Here’s a new Astro Kat devlog for you. Combined these two months cause the flu knocked me out for a while in February, but here’s a nice list of stuff again.
Other things that were done but not in the gifs:
-I made equipped weaponskins show up on your back
-Started a puzzle element that involves spline meshes
-Made UI updates that are on their way to be implemented
-Updated a bunch of shaders
-Added new breakable objects
-Fixed target locking and switching
and a bunch of smaller things/fixes that aren’t worth mentioning here (or I forgot)
I’ve also shipped Astro Kat mugs to the SuperGiant Stars :)
(If you were previously in this Patreon tier for more than 1 month, and want one, please DM me on Twitter or Patreon)
Favorite mug
GIFS below V
Aura Lighting Tests
With the release of the free volumetric light asset Aura(link), I set up a little art test for what I’d want the final look for the game to be. I’m really happy with this result.
The lighting may be a little too dramatic here, but I think it adds a lot.
Dodge and Dodge Effect
The dodge has a different animation, and now if you dodge right in time an after image appear.
I made the after image by using SkinnedMeshRenderer.BakeMesh(Link) and applying the Hologram Shader(Link) to it
The run-lines screen effect is replaced with a local particle system by now
Little Witch
The character that will be a travelling chef NPC got an update with new textures and shaders :)
AI System
Started writing a more comprehensive AI system, where you can combine different behaviors easily, inspired by this talk about Scriptable Objects(link)
As you can see, Kat is not very impressed yet, but it’s getting there:)
MiniMap/ Map System
Made this separate from the main project as a prototype. A shader that slowly reveals a map where you explore, and a way to cycle through multiple of these maps. Almost fully implemented in the game. I’ve explained the way this works more in-depth here (Link)
That’s about it for this time, thanks for reading!
This is going to be a long one cause it’s been a while. Dev logs will be monthly again after this one :) .
A lot of time was spent on rewriting some systems to .. not get stuck on the floor and shoot off into infinity like a standard rigidbody + capsule collider will do if you’re not careful.
There have been some experiments with Unity’s Timeline feature, which makes it pretty easy to do cutscenes!
My notebook is full of level design sketches and puzzle layouts that with the system rewrites should be a lot smoother to pull off :D
Other media:
I’ve uploaded a few more Youtube videos that show my process. One you might be interested in is my full process for character modelling, from Concept Art to Textured >
And I have a SketchFab account now, which might also be interesting if you want to see my models in more detail SketchFab Link
Also, the Astro Kat discord got verified \o/
Check below of a rough overview of what’s been going on, pretty sure I’m missing a lot though
Systems
Movement and Climbing
The movement system has been rewritten to be more reliable and deal with slopes and walls properly. I’ve also rewritten the climbing system, to work a lot smoother.
Dialogue
Dialogue system overhaul, I took this free asset Simple Dialogues and expanded it to work with my dialogue system. It plays animations, localisation support, It’s not pretty but it works really well.
Dialogue now also supports letting the player choose answers
Some others:
- Weapon Damage
- New Healthbar with (optional) damage numbers
- Options Menu for volume, resolution, quality etc.
- Start of an Item based attack (claw item giving different attack option, that sort of stuff)
- Currency collection system
- Fixed a lot of jittering issues
Content
New Character Models
- Lizard
- Imp
- Blue Punk Alien Girl
Enemy model
(this one was modelled and rigged live on twitch)
Environmental models
- Dungeon set
- Smashable rocks
- Elevator(not shaking anymore :D)
- Lots of plants, trees, and rocks
Graphics
Shader Effects
I’ve created a bunch of cool effects for Patreon that are also useful for Astro Kat.
- Water Shader
- UV distortion special FX
- TriPlanar shader for Terrain
- Improved Snow shader with tracks
- Stencil Buffer shader for portals and “lens of truth” like effects
- UI Drawing (Map Notes?)
Surface Detection Effects
New Sound and Visual effects when Kat walks in water/sand/grass/snow
A little bit less visible progress this time as Astro Kat had an upgrade from Unity 5.5 to Unity 2017. A bunch of stuff broke (and got fixed again) but it was totally worth it for Timeline and CineMachine!
The superior CineMachine camera is now added to the game, so it's a lot smoother/ better at avoiding obstacles. There are some new fancy shaders, cool new concept art, and tweaks to existing systems as I'm working on the demo
I've uploaded my first ever Youtube video, a speed model of a fantasy sword. I will use this channel for speed modelling videos and most likely some Astro Kat gameplay/ devlog style videos :)
Twitch VODS are going to be available from now on too, as I feel I'm more comfortable streaming.
Twitch Channel
Check below for GIFS and Images of game stuff!
Systems/Content
Main Menu and Loading Screen
New Camera
Cinemachine makes it super easy to have a smooth/ switchable camera
The ability to throw stuff at NPC's!
Sword Trails
New Plants
Graphics
Outline Toon Shader
Made a coloured outline shader that works better than the previous fresnel based one
Moss and Snow Shaders
A nice solution that can add moss/snow to any object, using directional Tessellation and Displacement
This month I learned a bit more about shaders. I've got an instanced, wavey, and interactive grass shader now.
I designed some stickers and they arrived this week, they look pretty snazzy and will be sent out to the top Patrons later today. For June I plan to make a card with a nice environment + Kat on it :)
Check out the Discord for more info and a roadmap of what's going on
Below is a summary of the biggest addition and changes!
Systems
Equipment
The UI for this is now fully functional, just needs some visual adjustments
Item Pickup
You can now pick up items that will be added to the inventory and equipment system
Ledge climbing
The previous Ledge Climbing solution was very clunky, the new inplementation is much faster and uses raycasts to find the ledge. Kat also looks up to any ledge that are climbable
Content
New weapons Usable
As seen in the "Equipment" gif, the new weapons from the last devlog are in-game and usable
New spaceship
Kat's ship has a new design, it looks like an unhappy fish and I'm very happy with it
Kobold
Originally not made for the game, but he's going to an NPC in the desert world
Graphics
Grass shader
Very proud of this shader, interactive and good performance!
Dissolve shader
(Not ingame items) Made a shader that dissolves over time, will use this for certain items and enemies (Explained here)
A few days into May already but here’s the devlog covering April.
In the first half of the month I’ve mostly focussed on improving combat, tweaking the attack animations, adding healthbars and new effects, and testing it all on a simple AI clone of Kat.
With the testing of combat I also ended up designing and making some new weapons, with a lot more to come.
After a bit of tweaking it’s now also possible to climb animated meshes, so some concept art for giant climbable creatures was neccesary.
In the last few days of April I’ve started completely remaking the menu systems, which should be finished in a few days.
Below is a summary of the new stuff with GIFS and images!
Systems
Combat Improvements
Enemies now have healthbars and you can dodge their attacks. There is also damage variation based on the weapon you use.
Weapon Swapping
You can swap/transform weapons during combat.
Climbing Animated Creatures
With some small tweaks to the static climbing system it’s now also possible to climb animated meshes.
Inventory
A simple inventory system is in place, see the New Menu GIF below.
Graphics
New Menus Mockup
The new look for the menus, keeping it techy, simple, and stylized.
New Menu W.I.P In-Game
Not done yet, but it’s looking pretty snazzy already!
Weapon Transform Effects
Played around with a shader + mesh swapping to get the effect of the weapons transforming.
Content
Item Models
The concepts from the last devlog (mostly) finished, these are the materials you’ll find by exploring
New Weapons Concepts and Models
Art for the weapon transformations when you feed materials to your base weapon
Climbable Creature Concepts
Concepts for giant creatures with rare resources on their backs
Environment Test
Made some new rocks and smaller assets
Other
Bot Float
A very original little feature I just had to add :3 Not dropping to your death, the cute way.
Map Drawing
Experimental feature to let you make your own notes on the map
So I decided to merge the February and March blogs since I lost quite a few days in February due to flu and a family wedding. This means I’ve got quite a bit to show this time!
I’ve also made a Twitch Channel where I stream 3D development (usually on Sundays)
This devlog I’ll show Kat’s updated gear and animations. Some new enemy designs, new systems, and some cool effects!
Systems
JSON Database and Localisation
I'm now loading data from JSON files, in the GIF you can see a database for scanned creatures and plants. It's now very easy to change language for localisation.
Quest System
The basics for a quest loop are now in place
Graphics
Lava Shader
Turns out the water shader makes for a nice lava effect as well, just needed to change some settings and add a Heat Distortion effect (As explained here)
New Gear
Kat's gear is changed to reflect the new Botfriend-core mechanic
New Blendshapes
Somehow the old blendshapes messed up beyond repair, the new blendshapes are much better and there's more of them too :D
Content
Birdtown Assets - Interior
Started a few interior assets for the Orniaf people
Birdtown Assets - Shop
The look for the shop is done
New Enemy Designs
The bigger, ancient-looking enemies for the Jungle area have a final design
Other
Knocking Out Creatures
Testing if knocking out non-enemies when you're having a bad day is a fun addition (you can see the old attack animations here)
Bot System and new Animations
Botfriend's core will now move into your weapon when you use it, leaving the bot-body behind. Here you can also see new attack animations (still being tweaked)
Portal Effect
Byproduct of the Toon Fire Tutorial (link here) I did for Patreon, figured out how to make a cool Portal Effect (also explained here)
That’s the biggest changes for February and March, Birdtown may not be finished yet but I figured out a lot of underlying design questionmarks I had.
Next up will be testing the effects of items you find on your gear! Feed these parts to your weapon and see what happens
January has been a pretty big month for the game, to start with, the game is now called Astro Kat and there is even a Website for it.
The Patreon for tutorials on my workflow and anything I'll learn on the way of making Astro Kat is going really well, thanks everyone for supporting!
There has been a lot of cleaning up code, and improving existing systems, instead of adding new mechanics. The improvements make a big difference though.
I’m slowly looking into how shaders work, made some edits and experimental shaders, the water shader in particular turned out pretty well.
Also started the village the bird people will live in, hopefully this will be the main area for a demo.
Anyways, here's a summary of most of the progress made in the last month.
Systems
Extra options for Dialogue
NPC animations, pointing the camera at other objects, camera shake and ~Rainbow Text~ .
NPC and Kat Look at
NPC and Player will look at certain objects by overriding animations in LateUpdate.
Climb on Moving/Rotating objects
Climbing has been possible for a while, but now it doesn’t matter if the surface is moving or not!
Graphics
New Rimlight Toon Shader
Character shader has been edited to give a more defined rimlight to make them pop a bit more.
Experimental Moss Shader
Played around with a shader that adds a different color based on how close the surface normal is to a given direction.
Improved Water Shader
Added edge foam by check the depth buffer values, some more info on this type of shader Here and partly Here.
Content
Bird village looks
Decided on the overall style of the village(old water shader here). Village is blocked out, more on this next devlog ;)
For the next month I hope to at least finish the bird village, start adding sound effects and music, and get close to releasing a demo.
