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[GalaethGames]

I've always been inspired by Star Fox and always wanted to make a game in it's style.  After recently discovering Godot Engine, I've decided to use the opportunity to try and create some kind of 3D space shooter.  Although I do have some intermediate 2D programming skills, I'm pretty much starting from scratch with Godot, learning as I go.

I've created this blog for two reasons: to keep myself motivated as I have a lot of unfinished projects on my hard drive, and I'd like to finish a good game that I can be proud of, and also it may be interesting to others.



The Game
Seren Nova 3D is a 3D on rails space shooter.
You'll take control of your fighter and travel across different levels destroying the evil forces.


I hope to have a mixture of levels,
Snow Planet Level (Hoth style) 80% complete
Asteroid Level
City Invasion
Desert Planet
Space Invasion
Ocean Planet
One Final Boss Level

Various Development Screenshots:


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Sionco Webste

The game will initially be for PC's (Windows and Linux).  I was planning on supporting Android, but I don't see how the touch screen controls can work well with this type of game.  For Android devices, I plan on making a more traditional top-down 3D shoot em up game using the same resources.

[GalaethGames]

Day 1 & 2
I’m really starting to learn how the Godot Engine works, while trying to create a Star Fox inspired 3D space shooter in Godot , I’ve just added a basic space level, (there’s nothing in it, but, learning how to create and load levels is a big step).

I’ve also added accurate shooting to my ship. The ship now shoots a laser in the direction of the target.


I’ve added the possibility of having planet based levels in my 3D On-Rails Space Shooter using the Godot Engine.
Currently, the test level just includes a skybox (the sky image has been borrowed, and will be replaces) and also some ground, what the spaceship can collide with, and also the target can’t go below, shadows were really easy to add also in Godot

I’d like a mixture of space and planet based levels, I've never really created a 3D level (except for some race tracks for some never completed 3D racing games), so it will be interesting.  I’m currently, deciding what best way to do it will be,  whether to create all the levels visually in blender or Godot, or add enemies by code.  space levels will be a lot easier to make, as there is a lack of buildings and ground objects.

 

I’d like to create a planet level, like Corneria in the original Star Fox for the Snes (as shown below) with some basic rectangular buildings which seem that they would go with the minimalist 3D style that I’m using (mostly due to my basic or lack of 3D modelling skills).



Making this game has also given me the excuse to play Star Fox Assault on the Gamecube, as well as the excellent Lylat Wars 64 (Star Fox 64), where my inspiration for this game has firmly come from.

[GalaethGames]

Day 3 & 4
Start of a level

I’ve been doing a little bit more work on my 3D on rails space shooter in Godot Engine,

I’ve played around a little bit more with Blender, slowly learning how to make 3D models.  I’m trying to create a test level (although it could always become a real level), with a sort of canyon run, with two small mountain ranges on each side, the idea being to test the ship collisions with the scenery, and to make a hard level, where there is limited room to move for the player.

 

I’ve also spent a lot of time learning about collisions and ray casting in Godot, it took me a bit of time to learn how to do some simple things, such as use ray casting for the lasers to detect when they are about to hit an object, but I’ve got it working.  Now, when the lasers hit an object, they are destroyed.  However, I don’t have any enemy objects to hit at the moment, just a 3D cube for target practice.The test level is still very much work in progress, and as mentioned before the sky image has been borrowed:

[GalaethGames]

Day 5
Restart
www.sionco.com/seren-nova-3d-on-rails-shooter-day-4-restart/
I restarted the main code for my Seren Nova 3D on rails shooter, the reason for this was that I wasn’t happy with the code for moving the target or the ship.

Previously, the target was being moved by the player, and the ship looking at it.  I realized that this was the wrong way to go after I started adding enemy ships to my test level, and found that it was hard to hit them with lasers. Now, the ship is directly controlled by the player, and the targets are attached to it, so they are always in front.  I also control how much the ship can turn, so that it keeps going in the one direction.

As mentioned, I’ve started to add enemies.  Currently, the enemies shoot at the player’s ship, they don’t move yet, except to turn to face the player’s ship.  Also, when they are hit by the player’s lasers, they loose health, until they are destroyed.  (They currently just disappear, effects to be added later).

Finally, by accident I created another camera angle, which is from the cockpit.  It was quite fun to play, so I think I’ll keep it in the game as a possible second camera angle to play with.  You can see at the top of the development screenshot below, I’ve put it at the top of the screen temporary to help with testing.


The new version plays much better, and it’s very easy to shoot and hit the enemy ships.  Although, I’m still not totally 100% happy with the ship movement and controls.

YouTube video of the accidental cockpit view:

[GalaethGames]

This week I’ve been thinking and doing some basic drawings of the ideas that I have for the levels of my 3D on-rails space shooter.
Tanks & the beginning of a game!

Like Star Fox I want to include a mixture of space and planet side levels, such as asteroid fields, a city level, snow, a molten lava planet level.  Of course, the main challenge for me will be to create all the assets for each level with my beginner 3D modeling level.

 

In the game, I've added collisions with enemy ships, which destroys the enemy ship and takes health off the player.

Also, the lasers have been sorted out properly, so the player receives damage from enemy lasers.

I've also started to add some tank type vehicles to the game, currently they are just painted red, and their turrets don’t move.

[GalaethGames]

Snow Hills & Lasers

I’ve started work on a snow level, I want to make a ‘Star Wars Battle of Hoth style level, with the player shooting over the battlefield.

I’ve decided to start this level using all my own resources from the start (the previous screenshots showed a temporary sky image that I borrowed and didn’t fit in with the games art (or lack of) style.

So, this was another learning process, I decided to first create the mountains for the background in blender, I did this by first creating some basic mountains in Blender:



I then rendered them in Blender and saved the resulting image, which I opened in GIMP (a graphics editor), and added sky and played around a little with the image from blender.
I then imported it into my game along with a white floor (I’d like to create the floor in Blender at a later date so create it uneven, but for the moment, it doesn't look that bad), and the result:



Also, I’ve added the ability to have fire double lasers, this will be an upgrade that can be found in the levels,



Finally, I’ve changed the laser model a little, it looks better than the grey tube that I had been using:



http://www.sionco.com/seren-nova-3d-snow-level-and-new-lasers/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/sionco/260051356533
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sionco

[GalaethGames]

I’m back at work on my Seren Nova 3D game, and today I’ve added snow hills and stars!

It’s been a slow day with a lot of frustration trying to get two simple things right, but finally I’ve managed to implement them, what are they?

Well first I’ve added hills to my snow level, whereas before the plain was flat, now it includes small mounds of snow, as seen in the screenshot below.  It was quite tough trying to get the space ship to interact with them properly, I had many problems that I had too sort such, such as the space ship completely stopping, or suddenly being moved to the other side of the screen, but for the time being it’s enough.



The second photo shows the ship trying to pass over a big snow covered mountain.



Also, I’ve added a star field effect to the space level demo, you can’t see it in the screenshot, but some stars fly towards you which helps give the currently barren level some sense of movement and speed.



Finally, as mentioned previously, I had trouble implementing the moving turrets for my currently red tank like vehicles, before I had the whole tank moving to face the player, but now only the turret does,  the tank model and especially the turret will be updated and replaced, as I’m not happy with them:




http://www.sionco.com/snow-hills-and-stars/

[GalaethGames]

First, a screenshot of a hidden tank:


Because, of the issues that I was having with the movement of the tank turrets, I decided to design a new better looking tank, and one with a dome shaped turret, this was so that I only had to rotate the actual turret tube when the tank is aiming at the player. Again, I've continued to use a very low poly approach (because of my beginner 3D skills), here it is (on the left are the old ones):



and accurate firing:

[Chris MacAdam]

Hey man this is looking cool. One problem I can see if on the snow levels I can see it being harder to keep track of the ship. (at least the middle white part) Maybe try a different color scheme for the player ship?
But the game looks cool to me! I don't see a lot of 'star fox rail shooters'. Looking forward to any development!

[GalaethGames]

Thanks a lot for your comments,

ah yes, I see what you mean, I'm new to 3D and design and don't have an eye for it yet, so I'll definitely try swapping the colours over.

I can see in your game what you've done with the light character in a dark background, it looks good!

[guille]

Great! I love Star Fox, it's great you are getting inspiration from SF64, as I think it's the best entry in the series, although, I also enjoyed some of the non-on-rails open world levels from the Gamecube Game. Are you having levels like those too? or just on-rails action?

[GalaethGames]

Great! I love Star Fox, it's great you are getting inspiration from SF64, as I think it's the best entry in the series, although, I also enjoyed some of the non-on-rails open world levels from the Gamecube Game. Are you having levels like those too? or just on-rails action?

Thanks! I just played through Star Fox 64 this morning, it's become easy to finish, but still fun to play! I also enjoy playing some of the more open world levels on the Gamecube game too!  Currently I'm going through the Star Fox wikia for inspiration, especially for ships.

Regarding the game, I'm aiming small at the start with just on-rails levels, as my aim is to finish the game.
So, to be honest it depends on how I go, if I feel the game is nearly finished and I'm still enjoying making it, I'd love to add open sections.

[GalaethGames]

I’ve added a new laser upgrade to the game, by collecting the laser upgrade, your ship upgrades from firing one laser at a time to two.  In the screenshot below, you can see the current state of the upgrade, collectable in the game (it needs a little bit more flashyness, but it's ok for the moment).  I also have created the framework to add more upgrades, such as faster firing lasers and lasers which produce more damage.



I’ve also added a proper cockpit view, and made it easy to change from one view (the traditional behind the ship view)to the other during the game.  As the screenshot shows, I’ve added a basic cockpit structure including glass which slightly changes the colour of the game to a more bluish tone.



I’ve also slightly changed the shape of the ship, which I think now looks a bit more sleeker, the wings are more pointed and the blue part (engine/weapon?) is a lot more pointed and thinner (but I still need to think about the colour):

Before:


Now:




Finally, I’ve added some basic buildings to the city level that I’m planning, but these will form the base of any in game objects.  They take a lot of damage but can be destroyed if you have a high-damage weapon, they can also be destroyed if you fly into them (but then again your ship will be destroyed) and also any that are directly in front of the camera are removed as soon as they reach the camera, to stop view blocking.

[GalaethGames]

Today, I’ve started to add asteroids to the game for one of the space levels, I’ve currently got two asteroid models that I quickly made-up in blender, I’m not too happy with the colour though.



The screenshot below shows me testing a few of them in the game, currently they are a little too small, and they don’t have any initial movement or moment, which I hope to fix by having some of them moving before the player reaches them.  They also react to the player hitting them, moving off in different directions, as well as causing the player a little damage, but they can be destroy with the lasers.  I hope to have a few different sizes and some which can’t be destroyed.



Finally, I’ve now added a simple 2D effect to the back of the ship to give the impression that the ships engines are running, it’s currently not animated, but looks ok for the moment:

[gimymblert]

cool

[GalaethGames]

I’ve added a new type of enemy ship, I’m trying to keep my motivation and work up by doing a fun task such as designing a new ship after I’ve completed some of the more difficult tasks such as programming parts of the gameplay.

We’ll today, I’ve done the fun part and added a new enemy ship to the game called a Raptor I:



Here it is in game (the top lights have since been fixed):



http://www.sionco.com/seren-nova-3d-a-new-enemy-ship-raptor-i/

[GalaethGames]

I’ve  created a new ship for an ocean level called an Ocean Battlecruiser, it will appear in an ocean level in my game, I’ve also added three turrets to the ship, but I may increase the number of them, or add other weapons or vehicles onto the top, depending on difficulty.



The individual turrets can be destroyed




The ship can take a lot of damage, but with a good enough weapon it can be destroyed.  Currently, when the ship has taken too much damage it slowly sinks down into the sea:



Other small improvements:

I added a little animation to the booster, which looks better, and it doesn’t just look like a static image.
I’ve changed the colour of the ship a little for visibility.
I’ve tested the game on Windows, Linux and Android, all working well so far, (fingers crossed)
I’ve added a basic title screen animation, displaying the Sionco logo, and then the Seren Nova 3D title font on a space background.

[GalaethGames]

I’ve been thinking of how I could best represent the characters in the game.  I want something fun and maybe cute like Star Fox, without copying it too much, but I also have to try and create something that plays my limited artistic abilities in drawing and 3d modelling.

So, for the moment, and until or unless I come-up with something better, I’ve decided to go with something easy for a face, mainly a tube with simple black lines for the mouth and eyes.  I don’t know whether he will be the hero, but at the moment it looks like a certain possibility.  I’ve added the back of a chair and a helmet to show that he’s in the cockpit.



Here is how he currently appears in-game (although, I don’t know why he would be speaking to himself if he is the main character):




http://www.sionco.com/the-first-character/

[GalaethGames]

Bombs!

I’ve added bombs/missiles to the game.  The missiles will be the biggest weapon in your arsenal, and will create maximum damage on anything in the area, whether enemy, building or asteroid.  However, you will only have a limited supply.  The following screenshot shows a missile being launched:


The result is a big explosion (it looks like a big yellow ball in the screenshot, but in motion, it looks a lot better as it quickly expands and then disappears).



I’ve also been playing around with the ship movement, to try and get it to be a little smoother, and I’ve removed one of the target crosshairs, I am considering not having them at all, but for now, one works well:

[GalaethGames]

Today

Firstly, I’ve made it possible for the Ocean Battlecruisers to carry other enemy vehicles, such as tanks, this make the battlecruisers to be really tough enemies.  However, if you do manage the cause significant damage to the battlecruisers so that they start sinking, the tanks will go down with them.



Also, I’ve started to add basic movement to different ships, such as the Raptors (which are the first enemy ships that I’ve created) come towards the player in a straight line shooting ahead, so they will take one or two shots to destroy, but they won’t be the most difficult enemy.  I’m planning on starting with a few basic movement patterns, such as land and space turrets which always face in the direction of the player and some ships that come from behind or either side.  Depending on how I go, I’ll consider adding more complex enemy movement at the end.

Finally, I've been playing around with the characters. I’ve created a female character to go along with the male one that I had already created.  I’m quite happy with the helmet and chair, but not sure about the face.  Again, I’m a beginner at 3D modelling, so a lot of this is experimenting and trying to create an old low poly look, like from the N64 / PS1 consoles.  I have a basic idea for a story, but I still don’t have a plan over who these characters are and who is the main pilot that you’ll be controlling.



http://www.sionco.com/a-female-character-and-super-battlecruisers/