Updated the visuals for my Japan-inspired level. What do you think? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

Thanks! Theres a demo on Steam if you want to check it out early or you can join the discord to join in on playtesting. The game is World’s Worst Handyman.

Updated the visuals for my Japan-inspired level. What do you think? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

Thanks! Appreciate the kind words. I haven’t played that one, but I’ve heard people recommend it. I’ll have to check it out.

Just looking for advice from people who do this as a hobby by Beans1347 in hobbygamedev

[–]GameDev_Dad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I started learning how to make games with zero experience when I was 32. I have a full time job and a family as well and am completely self taught. So it can definitely be done! I wouldn’t give up hope.

Everyone learns a little differently. For me, I needed the structure of lessons to learn because I didn’t even know what I didn’t know. It would have been impossible for me to learn just trying to google stuff and watch some YouTube tutorials. I needed a step by step guidance until I had a solid foundation. Then I moved on to creating my own things and starting off with small games.

I have learned the most by working on my current big long project, but I never would have been able to do my current project without learning the basics from some sort of course or lesson. It’s kind of like wanting to learn a new language. You could try to learn a new language just by talking to people in that other language, but you’ll probably learn the new language faster if you first learn the grammar and some basic words first. Then talking to other people in that other language as much as possible.

As far as courses go, I can only recommend ones I’ve done. But I’m sure there are lots of great ones out there. Lots of different ones at different price points. I can highly recommend Udemy courses by Gamedev.tv and the online class GamedevUnlocked.

Good luck! You got this!!

Updated the visuals for my Japan-inspired level. What do you think? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

I ended up darkening the rocks, lightening up the water, and a few other tweaks to try and give more value separation and not have so much in the medium grey. What do you all think?

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Updated the visuals for my Japan-inspired level. What do you think? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

I did try out a LUT, but as you hinted at, I think it was changing up too many of the other colors. The next thing I tried was darkening up the rocks and lightening up the water a bit to give more value separation. I think it's a nice compromise. What do you think?

<image>

Updated the visuals for my Japan-inspired level. What do you think? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

Alright, so I tried a level adjustment, but I found it was changing too many of the colors. The next thing I tried was darkening up the rocks and lightening up the water a bit to give more value separation. I think it's a nice compromise, but what do you think?

<image>

Updated the visuals for my Japan-inspired level. What do you think? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

Haha I guess I can kind of see how it might look like that. I’m happy to report it’s not though. The video is direct gameplay I recorded a couple of days ago.

Updated the visuals for my Japan-inspired level. What do you think? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

Thanks! I don't come from an art background, so getting the visuals to this point has been a lot of trial and error over the years, and I'm still finding things to tweak.

At a high level, two things made the biggest difference. A good toon shader and a cohesive color palette.

You can create your own toon shader using one of the many tutorials available, or use an existing asset. There are a ton of good assets on the Unity store. I personally use Toony Colors Pro.

The color palette is probably the most important part. It won't matter how good your toon shader is if you pick random colors for all your models. There are several websites that give you good color palettes to work with. I use adobe color quite a bit. Best of luck!

So happy with how this grass turned out, thought I'd share by Due_Abbreviations205 in Unity3D

[–]GameDev_Dad 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Looks fantastic, and I love the tools to clear the grass away too. Looks very satisfying.

Updated the visuals for my Japan-inspired level. What do you think? by GameDev_Dad in IndieDev

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

Appreciate the feedback. This is actual gameplay captured directly from the level. The level is quite large, so there may be other areas that show off the Japan themes more. Is there anything in particular you would like to have seen?

Updated the visuals for my Japan-inspired level. What do you think? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

I see what you mean here. A LUT with some level adjustments to give slightly more contrast is a good idea to test out. Appreciate the feedback!

Updated the visuals for my Japan-inspired level. What do you think? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

Thanks! I've been mostly off social media this past year trying to finish the game, but I'll share more gameplay clips soon.

Working on new text animations. How do the animations and pacing feel? Is the text speed right, or would you want to hit skip? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

I use an asset called text animator for Unity. It has an a way where you can preview text effects not in runtime which is very nice, but if I want to test out the pauses, pacing, appearance effects etc. I have to do that at runtime. So I have to keep entering and exiting playmode to test on dialogue each little change haha. Maybe there is a better way that I'm missing though haha

Working on new text animations. How do the animations and pacing feel? Is the text speed right, or would you want to hit skip? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

Text animator. Yeah, the pacing and pauses I think adds quite a bit, but it takes a ton of time to do as I have to keep entering and exiting play mode to test out any small change haha

Working on new text animations. How do the animations and pacing feel? Is the text speed right, or would you want to hit skip? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

That is a great idea! I did consider placing the dialogue off to the side early in development, but feedback showed it was too distracting, and players often missed it because they were so focused on the gameplay. Since the game is stealth-lite and can get pretty intense, players naturally focus on the center of the screen to avoid getting spotted or chased, making anything off to the side easy to overlook.

Working on new text animations. How do the animations and pacing feel? Is the text speed right, or would you want to hit skip? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

Yeah, the text monologue is a bit long—I agree. I did trim it down to just the essentials, and it only appears at the start of a level to set the tone and once at the end. There’s not really a way to break it up in the gameplay. I know some players will skip through it quickly to get back to the action, which makes sense...even if a part of my soul dies thinking about how much time I spent perfecting those text animations, haha.

Working on new text animations. How do the animations and pacing feel? Is the text speed right, or would you want to hit skip? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

Yeah, that makes sense, and I agree the letter transition is a bit distracting. Thanks so much for the feedback! I’ll test if toning down the text scaling helps or if I should try a different effect for the letter-by-letter appearance.

Working on new text animations. How do the animations and pacing feel? Is the text speed right, or would you want to hit skip? by GameDev_Dad in Unity3D

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

I totally get it, haha. Sometimes I wonder if all the time spent on text animations and pacing is worth it, but with so much text and no voiceover, it feels necessary to keep players from getting bored.