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[NoLocality]

Hello Tigsfolk!


I'm starting a devlog here for The Brontosaurus Milk Crisis, a game I'm cooking up with a little personal challenge behind it.


Given the recent news that a few browsers are dropping UnityWebPlayer support I'm gonna take my first stab at using the WebGL protocol and see what I can squeeze out of it.  Also I gotta keep in mind file-size limits for various hosting sites, I'm basing my limit on NewGrounds's 80mb limit so that's gonna be the ceiling for this build...if any other sites have higher limits...great!, if not then maybe I'll ask permission for a fat little game file.


I've also found that audio quality goes right down the toilet after a WebGL build so on top of Audio files inflating that file size like no other element it seems there are bound to be compromises and workarounds in the sound department.


The UnityWebPlayer ran like a top last I used it, never uploaded WebGL but I've seen WebGL run like shit with what appeared to be less than I'm putting forward...optimization techniques to apply, learn and then apply what I learned in the process.
Seriously I want this to run as smooth and as fast as my experiences with UnityWebPlayer.


Finally I want a satisfying longer than average (I'm thinking about two-ish Mario64 levels worth of content), lush environments, ascetically pleasing visuals, various yet-to-be-specified mechanics...basically a good lil' game.


So basically my self challenge is...

1: Under 80mb file-size

2: Runs and sounds nice.

3: An enjoyable, well rounded game.


So off to work I go it seems...


As for the game itself and what it's all about well...between the title, the link to my video-log below and the GIFs below that y'all are going to guess at or infer the details until I start posting them.


Vlog #1





Almost posted before mentioning this is going to be a free game.  Aside from the WebGL I'm releasing a companion downloadable version on Itch.io which will also be free.  Maybe after this is done I'll take a stab at the paid market with a much more polished, expanded, not limited by file-size version...but as for this one, not a dime to play.  


Cheers people and thanks for taking a peek at my project!  

[NoLocality]

Trying to get a lil' work done in spare moments at my day job today.



I got some modeling/texturing done on my first enemy, code-named 'RollZilla'.

Sticking to my 'keep the file-size tiny' credo this guy's texture image is actually only 12x4 pixels!  I could have gotten away with 3x1 but not only is the difference negligable but any image with greater than 4x4 pixels is auto compressed upon build in unity anyway so...yeah.

Also I'm cracking up at the way this eye-method makes it look like it's eyes are watching you as the perspective moves.



It's watching you...

[NoLocality]

So I got my 'Rollzilla' fully animated and partially programmed.

In their current half-done state combat with them is friggin' terrifying!


 

 

[NoLocality]

I could have sworn I posted a GIF of the Zen lil' waterfall area here...


Oh well here yah go.

"A removed, redundant GIF"


edit: Okay I feel dumb, that one was in the first post.


Here's one showing the view from the lip of the volcano instead.



The queen brontosaurus takes little notice of the tiny beings below...her current walk cycle is of more concern to be honest.

[Pixel Noise]

I just love the name. I'll follow you for that.

[NoLocality]

I just love the name. I'll follow you for that.

Glad to hear you dig the name and I'll try to make this worthwhile to follow for yah. 



The name is essentially the premise of the story.

One day while attending to the duties of milking the local brontosauruses (brontosauri?) to feed his tribe, our protagonist finds a never before seen enormous brontosaurus and dares to milk it.  Unfortunately an absurd of amount of milk is released and floods the planet. 
Now our prehistoric hero must try to resolve and account for his poor decision in a changed, tumultuous, diluvian world.

It's silly as heck but I've been rolling with it for around a couple months and have grown fond of the story.



Also I finally got to use use the word diluvian in a sentence!  Yay!

[NoLocality]

Been getting incremental progress these past few days, so steady as she goes.


RollZillas now have a bit more brains and an actual rolling attack, will try to squish any in their path...



...they still need a few kinks worked out.


Added some generic palm trees and made a little forest...



...treehouses are definitely in.


Got some background work done combining certain "transitions" with the changing of background music loops.

Actually found a compression method that keeps considerable quality in a webGL build though the looping is still absolute ass.

A couple loops I've tossed together...

Caveman tribal drum loop--> https://soundcloud.com/nolocality/caveman-drum-loop

Minimal ambient trance-ish loop--> https://soundcloud.com/nolocality/minimal-trance-ish-ambient-loop


Also found out recently I have considerably more wiggle-room than I thought with the file-size limit!  Seems that the upload limits are after compression!

This makes me happy as apposed to what I thought applied previously.

[NoLocality]

A shame this is a performance hit...otherwise I would have massive fields of reactive flowers.   

[Muffinhat]

Now THIS looks like my kind of game.

[naezith]

my monitor shattered.. haha good luck!

[UnfoldGames]

This looks pretty trippy, haha. Good luck!

[NoLocality]

Now THIS looks like my kind of game.

my monitor shattered.. haha good luck!

Whoah!  People talking about this!

This warms my heart to read... ...a feeling akin to the warm, spreading embrace of peeing in a public pool.

Thanks guys 

This looks pretty trippy, haha. Good luck!

Dude...

Dude...I can't show everything but...



I've been chugging away at this and I'm kind of at an impasse.


As I work on the 80mb version I keep thinking about a version without limits, and I'm considering abandoning the whole challenge altogether and just making this thing as I see fit without worrying about it.

Don't get me wrong there is value in learning to work within confines but this project is growing on me and I'm starting to see that 'cutting' aspects isn't really doing justice to what I have in mind.



2 second music loops to save space when webGL builds can't loop for shit...

Limiting colors and avoiding gradients out of necessity in what is turning into a pretty psychedelic game...

Low poly just to...wait I love the low poly look...nevermind.



Anyone have an opinion on this?

Should I see my challenge through or unshackle this thing? 

[emartronic]

the cavemans two walking frames are SO GOOD!

really cool looking proto, will check on this log again!

[TonyManfredonia]

I'm not sure what's happening, but it's definitely interesting!

[NoLocality]

the cavemans two walking frames are SO GOOD!

really cool looking proto, will check on this log again!

I'm not sure what's happening, but it's definitely interesting!

You guys are awesome.



Got some texturing, modeling, animating and such done on some concept land masses and volcanic geysers.

Also started toying around with wall jumping and climbing.







Funny thing I found with the way it's currently coded is that you can run around in the tree-patch holding jump and parkour like it's nothing...





...It's pretty fun to see how long you can glide and ricochet around without touching the ground.



Also I'm done with the whole challenge thing and this most likely wont be a browser game nor will it most likely be free...(boo...I know haha)...but at least I can fit what I have in mind into this without worrying about it so down with distractions and up with more game. 

[NoLocality]

Been an interesting couple weeks...after losing around a week and a half out of commission with a stubborn respiratory infection I'm happy to be diving back in to this.

Still just cranking out assets and testing systems to make sure they are working properly.  Ceiling climbing is in and shows promise for some interesting level-design and/or puzzles.


Also I think I'm getting closer to an overall ascetic...

...these are the result of trying to get some background flora done...they're ferns believe it or not.

[NoLocality]

Old vs New primal abandon dance off!



I like the smoothness of cave-guy's new animation but poor cave-gal is spazzing out pretty hard at the moment...I think a bit of a redo is in order.

[NoLocality]

Yay...after more iterations than I thought I got a final 'look' for my humans!

Say hello to the opaque, tatoo'd, scribbled-textured, probably-not-the-final-iteration cave dancers.




Also wow, it doesn't feel like two weeks since last update.

Maybe next on the agenda will be getting the actual main character sprited out instead of just slapping npc sprites on the character controller  .

Oh well...I'll just keep on creeping along at the speed of snail, here's to a fourth quarter 2019 release! 

[TonyManfredonia]

Every time I see your updates, I think of how awesome this would look as a rare, quirky, late 90's N64 game.

Is that weird? I think of odd-ball, lesser known games like Space Station: Silicon Valley and Iggy's Wrecking Ball, and this game just fits perfectly in that genre.

Kickstarted N64 Cartridge release?

In any case, I'm really stoked about this. It's blowing my mind because of how "out there" it is.  Keep me posted with your updates! Consider me officially sold.

[NoLocality]

@amanfr01 That's cool to know some are looking forward to this!    I'll do my best to assure it's worth playing.

Funny you mention Space Station: Silicon Valley and Iggy's Wrecking Balls,  SSSV is actually one of my faves from long ago.  It has that 'hard to put your finger on' charm on top of some great gameplay...maybe one day I'll beat it.  Last I remember I got to some difficult gorilla stage later in the game and didn't make it past that before I had to return it to Blockbuster video.
Same with Iggy's wrecking balls...didn't think much of the cover art but one day curiosity got the best of me and it turned out to be a very fun rental.

Kickstarted N64 Cartridge release?

That would be cool no doubt but I'm kinda 50/50 on Kickstarter as it is.  Honestly the most use I could see getting out of KS would be another avenue to 'get the word out', money up front would be nice but putting energy towards fulfilling promises instead of towards the game itself gives me pause when I think about it.

Maaaaaaaaaybe I'll do a KS but only if the game is basically 99% complete, the goal amount would be small and I would not promise anything I wasn't 100% sure I could deliver...sadly a functioning N64 cartridge is way beyond my skills to create.

It's blowing my mind because of how "out there" it is.

Haha we are free to be as goofy as we want are we not?  Personally I prefer something interesting to look at vs realism or cohesion.

Take a look at some of Hieronymus Bosch's paintings, I believe his claim to fame and why he is still remembered is more based on all the absurd details and "out there" scenarios he paints rather than his skills with a brush (which is also considerable).

Now could you imagine being able to hop around one of his paintings in a game and see/interact with everything within them?

I'm not saying I'm going to have that level of detail but maybe it gives a notion of what I'm leaning towards visually.

Thanks for the kind words amanfr01 and I'll try to make this worth checking in on!