Hey everyone! This is my first post here on the forum, and I’m using it as a way to stay accountable and track progress on a game I’ve been slowly building in Godot 4.3. It’s a 2.5D side-scroller inspired by ‘Replaced’ and ‘The Last Night’ but with no money or funding lol It will be a exploration and story focus adventure. You play as a young botanist trying find a break through in the field by discovering a new plant species. After searching in a dense jungle, a giant cave is discovered with a mysterious forest inside — jumping on tree branches, climbing trees with ropes, and more real life feel.
Right now, I’m deep into building the world. I’m new to pixel art creation but I’ve been trying to build simple leaves and things to create a jungle rain forest thing…
I also am working on a character and animation (aka paying someone on Fiverr to animate a character for me).
This pixel guy is just a copy from the game ‘The Last Night’ I found a picture online and I felt it would be good practice to try copying it on my own. I did, and it was very cool. Definitely learned a lot from doing that!
Right now inside Godot I’m laying out the structure of how I want to build the Game coding wise and laying thing out properly for me. I’m starting to layer in stamina, visual effects, and some light camera movement to give it more polish. I’ve been a Cinematographer for many years so I love composition and lighting and fog!! lol It’s still early, but I’m aiming to keep this thread updated as I go — both to share what I’m learning and to keep myself moving forward. Thanks for reading!
Here is a simple video with some movement and a small jungle.
Another small update, I’ve begun animating some plants and leaves and stuff… I also added some small flying squares which could be bugs or just atmosphere.
I think the Fiveer pixel character design will be ready today sometime. I’m kind of excited for it!
I will be animating more plants and leaving others static… I need to really place these in good spots but also not get carried away distracting with this stuff and keep working.
I need to create a kind of notebook that the player uses to keep track of plants he collects.
Here is an idea I want kind of emulate.
Okay, I got the character from Fiverr. I really like him, although the walking animation is going to need some help. I’m not completely satisfied with the legs, the walk feels like it needs something more… The knee needs adjustment! Either way here they are.
Here is a walking cycle template.
I think I can fix this… lol
Oh I also successfully created my first lil birdy! He is the first animal in the forest.
That’s the most important question, I want for the player to be able to collect plants and mushrooms in his backpack as he traverses through the jungle. He will be able to use a rope and climb some trees to get to other area with more rare plans…
Eventually (not long) this will lead him to a cave entrance. The cave entrance will have a few plants to gather and while doing so he will fall deep into the depths of the cave. This is where the bulk of the adventure begins. This cave gives enhanced abilities to any living things that falls inside. (I’m loosely basing this cave from the famous Son Doong cave, the largest in the world)
Inside the cave it’s a struggle to survive and find your way out, you will encounter animals, creatures, and be able to communicate with them. Maybe even learn new abilities from them.
Finally, I hope to create an intriguing atmosphere and at the very end reveal the true nature of the Cave.
The rope idea and jungle reminds me of the game Pitfall on Atari: Pitfall - Wikipedia! while the platform adventure side which focuses on the story and exploration reminds me of Another World: Another World (video game) - Wikipedia
Excellent good good. It may be wise to prioritize the development of those mechanics to make your game fun, rewarding, and fulfilling rather than walking animations this early in your development.
Okay I know It’s been a while… This was supposed to keep me accountable, I now know it didn’t work but I’m still here.
I did realize something very important, while talking to “zac” He’s absolutely right about the mechanics and what makes the game fun. That’s top priority and I often spend a lot of time doing other things that are easier for me more comfortable.
So I have pivoted to an idea I had before this idea, and I’ve decided to do it it in a simpler fashion. My love would still be to make it 2.5D and super cool with high pixel deal.
Although I’ve settled for a one bit art style 2D. Here’s what it looks like a little bit.
This was my original draft, I also made a walking animation with him and it looked pretty cool… But it truly wasn’t what I was hoping for initially. I kept working on it and made something a bit different and more of what I hoped. Inspired by Cowboy Bebop.
After creating the idle animation, I tried doing a walk animation and quickly realized it’s a lot harder than I thought. I don’t know why I was able to do it for the smaller character I made, but this guy was much more difficult to get right. So I’m having a super cool artist and friend help me out. (I’m paying him)
Finally, this is the interior of the ship. It will be in a 2D platformer style while inside the ship and then it will be a 2D top-down experience (like the game asteroid) navigating the ship out in outer space. Once you enter into planets it will go back into a 2D platform.
its true. Thanks for the nudge in the right direction, I do tend to get carried away in the visuals.
