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[oahda]

Seems it might indeed be a keeper if the shadows are brushed up, then. Just need to figure out a workflow that's not as time-consuming.

[oahda]

UPDATE 6

Not a big update, but I think I've made a design decision.

I still want help picking controllers, but read this now and ignore previous ramblings!

I've been reading up about game design lately and one recurring piece of advice is to cut out fluff and encircle the core mechanics. This is a good idea, and I've already been thinking this way before – make the game mechanically simple, use few buttons and set a limit of four tools.

Well, I've decided to set the limit even harder, especially bearing my aforementioned little controller issue in mind.

I'm cutting out the water cannon(s)/nozzle(s).

I'll find other ways to make water level puzzles. I did get one neat idea from a little puzzle my girlfriend designed for the game we are making together. More will come.

And I'm deciding to use the four left-hand buttons on a modern gamepad rather than the D-pad for the tools remaining. This puts the action button (A on 360 controller, X on PS3 controller) at the bottom and so the three remaining tools will use the buttons around it.

So the action button will be used to examine things and make selections in menus.

As I'm writing this, I'm getting a new idea. Hold the button mapped to a tool and combine it with other buttons to handle that specific tool more delicately. This makes the controller setup rather simple, I would think. Like so:

• Hold the light button and use the shoulder buttons to alter its range and intensity.
• Holding the magnet button, upper shoulders lower it and pull it back up – lower shoulders to hookshoot it and retract it.
• Holding the sonar button, perhaps use shoulders to alter its frequency – but maybe that's, again, adding too much complexity.

Then toggling, to turn tools on and off, needs to be handled. Double press the related button, perhaps? That seems intuitive. Nope. Girlfriend chimed in and said single press is better and so I thought a bit more and realised that it does work if it turns things off once the button is released, but does not if, for example, the shoulder buttons were pressed while it was being held down. More simplification! Less fluff! Starting to feel a lot more elegant here.

I haven't implemented any tools but the beginnings of the light so far, so I'll limit myself to that at the moment and try to code this system up for the light during my next session and see how it feels.

I also turned all the heavy gifs from the first page into links, except for two, one of which was also moved into the first post!

EDIT:
I read through my thoughts again this morning. How about the shoulders are always mapped to the magnet by default so that its button doesn't have to be held, and only to alter the light does any button (i.e. the light button) need to be pressed? I feel like you'll be using the magnet a lot more than you'll be altering the light cone. That's probably better, eh? Or maybe just use the D-pad for the light cone.

EDIT 2:
EDIT 3 (updated again on Dec 4th):
Something like this:

• sonar (6): turns sonar on or off
• light (7): turns light on or off
• magnet (10): if rectracted, pulls magnet out – otherwise toggles on/off – also grips and lets go with the magnet?
• action (1): versatile, primary button - examines things – also grips and lets go with the magnet?

• narrow: makes light cone narrower and intensity higher*
• widen: makes light cone wider and intensity lesser*

• haul (13): slowly pulls extended magnet chain back into the sub
• extend (14): slowly lowers magnet chain out of the sub
• retract (11): if magnet chain is out, quickly pulls the magnet to the sub – if not, retracts and hides it entirely
• fire (12): launches the magnet like a hookshot on its chain

• normal movement (2): push the primary stick in the desired direction
• strifing (3): move straight up, down, right or left by using the corresponding D-pad arrow
• rotation (2, 5): push the secondary stick like a button to rotate the sub with the primary stick without moving
• reset rotation (4): push the primary stick like a button to straighten up the boat, facing right or left

[oahda]

UPDATE 7

Sonar is on the way!



Mechanics-wise, I've been thinking ever since this game Soundscape was made for Ludum Dare, and I tried it, that it'd be worth taking some inspiration from. But simplified and not as annoying-sounding. Not being completely blind. But getting auditory response from the waves in a similar way.

EDIT:
After implementing light cone size/length adjustment and trying the controllers out, I realised that one does want to be able to adjust the light cone while moving, which is rather impossible to do while the thumb is busy pushing on the left stick if the light cone is adjusted using the D-pad.

* So I moved strifing to the D-pad (5), since it is only possible in the four cardinal directions anyway, and I moved light cone adjustment to the secondary stick (3) (push up for wider and down for narrower), accessible with the right thumb both while moving normally and while strifing.

[oahda]

UPDATE 8

All right, I updated the PS controller image above to reflect the current controllers.

My goal tonight will be to implement a temporary CPU version of the light filter (blackening things out outside the reach of light sources) so that we can get a nice idea of the actual field of view that's going to be offered in the final game – a proper GPU version using shaders lies quite some time ahead for now.

This CPU version is going to be using render textures and masking and a bit of scaling for blurry edges, I'm thinking. It's going to be interesting! This way I'll be able to adjust the minimum and maximum ranges of the light to make sure it's going to work out nicely for the game in the end.

I also have a relevant little topic for you!

Depth

The idea is to make certain areas of the game fairly vast and empty to open up for big things once they do show up. The game is going to be playing out in a fairly three-dimensional space despite being a 2D game, letting the sub turn into certain openings, leading to a new area that's at a different angle or on a different side than the previous one, and then there is the depth from the surface to think of.

Just like the real ocean, this game is going to be divided vertically throughout the pelagic zone: I've chosen, at least generally, to restrict myself to the topmost three layers:

Epipelagic

This is the closest to the surface. Photosynthesis works fine and coral reefs may flourish, teeming with life. Due to the story of this game, tho, it's going to be a lot more devastated and deserted than that, but that's the general description of this layer. Up here it is still fairly well lit, especially close to the surface of course.´

Mesopelagic

This is where light starts to fail to penetrate through the water and where photosynthesis no longer really becomes possible. Interesting creatures, including bioluminescent ones, will start appearing around here.

Batypelagic

This is very deep down. Completely dark with immense pressure. Certain creatures still lurk down here...

So with these layers with differing amounts of light breaking through, the game will have certain areas that are more or less self-lit, close to the surface, and other areas where dependency on light and/or sonar is absolute, altho there may be other sources of light around in some places, be they biological or man-made.

Considering letting pressure be a factor governing certain things in the game, too.

[oahda]

UPDATE 9

As promised, CPU light filter test.



Rather slow, as expected on the CPU. I hope the same calculations can still be used for the points before passing the job to the GPU with shaders later on. We'll see. Might have to look into the methods proposed by others previously, looking for edges, rather than just raycasting by brute force. But the main bottleneck is the rendering, not the raycasting – it wasn't slow before.

It also ignores layers, lighting things in the foreground as well, and it has no smooth edges or degrees of light strength. No bouncing, breaking or colourisation. But it's all coming up!

A temporary solution – just like this render texture CPU implementation in itself – is to decrease the resolution greatly. My only care right now is to test the range anyway.

[oahda]

UPDATE 10

CHOOOOOOOOOOO CHOOOOOOOOOOO



So one thing I do from time to time for this game is to make 3D models. The game is a 2D one, as screenshots so far have shown, but using models like this for visualisation is quite useful. It helps me figure things out in greater detail than just sketches, it offers templates for any future artists to draw on top of, and it can be used for all sorts of extra things like promotional pictures and trailers.

The submarine too was a 3D model on top of which the graphical asset seen in the screenshots so far was drawn.

It's also very useful when something as complex as this train is to appear from more than one angle in the game and stay visually consistent from each one. There is still some work to do on this model, but if I know myself it'll be some time before I can be bothered to texture it, so I might as well post it now. The main colours are going to be black, green and gold, anyhow.

So this train will feature in the game in some way which will remain secret. Fittingly, I got the idea for its context at a train station about a year or so ago. Maybe more. My track of time is awful.

Here is the sketch I started from:



Note how the very front of the train looks like the tank on the submarine~

[bornander]

So this train will feature in the game in some way which will remain secret.

A locomotive featuring in a game about deep sea exploration? Now I am going to have to play it just to find out how it came to be submerged!

[oahda]

So this train will feature in the game in some way which will remain secret.

A locomotive featuring in a game about deep sea exploration? Now I am going to have to play it just to find out how it came to be submerged!

That's exactly why I'm keeping the details to myself, not to spoil it. c;

[oahda]

UPDATE 11

So I've been rather busy/lazy for a while, playing vidya gams and watching silly British series on Netflix. Still, a small update now that I've been up programming about three hours later into the night than I was hoping for.

Finally got decent enough physics going for the chain from which the magnet will be hanging, in part thanks to this post as well as

. I noticed rope joint might be redundant to me, and revolute joints enough.

I had to code up my own procedure to make sure that the links never stray too far from each other or gets broken. That was what took most of my time getting to play nice.

» View animated GIF here.

And I've started sketching that coastal town upon a shoop composition made up of a bunch of photographies – on my tablet, for which I just ordered and received a pen.



Scales and so forth are a bit off ATM but I'll get there.

[oahda]

UPDATE 12

'Tis comin' along. The chain can now be forcefully launched as well as forcefully retracted. Careful lowering and reeling to be added. As a reminder, there is going to be a magnet at the end of the chain, which can be used to grab ahold of things made out of the right stuff.

» View animated GIF here.

[EdFarage]

10/10 instant GOTY if your fish-submarine makes a slurp sound when retracting the chain

[oahda]

I have no idea where to go when it comes to audio direction just yet. Probably quite easy on the sounds, yet effective when necessary, kind of like Limbo.

But I'll be sure to add it in at least temporarily just for you. :*

The game doesn't have any sound support ATM tho. I've yet to choose the right library for it.

[EdFarage]

I have no idea which country your game name comes from, but i can totally see some celtic influence working on your music
something like luar na lubre

, maybe a little darker than that?
and you don't need to put the slurping in just cause of me
but if you did i would be flattered as hell

-edit-
i just realized its based from the nordic culture, just nervermind me and my silly ideas. 

[oahda]

Well, it's not actually based off of Norse culture, it's just the name that happened to end up in Old Norse for whatever raisin. Reason.

I've heard that band and that song before. Rather nice. Not sure if suitable here, tho.

Unless I really just decide to make it purely a fictional location, I'm actually imagining this around the coast of Italy.

[oahda]

UPDATE 13

Did some more work today. Figured out how to work with the shoulder and trigger buttons on my gamepads, including how hard the triggers are being pushed on gamepads that support it (it seems my 360 controller does but not my PS3 one). Thus I was finally able to implement the intended controller system for the chain:

• Upper left shoulder retracts the entire chain forcefully.
• Upper right shoulder launches the entire chain forcefully.
• Lower left trigger reels the chain back in more slowly so long as it remains pushed.
• Lower right trigger extends the chain more slowly so long as it remains pushed.

Also made the chain links a more reasonably proportional size considering the measurements I've chosen for my game (the submarine is about 2.5 meters in height when including the top and bottom fins). Also reworked my underlying layering system and a bunch of related stuff and now I have rather good control of drawing order and so on.

[Quarry]

DS3's L2 and R2 are most definitely pressure sensitive

[kraed]

I thought I was the only one that was using 3D models as reference for 2D art.

I'm liking the idea of having different ways to go about exploring if one fails. Very curious about that train too! 

[oahda]

DS3's L2 and R2 are most definitely pressure sensitive

Thought so. My driver (I'm on Mac) doesn't support its rumble either.

I thought I was the only one that was using 3D models as reference for 2D art.

Woop!

I'm liking the idea of having different ways to go about exploring if one fails.

I'll try my best to make it as interesting as I can.

Very curious about that train too! 

So you shall have to remain! ;*

[oahda]

UPDATE 14

Welp. I'll spoil the fate of that train after all, for my girlfriend and I just worked together to draw some tablet concept art for it:

[EdFarage]

thats pretty, im impressed.