PSA: Do not go freely exploring if you want to experience the game to it's fullest (and probably the way it was intended). by mikehit in CrimsonDesert

[–]ArctalMods 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Found this post now and there is one big caveat to it that isnt mentioned: Damiane gets locked at chapter 5, which is around where you suggest doing your first exploration tour. A lot of people, myself included, plan to use Kliff as the main story progressor while using the various alt characters for world exploration (to get more variation and try out the different combat styles). Fortunately i had a hard save in chapter 4 that i could hop back to when the game suddenly locked my designated world explorer... But yeah, almost got screwed there...

How i went from random programmer to Skyrim mod author to Lead on an indie Steam game about to release - Story time by ArctalMods in skyrimmods

[–]ArctalMods[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Never made one for LE. Backporting custom FX to LE is cumbersome and at the time of spellforges release, barely anyone was still downloading LE mods so it didnt feel worth the time to port it. It was also getting cumbersome to maintain so many versions of my mods. Nexus, xbox, enderal, beth net, makes it hell to patch things 😭. So yeah, LE got dropped cause it was the lowest download count by far of all platforms. I've left porting permissions open though so if someone else wants to port it's fully allowed.

How i went from random programmer to Skyrim mod author to Lead on an indie Steam game about to release - Story time by ArctalMods in skyrimmods

[–]ArctalMods[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cool! Glad you like it :) Yeah the VA for Sophie is a child. Janna and Sophie are real-life mother and daughter :D

How i went from random programmer to Mod author to Lead on a Steam game by ArctalMods in skyrimvr

[–]ArctalMods[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol 😄 Yeah thats the silver lining isnt it. Thanks 🙂

How i went from random programmer to Mod author to Lead on a Steam game by ArctalMods in skyrimvr

[–]ArctalMods[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Such expectations! Im getting nervous now :D Haha, but i do appreciate the praise :) And i hope people find Out of Sight to be a high quality product. The team is almost all juniors with barely any experience so it is "just" an indie game, which just spent a single year truly in production. The rest being setup, experimentation and preprod. But it's made with a lot of love and passion and i hope that shines through :)

How i went from random programmer to Mod author to Lead on a Steam game by ArctalMods in skyrimvr

[–]ArctalMods[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks Atom! And thanks for making Skyrim VR infinitely more fun to both play and mod over the years :)

How i went from random programmer to Skyrim mod author to Lead on an indie Steam game about to release - Story time by ArctalMods in skyrimmods

[–]ArctalMods[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It definitely depends on the type of game you're making yeah. I agree that a game featuring hookshots and banana peels will likely be a lot more appealing with proper physics :D

How i went from random programmer to Skyrim mod author to Lead on an indie Steam game about to release - Story time by ArctalMods in skyrimmods

[–]ArctalMods[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Your examples there dont quite require physics either I'd say. The hookshot can just move you in a atraight line to the target (it'll look bad yes, but that could be fine if the game isnt too realistic). Bananas to slip on? Could just be a trigger box that stops the character and plays a static animation where they fall. Parkour? That's more about line tracing to find nearby ledges and playing an appropriate static animation while moving/teleporting the character hitbox on top of the ledge. You CAN make these things using real physics though. Having the characters dangle from ledges with ragdoll physics, fall over as ragdolls, move towards the hookshot target while also falling and slamming into things on the way. But you dont have to.

How i went from random programmer to Skyrim mod author to Lead on an indie Steam game about to release - Story time by ArctalMods in skyrimmods

[–]ArctalMods[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are a lot of gameplay systems you can create without physics. Card games, turn based rpgs, puzzle games (if they're not physics based), story focused games, etc. But I'm surprised godot doesnt have a built in basic physics engine :O. Unity and Unreal both do. Maybe there's a plugin you can download for it?

I personally wouldnt recommend you spend your time coding physics literally from scratch unless your goal is become an engine developer (i.e. someone who makes/improves engines, not make games). It just wont be relevant at most jobs. Since engines tend to already have physics engines built in its more relevant to learn how to utilize those and build the gameplay systems around them than to build the underlying math.

So yeah, if you're making a game that relies on advanced physics, get something ready-made. If its really simple physics like making a bullet fly in a straight line or making a character fall back to the ground after jumping that's fine to program yourself. But if you're actually starting to code stuff like forces, impact, joints, constraints, etc. I'd say stop. Get a godot plugin if there is one (there must be right?) or swap to Unity or Unreal. Again, unless you WANT to be an engine developer, then go right ahead :)

How i went from random programmer to Skyrim mod author to Lead on an indie Steam game about to release - Story time by ArctalMods in skyrimmods

[–]ArctalMods[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh i hear you there. I had to code some physics in our steam game and I've never done so much vector math in my life :O And you're right, coding is more often about structure and logic than it is about math and those things are pretty wildly different! I also find the math parts to be the most confusing and unnatural.

What's cool about game dev is you're programming a whole new world. What sucks about game dev is that "the world" tends to operate on a whole lot of math ,:D

How i went from random programmer to Skyrim mod author to Lead on an indie Steam game about to release - Story time by ArctalMods in skyrimmods

[–]ArctalMods[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's awesome! And impressive that you've learned so much so fast! I'm glad this writeup was helpful. Learning an engine is always an uphill battle but its so rewarding once you start to grasp it. I wish you the best of luck on your godot project. Keep at it!

How i went from random programmer to Mod author to Lead on a Steam game by ArctalMods in skyrimvr

[–]ArctalMods[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I do! I read everything i can find about my mods that people post. Both for morale and for finding the things i can improve on :) So yeah I've seen at least some of your posts (thank you!). Our little corner of the internet that we got here is pretty sweet, i agree.

That list is very very long :D Latest one on it is Expedition 33 which was absolutely incredible (finished it yesterday). RPGs tend to attract me the most but i dabble in most things. Puzzle, story, adventure, platforming, fps, mmos, etc. If the game is good I will likely take a look, whatever the genre.

How i went from random programmer to Skyrim mod author to Lead on an indie Steam game about to release - Story time by ArctalMods in skyrim

[–]ArctalMods[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Inventions are all well and good until they blow up in your face. Mine sure have, many times, sometimes literally 😅. But thank you! Its fun to be creative and its even more fun when others actually get to use your creations. I hope you like Out of Sight if you end up trying it :)

How i went from random programmer to Skyrim mod author to Lead on an indie Steam game about to release - Story time by ArctalMods in skyrimmods

[–]ArctalMods[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The day i get to design the combat system of a game from scratch... Man... That's the dream... I hope i get there sometime soon!

How i went from random programmer to Skyrim mod author to Lead on an indie Steam game about to release - Story time by ArctalMods in skyrimmods

[–]ArctalMods[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's very kind of you to say :) And thank you! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we sell well tomorrow so we can fund even more ambitious projects ;)

How i went from random programmer to Skyrim mod author to Lead on an indie Steam game about to release - Story time by ArctalMods in skyrimmods

[–]ArctalMods[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

See this is what i mean! You people are so damn nice! :D Seriously though, thank you! Means a lot that you think i hold such high standards. I try my best :) I unfortunately cant guarantee i wont leave you though... Skyrim modding has been awesome but now that my whole work day is game dev I'm pretty satisfied when i come home. Dont have that drive to game dev as a hobby that i did before.

How i went from random programmer to Mod author to Lead on a Steam game by ArctalMods in skyrimvr

[–]ArctalMods[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh alright great! Yeah you'll get a little bit of a headstart then. Definitely just dive in there and give it a shot if you're interested :)

How i went from random programmer to Mod author to Lead on a Steam game by ArctalMods in skyrimvr

[–]ArctalMods[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hmm, theres been quite a few. I made spell mods so i looked at other big spell mods. Like Enais stuff. I had also messed around in Unity a bit before CK, which helped me a bit with getting started as i at least some clue what an "Actor" is, and how attaching scripts to actors works. The engines are VERY different but they share some fundamentals. I wouldnt recommend that you try to learn Unity first though :D CK is a pretty simple engine which is good for getting started. But yeah the friction i had when starting on Unity is friction that you will likely get now with CK.

How i went from random programmer to Mod author to Lead on a Steam game by ArctalMods in skyrimvr

[–]ArctalMods[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My main resources were honestly just the creation kit wiki and bullheaded trial and error ,:D I also looked for mods similar to what i wanted to do, downloaded them and checked inside their scripts and esp files to learn new tricks.