MrZGames
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[Deviance] progress report & a poll
🕑 Added 2024-05-24 11:02:37 +0000 UTCHey friends!
I hope you are having a wonderful day!
So today I just wanted to tell you about the progress on Deviance, some of my worries and how everything is going, and also make a small poll about RNG in dungeons.
First off, Deviance!
We are progressing quite well. However, the fact that my skeleton is different from the one from Unreal has proved to be quite a nuisance. On Unity I can use almost any animation that I get with my skeleton without much issue, however on unreal I cannot use any animation that is not specifically rigged to my skeleton. This is due to a bone rotation on the basis, an issue that I have been dragging since 2019. Now this wasn’t an issue on unity, but it is a big deal on Unreal. I already tried all the new tools and things to solve this on the Unreal side, but it didn’t work (including the new 5.4 stuff). so this let me with two options:
A - “Fix” the skeleton, and basically discard all the sex animations and clothing rigging.
B - Only use animations made specifically for this skeleton.
For obvious reasons I went with B, so I’m making all animations, that includes walking, running, jumping, rolling, etc. This has proven a bigger challenge than I anticipated initially, as it requires a bigger level of animation than I do. So I'm currently making some of these animations, and I’m happy with them just working decently, but I have scheduled to do a discourse in September to improve my animation skills (and then replace the placeholder animations for better ones).
So all in all, everything takes time, and on unreal, it takes three or four times as much. I also been working with a programmer for the past few months, and I’m limiting myself to do non-programming tasks, mainly so I don’t step on his toes while he works, but also because my dream is to be a creative director, not a programmer, so I’m trying my best to limit myself at only directing others (and also do everything else that we don’t have anyone for, such as animations, UX/UI, level design, game design, and basically everything on engine that is related to visual stuff).
This however puts us way behind my initial schedule, I don’t know how soon I will be able to put up a decent playable build for Deviance. I don’t like to do “tech alphas” where nothing works or there isn’t any gameplay other than “press X for animation”, so I would rather delay it than do a shitty product (AKA a Blizzard)
[Concept art for a noble's dress]
This as well raised some concerns and I’m thinking of possible solutions to have interesting content on patreon, as patreon is the way the game is funded mostly. I feel like Kinky Fight Club 2 still has some potential, but I don’t feel like milking it for many more months to be something I could do and feel okay with. The game is 80% done (excluding the story, which I will completely remake in July-August), so after that I would like to have something else to show. I haven’t made any decisions yet, I’m just thinking out loud here.
RNG and dungeons
In the meanwhile, there is some stuff that I like, some stuff that I don’t and some stuff that I really don’t have any strong opinions about. One of these things are procedurally generated dungeons. To me it is the same if they are persistent or random every time I enter a dungeon. (Depending on the game of course)
So I wanted to see what your opinion on those is.
Would you like Dungeons (specifically not overworld areas, always faction-specific-closed-areas) to be procedurally generated, or would you rather them not be and always be the same?
Give me your opinion on that!
[Concept art for the male counterpart of the noble's clothing]
And that’s all I have for today, friends!
Have a wonderful day!
I’m always open to feedback, so if you like, or don't, the new models and changes it is good to know, as well as the previous post asking for ideas for enemy designs!
(I know the new eyes may look a bit weird, I will test some possible fixes for next month update)
Comments
Criss Cyanide
Both are great and have their merits & negatives. Important story beat dungeons could always be the same for the sake of telling a story or some such but having something akin (but better) to Palworlds randomly spawning mini dungeons for loot/exp/whatever else is just really satisfying for self-progression and time killing. Could also have certain major boss enemies or special FF-esque Marks/Hunts could be in interestingly designed static dungeons. I remember a really enjoyable part of an old PS2 (I think it's ps2, maybe ps3 game) who's name currently escapes me (Demon something or other, Demon Stone? Wish I could remember) where you play as a Male Warrior and Female (Elf I think) archer lady and you're going through like a mine or cave system and all throughout it this giant spider demon thing is stalking you and can come down through holes in the ceiling or break through walls and grab a character(was badass when I was younger) that could be referenced for ideas with Static dungeon design, as others have said Skyrim as well has some great examples, fallout as well. Long-winded way of saying both would be ideal within reason xD.
Jaspe
Thigh/boob/body physics 🤤
Frank Baum
I would be careful about procedural dungeons. I voted against it. Not so much, because I really don't like them but rather because I am concerned that you might waste your efforts on a side effect. To me it sounds like you already have aome challenges to overcome with your 3D character bone structure where you want to do over some animations. I think, you should invest your efforts there rather than trying to get a balanced dynamically created dungeon. Finally, you asked about items people like or dislike about your game overall not too long ago and maybe picked up some topics from that feedback session. So, my recommendation would be not to chase too many rabbits at the same time. I hope my feedback doesn't come accross as harsh or patronizing. I am rooting for your success as I like your game.
Random Guy
If your engine and generator's dynamically created dungeons are interesting and consistent then they are much better. But that's a big "if". Creating them yourself makes it much easier to ensure their quality.
Dyamonde
Both got pros and cons. Pre-built dungeons give you way more detailed control on whats in the dungeon, so you can use its full potential for storytelling, or designing challenges. Random Dungeons mainly have the advantage of being unknown everytime you enter, keeping the challange fresh, but also precluding many of the things possible with pre-builts. Basically a question of quality vs replayability. If you as dev dont plan to spend a lot of time going in-depth into designing the dungeons, go with procedural. Otherwise stay with pre-built and give the player a really well designed experience.
A
I vote that I don't care, because I kind of don't want to set big goals for the dev here. But random is less boring, has a lot more potential, it is also a lot harder to implement. By random I mean completely random. So you generate structure, paths, you can apply textures for different levels, add random objects and events, set up something not random there like main quest stuff. Can be a lot of work.
Josh
To me, procedural dungeons sounds awesome, until you think of games like Daggerfall, which can procedurally generate in such a way that it literally prevents your from completing a level. So there is a concern about making it in such a way that those kinds of things can't happen. Also, procedurally generated content is varied, but terrible for story telling, cause you have little or no control over setting. Think of all the Bethesda dungeons that have little moments of story telling because of how each setting was arranged. Alternatively, set content is more consistent and better for story telling. However, it can be repetitive and dull, especially on repeat playthroughs. Overall, it's an either or thing for me. How good either option would be is entirely up to your skills as a developer.
