There's already an existing game with a bear being a lumberjack that's named LumBearJack in which you are a (what a surprise) bear named Jack that's a Lumberjack. I guess naming that the same would give some problems in the jam/in the future of the dev.
A wonderful example of a game-jam development projection. Great insights into your method of tackling something like this, combined with a candid narration of your mindset. I just about snorted my morning coffee when you sprinted for the first time xD Liked and subbed; you deserve more attention!
Thanks very much! Godot is indeed neat, but so is GDevelop! I admit that I haven't actually used it to make a game (yet) but I have looked into it mainly to introduce my kids into game development. As a developer by trade I prefer to write all the code myself, but that's not how coding is taught in schools and GDevelop seems like a great next step from something like Scratch!
@@stingly Thank you! That's high praise, indeed, as I'm the person in charge of GDevelop for Education. But we've also had games at TGS this year, and many award-winners. You should give it a shot! I think you'll be surprised, particularly with the recently released multiplayer features. They're free, and pretty darn powerful.
@@stingly dare you to do it ;) want to use the free version, or do you want me to hook you up with a Gold sub for like a month to try all the bells and whistles? No strings attached. Just be nice to see what you think of it (no need for a video or anything)
Honestly I think that the free version offers a whole lot, and I wouldn't take advantage of the additional features... Also, as most people will try the free version first, I feel that would be a more representative entry point to the engine. I'll certainly give it a try (and will probably make a video on it!) - thanks for the offer though! I might take you up on it once I've gotten used to the base system 😉
I loved that so much too! Totally unintended and hilarious! I sadly had to tone it down a bit for the actual game though... maybe I'll add in some special boots or something that people can find to unlock that speed burst for a short while! 😂
Go for it! Start off by following a tutorial to familiarise yourself with the language or game engine, then move on to making something super-small and simple, like Pong. This will allow you to flex your problem solving skills. Don't be worried about looking up ways to tackle specific things, and also use the documentation - Godots docs are really good, and they have some lessons on there for common use-cases. Good luck!
very strategic, very professional, i was kinda surprised how you managed to make such a big game in only two days, but your approach to development during the video made it clear for me!
This was such an insightful video. I tried Godot but learning code was a little to hard for me and Gdevelop 5, No-Code Engine - which is updated constantly. I’ve been trying to improve my knowledege and the logic of events, also learning some pixel art. I have more respect solo indie developers working on their first game(s) and mine is called Starborne Whispers. Great video!
@@stingly Indeed, you're so right! I think it's ezze to get caught up in the 'how' when, in the end, it's all about the experience the player has. Tools like GDevelop have really allowed me to focus on the creative side of things while still learning and improving along the way. It's been a fun even somewhat challenging 😫journey working on Starborne Whispers... I hope players will enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed making it. Thanks for the encouragement - it means a lot coming from someone like you❣
@@Starbornewhispers I started with a visual script engine as well, taught me a lot about variables and logic and “duct tape” to get certain systems working. Eventually I moved over to learn python coding making a simple text based game with it. And then migrated to Godot as the language is quite similar! Sometimes with visual scripting you are held handicap or have to find a creative way to do things in which is a lot easier to just write your own script. But it’s a great place to make your first couple games. Sometimes I still find myself wanted to go back to it just to mess around. Good luck to you on your game!
@jacobscaggs321 Thanks 😊 And yeah I had to find some interesting ways around certain things in GDevelop event system but it works out... most time otherwise it's a forgotten feature 😆
I recently learned Choo Choo Charles was developed entirely without coding, as tools and resources improve it should get easier and easier to develop games without coding.
In Proton Scatter, enable the "Show Output in Tree" option to make the scattered nodes visible in the scene tree. Then, you can copy this output outside of the Proton Scatter node. By doing this, you are no longer dependent on Proton Scatter, which will eliminate the initial lag and delay. This will probably also fix your issue with the web export.
This is great and works really well! Of course the only problem is that I then have to delete the Proton Scatter node, otherwise I end up with 2 lots of trees in the same place, which kind of messes up any future development... I guess once the game is completely finished though it could be cloned and deleted as part of the build process
This was a fun video! Trying to learn about game dev, as a games artist I don't get to do a lot of the acc building ahah. So cool to see how u go about it! I agree w/ some of the other comments about art direction, but considering how little time u had, I'm still impressed!! Nice work 😎
I'd love to have the skills to be an artist! I've tried a couple of times, with varying success... I do have plans to learn how to draw better using a digital stylus in the new year, so hopefully that helps me create new assets for game dev! Glad you enjoyed the video ❤️
Awesome job! You did a lot for 16hs. Also, you prioritized perfectly the basic features for an mvp. Great job. Quick tip for video editing: try to normalize the audio for your narration, because at some points your voice got overshadowed by the background music
I don't want it to sound harsh, just trying to suggest ways to improve. The cohesion of art direction is non existent. Extremely simple and sharp-looking trees to rounded cartoony character and buildings to realistic terrain and ground texture. In my opinion the look would turn out much better if you had used those hex tiles for terrain, and that's just the one example of approaching it. Generally if you use asset packs try extracting as much from one pack so style doesn't change between assets. Hope that helps
Totally agree - the decision around the terrain was based solely on time. Using a plugin like Terrain3D or Heightmap allows for rapid prototyping, whereas using tiles takes a lot of time. I think that both could work, and in hindsight I maybe shouldn't have textured the ground... 🤷♂️
@@stinglyYeah, I feel like simply making the terrain a flat texture would make it okay. If you wanted more spice, a couple grass tuft and pebble models would do the trick.
Thanks very much! As you might have seen in the video, I have plenty of ideas on how to extend it - I think that depth and purpose are the two missing things that need adding, but like you say, the base is there!
GDScript beginner here, looking at all this and just being amazed you got so much done in 16h! Wizard! Then again, I touched no plugins and have made almost all assets except tutorial given ones.You are clearly very experienced and can do a lot in such a short amout of time, especially when you got code already written of your very own!
For things like game jams, I would say "cut as many corners as possible"! Some of the jams I do actually _require_ you to use assets from a specific creator, but in other ones I do make (bad) assets and use them in-game. WRT re-using code; the way I see it is I have already done the hard work once, why reinvent the wheel!? The character controller in the game, for example, is almost identical to the one I used in Dave The Space Pirate ruclips.net/video/L6vBMY0sAV4/видео.html
Great video! Looking forward to more like this! Would however have loved to see more of the coding/development side. Very much in the same life situation and find myself looking for willpower to move forward with gamedev with so many other responsibilities and time-thieves
Trying to balance the rather dry aspect of coding vs the instant appeal of shiny graphics is a constant battle! I focused more on the coding side in my last video, but that didn't do as well as this one has in terms of views and engagement so I don't know... 🤷 WRT the life situation, there are too many variables that are all difficult to comment on without knowing specifics, but in my case I try to progress things slowly, without putting pressure on myself or my family to get things done for a certain time. Take game jams for example, I enjoy doing them and making small proof-of-concept games, but I only participate if I know that it's not going to disrupt other family commitments. I also only work on my games in the evening when everyone else is in bed, which helps from a distraction PoV but certainly reduces the amount of time I can spend on anything!
You should definitely keep the crazy run speed. It looks fun, it's adorable. It makes sense because you're a bear. The island's small so it doesn't break too much. I can't see any reason to get rid of it.
It _is_ adorable! That's a great word to describe it! I'm thinking that I do something with it, like adding an item to boost running speed or giving the player an upgradeable stat... I think that I could add some sort of speed trail too, just to sell the idea even more 😂
Honestly, you should continue working on this game. I can see a whole cozy village kind of thing going on with a romance system where you could make money from lumberjacking to buy gifts for villagers, a sort of progressing generation of the village where, you kind of build your house, then sell wood you chop from a little houseside stall manually, which an NPC buys to build a lumbermill, allowing you to sell wood there just by visiting and the rest of the village grows over time. Maybe eventually, you unlock carpentry and can upgrade or add to your house with a workshop. Then you start getting requests for furniture or other crafts
Some nice ideas there! I think there's quite a lot I could do with the game, should I take it further... There's are a lot of potential routes I could take... I'd be a little worried about it being too similar to other games though - it definitely needs a solid identity first!
Thank you! Not my first rodeo though... I normally have a truncated time frame in which to work! I was actually surprised at how much polish I was able to add in 16 hours! Using assets and plugins really helped - that Phantom Camera one is awesome!
I subbed as I'm trying to learn game dev myself. I liked your video. I was wondering what your questing ideas were? When you mentioned about winning a game jam , I started to try and think how a judge might think, and I'm just thinking before you start next time I would try come up with a more interesting game? Because I feel like with this you put lots of effort into the bones but the idea itself isn't really interesting to me. Sometimes simple is good but it seems overly simple and not in an interesting way if you're trying to win, but you have the skills to win I think. I have lots of game ideas if you want any haha!
also as an ecologist can you put a mechanic in to plant more trees lol, the game right now is chop all the trees down, and have a lot of money, that is the gameplay loop I can see :') not so cosy ;)
Hehe, good point! I started off with the idea to plant trees too but ultimately ran out of time. I'd like to introduce different trees that require different skill levels to fell, and introduce a crafting mechanic. Then different npcs could request different things for you to create... There's a lot I could do with the game!
If it was me, that manic sprinting would be accompanied by a bear growl and then, as many of us do not speak bear, subtitles. Jack: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD (translated from bear-speak)
very cool gameplay! but visually it looks a bit messy the realistic terrain doesnt fit at all woth the rest of the cartoony assets, and it ends up looking like an asset flip
Hehe, you're quite right! Someone else commented about the terrain, and I think in hindsight it's not helped by the textures. It's a total asset flip - there's no way I could create a playable game in 16 hours in 3D with animations without using premade assets! I think there's still an element of design choice in the choice of asset though...
Hey man this is a really nice video but i got some feed back the music is a lil loud it overshadows your voice. Keep going your channel is very underrated ik you will one day find success
Thanks for the feedback! I spend quite a lot of time trying to get the audio levels right when editing, but sometimes I miss bits! 😂 I'm certainly not the best editor yet!
RUclips did its thing and recommended me this on my fyp Also a software developer thats now going into hobbiest game dev - subbing to watch your journey and would love to work on something with you one day 😁
Welcome to the Game Dev Community! I recommend working through some tutorials (like the Heartbeast RPG I mentioned - links in the description) to get a good understanding of the tool and how it works, then try some game jams before working on a "proper" game. As I said in this video, 2-day jams are tough for me due to family commitments, but there are plenty of week-long and 10-day jams out there. Good luck!
It's a fair comment, and one that others have also made! I seem to struggle with audio balancing, for some reason! I also tend to mumble sometimes, which doesn't help! 😂
Great video and love the vibe (of the game and video haha) Could you possibly do a deeper dive into how you made the animations and animation tree? I've been struggling with that myself for a little while now trying to transition from 2D to 3D
The animations came as part of the assets from Kenney (you should check out his site - links in the description). I can't remember where I first learned about the blend trees though... maybe I'll put together a tutorial for them in the future 🤔
@stingly Thank you for the response, and I didn't laugh lol. I think this goes to show that you don't need a beast of a gaming pc to get into game dev. Plus, I noticed that running linux too! Which is awesome!
It's actually Pop!_OS - I ran Manjaro for about a year before this, but have been on Pop!_OS now for many years. Obsidian is a great tool - I use it to organise notes and ideas for games and videos mainly, and then during development of the games I use the Kanban plugin to manage my tasks.
Lol, I should get a commission with the amount of times I promote this app! It's called Obsidian (obsidian.md/) and I use the Kanban plugin do do the task management.
Technically yeah, you did cheat, if you worked on the game outside of the window given for the game jam. As you identified, the headspace and level of commitment is different when you have to manage your time in such a short period rather than a longer time with similar working hours but time for proper breaks, reflection, etc. I don't think it's that important as this was a cosy jam with no ratings and you were honest about it, and you actually came up with a game in the end under vaguely comparable restraints anyway. I wonder what you actually could do if restrained to just 6 hours though? I used to do a lot more game jams like this when I was younger and had different demands on my time, but maybe the solution would be to adjust scope and see what could be done in a really short period? I recall doing jams that were as short as 100 minutes long, and it's a real sprint to build anything at all in that time frame.
Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts! As I said at the start of the video, I've done a few 2 day jams before, all of which ended up being just a few hours of actual work time due to family commitments - like this one which I did in 8 hours ruclips.net/video/CmAWQn4TBX4/видео.html - and yeah, the time pressure is real! 100 minutes is mental though! 😂
@@stingly alr good to know!, it would be cool if you released the source for this first demo tho, could be a good way for many people to learn from its structure, even if its messy!
I'm new to game dev, 1 year in, but i am starting to try some starter projects, do people actually play small small games like this with only a few mechanics? Like, is 100 sales for $3 each possible with a small game? I can make all my own assets, but idk if people actually download small games. Just $300 would be worth it in my case, borderline homeless.
I guess it depends on the game and the experience. I bought and played A Short Hike, and it was a great experience for only a few pounds. Of course, the amount of level design and characters probably took a long time, but mechanically it's very simple... Wrt my game, it's not worth anything in this state... But I think with some sort of quest system and better progression, it could be sellable.
This is gonna come off harsh but, game creation is a privileged job. Most people with the capital to create a meaningful game also have money or family they can live off of for months or years before shipping that game. Its privileged because, no, a homeless person would not have the time, extra capital or personal security to do a job like indie dev. If you can reliable make a game a month for mobile and sell the rights of it to a mobile platform or webhoster, you could get some 500 bucks to 2000 bucks per sold game, but the rights are relinquished, no royalties. This is a method some use to make regular income on small games. That is a reasonable method that has worked, but if you are almost homeless, get any job, and come back to game design when you are safe and secure. Don't go hungry please.
@@honaleri Think i didnt really explain my situation well enough My rent is 200-400 a month and i haven't really had to work for a year while i've been learning game development, because of the social programs available in major cities. I am borderline homeless because I live in public housing with other ex homeless and crazy people, i was homeless for 3 months last year before getting placed here by a homeless program. So I have time all day to make games. I will not go back to working a regular job, 40 hours a week. Its a waste of my time, because it wont get you anywhere in 10 years. I believe you'll get somewhere faster in life by betting on yourself and making those small games for 500-2000 a month. I only need 300-400 a month in profit to survive. I feel like the agency of indie development or entrepreneurship is way more worth it than a Full time job where you cant cook for yourself, cant see your friends or family, cant raise a family, have no time to work out, and have to warp your personality to fit in at work, shortening your lifespan from stress Only went so far to explain this because everyones advice is always "Dont do it, go back to work". But the people who make things happen advice is always to go for it and just get started,. Like people are playing life too safe or something, thinking they will work full time and develop games in their free time.
I'm glad! I think I summed it up fairly well in my conclusion - while I spent the same amount of active development time making the game, doing so over many days meant that I felt significantly less pressure than I would have done had I spent the same amount of time over just 2 days. Also, when I wasn't developing, I was still able to think about problems conceptually, meaning that my active dev time became more efficient... 🤷
Keep going! Keep developing! Keep learning! Everyone was a beginner at one point (I still am!), you just have to persevere and it will start to become easier.
Hi Noah, tbh it's not something I've ever considered! I tend to do everything solo because I can only work during unsociable hours (hence the topic of the video! 😂) but I know the value of teamwork! At the moment I would feel like I couldn't reliably contribute to a project, but at some point in the future it would be a good thing to explore...
Hehe - I'm not going to be baited on the "evil" part, but to answer your actual question: I originally wanted to create a game (Alan the Alien) back in the days before even Unity was popular. As a software developer, I opted to write my game using ActionScipt3 and used Starling as my game engine. Unfortunately I hit a problem along the way with memory allocation and shelved the project as I couldn't find a way around it. I then tried remaking the game a few years later in Unity and hated every minute - I couldn't get my head around the component model, it just didn't gel with me - and so I tried Godot and it all just clicked. For me, I find the node structure obvious and intuitive, and GDScript a simple but powerful enough language for the games that I want to make. As I discussed with one of the other commenters, I would like to try out other game engines now that I have a better understanding of what a game needs and some of the terms used in tutorials. I will be able to map things back to Godot and how I would approach the logic there. But Godot will likely remain my first choice of game engine, unless I discover something that makes game development even easier! Godot is an excellent choice of game engine for anyone who wants to learn game development, and is powerful enough for a lot more advanced games than I am capable of making! As I said elsewhere, no-one cares what tool you used to create something. You don't commend a builder for his choice of hammer when you buy a house. So you do you - just make games and have fun! 😊
Thank you! I've got a couple of jams already planned for 2025, plus other devlogs and tutorials... Maybe 2025 will be the year that I finally finish my possibly-commercial game too!
Making this while working full time, with 3 kids and making a video about it is a feat in itself! well done mate!
Thanks! It can be tough to juggle, but I have a pretty efficient process now (I think) 😂
Missed opportunity for Lum Bear Jack
Cool to watch, thanks!
I like that! Thought I was being clever with Lumber Jack, calling the bear Jack and getting him to collect lumber! That's next level though 😂
My first thought after "grafting" the bear head.
There's already an existing game with a bear being a lumberjack that's named LumBearJack in which you are a (what a surprise) bear named Jack that's a Lumberjack. I guess naming that the same would give some problems in the jam/in the future of the dev.
@@simonecosci565 no way! It looks quite fun too! Dammit! store.steampowered.com/app/1582290/LumbearJack/
Came here to say this ^^
A wonderful example of a game-jam development projection.
Great insights into your method of tackling something like this, combined with a candid narration of your mindset.
I just about snorted my morning coffee when you sprinted for the first time xD
Liked and subbed; you deserve more attention!
Thanks very much! It's taken me a while to become efficient at game development, so hopefully my ramblings can be helpful to others!
Part of the GDevelop team here. This is super cool. Godot is neat. Great job on the game. Totally my kind of thing. Well done!
Thanks very much! Godot is indeed neat, but so is GDevelop! I admit that I haven't actually used it to make a game (yet) but I have looked into it mainly to introduce my kids into game development. As a developer by trade I prefer to write all the code myself, but that's not how coding is taught in schools and GDevelop seems like a great next step from something like Scratch!
@@stingly Thank you! That's high praise, indeed, as I'm the person in charge of GDevelop for Education. But we've also had games at TGS this year, and many award-winners. You should give it a shot! I think you'll be surprised, particularly with the recently released multiplayer features. They're free, and pretty darn powerful.
@@MarcosCodas well now I _have_ to do it! Congrats on the success so far! I have a couple of ideas that might work as a small proof-of-concept... 🤔
@@stingly dare you to do it ;) want to use the free version, or do you want me to hook you up with a Gold sub for like a month to try all the bells and whistles? No strings attached. Just be nice to see what you think of it (no need for a video or anything)
Honestly I think that the free version offers a whole lot, and I wouldn't take advantage of the additional features... Also, as most people will try the free version first, I feel that would be a more representative entry point to the engine. I'll certainly give it a try (and will probably make a video on it!) - thanks for the offer though! I might take you up on it once I've gotten used to the base system 😉
My kids thought Jack was super cute and laughed when he ran at full speed!
I loved that so much too! Totally unintended and hilarious! I sadly had to tone it down a bit for the actual game though... maybe I'll add in some special boots or something that people can find to unlock that speed burst for a short while! 😂
Why am I’m still surprised by 3D godots game, there’s like, thousands of them and everytime I see a 3D Godot game I’m like “you can do that?”
12:00 this transition has burned my eyes
Hehe, if I'd have planned it I could have done some sort of snazzy wipe or something! It was just coincidence!
I realy like what you did in such short time!
Never made a game but it makes me want to try do something just to see if I can.
Go for it! Start off by following a tutorial to familiarise yourself with the language or game engine, then move on to making something super-small and simple, like Pong. This will allow you to flex your problem solving skills. Don't be worried about looking up ways to tackle specific things, and also use the documentation - Godots docs are really good, and they have some lessons on there for common use-cases. Good luck!
very strategic, very professional, i was kinda surprised how you managed to make such a big game in only two days, but your approach to development during the video made it clear for me!
Hehe - copious use of assets and plugins! 😂
cool; it is nice to see what people can make with assets and plugins from the community, and a little (16 hours) of work! Lumber Jack;
Absolute godsend! There are some insanely talented creators in the community!
Adulting and game dev is such a hard balance. Great job on the game, loved the vid.
It's not the easiest combination, for sure! On the bright side though, I have built-in game testers... 😂
This was such an insightful video. I tried Godot but learning code was a little to hard for me and Gdevelop 5, No-Code Engine - which is updated constantly. I’ve been trying to improve my knowledege and the logic of events, also learning some pixel art.
I have more respect solo indie developers working on their first game(s) and mine is called Starborne Whispers.
Great video!
You choose the tools that work best for you! At the end of the day, nobody playing your game is going to care how it was created.
@@stingly Indeed, you're so right! I think it's ezze to get caught up in the 'how' when, in the end, it's all about the experience the player has. Tools like GDevelop have really allowed me to focus on the creative side of things while still learning and improving along the way. It's been a fun even somewhat challenging 😫journey working on Starborne Whispers...
I hope players will enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed making it. Thanks for the encouragement - it means a lot coming from someone like you❣
@@Starbornewhispers I started with a visual script engine as well, taught me a lot about variables and logic and “duct tape” to get certain systems working. Eventually I moved over to learn python coding making a simple text based game with it. And then migrated to Godot as the language is quite similar! Sometimes with visual scripting you are held handicap or have to find a creative way to do things in which is a lot easier to just write your own script.
But it’s a great place to make your first couple games. Sometimes I still find myself wanted to go back to it just to mess around.
Good luck to you on your game!
@jacobscaggs321 Thanks 😊
And yeah I had to find some interesting ways around certain things in GDevelop event system but it works out... most time otherwise it's a forgotten feature 😆
I recently learned Choo Choo Charles was developed entirely without coding, as tools and resources improve it should get easier and easier to develop games without coding.
In Proton Scatter, enable the "Show Output in Tree" option to make the scattered nodes visible in the scene tree. Then, you can copy this output outside of the Proton Scatter node. By doing this, you are no longer dependent on Proton Scatter, which will eliminate the initial lag and delay. This will probably also fix your issue with the web export.
This is great and works really well! Of course the only problem is that I then have to delete the Proton Scatter node, otherwise I end up with 2 lots of trees in the same place, which kind of messes up any future development... I guess once the game is completely finished though it could be cloned and deleted as part of the build process
This was a fun video! Trying to learn about game dev, as a games artist I don't get to do a lot of the acc building ahah. So cool to see how u go about it! I agree w/ some of the other comments about art direction, but considering how little time u had, I'm still impressed!! Nice work 😎
I'd love to have the skills to be an artist! I've tried a couple of times, with varying success... I do have plans to learn how to draw better using a digital stylus in the new year, so hopefully that helps me create new assets for game dev! Glad you enjoyed the video ❤️
The game looks cute! Well done
Thank you!
Awesome job! You did a lot for 16hs. Also, you prioritized perfectly the basic features for an mvp. Great job.
Quick tip for video editing: try to normalize the audio for your narration, because at some points your voice got overshadowed by the background music
Thanks for the feedback!
I don't want it to sound harsh, just trying to suggest ways to improve. The cohesion of art direction is non existent. Extremely simple and sharp-looking trees to rounded cartoony character and buildings to realistic terrain and ground texture. In my opinion the look would turn out much better if you had used those hex tiles for terrain, and that's just the one example of approaching it. Generally if you use asset packs try extracting as much from one pack so style doesn't change between assets. Hope that helps
Totally agree - the decision around the terrain was based solely on time. Using a plugin like Terrain3D or Heightmap allows for rapid prototyping, whereas using tiles takes a lot of time. I think that both could work, and in hindsight I maybe shouldn't have textured the ground... 🤷♂️
@@stinglyYeah, I feel like simply making the terrain a flat texture would make it okay. If you wanted more spice, a couple grass tuft and pebble models would do the trick.
Yeah I'd quite like to revisit it at some point and spend some time decorating the map with more assets... It'd end up looking a lot better I think
I get what u mean. But with the time constraint , I'm just glad he managed to finish it.
bud, your video style is great. got a sub!
I enjoyed this, seeing the process and all the good and bad was very informative even for a veteran game dev thank you
Thanks very much! Glad you got something out of my ramblings! 😂
Love the game, it looks really interesting and its got a good base for becoming something even better!
Thanks very much! As you might have seen in the video, I have plenty of ideas on how to extend it - I think that depth and purpose are the two missing things that need adding, but like you say, the base is there!
GDScript beginner here, looking at all this and just being amazed you got so much done in 16h! Wizard! Then again, I touched no plugins and have made almost all assets except tutorial given ones.You are clearly very experienced and can do a lot in such a short amout of time, especially when you got code already written of your very own!
For things like game jams, I would say "cut as many corners as possible"! Some of the jams I do actually _require_ you to use assets from a specific creator, but in other ones I do make (bad) assets and use them in-game. WRT re-using code; the way I see it is I have already done the hard work once, why reinvent the wheel!? The character controller in the game, for example, is almost identical to the one I used in Dave The Space Pirate ruclips.net/video/L6vBMY0sAV4/видео.html
...also, some plugins are amazing and produce better results than I could ever do myself anyway!
well done in practically a day! if anything has potentially to be fully made into something more!
Thanks! I guess 16 hours of game dev _could_ be done in a day, but you'd be knackered!
Great video! Looking forward to more like this! Would however have loved to see more of the coding/development side.
Very much in the same life situation and find myself looking for willpower to move forward with gamedev with so many other responsibilities and time-thieves
Trying to balance the rather dry aspect of coding vs the instant appeal of shiny graphics is a constant battle! I focused more on the coding side in my last video, but that didn't do as well as this one has in terms of views and engagement so I don't know... 🤷
WRT the life situation, there are too many variables that are all difficult to comment on without knowing specifics, but in my case I try to progress things slowly, without putting pressure on myself or my family to get things done for a certain time. Take game jams for example, I enjoy doing them and making small proof-of-concept games, but I only participate if I know that it's not going to disrupt other family commitments. I also only work on my games in the evening when everyone else is in bed, which helps from a distraction PoV but certainly reduces the amount of time I can spend on anything!
You should definitely keep the crazy run speed. It looks fun, it's adorable. It makes sense because you're a bear. The island's small so it doesn't break too much. I can't see any reason to get rid of it.
It _is_ adorable! That's a great word to describe it! I'm thinking that I do something with it, like adding an item to boost running speed or giving the player an upgradeable stat... I think that I could add some sort of speed trail too, just to sell the idea even more 😂
Honestly, you should continue working on this game. I can see a whole cozy village kind of thing going on with a romance system where you could make money from lumberjacking to buy gifts for villagers, a sort of progressing generation of the village where, you kind of build your house, then sell wood you chop from a little houseside stall manually, which an NPC buys to build a lumbermill, allowing you to sell wood there just by visiting and the rest of the village grows over time. Maybe eventually, you unlock carpentry and can upgrade or add to your house with a workshop. Then you start getting requests for furniture or other crafts
Some nice ideas there! I think there's quite a lot I could do with the game, should I take it further... There's are a lot of potential routes I could take... I'd be a little worried about it being too similar to other games though - it definitely needs a solid identity first!
Amazing dude, definitely gonna check this out.
Thanks very much!
Very impressive for only 16 hours of work!
Thank you! Not my first rodeo though... I normally have a truncated time frame in which to work! I was actually surprised at how much polish I was able to add in 16 hours! Using assets and plugins really helped - that Phantom Camera one is awesome!
I subbed as I'm trying to learn game dev myself. I liked your video. I was wondering what your questing ideas were? When you mentioned about winning a game jam , I started to try and think how a judge might think, and I'm just thinking before you start next time I would try come up with a more interesting game? Because I feel like with this you put lots of effort into the bones but the idea itself isn't really interesting to me. Sometimes simple is good but it seems overly simple and not in an interesting way if you're trying to win, but you have the skills to win I think. I have lots of game ideas if you want any haha!
also as an ecologist can you put a mechanic in to plant more trees lol, the game right now is chop all the trees down, and have a lot of money, that is the gameplay loop I can see :') not so cosy ;)
Hehe, good point! I started off with the idea to plant trees too but ultimately ran out of time. I'd like to introduce different trees that require different skill levels to fell, and introduce a crafting mechanic. Then different npcs could request different things for you to create... There's a lot I could do with the game!
@@stingly oh ok I see I see, would definitely add depth 😊 good to know you were going add planting trees too hehe!
If it was me, that manic sprinting would be accompanied by a bear growl and then, as many of us do not speak bear, subtitles.
Jack: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD (translated from bear-speak)
very cool gameplay! but visually it looks a bit messy
the realistic terrain doesnt fit at all woth the rest of the cartoony assets, and it ends up looking like an asset flip
Hehe, you're quite right! Someone else commented about the terrain, and I think in hindsight it's not helped by the textures. It's a total asset flip - there's no way I could create a playable game in 16 hours in 3D with animations without using premade assets! I think there's still an element of design choice in the choice of asset though...
whats that todo app you had at 14:20?
It's called Obsidian obsidian.md/ which I use for all of my notes and ideas. The Kanban board is a plugin for that, all totally free 😊
Hey man this is a really nice video but i got some feed back the music is a lil loud it overshadows your voice. Keep going your channel is very underrated ik you will one day find success
Thanks for the feedback! I spend quite a lot of time trying to get the audio levels right when editing, but sometimes I miss bits! 😂 I'm certainly not the best editor yet!
@@stingly I think there is a way to make your audio always one level in Obs but I don't remember how
What is your project managements system software?
I'm using Obsidian (obsidian.md/) with a Kanban plugin - all free and runs local to my machine!
This is pretty cool!
Thanks very much!
God that is a fast bear.
I mean, bears are pretty fast anyway, right? 🤔
RUclips did its thing and recommended me this on my fyp
Also a software developer thats now going into hobbiest game dev - subbing to watch your journey and would love to work on something with you one day 😁
Welcome to the Game Dev Community! I recommend working through some tutorials (like the Heartbeast RPG I mentioned - links in the description) to get a good understanding of the tool and how it works, then try some game jams before working on a "proper" game. As I said in this video, 2-day jams are tough for me due to family commitments, but there are plenty of week-long and 10-day jams out there. Good luck!
Great video! I would suggest to turn the background music a bit down for next ones, sometimes it was hard to hear your voice.
It's a fair comment, and one that others have also made! I seem to struggle with audio balancing, for some reason! I also tend to mumble sometimes, which doesn't help! 😂
Great video and love the vibe (of the game and video haha)
Could you possibly do a deeper dive into how you made the animations and animation tree? I've been struggling with that myself for a little while now trying to transition from 2D to 3D
The animations came as part of the assets from Kenney (you should check out his site - links in the description). I can't remember where I first learned about the blend trees though... maybe I'll put together a tutorial for them in the future 🤔
What TODO app were you using?
what is the thing your using for planning the project ? is it a website?
It's a cross-platform desktop app called Obsidian. 😊
What OS are you using and what is the kanban app please?
I'm on Pop!_OS, a Linux distribution, and the app I'm using is Obsidian with a Kanban plugin 👍
I'm curious, what KanBan app are you using?
It's Obsidian with a Kanban plugin 😊
Hi, thanks for the video. Do you mind providing a little bit of information about your laptop specs? Like the name, cpu model, or amount of ram?
Promise you won't laugh? I have an old Samsung Series 7 Ultra, running an Intel i5-3337U with 6 whole GB of RAM! 😂
@@stingly XD
@stingly Thank you for the response, and I didn't laugh lol. I think this goes to show that you don't need a beast of a gaming pc to get into game dev. Plus, I noticed that running linux too! Which is awesome!
What is the name of the note taking app youre using?
It's called Obsidian 😉
Slick!
LumBear Jack
What OS is that? Fedora? or Mint? I am also curious about how you use Obsidian in your daily-life and integrate it into the workflow.
It's actually Pop!_OS - I ran Manjaro for about a year before this, but have been on Pop!_OS now for many years. Obsidian is a great tool - I use it to organise notes and ideas for games and videos mainly, and then during development of the games I use the Kanban plugin to manage my tasks.
Maybe a silly question... what was that program you used for your todo lists? Is that built into Godot, or something seperate?
Not a silly question at all! It's called Obsidian obsidian.md/ - I use it with the Kanban plugin, all available for free 😊
Which app did u used to plan the game?
Lol, I should get a commission with the amount of times I promote this app! It's called Obsidian (obsidian.md/) and I use the Kanban plugin do do the task management.
You are built different.
Thanks, I think! 🤔😂
Super nice :)
What software are you using at 14:19? 🙂
It's Obsidian with a Kanban plugin 😊
Technically yeah, you did cheat, if you worked on the game outside of the window given for the game jam. As you identified, the headspace and level of commitment is different when you have to manage your time in such a short period rather than a longer time with similar working hours but time for proper breaks, reflection, etc.
I don't think it's that important as this was a cosy jam with no ratings and you were honest about it, and you actually came up with a game in the end under vaguely comparable restraints anyway. I wonder what you actually could do if restrained to just 6 hours though? I used to do a lot more game jams like this when I was younger and had different demands on my time, but maybe the solution would be to adjust scope and see what could be done in a really short period?
I recall doing jams that were as short as 100 minutes long, and it's a real sprint to build anything at all in that time frame.
Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts! As I said at the start of the video, I've done a few 2 day jams before, all of which ended up being just a few hours of actual work time due to family commitments - like this one which I did in 8 hours ruclips.net/video/CmAWQn4TBX4/видео.html - and yeah, the time pressure is real! 100 minutes is mental though! 😂
Nice game!
buen video! muy interesante!
Thank you!
will you release source code?
Probably not, to be honest... I'm seriously considering making it into a fully featured game, at which point I might reconsider this decision... 🤔
@@stingly alr good to know!, it would be cool if you released the source for this first demo tho, could be a good way for many people to learn from its structure, even if its messy!
bro made Evergreens, Not Green ... smh
Hahaha, that's a really good point! 😂
I'm new to game dev, 1 year in, but i am starting to try some starter projects, do people actually play small small games like this with only a few mechanics?
Like, is 100 sales for $3 each possible with a small game? I can make all my own assets, but idk if people actually download small games. Just $300 would be worth it in my case, borderline homeless.
I guess it depends on the game and the experience. I bought and played A Short Hike, and it was a great experience for only a few pounds. Of course, the amount of level design and characters probably took a long time, but mechanically it's very simple... Wrt my game, it's not worth anything in this state... But I think with some sort of quest system and better progression, it could be sellable.
This is gonna come off harsh but, game creation is a privileged job. Most people with the capital to create a meaningful game also have money or family they can live off of for months or years before shipping that game. Its privileged because, no, a homeless person would not have the time, extra capital or personal security to do a job like indie dev.
If you can reliable make a game a month for mobile and sell the rights of it to a mobile platform or webhoster, you could get some 500 bucks to 2000 bucks per sold game, but the rights are relinquished, no royalties. This is a method some use to make regular income on small games. That is a reasonable method that has worked, but if you are almost homeless, get any job, and come back to game design when you are safe and secure. Don't go hungry please.
@@honaleri Think i didnt really explain my situation well enough
My rent is 200-400 a month and i haven't really had to work for a year while i've been learning game development, because of the social programs available in major cities.
I am borderline homeless because I live in public housing with other ex homeless and crazy people, i was homeless for 3 months last year before getting placed here by a homeless program.
So I have time all day to make games.
I will not go back to working a regular job, 40 hours a week. Its a waste of my time, because it wont get you anywhere in 10 years. I believe you'll get somewhere faster in life by betting on yourself and making those small games for 500-2000 a month. I only need 300-400 a month in profit to survive.
I feel like the agency of indie development or entrepreneurship is way more worth it than a Full time job where you cant cook for yourself, cant see your friends or family, cant raise a family, have no time to work out, and have to warp your personality to fit in at work, shortening your lifespan from stress
Only went so far to explain this because everyones advice is always "Dont do it, go back to work". But the people who make things happen advice is always to go for it and just get started,. Like people are playing life too safe or something, thinking they will work full time and develop games in their free time.
I don't understand what is part could be considered cheating tbh
I'm glad! I think I summed it up fairly well in my conclusion - while I spent the same amount of active development time making the game, doing so over many days meant that I felt significantly less pressure than I would have done had I spent the same amount of time over just 2 days. Also, when I wasn't developing, I was still able to think about problems conceptually, meaning that my active dev time became more efficient... 🤷
don't love these happy accidents in game dev?
I did the same thing over 6 months
Meanwhile it takes me 1 hour to make my player move I am a beginner of course
Keep going! Keep developing! Keep learning! Everyone was a beginner at one point (I still am!), you just have to persevere and it will start to become easier.
Hi, Stingly! Would you be interested in collaborating with other people?
Hi Noah, tbh it's not something I've ever considered! I tend to do everything solo because I can only work during unsociable hours (hence the topic of the video! 😂) but I know the value of teamwork! At the moment I would feel like I couldn't reliably contribute to a project, but at some point in the future it would be a good thing to explore...
What is your browser?
I'm using Zen zen-browser.app/ - I really like it's minimalist UI 🙂
@@stingly thank you bro!
hi godot not bad im use godot before create all object aseprite my game I was thinking about my own game, but I'd rather make it smaller
I love Aseprite - such a good program!
Out of all game engines, why would you ever use Godot?
It's always been worse and these days it's evil.
Hehe - I'm not going to be baited on the "evil" part, but to answer your actual question: I originally wanted to create a game (Alan the Alien) back in the days before even Unity was popular. As a software developer, I opted to write my game using ActionScipt3 and used Starling as my game engine. Unfortunately I hit a problem along the way with memory allocation and shelved the project as I couldn't find a way around it. I then tried remaking the game a few years later in Unity and hated every minute - I couldn't get my head around the component model, it just didn't gel with me - and so I tried Godot and it all just clicked. For me, I find the node structure obvious and intuitive, and GDScript a simple but powerful enough language for the games that I want to make.
As I discussed with one of the other commenters, I would like to try out other game engines now that I have a better understanding of what a game needs and some of the terms used in tutorials. I will be able to map things back to Godot and how I would approach the logic there. But Godot will likely remain my first choice of game engine, unless I discover something that makes game development even easier! Godot is an excellent choice of game engine for anyone who wants to learn game development, and is powerful enough for a lot more advanced games than I am capable of making! As I said elsewhere, no-one cares what tool you used to create something. You don't commend a builder for his choice of hammer when you buy a house. So you do you - just make games and have fun! 😊
love the game and keep up the working keep posting videos
Thank you! I've got a couple of jams already planned for 2025, plus other devlogs and tutorials... Maybe 2025 will be the year that I finally finish my possibly-commercial game too!