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[darkhog]

One thing that I want to do with level #3 is not just make it functionally completed but also put some secrets in it that you'll be able to find. What do you think about that?

[darkhog]

I've been able to fix that stupid AI bug in AV Agents' AI that caused them to walk off the cliffs. There's some work to be done regarding optimization, but it can be done later and even on level #4 that uses AV Agents almost exclusively, framerates aren't too bad either (especially for my over 6 year old computer where the only changes to it were new GPU and more RAM which doesn't affect that particular thing at all).

This means that I can work on cool stuff again (which I'll be doing tomorrow), though tracking down the cause of it (me using incredibly stupid code) was a challenge as well.

//edit: And also I've fixed exit button not restoring mouse lock when exited from campaign level to the main menu which made it look like the game hung up (but it ran fine). Another thing is that Resume Game button now resumes game as it should.

[darkhog]

Okay, progress report time: Work on the game is going well. There's a tricky spot in terms of level modeling in one place, especially with the method I'm using, but it's more time consuming than anything else.

Though I kinda need to admit that it's hard to just go on, when most of (potential) fans of the game are invisible, not leaving their thoughts. It makes it looks like... nobody cares. And I know that people have played the predemo I've released short while ago. I don't have any hard numbers, but for 26.3 mb file to max out Dropbox traffic and then keep it maxed out... I think it's pretty rare. I'm not going to drop this project, don't get me wrong, but I'm kinda sad that people don't want to post their thoughts about it, aside of odd, random commenter that sometimes shows up.

[darkhog]

Fixed major bug that made some enemies not spawn as they should (not linked to the AI bug I fought with earlier). Working on the next level as we speak, feeling like I'm making real progress here.

[SolarLune]

Yo!

I downloaded the game and loaded it up through Wine, but it didn't display correctly, which is fine; it's just a pre-alpha, so no need to worry about porting to different platforms for now. Focus instead on getting the game working the way you want it.

I like the usability changes you mentioned in the post on the 24th. Instead of arrows, though, perhaps you could guide the player more subtly, like with a checkered path? Something the player will follow intuitively without feeling like they're being told to go there. However, since it's the tutorial / main menu area, it's OK if you tell them outright where to go or how to play; just something to keep in mind for the future, perhaps.

As for people not leaving their thoughts, perhaps you could focus on polishing the game to visually make it more intriguing and "crunchy". Something to make people really excited to play it. Or not - it's a demo, so it's OK that it's focusing on the gameplay concepts.

[darkhog]

First of all, thank you for the kind feedback, both now and in the past. Now, igve me a moment to respond to it.

Yo!

Hello!

I downloaded the game and loaded it up through Wine, but it didn't display correctly, which is fine; it's just a pre-alpha, so no need to worry about porting to different platforms for now. Focus instead on getting the game working the way you want it.

You're correct. Linux and Mac builds are definitely planned both for the demo and the actual game. One thing I've learned when I was using Linux is that games from specific engines never work right in Wine. That's why I've never bothered to try and run games made with Unity after few unsuccessful attempts with games by different developers. Or games made with Game Maker, for that matter, those never worked either.

I like the usability changes you mentioned in the post on the 24th. Instead of arrows, though, perhaps you could guide the player more subtly, like with a checkered path? Something the player will follow intuitively without feeling like they're being told to go there. However, since it's the tutorial / main menu area, it's OK if you tell them outright where to go or how to play; just something to keep in mind for the future, perhaps.

Agreed, that's why main menu "control sheet" only shows the basic controls, without mention of some of the more advanced techniques that you'd need to use to navigate the levels. I have actually plans for nice "learning by doing" areas for actual tutorial, which will be level #1 (and last one to be made as I'm following Romero's philosophy there).

As for people not leaving their thoughts, perhaps you could focus on polishing the game to visually make it more intriguing and "crunchy". Something to make people really excited to play it. Or not - it's a demo, so it's OK that it's focusing on the gameplay concepts.

Good idea, what would you suggest that wouldn't break "early 3d" feel of the game? Other than that, I really don't understand why people aren't leaving feedback, even when specifically I ask them what they thing about particular thing I'm not sure about.

[eerr]

So I don't know these controls... is there a super jump?? I wasn't able to reach the round green platform.
I picked up WASD eventually... which too me entirely too long.
I spent the first ten minutes trying to figure out how to dash to the construction sign above the blue rods.
I did reach it eventually,

Put an ingame keybindings list on my wishlist.

So like, these floaty platforms are ugly and almost out of my field of vision... I can't be bothered to try and jump them.

Left and right movements feel a bit janky, and the forward dash (mouse down) feels like I move in a straight line. Compared to the long jump of Super Mario 64 the dash just feels super wrong. Like piloting a large brick.

In Quake there is a small amount of acceleration when turning.

I also keep gaining height randomly just from bumping into stuff. Is that intended?

I understand that an indie game can't afford to do everything in depth, but you really need to add a few details. To the things that matter. Like movements, and the walkable environment. Try adding some textures maybe? or particle effects, or shaders. Just go with whatever is easy.

So I'm trying to focus on the game, and this distracting pop up appears.
I found the talking man distracting and unimportant. Fucking janitor??? are you insulting me on how long it took to get in? It's so inane and pointless. HE should use cool hacker lingo and give me hot fresh tips.

I am being to hard on you. *shrug

[io3 creations]

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This might be a deal breaker for some/many.  Also that is age required.

As I mentioned, I do like the gfx for nostalgia reasons but based on others' feedback, the game will likely need graphics changes.  Other than what @eerr mentioned, you could look at various low poly (or like) games.  Cloudbase Prime https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=55901.0 comes to mind that has a similar platformer setting.  There are visual elements in the background (clouds, large circular lines/streaks) and you could make smaller sized platforms with different color/shape patterns could give variety.  Also, going with higher resolution might be better.

[darkhog]

Again, the levels will get graphical updates to look better for the final demo, but for now the most important thing is to make level functionally complete and test them.

So I don't know these controls... is there a super jump?? I wasn't able to reach the round green platform.

Can you post a screenshot of the platform you're talking about? There are few platforms you could call green, so if you post screenshot of which one you're talking about will help me to narrow down the problem and fix it. Have a rough idea, but need a confirmation.

I picked up WASD eventually... which too me entirely too long.
I spent the first ten minutes trying to figure out how to dash to the construction sign above the blue rods.
I did reach it eventually,

Put an ingame keybindings list on my wishlist.

That's already been done internally. See usability improvements post few posts/pages ago.

So like, these floaty platforms are ugly and almost out of my field of vision... I can't be bothered to try and jump them.

Left and right movements feel a bit janky, and the forward dash (mouse down) feels like I move in a straight line. Compared to the long jump of Super Mario 64 the dash just feels super wrong. Like piloting a large brick.

I see what can be done to improve the situation, however I don't have an N64 and even with emulator, with most of the gamepads, this doesn't give you full experience needed to properly compare it. Also please note that the dash thing is both locomotion thing and also harms enemies standing in your way (aside of few that can't be harmed that way). Will make an indication (color change?) of when during dash you'll damage enemies you touch if they can be damaged by smashing into them.

In Quake there is a small amount of acceleration when turning.

Yes, however Quake is a first person shooter, not 3D platformer like CVS is.

I also keep gaining height randomly just from bumping into stuff. Is that intended?

That's a side effect of using physics to drive the character.

I understand that an indie game can't afford to do everything in depth, but you really need to add a few details. To the things that matter. Like movements, and the walkable environment. Try adding some textures maybe? or particle effects, or shaders. Just go with whatever is easy.

Agreed. The levels will get more detail (without using textures), however now I want to make them to be functionally complete, making them look nice will happen after all 5 demo levels are created.

So I'm trying to focus on the game, and this distracting pop up appears.
I found the talking man distracting and unimportant. Fucking janitor??? are you insulting me on how long it took to get in? It's so inane and pointless. HE should use cool hacker lingo and give me hot fresh tips.

Take notice of janitor's name. Particularly his initials and what he was taking while doing his job.

I am being to hard on you. *shrug

Not at all. This is in fact the kind of feedback I'm looking for to make it best possible experience I can. Thank you greatly for it!

[darkhog]

Now The Virus changes color while smashing to indicate when collision with it will damage enemies. Gif in a minute.

[darkhog]

Here's the promised GIF. My computer was acting up and couldn't record it right until now:

[darkhog]

I've seen that moving downwards often is too slow and fiddling with character's rigidbody drag isn't really an option here (would be if you could set separate drag for each axis) as I've finetuned it already and can't think of better values to put there, so I've decided to add ground smash that you can activate by pressing smash button (LMB) while shooting button (RMB) is held. If that works well and won't lead to any exploits, I'll consider also upwards smash, jump button (space) being a modifier here.

For all intents and purposes, this will be just like regular smash, i.e. virus will change color and enemies that can be hurt with smash, would be hurt with ground smash as well.

[darkhog]

After some thought I have decided to not add upwards smash. Aside of it being prone to exploiting, upwards vertical movement is easy once you get a hold of the wall jumping mechanic (which you can use to climb big walls).

I'll kept downward smash though as without it sometimes getting down is too slow and kinda frustrating. Plus with it it'll be easy to kill those pesky AV agents when they're resting (i.e. not moving).

[darkhog]

I guess I owe you some apology for the lack of new info thorough the last week. The thing is, that I was really sick, barely could move out of the bed. So I couldn't work on the game. I will, however, start the work again on Monday if I'll feel well.

[darkhog]

While testing a jump pad that you need to use to get to a particular enemy in the level I'm currently making, I've discovered an interesting interaction with recently added downward smash functionality. When you downward smash into such jumppad, you'll go higher by few heights of Virus than if you'd use said pad normally. I intent on keeping it in and already I have few ideas on how I will utilize these in the upcoming levels (and maybe in the secret area of this one, but I'm unsure if I'll add secret for predemo #2, we'll see).

[darkhog]

Decided to upgrade to Unity 5.4 today. Will now try to see if instancing will help in some performance issues I've been having or if it's just because of crappy computer (generally game runs fine, but from time to time there are some frame drops when nothing special is going on).

[io3 creations]

Decided to upgrade to Unity 5.4 today. Will now try to see if instancing will help in some performance issues I've been having or if it's just because of crappy computer (generally game runs fine, but from time to time there are some frame drops when nothing special is going on).

Have you looked into Unity's Memory Profiler?
That might give you a good general idea regarding what causes the issue - e.g. memory/garbage collection or perhaps physics processing.  It's been a while but I had to play around with it for a while to find the info that I was looking for.

[darkhog]

Will have to do that, but I don't think that's it as I avoid unnecessary memory allocations and make everything encapsulated so I don't have memory/reference leak. Plus, while playing the game and looking at mem usage in task manager it's way less than 100% (frankly, unless I have browser running, it rarely goes above 50%).

So I don't think that's it. I'd suspect either my computer being crappy (can't do anything about it as my computer is basically upgraded as much as it can be and I can't afford brand new computer, even in parts) or drawcalls (with which instancing may help).

But yeah, I'll check it out if it will keep happening. For now I have to upgrade some stuff because after Unity's upgrade it started to throw deprecation warnings and I have to upgrade that stuff or I'll be in a lot of pain later when they decide to remove it (and I'll have to at least upgrade to 5.5 when it's available to remove that awful "Personal Edition" text and no, can't afford Plus at this point).

[io3 creations]

Until you look into it, you'll never know.  

Even when you expect certain things to happen a certain way, the game engine or o/s may behave differently.  For example, I've had some software that would peak one CPU core at 100%, but the other core was running at less than 25%.  On the Unity side, when I looked into slicing objects, after a while there was a noticeable and longer and longer pause when trying to slice each object in the scene into two halves.  Creating new meshes is expensive and most like that was the issue after optimizing draw call related performance issues. 

[darkhog]

Wanted to have a video for you today guys where I would play through the (unfinished, as of yet) next level. Unfortunately my recorder borked up the recording for one reason or another and anything I try to record with Shadowplay come out glitched as hell. Will experiment with other programs but not sure.