3D Platformer

Bricks shader. Detailed when close, more cartoony when far away. Additionally I can change the colour with ease.

I got bored of making all those buildings, I wanted to make something less geometric.
So I made a start with my ice cream level idea.

You see these paths, I am planning to have the rolling boulders as the main obstacle in this level.
I am not fully sure how I want to start and end the level yet, however these paths will have you go around and through the island.
I think it will be especially interesting once you are in the cave section and have to look out for the boulders.

I will have to update how the boulders interact with the player, so they will do damage.
The level model is not finished yet, I still have to do loads of texture work and add some interesting sight seeing spots.
Maybe I'll add some houses at the start of the level.

Also I just realised how much I make food related stuff.
A ramen kart, some cake islands and now this ice cream in a cup.

Btw, the game is now in development for 5 months.
Seeing how much time has passed already makes me kind of feel very insecure.
I am afraid I don't make enough progress in my game.

In theory development should go smoother now, since most important stuff have already been made.
It's now more about tweaking what I have and making more 3d models really.
Well, I still need to improve (facial) expressions, npc's, optional challenges, my sanity, story and loads of other stuff.
At least my Blender skills have drastically improved the last few months.

How much doubt I have, I am very proud with the fact I worked on it for 5 months continuously.
Most of my other project hardly reach the 1 month mark.
While I have worked on and off with some projects, I have not worked on a single project continuously for more than 2 months before.
This is already the biggest project I have ever made, which I guess makes me feel more unsure than usual.

Also fun fact, the design of the main character I originally created back in 2018.
I wanted to make an island exploration, vaguely pirate themed game.
The original concept was more meant to be a 3d Zelda like game, rather than a platformer.

However I never ended up making it, because I was terrible at 3d modelling.
So for the next years I mainly worked on 2d games or 3d games that use very simple shapes.
It was not until my kart game project from last year that I became more confident to work on an ambitious 3d game.

It's still surreal to me that that one random game idea I had back in 2018, I am now actually sort of making.
And this makes me only want to finish this project more than any other.
It's hard to express the emotions this project makes me feel.
All I can say is, I am happy to be a game developer.

I have exported the new model, but now I realise I forgot to do some weight painting for object that aren't properly attached to the witch costume.
I was testing to see how they would look with in godot with the games art style, must say I am decently pleased with it. I only have some problems with gradients, but I think I can do that with the shaders. Really the main issue is I haven't properly uv mapped certain things.
I also haven't yet applied the halftone shader.
Now I have to figure out how I can switch between the different models and make use of all the new animations.
I should also start working on the emotion system, to show when the player is happy or something.
I will make some more costumes in the future, but this is enough for now.

Once all that is finished I should have everything I would need for npc's.
I already have dialogue and cutscene system.
And a few npc models are almost ready for export.
The only thing is just the expressions, which mostly will be done through animations, but I would still need a system to easily switch between different eyes and mouth textures.
Maybe I'll export the harpy model for an initial test.

GodotBeginnerRich
I use Blender for pretty much everything 3d.
I learned using Blender back in 2016 for a school project.
Since then I occasionally used my mediocre Blender skills for some Godot projects.

However I only started to get decent at it since last year, when I decided I wanted to make a 3d game.
I don't like to rely on other people's assets too much, I like to have some flexibility in my work.
So I have to make my own models.
Being forced to make tons and tons of models naturally made me a lot better at using Blender.
If you want to get better at something, you have to do it a lot.

I wouldn't call myself good at Blender. There are still a lot of stuff I have to learn.
Making models take me forever and I am not always happy with the end result.
But it doesn't stop me from making my game.

If you want a decent and easy to follow tutorial, I would recommend Imphenzia's series on low poly characters.
That will teach you most what you will need to know if you just want make simple characters.
Also you should look for refence images, Pinterest and many stock photo's sites are great for that.
When you make a model it's a lot easier to get the proportions right if you put the refences as a background.

If you are not confident in your graphics design, ask people for their opinion.
Explain what kind of style you are going for.
They will usually give you advise on how you can make your work look better and what you may be doing wrong.

She just saw what you did in your last project.
I wonder what kind of horrors she just witnessed.

I am making a few more mouth frames.
Smiling and laughing is fun and all, but unfortunately life is more than just joy.
I don't know how I would describe this mouth frame, in the files I just call it "corn1".

I made the outline dark red instead of black and a bit thinner, to make it look a bit more pleasing.
I will update the old ones to be in line with this thinner, not black versions.

Making NPC's blink separately from one another. Making sure every npc has their own materials will be very important once I start making some cutscenes. Would be very inconvenient if changing one material effects all characters.

I originally wanted to import the cowboy character for this npc testing, however I realized I would've needed to draw new eyes. The cowboy requires some more narrower eyes, which I don't have yet. So instead I decided to import the harpy model. I decided to make the skin colour more darker and redder, makes them look more distinct from the player character. ️

Now I just have to think about what would be the most convenient way to switch between different facial expression and then I should be able to create some interactions with emotions. I should also draw some more eyes, then I can import cowboy and other characters using his proportions. I think I should be able to get away with using the current mouth frames.

I really like the shocked expression of the player character.

Updated how the facial expressions work. Now it's easier to switch between them inside the editor, aka I can now use the animationplayer node with less headaches. I haven't implemented it in the player scene yet. Otherwise I am almost ready to do a test cutscene.

I can change the pupil's location by changing it's uv offset. I think I want to use this for the eyebrows too.
I keep forgetting I should draw eyebrows. Also now the player's facial expressions work the same as the npc's.

My next goal is to make a comic like cutscene. I am about a week away from working on this project for half a year. I really want to have video devlog by then, but I doubt I'll be able to make it.

Testing out some comic style framing. 2 different methods, both with their pros and cons. It's a pain to set up. I have to think of a way to make it a bit more efficient to make. I will do some adjustments and then I will make a test cutscene. If the cutscene proves to be successful, I will move on to the next important aspect of the game, save files and quests.

I am decently happy with the progress I have made the last few weeks. Soon the real game will be in development. It's time to really get creative with what I want this project to become. Although I still have to do loads of bugs fixes and other tweaks.

packrat
Same. I too often look at other people's devlogs and not read anything.

Damn, it's been a while since my last update.
Loads of stuff on my mind and loads of laziness.
I want to add a few NPC models, mainly so I can start with the story part.
For now I will mainly focus on important characters.
This model is not finished yet, I just need to do some adjustments and make the hair messier.
She's got a nice moustache tho.