Furniture, scripting, and UE 5.4?!
Added 2025-07-28 21:22:21 +0000 UTCStill working away at the monastery content this week. I wanted the furniture and overall vibe for the player's room to be very utilitarian. No flourishes, very simple, very clear and rigid lines. So I did up some quick furniture sculpts with that in mind. Just need to low poly and texture them up still. Oh, and like I mentioned last time, these are modeled to set a uniform height to things. This way moving forward any animations that require a bed or a chair can get swapped out for other beds or chairs or whatever.
Scripting! Dialogue and quest flags are progressing. I'm trying to test things as I go but that also slows things down the more branches I have. But they're coming together.
Unreal engine 5.4?
Right now the game is running in 5.2. This doesn't have all the bells and whistles and the polish that some of the newer engine versions do. Like the 2.5d fluid sim stuff got a visual upgrade and the world partition system also sounds like it's more stable with respect to HLOD baking and stuff. Both of those I really want to get my hands on. The fluids are necessary for uhm... well reasons. And the HLOD stuff should make the open world map that much faster and also easier to work with.
But -
I'm using Rama's save system (https://www.fab.com/listings/8abab127-0d1f-4c16-83b3-eda7c01b3aae) to do a chunk of the heavy lifting for the saves and then I've grafted on a bunch of custom functionality. This save system has only been updated to version 5.4 of the engine (5.6 is the latest release). The good news is the fluid sim stuff and the HLOD stuff seem to be present in 5.4 so I think we're all good there. It's just a matter of going through and finding the stuff that's been deprecated over the newer engine versions and getting everything updated to whatever the new hotness is.
And -
While I was poking around in 5.4 and Rama's save system I noticed there's a demo map with updated functionality since I first started using the save system. It looks like this version can save what is currently running in the behavior trees?! This was only last night and I haven't had enough time to dig into it yet - but - if that works then it means I can use this to save NPCs and their current states. So saving in the middle of combat or possibly saving in the scene selection menu. But like I said this isn't definite yet but it would be really cool if I could get something like that working.
Lastly IRL stuff
So... stressful week with things going on in internet censorship and NSFW games and all that jazz. I'm not going to go into it here because I'm guessing most people are aware of the multiple things happening with adult games right now. I'm keeping an eye on things and seeing how they shake out. I have no intention of stopping or going anywhere. But if crackdowns get worse it might just mean I have to switch gears or move to a donation/tips only model or something. We'll see. Hopefully it doesn't get to that point. But the main thing is I'll still be working on Feign regardless.
Comments
Oh, sweet thanks! I think I've touched on Masahiro's stuff before but never really dug in. I'll give it a look! And Tim Cain... lol So I love the first 2 Fallout games. Like HUGE fan. I think 1 is a bit better just because it's a tighter overall package but 2 is cool because it's even more Fallout! And I really like Tim's Fallout postmortem from GDC from years back ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2OxO-4YLRk ) . There's some super helpful and interesting stuff in there! but I was talking to a friend and old coworker the other day and mentioned Tim and he was all "that's this guy?!?" So I've never worked with Tim directly but I've worked with people that have worked with him and ... yeah, the reviews are a bit concerning. but yes, totally I've still poked through his youtube videos and gleaned what I can it's just... and this is true of everything on the internet, that it's taken with a hefty dose of salt. It's also looking at people that had early success in their careers and then are promoted, they tend to become disconnected and even moreso over time. but yeah no it's also a different dynamic here right? like every week you get to see what I'm doing and also interface with me directly. There's not the layers of insulation around c-suite individuals, producers, managers, community managers, etc. people that become creative directors only need to care about pleasing the c-suite. the c-suite only cares about the investors. lol, ok enough of my ranting! but totally, I always appreciate the feedback and thoughts and shared resources! I love making games and talking about games and I can babble on about them for forever (you may have noticed!). so any excuse to do that is appreciated!
slaen
2025-08-05 00:05:33 +0000 UTCAddendum to my previous post. Another solution to cracking the Fortress would be the planting of those corruptive plants I posted on "Door...". Two viable locations for planting would be either underneath the Fortress or outside it. *The corruptive flora planted underneath could tear apart a portion of the walls meant to keep the giants within the valley, or cause enough disarray within the fortress so that walls are unmanned and thus vulnerable to an oncoming siege. -Perhaps the corruptive flora could produce fumes that cloud the mind of the uncorrupted? Maybe to the corrupted, it's a kind of drug? In our world, plants eat CO2 and produce oxygen. Perhaps the corruptive plants eat CO2 and produce a visible corruptive gas? - This would either require a massive plant specifically cultivated for this task, or several smaller plants to have enough force to burst through the material the fortress in composed of. *If the plants are cultivated outside, it could be that a massive vine surges forth and pierces the walls of the Fortress, thus creating an opening to exploit. Another idea I had is if the player is sent by the Warlord infiltrate the Fortress, 3 to 5 additional operatives are deployed simultaneously. All these folks have the same mission, and whoever accomplishes the mission first gets the accolades. Naturally, the player outplays and outpaces the other operatives, but the idea is that when operations in the fortress become noticeably disrupted, the high command of the Fortress cannot immediately point to the player as the reason. Finally, the method as to how an army of regular dudes can withstand an assault from literal giants. The answer is lots of bear traps, spikes at the base of the walls, and spears. To even get to the walls, the giants have to cross hazardous terrain and then leap over the sike at the base of the walls. Then, they have to climb up the walls while enduring getting stabbed at by the soldiers. If a giant gets to the top, then that giant will be quite wounded and thus tired, and easy pickings for the soldiers stationed at top. Thus, the need for an inventive way to crack the fortress! What do you think?
Oscar Wilde
2025-08-04 16:54:03 +0000 UTCHere's everything I've written down for the Valley of the Giants! *Power can take many forms, but for those who wish to tower over others, the Valley of the Giants is a desirable location. Not only is it a place to get huge, but it's also a great place the live as a giant. With wide open spaces to move around in and constant competition to busy oneself with, it is a wonderful place for those looking for challenges of might. Worryingly, the giant inhabitants have been organizing. *The valley is more difficult to leave than it is to enter, since it is bordered by mountains that dwarf even the tallest giant. There are more ways to and fro, since most passageways are accessible only by relatively normal sized creatures. The most accessible way out is a chokepoint where a truly huge fortress is located. *The Fortress has stood proudly for longer than any can remember, and the area is much too dangerous for ambitious historians to investigate. In response to rising danger that the growing band of giants pose to [Insert faction here, perhaps the same faction that staffs the watchtower], a General and his distinguished army are deployed to this Fortress. Everything is refurbished, and yet because of the scale of its magnitude, the General's army is shorthanded. *Thus has the General requested all violent sorts be released from prisons to earn redemption in battle! Though the fortress is now fully staffed because of this measure, these convicts turned conscripts are more susceptible to temptation and corruption. They're not here by choice, after all. Theirs is not to question why, theirs is to do or die! For an entire year has the General and his army held the line, but during that time so too has the Giant's unified front grown. A name has since surfaced of who is leading this horde: The Warlord and his host! *The conflict in the region is that something in the region, perhaps demons but certainly an exterior force, has reduced the natural in fighting amongst the giants. Sieges on the fortress are becoming more frequent, and the General realizes that he needs to go on the offensive. He will task anyone willing to either infiltrate the giant army, or to go out into depths of the armies' lands and disrupt them. The Warlord's troops are not particularly well disciplined, and so destroying or isolating the Warlord from his/her troops restarts the in-fighting. *If the player is instead on the opposing force from the General, then the play will become an agent for the Warlord. You see, one of the former convicts has been granted a position into the General's high command for outstanding performance and is acting as a spy. This spy will inform the player of a key weakness of the fortress: tectonic instability. The fortress was built on a Faultline, before anyone knew what a Faultline was! *All the Warlord has to do is inflict enough damage to the earth, and the Fortress will be split in twain by the earth itself! The Warlord, upon learning this, is cautious. Does the General not know of this already? It sounds like a trap. The player is sent to investigate, and sure enough there are forces lying in wait. The player can kill, capture, or corrupt these forces. Thus, paving the way for the Warlord's final raid. The player can get huge at this point and participate in the raid or watch from within the General's command center normal(ish) sized. Either way, the player watches the results of his/her/their hard work. I'll perhaps add more once you've shared your thoughts. What do you think?
Oscar Wilde
2025-07-30 22:13:20 +0000 UTCSo, I found two resources for you to perhaps learn from. The first is Masahiro Sakurai's YouTube channel where he has short videos showing how he designs various part of the games he makes(https://www.youtube.com/@sora_sakurai_en/videos). For your convenience, He has compiled each video category into playlists. The second resource is a fellow called Tim Cain(https://www.youtube.com/@CainOnGames/videos). He oversaw the development of Fallout 1, and some of Fallout 2. He, too, has created content answering questions and sharing his knowledge on the video game development process, and has compiled them into playlists. In fact, Tim Cain's video on "Do Devs Know What Gamers Want?" is what inspired me to offer suggestions to you and other developers. He states that no, devs don't know what gamers want because gamers don't have a good way to communicate with devs about what we want. If you find even one thing that is worthwhile for this content, this post will have be worth the effort it took to write. I certainly hope that it helps!
Oscar Wilde
2025-07-30 20:42:33 +0000 UTC
