John Space - a 3D Top-Down Action game

nodragem · March 27, 2025, 2:51pm

Hello!

I started to show my work in this thread as I wanted some feedback on the character design; but I thought I should make a thread for the actual project that is work-in-progress.

Main Inpirations

This project is based on one of my comics character John Space:

The gameplay I am aiming for will be inspired by:

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: Tight cooperation between two players, in a top-down twin stick shooter and puzzle game
Zelda series: small open-closed world organised around dungeons and a NPC village. Dungeons focus on one gameplay mechanic.
Ratchet and Clank: Fun and Groovy sci-fi style

The co-op will be local only, and may be optional. I wanted to make the game only playable at 2 players, but I am still unsure.

Main Character

Here is the design of the main character John Space (from the thread I linked above):

He will be joined by a second main character, most probably Jane Space, when I start working on the co-op

Story

John and Jane Space are space rangers of the Intergalatic Trust. They are sent on planet GX-348 to investigate the traces of an extinct civilisation of intelligence class C (i.e. equivalent to human intelligence) and the inexplicable hostility of the indeginous creatures against Class C and B species.

Style Exploration

I started a style exploration in February. Here where I started with Nomad Sculpt.

After a lot of work on creating textures in Substance Designer, writing shaders, adding flora and some animations, I got a little closer to what could be the “final” look/style of the game:

It is been quite challenging to get there, and I wish I had maintain a series of post on my weekly progress! So I will try to give weekly update from now on.

Demetrius_Dixon · March 27, 2025, 3:32pm

Hey, I remember you!

I’m glad to see your project is progressing. (Although, I thought “John Space” was a temp name, because of the real-life “John Doe” used as a placeholder on legal documents)

Taking from my own devlog experience, please remember to pace yourself with these devlogs. Game development is both easier and harder than it looks. And the amount of progress you’ll make in a given devlog period isn’t consistent period-to-period.

Also, make devlogs the accommodate your lifestyle, your workflow, and your mental wellbeing; rather than public perception. Make devlogs in a format your comfortable with, and if something doesn’t work for you drop it, communicate why, then change things up.

Also also, where else are you posting your devlogs? I suggest you diversify via your own blog and/or social platforms. Because the Godot forum isn’t the most optimal place to do frequent devlogs that attract new supporters from my experience.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t post devlogs here. What I’m saying is that this isn’t a long-term solution. Your initial post will get some traction and support (me), then your post will be pushed down the list by help posts (This is actually a good thing). The same thing will occur when you post your next devlog, the one after that, and the one after that, etc.

You should also talk to people personally and make some friends. Either online and/or real-life. You don’t even talk about your project, but about anything really. Because your biggest supporters are the ones who are outside your project.

I use discord for this. You ought to join the official Godot discord and the Godot Café. They have voice chats daily with other developers and artists like you and I.

And hey, I’ll extend my metaphorical olive branch: You can feel free to message me on Discord (Username: demetriusdixon). We can chat about anything you like and I can introduce you to more people I know on the servers I mentioned.

Some more tips:

AVOID REDDIT AT ALL COSTS!!! It’s snark central and you won’t get sincere feedback or support sustainably. And since it’s a (sub)forum, your posts will be pushed down with time. (I hate it, if you couldn’t tell. You ask something sincere, then you are rewarded with a lovingly gift-wrapped turd)
Please Prioritize Sustainability (or PPS for short). Slow, but steady progress is always better than big, infrequent bursts. You’ll need energy to work tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that; for an unknown amount of time.
Appreciate people like me. I know that sounds cocky. What I really mean is: you should really appreciate people who’ll go out of their way to tell you something or help you out (even if they’re wrong, imperfect, or opinionated). You never know when it’s gone (This is why socializing is mandatory).

I wish you the best of luck with John Space. Pace yourself. Stay sane. I mean it.

nodragem · March 30, 2025, 12:22pm

Thank you very much for your interest!

yeah, I never know what to publish on Reddit to be honest. I only ever used it for marketing. I mostly post on Twitter and Bluesky at the moment, but I am looking for a place where I can get more of a community vibe, get more feedback and longer messages like yours! I miss the 90s, 00s internet vibe I should give Discord another try, actually

Making friends and be sociable is indeed the hardest part of being a solo game dev. It is indeed super important on the long term to prioritise social life to stay sane and give some perspective to our work and passions. This being said, I am planning to go to gamedev meetups once I have something to show!

In terms of pace, I’ve learn the hard way the cost of being too involved in a project when I released my first game on Steam. So I am doing my best to keep things simple and fun this time and limit the pressure at the moment. The problem is that as soon as you aim for commercial release/success, you will have to pressure yourself, because competition is tough.

I send you a friend request on Discord soon, thank you!

nodragem · March 30, 2025, 12:48pm

I added a running animation and some lerp transitions between the idling and running states and between the changes in direction.

That’s so exciting to be able to move in John Space’s world now!

I also recorded a comparison, with and without the lerp transition (look at when John Space starts and stops running):

I will be posting my work on the jump animation soon!

Demetrius_Dixon · March 30, 2025, 10:02pm

This looks phenomenal! It’s just as expressive as the concept art! That’s surprisingly hard to achieve.

Edit: This statement is a little off-the-cuff, but if I had the money, I would definitely hire you to make concept art and/or 3D models. But I don’t have the money, so that’s staying a fantasy.

nodragem · April 10, 2025, 8:29am

Thank you! I am doing my best at transposing what I have in my mind into 3D.

nodragem · April 10, 2025, 9:18am

Good morning!

I added a little jump animation last week to get a better feel of how the game would play. This week I will be working on more animations!

I also started to work on new enemies:

The idea is that the big crab on the left (it will be bigger) will be throwing sticky balls over the map, which will slow down or stuck the player, before to attack. The smaller crab on the right is more of a swarming enemy (low life, low meelee attack, but many). When both are on the map, the player will be in great trouble as their actions are complementary.

Also I started to look at the color scheme I could be using to differentiate which enemies is attackable by Player 1 or Player 2.

The idea is that the game will have a coop mode. Player 1 can only affect the enemies with purple accent, while Player 2 can only affect the enemies with yellow accent.