This is unrelated to the game, (which I adore so far, I love pipes!) but you remind me of both original members of the yogscast at the same time.

I'm so so glad that throwing sprites not only looks cute but has practical purposes too 😎 As for pipe layouts. I quite enjoy feeding the clomper, as its an optional challenge, that offers no downside and could even reward Players doing it. Have you consodered the idea of pipe upgrades (faster transmission, perhaps transmission speed control) and starting the player off with few pipes causing them to make messy & convoluted setups, and as they upgrade and unlock more pipes they can make their setup more efficient. Also for the evolving Clomper, you could potentially offer that as layouts the Player can choose when starting the game or something? 🤔

Awesome changes, the Vfx updates are really good, they will help a lot with promotion too! Regarding keeping the core gameplay: I love solution 1, I hate the second, and the third one feels like a "meh, good for a quick workaround, but nothing more" Keep it up, cheers! :)

Durability of pipes sounds like a good way to deal with it, but instead of them being destroyed, they just loose or effect efficiency? If that is how it works, so it's a pain but doesn't completely mess you over.

Devlog 70? What happened to Devlog 69?

Your ideas for chaning the pipe network are good, but they are all punishments. I think players might respond better to rewards. To that end, what if you had a few different tiers of pipes and appliances (I am drawing inspiration from Hydroneer here. It is probably worth checking out for ideas). What if your pipes had a maximum pressure they could carry and had to be upgraded to carry more pressure, then providing more pressure to the appliances gave various bonuses. What if the the appliances themselves could be updated which would make them more effective, but also move their ports around. Maybe coolest of all, what if you picked up random "vanity" appliances from around the world that had a more cosmetic function, but needed to be placed in the middle of the clomper in prime pipe area (this is similar to your big damage idea, but a reward not a punishment). For example, you could find a poker table that needs pressure, but would let you play cards with your friends (as an added bonus, these players are distracted). Or alternatively, you could install and power a shower that would let the players clean off their character models.

I like the big damage idea, though feeding sounds cool too, perhaps getting bonuses for doing it as well. I think clomper basically needs to become a puzzle game, where you need to solve these pipe routing puzzles, and so the question is how can you make puzzles that aren't always the same, and have the puzzles have some thought in them. In that aspect, I do think that putting stuff in the way of the pipes is a good way to go for adding variety, but I think that its also too easy to place pipes. If you can place them basically anywhere, rerouting around obstacles is just a task of placing a C shaped segment of pipes. What about doing "mode switches"? The clomper has these big features that it can use, and give some advantage or ability to do a quest, but they physically take up space in the clomper to the degree that they must reroute the pipes. It's pseudo voluntary in that you personally make the decision to activate that mega feature, though it may still be required for a quest or a no brainer for a situation, but maybe that decision makes it feel less annoying. Some examples of mega features might be adding larger legs for more speed, and they take up some space at the sides. You would see these large pistons and joints extending into the actual capsule, with extra 2 steam ports for added rerouting effect. Another might be installing a grappling hook at the front (or maybe even the back??) which has a giant reel and an artillery like portion to launch the hook. Another might be some steam powered rockets, or a giant screw if it ever goes in an aquatic biome. These might play into certain environments the clomper goes into, like rockets to jump a craggy biome full of gaps, faster legs to try and avoid the conveyors, the aforementioned screw for swamps, the grappling hook to get over a cliff. Though those are large scale changes, if that changes often then the player would likely find some valve based permanent solution. The more often the ideal mega feature build changes the more likely they are to find a way to never change it again. If it changes infrequently but not rarely, almost like levels, then its more of a complication factor in addition to some other variations, like damage or rust. Even if you've seen all the damage states, with a different mode it still changes the puzzle somewhat. I think an interesting complicating feature might be steam temperature. Perhaps some clomper features want different temperatures of steam, perhaps based on the number of junctions, some things that might want hotter steam is the legs or grinder, while the more delicate things like a periscope wants colder steam. Another interaction could be that gashes in the hull (from damage) could lead to a cold breeze, cooling pipes in an area, or a hot breeze heating pipes further, depending on the biome perhaps. Which could be useful or a hinderance, adding to the choices the player can make about their design. How that would influence design is that you may need to cool down your steam before it connects, leading to trying to route it in a longer path, or needing different junctions like having a separate boiler for a feature to make sure its hot enough. This by itself is probably not much of a difficulty, but combined with less pipe mobility from big damage or other features it will make it more of a difficult puzzle. Anyways hopefully you see this and I haven't wasted a good 30 minutes lol.

I personally like the idea of Big Damage, and an Upgrade System. Overall I think that because you know the core gameplay is fun, the Primary gameplay loop isn't the problem, it's the Secondary or Tertiary loop rather. My thinking would be to make map locations where required progression blueprints can be found into separate rooms where they need to optimize a pipe network to receive the blueprint. Good excuse to have them gather more materials also. Not sure if that would tread too far into the puzzle genre for you though. Maybe also have the player transition to new maps with a completely new clomper after each "primary progression", could be a good way to implement the Evolution idea. Lasty, a Giant Fire Sprite wandering around that map that causes all of your boilers to explode if you get too close, gives more meaning to the periscope, planning a route, and the overall feel of the hellscape. Truly love seeing your videos! Looking forward to any solutions you come up with!

Perhaps a pipe pressure system combined with “feed the clomper” could help with your issue. Here’s what I imagine… You start with one steam port but as you progress through the game you get better at collecting scrap/upgrade your machines and the amount of steam produced increases. It makes sense to open other valves to distribute the pressure over a larger area. machines require different pressure targets, if over pressure for too long they break, if underpowered they work slowly or not at all. I think it would pit the player against themselves which would make it dynamic. You can have a big complex system but if you’re not collecting/finding scrap quickly enough it may not support your network and you have to scale things back. You might also reconsider rerouting things to create a more optimal flow. Of course the problem exists that there would be an “optimal” solution given a fixed layout so perhaps the starting locations and/or pressure targets of machines are randomized every playthrough.

Ah, finally addressing the hard issue of Clomper's main mechanic being a puzzle game but Clomper's objective is operating an old fashioned tank. Its a difficult problem especially as a single developer since the "easy" answer is to just make tons of custom Clomper interiors that the players have to switch between for different objectives but that's prohibitively expensive to produce. It would be cool if the input/output devices were able to be placed (in engine not in game) using the same grid method as the pipe network so you could procedurally or manually make more interiors with different sizes layouts but even that seems like a pretty major rework. All of your ideas are good, particularly number 3 as that seems the most bang for your buck. The only reason to change up the pipe network is if the environment (input/output and obstacles) changes. However I wonder if even with having random spouts that have to be filled if the player wouldnt just line the walls with pipes and then problem solved? I wonder if as an addendum to solution 3, and I realize depending on how the pipe network is coded this might not be feasable, if there could be different fluid/gasses that are pushed around? I suggest this because if it was a viable option forcing the input/outputs that are around the clomper to change which material they take/receive is way more scalable than making custom interiors and by simply changing one input/output based on an event/quest/upgrade/time/biome/crafting suddenly the network might need a major rework without changing the interior layout at all like moving pipe input location or adding an obstacle. In theory since all the fluid/gas is inside the pipe as well the only assets needed for this is some sort of indicator on the input/output, a special clear/window pipe, and then endcap of an open pipe network. Anyways another great devlog, hope you find a solution that you like!

Awesome devlog! I have a few suggestions maybe as you journey through the wasteland, your pipes get damaged over time and you need to maintain them every so often or else they’ll break and you need to replace them. This would make the player constantly be checking their pipe network to make sure it’s working correctly. Another suggestion is every “level” or so you could add a random storage box that blocks up some space in the clomper, players will have to build around it and adapt. I feel like higher difficulty levels would have more storage boxes and be more cramped. Ok I just finished the devlog and I saw we had the same solution for the pipe damage. Now I have a new solution… You could add different pipe material quality. As you travel, you will find higher quality pipe pieces, these better pipes could have more durability or transfer steam more efficiently (idk something like that) players will now have to swap out crappy pipes with better ones to make their pipe network better. I think players should have access to a bunch of crappy pipe pieces at the start of the game BUT special pipes should be very rare so players have to make sure they take care of them. Keep up the good work!

Aah, the age old rivalry between Recording Rob and Editing Rob. I find it too hard to pick a side. New VFX look amazing, really like the new grinding look!

Hmmz. So, pretty much all of your ideas to get the player to rebuild their pipe network are negative incentives. Those are fine, but like, they can feel a lot more like chores than anything else. I think what I would recommend is something close to your "evolution" idea, but instead, it's more a "technology" thing, which is pretty common in factory/puzzle solving/building games, no? The idea would be something along the lines of "you can do xyz better, but only if you make this new port and also provide steam to it", or "you can upgrade your steam network to support more throughput, but some of the pipes by consequence have to be bigger or more awkward", etc. Maybe even experiment with things other than just a pipe network in some places? The main thing is just that all of them are positive incentives - things the player doesn't _have_ to do, but _can_ do in order to make the clomper better or more fun for them. Generally players will go for stuff like this to chase even the tiniest of stat improvements, because players like to chase optimisation. It's even better if the way your pipe network stuff works has enough depth that the players can feel smart with the way they redesign things. And there's definitely depth to be found in this, I think. Making some ports require more throughput, some ports require less, making some ports require steam only at specific times, so the player is incentivised to build a setup that uses the steam for something else so it's not wasted on something when it doesn't need it, etc. Even just depth like this I think would be pretty huge for encouraging players to rebuild their setup to optimise. Esp. if later on you end up having a whole resource management thing going on as well with the fuel in the steam engines. Optimisation = being able to go into more difficult areas, for example? Anyway, sorry for the wall of text, hehe! Thanks for the devlog! Love the new VFX btw!!

VFX is looking epic Rob! Love it!

Ohhh the grinder vfx look amazing! This was a fantastic devlog as usual. As for your solutions, to keep it simple: 1: Sounds cool, I like that! 2: Like you said, seems kind of annoying. Not sure if that could work 3: Could be a good idea for sure, not sure how annoying this would be in reality, though. Might be something worth trying out in a way. This would however definitely be a good reason to keep messing with the pipes. Now, I do have an idea, but I'm not sure how much that would mess with your scope, so take it with a grain of salt I guess haha. What if you have different tiers of pipes? And they affect certain power/speed on things within the Clomper? The different tiers (let's say copper/steel pipes/etc idk) cannot connect to one another making it so they have to move past each other, and turning it into somewhat of a puzzle of where to put what cause upgrading a pipe to a next tier can be expensive and thus you can't change the whole pipe network at once. Not sure if that could be an idea. Either way, looking forward to finding out your solution!😁

looks like you managed to successfully evade devlog 69 nice -- grinder looks much nicer with the added vfx the visual improvements are looking nice -- the feeding the clomper idea was my favorite but I wonder if a mix of all 3 systems could be a thing -- that would probably take a crap ton of time to get that all done tho

game idea to consider: if you make catastrophic failure more likely and urgent outcome because of a wear-over-time system, making replacing worn pipes more urgent, this can force the reworking of networks with the following rule: pipes must have alternate paths opened before catastrophic failure. the failing elements then can be cut off only when a new path is built into the system, requiring building a new path when the old path is still there before the removal. think 3d snake.

You could have it so that longer the pipe is to the location the less effiecient it is. Careful placement of machines could mean that inital designs actually cause huge diversions for pipes and so a re-design maybe helpful. Perhaps having alternative steam paths for when some machines are not needed mean the player could design redirect piping. Perhaps increasing movement effiency when on the move but that cuts off the ability to collect items so they could turn a valve that means that they can pick stuff up but movement is more wastefull or slower etc...

Visual improvements look great. Drawing a parallel with other games that require you to build networks (e.g. factory type games), you often are inspired to rebuild a system when you have access to upgraded materials / tech. So... How about you have different levels of tech. / pipes / valves? - The lowest, early-game tech. has a limited capacity to shift steam around, so limits your speed / actions. - You then explore the world, gathering materials, and you gain the ability to upgrade your tech. - you can make better pipes / valves - The upgrade tech. has a higher capacity, so you are motivated to update your steam network... Maybe just replacing the pipes to the legs at first, until you gather more materials, and so on. There is an incentive to update the network, and this never goes away, as long as there is an upgrade path

Personally, I like the idea that you have to adapt your configuration of the clomper to whatever environment you move into. Maybe heavy winds might require more steam to the legs' movement, maybe water would require a valve for the legs' height to be active. If the player takes too long to adapt to the new environment, they get debufs like the clomper moves slower or pieces break or simillar ideas. This doesn't appear to be in the scope for your beta test, but I do think at the end of the day it would be the best solution. Some comments have suggested rewards instead of avoiding debufs, but I'm not quite sure that's motivation enough for what is explicitly the game's main feature. You appear to have made a lot of work on making it satisfying and snappy to play with the pipes, but not their purpose. Make obstacles, random events, snow, rain, maybe a weird guy starts chasing the clomper on the map and if you don't adjust it fast enough it'll get inside the pipes and cause them to explode, like a small jester jumpscare. The game is going along really well, and so my advice would be a mix of your options, or mainly option 1 but instead of BIG Damage, do a BUNCH of little events, be them random or caused by the environment, that the player has to constantly work around and keeps the pressure (haha) up. Good luck with the development!

Its amazing what some VFX are adding to a game! Looks awesome! One thing though, I know you are not done, but there is a visual/graphical mismatch, I think, between things. Like the style of graphics is in general "cartoonish", but some of the smoke and especially the fire looks very realistic. One of them looks a bit out of place when put together with the other. Same goes for the little "fire ball fellers" there (nice to throw them by the way!) - their fire doesn't look like the fire in the boilers, which is odd as they are from inside the boiler :D I know it's minor stuff, but it shouldn't be too easy for you ;) About the pipebuilding/core mechanic - solution 3 is by far the best, you now need to figure out a good reason these things pops up random places inside the Clomper - something that makes logical sense for being inside a mechanical ladybird... wack sentence - but still make sense here :D Now I'm just brainstorming wildly here. But a little like your environment things (which as you described it there doesn't sound like fun to some extend), anyway. In real life, I remember from I was a kid when we collected bugs (like real bugs) that ants actually attack ladybirds - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8QfgW2RwgLY.html So, it could be some kind of creature (mechanical if you wanna keep that vibe) that attack the Clomper that you have to defend off with steam and building pipes - like you described. Just an idea :) Update: Oh yeah and of cause pipes also wears down and need to be replaced/repaired to keep the players busy - but not too much :)

I personally wouldn't worry about these extra features, since I don't see a proper use for a v1.0 of the game. They might be nice updates, but if you want to release the game, keep it simple. The gameplay of adding pipes, navigating the clomper, picking up scrap and all that chaos should be the main focus. If that gameplay loop isn't fun, adding more damage isn't going to help.

I like #1, maybe #3. But I think a better solution would be for the player(s) to collect upgrades (ie new machinery) that need to be incorporated into the network. A refinery that multiplies scrap collected or a module that let's the periscope zoom in and out. These of course require steam, aren't available immediately to the player, and maybe could even be randomly (or semi randomly) positioned within the clomper, requiring the player to reconsider how their network is laid out.

I think 2 and 3 would suffer from the same thing, which you arrived at for #2: "might be a little annoying" / "quite frustrating". My understanding of why they would feel this way is because you're asking for someone to do work that will be undone by a "friendly" system. Friendly being your Clomper. Allergies are annoying because my body is reacting in some petty and bothersome way, not because there's any genuine threat. For #3, the Clomper requiring occasional refactoring could already be bothersome because its like "well why is Clomper built like this?!" but it's kicking you while you're down if by the end of feeding this external system it says "okay, you dont need this anymore". If you're super keen on #3 I think an adjustment would be to require these newly added systems to be running from then on out, not as some temporary passing thing. You would end up with an absolute jungle of pipes, which could be fun to see evolve, but your new design problem would be how to pace these additions out / progression. Personally I think the damage one is the most interesting, and feels the most suiting to my outsiders understanding of the Clomper experience. #1 is a clear "Me VS the Outside World", the emotional understanding of why you now need to do repairs and refactoring would be immediate, you wouldn't be cursing your Clomper for some faulty eccentricity like your 1998 VW Pasaat when the doors lock because you turned the radio on. I think also the "juice" and theatrics of big shrapnel bursting through the walls is far more interesting. (Also, turn that steam white! That shits too grey it looks like smoke!) As usual, everything looking awesome and inspiring as ever! KEEP IT GOIN, LANG!

I think the evolution idea by itself would just be a chore, but a blueprint mechanic that lets you upgrade parts like the furnaces, legs and such would be engaging. For example, you upgrade the legs for more speed and maneuverability, and the new legs have different steam ports and such. As for the random ports appearing, I haven't watched the other devlogs so I don't know about the lore, but I think it would make more sense if you could come across some abandoned machines, which would require you to power them through a port somewhere in order to, for example, open a gate to get loot from somewhere, or even just loot caches laying around needing energy to open. Ports just appearing everywhere seems, to me, somewhat forced and mundane, I think the focus should be more around upgrading and optimizing the pipe network. (for example, the longer a pipe is, the more energy it takes to get steam through it, and so energy is lost) The blueprints idea would work well with a mechanic that rewards well-optimized pipes, along with upgrades to the clomper requiring additional power. Of course, I know these ideas would take more work, and would be implemented later. I think the big damage idea is great, it really fits the vibe, also I absolutely love the elevator going up vfx.

Sparky! Very nice progress. The fog failure looks like some kind of hellscape. Perhaps you could incorporate some hellish visuals when everything gets destroyed. As for getting the player to build more, I definitely think some destruction works, but also have a 4th idea. Upgrading pipes. For example you combine two tier 1 pipes to make a tier 2 pipe. This is faster at moving things, so you're always trying to make more pipes and improve them.

Love the Big Damage idea, and the Feed Clomper idea is interesting as well. Big Damage would make an interesting, avoidable (< key here is giving the player control over it, I think) consequence of putting yourself in dangerous situations, increasing the risk to a reward. Feed Clomper feels almost like a bit of a side quest and would need to be more fleshed out to be fun, but I think it would work if done well! Evolution, on the other hand, feels a bit like moving the goal posts and pulling the rug out from under the player. But, there's probably a way to make it fun.

That "big damage" idea is interesting.

As well as getting dimmer, maybe the lights could start to flicker when there's low power from the boiler? Love seeing your progress!

Regarding the game design conundrum: My friends pointed out that ALL of the ideas are annoying if they are causing grief. Much better that the random "Feeding The Clomper" ports give you a bonus while you fuel them. That way you could choose to fill them up or not!

Gotta have one in the aft. Right in the back. Good shout.

You can pet the fire sprites?! GOTY! 🤩 Awesome to see how far the game has come after almost 5 years and -69 devlogs- 68.5 devlogs! 😄

Rob, how much do you need to make it so we can throw the fire sprites, in a humane way...I wanna be able to throw one into the boiler from one side of the Clomper, and definitely not throw them at friends!

Nice. Great way to eat a banana!

NICE! Those squishy cute fire sprites, I mean 👀

Nice

I can confirm, I'm a viewer and I am stupid.

When looking at the tooltips around the boilers, they're flickering a bit when they're jiggling around, which I assume also means it might not accept your input if you don't get the timing bang on. As a QoL improvement, how about having a static target for those controls?

you're only delaying the inevitable -- firesprites were cute tho

I can't believe you avoided the funny number, my day is ruined. That being said, when can I sign up for Clomperballs Beta, I want to start my ESPORTS team asap!? .......... NICE!

Great devlog. Surprising how one in the aft changed things for the better. Did not see that coming. :-)

(apparently RU-vid ate my original comment)... Ni.... got halfway there, as appropriate.

“I’m sure the viewers are above that” No no. Not a bit. That whole ending sketch is perfection

this guys storytelling is brilliant lol. love the little skit at the end

The power of DOTween!!! It really is so useful.

Good work with the lighting and using dotween, this was a very Nice episode!

68.5? Nice!

Nice...?

for some reason up until now I always pronounced DOTween as "dot" "ween". Now the proper pronounciation sounds soo weeiirrd ^^ Thanks, Rob!

Loved the devlog as always, always great to see your progress! Nice!