Ok, here we go! I'm going to make an FPS this week
Technically this doesn't start for another couple of days, but I'm starting early to work around a busy holiday schedule. I checked the rules and they seem to say it's ok
Game jam thread time! Ok. I don't have it all worked out yet, but here is my vague plan:
I'm interested in doing some first person platforming, doing something a little bit masocore. I know a lot of people really hate first person platforming, but yaknow, it's 2022, it's time to try again
Here are some things I'm inspired by at the moment, and am hoping to draw from for this:
Been playing some old DOS games recently. In particular, I've rediscovered this old maze game Get Lost!, which came out in 1996 (but got rereleased as freeware a few years back!). I really love how evocative the huge open spaces are, and how it does so much with really simple mechanics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O_waoEhd0I
Get Lost! | 1996 DOS Game | Level 33

YouTube
Another old DOS game I've rediscovered, 1992's Clyde's Adventure, which I just 100% completed for the first time a few days ago. It has this almost Kaizo Mario thing going on with the level design, and it's another game that's doing a lot with very little:
Have you seen those TikTok videos that are like, a robot voice reads out a reddit post while somebody does minecraft parkour in the background? Fascinating! https://www.tiktok.com/@the.vault.of.reddit/video/7113716800696651014
⚫_⚫ on TikTok

Sounds Like The Bride Was The Wedding Crasher. #fyp #redditstories #redditreadings #reddit_tiktok #redditaita #minecraftstorytime #minecraftparkour

TikTok

Since I've been trying to get better at 3D lately, I went back and looked at 3D Construction Kit, which I had a tattered copy of for my Commodore 64 when I was a kid.

The old VHS instructional video is still on youtube and is worth watching! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_RuvDoyypk

3D Construction Kit (VHS, 1991)

YouTube
Finally, a couple of Roblox inspirations too - I've really been enjoying the genre of liminal space/"dreamcore" games on the platform. It's kind of a backrooms adjacent thing, but less about Horror. This is a good example: https://www.roblox.com/games/7688194227/EXPLORE-Dreamcore-Weirdcore-Doors
β“πŸ‘πŸšͺ EXPLORE 🌈☁️✨ Dreamcore Weirdcore Doors

Check out β“πŸ‘πŸšͺ EXPLORE 🌈☁️✨ Dreamcore Weirdcore Doors. It’s one of the millions of unique, user-generated 3D experiences created on Roblox. ❓ Vibe, Hangout, Roleplay, Explore! No jumpscares. 5+ graphics recommended! πŸšͺ Game is still WIP. Like, Fav, Fallow for updates! Join the Server and group ALNDN: https://www.roblox.com/groups/12976405/ALNDN πŸ”¨ UPDATES: (Full list on the Server) - Rain Storm Cloud Room. TV Stack. Dreamy Window. Mushroom Art Exhibit. - Rainbow Ocean Eyes, Wooden Playground, Mushroom Cave, Static Room. - Sand Sky Office Building, Sparkling Rainbow Door Room - Living room, Sky Clocks, ToiletFlowers, Original MUSIC by JxstR3Y - EscapeThisSimulation, OrbsRoom, ChildrensHospital. - Dream Trains, effects and graphics update. 260+ Hours developtment. TAGS E❓XπŸ‘PπŸšͺL🌈O☁️R✨E dreamcore drmcr dremcor dremcore dreamcor dramcoredreamcr oddcore odcore weirdcore wierdcore werdcore wirdcore space nostalgia nostalgiacore dereality unreality lucid dream surreal explore exploration mushroom backrooms void playground kidcore antfarm cats doors

Roblox
I was also really into Sky of Secrets, which I posted about on my free game of the week blog a while back: https://terrysfreegameoftheweek.com/sky-of-secrets/
Sky of Secrets – Terry's Free Game of the Week

So, yeah! That's what's in my head right now; let's see what comes out of that this week!
progress: got some nice floaty jumps working
Ok, got a bit distracted and had a think about how I'm going to do graphics for this thing. I came up with this: the Omnicube
I discovered that if I colour individual faces in Blender and import the model into Godot, it will create these individual material files - so, I found a palette I liked, and imported them all at once!
It's a shame there's no easier way to do this, I assume
The palette is Arne's Amiga 64 colour palette, which sorta gives me the limited colour look I want here. (There's not really anything you'd call an identifiable DOS palette)
Basically, the look I'm going for is low res, zero lighting, big polygons. It might end up looking terrible, but at least it'll be consistent! And it should be pretty easy to make assets like that for the jam.
Day 2 is going *ok*. Nothing exciting yet, but I'm getting the structure of the thing to work
everything in godot is taking just a *little* bit longer than I'd like, because honestly I'm still learning the basics. This is what jams are good for, though!

spent a *while* trying to get 3D rotating platforms that move the player working, and...

you know what, never mind, I don't need these anyway

Basically trying to fill out a little playground full of props I can use to make the rest of the game
People also ask
>how do I remove parent node godot?
>how to unparent a child godot?
>how do I get rid of all children in godot?
anyway if anybody knows how to take an object and attach it to the player, keeping it's world position intact, let me know (in godot)
got it! (thanks @Cheeseness and @Kooda!)
Happy with how these gems are feeling now, moving on
speedpads!
Alright! I'm at roughly the halfway point of the jam, so it's probably time for a check in?
There are still a few more gameplay props I want to add before I start making any real content - but I'm starting to get worried that I'm this far in and that I don't have anything "real" to play yet
I'm also worried that I haven't really figured out what the game is "about" yet - no gameplay, only vibes
So, my plan for the rest of the day is to try to put together a real level, and tomorrow, try to polish it up a bit so it starts to feel more like what I've got in my head
That'll leave me with, like, 2 days? To make more content and try to make it a finished game. That should be plenty of time.
Had a go at making some grating midi adventure music this morning, and I'm not sure if it's too much or not enough
added buttons! Took a while to get these right
Lost a lot of momentum, but I'm still poking away. Added computer terminals!
This computer was a lot of fun to model! I still don't know how textures work and maybe I never have to learn
Ahh, I think I'm calling it quits - I've run out of energy, and it's just not realistic to finish this by tomorrow
The game has fallen into the "I like this prototype too much to rush it" trap, which is one of the best ways for jam games to fail I reckon

Anyway, I'll keep poking at this at a slower pace! It's a great project for learning Godot and 3D modelling, and I think it's gonna be a really cool game once it's finished.

Good luck to every else still doing #7dfps!

@terry Yep... Still working on one of my jam games 2 1/2 years later πŸ™ƒ
@terry I'm starting to feel that too, most likely gonna be keep working on mine after the jam ends lol. Hope you're enjoying Godot, it's been my favorite engine for a few years now and it only seems to be getting better
@terry oh my yes - that is every jam for me
@terry That's such a shame, Terry! It looked like fun, too...
@terry Wheel of Fortune meets Wordle
@terry it’s a little thing but thank you for being an established gamedev willing to say β€œi don’t fully understand X”, it’s so easy to fall into the trap of thinking you need to know everything in order to make anything worth playing
@terry how is Godot so joyful to work in
@terry this looks great!! I really wanna mess around with Godot at some point too :)
@noelfb I'm really enjoying it! Strongly recommended πŸ˜„
@terry Lost momentum, because you made a sticky pad to counteract your boost pad?
@terry good to see you here on 🐘. You planning to go to GDC next year? I'm still undecided...
@IQpierce nah, done with big events until covid's over I think
@terry cool look and sounds!
@terry very cool! which tool is this?
Bosca Ceoil by Terry Cavanagh

A free, easy to use tool for creating music!

itch.io
@terry It seems awesome! I've been looking for a while... love the retro-look. I myself am currently working on a pixel editor that works on 320x240 resolution
@terry *looking for something like this
@terry Ah, that's so evocative of that early 90s period of gaming, takes me right back.
@terry I've been working to make stuff in bosca ceoil lately and this is like exactly the style I want to hit, inspiring
@terry perfectly encapsulates the 90s freeware aesthetic imo
@terry which software is it?
@terry What if it’s both? I like.
@terry Maybe the real game was the vibes we had along the way?
@terry I especially like how they are pulled into the player character.
@terry You can call remove_child() on the old parent and then add_child() on the new parent. If needed, you can also store the child's global transform and re-assign it after
@Cheeseness aha! storing the position did it!
@terry Woo! Just keep in mind, the translation is only the position, and doesn't include the rotation (if that's relevant). Transform gets the lot
@terry something like set_as_toplevel() might help you there? It makes it so the transform of the node that calls it is in global space and not relative to its parent(s)
@Kooda ohh, I didn't know about this function, that's very useful!

@terry For sure!

If that’s not what you want though, and want to reparent a node and keep its global position, the only way as far as I know is store the position before reparenting, and restoring it after parenting.
Using global_transform, global_translation, global_rotation, etc

@terry I feel like I often need to do workarounds and custom stuff to do what I want, but it mostly allows me to do so which is cool.
@terry really interested in your opinion on how Godot compares to Unity. It seems pretty similar at first glance but hope springs eternal…
@klembot I can only assume Unity is "better", but I like open source things. Probably I'm not qualified to compare the two
@terry @klembot Godot has the vigor of youth. Unity has the kind of world-weary cynicism that comes from supporting multiple UI libraries.
@CarlMuckenhoupt @terry … and multiple input systems, and multiple text rendering systems, and…
@terry reach out to the nerds if you need help