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[RealScaniX]

Great job at transforming an inherently circular geometry like a gear into voxels and yet make it look believable when two gears mesh together. Looking forward to further progress.

Thank you!

[Thaumaturge]

That little animation on jamming is quite effective, and a good idea, I think!

I will say that it might be worth being careful of using colour alone as an indicator--colourblind people might struggle with it. Perhaps some sort of icon for belt-connected gears?

Overall, however I rather like this puzzle. In particular, I suspect that having some of the connections hidden--that is, the belt-connections--should make the puzzle a little trickier and thus add a nice bit of challenge to it! ^_^

[RealScaniX]

That little animation on jamming is quite effective, and a good idea, I think!

Thanks!
 

I will say that it might be worth being careful of using colour alone as an indicator--colourblind people might struggle with it. Perhaps some sort of icon for belt-connected gears?

That is probably a good idea. I thought about the colors, but came to the conclusion that the color has no important meaning. On the other hand it's helpful to know whether a gear is connected directly or via belt.

[RealScaniX]

I'm reworking the eye warden blocking the exit of the house.
 
The old one has been done when I was starting with voxels.
 
I try to make the new one less flat, so it can rotate properly. It will also be able to blink and probably more.
 
Why am I suddenly working on this again? Because the first triangle will be found in the tomb and I wanted it to be as final as possible, before I create the inventory item for it. The old ones weren't plain and would have probably looked a bit weird from certain angles.
 
I'm planning on adding a few more details to the eye as it will be a thing the player will return to a few times (and probably stare at for some time).
 
I hope that I can finish it this weekend and post a full video of it in the house.
 
The old version:

 
The new one:


And today I've made it blink:

[JobLeonard]

 

That's impressively creepy, quite an improvement!

[oahda]

That is terrifying. And it's such a touch how those voxel veins are animated like pixel art rather than just transforming in 3D space. Makes it feel extra off and unsettling too.

[RealScaniX]

Thank you, both!
 
I'm going to add some final effects and some sounds to the blinking today and then I'm done with it.
 
The next thing is to design the triangle item.

[Tobers]

There's something about the veins that gets me. Like the speed they move around or how thin they are, perfectly gross.

[RealScaniX]

There's something about the veins that gets me. Like the speed they move around or how thin they are, perfectly gross.

Thank you, that's good to hear.

[Thaumaturge]

That looks much improved indeed; and the animation looks rather good, really improving the feel of the thing, I do think! ^_^

If I may ask, will the final version have veins on the white of the eye, as in the second still image? If so, I might suggest desaturating them a little: as shown there, I feel that they obfuscate the triangles a little bit. If not, then well and good! ^_^

[RealScaniX]

That looks much improved indeed; and the animation looks rather good, really improving the feel of the thing, I do think! ^_^

Thanks, good to hear others feel the same as me about the changes.
 

If I may ask, will the final version have veins on the white of the eye, as in the second still image? If so, I might suggest desaturating them a little: as shown there, I feel that they obfuscate the triangles a little bit. If not, then well and good! ^_^

Thanks for that observation, you are right. Those are not meant to be that visible. It was just the current state of the eye which I had just imported, split into different meshes (e.g. eye ball and veins) and assigned different materials. The plan is to make them animated and start with them invisible. Then, the more triangles you have inserted, the more aggressive they will "pulse".

[RealScaniX]

I've "finished" the new version of the "Eye Warden".
  
The model has been changed to allow the movement of the eye lids to close the eye or blink and make it able to properly rotate to follow the player.
It has new effects for blinking (with sound) and for the push effect when the player gets to close.
A special particle shader has been added for the push effect to keep it pixelated the same while the particles are scaled by the system.
And another shader has been added to add a slight animation to the veins in the eyeball. This effect grows stronger when more triangles has been inserted by the player.
I've also changed the colors of the tendrils, so they are less glowy and look more like a part of it.

Here is a comparison video of version 1 vs. version 2:
 

[Jayesh]

I love the version 2 . The bounce in the blink animation and the receding slime in the eye when it opens up (don't know what to call it) - nice touch! 

[RealScaniX]

I love the version 2 . The bounce in the blink animation and the receding slime in the eye when it opens up (don't know what to call it) - nice touch! 

Thank you very much! I've called it slime in the code, too.

[Thaumaturge]

Okay, yeah, version two looks really good indeed! The animations, the mucus, the faintly-pulsing veins, even the pushback effect all look great, I think!

It was just the current state of the eye which I had just imported, split into different meshes (e.g. eye ball and veins) and assigned different materials.

Aaah, I see! Fair enough. ^_^

The plan is to make them animated and start with them invisible. Then, the more triangles you have inserted, the more aggressive they will "pulse".

That sounds pretty cool, I do think. ^_^

[RealScaniX]

Okay, yeah, version two looks really good indeed! The animations, the mucus, the faintly-pulsing veins, even the pushback effect all look great, I think!

Thanks! And you always seem to know the right words. Everyone else just calls it "slime". :D
 

[Sp1ke]

Here is a preview of the main puzzle of the tomb, which will be about gears and a lever.
 
The way interaction is done, it's sometimes difficult to keep all elements of a puzzle in view while manipulating it.
a) the overlay view
b) focus the whole puzzle
 
I prefer b, because it does not break the immersion as much.

Next, I will add more highlighting to the gears, so they also highlight the connected gears on hover.

Or, maybe you could do an inspiring puzzle straight from Inside a German U-boat (1918).
It would look something like this:

[RealScaniX]

Ouch, so that's why they all sank to the ground of the sea... Xd

[Thaumaturge]

Thanks! And you always seem to know the right words. Everyone else just calls it "slime". :D

And thank you in turn! I will confess that I have a fondness for words, and for writing. ^_^

Of course, in all fairness mucus is pretty slimy.

[vdapps]

Nice progress here, "Eye Warden" is creepy, my cup of coffee.