I actually think I'd rather the player just control one character and the game be multiplayer. It just sounds really fun to go hunting beasts with the boys.

@Germanunkol

Ай бұрын

Totally agree. Multiplayer is definitely high on my list of things I wanna add. But I actually think that making it a party-based game even in singleplayer mode will help me make multiplayer a reality, because I if the creature _always_ faces multiple foes, then the brain structure doesn't need to be different in singleplayer and multiplayer modes - I can reuse the same mechanics. This is one of the aspects I like most about the idea of the party-based system, because how to handle multiple foes (multiple player characters) is a core challenge I have to deal with when creating the brains... and this makes that challenge much easier to tackle.

@AchatTheAlpaca

Ай бұрын

@@Germanunkol its a really cool concept, it also forces players to add diversity, id love to see this with something like maybe quick commands to characters who are not selected

@fnytnqsladcgqlefzcqxlzlcgj9220

Ай бұрын

@@Germanunkol yeah like in that old game magicka, its always a squad, in multiplayer the bois replace the npc squad

@satorian7157

Ай бұрын

Very much agree that multiplayer would be very very fun! The only thing is that balancing around multiplayer is rarely going to end up with a game that is fun if player count is ever low (although with how cool this game already looks in early stages, I have high hopes!) Possibly including conjuring as an ability so you could create an army of your own when not in multiplayer similar to how Elden Ring does it could alleviate this problem.

@Dodanon

Ай бұрын

@@Germanunkol Maybe you could make the other "party members" in single player like a familiar of sorts. That can fight or function as a distraction while the player attacks the beast's weak points?

The companions don't have to also be witches. Familiars, summoned demons and even maybe a beast stolen as a hatchling would fit a "witch" theme, and contribute to run variety on the player side. It could even allow for some big melee units to enter the battle under player's command. Unrelated but important: the beast showcase shots use a very different camera from gameplay. Maybe the beasts' details are better seen from a high shoulder surf perspective, and we never noticed because we have seen them up close so much we fill in the details and imposing feel in the isometric view in our heads. Something to consider.

@RonaldMcDonald-nf9jj

Ай бұрын

i actually like this a lot better. something about multiple witches felt a little weird.

@iwiffitthitotonacc4673

Ай бұрын

Oh I was just going to comment this as well - the familiars/demons could count as an extra magic ability and not a default thing, so you can spec into more powerful spells in a multiplayer setting or have even more attack vectors.

@Badmojoz

20 күн бұрын

Thats a great idea. Perhaps let our beast be able to evolve as well. With some input of our own. Do you want an agile hunter type beast ? More of a tank, with increased armor, or one that will distract the enemy? The evolving mechanics could ofcourse decide on its own as well. With each alterations change depending on which one performs better with your playstyle.

@KacieJscott

14 күн бұрын

Maybe you need feed creature brains to your followers to improve them. Not because your sick in head but because they could inherit creature behaviours.

I dont know if this is just me but the game gives off a very stop-motion like artstyle that i cant really describe. Looks amazing

@Germanunkol

Ай бұрын

I've heard something similar from another person before, but I also can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it's the way creatures skitter around quickly and then halt... Or it's just the screen tearing that you see sometimes because of my bad recording skills :D

@optionboom

Ай бұрын

@@GermanunkolI think the harsh lighting is part of it, makes it feel like a stop-motion set.

@user-mc5oh2pl7t

Ай бұрын

@@Germanunkol Look at the game called "Vangers", it reminds me of your style, albeit Vangers feels more psychedelic. BTW, it would be cool to add some layers of moss and mushrooms to the landscapes.

@EvenTheDogAgrees

Ай бұрын

@@Germanunkol maybe also because the procedurally generated creatures look like clay models. I know this is still subject to change, and the end result might end up looking totally different, but this look really has a certain charm.

@dytyzerpud

Ай бұрын

@@Germanunkol I agree with the stop motion comment. Maybe its the textures too? I love it though! Looks amazing! Wishlisted!

Having a little creature hunter tribe to manage could be a lot of fun. Like a stone age hunting party exploring these caves. Would let you make the creatures a lot deadlier too because one tribesman dying would mean you still have some remaining, so you could afford to give each of them less health. Real time with pause would probably be the option that requires the least amount of manual dexterity to succeed in and more about strategizing, positioning and trying to predict creature behavior, trying to keep as many of your tribespeople alive as possible.

@alien0gamer139

Ай бұрын

This system could be applied to so many different genres, I love it

I think one could draw inspiration from the monster hunter series, where there are traps as tools, but also creatures get "exhausted" or hurt over time that gives windows of opportunity for side/back attacks. Also, there are more powerfull attacks (like charging), which when dodged by the player leave the weak spot open for a few seconds as a reward. In the end it really depends on how you want this to play out. I have never seen RTS-like controls on such a rogue lite, I imagine it is quite exhausting when its get faster, and rather repetitive when being slower. You could keep the current setup and just rely on it being more fun in multiplayer, similar to monster hunter, where solo missions are possible, but require more prep/traps/timing. Tile-free turn based, like Divinity 2, could also be an option, but there you loose the option for skilled aiming and reaction time to be rewarded. love the concept of the evolving creature rogue like, excited to see where you'll end up

@Germanunkol

Ай бұрын

Thanks, cool ideas, I especially like the idea of adding fatigue to the creatures! Yeah, RTS-style is probably not the way to go... I could imagine that the player controls their main character directly and has some hot-keys that change behavior of the other characters, (who then act mostly autonomously). Between battles, the player could configure those hotkeys if needed. Then you could set up what parts your characters should aim at, for example, or what position or stance they should favour.

@CaptnApathy

Ай бұрын

@@Germanunkol for the other characters, what if you used a system similar to gambits from ff12? just a list of conditions and actions done when condition is met, and is highest priority that has met condition?

@delboy6301

Ай бұрын

@@Germanunkol you could also add a enraged mechanic like say striking the face of killing a ally could cause swarm attacks and barrages of bites and maybe a charge attack. these can also be tuned to the stats of specific beasts like small fast beasts can rely on the swarming tactic and heavy beasts can use the charge attacks.

@alien0gamer139

Ай бұрын

@@Germanunkol I always enjoyed Dragon Age origins tactics system, you're able to program preset action based off conditions took a lot of weight off the player

@beafraidofinsectattack

Ай бұрын

Meepo Monster Hunter sounds neat

For combat you might want to look at the original Dragon Age. I wouldn't go the turn based route, but I liked that you could automate your teammates by giving them some basic strategic options. Where to position, what enemies to target, what spells to use, etc... Then you can still swap and control individual team members directly, while the others are automated.

@Germanunkol

Ай бұрын

This is exactly what I'd like to try first, yes, I think this sounds very promising...!

@bencressman6110

Ай бұрын

This is such a great idea! Then spending time “programming” your teammates’ behaviour would be an opportunity for fun and strategy, adding a whole new layer to the game vs just being able to swap between pc controlled players which feels like you have less control. There would be so many ways you, the dev, could tackle that system it would be a big opportunity for creativity and originality!

@dongleseon8785

Ай бұрын

@@bencressman6110 Ooh if that's the case, beast should also evolve their "programming" or logic board of hunting tactics over time. Smaller ones evolving to a better swarming tactics while big one trying to block the exit or charging to brake formation.

@overrideFunction

Ай бұрын

I just said this. I LOVED the Dragon Age way of handling this

@jonahbloomfield6444

Ай бұрын

I had the same though

Since the protagonist is a witch, you can focus on giving the player different abilities making it possible to target different areas of the creature. Possible spells are stun/slow, different elemental attacks, AOE, Decoy/Mirror image illusion, Teleport, Summon minions (possibly even some of your previously encountered enemies?!), summon wall/obstacle and more. All of these different types of spells would in turn allow the creatures to evolve countermeasures (either direct resistances to them or to evolve stratifies that works better against them)

After being on a permanent state of pant shitting while playing rain world I can safely say this is a very exciting project

OH LORD, IT'S HERE! DEVLOG 4! THE PROPHECY CAME TRUE!

You sold me on the enemy evolution and the whole claymation-like look and jittery animation. This game screams uniqueness

- Tactical Pause is a must (at least as an accessibility tool) if doiung antyhing with more than one unit to control Maybe (since we are a witch and all) grant the character a teleport spell with long recharge, or even better cast teleport-back-to-this-place spell on the ground where player is standing and after 3s teleport back to that place. It will encourage baiting monsters into specific places before 3s runs out (so pressure). That should help with positioning as part of the gameplay without needing to stealth & stuff

procedurally generated creatures in games are the most interesting way to do them. hope stuff like this becomes common place in the next 2-3 years

Love the look! An animation deep dive would be really interesting

I love everything about this game, from the idea, down to execution. as long as single player will be the viable option I will buy it on the spot. I wish I had brain power to do such awesome math magic :)

that system looks amazing. We need more genetics sims. They're starting to come back into popularity and I love it.

Between traps and multiple characters is deployables / summmonables etc. Like throw down a turret and flank, then the creature has to decide whether to after you or the turret. Or summon a skeleton to assist you, again creature has to choose between you and it.

Controlling several characters sounds like a lot of fun!!

@mohammadazad8350

Ай бұрын

Yeah a lot of Frustrating Unintuitive Nuisance!

@AsherKadmiel

Ай бұрын

but how could you do that ?

One thing that sticks out to me in the gameplay footage is that it's not particularly clear when a monster dies. It just kind of stops moving, which is especially unclear for enemies with that start-and-stop skittering-type movement. My first thoughts go to a visual effect like a flash or something, but that might not fit the tone of the game (maybe you could get away with something subtle) Maybe once you get sound effects sorted away for the monsters, a little death sound effect would be clear. I'm just spitballing here, but hopefully this helped a little😅

@Germanunkol

Ай бұрын

It does help, thanks for pointing it out! I'm not too worried though: The skittering won't always stay, it currently just happens when the creatures evolve to be faster and finish a path-segment before I trigger a new path-finding update :D. Also, I have an early version of a Ragdoll system in place, might showcase that in more detail once it works a bit better. When it's active, the creatures falls to the ground when dead. But you're definitely right - I do need to implement clearer feedback for when something hits the creature.

@crusatyr1452

Ай бұрын

@@Germanunkol I appreciate the speedy reply! I figured that you had some sort of plan in place. Glad to hear :) Although I thought the skittering was intentional. I've certainly seen real-life bugs move like that and it adds to the creep factor. Keep up the great work! I always get excited when I see one of your devlogs pop up in my Subscriptions.

This whole concept and games is awesome! I love the procedural creatures idea! And let me tell this: This game is one of the creepiest I've ever seen. And I love it!

The more I think about your game, the more I feel like it should be third person over the shoulder. And this is coming from someone who loves top-down games

The amount of work you put into this is unthinkable, keep grinding

So for the single-player multiple character control, an idea I had was you could select a key to be the swap key (Say its L Alt) and you hold the swap key and then press a different key which is designated to one of your characters (Say you use Alt+W to swap to "Warrior", Alt+A to swap to "Trapper", Alt+D to swap to "Mage", etc.). This would allow you to quickly swap between characters while maintaining finger placement for movement keys. The character's you aren't controlling would probably have a basic AI and maybe you could select a personality or task for it while it's not controlled? Like have the trapper either focus on "control" traps or supporting allies or setting up more turrets, etc.

TWO OPTIONS for ending question. 1: you go the "friendly npc" option, and similar to Madden games have a single button for all of them. What this means, enter combat with enemy while friendlies in the vacinity, and they all have an attack command ready. You press L1 or E once for the first friendly, twice for second, etc, making it easier to choose and keeping combat real time. 2: Go even deeper and make the player species also evolving with you in it, having to fight others for the alpha of the group, your species also wandering the world. - and just as an experiment, you should definitely see if you can bring the camera into an almost 3rd person lock on type situation. The graphics are actually amazing to look at, and is artwork.

An interesting idea to tackle the "backside weak spot" issue you talked about could be adding a slide for the player that's only accessible in melee form. Imagine, the large monster chasing you is about to catch up. You've been kiting it for a while now taking shots at a heavily armored head and you can't bring it down before it's going to get to you. You switch to your melee weapon, charge in, slide under the beast (dodging it gobbling you up), and stab, slash, and crush its weak spot or damage its legs, slowing it.

Glad you're back man! The game looks sick! I am still in awe how detailed the procedural generation is and how well it works together!

@AsherKadmiel

Ай бұрын

im a fan hi

Not sure if you’ll see this but I’ve been watching this dev log series since the start and ahh! It’s so cool and you’ve come so far. The creatures look so sick and I’m just wishing you the best man. Top notch videos too!

Hell yeah! Finally a new video. I've been following the progress on discord, and can't wait to watch this video. Great project, mate!

Remember Clive Barker's Jericho? You can switch between your AI controlled characters on the run, giving the other two witches some simple commands while playing the main one. These commands can be in form of markers, which later on become just a map markers for your teammates in multiplayer. I think this mechanic is pretty easy to use and doesnt break the pacing unlike tactical pause. Also it plays great on WASD with mouse aiming. Over all great game idea and design, instantly wishlisted, keep on killing it!

@Germanunkol

21 күн бұрын

Thanks a lot, what you're describing is exactly what I'm going for right now. I'll have to see whether switching characters on the fly makes for fun gameplay (or whether it adds a layer that is too confusing in real-time battles), but other than that this direction seems very promising!

Ptocedural beast system is super cool. I really want to fight evolved creatures depending on my enviroment, and they are different every time. Truly a wonderful concept

Love these devlogs, this project is evolving very nicely! For the player movement, I could imagine using a control system similar to Project Loki. It's a game that's in closed Alpha so it's not super easy to get access to if you want to try for yourself, but basically you control the character movement with WASD and use your mouse to aim where your weapon is pointing. It feels super natural to control and avoids all the potential frustrations that could come from an RTS style of movement where the pathfinding may sometimes just walk the player straight into a beast or take them on a route that they weren't expecting. Keep up the great work, I'm always looking forward to the next devlog!!

I'm SO looking forward to this game! I'd like to offer a couple of thoughts: 1. Could creatures have a couple patterns of varied attacks that could add to the tactical variety during combat? Maybe some shoot spines long range so you have to either shoot back or otherwise dodge to get around them? Or a mix of slow and powerful or quick and light attacks that will let you as a player choose what to do? Tank the attack or dodge roll to a "safe" side? 2. Real-time with pause can become cumbersome if you are thinking about the pace of the game. Sometimes there really isn't that much of a difference between setting up flanking attacks and just sending everyone in at the same time, hoping to overwhelm using numbers. The tactical decision at that point becomes when do I rush in versus where am I moving or how am I going to move...if that makes sense. Blade Prince Academy uses a real-time with pause combat system, which in theory allows for tactical control, but in practice just ends up being a slugfest. 3. You mentioned groups of enemies working together, which I think is really cool! I'm curious about what you're thinking about what those interactions could look like! 4. Control scheme wise, I think you can do simple with keyboard and mouse. No Rest for the Wicked in my opinion has a simple control scheme that responds well!

@Germanunkol

Ай бұрын

Thanks a lot! Regarding the attack-patterns: Well, it depends on what exactly you mean. Yes, I want the creatures to have these kind of different attacks (at the moment they can bite, hit you with a leg - see 7:29 - or their tail, and spit those weird blobs... I want to extend this with different other attack types). But I don't want to hard-code patterns. That's something that will hopefully evolve. I hope this will happen when a vulnerability to every attack, i.e. stronger attacks have charge-up time, ranged attacks expose the neck of the creature when it aims, etc... and then the creature brains will hopefully stack these attacks in a way that might make "patterns". But I want to hard-code as little as possible. I'm glad we agree on the real-time-with-pause. I also think it's much cooler if players make their tactical decisions via the setup that the perform before meeting the creature. They "know" what kinds of creatures are currently in the level because they have fought their sibilings (or their parents last round), so they know pieces of what to expect. They can then equip and set up their characters accordingly, but as soon as they're in the battle, it's all about quick decisions and using your setup well. Collaborating enemies is one of my major goals for this project. I can't say if this will work, I can only sketch out some rough ideas that I've had: 1) Some creatures could specialize in taking damage, others in dealing damage. They wouldn't really "learn to interact", but their abilities would complement each other 2) I already noticed that sometimes, smaller creatures aren't easy to hit when they're below a larger creature. At the moment, this is coincidence, but once I get a bit further with the brains, then I think this should be something that could evolve. Taking this further, creatures will hopefully be able to position each other relative to others that they detect. 3) Creatures could evolve complimentary attacks (one stuns, the other then attacks when the player is stunned). 4) I don't know how far I'll be able to take this, but it would be really cool if some creatures would evolve "support" type behavior where they carry around mushrooms to heal the others. Those are just some ideas I had, but the day a collaboration pattern I _haven't_ thought of yet emerges in the game by itself will be a good day :D I'll check out Rest of the Wicked, "simple control scheme" sounds very good!

I personally prefer the single player vibe, as I think it fits better the cave and scary creatures environment. One idea could be to add some stealth mechanics, and do more usage of the kinematics adding more obstacles, walls, tunnels... Which would led to different combat possibilities. I also think that running from a sudden group of giant mutant arachnid beasts crawling around everywhere in first person would be cool.

@c.thissell8751

Ай бұрын

First person would scare the shit out of me. Idk if that is good or not, but damn those creepy crawlies move fast

this video is so impressive that i see several impressive ai youtubers that i watch talking about how good it is. it is incredibly impressive and i am glad to see you succeed where i gave up

wow the movement of the beasts looks awesome and unsettling, great job!

I think it would be super cool if players could tame one creature and have it help them fight. Depending on the creature it could help as dps, tank or allrounder. Add a base where you can keep and breed captured creatures and that's a super palyable game.

I hope this goes in a horror multiplayer direction because this looks awesome, traps and weapons feel more on theme then magic and spells

Im so glad you uploaded this! I was trying to find your channel for hours the other day!

This is a very cool concept my guy I hope the project grows and develops and receives the support it needs.

Do not give up I'm loving your devlogs

i think the music should be more eerie and creepy, like you're stuck in a cave with mutating monsters

Love the multiplayer idea. And even then, the player can control 1 to 2 Carrecter's even if they play online if the party has a low amount of players. And instead of tactical pause it can be an adrenaline rush where times slows down affecting both players. But will each individually have a set amount and have to control and communicate when and how they should use this ability.

great stuff my man, i can feel this project will be a success, the uniqueness of the evolutionary mechanic combined with a grim atmosphere makes for a great experience! best of luck to you!

Awesome concept! I've wish listed. Am looking forward to your ongoing work.

I think since the PC is a witch and has magic, you can certainly give abilities that allow you to distract a creature or block its ability to lock onto the player. For example, you can give an invisibility ability that lasts for a couple seconds and the player can use it to circle around the creature and stab it from the side or behind. Or an ability that creates a visual duplicate that makes the creature attack the illusion, allowing the player to retreat or maneuver around the battlefield. Maybe abilities that lower the creature's attack damage, allowing the player to afford getting hit a couple more times while circling around to reach other areas on its body. Maybe an ability (or sidearm) that doesn't damage a creature but grapples or tangles some of its legs and hinders its movements temporarily. I think having a variety of abilities like these for players to choose from can also allow the player to "adapt" their tactics to the new creatures as they evolve. Or an ability that temporarily makes a creature attack another creature instead of the PC and work as a distraction. As for additional characters, I think unless you're planning on an RTWP gameplay, it might be best to allow players to control only one character but set the behavior for their companions through a menu system. Dragon Age: Origins and Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire had versions of this, though they were both RTWP cRPGs and the player could swap to and control any of the characters at any time. I'm not sure how well it would fit a Roguelike, but it may be worth checking out. Multiplayer can be cool too, but I sure hope the game would still be playable in a single-player mode.

Placing runes around would be a fun trap play style

Those creatures you are making are positively terrifying, I am definitely going to play it once it's out, hope you do playtests/demos soon, or even early access through patreon, as this looks absolutely sick!

I was just thinking about this game yesterday, glad to see another devlog! One thing I would like to say is how cool the beasts look when you view them up close. I think when the enemies are really small on the screen all their features blend together and it's hard to see what part is what. This would almost make me want to play in first person so I can view them better but I know that's a big design change and probably not what you want.

INSTANT subscribe. This is incredibly impressive and original! As for gameplay ideas: 1) You could combine the turret/trap idea with the multiple witch idea. Instead of spawning a trap, you summon a new witch/projection/creature to fight for you. Mid-combat, the creature gets distracted by the summon, allowing the player to switch to the offensive. Or the witch can summon in anticipation of danger (for some duration), and that lets you include monsters that can sneak up or dash, bc the player can travel with some protection. 1-A) Options for the summons are limitless. Some could be specifically for drawing enemy attention. Some could dash away as they distract, making monsters turn and reveal their weak spot. Some shoot projectiles. Maybe the location of the summon is strategic (behind the enemy, in the air). Maybe some summons spawn more summons. 1-B) It's a roguelite, so you could offer different summons with each run, picking up new, more powerful ones between levels. This also gives the player something to do while the next generation of monsters load, effectively hiding the load time. 2) If the weak spot is always on the back of the monster, include attacks where the monster slashes/spins/turns, where these have sweeping AOE. Then the ProcGen can choose between balancing sweeping attacks vs protecting its weak spot. 3) Similar to #2, have attacks that turn the monster. 4) Stunning is good too. Maybe close-range attacks stun for longer, encouraging different playstyles (ranged/close). This one's the easiest suggestion to implement.

I think Magicka is a perfect example of such party-based game, and it is a lot of fun!

Wait Iitteraly had this idea of evolution based roguelike like 3 month ago ! Glad someone is doing it !

one of the coolest games ideas I've seen. can't wait for the demo

This is my favorite devlog to follow. I am truly in awe of this, amazing :)

Honestly, the idea of RTS controls (less personal, more tactical hunting in groups) and tactical pause (to facilitate precise aiming at parts for the subservient units) feels like it'd lead to very fun encounters. You'd still have room for personal attachment via outfitting/customizing (even if just naming) particular units.

10 seconds in and I love it!!! good job btw!!

I think making the players and creatures compete for resources would make for a nice gameplay goal. It can act as distractions for the player to take advantage of instead of planting traps, but also gives incentive to kill the creature and not only run away.

Love the ideas! Can't wait vor the demo!

Great to see you're still working on this!

First time hearing about this and seeing this, immediately wishlisted, this looks really cool.

I'm glad this is still coming along. I dunno how well it fits the theme but I definitely am hoping that there is a minion based magic path in this. I'm a sucker for em. Also, the goal of hunting and actually having to gather meat from the beasts for like a tribe seems like it would be an interesting game mechanic. Not only does it flesh out why you're in a cave fighting monsters, but it also allows for a reprieve that lets the game process the generations while the player manages the village. That could also incentivise players to go after bigger monsters as it adds an element of time to the game as now they have to find food before the village starves. It even can add some elements of certain species getting over hunted and wiped out so it makes the players choice of prey more tactical.

@Germanunkol

15 күн бұрын

I like those ideas! I want the witches to be quite selfish, if they do gather resources for a village of a sort, then it'll probably be only because they gain something from it (by trading the meat, for example)... Regarding minions, I recently had the idea to make the spells themselves alive (see newest post on the Patreon page linked in the description above). Those could be bred, mutated and kept similar to minions. They wouldn't follow you around and do stuff for you, but they'd fight for you...

For the algorithm! Can't wait to watch

So cool! Very exited to see more.

waited for a while for this dev log

I really love the idea of this game, there aren't many games where the environment adapts to you instead of the other way around. I also really like the logo!

You could add the possibility of befriending a creature

Wow! That looks amazing! The idea of procedural creatures is awesome! It reminds a little bit SPORE. I think your game is really cool!

Awesome work ❤️

i think this could make for a really cool survival horror game too, with weapon crafting, resource management, and roguelite controls. Like being able to dodge toward those hidden weak spots and get in a couple hits before an enemy snaps at you, and then having them learn to anticipate dodges or turn faster

I think you could base your view over the creatures as if they were alive, if they have the goal of protecting the place and having offspring, they would probably run or rage when low hp, and also when the player is low hp. i think thats an interesting solution for the combat sistem, those behavior changes make the diference between facing the armored side only and dealing enough damage that the monster reveals the weak spots. PD: amazing work in this update :DDD

I think one of the best ways to control multiple characters at one in a game like this is to do it kinda like the Dragon Age series: RTS, but you can pause time at any point and queue up actions on each character before resuming time. For obvious reasons, this would likely not work as well in multiplayer, but you probably wouldn’t need to control multiple characters as a player in multiplayer mode; the only exception I can think of would be 2 players each controlling 2 characters, in which case you can just make a “ready up” system for unpausing time, so that both players have to agree to unpause time before it actually does so.

Bro the creatures look fantastic after the colourful scales

Looks inspired by Species: ALRE, which is fantastic :D you are doing cutting edge work here!

I feel that this game will feel good with any of the control options. However, it could be cool to have different options for different game modes. Like for example, in single player mode, the player can have a tactical pause to Strategize an attack. In this pause, the player can move the camera around freely and tell the characters where it will go once the pause if finished. Then when unpaused, the player can regain control of the main character. Then of course, in multiplayer you can't pause, so they'll have to strategize in real-time combat. I also would enjoy it if this game had a combat system similar to Rim World. Either way, I love the idea of a strategy game where you control multiple characters. Maybe the player can start off without any allies, but they can hire some to aid them on these adventures through the cave by trying to gain resources to take home and sell. This will also give the monsters time and an explanation to how they evolve before the player returns. Tbh, this game has so much potential with your concepts and tools that you've created. I'm extremely excited to see what this game "evolves" into, lol

Since spore I’ve always dreamed of someone doing a game like this that’s awesome

With multiple characters, I feel like the player character could be a sort of "chief" or leader, and the npcs somewhat disposable, with you able to find others hiding in the cave and recruit them, or even finding another group of npc witches that might try to attack you for whatever loot you may have, and recruiting the last one after they surrender, it would also certainly make the creatures more terrifying, as they drag one of your group away into the darkness, as well as allowing a "on kill" evolution bonus to creatures.

@Germanunkol

21 күн бұрын

That all sounds awesome, will think about it! Especially encountering other witches and having to fight them would go very well with my general idea for the world/lore.

That looks amazing! You are a pro issue solver! Regarding gameplay, I always think it's important to still have a good single player experience. So, having multiple companions to the player may be a good solution, but just think about also creating friendly bots. I'd rather still focus on a mainly single player loop, that can be extended to a party optionally. To solve the combat challenges, just think about a more complex behaviour to the creatures. They can have more vulnerable states like being dizzy after receiving some attacks or being tired after spending too much energy. Their movement can also be slower in terms of angular velocity and they can have like attack/retreat states to open breaches for the player to attack them, and also make them feel more "alive". The player could also have different skills that enables him to quickly change position like dashing, flying or even teleporting, so he can reach the vulnerable parts. Also, vulnerability can change on more variables than only "hit location". You can mess around with different attack types, elements or anything that goes beyond "vulnerable parts". As a fan of shooter-like games, I do encourge you to work mostly on long distance attacks with cover points rather than classic melee close range button spamming attacks :D! Keep going!

This game is so cool! I love the scales idea and I can't wait to try the demo!

straight up, this is the best looking evolution game on the market

YIPEEEE. You weren't liying when you said that this video were going to come out soon. Awesome! You got a new wishlist!

For multiple characters, I feel like the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon mechanic would fit here. What mechanic you may ask? Well, you could set your partners AI once you progressed far enough into the game, you'd unlock new commands for them (settings for their AI). Commands such as, keep your distance. Run away. Go off on your own. Even restrict what combat abilities they can use, to fit what you needed. I feel like, leveling up your comrads to unlock new commands would work really well in this. Commands such as: Keep your distance Close Combat Stay Wary (try to avoid aggro) Stay close to me Only attack my target Flank my target And such things would really add an element of strategy, and also making players change those strategies as the monsters catch on and evolve countermeasures against a comrad who had been on the same command way too long

you know how in LEGO games you can swap between different characters, but the other character continues to follow and fight beside you. you could make a system like that, except with more precise commands for what the other characters do.

Ive always liked the concept of evolving creatures and wondered how it could be used to beneift gameplay. This game has a lot of potential, Im really looking forward to what you do with it next.

why not give the player the ability to slide under the creature if its big enough

@tekken.universal2343

20 күн бұрын

Because its so randomly generated that you would be able to bug out or something like that

when you update it makes my day

40 seconds is all it took for me to wishlist it. Good luck on development.

Firstly, this game's overall concept is incredible and I am now subscribed. Secondly, I really like the RTS idea (with tactical pause options) with the player controlling a little party and navigating the caves. Mainly because I can't recall a fast-paced RTS like that ever existing and as someone who plays them a lot it sounds like fun. It would make multiplayer bonkers as each player has their own squad allowing them to tackle multiple objectives or team up to defeat larger foes. It's not too hard to imagine my mates screaming over Discord as their squads are overrun and we all have to make a desperate counter-offensive to rescue what few squad members remain. Or if traps/deployables are available but rare, using them to set up defensive lines manned by multiple people when particularly large hordes of beasts are approaching.

This is wild dude, id love to play it!

woah woah, what's this? This looks really interesting, I'd love to give this a shot one day! Looks up my alley

This is amazing!

Great video again! The only thing is that I want to reiterate that I really think that an open-ended evolution algorithm would serve you better! Having a fitness function is easy, but it's very hard to balance! Instead, it's probably best to just let life be life and naturally select itself. The best fitness function is context. Life finds a way. It's also the consensus amongst scientists in the ALife community, but I really think it would also be better from a gameplay perspective My DMs are open if you want to have a chat in that direction

I really like what you're doing here

I was already very impressed with the game before I saw that you were making this in panda3D lol. That was the first 3D engine I ever used, and I had no idea it could support crazy projects like this. Great work!

Those things are scary as fuck. Amazing job!

Both a multi character control mode and a singular control mode would be amazing.

Oh man...I wished I was the creatures...that would be the Dark Spore I've always wanted. This is still a amazing project and I wish you all the best in accomplishing your goals with this game, I'll be sure to wishlist it and maybe buy it in the future!

I would love a play test of this game been wathing the game for a while and cant wait for playable version of this, great work keep it up.

This game is literally my dream game almost to a T so im so glad your making it. I might make a similar game with procedual generated creatures but with a first person perspective.

Grundgütiger! Looks fantastic! Given the bones have a clear hierarchy, you could probably bake an additional "flow map" that guides the directionality of the scales.

@Germanunkol

13 күн бұрын

Thanks! Yes, the flow-map was the first thing I tested before making the scales system, but I haven't automated it, that's why it's not in there yet. It'll help a lot to make this look cooler, will add it back in once I find some time!

one thing to consider.. a heavy creature is dangerous because of mass. to running over the character, charging like a bull or a bear or an elephant or a rhino would make sense. the other thing to consider is larger creatures have mass and momentum, therefore don't get going or turn or stop as fast. it's the difference between trying to target a chicken or a rabbit vs an elephant. the elephant, though nigh unstoppable, is a big easy to hit target that doesn't move or turn tremendously fast compared to a chicken, cat, dog, etcetera. and then there's things like kangaroos. I have no idea what to say about those, lol. but there are also things like snakes, which, when big can be fast in one direction, especially when *coiled to strike. or crabs that move sideways instead of fwd/back, or lobsters which mostly move backwards. so... movement, strike speed, mass and momentum. I guess those are my thoughts. :-)

Multi character control would be neat but it might end up feeling like a click go here and hot keys for attacking. If you use a controller the joysticks could guide movement of each character separately, the corresponding triggers could represent melee and magic attacking. And the buttons could toggle a targeting system. I'm absolutely loving the progress you have made and am excited to see a final product. It's super fun watching the whole process!! Keep it up!!❤

this game looks so awesome, it's so creative