next »

[growbotgame]

Here's some more development work from floor 3. I'm enjoying creating the animation cycles for the water dragons

[zenassembly]

The water dragon is adorable. Love that lil snout!

This is such a lovely looking project, well done! Super excited to try it.

[oahda]

<3<3<3<3<3<3

[nathy after dark]

With these visuals, your game seems like a very pleasant place to spend some time.

[growbotgame]

Thank you so much for the kind comments!

[growbotgame]

Working on lots of water dragon animations today. Here's one taking a power nap
[/img]

[growbotgame]

I've been busy at work on floor 3 which is finally starting to come together

In the first room you must guide the water dragons out of their maze environment using a simple set of controls. There are holes along the paths which must be avoided. The biggest challenge here was accounting for all the possible paths and how many dragons will move along them at any given time.



My next step is to play-test the puzzle and see if it is intuitive and fun for the player.

One of the things I was concerned about in this room was the lack of character interaction. The maze puzzle dominates the room and the water dragons are small and interacting with them is limited. To try and counter this I made the 4 chambers interactive, so that when you click on the chambers it brings up large images of the water dragons in fun positions, accompanied by information about them.




You are also first introduced to the colour corals in this room. There are 7 colour corals in total which belong to a large coral reef found in room 3.





In room 3 the player talks to a coral reef who is sad because he has lost his colour. In order to restore them the player must first make the environment hospitable again. The first task is to repair the wheels on the coral reef which clean the surrounding water and maintain a healthy current. The player must then find and return the colour corals so that the ecosystem can thrive. Once this is complete the door to the coral nursery unlocks, wherein Nara can find the special 'flower sound' she needs to progress.




 
I've been rebuilding the artwork for this coral reef as my original solution was a bit of a mess. The reef is made up of a large number of individual parts which all need to animate and change separately. Even though it was tedious to recreate, the new method is more efficient in file size and much easier to animate, and the process has been made more fun for me by finally animating the coral reef's face. I still have a range of expressions to go but I'm enjoying trying to imagine what he will sound like when he speaks!



To create the underwater world I've used particle systems to give the impression of water flowing, and particle systems to create bubbles and flumes. Everything moves more slowly underwater and so the environment has been animated to try and capture this. Sound effects massively help with the underwater feel, too; some effects were harder than others to get right, such as Nara's swim sound. It's very easy to notice looping and rythmic patterns in sound effects, and it's been tricky coming up with an effect which can repeat but doesn't distract. I still have a bit of tweaking to do, but I think I'm on the right track. I'm super excited to hear what magic Jessica will conjure up for the music.

[growbotgame]

New screenshots for floor 3

[growbotgame]

Hello, and happy autumn!

I thought I'd share some of the work I've been doing on floor 3 recently. When you enter the underwater floor you are now met by an anxious water dragon who requests your help to free his friends, whom are trapped within a broken down maze.



Still trying to work out what a water dragons voice would sound like!?

In room 2 we’ve been primarily focused on fixing bugs within the water pipe system, and also hiding colour brites in shells... Next steps are to animate the brites, and our current thinking is that their swimming should be propelled by their moustache





Room 3 is probably the most complex on the floor. There are a number of puzzles and dialogue systems which all need to work in tandem. We’ve been building the wheel puzzle and conversation system with the coral reef.



All of the animation clips and code for the bottom set of wheels have been completed. When you use a switch which is locked, the switch moves slightly to let you know its state. When the correct wheels are placed on the cogs, they lock into place, and when you try to remove them, a small animation clip lets you know they are locked. All of these minor animation clips can feel like unimportant details, not worthy of dev time, but they create a responsive world which strengthens a player's sense of immersion.



Animating the coral reef's face as they talk is going well, but it has proven challenging. We focused on the eyes and mouth, but noticed the overall result lacked emotion. Our next step is to animate the face rising and falling as the reef talks, to see if this helps.



Writing and implementing the coral reef's dialogue content has been fun. Looking forward to creating Mavis!

There are a number of cutscenes on this floor which contain important information about the story. By the end of this floor, the player will have learnt about the origins and motivations of Quasi Crystal, the perpetrator of the ongoing attacks, and have a broader but darker perspective on the Growbot world.



I think that’s it for now. Thank you for reading!

Please add Growbot to your Steam wishlist here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/661680/Growbot/

And find regular updates on Twitter: https://twitter.com/growbotgame, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/growbotgame and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growbotgame/

[growbotgame]

Hello! We’ve been adding new characters to Growbot.

This is Mavis the psychic squid! Mavis believes she has prophetic dreams, wherein she converses with peeps from galaxies close and far. Sometimes these dreams seep into her waking reality and cause a bit of confusion, but it’s nothing her unthinking hat can’t tackle.



Although none of Mavis’s dreams come to pass, she is convinced there’s ‘a thread of reality’ in them. It’s a thread she struggles to let go of upon waking.

Mavis has been working with Captain Thyme in the lucid dream tanks to gather data on a Growbot’s unconscious capacity for reality building. ‘Do we in fact dream ourselves alive’? Both Mavis and Captain Thyme share a passion for exploration, although Mavis is not a fan of Captain Thyme’s use of lucid technology to do so. She believes lucid dreaming gets in the way of discovery. ‘The unconscious mind is to be followed, not led.’



Mavis has a dream she wants to share with Nara. But the dream is frightening and Mavis needs a hug from her favourite toy frog, Stitch, if she is to find the courage to share it.

Stitch is trapped within the Octobot and Nara will need to retrieve it.

Along the way there are grumpy light sprites, and skittish colour brites to contend with...



The coral reef can now be repaired and restored. As colour returns to the reef, so do its occupants. Next month we’ll be making sea squirts, sponges and nudibranchs (yes, nudibranchs are a real thing) for the player to interact with :D





In room 2 the light sprite bus system is coming together. Nara will have to help the light sprites reach their destinations if she is to collect the remaining colour brites.



The station may well be being ripped apart by a dark aggressive crystal force, but the light sprites refuse to let their day to day activities be interrupted.

[Schrompf]

Lovely art style. I'll watch this.

[akoluthic]

Well this is downright whimsical. 

[growbotgame]

Thank you Omnus and Schrompf! :D

[ChrisLSound]

So beautiful, in every way. Just... wow! I can't wait to play. Truly incredible work!

[growbotgame]

Thank you very much for the kind comment Chris! :D

[growbotgame]

After a number of years in development our game Growbot launched on Steam today! :D
https://store.steampowered.com/app/661680/Growbot/

[Schrompf]

Congrats! Good luck.

[JobLeonard]

And once again I completely missed a beautiful devlog until launch day

This is right up my alley, glad I caught it at the last second! 

[JobLeonard]

Bought it, finished it in three hours... totally worth it

Thanks for the charming experience! 

[wolfsden]

Beautiful artstyle! 

Very original too :D