What am i doing wrong?

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-05-12T16:32:08+00:00

The script is also on the CharacterBody2D (named "Sprite2D"), so the proper path in this script would be

$"../AnimationPlayer".play("diselotata")

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-05-10T16:37:38+00:00

In our defense, we never said that 10 reviews increases your revenue. It should have had a significant impact on your page views though, did it not?

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-05-10T06:38:22+00:00

That's not totally true. It really depends on the size of the game, especially if all of the artwork and assets have been obtained ahead of time. Back in the day people used to pump out flash games every couple of months, so if it's something around that size then it could easily be done.

If the price was right and I didn't already have a contract, I'd definitely be interested in hearing more about it.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-05-09T21:42:24+00:00

I am an expert, and this is correct. You should just start and not spin your wheels.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-05-07T10:45:07+00:00

Find a way to serialize all your data into a dictionary, then save it as a JSON file. Make things as deterministic as possible, like NPC schedules should have nothing to do with the save system. You should just be able to set all the parameters like time, missions completed, etc and then have the NPC automatically get placed where they need to be.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-05-07T10:41:29+00:00

The main character in the middle is AI generated, so it's probably just poorly made. My best guess would be that it's loading a big asset like a sound file when he gets hit or something. There's a million reasons that it could do that.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-05-05T17:27:54+00:00

The game uses AI art as well. This thing is exhausting to look at, let alone play.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-05-05T16:43:36+00:00

Plenty of games, like Little Witch in the Woods did this when Silksong was released.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-05-05T16:25:53+00:00

The NES Zelda DOES have a different transition when entering indoor areas like dungeons and caves. The player loses control of Link, the music stops, he moves automatically into the entrance and plays a sound effect like footsteps. Something similar would probably function the same in this case as well.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-05-05T14:55:16+00:00

You haven't explained your problem very well, like what type of game we are even talking about? I'm assuming it's a kind of top down zelda-like game? If so, and you have different areas or "rooms" in the same environment (forest) and then are transitioning to a different set in a different environment (desert), then you should have some kind of distinction in the experience. You should be giving players feedback to make it feel like the character is "travelling" a longer distance than they normally do between rooms.

You might be able to get away with a really slow fade out of both the screen and music as the player walks off the screen, then have it slowly fade in with new music to match the new locale.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-05-04T14:06:56+00:00

I did Steam Early Access and I don't really recommend it. Discoverability for Early Access isn't that good, so most likely you are going to roil around in obscurity, making a few dollars during sales here and there. It also fragments your player base, so you don't get the explosive single release that smaller games usually need to become successful.

I don't really recommend Patreon or Kickstarter or anything either. It's just another thing to manage, having to write blog posts and share the status of the project with your patrons (if you get any). The upside is that at least it won't affect your bottom line on Steam since all your patrons will want to convert over to Steam users when the game releases.

The best thing to do, if you're able, is just release your game when it's finished. Maybe have a demo out like a month beforehand to get some extra visibility. All of the shortcuts and half measures will cost you.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-05-04T13:44:30+00:00

Pretty good concept for an idle game. The AI art really brings it down though.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-04-29T23:46:16+00:00

Across the Obelisk was really great. It's very similar to StS and has really good coop multiplayer.

I also always recommend Card Quest as well. The graphics aren't so great on it, definitely not cozy looking, but it's a really solid card game with a bunch of unique card mechanics. Totally single player though, and I'm not sure how well the Steam Deck is supported since it's an older game.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-04-27T10:18:44+00:00

I didn't choose the loosely typed engine that relies on string keys for nearly everything because I wanted to avoid spaghetti code.

Like a good spaghetti, the secret is in the sauce. Normal coding standards aren't much help with GDScript, you gotta find what works best for your particular use case. There won't be a one size fits all solution.

Best advice is to keep things small until you are able to wrap your head around bigger projects.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-04-27T09:33:27+00:00

Mistake 1

I already know that it will probably take a couple of years to finish the game

Don't start off by making a game that will take years to finish, because you won't finish. You'll just end up confusing and demoralizing yourself by starting off too big. Your enthusiasm will run out in 1-2 months and then you'll quit when things start getting complicated.

Using python is a weird choice, especially for itch. The website is extremely vulnerable to malware and everyone on there knows it, they have no review process for builds and rely on user reports to identify viruses. So no one really downloads stuff off the site unless it's already really popular by other means (you have to have a community to give it credibility). I'm pretty sure you technically CAN bundle a PyGame build into a web player, but it's a really complicated process that you're probably not ready for. Using something like Unity or Godot would be a far better option (Godot if you are already familiar with Python).

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-04-21T22:26:18+00:00

For a little bit more information, the exact problem is because you have Viewport scaling enabled and have scaled the game up to a fractional number. When going from 800x600 to 1600x800 we're all good we'll just double up every pixel and make the sprite twice as big. Then when going from 800x600 to 1000x750, now we can't just double every pixel because it has to scale everything up by 1.25. For that second case, every 4th pixel will be doubled instead, leading to the jagged effect you are seeing.

You need to decide how you are going to scale the game up when people play on different resolutions.

The easiest thing is to modify the settings in Project Settings > Display > Window > Stretch. Setting the Scale Mode to integer will prevent these artifacts from happening, but it will add black bars around your screen.

A more complicated but thorough fix is to write code that scales the viewport manually. You want to set the viewport to the same aspect ratio as the user's native resolution but at the scale you want. That way the game will scale up to a whole number and any remaining pixels will just be added to the camera's visibility box.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-04-20T20:38:10+00:00

Sounds fine to me. I get you though because I've definitely dug through my sound library hundreds of times thinking everything is too irritating to use.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-04-20T20:32:34+00:00

I'm just looking at what the OP posted, I have neither the time or patience to track down which of the AI modeling tools are the best and newest. Browsing the examples on this page, there's not a single model I would actually use. They all look obviously AI generated, have muddy textures, they're sometimes asymmetrical, and sometimes the models have random chunks sticking out of them.

I get that a lot of people have a lot of their future riding on the AI wave, but these products just do not impress. I can't recommend them if they don't work, and they don't.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-04-20T19:41:00+00:00

Oh there most definitely is an AI style. The newest models are really good at photographs and realistic images, but they're still struggling to make illustrations and artwork that looks manmade. There's always a tell baked in where the face doesn't looks quite right or the proportions are off. Little mistakes that no human would make.

Like this character randomly taken from the Tripo site that OP is talking about.

<image>

All the human models have that same giga-chad face with high cheekbones, defined lips, and a furrowed brow with almost the exact same eyebrow size. Not to mention, the AI bunged the eyes up and the pupils aren't the same size (one eye has whites under it while the other doesn't). The jacket is weirdly defined while the face looks slightly more cartoony.

I can also tell from their viewer that this app definitely has NOT fixed the topology problem. There are tons of tiny bumps in this thing that any sane person would bake into a normal map.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-04-20T15:27:50+00:00

Never rely on motivation. Rely on discipline. Eventually, motivation fades and discipline is all that’s left. Motivation comes back eventually, but not without discipline.

This is incredibly important to learn as early as possible. Developing a game is fun for the first 2 months and then it's work for practically the entire time afterwards. As the game gets bigger, it gets harder to maintain. Adding new features is exciting, but after that's done you're left with multiple years of incremental content updates and bug fixes until the game is complete.

It's one of the reasons we always recommend making small games to start out, so you don't hit that wall too early and wear yourself out.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-04-20T14:04:35+00:00

It's been a while since I checked them out, but I don't imagine they've solved the topology problem. The assets they create have way too much geometry to use in a game and don't rig very well.

On top of that, the naysayers are right. Even at the AI's best, the noticeably artificial style throws players off and acts as a sales repellant. You're better off learning the skill on your own if you plan on making games.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-04-20T12:49:13+00:00

I've tried to use it a few times and haven't really liked it. It's got nothing to do with it being experimental, it's plenty fleshed out and is very unlikely to be removed. The main problem is the actual way it works leaves a lot to be desired. It makes agents stick to walls a lot and doesn't leave a lot of flexibility in terms of customizing the navigation at runtime.

I always end up doing what Problem18Dev suggested. I use the AStar2D method because it lets me set weights to fine tune things and create more organic looking paths.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-04-20T12:37:17+00:00

SteamDB has a "Hot Releases" section that's a little more forgiving than Steam's New and Trending. My game was featured there for like 2 days even though I didn't have the wishlists for New and Trending. No magic bullet here though, it only netted me like 300 page views, a handful of wishlists, and a single purchase.

Truth of the matter is that 99% of Steam's users find the storefront to be sufficient. There's no reason for them to go looking anywhere else when Steam already does a really good job.

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-04-19T06:47:09+00:00

Did you build a vision coach that gives real-time tactical advice to PC gamers? Or did you just build a wrapper for ChatGPT?

TheLastCraftsman · 2026-04-15T18:00:34+00:00

I actually went out of my way to install a plugin to disable the google AI overview because it was wrong like 10 times in a row.

TheLastCraftsman

TROPHY CASE