Been doing some work on nailing down a better camera angle for museum editing. This not-quite-isometric view feels like it's working better/is simpler than just moving the third person camera around independently of the avatar
Here's the slightly late February mid-month progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppy game Fossil Sweeper. This time, making dig sites and skeleton assembly feel less samey
Edit: Forgot the URL -_-
https://www.patreon.com/posts/99212430
2024 February Fossil Sweeper update | Josh 'Cheeseness' Bush

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As usual, here's the accompanying video, which goes into a little more detail on new non-square dig site generation stuff!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJwTAGkNX8A
#indiedev #devlog #GodotEngine
Fossil Sweeper Progress Update XXI

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Here's a quick look at how I'm doing non-square dig site generation. More detail in the previous post's video! #gamedev #indiedev #GodotEngine
Another slightly late mid-month progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppy game Fossil Sweeper. This time, looking at a new dig gameplay option, some assembly fixes, and more museum editing interface work
https://www.patreon.com/posts/100631563
2024 March Fossil Sweeper update | Josh 'Cheeseness' Bush

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Fossil Sweeper Progress Update XXII

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Finally getting back to working on wall placement. Everything feels a lot nicer/more manageable now that I'm working from a camera angle that isn't *inside* the room (UI is very temporary, and it'll automatically switch anything that can be placed on walls to a wall-specific mesh)
Got a placeholder wall mesh in place, and automatic rotation (which proved to be a hurdle since I can't tell Godot 3.x intersect_ray() calls to ignore backfaces - ended up brute forcing a workaround by raycasting down and looking for the floor -_- )
Some initial work on moveable museum lights
Added some quick and dirty flares to my lights and fixed some wall placement bugs
Another slightly late mid-month progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppy game Fossil Sweeper. This time, more dig music, and finally implementing wall and ceiling placement for museum items
https://www.patreon.com/posts/103006066
2024 April Fossil Sweeper update | Josh 'Cheeseness' Bush

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Fossil Sweeper Progress Update XXIII

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Spent some time putting together a proof-of-concept heightmap solution for Dig environment backgrounds today
I got final masters for the last of Fossil Sweeper's music from @KestrelPi this morning. Exciting times! :D
Coming back to heightmap stuff from a week or two ago, I have something that feels good enough to stick in test builds. Here's a before and after (ignore the floaty grass ^_^ )
Here's this month's progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppy game Fossil Sweeper. This time, Dig environment backgrounds, some optimisation, and a little more museum editing interface work. Very late again, but it's still June at least -_-
https://www.patreon.com/posts/107172804
And as always, here's the accompanying video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVrBUJFiBGQ
#indiedev #devlog #GodotEngine
Fossil Sweeper Progress Update XXV

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Ah yes, that's exactly what I was going for
Better? Who knows
So, vertex tangents were the secret sauce I was missing \o/
Breaking things so that I can make them look better
Workin' out waypoints
Perfect
There we go. Turns out I was planing my waypoints were in the air (rather than where my debug markers are), so the avatar was never getting close enough to stop. New debug markers look like M&Ms. Delicious.
Oh hey, we're at the beach
#GameDev #IndieDev
Fixed a bug today where museum room ambient lighting/shadows weren't being saved properly. Now when you give your museum funky lighting, it stays funky.
Here's this month's progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppy game Fossil Sweeper. This time, more work on Dig environments, and an interview with the game's composer @KestrelPi https://www.patreon.com/posts/108843550
And as always, here's the accompanying video, which gives focus to the effort and thought that went into the game's soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3dvpcS_jOU
#IndieDev #DevLog #GodotEngine #GameDev
Composing Fossil Sweeper's Soundtrack - Progress Update XXVI

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If you enjoyed that and are hungry for more, there's a longer, uncut version of the conversation from the video available over in this post, along with a full text transcript. Lots of cool insights from @KestrelPi on Fossil Sweeper, our past collaborations, and music in general!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/108587230
Working on heightmap stuff a bit more. The green channel now controls the surface albedo, suggesting bare rock on the snowy mountains here
Been poking around with grass today. More clever use of the same textures and a few extra faces gets me from the example on the left to the example on the right. Not entirely committed to this at the moment, but it's a step forward, and it looks a lot better from top down too.
Made some quick and dirty biome icons today (and gave @doctormo enough information to track down and fix a minor Inkscape bug)
Didn't get a lot of tangible work done today, but I did spend some time thinking about the level of detail density that I want to have in the map phase's final presentation. This level feels about right, where crinkly coastlines become mostly flat and I'm not inadvertently implying that the changes that happen when moving the time slider back into prehistory are hyper realistic.
Here's this month's progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppy game Fossil Sweeper. This time, more work on Dig environments, and starting to think about iconography. https://www.patreon.com/posts/110820835
And as always, here's the accompanying video, which shows some comparisons between the old Dig environment presentation and the updated stuff I've been working on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwSagPP4ZDU
#IndieDev #DevLog #GodotEngine #GameDev
More Heightmaps & Better Grass - Fossil Sweeper Progress Update XXVII

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Lost some "work" (concept/exploration stuff, so no tangible losses) thanks to Blender not saving textures, so I decided to work on something else for this week's dev stream - coordinate labels around the dig site that can follow the camera zooming in/panning, and account for perspective. These will be toggleable, and will make stuff like chat integration easier to wrangle.
First pass on chat integration for the dig phase is in. Streamers, etc. will be able to optionally allow chat participants to play the game with/for them
Decoupled chat commands actions from their actual gameplay effects so that players can choose whether or not to take the suggestion (will add an option to auto process chat commands on a timer later so that the game can still be played by chat users without a player)
Here's this month's progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppy game Fossil Sweeper. This time, chat integration https://www.patreon.com/posts/113604656
Here's the October progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppy game Fossil Sweeper. Mostly stuff for chat integration this time https://www.patreon.com/posts/115468680
Wrangling Coordinate Labels - Fossil Sweeper Progress Update XXIX

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Here's the November progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppay game Fossil Sweeper. More chat integration work this time
https://www.patreon.com/posts/117226120
More Chat integration - Fossil Sweeper Progress Update XXX

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Added a height difference between the surrounding environment and the diggable area. I think this helps things be more immediately readable, and is maybe an opportunity to hint at how removing the soil and not-relelvant-to-the-dig rock (the "overburden") is a part of the process
Here's this month's progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppy-game Fossil Sweeper. This time, more chat integration, and bedding down a couple of cosmetic bugs that were apprently bothering me a lot more than I realised
https://www.patreon.com/posts/118985122
Map Phase Chat integration - Fossil Sweeper Progress Update XXXI

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I'm experimenting with a feature that automatically places flags on tiles that are absolutely confirmed to contain a fossil.I normally shy away from stuff that reduces opportunity for mistakes/oversights, but I've also been thinking about accessibility and repetitive strain injuries. In addition to optional "you've been playing long enough" reminders, reducing the number of clicks needed to play could make the game healthier/easier to engage with for some people
Here's the (very late)January progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppy-game Fossil Sweeper. This time, some dig site presentation work, some accessibility thoughts, and a little more chat integration
https://www.patreon.com/posts/121163647
Recessed dig sites & automatic flagging - Fossil Sweeper Progress Update XXXII

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Small QOL thing I've been working on is changing the behaviour of tile colliders. I now scale up on mouse over, which means that you need to move further to move off the current tile, and when digging, I hold the collider in its current position until you move off it so that the tile behind doesn't get automatically selected.

I never felt missclicks were a thing that happened frequently, but they did happen from time to time, and it's nice to have a way of addressing that little friction point

In addition to working on the latest (and now late) devlog video, I've added some extra camera movement when starting dig sites that shows off the environment a bit more.I'd like to make it a little more elaborate, but it's passable, and that's good enough! (I can improve it later if I have time)
I also did a rough concept painting/sketch for misc fossils and fancy rocks last night
Running a bit late, but here's the February progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppy-game Fossil Sweeper. This time, some UI/UX imrpovements
https://www.patreon.com/posts/123585359
And, as always, here's the accompanying video. In addition to covering January/February work, this one also looks back on development across 2024 as a whole https://youtube.com/watch?v=6m7wTKxROVI
#IndieDev #DevLog #GodotEngine #GameDev
Year 3 recap & UI/UX improvements - Fossil Sweeper Progress Update XXXIII

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Here's the March progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppy-game Fossil Sweeper. This time, camera transitions, and a bunch of misc Map phase work
https://www.patreon.com/posts/124966399
Transition animations & Map phase work - Fossil Sweeper Progress Update XXXIV

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Spent some time today reworking local travel lines to recursively bisect a direct path to the destination and offset based on perlin weight rather than just wandering along the lowest noise path. The result still gives winding paths, but less circuitous ones that I can more easily limit the length of. Here's a before and after.
I brought the layout icon for the dig site into the "loading" screen as a map inset at the local travel line's destination.
Here's the April progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppy-game, Fossil Sweeper. This time, some map presentation work, refactoring local travel lines, and optimising dig save data
https://www.patreon.com/posts/127788707
Transition animations & Map phase work - Fossil Sweeper Progress Update XXXV

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Here's the May progress update for my fossil-diggy-uppy game, Fossil Sweeper. Over the past month or so, I've wrapped up the Dig save data refactor I mentioned in the last post, and I've made some headway on updating the Map phase's globe
https://www.patreon.com/posts/130239365