Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Voxel Quest January 2016 Update

voxelquest.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 132 posts

Re: Voxel Quest January 2016 Update

#111

Post by chipsy »

gavanwoolery wrote: post #94
chipsy wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has commented on your engine threads in the past(and pointed out this challenge) it's good to see that you're getting towards the content stage of dev. Here is my tip this time: try to find a lot of anchors outside of the game engine. You can do design incrementally by defining what the "rules", "logic", and "lore" of the world are, in order to clarify it. For example, use a mind map tool like a writer…

I agree - ironically I am not particularly interested in a fantasy setting and many other people are tired of fantasy as well (although I could still probably get away with such a setting). Fortunately if I do decide to do some other design there is not really much work towards content yet - all of the stuff in there is broadly applicable. I have always been interested in a Fallout-style universe. As much as those th…

You could always go the route of many 80's and 90's RPG's and mash up some fantasy and science fiction themes - time travel, alien worlds, other dimensions, etc. Nearly every popular franchise of that era pulled in those tropes and they give you tons of breathing room to pull in whatever elements you want.

Re: Voxel Quest January 2016 Update

#112

Post by anon4 »

kazinator wrote: post #102
gavanwoolery wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Delta Force and Commanche were among games that drew me to alternative engines. Doing a CPU-based renderer gives you lots of new tricks and abilities, things you can't do with simplified massively parallel architecture like GPUs. Many games have a far view distance now (see Uncharted or Just Cause) - but doing it in a dynamic world that is procedurally generated in realtime with solid geometry is a whole other bag of…

Hear ye! I lost interest in games right around time time 3D graphics cards started coming out. I figured, that scene is pats its prime now; it's going to just be generations of the same thing over again, but rendered slightly better. Programmers no longer in control over the details, just pushing some triangle meshes into some hardware blackbox. All software Doom, Quake, Wolf 3D, Rise of The Triad and such: that was…

That used to be true, but right now you not only can, but have to control every pixel. The fixed pipeline is dead, now you have to write your own shaders and those can do literally anything. Or use CUDA/OpenCL for even more power.

Re: Voxel Quest January 2016 Update

#113

Post by anon4 »

stcredzero wrote: post #60
gavanwoolery wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a really good question actually. This engine isn't really meant to compete with major engines, but moreso satisfy a little niche (and maybe that could be a big niche depending on how it gets used). I think the best way to explain it is "Shadertoy for large environments" - being able to quickly dynamically create stuff with pure code. To be honest a lot of this is still unmapped territory and I'm not even one…

I have a notion that it's possible to have a "somewhat directed sandbox" game. I'm working on a combat/survival open world game with a procedurally generated tech tree to go along with the procedurally generated world. There is a "difficulty direction" (down) and the farther you go that way, the environment becomes exponentially more difficult, while the items/powerups become exponentially more powerful. (With the en…

Skyrim and Fallout 3 and 4 are basically somewhat directed sandbox games. There is a main questline you can follow, but most players just immediately take off to go exploring that cool thing in the distance. Then die because the mobs are too high level :) . And that gives you incentive to level up, which frames your interaction with the world.

Re: Voxel Quest January 2016 Update

#114

Post by akavel »

gavanwoolery wrote: post #94
chipsy wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has commented on your engine threads in the past(and pointed out this challenge) it's good to see that you're getting towards the content stage of dev. Here is my tip this time: try to find a lot of anchors outside of the game engine. You can do design incrementally by defining what the "rules", "logic", and "lore" of the world are, in order to clarify it. For example, use a mind map tool like a writer…

I agree - ironically I am not particularly interested in a fantasy setting and many other people are tired of fantasy as well (although I could still probably get away with such a setting). Fortunately if I do decide to do some other design there is not really much work towards content yet - all of the stuff in there is broadly applicable. I have always been interested in a Fallout-style universe. As much as those th…

Have you tried asking for help with how to invent/build contents & fun-factor on the TIGsource forums? There seems to be a section dedicated to "the non-programming aspects of game-making":

https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?board=5.0

for example a "sticky" thread titled "Game design resources" from one of the subforums:

https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=31350.0

Also, I'd think people like to help with generating/brainstorming some ideas when provoked, like you're doing here with throwing around some thoughts. I can barely resist adding my $0.02 of random suggestions already :)

Re: Voxel Quest January 2016 Update

#115

Post by gavanwoolery »

akavel wrote: post #114
gavanwoolery wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree - ironically I am not particularly interested in a fantasy setting and many other people are tired of fantasy as well (although I could still probably get away with such a setting). Fortunately if I do decide to do some other design there is not really much work towards content yet - all of the stuff in there is broadly applicable. I have always been interested in a Fallout-style universe. As much as those th…

Have you tried asking for help with how to invent/build contents & fun-factor on the TIGsource forums? There seems to be a section dedicated to "the non-programming aspects of game-making": https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?board=5.0 for example a "sticky" thread titled "Game design resources" from one of the subforums: https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=31350.0 Also, I'd think people like to help with…

I browse TIG a lot but had not thought to do that - not a bad idea :)

Re: Voxel Quest January 2016 Update

#116

Post by gavanwoolery »

chipsy wrote: post #111
gavanwoolery wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree - ironically I am not particularly interested in a fantasy setting and many other people are tired of fantasy as well (although I could still probably get away with such a setting). Fortunately if I do decide to do some other design there is not really much work towards content yet - all of the stuff in there is broadly applicable. I have always been interested in a Fallout-style universe. As much as those th…

You could always go the route of many 80's and 90's RPG's and mash up some fantasy and science fiction themes - time travel, alien worlds, other dimensions, etc. Nearly every popular franchise of that era pulled in those tropes and they give you tons of breathing room to pull in whatever elements you want.

Yep, that era of RPGs is my primary inspiration. My favorite series were Ultima, Fallout (1/2), various DnD games like Eye of the Beholder, Dungeon Master, and quite a few more.

Re: Voxel Quest January 2016 Update

#117

Post by gavanwoolery »

BatFastard wrote: post #73
munificent wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I tend to justify things (whether rational or not) as a content problem ("Oh I can just build this system and it will make making this type of content so much easier!"). That can also be a trap (one that I myself am particularly prone to given how much I love roguelikes and tool-building). When it comes to games, I'm just not wired right to enjoy hand-authoring content. So when I do game-like stuff, I tend to lean…

"One more system will solve my problem" is the siren's lure isn't it. But I have learned "It's turtles all the way down". Each problem solved reveals more opportunities. So I just try to enjoy the process of learning, if I am lucky it will end up being fun too. If not I enjoyed the journey.

I never knew the source of that expression until just now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down

Re: Voxel Quest January 2016 Update

#118

Post by gavanwoolery »

brodavi wrote: post #109

I will go against the crowd and suggest that you just keep doing what you're doing. Forget about "making it fun". Even in these rough demos, the various parameters and behaviors you land on clearly shows a natural instinct for it that you can trust. Forget about "making an actual game", what you're doing is magic and the more you do it, the better. You've got a gem here. It's already insanely valuable. Keep polishing…

Thanks! It goes against "common sense" but you might be right. Sometimes the formula for success is that there is no formula. To quote myself from a prior tweet, "Success is what happens when hard work meets a stupid idea. Every idea looks smart in hindsight, but the good ones look stupid in foresight."

Re: Voxel Quest January 2016 Update

#119

Post by [deleted] »

stcredzero wrote: post #79
monk_e_boy wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Skyrim was amazing, open world with lots of quests. Minecraft kinda sucked a bit, huge world but I spent more time on the internet trying to figure out what was possible rather than play the game. The Lego games have a nice open world with quests and stuff. But a game needs to be fun and easy to understand. I hope VQ adds lots more fun things. Bombs. Bombs would be fun ;)

I spent more time on the internet trying to figure out what was possible rather than play the game I think it's possible to make spending time on the internet trying to figure out what's possible an integral part of playing the game.

[deleted]

Re: Voxel Quest January 2016 Update

#120

Post by gavanwoolery »

unfamiliar wrote: post #43

20 minutes of aimless muttering does not a good video presentation make. Impressive progress though.

I am not being at all sarcastic when I say that I agree. The combination of me being tired and rushing to get out the update so that I could focus on work were a recipe for for a pretty bad video. Marketing is definitely not my strong point, and moreover I can't afford the time to do it properly. But glad you like the progress :)
Post reply on HN