Good luck! It can be fun to do. I liked Godot the little bit I messed around with it. I've been using Unreal Engine right now. The visual scripting has helped me through some places I'd roadblock in the past, boring things like programming the intro menu for example. I had an entire game written for Xbox 360 using XNA, but the menus and all that were just such a pain in the ass in that architecture that I never released it. It didn't help that it was not fun to play either. At all. I might try Godot again for another project if I actually finish this one.
I've been making an FPS now with mechanics I'd call "Doom 3" style, so a little more run and gun and no ADS, no snipers, no cover mechanic. Partly to limit the scope, partly because I like that style. Will it be a breakthrough in anything? Not a chance. At this point my goal is like a $20 game on Steam that isn't awful. I've got more done than I probably give myself credit for, just because all the little details will take ages to work out. It will probably be a bit generic because I'm not really interested in 3D modeling so I'm using free or purchased stuff. I don't think it will matter that much in the end, the lighting and atmosphere is the game, not whether or not I modeled the microscope on the counter or the wooden crate on the floor. If I had, it's still just a microscope on the counter and a wooden crate on the floor.
Still, if 6mo to a year from now I have enough of a game that it seems realistic to release, I'll probably pay someone to model a main character and some of the bosses, the music, and the minuscule bit of voice acting I'd want.
Just curious, have you checked out Unigine at all? Seems to be rapidly gaining popularity as an alternative to Unreal. Not sure if they have anything as robustly fine-tuned as Epic's Blueprints, though.
Most people I've encountered who use Unigine mostly used it for productivity purposes rather than gaming, but it seemed interesting.
I hadn't heard of it honestly. Which is really odd because before I started this foray into trying a 3d game I looked into a lot of different engines. Maybe I try something for the next game if there is one. I'd like to try something in Godot too, just thought in the interest of finishing something I'd be better off in Unreal for an FPS game. I've got somewhat of an idea for a 3D puzzle game I may try in Godot some time. As of now, if I have an idea while I'm working on this I put it in a notebook to try later so I don't get too distracted.
Blueprints are nice, but I've ended up doing a lot in C++ too. What I like is how they let you layer them, e.g. I made a C++ class for the weapon that does all the basic stuff, fires, etc. If I want to make some one off unique weapon? I can just override the actions in Blueprint to do whatever I want. I've heard it's bad on performance so I haven't used a ton of that for gameplay, but for a settings menu? That's not really enough to matter and it let me make menus and things in a tiny percent of the time versus learning how I need to interact with a text box in my code.
I've heard it's bad on performance so I haven't used a ton of that for gameplay, but for a settings menu? That's not really enough to matter and it let me make menus and things in a tiny percent of the time versus learning how I need to interact with a text box in my code.
Oh definitely. You can always tell games that rely on a ton of Unreal APIs because of how it causes a lot of slowdown or stutter. But it's good you're going the coding route to improve optimisation. It seems to be something a lot of larger studios forego these days.
Oh that's really good to hear. Working through the incomplete documentation will help pave the way for a lot of other devs who follow in your footsteps using Godot.
Have you been uploading videos to YouTube as well with the documentation updates as you progress? I'm sure there are some aspiring devs out there who might also be working through similar issues and could probably use that guidance in their projects, too.
Sincerely good luck! While I love coding, I don't think I could ever get all the different pieces together to make a game. Anyone who can juggle the media, design, coding, and business sides deserves a ton of respect!
I hate to ask this, but are you worried either about getting doxed or about people coming across your name on this site and then slandering you and your games elsewhere?
Have you released any finished projects yet? Trying to do two projects at once is a motivation-killer and is a common mistake that new devs make. If you have the time and resources to work on two games at once, go for it, but you may find you've drastically underestimated what that means once you get deep enough.
For what it's worth, I think Totally Not Black and White 3 is a niche that desperately needs filling and a decent game of that type would do quite well. If I were you I'd focus on that. Lionhead really dropped the ball with that franchise and nobody's picked it up. I would, however, be careful about making it too similar. You might run into legal problems down the line. I think if you avoid the whole virtual pet aspect - which I never liked anyway - you'll be fine.
If you want to turn this into a career, unfortunately Unity is by far the best way to do that. Godot has almost no hiring activity and I doubt it ever will. As much as Unity sucks, it's where the money's at. Of course, if you don't care about joining a studio and just want to do your own thing forever, Godot is a fine choice.
Question out of curiosity. Do you think it would be better to:
A) Normalize non-straight people NOT being front and center, such as some irrelevant NPCs, in order to attempt to shift how they're seen/used in games back to a state of normality
OR
B) Outright exclude anything but straight
Some older Squaresoft games, as an example, might allude to homosexuals at times, but it wasn't typically a front and center thing. I was never really bothered by that, and I imagine most people here weren't either.
I'd prefer if projects like these could be considered "normal" in the public eye, rather than be labeled deliberately 'exclusionary'; even you admit you're worried about that. Nobody can accuse it of exclusion if they're still in there in the background, after all.
I don't care which way it goes as long as it isn't the boring woke shit we get so often now, though. I imagine you'd rather stick to your principles, though.
Good luck with the projects!
Yeah, if you want to stick it to them, might as well go all the way without being directly offensive in the eyes of sane people.
If it does get called out for 'homophobia' and stuff for simply not having any LGBT people in it, that would be pretty unreasonable to most normal people, and especially if you get doxxed for it.
That said, if leftists like the games enough it won't even matter. Just look at the hypocrisy of them when it comes to the Five Nights at Freddies creator. "You get the pass if we like your stuff" basically.
Thanks for writing this up. You've mentioned your development work enough that you had me curious. I propose this be declared as "KIA2 Gamedev Project 3". u/DomitiusOfMassilia
I don't care how much ire I potentially get from the creators
Considering the shit Molyneux pulled with Godus, he has no legs to stand on against anyone for any reason every again.
In fact, it might be worth looking at that game just as a handful of examples of what not to do regarding a God game, because its an absurd failure in so many unique ways. Made even more upsetting by the fact that it started out okay and became worse with every single patch to reach the shit point it currently is at.
The game itself is the god game genre and I've been shamelessly influenced by an old game called Black and White if any of you remember that and I don't care how much ire I potentially get from the creators I will finish this lol.
If you finish it, you'll be doing better than Lionhead did with B&W. That game had a ton of promise but was such an unfinished mess. Peter Molyneux was notorious for having great ideas with horrible execution.
I actually installed it a couple years back; was kind of a pain to track down the necessary patches to make it work, but I was interested in seeing how well it played on modern hardware. Turns out even when you get solid framerates, the gestures are still pretty clunky.
DUDE. I was just thinking the other day how awesome a spiritual successor to Black and White would be... Especially if it was VR capable and you literally could fill your floorspace with the game world.
honestly...selling the LAN as a dlc could be a way to go for that kinda dev...it oughta be a standard feature, but offering it as a paid add-on would be something at least...
lol, nah. it's more throwing my hands up in defeat. I know with major studios I'm not likely to get LAN play any other way, not that I play that many "AAA" games anymore, anyway.
Seriously, thoughthe minute I hear the words lootcrate, or microtranaction I cringe.
DLC is...hit and miss for me...it really depends on what it is...costumes/skins? hell no. soundtrack? even if I love the soundtrack, I don't love it that much. Pay to win. Okay, now I don't even wanna play...
But campaigns, scenarios, maps... that's the same as old school expansion packs right there, lol.
...And yeah, I'd love if basic features were included, but at this point, I've accepted that the big players consider it an obsolete feature.
As another aspiring indie dev, best of luck to you!
Good luck! It can be fun to do. I liked Godot the little bit I messed around with it. I've been using Unreal Engine right now. The visual scripting has helped me through some places I'd roadblock in the past, boring things like programming the intro menu for example. I had an entire game written for Xbox 360 using XNA, but the menus and all that were just such a pain in the ass in that architecture that I never released it. It didn't help that it was not fun to play either. At all. I might try Godot again for another project if I actually finish this one.
I've been making an FPS now with mechanics I'd call "Doom 3" style, so a little more run and gun and no ADS, no snipers, no cover mechanic. Partly to limit the scope, partly because I like that style. Will it be a breakthrough in anything? Not a chance. At this point my goal is like a $20 game on Steam that isn't awful. I've got more done than I probably give myself credit for, just because all the little details will take ages to work out. It will probably be a bit generic because I'm not really interested in 3D modeling so I'm using free or purchased stuff. I don't think it will matter that much in the end, the lighting and atmosphere is the game, not whether or not I modeled the microscope on the counter or the wooden crate on the floor. If I had, it's still just a microscope on the counter and a wooden crate on the floor. Still, if 6mo to a year from now I have enough of a game that it seems realistic to release, I'll probably pay someone to model a main character and some of the bosses, the music, and the minuscule bit of voice acting I'd want.
Just curious, have you checked out Unigine at all? Seems to be rapidly gaining popularity as an alternative to Unreal. Not sure if they have anything as robustly fine-tuned as Epic's Blueprints, though.
Most people I've encountered who use Unigine mostly used it for productivity purposes rather than gaming, but it seemed interesting.
I hadn't heard of it honestly. Which is really odd because before I started this foray into trying a 3d game I looked into a lot of different engines. Maybe I try something for the next game if there is one. I'd like to try something in Godot too, just thought in the interest of finishing something I'd be better off in Unreal for an FPS game. I've got somewhat of an idea for a 3D puzzle game I may try in Godot some time. As of now, if I have an idea while I'm working on this I put it in a notebook to try later so I don't get too distracted.
Blueprints are nice, but I've ended up doing a lot in C++ too. What I like is how they let you layer them, e.g. I made a C++ class for the weapon that does all the basic stuff, fires, etc. If I want to make some one off unique weapon? I can just override the actions in Blueprint to do whatever I want. I've heard it's bad on performance so I haven't used a ton of that for gameplay, but for a settings menu? That's not really enough to matter and it let me make menus and things in a tiny percent of the time versus learning how I need to interact with a text box in my code.
Makes sense. Unigine isn't widely advertised because it's mostly used by a specific kind of designer. Some of the new features look really amazing in a real-time runtime environment, though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKQbj_zvueA&pp=ygUHdW5pZ2luZQ%3D%3D
Oh definitely. You can always tell games that rely on a ton of Unreal APIs because of how it causes a lot of slowdown or stutter. But it's good you're going the coding route to improve optimisation. It seems to be something a lot of larger studios forego these days.
Oh that's really good to hear. Working through the incomplete documentation will help pave the way for a lot of other devs who follow in your footsteps using Godot.
Have you been uploading videos to YouTube as well with the documentation updates as you progress? I'm sure there are some aspiring devs out there who might also be working through similar issues and could probably use that guidance in their projects, too.
Sincerely good luck! While I love coding, I don't think I could ever get all the different pieces together to make a game. Anyone who can juggle the media, design, coding, and business sides deserves a ton of respect!
I hate to ask this, but are you worried either about getting doxed or about people coming across your name on this site and then slandering you and your games elsewhere?
Have you released any finished projects yet? Trying to do two projects at once is a motivation-killer and is a common mistake that new devs make. If you have the time and resources to work on two games at once, go for it, but you may find you've drastically underestimated what that means once you get deep enough.
For what it's worth, I think Totally Not Black and White 3 is a niche that desperately needs filling and a decent game of that type would do quite well. If I were you I'd focus on that. Lionhead really dropped the ball with that franchise and nobody's picked it up. I would, however, be careful about making it too similar. You might run into legal problems down the line. I think if you avoid the whole virtual pet aspect - which I never liked anyway - you'll be fine.
If you want to turn this into a career, unfortunately Unity is by far the best way to do that. Godot has almost no hiring activity and I doubt it ever will. As much as Unity sucks, it's where the money's at. Of course, if you don't care about joining a studio and just want to do your own thing forever, Godot is a fine choice.
Question out of curiosity. Do you think it would be better to:
A) Normalize non-straight people NOT being front and center, such as some irrelevant NPCs, in order to attempt to shift how they're seen/used in games back to a state of normality
OR
B) Outright exclude anything but straight
Some older Squaresoft games, as an example, might allude to homosexuals at times, but it wasn't typically a front and center thing. I was never really bothered by that, and I imagine most people here weren't either.
I'd prefer if projects like these could be considered "normal" in the public eye, rather than be labeled deliberately 'exclusionary'; even you admit you're worried about that. Nobody can accuse it of exclusion if they're still in there in the background, after all.
I don't care which way it goes as long as it isn't the boring woke shit we get so often now, though. I imagine you'd rather stick to your principles, though. Good luck with the projects!
Yeah, if you want to stick it to them, might as well go all the way without being directly offensive in the eyes of sane people.
If it does get called out for 'homophobia' and stuff for simply not having any LGBT people in it, that would be pretty unreasonable to most normal people, and especially if you get doxxed for it.
That said, if leftists like the games enough it won't even matter. Just look at the hypocrisy of them when it comes to the Five Nights at Freddies creator. "You get the pass if we like your stuff" basically.
Good luck. Keep us posted
Thanks for writing this up. You've mentioned your development work enough that you had me curious. I propose this be declared as "KIA2 Gamedev Project 3". u/DomitiusOfMassilia
Stickied
Nice, Really reminds me of black and white. Also why has the god lowered its standards to standard fireball xD
Considering the shit Molyneux pulled with Godus, he has no legs to stand on against anyone for any reason every again.
In fact, it might be worth looking at that game just as a handful of examples of what not to do regarding a God game, because its an absurd failure in so many unique ways. Made even more upsetting by the fact that it started out okay and became worse with every single patch to reach the shit point it currently is at.
Those anti woke arguments are good stuff. Good luck, this is a risky as fuck genre you picked up.
Good luck. If you hit it big and get a buyout offer, I wouldn't begrudge you for taking it, by the way.
If you finish it, you'll be doing better than Lionhead did with B&W. That game had a ton of promise but was such an unfinished mess. Peter Molyneux was notorious for having great ideas with horrible execution.
I actually installed it a couple years back; was kind of a pain to track down the necessary patches to make it work, but I was interested in seeing how well it played on modern hardware. Turns out even when you get solid framerates, the gestures are still pretty clunky.
Godspeed. No pun intended.
I was skeptical at first. And I apologize for that.
Good luck on your project!
I like the black and white inspired one. Don't make promises like Peter Molyneux.
Good luck
DUDE. I was just thinking the other day how awesome a spiritual successor to Black and White would be... Especially if it was VR capable and you literally could fill your floorspace with the game world.
sounds interesting. I enjoyed Age of Empires/Mythology, starcraft, etc, so the RTS could be interesting.
Kinda addicted to survival crafting games atm, though. (trying to single player my way through ark's story rn, lmao.)
sidenote: Linux support? I can go WINE if I have to, but I thought I'd ask anyway.
Also, offline multiplayer is a must for me, personally. I understand if it's a PITA to code, though.
honestly...selling the LAN as a dlc could be a way to go for that kinda dev...it oughta be a standard feature, but offering it as a paid add-on would be something at least...
agreed, but for the cforporate devs who wanna monetize everygoddamnthing...I could see it as a reasonable compromise...
lol, nah. it's more throwing my hands up in defeat. I know with major studios I'm not likely to get LAN play any other way, not that I play that many "AAA" games anymore, anyway.
Seriously, thoughthe minute I hear the words lootcrate, or microtranaction I cringe.
DLC is...hit and miss for me...it really depends on what it is...costumes/skins? hell no. soundtrack? even if I love the soundtrack, I don't love it that much. Pay to win. Okay, now I don't even wanna play...
But campaigns, scenarios, maps... that's the same as old school expansion packs right there, lol.
...And yeah, I'd love if basic features were included, but at this point, I've accepted that the big players consider it an obsolete feature.
Good luck my man