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[Thaumaturge]

I guess you could play a bit with that too for your paintings: instead of a flat surface "extrude" some pixels a bit to fake a brush-stroke

I was just about to suggest something similar myself, as it happens.

What I had in mind was fairly simple: just slight raising or lowering of the voxel-surfaces of paintings to suggest the texture of a canvas beneath the paint.

However, one could also do something more complex, as suggested in the quote, and model brush-strokes into the surface.

[RealScaniX]

Yeah, that does not work in the ruleset of a voxel world.
The minimum thickness is 1 voxel, so the paint would be as thick as the picture frame.
What I am already doing as you can probably hardly see in the video is using a normal map that simulates some structure of the paint or the canvas itself. Using non voxel stuff in normal maps and additional shading maps is ok, I think.
But adding real geometry in the picture to simulate height of the paint (which is only there in the rarest of cases) would look super ugly.
You need to keep in mind that this is not a simple 3D game, but a voxel one.
 
You would need to find an example in a game with a reduced shape look, like voxel or low poly. Suddenly having more geometric details in a place isn't working fine.

[Thaumaturge]

Ah, I'd forgotten the limitation of voxel-placement, indeed. Ah well, so it goes then, and fair enough!

[RealScaniX]

Tutorial V2 (the dream)

To be able to upload a new demo, I am building a new tutorial.

What was wrong with the current one?
Well, it is basically a room full of stuff and a riddle or two. The problem is, that the player is free to look at (or touch) everything in the room from the start, so there are tutorial hints like "left click to take", "press space to jump" and so on all over the place. But the player is in an exploration phase here: Finding the hints to the riddle, picking up stuff, looking at things.
I feel that all those texts popping up are a hinderance here.
 
What's the goal with the new one then?
The goal is to remove all tutorial hints from the current starting room to make it a "real" place in the game.
Also the new tutorial will be very restrictive, like most of the tutorial elements in games out there.
The player will reach an obstacle and will only be able to proceed when he has mastered a "skill". There are no distractions from those tasks and they will concentrate on showing you a few controls at a time.

What's that video about? Will I get rickrolled?
Unfortunately not. It might contain spoilers, though.
 
It is showing the first element of the "tutorial dream": The symbol wall.
Here, you learn to:
- Examine things and rotate items in the closeup view, as you need this to find out the correct solution
- Use stuff to push those symbol stone buttons
- Crawl (don't we all start with that?) to get through the hole, once the wall has been opened
 
Adding the sounds was a pain and they still seem totally off, although the timestamps are right.
 
What's next?
The second obstacle needs to be build and will teach the player to move stuff, pick up items and use the inventory.
Some simple traversal scene inbetween will teach you how to jump/climb.

[vdapps]

Yeah, good tutorial is very important. Players (myself included) do not like lot of texts and for many of us, tutorials are boring part. The best is to have it as part of game, like you're already playing and you have hint here and there. Game should be designed in a way, that player will 100% learn it. I see that you're achieving that, so good job.

I also rewrote tutorial in my game. Instead of learning game mechanics by reading texts in terminals, now I'm doing the same what you do. Design some levels in way, that there's easy puzzle which you have to solve by that mechanics, in a way that player 100% understands it.

[RealScaniX]

Yeah, good tutorial is very important. Players (myself included) do not like lot of texts and for many of us, tutorials are boring part. The best is to have it as part of game, like you're already playing and you have hint here and there. Game should be designed in a way, that player will 100% learn it. I see that you're achieving that, so good job.

I also rewrote tutorial in my game. Instead of learning game mechanics by reading texts in terminals, now I'm doing the same what you do. Design some levels in way, that there's easy puzzle which you have to solve by that mechanics, in a way that player 100% understands it.

Alright. I'm on the right track then.

[Alain]

Wow, the wall symbol puzzle is quite trippy and unique in a cool way!

[RealScaniX]

Wow, the wall symbol puzzle is quite trippy and unique in a cool way!

Thank you very much!

[Thaumaturge]

This sounds--and so far looks--like a pretty good way of handling a tutorial. Plus I like the slightly-trippy dreamscape being used here! ^_^

[RealScaniX]

This sounds--and so far looks--like a pretty good way of handling a tutorial. Plus I like the slightly-trippy dreamscape being used here! ^_^

Hey, thank you. I have just started with the second obstacle and have some ideas for the environment. I hope it will all come together nicely. Xd

[Thaumaturge]

I'm interested to see what this second obstacle proves to be! ^_^

[RealScaniX]

I'm interested to see what this second obstacle proves to be! ^_^

Me2
 

[oahda]

Intriguing… And the symbol wall with the sound and the particles and everything is very satisfying.

[RealScaniX]

Intriguing… And the symbol wall with the sound and the particles and everything is very satisfying.

Hi, thank you very much!
The sound was painful to mix and I stared at the closing animation until I could no longer tell if the sounds were coming too early or too late... Xd

[Thaumaturge]

Intriguing indeed! I'm definitely interested in finding out what that object might be, and what might be done with it! ^_^

The sound was painful to mix and I stared at the closing animation until I could no longer tell if the sounds were coming too early or too late... Xd

Oh dear! ^^;

That... is indeed perhaps the point at which to take a step back from the work. ^^;

[RealScaniX]

Thanks for reminding me that I was lazy for so long...
 

 
Well, after quite a while I am back to working on the project. This is the first thing I did: The failure cutscene when trying to use half of the key on the door.
 



 
It feels good to be creative/productive on my own project again. And I'm always coming back to this truth: Progress is progress. Even if I sit down and do just a little thing each day, it feels better than just doing nothing, just because I think that I wouldn't be able to do much anyway.
On my first evening back on the project, I just opened it and looked at the current state to get a feeling for what needed to be done next. Now I am feeling more or less at home again in my code and can start on working on the more complex interactions.
 
I will finish this door and then I will create the environment for the tutorial place which will include some jumping and climbing.

[JobLeonard]

Well, passive-aggressive automated forum messages aside, I wish more cool projects that were left alone for so long were resurrected here! Glad to have you back!

[RealScaniX]

Thank you! Feels good to be back.

[Thaumaturge]

Ah, welcome back to the project! It's good to see an update to it! ^_^

And as you say, "progress is progress". A single step is still one step closer to completion, after all.

As to the video, once again the animations and audio here are excellent! I really like the sense of reactivity in the world; the sense that the player can try things and have the game respond in a reasonable manner--complete with custom messages! Very nice work, indeed! ^_^

[RealScaniX]

Ah, welcome back to the project! It's good to see an update to it! ^_^

Thank you!
 

And as you say, "progress is progress". A single step is still one step closer to completion, after all.

Indeed. Today I just did a small thing again, but at least it is done now.
 

As to the video, once again the animations and audio here are excellent! I really like the sense of reactivity in the world; the sense that the player can try things and have the game respond in a reasonable manner--complete with custom messages! Very nice work, indeed! ^_^

Thank you very much! The interaction inside of the inventory is always a bit tricky to do, but I think it is worth it.