We're. So. Back! Hi everyone! Hope you're all doing well. Notes/ Things I got wrong in the edit: Custom Controls: I spent the better part of a week trying to get it working with the new input system, and for whatever reason they work in the Unity editor but not in the build. Took me forever to reaslise I should just take the advice i'm giving in this very video, but I'll get them working properly soon. Until then, there are instructions on how to mod your own controls in the Discord. Accessibility is extremely important to Strata, so it's the top of the priority list. The Mighty Claw: I goofed in the credits, you can play the demo for free on Itch and wishlist on steam. Links are all in the description. Button Pop is fully released and also has a free demo.
@@floschy_1 unfortunately I am not australian enough for that, meaning if it is a jetlag reference it has broken its confines and spread across the sea
First thing I wanted design is 2D FNaF game [Mission failed successfully] Games were made but not planned one Now: The first thing I want to make in a new engine is 3D FNaF game / sandbox / Tech / what.
Bro has shown some of the greatest games ever made (Undertale, Hollow Knight, Celeste, Ultrakill) in a single video, and has managed to create a connection between all of them to implement into his own game. Well done man.
I tend to disagree with the notion that you "shouldn't start with your dream game..." in my opinion, it can serve as an excellent way to determine exactly how much work is required to get there. When you first start, it might seem like an almost unattainable vision, but as you chip away at the pieces and sink yourself into the craft, you'll begin to realize it's not so impossible after all. When I started my first project I was very cautious of "scope creep" and initially tried to scale it down to something I could just release and be done with, but especially recently, I'm deliberately letting the scope expand so I can create something that I'm truly proud of. If you've got the desire, why not go for it? Great video!
Its asaid that for every 1 game released there are 1000 solos that never made theirs. And it is sually the naive optimism ofntrying tonmake the ideal game before you have any idea how bad you are why they fail. Most people dont have the caution or self awareness to avoid kamikazeing their career. But then no advice works for everyone.
@@dokchampa9324i think it also means you dont have to finish it in 1 try, you could also go do some other things and come back to it later, or restart making it... or something idk i havent really made a game ever (and i might be misinterpreting it too) ...also restarting making something is probably still painful
i think the best option is to not make your dream game, but a first iteration of it. Say if you want to make a 3d game, make it 2d first. Try to make the dream game as abstract as you can, that way you wont be disappointed when you fail to make it come true, but you'll still learn a lot along the way
I don't know why or how, but somehow I suddenly got your "strata"sphere joke at 11:58. That is the longest it has ever taken me to get a joke without it needing to be spelled out for me or mentioned again.
For a speedrun game final boss, I would LOVE a brutal chasedown where mc is just SO fed up with antag's sh*t that they start relentlessly speeding towards them like a homing missile, and the whole boss is just one final "hell yeah we doin this" Sorta like pizza tower's ending, but mixed with the badeline boss from celeste.
Oh that's badass, like the badeline chase but like corny and over the top in a sincere way I'll have a think about how that might fit into the game's narrative
I had the same realization in my creative writing class, that restriction breeds creativity, because only when you limit yourself from doing what is most natural, most habitual, do you deviate from them. True creativity, in my eyes, lies in the space between what you want to do and what you actually can. Without that space, you simply tread the same ground you always have, with nothing substantial to knock you from that spiral. Or something lol. It is always amazing to see what people come up with when they embrace their limitations instead of shying away. Good vid!
I still do not understand why I've been postponing my game development attempts for years. People like you inspire me. Maybe it won't be for nothing. Great video, thank you.
Thank you! These comments mean everything to me and are a massive motivator I postponed for years as well, it's why I use visual code rather than written, it's just what made game making accessible to me. My advice? Make a toy, make a ball that bounces around in a cool or interesting way or something, find a form of play that you like and just make that, no goals, no extra mechanics, just pure playful experimentation
I'm still making my first game right now and I had a similar thing happen: I wanted to make a pretty basic rpg, but I couldn't figure out how to generate a random encounter. So I just made all of the enemies exist in the overworld. But because they were tracking their HP in the same object, it was easy to add a way to damage them from in the overworld as well. I've ended up creating the framework for a bullet hell that can turn into a turn based battler and back again at will. I dont think I've ever seen that before, and I never would have thought of it if not for my own programming limitations.
I feel super dumb writing this autopromotion, but I made a student game a while back, and after hearing you describe what games you like, I think you're gonna love it. It's called Fractured Horizon and it's available on Steam for free. It takes like 10min to finish, but I think speedrunning and mastering it is really fun! I just couldn't stop thinking about it when watching this video
I've researched Undertale's code more than any one person probably should (I'd consider myself one of those exploration-focused speedrunners you mentioned), and I can say that although the premise of that Undertale video was right about some of the code being bad, this is mainly just limited to programming style and readability. And some of that wasn't even Toby's fault, as there are a lot of unnecessary compatibility scripts due to porting the game to Gamemaker Studio a few months before release. So although it's true that Toby Fox did some silly things in the code (my favorite is using round(random()) instead of irandom()), he also had enough of a mastery under his own style to do pretty much anything he wanted to do. And for those things he didn't know how to do, he knew when to ask for help as demonstrated both by the "Programming Help" credits directly in the game and some evidence of snippets of code taken from internet sources. The main takeaway I've seen for development by looking at Undertale and Deltarune is to decide on an overall structure for the code before you jump in and make things. Deltarune has a set of cutscene helper functions now, many of which had to be individually typed out in Undertale for each cutscene. I'm not sure how much that would apply to a game like yours, but it certainly applies to RPGs.
my cutscene dialogue is just stored as object variables, so there's a "Cutscene object" prefab with a hitbox and list of lines, no dialogue options in my game though ig for localisation I'll need to write a script that compiles them all into a table and then save/loads from that table
@@cosmicspacething3474 Unfortunately I don't have any videos that focus on Undertale's code. I've thought about making some deep dive videos exploring the game's code, but I haven't actually made any of those videos yet. Most of the videos I have are speedruns or videos for speedrunners, and so I don't usually discuss the code itself.
@@I-OMusic Thanks, I appreciate it! I've enjoyed watching your videos as you explain game development decisions really well. As for localization, Undertale is an interesting case because it was released in English first and localized later. So we have copies of the game's code both before and after localization. It's pretty clear that they went around and used a script to take all of the dialogue, procedurally label it based on where it was used, and then dump it into a script that can be easily copied and translated. But all of the localization was done by an outside team, so the code styles are visibly different. I'd imagine there's less of a learning curve if it's the same person writing the game and preparing it for localization.
Solid video. I remember watching the "viral" hit a few months back. It's exciting to see the progress you've made. I can't wait to see where the project goes!
@@I-OMusic Oh, then yeah the Celeste dash is a lot more like it because it always snaps to the nearest 45* angle (except for when I play it where it chooses semi-randomly between the two nearest 45* angles)
For the speedrunning season champ reward, I would suggest that you add a room ingame with the speedrunner that all can see and admire, and maybe you could make it possible to change colours and stuff to a colourset picked by the speedrunner.
I learned of this game just now, and I'm nowhere near the intended audience for this game (I'm firmly in the explorer field with a little socializing thrown in, and I'm not ambitious enough to play difficult games without a story), but I really love this video! It sounds like a lot of players could have a lot of fun with this and I hope your playerbase continues to grow and that your game will be really successful, because it looks like it'd deserve that.
"the closest analog to that in 2D is the 8-way dash" ive seen 2d games with an omnidirectional dash, one i can think of rn is scourgebringer, though it's like a roguelite
Super excited for this! Neon white is one of my favourite games so anything close is super cool and it’s super inspiring to see! I wonder if you could make an almost entirely vertical level using slopes to give room for speedrunners to optimize.
that adbreak bit completely got me lmao. also, i've been thinking of trying to make a momentum-based speed game, specifically a 3d platformer focused on going REALLY fast, but i don't know any programming languages. i have the mind for it, i think, but idk. it feels really hard find the motivation to start, and i honestly don't even know *where* to start. (i'd love to talk about the concept if you'd listen lol, its definitely a speedrunning type game idea)
Oh that's awesome! Sounds like a great design space, defo check out spark the electric jester if you haven't already, real masterclass in that And yeah please do jump in the discord if you haven't already, I'm just as big of a design nerd off RU-vid as I am on it
Dude, that's really cool you pulled through! I probably couldn't've done that, my enthusiasm disappears a few days after i start doing something, or if lucky, a week. I'll try STRATA right now!
I'm a beginner so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I personally think that if you have a dream game you should work on it. However there is a caveat. Don't start with the full game. Start with a mechanic. Work in modules while you learn. Then piece the modules together. Working on your dream game keeps you interested and motivated. Working on small pieces at a time keeps you from getting overwhelmed. Best of both worlds. I don't have a dream game. I have loads of games I want to make. However nothing that makes top of the list. The benefit is that it encourages me to learn all kinds of stuff. Downside is that I have no driving passion to finish a particular project. I just want to make fun stuff.
My first double jump I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work and would allow the player to unconditionally jump midair. Eventually I found that codebase again, and the code was basically multiple if statements where both would allow the jump, and one was guaranteed to happen, and I saw it almost immediately.
OMG its been so long since iv checked in on strata and damn has it advanced, I played the first demo and loved it, glad to see its still in development
As a Kane, i feel like the highlander, so i wish you ALL the best in your new rivalry. Thanks for the insightful video, i'm in the midst of a weeklong mental-health hiatus from my own project, so its good to see someone else overcoming hurdles and doing great things.
Aww sick! Yeah homie managing the mental health is hard, I usually follow a pretty consistent seasonal affective model where winters are *not great* When my other vid went viral, on reflection it defo did a number on my brain for a bit cause it's hard to adjust to suddenly having an audience, it's a hurdle to get over and something I'd say be prepared for early, cause you really never know when it can happen
@I-OMusic Thanks for the advice! I haven't put any thought into the effect gaining an audience could have. Hoping against the odds that this winter treats us all a bit better! ♡
Strata looks super fun, immediately thought of Celeste and super meat boy. Looking at how the movement Tech gets better when you're on the ground, have you considered adding a mechanic that lets you fall faster? Watching the game play made me think of fox in super smash melee, how he constantly jumps on and off the ground really fast. It might make the platforming feel even more tight.
Awesome! Maybe, but if I did it would be a very light mechanic and probably wouldn't be usable before X seconds in the air so it doesn't affect the core gameplay but does allow for small optimizations
As someone making a simple platfomer with a speedrunning mode in pygame, i really enjoyed this vid. Im struggling on the game especially with movement options and the level design however I found this vid not only funny but inspirational. Seeing someone else make something so similar but also unique has made me feel like I can do the same. Thanks for the vid man.
I can't express how much I love comments like this. I was in exactly your shoes less than a couple years ago and a lot of my goals for this channel revolve around giving back to the community that helped/ helps me grow. Level design is its own thing and is very hard, my approach is to start with "what series of movement would be fun" and then go from there, Celeste's Maddy Thorson has a great talk at GQC on the big-picture stuff. You're so incredibly welcome, wish you the best of luck!
Oh yeah there's also a level design playlist on my channel that has a bunch of great stuff other people have made to help you learn level design, cause I'm very much learning it too
For the seasons idea, having a way for people to play old seasons would be a good idea. That way people can continue to attempt records with the old gameplay as well as the new.
For rewards, you could have a stage that unlocks when you complete the game that have like "statues" of each seasons top three or something? Having the players submit what they'd like their statue to look like? Might clash with the art style so you might have to put restraints on what they can look like but would be cool!
@@frisk-jl6zg Trackmania is the worlds most competitive (arcade) racing game. There is seasonal campaigns of 25 tracks(which are maps that you race on) in the latest game and around 200-300k players play first 10 (that are free to play). To play other, you buy subscription for 20$ a year or around that. There is HUGE amount of community made maps, daily cups hosted by devs or community itself, matchmaking with other players and bunch of other stuff. Speedrunning community is huge with many styles the maps can be built and played. There is also older game from 2008 thats so you can try it out first and see if you like the way it plays(although its much worse in terms of graphics and a bit buggy)
10:29 I highly relate to your point here as this is something that I, as a person, have to deal with every day. I am surprised there are basketball courts left anywhere. It is finally nice to find someone who also has a Timmy in their friend group. I am confused by how unlucky I’ve gotten meeting almost all the people who do not have to deal with this even with how many people are out there who have to put up with this issue every day. Also you should invest in some basketball court triangle protection runes. Trust me, they work wonders as long as you can keep the wizards from picking them up and chucking them to break the spell
So unfortunately my city has a no runes rule, the wizards don't know any better and they need care and rehabilitation, not punishment. Plus if we don't let them remove triangles from unimportant things they'll start removing triangles from the local council members
@@I-OMusic Yikes I would definitely consider moving as there’s a lot of really neat stuff you can do with runes. As for the wizards I guess you’re right ._. I just wish they would _make the courts symmetrical by removing the triangle on the other side as well._ Like, if they’re going to be removing triangles from basketball courts, _why do they specifically need to take only one from each basketball court instead of just taking more away from the same court??_ I’ve tried annoying a wizard to get them to take a second triangle from the same court, but they just went to a random other court and took one from there??? Like, _what, mate???_ I did have a single time where a wizard took a second triangle from the same court, *_but they took it from the same side as the first one, making the problem worseee_* 🤦
So when i was learning game design, one of the first lessons we got taught was that wizards are exclusively into asymetric games, and that one factor is the main reason their culture and ours evolved so differently. There's research coming out that says when wizards do things like this it's actually like when a cat brings you food because they don't see you hunting and assume you must therefore have no food
I recommend watching Acerola's "It's Hard To Make Games" video that really puts into perspective how well-known individually made indie games are actually monumental tasks. Also, great video. It got me hooked with the game and I'll most likely download it XD. Top tier marketing ngl.
Some people must be working at their dream game (even if the end result is a patchwork mess that needs to be remade in a better way) to actually be able to learn. Otherwise things just don't stick in mind as well.
You know, there's a game from that era i've been looking for for ages. I'm kinda thinking vaguely ape-out/ that one level in donkey kong country where the foreground's blacked out, also feels similar in my brain to this and fancy-pants, but for the life of me that's all I can remember RAZE was my go to, great game
@@I-OMusic If you would try chaining wave dashes you would find that you're not gaining any speed, thats becouse after every wavedash tha game sets your speed to a constant value. Wave dash is executed by dashing diagonally into ground and jumping BEFORE the dash ends. Ultra works completly different, it abuses the fact that down diagonall dash unlike every other dash doesnt reest your speed when it ends and the fact that the game gives you 1.2 velocity multiplier after landing down diagonal dash So when doing ultra you first need to get some initial velocity (by hypers or block boosts) and then you dash diagonally down towards a lower platform importantly the dash has to end before you touch the ground but preferable as close to it as possible, after landing the game gives you the 1.2x speed multiplier and then jump (it is important not to buffer the jump otherwise you get no boost) and then you dash diagonaly down and repeat. The tighter the ultra is (dashing right after jumping and jumping right after landing) the more speed you get. After every ultra the speed multiplies by 1.2 so you can buid speed infinitely Unlike Super, Hyper and Wave dash that are hard coded into the game Ultra is unintended mechanic and thus it feels very unnatural to do.
this video made me think about creating my own game someday. atleast try to make one... i had this idea of a world living in my head rent free for a couple of months now, a post-apocalypse cyberpunk world, but instead of traditional cyberpunk it would be based on 90's technologies, kinda Lain vibes maybe, primarily a story-driven game. i have a really vivid picture of it in my head, but i know too much to make a game. but your video is what made me think that maybe, just maybe i can make this idea a reality
@@I-OMusic Honestly, I don't like that idea. I hate looking at achievement menus or whatever and seeing that the last achievement is literally impossible.
Idk why but I just had the genius idea for my game to be able to simply change what your element is effective to. This is for my dream game (the first game I plan on officially releasing, I’ve made small projects in the past). It’s an RPG that essentially mocks the way elements are presented and overused in RPGs. In other news, my programming skills have increased significantly since I first started on this game. I also used a bunch of tutorials to build it, simply weaving parts together. I still plan to release the game with the tutorial based mechanics.
Speedrunning games are definitely not something I enjoy playing, and I've never managed to get more than 10 levels into Celeste, but I'll leave a comment for the algorithm. I also applaud your usage of Itch, because I think it's one of the best distributors that there is, both for the players and the developers. I'm sure that few will agree with me, but F Steam.
It would be sick if there was a way to temporarily adhere to vertical surfaces so you can do the stuff you can do on horizontal surfaces on them. (I have no idea what I'm talking about, ignore me I'm just venting random ideas)
Thanks youtube reccomendations! I'll be playing this game now. I liked your thoughts about making your dream game. I've always wanted to make a game, but not just any game. A game idea that I've had in my head for a couple years. I've procrastinated for far too long. Wish me luck yall. I'm alright at music and art but who knows about how I'll do with gamedev...
Wowie!! I'm so happy that my video helped inspire you to make this ((: ❤️ Really well written vid and you have the perfect voice and speaking cadence for content :D Big GMTK vibes
Noice! Winners should get a small (low tech art requirement cost) customization that visually represents them. what comes to mind is one of my alltime favourite 2d speedrunning games... speedrunners! It has a lot of small but rewarding customizations. I love styling on my friends with a custom trail you can only get by getting a certain rank etc. Looks great btw! I love seeing people focus on the fun/focus first mentality. Seems like you are onto something great!
Its one thing to give them the reward but, it could also be given to everyone or give them gift code generator for their fans. Warframe used to give limited unique codes for glyphs years ago, these days it tends to be a permanent redeem code for everyone.
Your game has some similar elements to what I'm trying to do. I need to know, are you using Unity's rigidbody physics for the player or did you write your own? And... what wizard did you consult to gain the skill of beautiful slope movement!!?
Jump in the discord and I'll go into detail! It's all rigid bodies but all the values are controlled very precisely through code, so it's borderline custom
I don't know much about this game's community or anything, I just watch youtube guy make game, but i have always thought that having like a custom skin or a title in game, or just on a leaderboard would be a cool reward for top players.
You know, I've been thinking about this sort of stuff lately. Some sort of meta-progression to let players express themselves, like the level select screen showing your medals is one thing, but giving the player some sort of impact on the game world when the full game is done would be awesome
i was looking at my old art that i made, and i saw some that were maps of levels i was going to build in my first game, the source code to that game was lost to time, but not the assets, so, i think i am going to remake that game, and that remake is also going to play by my strengths, as an example, i am not going to program full 360 degree shooting, and i am going to lock shooting at diagonals to holding a button that disables horizontal movement!
As someone that plays way too much celeste you talking about the slide as a widened input windows for hypers is very funny until I remember they are actually 5 frames and not free
