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[Valar05]

*Update 10/19/17*
Started playing with post-processing, redid my tiles, and the animations just keep coming.  Here's the cliff's notes:



*Update 10-9-17*

So I've been working on this project for about a month now.  It's definitely given me some brain teasers, especially regarding network stuff, but I do like how it's shaping up.  Definitely getting antsy to start playing with character abilities, but I think I have to close the game loop and add a level exit next.

*End Update*

Current state of the project is that I have two player types you can spawn as, and one enemy type, all of which are created in a 3D procedural tile-based dungeon.  There's no AI yet, or real gameplay of any kind other than just running around the procedural maze- but combining it with the work I've done on a previous (abandoned but still fun) game, The Tyrant of Blades https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=57604.0 I should be able to make something rather interesting.

So where is this game coming from?  Basically my wife and I have been trying to find a new co-op game to play together for a while now.  Nothing quite scratches the itch.  We used to enjoy playing MMOs together, but that genre just has so much baggage we don't really want to touch it anymore.  We used to play Diablo 2 and 3, but we've done it so much we're burned out.  We've tried a lot of other things, but nothing really hits the spot.

So all that's well and good, but how is this game actually going to play?  Well the plan is to make combat play something a bit like Tera actually.  Camera is locked to your mouse, left click launches your basic combo, right click to block/dodge.  Other abilities will be bound to the number keys, and those moves will have cooldowns.  I don't know how many abilities I'll do at this point - but I intend to build them more like MOBA abilities than MMO ones- a small set of high impact moves rather than a large list of filler buttons (that's what basic combos are for).  I have to be careful with scope here cause for every move I give to the Templar (on the right), I have to give the Sky Mage one too.

The goal is to fight your way to the end of the floor, and (probably) every couple floors, the regular dungeon generation will be swapped out for a big ass monster (boss) room, picked from a random pool.


The key difference between my vision of combat here and Tera is that attacks will create various amounts of hitstun.  Hit an enemy and you'll interrupt them- be hit and you'll be interrupted.  Enemies won't just come at you and stand there whacking at you every few seconds while you do your rotation, they'll circle around and stagger their attacks, and the damage from each hit will be significant, meaning defensive moves are a priority - just like in real action games.


I have some rather vague plans for character progression too- but nothing outside the scope of a given run - so you start every run the same.  The only thing I can say for sure is that there won't be traditional loot - more like modifications to your abilities than like +1 to strength.  I'll say more when I figure it out

[Valar05]

The foundations for skynet have been laid - I created the basic behavior tree system for the AI last night.  Nothing crazy yet - just one behavior that makes the mob pick a random nearby point and wander to it, and a second which is just the idle animation, so they don't constantly move from their spawn point.

I picked the right time to get into procedural generation, cause Unity very recently added dynamic navmeshes (not part of the regular build, but available here: https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/NavMeshComponents ).  It made navigation super easy, and will definitely make my life easier as I make more complex ai behaviors.

Gifs will be coming as soon as I have more interesting things to show!

[Valar05]

Well, my skeletons might be harmless, but neither character is anymore:




It's incredible how much of a hassle it was getting the effects to sync up over the network- stuff can really make you pull your hair out.  Just from looking at this gif I think I'm going to see what my send rate is, cause everything's kind of desynced even on localhost.  But it all works, so I'll just be happy with it for now!

Sky Mage is also looking badass:



Coming soon: Melee combos of more than one hit (more for the templar than for the sky mage), projectiles for the Sky Mage (if she doesn't hit an enemy in melee), enemies that are actually a threat, and finally, an actual goal to reach in the level!  

[xix]

This is looking great. If you need testers I'm always down for melee combat action.

[Valar05]

I'll definitely be posting a demo somewhere once it's somewhat playable - that is, when the AI fights back and when there's level exits that regenerate the dungeon with a higher number of rooms/enemies. 

I'm sure dealing with all of that over the network is going to make that take twice as long of course!

[Valar05]

Whew, finally made some progress I can post.  I've been working on making the AI actually attack you rather than just follow around like some kind of skeleton fan club.  Here's the results:




Part of why it took a bit was cause I was being troubled by this sneaky bug I created (affected both the strafe and the approach target AI actions).

Basically had some code like:

Code:

if(someCondition)
   return true;
importantBool = true;
return false;

At a cursory glance it looked like I'd set the boolean, but of course I hadn't because the method had already returned.  Guess that's what happens when you base a new method on an old method and don't pay attention to the details.

[Valar05]

Showed some attention to the Sky Mage- if her melee attack doesn't hit, she fires a projectile!

Definitely need to bring some of that cloudiness into my hit effect so it doesn't look so jarringly different from the initial effect, but other than that I'm pretty happy with things.  The actual projectile fired is a sort of bullet-shaped cyclone that I'm pretty proud of- but the camera angle just turns it into a glowy blob  

I've made some progress on the templar's melee combo too, but I don't know that I'll post it till I've gotten the animations into a more finalized state.  He's going to have slightly more robust melee mechanics to make up for his lack of a ranged option - meaning I'm reworking his attack strings a bit.  Done a bit more work on the AI too- might post it in a bit.

This past week it's been tough to really find time to work on this - whole weekend got eaten up by other obligations.  Hopefully I'll pick up some more momentum soon, but it's definitely tougher now that I'm a father.  All worth it though!

[Valar05]

First off, here's the picture:


Alright, so I discovered post-processing, and it is amazing.  The ones I like are color correction (I used a UE-like profile and left this at its default), AO, motion blur (subtle), and the big one, bloom.  I love it.  Also realized that my wall/floor textures needed a little more harmony with the rest of the dungeon, so I stylized them some more.  The combined effect really looks more cohesive I think.

I also revamped and finished my templar's 3-hit combo, and added this new trail effect, simultaneously revamping the hit effect.  It now reflects the direction the strike came from (like in DMC Devil May Cry), and it feels really good.  The trail effect I owe to this man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMgtvw1cGW4&feature=youtu.be. 

They provided the entire particle system while asking for nothing in return.  Only real change I made was the make the swirly trail into a mesh so it had enough depth to be visible on the vertical strikes my character makes.
Only downside to this excellent trail effect is now I have to up my game for all the other effects too- this is only the basic combo after all!  Feels really good now, even though the basic gameplay is super simple.  

Sky mage actually has a full 3-hit combo now, but I think I need to revamp her weapon trail next before posting it, just for consistency.  Particle effects, go!

[Valar05]

Added another combo to the templar- it triggers if you delay after the first hit in the combo (think DMC).  So strike, delay strike, delay strike.  It covers a wider area, but takes longer to execute.  Unlike DMC you can transition back to the standard combo by hitting the next input without a delay- so your available combos are SSS, SDD, SDS, SSD (S = Strike, D = Delay Strike).


And because I had a busy weekend, I finished the Sky Mage's combo, and fancied up her effects too:



Feel dazed from all the particles yet?

Now that I consider both of their basic melee combos complete (minus the inevitable polishing), I think I'm finally going to move on to that level transition, so that I can actually continue playing after I clear out the rooms of skeletons!  That is, if I don't get distracted by defensive moves...