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Devlog
Plates and bridges working! Except for a fun bug
May 14, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I show the final touches I made to the plates/bridges mechanic, after so many bugs and design decisions... I think it was a worthy feature to add to the game. There is still some design...
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Plates and bridges, part 5: fall is coming
May 13, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I show some solved plate/bridge situations and some still unsolved ones, and analyze possible ways to implement the sequential falling to ensure consistency of behavior...
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Plates and bridges, part 4: design conundrums
May 10, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I show some of the interesting conundrums I have encountered while adding this feature to the game. I think it's useful to show this kind of decisions and design problems one encounters...
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Pressure plates and bridges, part 3
May 09, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I continue adding the code for using pressure plates to activate/deactivate bridges/obstacles in the game, and discover some interesting bugs...
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Pressure plates and bridges, part 2
May 08, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I continue adding the code for using pressure plates to activate/deactivate bridges/obstacles in the game, and also the basic parsing of the new symbols in the game...
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Pressure plates and bridges, part 1
May 07, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I begin to add the code for using pressure plates to activate/deactivate bridges/obstacles in the game...
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Simplifying the bounce code using tween_method
May 03, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I simplify the code I added in the previous video by using the tween_method instead of tween_property, which allows for more general manipulations inside arbitrary functions. Featuring t...
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Juicing the game with bouncy animations
May 03, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I add some more "juice" to the game, by animating bouncing for invalid moves...
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Smoothing transitions from corridors to levels
May 01, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I make the transitions from a corridor to a new level similar to a normal move, with a smooth sliding move...
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Proper 3D bones and separate prefabs for crates
April 29, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I separate the crate prefab into several prefabs, one for each crate type. This allows for better asset organization and slightly less memory usage...
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Skeletal bugs galore & adding a small feature
April 25, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I show several interesting bugs, all related to the new skeletal crates. It turns out that changing the fundamental assumptions of the mechanics can cause bugs, who would have known?...
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Fixing an interesting level data bug
April 23, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I fix an interesting bug in the level data representation of the game...
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Quick fix + new bug
April 22, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this short video I fix a bug related to the skeletal crates, and find a new bug related to the orientation of some force-fields...
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Adding skeletal crates!
April 19, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I add skeletal crates to the game. They are traversable by the player, and cannot be grabbed...
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Localizing and customizing the "you lose" dialog
April 18, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I add a bit of localization with the excuse of customizing the "you lost" message (before, we had only one way to die, but now we had two)...
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Transient and permanent particles for explosions
April 17, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I add a radioactive effect for the "explosions" that indicates when two radioactive crates are too close, whether or not the move ends in an actual explosion...
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Corridor Ladders + Vector2i / Vector3i Confusion
April 15, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I add little ladders to the corridors, in the segments where the player should not be able to float more than 1 meter. I used an approach that promised to be simple, but some confusion a...
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A tale of two fixes
April 11, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I fix a fun and explosive bug, and I allow the player to climb infinitely inside corridors...
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Now with radioactive crates!
April 10, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I add radioactive crates to the game. They are not dangerous on their own, but if you put two next to each other, they will explode...
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Fixing a cross-level state contamination bug
April 08, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I fix an interesting bug that caused cross-level undo-queue-contamination. I think it's interesting to show these kind of bugs, because open-world (or dungeon) games are in fashion these...
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The game got bulkier! New heavy crates
April 05, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I add heavy crates to the game. These crates cannot be lifted, but can be pushed sideways...
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Speed tuning, floating and arms effects
April 03, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I adjust a bit the speedup of the animations, and adapt the floating effect and the arms movement to the new animation system...
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Accelerating animations on new input
April 03, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I try to accelerate the animations to keep up with the player when they want to make several moves rapidly...
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Editing my Godot project on Windows 95? Amazing!
April 01, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
1
#april fool's
In this video I wanted to show how versatile Godot really is. It runs a bit slow on Windows 95, but it can load my project...
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Truncating animations on new input
March 29, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
1
In this video I add code so that fast input causes animations to end prematurely. This allows for players not to be frustrated if they want to speed-run the game :)...
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Causing mayhem with parallel and sequential tweens
March 28, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I add the visual aspect of the movement effects we computed last time. I use parallel tweens inside each stage of movement, and chain all the stages together sequentially, using only one...
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Input buffering vs visual movement queuing
March 27, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I tackle the classic problem of fast-paced input in grid games. Some people use input buffering, but it can have strange issues. I prefer to accelerate or interrupt animations, so I prep...
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Implementing the "virtual moat" solution
March 26, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I implement the "virtual moat" idea from the previous video, and check that it works, at least for isolated pairs of levels. But I suspect I will have to generalize the idea for the comp...
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Virtual moats to avoid overworld routing issues
March 25, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I devise a possible solution for some routing problems in the level stitcher (when an exit can lead to a corridor to which it does not belong) using virtual "moats" that guide the pathfi...
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Entering new levels from corridors + cliffhanger
March 22, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I start to make the code that allows the player to go from a corridor into a new level. I add the basic functionality but discover a weird bug, and leave it as a cliffhanger...
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Following the player into some weird corridors
March 19, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I add functionality to the camera so it can follow the player into the corridors between the levels. Also I fix a bug that produced weird corridors because of bad coordinates...
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Ensuring Repeatability using the custom RNG
March 18, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I make sure the loading of the game is always consistent when using the same seed for the RNG. Short video but I think it's interesting to show these kind of "menial" tasks of gamedev :)...
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Making (and testing) our own independent RNG
March 15, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I add code for a Random Number Generator that is independent from the Godot internal one, to avoid changes of behavior in future versions of the engine. I also use the Dieharder statisti...
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Checking Godot's source to confirm suspicion about AStarGrid2D
March 14, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
1
In this video I fix another routing bug, related to Godot's AStarGrid2D algorithm. Sometimes one makes assumptions about the behavior of an engine's feature that are simply incorrect. In that case, it...
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Fix path overlap, enter/exit logic WIP
March 13, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I fix the overlapping of the automatic paths, and begin to think the logic behind the crossing from level to corridor and viceversa...
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Automated path-drawing
March 11, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I begin automating the routing between levels. The first step is to be able to draw a path between the exits of a level towards some arbitrary external point in the world...
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FPS-independent map zoom and movement
March 08, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I add the zoom-in and zoom-out capabilities to the map mode, to allow the player to get the "big picture" and/or travel faster to distant levels. I also show how to ensure that the movem...
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Avoiding entry/exit interference
March 04, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I remove some inconvenient situations in the generator, adding pseudo-spaces at certain points of the generation...
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Procedural meshes also for the paths
March 02, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I re-use the procedural mesh generator for the paths between levels, in order to achieve the same look in both of them. Short video, but collected some interesting things for the TODO li...
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Design ramblings: the sigil situation
March 02, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I consider some changes to the nature of the sigils: from exclusively doors, to more general collectibles that sometimes will function as doors...
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PathFinding: A* + a pinch of randomness
February 26, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I use the AStarGrid2D Godot class to test several options for pathfinding, and add a bit of randomness to the too-neat paths it generates...
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Trying the GridMap and Path3D nodes
February 25, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I try the GridMap and Path3D Godot nodes, to think about different approaches on how to stitch the levels together with different kinds of path...
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Moving code from the player to the world
February 22, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I move some code to better organize the logic. Short video, sorry!...
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Non-extremal entrances
February 21, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I modify the generator logic to allow for more potential entrance positions, to have more interesting levels...
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Allowing for side entrances
February 20, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I talk a bit about design ideas for the game overworld/underworld, and add the possibility of side entrances to the levels, to (hopefully) simplify the level-stitcher logic later...
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Procedural lava mesh
February 19, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I convert the lava floors to the procedural mesh system I show in the last videos, sharing vertex and logic information so the wall and lava shapes adapt to each other...
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Procedural mesh deformation
February 17, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I deform a bit the procedural mesh vertices to achieve a less regular looking cave...
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More 3D (but weird) procedural mesh
February 16, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I make the procedural mesh more 3D, by adding the remaining quads, depending on the neighborhood of each "cell". But we discover a weird UV effect that will require more study...
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Optimizing framerate: physics and tweens
February 14, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I further optimize the framerate by disabling some of the physics features and pausing/unpausing some animations at appropriate times. I manage to load 2500 levels faster, and at a smoot...
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De-messifying the procedural mesh
February 14, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I continue the procedural mesh coding, making it load correctly all the walls in the game...
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Procedural mesh (or procedural mess?)
February 13, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I begin investigating ways to optimize the rendering of the game, using a procedural mesh for the walls instead of many individual ones...
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Using compression to avoid redundancy
February 10, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I use a compression trick to determine which treasure locations are too trivially solved along the normal door puzzles...
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Treasure solution debugging
February 09, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I use Godot's Area3D "sensors" to the game so I can see the solutions associated with each treasure point (like I had before for normal sigil solutions)...
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Treasure re-positioning
February 08, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I fix the placement of the treasure to avoid trivially-reached positions...
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Treasure visualization
February 07, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I fix some small bugs, add the treasure symbols to the generator output, and parse the new information in the game itself...
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Treasure analysis
February 06, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I analyze possible criteria to select the most convenient places to put treasure in the game...
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A measure of treasure
February 05, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I begin to implement the logic for hiding some treasure in the caves... or at least make it not so easy to reach!...
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Cursor for map mode
February 04, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I add a simple but very useful cursor to show the player which level will they play if they exit the map mode...
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Map mode exploration limits
February 03, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I fix some input interactions between the play mode and the map mode, and add limits to the map movement so the player do not "escape" the playing area...
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Map mode switching
February 02, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
I added a map mode to the game, so in the future the player can return to previously played levels and choose new paths in their adventures...
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All is relative (except the player)
February 01, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I make sure the movement coordinates of the game elements are relative to each level, instead of global. Except for the player of course, that will roam freely between levels some day...
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Stitching continues: multi-level loading
January 31, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I continue massaging the game code to make it load several levels at once, and playing them selectively, moving from one to another animating the camera...
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Stitching begins...
January 30, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I begin preparing the game for the "stitching" of the individual levels into a big cavern overworld (or underworld?). The first task show here is to separate the code for loading the lev...
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Profiling is not only for "pros"
January 29, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this "lucky 13" video I wander for a while in the profiling-optimizing woods. I get lost for a bit, but I think the back and forth is more educational and entertaining than showing a perfect perfor...
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Optimization time! (or not?)
January 28, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
Today I try a small optimization and discover that it's not so fruitful. Lesson learned: measure what to optimize before trying :) Next time I'll try to make some proper profiling. Let me know if it w...
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Lava logic in generator and game
January 26, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I add the lava gameplay logic to the generator and the game, advancing it a bit more...
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The floor is lava! (or at least part of it)
January 25, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I begin to implement lava: some of the floor tiles will be impassable for the player. I add the basic logic into the generator, and leave the burning logic as a cliffhanger...
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Redundant glue detection and discussion
January 24, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I talk about some of the methods and criteria I use in my "automatic curation" process, specifically detection of redundant elements (in this case, glue)...
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Game design and procgen: a power couple
January 23, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I show how a game design decision can be experimented with by modifying the level generator of the game. I also add some dynamic visual modifications to the game assets depending on the...
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Level and window aspect ratios, handling resize events
January 22, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I show how to adjust the camera position and distance depending on the aspect ratio of the current level and game window, allowing the player to resize the window without losing informat...
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Textures, models, and a fast bug fix
January 20, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
I show a bit of visual progress: I added some nice textures and a rounder model for the crates. I show how to use Blender files directly in Godot, without having to convert them. And of course, I find...
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Fixing a lifting bug
January 19, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
In this video I fix the group-lifting bug we encountered last session, and explain some of the criteria I plan to use to detect redundant glue...
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proper crate sorting, parsing of glue, new bug
January 18, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
This time I fix a small issue with the internal sorting of the crates in the generator, and finally add the parsing of the glue information to the game. And of course, I discover a new and funny bug...
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a bit of serialization and optimization
January 17, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
I continue with the stickiness serialization and a bit of optimization:...
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bugfix + cliffhanger
January 16, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
I fix the bug we encountered the last video, and leave an interesting cliffhanger for the next one:...
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First public devlog
January 16, 2024
by
Marcos Donnantuoni
1
Hi! Welcome to my new project. Here it is the first public devlog video:...
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