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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsA Door to the Mists--[DEMO updated!]--traversal, exploration, puzzles and combat
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Thaumaturge
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« Reply #540 on: December 14, 2020, 01:34:21 AM »

Blog post (14th of December, 2020)
Tables and What's Upon Them


Summary: In which tables and their contents are detailed; a doorframe is made to fit its surroundings; interactions--some yet stubs--are added; a surrounding view is worked on; logic for exits is implemented; and object-names and protagonist-responses are written.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows a piece of the (possibly work-in-progress) view that's found surrounding the third room of level six:



The week just past was a varied one, with some each of level-building, writing, and game-logic:

I mentioned in last week's blog-post, I believe, that I had begun work on a new room in level six. And indeed, much of the work of the week just past went towards that room.

Within the room in question, the main focus of work was the pair of curved tables that runs around the inside periphery. Here the geometry was polished, illegible papers were added and scattered about, and other objects were scaled and positioned.

Further, I added the stubs of a few interactions: a few things that can be picked up and examined, and a blank translation-minigame for one piece of legible text.

Beyond the table, the room's doorframe was adjusted, to fit with the stones at its location in this room.



Outside of the room, work continued in polishing the table and chair found against one wall. Here stains and the remains of what was likely once food were added to the table (and the latter within the nearby box, too). Furthermore, the knife on the table was completed. And finally, simple descriptions were added to the table and to the contents of the aforementioned box.



Further afield, I spent time on the view that surrounds the level. Here I tweaked the distant forest, adjusted the line of hills, added a body of water, and worked on the form and caves of the nearby tiered hills.



And indeed, with all that I think that I may have this room nearly done now! ^_^

And a few things were done aside from (or not wholly specific to) that particular room. Perhaps most notably, I put in place the logic for updating the exits from the level once certain conditions are fulfilled, wrote various object-names and protagonist-responses, and made the bedside table in the second room examinable.

And along the way I made several changes that don't seem worth mentioning here!

That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^
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« Reply #541 on: December 21, 2020, 02:03:42 AM »

Blog post (21st of December, 2020)
Writing And Holidays


Summary: In which a holiday is announced; a map is made; a new note is added; an informative page is written; a translation puzzle is implemented; new translation word-roots are set; certain scrolls may no longer be viewed up close; a lore-entry is added, text and images both; a security issue in the localisation system is (I hope) fixed; and a holiday wish is given.

Greetings and salutations!

Before I continue, let me announce that as of today, I'm taking my annual Christmas holiday. ^_^

This is intended to continue through the full of this week, and thus there will be no blog-post next week. I'm also considering extending my holiday for an additional week this year--I'm feeling particularly tired and drained, I fear--and so there may not be a blog-post in the week after, either.

However, blog-posts will likely resume after that second week at the least!

Moving on to the usual matters, this week's screenshot shows a table bearing a map and a compass (of the drawing sort), along with an illegible page:



The week just past was heavily given to text-related work, of a few different kinds, although some other things were dealt with too:

Within the third room of level six, on the curved table that partially-rings the walls, one can find a small map; a bare start to the charting of some nearby caves. Previously this was represented by only a blank stand-in; in the week just past then, I draw the map itself and included it into the level--and indeed, it can be seen in the screenshot above!

Furthermore, I added a new note that may be found in this area; while the player doesn't get to read it directly, on examination the protagonist will give a brief summary of its contents.

Perhaps more salient than either, however, is the page that can be found near the door. This has text that can be read by the player, and provides an important tidbit of information. However, it's not given freely--it requires translation first.

As with the map, this page previously had only stand-in content. In the week just past, then, I wrote its text and prepared its translation puzzle.

Further, this particular puzzle includes new word-roots. These word-roots are provided by a lexicon-book that was added in a previous week, but in the week just past I set the roots themselves. (Along with adding one new grammatical particle.)

I won't show the whole puzzle, so as not to spoil too much, but here's an excerpt showing both a word and a new word-root:



Elsewhere in the room, there is a small shelf holding some scrolls, scrolls which alas are in a language that the protagonist cannot read at all.

Previously, I had planned that the player would be able to examine up close one of these scrolls, to see this unknown text. However, in the week just past I decided to drop that idea, as alas it proved too problematic. To explain:
  • Should the text look legible, players might attempt to decipher it.
    • If it were decipherable, I would have to provide some actual text for it.
      • If this were actual in-universe writing, then it would mean creating a chunk of lore that I imagine that most players would never see, never even think to access.
      • If this text were just some silly Easter egg, then it would be in conflict with the rest of the game, which thus far has nothing of that sort.
    • If it were indecipherable, then it would likely prove anticlimactic and disappointing.
  • And should the text look illegible, then it likely wouldn't seem worth examining up close.

However, these scrolls do still serve a purpose: having the protagonist look at them now provides a new lore-entry, written and given icon and page-image in the week just past!

Once again, let me skirt around spoiling by showing just a bit:



Moving away from level six specifically, but remaining with text, in the week just past I addressed a security issue in the localisation system of the game.

You see, as I previously had it implemented, the localisation system had its strings stored in Python files, each string being held in a variable (or a container like a list). These Python files were then imported dynamically in order to access those strings.

However, this incurs a security vulnerability: someone could, theoretically, insert code into one of these Python string-files, which would then be executed on import I believe!

So, in the week just past I set about reworking the system somewhat, such that it no longer involves importing arbitrary Python files.

Having been pointed to TOML as a potential replacement markup language, I turned to that.

I have my points of dissatisfaction with TOML--it seems to lack variables, or integer keys for dictionaries, the former of which incurs some repetition of lines.

However, I'm overall actually very pleased with it--and especially with the fact that its syntax resulted in very few changes to my string-files!

Indeed, I believe that I have the conversion done, with strings being again loaded properly, and security now hopefully improved! ^_^

And along the way I made a number of other changes, fixes, and additions that don't seem worth detailing here!

Before I sign off, let me say: Should you observe or celebrate anything at this time of year (or should you have just done so) then I hope that it proves to be (or was) a very happy one for you. And should you take a holiday, I hope that it proves restful and restorative for you--not to mention fun. ^_^

That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^
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« Reply #542 on: January 11, 2021, 01:56:01 AM »

Blog post (11th of January, 2021)
Mist In Progress


Summary: In which a new-year well-wish is given; localisation is tested in light of recent changes; a new shader-input is tried; a forest is touched up; and a new mist-related effect is being developed.

Greetings and salutations!

First of all, a belated "Happy New Year", all! I hope that 2021 treats you well. ^_^

This week's screenshot shows a very-work-in-progress effect being made for level six: (Here seen in a test-level.)



As you may gather, I did indeed extend my Christmas holiday to an additional week. And I'm glad that I did: the rest was called for, I feel!

As to the week just past, it was a bit of a slow one: it took a bit of time to get back into my work, and furthermore the week included another (much shorter) annual holiday of mine. Still, some things did get done:

I mentioned in my previous blog post, I believe, that I had switched my localisation system from using Python string-files to using TOML string-files. This had been largely tested, as I recall--but I hadn't yet tested switching between languages.

So, in the week just past I did that.

Now, I don't have an actual translation to test with. To that end, then, I put together a TOML version of my usual test-"translation": "Felid", in which nearly all strings are "mew". ^_^

And I'm glad to say that the system does indeed seem to work properly!

On the technical side, a new version of Panda3D was recently released, and this version included a new shader-feature that seemed like it might be useful. And indeed, testing showed that it did work as expected--and, alas, that I had likely set up at least some of my materials in a way that precludes it from working with them. Ah well--it would have been a convenience, but it's not a major issue, I feel.

On the art side, I went back to the forest that forms part of the view that surrounds the second part of level six. On review I had found it a little lacking, and so set about to improve it. And while I didn't manage to make all of the corrections that I wanted, I think that I did indeed achieve an improvement.



And finally, I worked on the effect shown in the first screenshot above.

The exact application of this effect is, perhaps, a little spoilery--although you might be able to infer that application from what I've shown before and what I'm showing in this blog-post.

But in short, this is a variation of a pre-existing mist-effect, designed--amongst other things--to part as the player moves up to it.

Specifically, it's a variant of a mist-effect that doesn't use randomisation after initialisation, originally made for looping title animations (as in the trailer videos), as I recall. The lack of  continuing randomness--and of the code to support said randomness--should, I hope, make this new effect a little less expensive than the randomisation-heavy mist-effects used elsewhere (such as in cutscenes and level one). Which may be important, as this mist-effect may cover a significant portion of the screen--even all of it, at times.

All that said, this is very much a work-in-progress: I haven't yet managed to achieve all of the traits that I want in the feature to which it's being applied.

Let me end this post, then, with a short gif of just one part of the mist effect in action:



That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^
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« Reply #543 on: January 12, 2021, 12:51:25 AM »

The "mist parting" effect is nice. Looks very misterious... sorry. I looks like it eats GPUs for breakfast, but I personally am not concerned as I have a breakfast-eating GPU.
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« Reply #544 on: January 12, 2021, 10:42:48 PM »

The screenshots of A Door to the Mist give me a cozy nostalgic feeling. The new portal made me reminiscent of Ultima's Moongates and trying to recreate them for a Morrowind mod back in the day. You too have a good start into 2021, Thaumaturge, and keep up the good work!
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« Reply #545 on: January 15, 2021, 07:27:56 AM »

The "mist parting" effect is nice. Looks very misterious... sorry.

Thank you! And I do appreciate the pun! :D (Make no mist-ake. ;P)

I looks like it eats GPUs for breakfast, but I personally am not concerned as I have a breakfast-eating GPU.

I'm glad that your GPU eats breakfast--it is after all the most important meal of the day! Tongue

More seriously, the effect is somewhat expensive--but perhaps not as expensive as you might think. In that test-level, even with the extended, multi-layered version of the effect that has developed from this, I'm still consistently seeing a frame-rate of over 100fps.

Now, if I'd used the more-random mist effect found in cutscenes and one previous level, then that might have been a bit on the GPU-crunching side... ^^;

The screenshots of A Door to the Mist give me a cozy nostalgic feeling. The new portal made me reminiscent of Ultima's Moongates and trying to recreate them for a Morrowind mod back in the day. You too have a good start into 2021, Thaumaturge, and keep up the good work!

Aah, thank you very much, on all counts! I'm really glad that the screenshot strike you that way--and a comparison to Ultima and its moongates is honestly a little heartwarming! :D

You have a great start to your 2021, too! ^_^
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« Reply #546 on: January 16, 2021, 02:46:13 AM »

There has been some awesome progress in my "absence". Smiley
 
I really like that mist effect, good work!
 
I'm also jealous of all the nice content that you have created. Wink
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« Reply #547 on: January 16, 2021, 05:26:05 AM »

Thank you on all counts! :D And it's good to see you back! ^_^

I'm also jealous of all the nice content that you have created. Wink

I'll be honest, it sometimes feels like I'm moving at a crawl. So in a way it's nice to have such a comment as the above, suggesting that perhaps I'm not going all that slowly. ^_^
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« Reply #548 on: January 18, 2021, 02:41:12 AM »

Blog post (18th of January, 2021)
Publishers and Continued Mist


Summary: In which publishers are researched; and more work is done on the previously-shown mist-effect, and on its purpose within the game.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows some objects newly-located beneath level six:



(Moments before a crash, in all fairness: one of the objects in question isn't meant to be so displayed in this state, and forcing it to be so results in a crash. However, doing this at least serves to show it in a screenshot!)

The week just past was another slow one, with work being done primarily on two things: The mist-effect shown last week, along with the level-elements of which it forms a part; and yet more publisher research.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may be thinking something along the lines of: "More publisher research? Wasn't this previously completed?"

And indeed, I had previously enacted a wave of publisher research.

However, prompted by recently learning that simultaneous pitch-submissions are not only accepted but encouraged, I examined a resource to which I had been linked--one that included a list of publishers. And this list was rather more extensive than what I'd found before: I believe that there were more than a hundred entries in it, and that's after filtering out entries for publishers not marked as handling PC titles!

So, in the week just past I went through this list. (Skipping over most of those that I had already visited, I believe.)

This was not a deep vetting: for each publisher, I simply visited their website, checked their catalogue of games to determine whether A Door to the Mists might fit within it, and looked over what they had to say about themselves. Based on that information, I then sorted each into one of three tiers, which might be broadly titled as: "seems like a decent fit", "might perhaps, maybe work", and "seems like a bad fit".

Even so lightly vetting, this process took some time! But I'm glad to say that it's a process that's now done, I believe--at least with this set of data.

And with that done, and with some minor changes to my pitch-deck and pitch-email template, I think that I'm about ready to start a new wave of pitch-submissions!

As to work on the game itself, most of that went into the previously-shown mist-effect, and into the purpose that I have for it in level six.

Again, I don't want to give too many spoilers at this point, so please forgive me if I try to be at least a little circumspect.

As you can see above, the mist-effect is located beneath the level, along with a few other objects. Of course, it's not accessible there--and indeed, there's logic in place to move it to various spots around the level on certain cues. (This logic is still a work-in-progress, in all fairness.)

Furthermore, a few changes have been made in the geometry of the level itself. Some of these are done, and some are still in progress--indeed, one is proving somewhat tricky!

The mist-effect itself has been significantly improved since last week, I believe; indeed, I believe that I have it done, or near to! ^_^

And finally, on another note, I also fixed a minor bug that I found in a certain piece of error reporting.

Let me once again close out then with a gif, showing the updated mist-effect, seen again in a test-level:



That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^
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« Reply #549 on: January 18, 2021, 12:17:07 PM »

That publisher search is scary, but such a list is indeed very helpful. I wish you good luck, keep us updated. Smiley
 
And that mist effect is lovely. I bet you can really get lost in it now.
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« Reply #550 on: January 19, 2021, 07:15:04 AM »

That publisher search is scary, but such a list is indeed very helpful. I wish you good luck, keep us updated. Smiley

It is scary indeed! But as you say, having a list to work through is rather helpful!

(Come to that, would it be helpful for me to post a link to the source of the list? I seem to recall that it was posted on a public site, with the expressed intent of helping devs.)

Thank you very much for the well-wish, and indeed, I do intend to post updates regarding my publisher search as it goes on!

And that mist effect is lovely. I bet you can really get lost in it now.

Thank you very much! ^_^

And indeed, if it were larger I daresay that one could get lost in it. However, in this case it might incur the feeling of finding oneself lost for a different reason... Wink
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« Reply #551 on: January 25, 2021, 03:27:01 AM »

Blog post (25th of January, 2021)
Re-Introductions


Summary: In which mist-work continues; an export tool gains new functionality; critique is taken; and a cutscene is nascently reworked.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows work towards a revised cutscene:



The week just past was essentially an art one--but involved some technical elements in support of that:

To start with, work continued on the mist-effect that I showed in the previous two blog-posts, and on elements related to it in level six.

Some of this involved further finessing of the effect itself (I had a problem with it intersecting certain geometry, for one). But another part of it was that I ended up modifying the export-tool that I use to allow, to some degree, for the use in the final model of Blender's "data transfer modifier". Given a piece separated from the main of a wall, this allowed me to match the edge-normals of the former to the latter, causing them to blend together nicely.

However, all that said, I don't want to show much more of these elements for fear of spoiling too much!

On the cutscene side, I had shortly before the week just past (if I recall correctly) discovered that I had some critique waiting for me regarding the intro cutscene to the game.

You see, I had, quite some time ago, requested critique in a thread in a writing sub-forum that I frequent. The thread moved slowly, and I forgot about it.

Only in the weekend before the week just past (or sometime around then, I think) did I revisit the thread--and find that there was critique waiting for me! I wasn't feeling up to reading it at the time, and so it was in the week just past that I finally went through it.

The critique included some praise and some criticism, as I recall. But perhaps most saliently, it reiterated a piece of critique that I had previously had: that the narrative wasn't conveyed very well as I had it.

So, in the week just past, I set about reworking it, taking into account the feedback that I had been given.

It's still very much a work in progress, but you can see some of what I've done in the screenshot above. In particular, what's shown there is a still of a boot in mid-run.

There are currently two scenes after this: A brief one showing a boot leaping from a ledge (albeit currently with nothing but the boot itself), and a longer one that as yet shows only the protagonist in mid-leap. That last draws its pose from a wallpaper that I had previously made, although I'm in the process of re-shading it, and have fixed (I believe) an issue in the character's proportions.

The running animation doesn't use the standard cutscene controls. Instead, it's controlled in code by the script-file for the cutscene, as is the scrolling of the backdrop. This allows a nice, repeating animation where my standard cutscene tools would likely be awkward to apply. It did, however, also mean working around some of the standard cutscene functionality!

In addition, I didn't want to throw out everything of the original intro cutscene. But conversely, my cutscene system doesn't really provide tools by which to move scenes around.

So, in the week just past I implemented a means to save individual scenes out to a file, and to append them into a cutscene from those files. This should allow me to start fresh, but to nevertheless keep some of the original work!

And over the course of the week I also enacted a few minor fixes and changes that don't seem worth mentioning here!

And finally, here's a short gif of that running animation from the above-mentioned work-in-progress cutscene:



That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^
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« Reply #552 on: January 25, 2021, 04:38:17 AM »

That's a very cool running cutscene. I tend to do most animations in code. It's not always the best way, but it's what I am used to. I think your solution of this is very nice.
 
But... as I'm super hard to satisfy: I wonder if it would look more like running (and less like a single jumping boot) if you could add the left one in the background (less details, darker or something) to show the animation of both feet. I really like the idea of the running boot cutscene, but I think it could be further improved this way. Smiley
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« Reply #553 on: January 25, 2021, 07:20:54 AM »

That's a very cool running cutscene. I tend to do most animations in code. It's not always the best way, but it's what I am used to. I think your solution of this is very nice.

Thank you very much! ^_^

I tend to find it easier to make animations in non-code manners (especially when dealing with 3D models). However, sometimes a code-based approach makes more sense to me--as here!

But... as I'm super hard to satisfy: I wonder if it would look more like running (and less like a single jumping boot) if you could add the left one in the background (less details, darker or something) to show the animation of both feet. I really like the idea of the running boot cutscene, but I think it could be further improved this way. Smiley

I... actually tried that. My original attempt at this had not only both feet (with the "back foot" in black), but two extra "stages" of the animation: "foot flat on the ground" and "foot moving from back to front"--i.e. the two stages between the two that are present here. Unfortunately, I found that with this animation style, the images clashed too much, and the animation became hard to follow.

That said, I'm not sure that I tried having both feet present with this two-stage cycle. I might try that, and see how it works!

Either way, I do appreciate the suggestion--thank you! ^_^

[edit]

I just tried it quickly, and indeed, it doesn't seem to me to quite work: with only two animation-stages, having both feet somewhat confuses the eye. That said, it is possible that I didn't implement it well--I'm somewhat out of it today, I fear.
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« Reply #554 on: February 01, 2021, 02:30:31 AM »

Blog post (1st of February, 2021)
How High Can You Jump?


Summary: In which a cutscene progresses; and a change is made in jumping.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows further progress towards the new intro cutscene:



The work of the week just past was primarily given to said cutscene--but a significant game-mechanical matter did also come up:

As to the cutscene, it's still a work-in-progress--very much so--but it made progress in the week just past I do believe. The first scene--the one shown last week--has been tweaked, the brief second scene has been added, and the third scene is well underway.

That third scene actually borrows a bit from one of the wallpapers that I previously made, the one depicting the protagonist mid-leap.

The basic idea remains the same, albeit with a new backdrop: the protagonist leaping from one ledge to another amidst a ruin. Indeed, the image of the protagonist is taken directly from that wallpaper, reworked somewhat both to correct an error in proportion and to re-light the figure.

The depicted leap did, however, incur a question: was such a jump actually feasible in-game?

After all, jumping in A Door to the Mists is somewhat, well, grounded; somewhat limited: I want to avoid power-fantasy super-powered jumps, instead going for a more-human feel.

So I checked in-game, and... the jump wasn't feasible.

But it seemed like it should have been. And indeed, further testing discovered further gaps that seemed as though they should be crossable, but that were simply too far or too high.

So, I hesitantly experimented with increasing the player's jump-height. It's not a huge change: the previous value applied was 2.0, and the new value is 2.75. But it does make a significant difference in what is feasible:



That said, I am nervous about this change: as noted, it significantly changes what's feasible. Testing is called for, I think, and perhaps even tweaking to at least one level. Further, I worry that it might go a little beyond that human scale that I want for it.

The change also decreases the overall difficulty of the traversal implemented thus far. This I'm not too concerned about: After all, the most traversal-heavy level that's currently in place occurs fairly early in the game. In addition, what's easy for me--who made the game and who has played it extensively--may be less so for new players.

Still, I may make some tweaks to re-increase the difficulty of a few jumps.

Furthermore, my testing revealed another problem: it was surprisingly easy to overstep just a little when going for a long jump, thus resulting not in a leap, but a plummet.

To hopefully remedy this, I've implemented a small amount of "coyote time": a brief window after leaving the ground during which the player can in fact still jump.

It's not so much that it feels like a double-jump, but I hope that it's enough that it rescues those slight oversteps, and thus prevents frustration that they might cause.

Now, this isn't terribly realistic--but then, a player controlling an avatar has a rather more limited perception than a person operating their own body. There's less peripheral vision, no binocular vision, no proprioception, no sense of touch (e.g. in the foot), and so on. Tricks like "coyote time" thus make up somewhat for those lacks, I feel.

With these changes in place, and once testing and any tweaking is done, I'm considering releasing a minor update to the demo in order to include them.

Finally, let me once again close out with a gif--this time showing the first three scenes of the new intro cutscene, as far as they've yet been made: (Noting that the third scene isn't yet finished, and thus stops partway through.)



That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^
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« Reply #555 on: February 01, 2021, 08:51:31 AM »

Ah, the adventures of our heroine on her way to solve the mystery of her blue tail! (Sorry ^^)
 
I really do love the jump cutscene when it fades from mid air to hanging from the ledge.
 
I don't think that your new jump feels overly unrealistic to me. Also the "coyote time" (didn't know that) will lead to a positive gaming experience for the player, I think. I only had that in my jump'n'run minigame, together with an input buffer, so you could press jump slightly before reaching the floor. But I don't think your game is action oriented enough to need this.
 
Tomb Raider came to mind when thinking about this. They managed to make it always obvious to the player if it was a simple jump, one you needed to run for or one that was too far for you. At least in those cases in which I didn't plummet to death.
I think a lot of it was maybe caused by the world being made up by blocks of certain sizes, but I think you should look through the levels for places where a gap might look small enough, but isn't. When you freely model your world, those things can happen. Probably create an item that is exactly as long as the player can jump and use it when designing levels?
I don't know. I'm just hitting random keys on the keyboard as I didn't get much sleep last night. :D
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« Reply #556 on: February 01, 2021, 10:50:53 AM »

Ah, the adventures of our heroine on her way to solve the mystery of her blue tail! (Sorry ^^)

A-hah, you didn't know, did you, that A Door to the Mists is secretly a furry game. ;P

I really do love the jump cutscene when it fades from mid air to hanging from the ledge.

Thank you very much! ^_^

I was honestly a little concerned that the transition might be too abrupt, but I'm glad if it works. ^_^

I don't think that your new jump feels overly unrealistic to me. Also the "coyote time" (didn't know that) will lead to a positive gaming experience for the player, I think. I only had that in my jump'n'run minigame, together with an input buffer, so you could press jump slightly before reaching the floor. But I don't think your game is action oriented enough to need this.

Ah, I'm glad, and thank you! ^_^

I spent part of today going through my levels--primarily level two, the level set in the orange-sandstone undercity--looking for potential issues. I've noted some changes to make, but for the most part I think that it's simply easier, which I'm okay with.

I quite like the term "coyote time"; it's a nicely whimsical and evocative word, presuming that one is somewhat fmailiar with the old Roadrunner cartoons. (And I wouldn't be surprised if there were plenty of other such terms!)

Tomb Raider came to mind when thinking about this. They managed to make it always obvious to the player if it was a simple jump, one you needed to run for or one that was too far for you. At least in those cases in which I didn't plummet to death.
I think a lot of it was maybe caused by the world being made up by blocks of certain sizes, but I think you should look through the levels for places where a gap might look small enough, but isn't. When you freely model your world, those things can happen. Probably create an item that is exactly as long as the player can jump and use it when designing levels?
I don't know. I'm just hitting random keys on the keyboard as I didn't get much sleep last night. :D

Hmm... I see what you're saying, I think.

As to telegraphing jumps to the player, I honestly don't want to do that. I actually dislike it when games telegraph what the player can and cannot reach (see the Uncharted games).

Instead, I want players to make judgement calls. I want them to wonder whether they can make that jump. I want them to think about what routes are available, about where and how they can go. To me that feels more exploratory, more adventuresome.

As to a tool for my own level-building purposes, I think that I'm managing. The problem that I had was less that I didn't have a sense of how far the player could jump, but of how far was reasonable to allow the player to jump. It was only on gaining a new perspective--that side-view offered by the cutscene--that I realised that I had perhaps over-limited the jumping mechanic, and went back to re-examine what looked feasible.

In this case, funnily enough, I've primarily been looking for the opposite of what you suggest that I search for: I'm looking primarily for jumps that weren't feasible previously, but that have become so. These can potentially short-circuit significant portions of the level!

Also, I hope that you get more sleep soon. ^_^
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« Reply #557 on: February 02, 2021, 03:20:57 AM »

Of course I wasn't talking about marking edges with yellow paint to show where you can climb etc.
I just thought that I would hate it as a player to not know if I can make it to the other side and fall to death all of the time. Judging distances in a 2d projection of a 3d world is always hard, at least a lot of games make it impossible by not adding any clues to use.
I don't know if any of this is applicable to your levels, though. Those are just thoughts. Smiley
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« Reply #558 on: February 02, 2021, 11:50:25 AM »

Ah, fair enough. And you are right that the lack of binocular vision makes the estimation of distance that much trickier, I do believe.

Yeah, it's hard for me to say whether distances are reasonably distinguishable in A Door to the Mists--for that I somewhat rely on playtesters, I think.

(I find it fairly easy to judge--but then, I made the environments, and implemented the jumping...)

I'm hoping, at least, that having a fairly human scale to the player's jump, along with some fairly urban environments--being presumably broadly familiar in structure--will allow players to "eyeball" jumps fairly well.

Come to think of it, that might be another advantage of the extant jumps having now become easier: it lowers the learning curve for judging jump-distance. That lowered curve might give players a little more space in which to acclimatise.

Or, again, at least so I hope. ^^;
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« Reply #559 on: February 08, 2021, 02:15:04 AM »

Blog post (8th of February, 2021)
Stopping a Leak


Summary: In which testing against jump-height is performed; a level sees edits in light of that jump-height; work is done towards an updated build of the demo; some missing strings are re-added; a memory leak is discovered, and attended to; a crash-bug is fixed; and the new intro sees further work.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows a few changes made in level two, in response to the new jump-height:



The week just past was a varied one: one of painting and cutscene-work; of level-editing; of bug-fixing; and of demo-update preparation:

I mentioned last week, I believe, that I had changed the height of the player-character's jump. (And a minor correction to be more accurate: What I changed was the initial force of that jump, which then results in greater height.) I also mentioned, I believe, that this change might have implications for previously-constructed traversal challenges.

In the week just past, then, I did some testing of certain levels with the updated jumping.

For most levels, I think that no real changes were called for. They might have been made easier, but that's okay, I feel.

However, I felt that level two--the under-city--did call for some changes.

While I don't mind the level having become easier, the increase in the effective jump -height and -length resulted in certain leaps and climbs becoming feasible that previously weren't. This could then short-circuit various challenges and explorations.

So, I made some edits to the level. Nothing terribly complex, mind you: the addition of walls here and there, the raising or lowering of extant walls in these places, and so on. You can see some, but not all, of the changes made in the screenshot above.

(And I might make one more such change, too--I haven't yet decided on it.)

With that done, I set about creating an update to the demo. I transferred various changes over to the folder that holds the demo-version (which I'm grateful that I hadn't yet deleted!), and set about building. And in time I came up with a new, working build.

Along the way I discovered and fixed an oversight in the string-file for level five. Nothing major, this--just some strings that were missed when switching over to TOML.

But testing revealed a problem: computer resources seemed to become more scarce as I played through the demo.

Investigating, I discovered, alas, that I had a memory leak.

Some of you may recall that I have previously found and dealt with memory leaks. And indeed, I'm not sure of how this one slipped by me then--my best guess is that, on the most recent such occasion, I was testing with a level that didn't show this particular leak all that saliently.

After some investigating, including aid from the Panda3D forum, I found the culprit: I wasn't cleaning up my culling-grid properly. (There was also a minor leak in level five, and possibly a few others elsewhere.)

Thankfully, none of this proved difficult to fix, and testing shows that memory is no longer so leaking! (If there's any further leaking at all, it's only minor, I believe.)

I also discovered a bug in the word-search puzzle that resulted a crash on reloading the level twice. Likewise, I thankfully believe that I have this fixed!

And last but not least, I spent a little more time working on the intro cutscene. I have one more character-pose completed, and another underway.



That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^
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