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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsGod is a Cube [crowdfunding] [demo] [Windows/Linux/Mac] Programming Puzzle Game
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Author Topic: God is a Cube [crowdfunding] [demo] [Windows/Linux/Mac] Programming Puzzle Game  (Read 11683 times)
Siilk
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« Reply #20 on: December 07, 2014, 05:48:48 PM »

People look to really like this "going inside a cube" mechanic, then goind inside another cube, then going deeper. It's like Inception, but with cubes.

Speaking of Inception, have you thought about adding time compression effects when entering the deeper level of cubes? For instance, each time player enters a cube, the time local will be pacing N times as fast as the "outside" time. So from player's perspective, outside world will be slowed each time he goes deeper. This will not work in multiplayer for obvious reasons but for a single player experience this could be a nice feature. And it will introduce an interesting effect of logic cubes working faster with each additional layer of depth. This may require additional energy cost for placing cubes at each additional level of depth to compensate for that(as well as the possibility to create more complex nested logic structures).

I just got a 500+ replies maxed out thread on 4chan /v/.


http://boards.4chan.org/v/thread/274412972


It was a crazy night, I spent 10 hours in a row answering everybody. Now the social counters are sky-rocketting (well, compared to the very small previous numbers).

Lol, that's probably the first time I see someone promoting their game on 4chan. But somehow it feels appropriate. Smiley
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King Kadelfek
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« Reply #21 on: December 08, 2014, 05:44:15 PM »

Speaking of Inception, have you thought about adding time compression effects when entering the deeper level of cubes? For instance, each time player enters a cube, the time local will be pacing N times as fast as the "outside" time. So from player's perspective, outside world will be slowed each time he goes deeper. This will not work in multiplayer for obvious reasons but for a single player experience this could be a nice feature. And it will introduce an interesting effect of logic cubes working faster with each additional layer of depth. This may require additional energy cost for placing cubes at each additional level of depth to compensate for that(as well as the possibility to create more complex nested logic structures).
It would also mean that when you are not inside a cube, time goes faster inside the cube.
It's the kind of experiences I will propose in the solo campaign, with levels and missions revolving around sepcial events like this. Long story short, all the fun stuff I cannot put into the main game, I will put it in the solo campaign. Smiley

If you have other good ideas, just post them, they could make interesting levels in the game.


Lol, that's probably the first time I see someone promoting their game on 4chan. But somehow it feels appropriate. Smiley
I don't even really promote the game for now, so 4chan was a crash test, and I never thought the answer would be that overhelming. In just a few hours, I got more views than the previous 4 months.
I even got around 350 people (17% of the viewers) who watched the video until the end. I think it's a good score for a 16 minutes long video, but I will make shorter videos now.

I now begin to show my game on Minecraft forums, because it can be used as a timelapse to look your structures being built automatically.
« Last Edit: December 09, 2014, 03:36:43 AM by King Kadelfek » Logged

AceionStudios
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« Reply #22 on: December 08, 2014, 09:33:39 PM »

WOW...

Looks amazing

(yay populous inspiration!)

GOOD LUCK
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King Kadelfek
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« Reply #23 on: February 01, 2015, 11:53:44 AM »

The Alpha is now open!
Here is the trailer (subtitles available):








The game have online features which require
an official account, please subscribe.


>> DOWNLOAD <<


I also made a new presentation, with a lot of gifs.




Look at the first post to see more:
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=43986.msg1073864
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King Kadelfek
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« Reply #24 on: February 05, 2015, 05:10:00 PM »

I improved the behaviour of the AI controlling the cubes. Now the cubes can move laterally, launch detections in 6 directions at the time, and dig tunnels through the planets.






I also improved ergonomics a lot with several time saving shortcuts. The new version is available to Alpha Members.
http://godisacube.com/forum/index.php?threads/subscribe-to-the-alpha-here.17

If you have questions, I will be glad to answer them. Smiley
« Last Edit: February 05, 2015, 05:16:45 PM by King Kadelfek » Logged

King Kadelfek
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« Reply #25 on: March 04, 2015, 10:07:00 AM »

I released a new update with a Game Mode to easily test electronics with just one click. Here is the video presentation:







I also made a serie of gifs to explain how to create DNA to control robot cubes.


A blank DNA, the cube does nothing


The cube moves forward and crashes into a wall


The cube moves forward, except if it sees a wall (so it stops)


The cube moves forward, and when it sees a wall it turns to its right
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King Kadelfek
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« Reply #26 on: May 12, 2015, 01:56:59 AM »

There is a new update. Now you can spawn thousands of nanomachines to build whatever you tell them to do (though you have to make the AI):



See all pictures and the video tutorial:
http://godisacube.com/forum/index.php?threads/news-2015-may-03-new-version-v00-05-00-09-carmine-dirt-nanomachines-spawners-subcircuits.79

Download the game here (Pc & Linux builds):
http://godisacube.com/latest
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King Kadelfek
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« Reply #27 on: May 27, 2015, 02:37:51 AM »

Subspaces

I am working more and more on the subspaces system, to make planets inside planets:



It will be used both for the Inception System (teleporting in worlds inside Snow Globes) and to store datas.

By example, this is the card which will be used for the first level of the campaign:


Here is the level itself, the premade DNA, and the available items

The level itself will be a cube next to other cubes on the Campaign Card, with all cubes-levels linked by crystal cubes.
You can see it like some kind of Super Mario Bros 3 world map, where each level ("1", "2") is a 3D cube you can enter in.


Creation by Nes--still-the-best / Justin Buonvino


Geekopolis
I just spent 2 days at Geekopolis, a medium size french event around geek culture (15K visitors in 2014). Lots of stands, not too much people so it was easy to walk.
I talked about my game to many people (indie and pro devs), and everybody liked it: "genius idea", "you are crazy", "are you autist?" etc. Got a lot of business cards, and potential future partners.
Like each time, I met IRL for the first time people I knew for more than 10 years online. Some of them did very great things meanwhile.

I didn't make photos / selfies, partially because I think there should be "less face time, more development time".
But you are surely expecting cuties photos, so here are a few pictures made by other people:


Photo by Nicolas Meunier



Photos by Studio68 (more here)





Photos by Meltybuzz (more here)

The next french big event will be the Japan Expo (July 2015). Meanwhile, I will attend as a visitor Pitch My Game (a pro event where devs show their games) and the Web Game Conference (another pro event).
I will slowly start to do business meetings, now that I know around 10 companies interested to do something with God is a Cube.

I'm still not contacting the press / Youtubers, I think I will wait to have at least a real game mode.
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King Kadelfek
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« Reply #28 on: July 10, 2015, 04:49:48 AM »

July 09th


Puzzle Mode - Campaign

A lot of people asked for a playable game mode, and were waiting for some kind of tutorial.
So I made a Puzzle game mode with 50 levels, as well as 50 hidden solutions (it's a partly open solutions puzzle game).
This will allow you to learn how to program cubes with the DNA system.

There are 5 parts, with 10 levels each.

Part 1 - Directions
Learn how to use Directions (North, East, etc) to control the Divine Cube.


Level 01: the Divine Cube moves to the North of the World


Part 2 - Relative Directions
Learn to use Relative Directions (Your Right, Your Front), Rotations (Turn to Your Right) and Referers (the roof is now the ground).


Level 11: the Divine Cube moves to its front, then turn to its right and moves again to its front


Part 3 - Conditionals
Learn how to create Conditions, followed by instructions you specified.


Level 21: the Divine Cube look if there is an obstacle forward: if there is no obstacle, it moves forward, if there is an obstacle, it turns to its right


Part 4 - Conditionals Low Level
Learn how to connect Low Level Instructions (such as Detectors) to create custom detections, including long range interactions.


Level 035: the Divine Cube look if there is a terrain on which it can walk at its bottom front : if there is none, it turns to its right


Part 5 - Cube Creation
Learn how to create cube to modify the environment.


Level 041: the Divine Cube looks below if there is an obstacle, if there is none, it creates a step for the bridge

Download
You can download the latest version of the game here (Windows, Linux, Mac):
http://godisacube.com/latest
(when asked for a login, write whatever name you want, your Voat username by example)


I'm looking for feedback about the Puzzle Mode (the DNA Mode Campaign). And if you have questions, I will be glad to answer them.
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JobLeonard
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« Reply #29 on: July 10, 2015, 11:15:54 AM »

Oh my god, this is beautiful. It's cubes all the way down!
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King Kadelfek
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« Reply #30 on: July 11, 2015, 06:03:10 AM »

Oh my god, this is beautiful. It's cubes all the way down!
I'm kind of a cube addict.

If you like to look at cubes, here is a nice video loop I made about a Space Hourglass Pyramid:



You can do something like that in the Factory Mode (but you will need first to learn how to program cubes thanks to the Solo Campaign / Tutorial / DNA Mode).
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foreignsubstances
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« Reply #31 on: July 11, 2015, 08:41:08 AM »

What...the. This looks awesome.
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JobLeonard
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« Reply #32 on: July 12, 2015, 01:44:18 AM »

How is the programming converted to code? Like, how do you prevent it from becoming crazy slow with thousands of cubes?
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« Reply #33 on: July 12, 2015, 01:57:02 AM »

Interesting game!

I'm sure it's nothing like this but the first thing I thought of when I looked at some of the visuals was Marble Madness! Haven't thought of that game in about 20 years Smiley

I liked your visual references- that Birdy Nam Nam video is great. I'll have a read over the rest of your log in more detail shortly, looks like an interesting concept.
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King Kadelfek
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« Reply #34 on: July 12, 2015, 11:10:12 AM »

How is the programming converted to code? Like, how do you prevent it from becoming crazy slow with thousands of cubes?
The 3D hieroglyphs are converted into simple instructions:


The numbers into parenthesis are 3D coordinates of the considered cubes, for debugging

And here is a big circuit:


Each interpreted circuit has a small clock, with one instruction executed per tick (and the system pauses during long instructions such as moves).

Also, there are not thousands of cubes (at least not at the same time). I'm developing the game on my 2006 computer (Windows XP, 2 Gb RAM, Dual Core 2.13 GHz), and I'm fine a few hundreds cubes (see

) (disclosure: this is a frame per frame generated video).

The game does not have a lot of optimisations though for now. Each cube is an independent creation, with an independent graphical object generated from scratch, and an independent circuit... so for 200 identical cubes with the same circuit, the 3D circuit is interpreted 200 times (instead of 1 time).

I will not make any promised about "thousands of cubes at the same time" because I want the game to run on old configs. I will just say that a few hundreds cubes should be fine on almost all decent computers.
We will see what can be done after optimisation (and a full cache system).

Quote from: pistola
I'm sure it's nothing like this but the first thing I thought of when I looked at some of the visuals was Marble Madness! Haven't thought of that game in about 20 years
It's my personal vengeance against Marble Madness. I had this game as a kid on my Game Boy, I never go that far.

Quote from: pistola
I'll have a read over the rest of your log in more detail shortly, looks like an interesting concept.
I have more indepths explanations in the news of each release (the game was in open Alpha for 6 months):
http://godisacube.com/forum/index.php?forums/news-and-announcements.10/
Feel free to ask questions if you want more details (or in the contrary for a shorter version).
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King Kadelfek
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« Reply #35 on: August 22, 2015, 10:03:18 PM »

Here is now the full 3D Opening video of the game (still WIP, without sound for now), which should give you a good idea of the ambiance of the game:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgFy0Xkz2xw


I integrated most of feedback people sent to me (fast forward option, drag & drop system, interactive tutorial, etc). I also activated the SpaceChem-like histograms, so people can compare their solutions to the ones found by other players.



And some big optimisations, to speed up the game at launch. :D



You can download the new version of the game here:
http://kingkadelfek.itch.io/god-is-a-cube


If you have any feedback, it will be really useful, so don't hesitate! :D
« Last Edit: August 22, 2015, 10:15:04 PM by King Kadelfek » Logged

JobLeonard
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« Reply #36 on: August 23, 2015, 04:08:32 AM »

Yo, I've been investigating what appears to be a bug in the default Unity settings. It appears that, by default, the engine screws up the VSync settings and maxes out CPU usage while idling (nearly overheating my laptop and crapping all over my battery life). Hopefully it's trivial to fix (explicitly turn on VSync somewhere), could you please give it a try?

More info here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Unity3D/comments/3hu98o/bug_unity_games_in_linux_appear_to_max_out_the/
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King Kadelfek
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« Reply #37 on: August 24, 2015, 02:56:46 PM »

I made several versions with VSync variations.
You will have to play with the "Good" screen quality setting.

Code:
Example usage would be: /path/to/myGame -screen-quality Good
http://steamcommunity.com/app/230190/discussions/0/846965056702683267/

Here are the versions:

1- No VSync (the previous build, for reference)
http://www.mediafire.com/download/4wq6qr0ar1e70n8/GiaC-AODNA-v00.05.00.11a-Linux.7z

2- VSync every vblank
http://www.mediafire.com/download/mjj08ml16bl73o9/GiaC-AODNA-v00.05.00.11a-Linux-vsync_every_vblank.7z

3- VSync every second vblank
http://www.mediafire.com/download/dagbhv2xfyzy39u/GiaC-AODNA-v00.05.00.11a-Linux-vsync_second_vblank.7z

4- VSync every vblank + Target 60 FPS (it should decrease FPS down to acceptable values)
http://www.mediafire.com/download/8nbiv91d7hatk3f/GiaC-AODNA-v00.05.00.11a-Linux-vsync_every_vblank-target_FPS.7z

Tell me if one of the versions work better than the other ones. Smiley
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JobLeonard
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« Reply #38 on: August 24, 2015, 09:21:48 PM »

My man! Hand Thumbs Up Left Smiley Let's get this investigation started! Noir

1: maxes out CPU usage, regardless of how it is opened

2, 3, 4:

- max out CPU usage when opened through double clicking their icon
- max out CPU usage when opened through the command line without any flags
- does not max out CPU usage when opened through the command line with "-screen-quality Good"

Which version (x86, x86_64) does not matter.

Also, all of them are stuck in the initial "LOADING, MAY TAKE UP TO TEN SECONDS" screen. Not sure what happened, because it didn't do this before?
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King Kadelfek
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« Reply #39 on: August 26, 2015, 03:50:48 PM »

1: maxes out CPU usage, regardless of how it is opened

2, 3, 4:

- max out CPU usage when opened through double clicking their icon
- max out CPU usage when opened through the command line without any flags
- does not max out CPU usage when opened through the command line with "-screen-quality Good"

Which version (x86, x86_64) does not matter.
Ok, so it looks the bug is indeed related to VSync. I will activate the option on all quality settings, so the Linux build should be ok no matter which settings.
Later, there will also be a Settings Menu with a VSync option.


Also, all of them are stuck in the initial "LOADING, MAY TAKE UP TO TEN SECONDS" screen. Not sure what happened, because it didn't do this before?
In fact on Linux, it's closer to 30 seconds because I'm still figuring out where I have to put the cache files.
Before, the game was launching only after the 30 seconds.

I will soon make a new version of the game, with more informations displayed in the output log.
So it will be easier to do a better Linux version.
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