Updates on where I'm at!

This is super funny to me, you think everything's all good and all these hiccups happen.


I'm going to put the screenshots in to show what I have been dealing with I spose. 
So i bought this fancy rain drop kit off the asset store, the guy unfortunately deprecated and reupped the asset to a new version, paywalling me to use the new features. That's pretty lame of the guy, but you gotta make money where you can, so I decided to go with a different, more community accepted water VFX from Kronnect instead. 

There's quite a few other more interesting fx I was hoping to apply to my game here but I've gone over the projected visual aspect scope yet again lol (it's not hard too do so in your head, and catching up is usually quite difficult)

It would be great to have people to collaborate with but I spose the thing that makes this cool is I'm building it myself.

So, there has been a terrain redesign. 

It's for the story, I don't really wanna say too much but it should be quite interesting actually. It's a lot of work, but it's more level design and it  actually is quite interesting to put together. 

I have been building some caves. They're pretty ugly right now, but with the cave assets I have, I am hoping for some truly horrifying dungeons for people to explore. 

So current level changes  I can discuss that are cool, it's not really a change, more just the intro addition.

There are a few scenes planned to separate the player from  the real world into whatever unfathomable is. So you're going to experience some creepy walks that will end up placing you in this creepy church area, here.

I am working with a variety of different foliage pieces, and terrain generators to make some interesting layouts for both caves and external terrains. 

The key is to try to have as much as you can without crashing and I'm really testing the limits here. Foliage sucks up gpu performance like nothing other lol. Sure you have 10 million blades of grass, now what happens when a gust of wind has to be simulated? xD

I have basically cracked down pretty heavily on performance, and can get back to writing a story. 

I was very focused on performance issues as I just want the thing to be easily accessible and to be able to run on lower systems without actually missing out on the lighting and fog that makes the environments what they are. I can't really see the point in working so hard to create such a strong cinematic experience just to have it taken down by fog rendering incorrectly lol.

That all being said, It's coming. Just slowly. 

I  have to create a few demos and pieces for my studio portfolio to send to school so I can be accepted into their program, so there should be something new, in 2 weeks.

I have to create at least 3 cave entrances. Well 3 cave scenes you can go into. I wanted to fill out that first environment so there is more to explore. It's just been an argument of what style buildings to use, not those goofy out of place, Japanese apartments from the first iteration. 

Also! The story. 

So much has actually changed, I am just not at all used to updating and blogging like this. 

The story is now, cohesive with structure.

I would explain but it would just ruin it. It's a thriller, so I only get one chance to shock y'all. 

Just gonna post some of the in person terrain updates. I'm told not to focus so much on details for dark scenes but idk, devils in the details, I suffer from the combo adhd ocd autism bunduru, so I am unable to process life in any other way lol.

I spose I'll actually do a plugin rundown in the end once I get to where I want to go. I'm sure lots of other people are doing the same thing so I don't find it too important to mention but later on when I start doing the work really fast, people will wanna know i'm sure lol.

There are churches, cult leaders, crazy people, and there will be dungeons to explore. Lots of exploring to do.

What's hilariously setting me back, is my own expectations of realism and exploration wants. And then coming to an understanding of why that's actually difficult in a game xD.

You want open world? Sure. But now people can walk into your swamp water. You want a path? Now you feel like you're on rails. But you almost kinda need it. I don't like that haha, ugh. Please, come this way, there's no other way, so just do it. 

Blech.

So it is semi open, The fences and lights are just guides to point you to the obvious need to head to the church.

See that's the other thing, goals and objectives. So I can have it be like, yo, go here. But, then the interface is in your face.

I don't want people sitting around for like 10 years trying to open a door with a key hidden under no obvious, drawer or other ugly thing you have to hunt for, I am here to entertain, not confuse lol.

Don't get me wrong I want some simple puzzles, there will be at least some basic tiered platformer, find the key shenanigans, it's the simplest way to drive a story. 

I mostly just want a truly entertaining experience for people. 

So I'll probably stop rambling here as I gotta finish a cave today, but it is coming. This cave idea is interestingly tough. At least on my head, I can build a cave scene easy peasy, but is it just some ugly tunnel? Where does it lead? Secret entrances? How far do the layers go? 

This particular cave, is going under the church. Because, cult people, church basement, why not lol.

I'll figure it out lol.

The cave entrance lol.

It's okay, I might make it more, cavey and less, ancient rome though in the future. 

What I want is a lot of scenes for people to explore. Indoors and out.

I'm gettin' there! 

Thanks for reading if you are.