Gareth Williams

An actual gameplay loop!

I added a ton of stuff today that I didn't write much about, so I'll mention some of that tomorrow 😴

#gamedev

I *will* get on with the actual game, but ~~~

Started working on gamestate, but then got sidetracked making the levels load in and out with easing:

#gamedev

I added some extra geometry to the side of the blocks to allow for an added "ledge" texture that doesn't skew too badly with the diagonals. Unfortunately, the texture itself is very programmer art 🫠

Oh, I also have an overlaid grid so you can still clearly make out the level topology.

While the monochromatic Marble Madness style grid undoubtedly looked great in the 80s, I'm aiming to lean into a cosy-diorama look. So I cooked up a triplanar shader and dug through all my unloved Asset Store purchases to find some textures.

#gamedev

And here's a timelapse of putting together a simple level with all the editor functions I have so far. I imagine I'll need to add multi-select if I start making levels in earnest.

This level has a tricky but faster shortcut. I imagine the game will have fastest times per level!

Used Render Objects combined with a new Shadergraph shader for this occluded ball effect. The renderobject simply swaps out the shader for anything on a given layer with a depth test.

This was far easier than digging into code to put together a two-pass shader, which SG doesn't have UI for.

Oh, I forgot that I also added a URP decal projector to do the guide shadow on the ball, and turned off its shadow casting on the main light.

Made the ball intto this golden marble thing, and then added a squished torus as an end-point portal thing. I'll do more with that later.

Added an object placement cursor mode to the editor, then a quick test mode switch.

Also added some bounce to the ball, which feels quite fun!

Added a modifier key to manipulate an edge or point separately from its neighbours. Got saving and loading working too.

One small detail I noticed: what you would expect to be a pyramid shape formed by raising a single point, isn't - because of the uniform triangulation of the faces.

I can't think of an automatic solution to this that would be correct for all cases, so I simply added a button to swap the tris:

Edge and point manipulation. Make a game more like remake Blender amirite?!

I like how the AO kicks in as the angles increase, should make the ramps pop when everything's textured.

I'm thinking I might limit levels to single screen dioramas for a really tight experience?

Didn't take long for me to get back on my bullshit, but this game's gonna need levels and that means an editor!

So I'm now generating the level geometry and I've got this 10x10 grid I can toggle and raise and lower the blocks in.

I'm using the new (to me) GPU buffer mesh api for this and I ❤️ it!

I like how things are OOTB these days. Some light post-processing, everything configured reasonably with all the settings objects in one place. Bear in mind it's been 3 years since I properly dug into a URP project.

Yeah, I feel a bit behind. Thus this.

Um, I should rundown what I'm using:
- Unity 6.2
- The basic URP template project
- New input system is default now so that
- I'll be using shadergraph and maybe having a first look at VFX graph.

I'm feeling like I wanna do something isometric like Madness, so I've switched to ortho and rotated 45. Of course, I also had to rotate the input axis so that north is still up and whatnot.

I have a bunch of time this weekend, so expect to see more of this technological marble very soon 👀

So I spun up a project last night and got the basics in:

Anyway, I'm going to start with a ball roller 🤩

Hear me out though: even though ball rolling is literally Unity 101, I genuinely love ball rolling games. Marble Madness, Monkey Ball, Marble Blast Ultra. Get the feel right and you can just zone out and play. Single analogue stick kinda thing.

Goals I guess:
- Use latest Unity stuff. We're stuck on 2022 at work (because VR), and don't use many new(er) features that I'd like to explore.
- Super simple game mechanics so I don't get bogged down in systems and UI.
- Focus on feel and presentation. Learn some art tech?

Alright, I'm gonna make a game!

It's coming into Autumn now and I'm starting to feel twitchy about not having a personal project going on, and it's been a while. So what the heck.

Dayjob takes up a lot of brainspace so I'm going to keep this really simple and fun and light, ok?

Loled at Quang Bang! Happy birthday duder 🎉

Got to 200 then immediately went back to 100 to start hunting. Got all but 2 nanas in 100 (just 100, not 101 or 102) before calling it a morning 😄

Said he, at midnight: "Oh I'll just take a look at DK:B for half an hour"

Good job I'm on holiday 😅

👀

Having an absolute sit in the garden this afternoon.

🚨 CRESCENT COUNTY KICKSTARTER IS LIVE!!! 🚨

Pledge now to -
🧹 drift and drive on your witch-tech motorbroom
🏍️ make deliveries by day, street race by night
💋 kiss your friends on the mouth??
💫 BE GAY DO GLIDES

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www.kickstarter.com/projects/ann...

Just took receipt of our garden-lounger-recliney-bistro-set thingies, so I'm sorry for the weather for the next two weeks at least.