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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsTOXICANT - rogue-lite survival horror [Released!]
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Author Topic: TOXICANT - rogue-lite survival horror [Released!]  (Read 43950 times)
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« Reply #220 on: May 09, 2019, 09:52:43 AM »

Interesting. I hear it a bit differently, but I respect your opinion.

Fair enough, and likewise! As you indicated, my feedback here is just the response of one person; see what others say!

I'll share some in-game audio/video at some point. With the dynamic filtering, background ambience, other SFX, etc. the glitchy stuff actually blends into the background quite a bit.

I'm interested to hear that! And as you say, those effects might blend into the background somewhat when not heard in isolation.

If anything I think you'll actually find the flashlight glitching SFX more annoying Cheesy

Joy. Tongue
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« Reply #221 on: May 13, 2019, 01:36:36 PM »

If anything I think you'll actually find the flashlight glitching SFX more annoying Cheesy

Joy. Tongue

K, I scaled it way back, hopefully you won't even notice now!

Here's a quick video showing how combat has been progressing lately, plus some recent additions:

  • added SFX and subtle animation when shielding
  • now emitting particles on shield impact
  • added damage SFX for player (in addition to vocalization)
  • added "death" SFX for rats
  • beefed up the enemy damage SFX with multiple layers of gory goodness

I also spent some time smoothing movement:

  • I'm now running camera positioning code in LateUpdate vs FixedUpdate (I'm currently running physics a bit slower than Unity default due to all the rigidbodies, and it was becoming noticeably choppy to move the camera in here)
  • added some smoothing for head/jump bob (previously, there were some cases where it would jump back to the default position--I'm now doing smooth damping to minimize this)

You can also hear the "terror" music in the video. Let me know what you think/if you still feel it's too grating with everything else going on! Smiley



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« Reply #222 on: May 15, 2019, 03:54:48 PM »

That's looking and sounding much better overall, I do think! ^_^

I'm still not a huge fan of the music, but it is indeed... less unpleasant with other sounds and with visual elements to subdue it a little, I think.

As to the block, I might suggest adding a little bit more movement that's not along the player's forward axis--that might make the response read a little more clearly, I think.

I do think that the block-animation is at the least a good start! Similarly, the various sounds (those of blocking included) add a lot, I feel! ^_^
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« Reply #223 on: May 16, 2019, 02:25:59 AM »

I'm still not a huge fan of the music, but it is indeed... less unpleasant with other sounds and with visual elements to subdue it a little, I think.

Well, this is going to bother me now! I'm going to iterate on this and see if I can find a sound that is grating/uncomfortable, but not so much that Thaumaturge disapproves Wink

As to the block, I might suggest adding a little bit more movement that's not along the player's forward axis--that might make the response read a little more clearly, I think.

Yeah, agreed, probably needs a bit of downward movement to be more believable.

« Last Edit: May 16, 2019, 02:37:35 AM by snugsound » Logged

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« Reply #224 on: May 16, 2019, 09:44:28 AM »

Well, this is going to bother me now! I'm going to iterate on this and see if I can find a sound that is grating/uncomfortable, but not so much that Thaumaturge disapproves Wink

Hahah, I am just one respondent! Don't weigh too heavily on my word. Tongue

If you do intend to try something else, what I might suggest is sounds that are slightly more organic--listen, for example, to those sanity-drain sounds that you posted earlier. If you want to keep that electronic feel to the sounds, perhaps there's a middle-ground that might be discovered--but I'm no sound engineer, so I don't know. ^^;
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« Reply #225 on: May 20, 2019, 07:11:31 AM »

If you do intend to try something else, what I might suggest is sounds that are slightly more organic--listen, for example, to those sanity-drain sounds that you posted earlier. If you want to keep that electronic feel to the sounds, perhaps there's a middle-ground that might be discovered--but I'm no sound engineer, so I don't know. ^^;

I forgot to mention one of my other references/inspirations, SOMA, which uses a lot of glitchy sounding stuff to great effect:




Agreed that more organic is probably a better fit for this theme/setting though.
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« Reply #226 on: May 20, 2019, 07:19:47 AM »

Fresh batch of shots showing some of the things I've been working on lately (also refreshed Steam store page with these and more), including:

  • experimenting with roots/plants (not 100% realistic for the environment, but I think they help to add some visual diversity)
  • experimenting with toxic/glowing spikes (partially to help them stand out underwater, and partially because I think they look cool
  • "freeze" particles for frozen mutant miners

(I also implemented a bunch of game play stuff, but I'll post more on that later.)

















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« Reply #227 on: May 20, 2019, 07:30:52 AM »

Oh yeah, I should also mention that I'll be gearing up for another closed beta soon so pop in to the Discord if you're interested in the idea of a retro-ish rogue-lite survival horror.
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« Reply #228 on: May 20, 2019, 08:01:59 AM »

I forgot to mention one of my other references/inspirations, SOMA, which uses a lot of glitchy sounding stuff to great effect:




Agreed that more organic is probably a better fit for this theme/setting though.

Ah, I recall that I thoroughly enjoyed SOMA! (Well, not the enemy AI. That I primarily found annoying.)

But even there, and as you suggested previously, perhaps because of it being embedded in the environmental sounds, the "glitchy" effects don't seem quite as grating to me. They're there, and in this case I think that they do add to the experience--so perhaps they are a good model if you want that sort of effect!

Fresh batch of shots showing some of the things I've been working on lately ...

Looking good, I do think! Adding some glow to those spikes seems wise, I feel. As to the roots, if you want, you could always hand-wave them as resulting from the same stuff that turned the miners. Whether justified or not, I imagine that they will indeed contribute to the visual diversity of the place. ^_^
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« Reply #229 on: May 21, 2019, 07:12:02 AM »

Looking good, I do think! Adding some glow to those spikes seems wise, I feel. As to the roots, if you want, you could always hand-wave them as resulting from the same stuff that turned the miners. Whether justified or not, I imagine that they will indeed contribute to the visual diversity of the place. ^_^

Thanks! My original intent with the roots was to feature them solely in the final level(s), which I'll probably still do, but the hand-wave could work for the underwater ones though yeah.
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« Reply #230 on: May 27, 2019, 12:58:49 PM »

Sooo I've hopped on the bandwagon and started a Patreon. I'll be posting monthly updates about anything and everything (but mostly gamedev stuff), so even if/when I slack on the devlog, you're guaranteed to get a regular peek behind behind the curtain/insight into the madness! Cheesy I'm offering many other perks as well, like a swanky Discord role, and copies of past, present and future games. If you enjoy what I do, please consider becoming a patron.

Okay, with that out of the way, back to business. My main focus at the moment is object spawning and interaction, namely:

  • Highlighting objects that are interactable. Previously, this was done by "pulsing" their emission, but this was bit of a hassle as it required that all objects used an emissive shader. I'm now using a third-party "outline" asset. It likely has more performance overhead, but probably worth it for the simpler implementation.
  • Converting the interact dialog to TextMesh Pro so it a) looks good, and b) I can embed images (for example, to show damage and stats comparison icons melee weapons)
  • Giving some pickups (like food, alcohol) random names (i.e. rancid wine, moldy carrots, etc.), cuz why not? I love this kinda stuff.
  • Converting everything to "spawn pools" (ScriptableObject-based lists, with constraints on the number of objects that can be spawned per level)

"What's for dinner?"





Also plugging away at on-going stuff, like:

  • "Downgrading" textures (point-sampled retro goodness), making texel sizes more consistent
  • Converting complex prefabs to nested prefabs--I'm actually making really heavy use of this, not sure how I was living without it before!
  • Fixing bugs, and bugs, and more bugs Waaagh!

Slowly but surely getting there! Still working towards a closed beta in the next couple of months, and then into early access until the end of the year.
« Last Edit: May 28, 2019, 03:27:09 AM by snugsound » Logged

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« Reply #231 on: May 28, 2019, 09:32:19 AM »

  • Highlighting objects that are interactable. Previously, this was done by "pulsing" their emission, but this was bit of a hassle as it required that all objects used an emissive shader. I'm now using a third-party "outline" asset. It likely has more performance overhead, but probably worth it for the simpler implementation.

That looks pretty good, I think. ^_^

  • Giving some pickups (like food, alcohol) random names (i.e. rancid wine, moldy carrots, etc.), cuz why not? I love this kinda stuff.

Hmm... Do the names indicate anything? I daresay that I'd be very wary about having my character eat something "moldy" or "rancid", as I'd likely expect it to incur some negative effect...

Otherwise, I do rather like this--it makes the game-world feel a little less uniform than it might otherwise, I think. ^_^

  • Converting complex prefabs to nested prefabs--I'm actually making really heavy use of this, not sure how I was living without it before!

Ah, I'm glad to read that it's working out so well! It can feel good when a feature proves so very useful, I think. ^_^
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« Reply #232 on: May 28, 2019, 10:03:04 AM »

Hmm... Do the names indicate anything? I daresay that I'd be very wary about having my character eat something "moldy" or "rancid", as I'd likely expect it to incur some negative effect...

At the moment they're purely aesthetic, and not a lot of thought has gone into the names (mostly, I just wanted them sound gross/funny!), but I have a whole stats/active effects system already in place, so I may have the more questionable foodstuff temporarily reduce a stat while still giving some health back.

Really, I'm looking to make most decisions a trade-off of some kind, and there's already a precedent for this:

  • drinking alcohol increases strength but reduces stealth
  • eating toxic mushrooms damages the player but gives a temporary endurance buff
  • breaking rocks offers "currency" items (gold, gems), while smashing crates offers consumables, and there are only a limited number of spawns per level
  • shielding and attacking damages melee weapons, but melee weapons are also needed to smash things
  • the player can choose how to use beacons, but 2/3 of the beacon types are single-use only

And so on. That said, I do want to keep it fairly simple, as the more of this kinda stuff I do the more I run the risk of making balancing very challenging.
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« Reply #233 on: May 28, 2019, 11:56:58 AM »

Back on the audio stream, here's a edit of the terror done with more organic "scraping" noises in place of the digital glitchy sounds, and with less frequency. I've also made the percussion a bit less "square-wavey" sounding:
https://soundcloud.com/snugsound/toxicant-terror-drone-v5/s-XaIZo

The previous (v4), for reference:
https://soundcloud.com/snugsound/toxicant-terror-drone

Feedback welcomed. This will be the most apparent music in the game so I want to get it just right.
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« Reply #234 on: May 29, 2019, 10:44:29 AM »

At the moment they're purely aesthetic, and not a lot of thought has gone into the names (mostly, I just wanted them sound gross/funny!), but I have a whole stats/active effects system already in place, so I may have the more questionable foodstuff temporarily reduce a stat while still giving some health back.

Fair enough; that would make sense, I think.

That said, note that I'm not advocating for additional penalties associated with foodstuffs; more I'm cautioning to think about what might be conveyed by a given name, and how that might affect play. For example, if the food is perfectly fine but is labelled "mouldy", players might go the entire game eschewing such food, thinking that it will only hurt them.

Of course, I'm not arguing against adding further such trade-offs! That decision I'll leave to your presumably-rather-better knowledge of the game's balance. ^_^

Really, I'm looking to make most decisions a trade-off of some kind, and there's already a precedent for this:
...

Those do look like they might make for some interesting decisions; I especially like the question of whether to use melee items for mining or combat. ^_^

Back on the audio stream, here's a edit of the terror done with more organic "scraping" noises in place of the digital glitchy sounds, and with less frequency. I've also made the percussion a bit less "square-wavey" sounding:
...

That's much better, I do think! There are some neat "metallic tearing" sounds that make for a nice edge without sounding unpleasant, to me at least--indeed, I think that you could perhaps even make greater use of them for greater player unease. ^_^
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« Reply #235 on: June 22, 2019, 04:28:38 AM »

That's much better, I do think! There are some neat "metallic tearing" sounds that make for a nice edge without sounding unpleasant, to me at least--indeed, I think that you could perhaps even make greater use of them for greater player unease. ^_^

Success! I knew I could find something that would work for you! Grin

I've been a bit silent lately as I'm finally getting around to that Android port of my last game, Brainmelter Deluxe. I'm hoping to get back to this soon, though.

That said, my video guy is currently working on an early trailer/teaser which should help to refresh the Steam store page and perhaps kick-start the marketing/promo efforts. As well, I've been percolating some ideas as to how I want to proceed. A few things that are certain:

  • My top priority is producing a fully playable build, something that really boils it down to the "essence" of the experience. This likely means stripping content (for now) in order to stay focused.
  • I want to get to a closed beta as quickly as possible, as I don't like going so long without real, concrete feedback.
  • This will 100% be an early access game. I've even got the "why early access" text written up and ready to go, heh.

The one thing I'm debating is whether or not I offer some kind of a public demo or open beta. I've heard/read mixed stories about this. It can be a great way to attract players and generate lots of feedback, but I'm sure it can equally push them way if it's too raw/rough. Undecided
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« Reply #236 on: June 24, 2019, 11:21:28 AM »

Good luck with the new video! I hope that it goes well. ^_^

I don't know what to say regarding demos, I'm afraid; I, too, have heard mixed things about them. :/
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« Reply #237 on: November 30, 2019, 10:34:19 AM »

Hey, sorry for the radio silence, but I've taken a few months off to develop another small game (more details on the devlog and the Itch page if you're curious about that one). I'll be getting back to this one in the next month or so!

In the meantime, I've been brainstorming on where I want to take it next: open world multi floor levels (vs the current linear progression through largely single floor levels), more focus on climbing, more strategic use of the "rope" pickup (currently, a required single-use item per level). I also plan to dive right into a soft launch early access via Itch when I pick it back up.

Oh yeah, I've also started streaming dev regularly. To that end, here's a clip from today's stream that gives an overview of current game, plus some looking ahead in terms of how I might approach v3 of the procedural generation logic (bonus: there's also a quick summary of Super Rocket Ride)





Stay tuned!
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« Reply #238 on: December 02, 2019, 08:40:18 AM »

Hmm, interesting. I don't have much advice to give on the gameplay questions--that depends heavily on what you want the game to be, what resources you have, and how much time you have, I think--but I'm interested to see where you do end up deciding to take it!
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« Reply #239 on: December 02, 2019, 01:04:42 PM »

Hmm, interesting. I don't have much advice to give on the gameplay questions--that depends heavily on what you want the game to be, what resources you have, and how much time you have, I think--but I'm interested to see where you do end up deciding to take it!

Hey, thanks for taking the time to check it out! These dev streams--and the clipping/highlighting in particular--are still relatively new to me, and I don't know if the average Joe is gonna want to listen to me drone on for 30+ minutes  Cheesy... but at the very least they're a good excuse to focus, keep my presentation skills sharp, get more comfortable on video, etc. (I'll try to augment the videos with image/text posts as well, but so far I've found it far easier to cover a bunch more ground in the streams.)

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to getting back to this project! Every time I pick it back up again I'm able to rein in the complexity a bit more more, find new efficiencies and workflow improvements, etc. I think this next push is gonna be "the one"!
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