and it's a lot so progress is slow, hah. But after a few weeks of bashing my head against stuff I finally had an inventory system that was mostly up and running. But I didn't understand it very well so I tore it down and built it again, and now it's finally in a place where it's working well and I know how it works.
Got all the inventory basics in place; stackable consuable items, equipment that doesn't stack and can only be equipped into it's proper slot (updating the model's animations in the process depending on the weapon), a hotbar that allows for using consumable items and properly applying their effect, all items can be dropped into the world and picked up from the world, going automatically into the inventory. It... doesn't sound like a lot when you say it like that, because like, yeah that's how an inventory works. But it's a lot of cases and situations to figure out as someone who has no clue what they're doing.
And that's honestly kind of where we are today- I have a non-game with some randomly generated empty rooms and a decently functional inventory/item system. But it's an important starting point because in this kind of game, all roads lead to the inventory, you can't do a lot without it. Half the point is getting that shower of loot after killing things. :P
It's not a lot of progress for a month and bit-ish, a skilled developer could probably whip this up in a few days, but remember I'm learning as I go. Programming, as it turns out, is hard for a non programmer.
Anyway, that's what I've been up to. Is there enough of this poison in me to actually turn this into any kind of actual real game? I don't know. It may dry up after a few weeks. But it's still pretty strong right now, I keep imagining all the cool creatures I'd get to make and all the cool combat animations I could play with in the progress of making this thing, it seems fun. We'll see what happens. I make no promises.
All that is to say, here's my kobold holding a bigass sword and doing some front handsprings as I play around with the dodge mechanic I just slipped into the movement controls.
I pretty much allowed myself to just indulge entirely in this current interest for all of February, but don't worry, I don't intend for this to become all I do going forward. At least not yet. I'll try to wean myself back into making smut for you all this month, been dipping into the flat colour commissions again to warm myself back into making art, and I've got a few little animation ideas kicking around my head I might whip up soon! Should have some goodies for you in the near future. But I imagine I'll definitely continue dipping into this after work and see where it goes.
Comments
Ruaidri
I have hard about that! It does look pretty neat- but honestly learning to program is half my interest in all this, so avoiding it isn't high up on my priority list, hah. I may not be a programmer but I do think I've got the right kinda brain for it, just gotta learn first! That said, I'm sure if I really run into troubles I'll be sure to publicly whine about it to see if anyone can help, for sure, hah.
Screw the Shadow Walker
I've been a strong supporter of GIMP, Blender and OpenCAD for a really long time :) I understand exactly what you mean.
Ruaidri
The free and open source part is the biggest thing for me. It's basically an inevitability that any company that has shareholders or investors to worry about -will- turn to shit. It pretty much has to happen with the way things are set up- as unity recently revealed. I'm tired of dealing with it so I've been moving more and more over to FOSS stuff these days. At least if it's garbage, it comes by it honestly. :P
Screw the Shadow Walker
Sorry for jumping into the conversation like this, but I'd love to have you as a contact. I'm decent with code but I really tend to struggle on the design part, and I have a few projects I'd love to finish. Mind if we connect up? Either Discord or Telegram?
Screw the Shadow Walker
I'm glad to see you enjoying Godot so much ^^ it's my favorite as well for many reasons, much less complicated compared to unity or unreal or cryengine, and it's free and opensource <3 I wish you best of luck with this venture, programming can be fun, and making games is a privilege. Hope the "poison" or rather the the typical ADHD motivational burst doesn't dry up before you're able to at least have the basic game loop down, so that you could call it playable, hehe. (It will be a major milestone that I personally think will give you a burst of endorphins that make it worthwhile and motivate you to not give up on the project)
trashbyte
i'm impressed by what i see so far! coming from an experienced software engineer, i always found godot to be kinda awkward feeling, so i'm (pleasantly!) surprised to hear you like it over unity. i prefer unreal engine to either but i have my complaints there too (and obviously i wouldn't suggest you switch engines *again* unless godot ends up causing issues for you). however, if the coding does end up giving you too much trouble you could take a look at unreal's visual scripting system (blueprints). it's far and above the most robust visual scripting system i've ever used, and i've heard some less code inclined folks have had success with it. you can totally make entire games that way (and people have). godot or not, i'd be happy to help if you want help with anything, answering questions or just "hey could you make this do that please"
j-r
Dude, that's awesome! I've tried many times to make a game. I tried Unity as well and also went the ARPG route, but it was really hard in Unity. I did manage to make a character move around in the isometric view and built an entire level. I'm very excited to see where your game goes. You've already done a lot in the time you've spent on it. Don't give up!
Unreal77
Honestly it could be interesting to see where this goes, and yeah, Unity sucks. Godot is interesting, but I only have experience with GMS, so good luck.
PsyMar
Here you go. The game dev talk is somewhat seasonal as there's a couple relevant jams (Games Made Quick and the nsfw Strawberry Jam which, to be clear, predates the SFW Celeste mod of the same name) that have their own channels, but there's also a general computer-wrangling channel that's usually more likely to be seen when the jams aren't active. https://discord.gg/KfWMaJJMgp
Pojodan
Commissions to be a character in your video game, when? :D
Rich Welsh
Is that a discord that's open for anyone to join? I'm a furry game dev, and I'd like to connect with others!
PsyMar
Eh if you're not big on discord it's probably not worth bothering, there isn't a huge repository of stored knowledge that really should be a wiki, it's more just a place to hang out
Combak
Neat! Good luck with this Ru!
BreezyBreeze
Oh no I totally get it. Honestly the couple of projects I'm working on/spit balling are still in the "Leave me alone" stage while I work on them. Once I've got enough designed around the core gameplay and a few mechanics fleshed out, then I might bring on a couple of classmates to come work on the project if they so desire. My biggest thing is I feel like I'm doing nothing with my degree and wouldn't mind having an outside motivator either to stretch the game design muscles XD It probably doesn't help that I'm very remote where I am as far as the game design world is concerned, so for now I'm working on solo projects since I can't get picked up by a studio.
Ruaidri
Godot actually uses it's own built in python-esque coding language, GDScript. Though as I'm sure you know better than I would, a lot of the core concepts of programming aren't really language-specific, so I'm certain if I get really stuck on an idea and need some help I'll at the very least whine about it publicly and see if anyone has ideas. :P At this stage though it's way way way too early to be thinking about working with other people in any capacity. I just picked up the horn and blew through it for the very first time, I'm not ready to be thinking about playing in a band, if you catch my drift. x3
BreezyBreeze
This honestly looks really cool and I think you've made a lot of progress for just one month! I've seen you post a couple of times that you wanted to make a video game and that you had a vision for it. I've thought about offering since I'm not working on any solid projects at the moment, but I'm honestly a little nervous about also committing to a project. I've got a degree in game design though, so at the very least I wouldn't mind consulting. I've got a specialty in Unreal and Unreal blue scripts but I know a little of C# as well that I'm not afraid to brush up on. Edit: That is to say, I haven't done anything with my schooling in almost a year and I would like to start working on something. I just also have other obligations during the day, but wouldn't mind picking up a project for the artistically inept.
Taki Kuroi
Ooh cool! Looks like some fun progress. And yeah, programming is weird. It requires you to think in ways that do not come naturally to most people. XD
Ruaidri
Sure, why not. I'm not really a big discord user but I suppose I can at least take a peek!
Ruaidri
Well it's very much appreciated, thank you! :3
Lone Wolf Survivor
I was hoping you'd say it's SFW (in the clean sense, not the gore or anything). That means I can publicly support your project.
Lone Wolf Survivor
That's fine, I'm still here for you.
Kammy
yess that's perfect, I think you'll be able to make something that feels great, very excited to see where it goes, best of luck with the project to you <3
Ruaidri
I'll have to look into that! But that's kinda what I'm doing. The floor texture is something I whipped up in 30 seconds just to test how to add textures to stuff in Godot, and the model is one I had kicking around already. The Kobold has starred in a few animations in the past! The animations I had to make but they're all minimum-viable-product at this point, not polished at all. I'm very far away from even thinking about needing to make good art assets yet, I've been 100% focused on learning the program and programming. :P
PsyMar
Congratulations! I can recommend a furry-friendly kink-friendly discord with a game dev channel (the discord even hosts an occasional lewd game jam) if you'd be interested.
Ruaidri
Actually I'm also CAD, so it's not a conversion thing- the reason my pricing system is a bit weird is because when I first join patreon they didn't have different currency options (if I recall), it was all USD, so that's what I went with. Eventually CAD became an option and I at some point switched to it, but I confess I didn't want to overnight take a 25-30% hit to my earnings so I updated my prices so they were the CAD values of the original US prices, approximately. So yeah definitely sucks a bit for the Canadians. Sorry. :P
Kammy
ooh that's awesome, I'd be very happy to help with code stuff if you ever happen to need this I also saw online that it's a great idea to do art and gameplay separately by the person that made "thronefall", it's a very nice idea that maybe would be good to consider :3
Bloudin Ruo
Oh something VR would be so, so cool with your models and animation skills! Yiffalicious, 'Ruaidri Version' :D
Lone Wolf Survivor
I wouldn't mind playing it if you do in fact making it. Heck, I don't mind helping you afford to make it. I just wish CAD was higher than USD so I'm not having to pay more just to meet your dollar value. But regardless, I'm here for you.
Ruaidri
-This- would be entirely non-lewd. There's an actual genuine real video game in my soul somewhere that wants to come out. At least right now it does. That said, I'm learning all the tools and steps required to -make- a lewdy game in the process, so once that project gets finished/dies... lewd VR game? Interactive museum exhibit? There's possibilities with what I'm learning here. :P
Flao
Interesting :) Looking forward to see where this goes
Bloudin Ruo
That's so much fun! I personally love hearing about all the things you decide to try, even if they don't end up as any kind of finished item ^^ Will this become smutty, or be entirely non-lewd? :P
KarRawr
Looks awesome! I'm excited to see whatever comes of it
