Unity First Timer Video Blogs on making a Unity2D, top-down adventure crafting game

Current build:

I've recently dived full time into working on my own game. I've only made smaller games or been just a part-time contributor before, so this is a huge step for me.

After attending Unite 2014, I decided on using Unity as my engine. I figured since I was brand new to Unity and taking such a scary step into the unknown, I should make video blogs talking about my progress, difficulties, etc.

The first one mostly covers who I am, my background, my idea for the game and my motivations. The next two go more directly into my interactions with Unity and the difficulties and solutions I have worked through.

Please check them out if you are interested and I am happy to receive any feedback, suggestions, etc that you have!

Game Description:

Potions (temporary name) is an adventure crafting game that emphasizes strategic decision making in when, how and whether to engage with enemies. You play as a small girl who wishes to become a potion master. In order to do this, she must learn to craft high level potions, made with rare ingredients.

There are two core sections of the gameplay, one is combining ingredients to craft potions, either by using recipes already learned or by experimenting with ingredients, and the other is the harvesting of the ingredients themselves. You can enter various procedurally generated biomes where you can cut down grass/shrubs to collect seeds, find rare flowers, and encounter and fight monsters! However, as a small girl, the only method you have to battle monsters is with your potions! Thus, fighting monsters you do not need ingredients from quickly depletes your resources and sends you back to farming lower level ingredients. This encourages more strategy behind engaging in combat, unlike many games where the way to be most successful is to clear all of the monsters in an area.

Blog 1:

Blog 2:

Blog 3:

Blog 4:

Blog 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPVNEKlqahw

Blog 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv4dyV1Qr1M

Blog 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-Avfgb3Yzo

Blog 8: http://youtu.be/vpGqT5cZNlw

Blog 9: http://youtu.be/hSgsMyXSYVI

Blog 10: http://youtu.be/SKB3c6QngIc

Blog 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILdyrFUG1ek

Blog 12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR38-yNnMIM

 

This is good stuff, keep it up!

 

I just got around to watching the rest of your blogs (I watched the first one the other day, but didn't have time for the others) and it's always nice to see how another person approaches a problem, even if it's not exactly how I would go about it.The concept as a whole sounds interesting and fun, but don't be surprised if when you get further along things end up being changed, especially once you start gameplay testing.

Don't get overly worried about negative comparisons to other games, particularly when they're based on simply mentioning a high-level feature set. Everything is a clone of everything at this point, its the balance of those features and how they work in the finished product that's the important thing. Good cakes and bad cakes can use the same ingredients!

Also, kudos for being disciplined enough to pull yourself away from getting sidetracked on polishing too much at this early stage!

 

Thanks!

I realize how important flexibility is (and I've already changed some things multiple times). I am hoping that by creating a few rough prototypes, I will be able to understand how I should change my design (of both game play and code) for the future.

It's definitely hard to keep myself from tinkering with the minor things, I'm a perfectionist by nature, but the more I avoid it, the easier it becomes to resist in the future.

 

Added blog 4 and blog 5.

Blog 4 is not particularly relevant to Unity usage, so it can be skipped if that's what you are watching for.

 

It's always fun when you reach the technically-kinda-have-a-game stage

 

I think it is extremely awesome that a woman dares to enter the unforeseen normally it is always Guys and that is fine but if a guy had made this blog then i probably wouldn't be as much interested as i am with these! i mean there is a ton of Guys creating stuff with unity it is just so common that it gets very boring Keep it up, and keep that spirit up Cheers.

 

Unfortunately I don't have the time to watch about an hour of video footage so I just skipped to the interesting bits(i.e: gameplay and code). So in case I say something redundant or just plain wrong, welp... That's the reason.

But from what I saw in your devlog 5 you have extremely slick and clean code! I approve!
Ofc, I don't know your data structure not your future plans, but I couple of things I noted:

Usually it's not a good idea to use constructors or start methods to assign default values. One of the neat things in unity are the editor serialized variables. That allows you to have the same script for entirely different instances without having to worry about declaring it outside.

Also, it seems that you extend MonoBehaviour with most your classes. I find it sometimes usefull to use variables of object classes instead of having a bazzilion different MonoBehaviour on your gameObjects. That helps keeping the inspector clean. Remember that you can serialize any non-monobehaviour class in the inspector with the System.Serializable tag.

As for the game itself. I kinda imagine it as some kind of zelda / harvest moon mix, which does sound pretty cool indeed. Do you have any gameplay plans outside of combat like puzzle solving or stuff like that?

Anyway, keep it up!

 

Just finished Blog 6!

Thank you! I am very lucky to be based in Seattle, where there are many amazing developers of all genders, so I have some good people to look up to and work with.

I'll keep the MonoBehavior necessity in mind when creating additional classes. Thanks!

Yeah, a Zelda / Harvest Moon Mix is a good way of describing it. As for the gameplay, it's going to be combat, harvesting and crafting. However, a lot of the crafting will be based around experimentation with hints from other characters in the game. I'm debating requiring the player to memorize tips/hints they discover or making an in-game notebook for them to review that stores all of the ones they find. What do you think?

 

Ooooh, I really like the idea of a virtual notebook. But maybe instead of a plain text editor you could directly draw with your mousecurser. So aventually you'd end up with your own virtual alchemy "cook book". Maybe even with graphics tablet support?

Might be just me that gets me super exited

 

Oh, I was figuring that the notes would be automatically added when you discover them, so you don't have to write anything yourself at all. I feel like it would prevent a lot of play frustration about missing "hints" because of accidentally double-clicking through text or missing a scene due to a phone call or a cat or whatnot.

 

Aaaaw... That’s a shame.

Oh well, I guess I'll have to do something with that idea myself then

From a player standpoint I agree totally. It's probably more if a hassle then anything to write everything down manually and it doesn't really add anything to its action game core.

Though I do believe that intrinsically motivating the player to pay attention to the game world and give them tools to express them selves without killing things is usually a good think and can lead to a very personal experience between player and game.

Either way any kind of journal is probably a good idea!
Keep us updated! Looking forward to this one

 

Wheee!

Unity 4.6 GUI madness!

I implemented inventory, hp bars and an action bar! That's towards the end of the video, if you want to check it out - sorry, it's a long one!

 

Making stead progress, good to see!

 

Looking good!

Great to see women take a leap into the gamedev world as well

Koop up the good work and dont let you get down by a few negative comments. There will always be people who will hate just to hate.

 

Haven't watched the videos yet but I see a Zelda poster in the background so this must be good, haha

Seriously though, I'll sure be taking a look at your videos!

EDIT: Watched the videos and it's looking really good so far
I like the idea of experimenting with ingredients. I think it would be cool to not have recipes automatically added to your notes, instead you have to make the potion first and when you make it successful it will be added to your list of recipes. Of course you have to make sure there are never moment you see a recipe only once. So when a character tells you about a recipe, it should repeat it when you talk to him/her again.

Recipes could be hidden everywhere, you might be able to visit the library, read a book and find that there is actually a recipe "hidden" in it, only if you take the time to actually read it (I'm not talking about 100+ pages books of course, just short writings like you'd find in an Elder Scrolls game).

Also, if you end up adding like a sort of mentor character (who helps explains everything to you, especially at the start of the game in some kind of tutorial) it should totally be a talking black cat And if it's not your mentor it should still be there in some way! Cause cats are the best!

Also when it comes to an artist for your graphics, you should check out http://sarahstowasser.com/
Really like her style

 

Thanks for your feedback!

Right now, recipes will be automatically added to your recipe book when you "learn" them, either by being given a full recipe or when you discover one through experimentation. However, character hints about recipes will not always include the full recipe itself or may be cryptic (describing the ingredients vs. naming them directly, etc). In this case, I think having it in the notes will be nicer, because I think it might feel like a bit of a grind to go try to get an NPC to give you the hint again (and it may interfere with character interactions). That way you can review the notes at your cauldron! Otherwise, I feel like people will end up taking notes IRL instead, which would defeat the purpose of having in-game notes.

I really like the idea of hidden recipes, I'll put that in as a stretch goal

Oh, dear! She actually has many mentors. He grandmother is her direct mentor and her grandmother's familiar (a cat) goes with her on her first few quests until gets her familiar of her own! The granny gives advice while she's in town and the familiars give her advice when she's out in the field.

I'll check out Sarah.

My current plan for graphics isn't going to be along the anime-style, though. This is the current concept art for the main character.

 

Here's Blog 8! It's pretty much a full game now, just minus all of that "content" part!

 

I don't have time to watch them all now but from what I can gather, your game sounds pretty cool.

 

Thanks!

Just uploaded a new version of our website, which allows people to subscribe!

While I'm great with backend web stuff, making pretty webpages isn't really my forte (especially without much art to use), but it's functional!

http://www.stumblingcat.com/

 

Good work Renee. People should do stuff like this more often. Newbies think that game development is a piece of cake, while it's not true at all. They don't know the struggles and all the stuff you need to take into account.

I would also recommend to search more for a 2D artist and sound engineer. There are lots of them that are cheap or even free. Sure, most of the time you get what you pay for Try the collaboration / paid work sections for artists.

 

Well, I ripped out my potions and effects and re-implemented them in a way more sane manner that will allow me to create spells and new potions with much less effort!

And I made a monster spawner!

 

The new concepts look great - nice to see you're still progressing with this

 

Thanks!

I just finished the buff system and added a visual for cooldowns... Now to designing a level! (Scary...)

 

Great progress, Renee

I hope you can get some nice graphics in there soon! That will definitely make it easier to share and get people's interest Btw, on Twitter it's a good idea to add #gamedev and #indiedev to your tweets, there are some gamedev bots that will automatically (?) retweet posts with those tags! That will definitely help more people knowing about your project

Keep up the good work Already looking forward to your next video with 11 fingers

 

Just use sign language in 11.

 

This is really inspiring to watch, just love your obvious passion for game development and i find your videos really interesting and easy to watch : ) Keep it up!

 

I'm too sick to do a blog right now, so, instead, enjoy some REAL IN-GAME ART!!!!







Up next is adding particle effects to this scene. It's done purely with UI elements and, unfortunately, it seems that UI doesn't play well with particles. :/

 

Looks awesome!
Hope you get well soon so i can enjoy your next video blog : p

 

Particles!

And I'm wanting to smash my face on my keyboard. I can't seem to get Unity to handle a third layer of UI over the particles and masks aren't working for the effects, so my fire particles won't render behind the bar over the fire. *siiiiggghhh*

 

Looks really great already I wanted to comment earlier to say you should add some particle effect to the cauldron and fireplace but It seems you had the same thing in mind already ^^'

I really like how the Cauldron looks But the fireplace is still very static, maybe you could ask your artist to remove some of the fire from the image and generate it with particles so you have nice moving flames

Some other things I noticed:

• Walls an floor looks too clean (in my opinion), could use some extra texture to them.
• The bright spot on the floor at the bottom is a nice touch but it makes it hard to see the highlight of the welcome mat...
• There's something with the bookcase behind the cauldron, just above the right side of the cauldron it looks as if a part of the bookcase is missing (the highlighted edge on the left just stops)

I also thought it would be cool if you could use a point light to give the fireplace a pulsating glow effect on its surrounding but I don't know if that works with the way your scene is set up.

Anyway, it looks really great so far Can't wait to see more

 

Yeah, my environment artist is fixing that up.

In the meantime... IMPROVEMENTS!

 

Looks a lot better already! : )

 

This blog is good, but I overlook that my design should make users WANT to battle the creatures, not just run away. I'll try to put up a new one with my updated view on the game design before GDC.

 

Yay, new blog : )

 

New graphics!!!

 

The graphic style of the girl don't match with the graphic style of monster, outdoor and indoor room.

 

Yes, unfortunately, her art is currently in development so her temporary art makes her stick out like a sore thumb!

It will be fixed soon!

 

The new environment art looks very nice - look forward to seeing the new character when she appears

 

I hope

What animation system do you use for 2D animations ? Unity native or something like Spriter or Puppet2D ?
Will you have some garden and be able to harvest at some point like Rune Factory series ?
Will it be different environments and animation for levels (wind on some grass , friendly animals, rain , ...) ? Are they some puzzles planned (find key, put a orb in a door etc ...) ?
Will it be great particle effects for magic ?

Keep the good work.

 

Wow, thats a huge improvement in art, starting to look really awesome now : D

 

It is not Unity native, I fear I don't know which program my animation artist uses, I'll have to ask him. He just provides me with sprites!
A garden is a "stretch goal" of ours, but not in the plan for now.
Yes, we have five basic tilesets already and are working on making them more dynamic (working on water in our swamp set right now).
Some magic will have particles, some won't!

 

Polish, polish, polish:

 

Where are those awesome dev videos? : D
Great progress, seem like you have gotten a long way now : )

 

I love the title art. Looking very polished now

 

Soon! I'm crunching for big deadlines this week!

 

Demo build quick run:

 

It is not possible to have walk animations having forward and backward angles at least ?
The character is really nice, but just two angles for walking i personnaly find it not so good looking with such 2D art character quality.
The special attack effects could use particle and lightening effects if it is a game for PC version also.

Keep improving it.

 

Looks like you've had your artist working overtime on this one! Looking good

 

I added a child object to Luna that has it's own collider on a separate layer, then made Environment colliders ignore Luna's main collider. Thus, monsters can hit her normally (still), but she can walk up to bushes and other environment objects with only her feet colliding! It looks way better!