matthewmatosis
patreon
A Reminder, a Poll and a Small Update
🕑 Added 2021-07-28 16:28:15 +0000 UTCHello everyone,
Just a reminder that pledges will reactivate soon. I figure Patreon probably notifies you of this somehow but another heads-up couldn't hurt.
In related news, it's been an excellent month for progress. Proxima's collision system had already been created to handle bounding boxes of various sizes so Betelgeuse was able to hit the ground running with a taller character.
Since collisions are already in a good place I had the opportunity to take on a new challenge: setting up a player character state machine. While there was more to Proxima than I showed in the Potentially Acceptable Collisions video, the character itself was pretty barebones. All it could do was move, jump and wall jump without any animation. Betelgeuse is a little more action orientated which requires a larger number of states. This is where the state machine comes in, it's a way of determining where/when/how the player character can transition between different actions.
I took the cowboy approach here and just started building without much forethought but one of my initial ideas proved to be extremely valuable. Rather than try to implement my own character right off the bat, I decided to use a pre-existing one - in this case Richter from Rondo of Blood. It might have been tempting to just cobble together whatever I happened to need as I went but crafting it with a pre-existing character in mind gave me a really tangible goal to shoot for. Using someone who already existed also allowed for rapid development which quickly revealed any flaws in my approach. I've been cycling through this process all month, implementing a new aspect to the character and adjusting the overall state machine to support it. Although there's always more improvements to be made, it's in a really good place right now. Most importantly, my approach is designed for rapid implementation and iteration (a data-driven design for the programmers in the audience) which should allow me to tweak things easily and efficiently. Once I've hammered out a few more issues I'm even thinking that it might be valuable to try implementing another character (like Alucard or something) in order to put the system through its paces. Whatever happens from here, I'm really happy with it so far and will definitely talk about it more in the future. There's even a few tiny features I think are cool which I'm looking forward to showing off.
That said, it's been an extremely productive month but an equally busy one to match. I've been going at this flat out and am now ready for a break. Just in time to spend the next few days binging The Great Ace Attorney. As such, there's not going to be a Developer Diary to round out the month. I have some stuff written but I always feel the need to dwell on the diaries since putting them in writing makes them feel "final" or something. That leads to my question. I figure many of you might prefer an Audio Log anyway so should I try one? This would just be me talking into the mic for a while, random thoughts on the project and games in general I suppose. Like the diaries have been so far but probably less concise and more meandering. Not a great sales pitch but it would be in audio format which you might find easier and more enjoyable to consume. Let me know in the poll below what you think.
One more thing before I go. I wanted to get this into the next Developer Diary before pledges restarted but since there isn't going to be one in time: If you're a patron you should know that Betelgeuse is planned to be a pretty straightforward and traditional action platformer. In other words it's a linear game where you walk forward and hit (or maybe shoot) stuff. It'll probably also be really hard. If that doesn't sound interesting (or if you're not ok with the lack of a diary this month) you should reconsider your pledge.
Anyway, I think that about does it. Sorry I don't have any more for you right now but it's been a fantastic month on my end and a huge relief too after stalling out on Proxima. I'll be back soon with more. Thanks for reading and for all the support.
Comments
Ross MacKinnon
be yourself
Blooper
Nice to hear it's going well this month! I'm curious to learn more, but I gotta admit it's nice to be kept in the dark about the details until it's been in the oven for a while. Following games in development on kickstarter, patreon and the like often means you get tiny incremental updates that just don't leave much of an impact. Reading thoughts on the dev process has been a good version of that I think. Hope Great Ace Attorney is fun - I just picked it up myself and I'm gonna play it this weekend. Capcom have really been putting in work lately. Would be cool if they kept these ports up - not just for unlocalized titles like these and Investigations 2, but for stuff like Ghost Trick as well.
Jerm
Happy to hear it’s going so well! Long may that continue.
Viridian Maridian
I'd prefer audio so I can listen to it while I'm cooking. Plus I've been enjoying your stream vods and even started playing the SMxALttP randomiser myself (it's fun!) so I'm getting enough from your "content output" to continue my pledge anyway. I hope Betelgeuse will make me cry.
TectonicImprov
What kinda hard are we talking here? Ghosts n Goblins hard or like, Zelda II hard
Richard Rosean
Great to hear Betelgeuse is coming along well. I think an audio log would be a good idea, not only because I think a lot of people would like to have it on as background noise, but I also because it would hopefully scratch some itch for people hoping for another podcast.
zacH
I miss listening to you talk so I'm all for an audio log :D but really whatever is easiest for you is great! Glad you've been feeling productive and excited to see everything you're cooking up :)
Josh
Gotta be honest, I really enjoyed the text logs and have found them to be a valuable resource as I start fumbling around with game maker myself. I don't think an audio log would be nearly as sharp and focused as I like your content to be, but it's not a big enough deal for me to want to pull the pledge or anything. I got the sense that the blog posts were proving to be too much of a time investment anyway. The main thing I'm interested in is the game, so tackle the rest of it however you see fit.
+1 for an Audio Log. You tend to ramble more on mic so we get more words out of you. Plus you can't be a stickler for order if you're just talking off-script so it should be easier to get around to it. I've actually listened to your two Q&As many times, your ramblings are perfect when I want mental stimulation but need some mindshare for whatever chore I'm doing at the time. It allows me to drop in and out of the audio while my focus wanders. They're also great for sleep, your soothing Irish remarks sending me on tangents that are sure to spiral me into a dream state. For these reasons I've been hoping for more Q&As from you for a long time, so an off-the-cuff audiolog update on your project progress and thoughts on current events would be a real treat. Cheers
