Quackers !

_nake is a  3D isometric take on the classic snake formula with local multiplayer and map building elements. I'm making this post to track the progess I (sometimes) make on the game, the latest of which is the ability to select the language of your choosing from the Settings menu as well as the much needed addition of a duck to the edition tools.

For now only English and French are supported but if you'd like your mother tongue to be featured then lemme know and I'll do my best to incorporate it into the game😉

Quackers !

Currently working on the next beta update v0.3.0 . A lot of changes occurred since the last version so I'll try to highlight the main changes.

features:

•  add ability to switch control schemes between player:

I was told it was tedious that to switch two players keysets you had to remap each key individually (which is still totally possible) so I added buttons on which you can just click to exchange two players control schemes.

• add ability for buttons to start a countdown before being triggered

The game used to start right away when pressing the space key which doesn't give  the players the time to get ready. The newly added three seconds countdown is supposed to fix that issue. The player still has the ability to disable that option in the settings

added content:

• add POOP model

Poop is is spawned behind the player when he ingests the SNACK item. Stepping on it causes the player to lose the game

• add SNACK item
• add visual cue to indicate that something is deadly (see little smoke particles emitted by the poop model)

• add POND map (needed an excuse to use the duck I added in the last update)

• add COUNTDOWN player setting
• add THEME player setting

updates:

• update WOODS map to diversify scenery:

The WOODS map had always been a cause for concern. It didn't feel distinct enough nor did it feature any flowers, twigs or pine trees. As well as adding some of those I updated its layout to offer the player more freedom of movement.

• change default color scheme

• minor performance boost

python is notorious for it's slowness which I should've taken into account sooner in the developing process. It doesn't help that I chose an Object Oriented approach but it's the most intuitive one at least to me. In this update I tried limiting the amount of draw calls by detecting whether an object moved before trying to update it's location. As a result (In theory) the performance should increase when sliding the "wind strength" setting all the way down since grass, trees and flag will now stop swaying back and forth.

•  add ability to add/remove bots directly from the main menu

that's part of a concerted effort to improve player onboarding. By allowing the players to add bots to the game directly from the main menu they won't have to first go to the multiplayer menu, select a player profile, add it to the game (which depending on the settings might temper with the field of view) and set it as a bot.

•  extend valuable/value properties to all shapes
• assign the duck an arbitrary value and make it breakable
•  tooltips for game settings
• embolden player's score and username

• color whole buttons instead of just their content when they represent the players

• add visual cue for input fields
• thicken add/remove/delete icons for homogeneity purposes

bugfix:

• multiple death icons appearing on the replay timeline for the same player when replaying a same game multiple times
• speeding up replay too much creates crashes
•  edition controls shouldn't alter the default controls
• crash "Fail to allocate bitmap" fixed or less likely to happen at least
•  item number option button missing tooltip
•  redraw buttons when they've been deleted by bypassing the clean() method
• replaying a game shouldn't impact the leaderboard
• item number option button shouldn't be clickable
• tooltips not showing up anymore after creating a new user profile
• duck body parts not registering when a shape steps onto them

Quackers !

Time for another quick update on what's been going on this last week of development:

removed content:

• I've removed the "wind strength" setting since it doesn't impact performance as much as I previously thought if at all. By setting it to zero the scenery (grass, leafs, flags, etc...) would stop swaying back and forth and therefore wouldn't need to be updated every frame unless maybe the map was being rotated. Turns out this had a minimal impact on performances at the cost of decreasing visibility by cluttering the screen with yet another useless setting option.

added content

• add a dedicated setting to differentiate between the game's speed and the snake's speed which I think is useful when a performance bottleneck is reached and the only way to speed up the game is not by decreasing the duration of each clock cycle but the number of updates between those cycles

• add BIRCH scenery to diversify the types of trees

update:

• add the ability to give the buttons rounded corners to make the UI more appealing and less angular

• update Oak and Pine models to make branches thinner which makes em look less cartoonish 

• update control switching icon to make it more intuitive to the user

• remove lower zoom levels since there's practically no use for them
• update WOODS to include birch trees

• turn the SHADOWS setting into a boolean and increase performances when it's turned off

• update GRAVEYARD map to remove that one GODDAMN pothole

bugfix:

• oak branch clips into the trunk
•  if some players slots are available, don't boot out bots when adding players
• multiple players can lose on the same turn (take into account for replay purposes)
• record queued directions for replay purposes because confused item reverses directions
• wrong command prompt: "play" instead of "pause"
• dialog window not popping up when erasing/scaling up/scaling down terrain and scenery in edition mode"

code quality

• code factorization to avoid repeating boilerplate code

• calculate bundled shapes height automatically

Quackers !

This week's update is a little shorter than usual since I mostly focused on fixing bugs and increasing code quality but here's a quick rundown:

bugfix

• not all setting buttons names are being updated when the language changes
• the life icon is not showing up when the life item is picked up in replay mode
• some setting buttons aren't disabled when they should be
• icon names are showing up on Linux instead of the actual icons
• remove the semi colon (;) from qwerty keysets
• add a return button in Multiplayer menu
• SHADOWS setting button should be clickable
• hide the triangle indicator as well when the input button is hidden

update

• give titles rounded borders

code quality

• remove redundant calls to the current menu's update tag each time a button is created

Quackers !

I skipped last week's update because I thought it wasn't meaty enough to warrant a new post, so here were are, two weeks later, with not much more to show 😅but hopefully enough to grab you attention for 10 seconds ! I won't bother you with all the past week's bug fixes and minor updates of which you can find a comprehensive list here update 0.6.0  and there update 0.7.0. Here are the most substantial changes made in update 0.8.0:

Create a distinction between items and power-ups:

That distinction might sound a bit superficial but it actually allows for more flexibility when it comes to items behavior. For example here's a crate which can be moved around and collided with. (sorry for the gif's bad quality)

Update maps to include the newly created items:

Game installer

I've been working on a game installer which installs the game for you at the specified location and creates a shortcut on the desktop menu. Mileage may vary since it's still in it's experimental phase but it's a good start !

Quackers !

For this week's update it's gonna me more minor tweaks and bug fixes, but hey that's game dev for ya 😪. Meatier updates should come as I start focusing more on content per se but now I'm trying to polish the rougher aspects of the user experience since that's the lens through which the player will view and interact with said content.

New map and new element of scenery:

The desert map and cactus are born of the feeling that the sand block was being underutilized (it slow the player down)

Make it easier to add custom themes and localization files:

If a player would like to add support for their own native language or create a color theme that caters to their particular needs then they can now add and modify both of them by tapping directly into the game folders and adding json files here localization/<languageName>.json and there themes/<colorName>.json.

Update game's icon in the taskbar:

The game's icon is now consistent across executable files, taskbars and desktops for a more seamless user experience

UI Tweaks in the Controls menu:

Default installation folder is now C:/Users/<username>/Saved Games

The previous default folder (namely C:/Program files) didn't allow for the game to create/delete/update files which was causing malfunctions. If google is to be trusted (lol), neither AppData nor Documents are suitable folders which explains my choice.

Add special characters back to the french language files (é, è, à, ê, ù, ô) thanks to unicode:

Quackers !

Long time no see 😣Here's the gist of what changed since the last update (see more exhaustive list here: v0.10.0-beta)

Ability to spread busy menu's content across multiple Tabs:

Tabs are very useful to split some menu's content in smaller parts when it becomes too busy, the worst offenders being the Edition menu and the Settings menu which now aggregates the content of the menus previously known as the Settings, Controls and Options.

Add ability to push, stack and lift certain items:

Opens up multiple new gameplay avenues like despawning unwanted powerups by pushing crates on top of em, accessing previously unaccessible areas by stacking up items, blocking off parts of the map, soften up your fall

Quackers !

On today's weekly update, apart from more bug fixes and minor tweaks (see v0.11.0-beta), I have some good news:

Game ported to linux:

It's long overdue since the game has been playable on linux for a while but it took me some time to get  my own linux setup ready  (no dual boot for me I just used Virtualbox).

Quackers !

Long time no see ! 😊 I've taken a short hiatus in order to focus on some unrelated personal matters but I'm back with a vengeance !!!... with some more minor updates 😅the time for me to get back into the rythm of it all, y'know. But without further a due you now have the ability to...

Blow up stuff !

Quackers !

I figured a mine would bring more gameplay value to the table than a simple bomb 🤔they only get triggered when getting too close and explode after a short amount of time unless pushed around which resets their internal clock which to me adds an element or strategy to them.

Quackers !

In this new update I've yet again focused on bug fixes but I've also managed to cram some new additional content. Namely:

One new map:

A new map titled "Battlefield" has been added to the roaster of default maps. It felt to me like the perfect environment in which to add the landmine (see last update)

One new scenery element

Behold the Snowman ! The "Desert" map already has a buncha cactus scattered around so I felt like the "Snowfield" map also needed to be fleshed out with at least one custom scenery element.

Quackers !

Version 0.19.0 just dropped and with it a plethora of updates, some minor, some more substantial, as detailed in the following devlog https://neirullet.itch.io/nake/devlog/642757/v0190-beta. Let's dive into some of the most notable changes:

Color theme edition:

it was already possible in the previous version to edit the theme of the game but it had to be done manually by creating/edition json files which, although serviceable could prove very tedious since to assess every change you'd need to reboot the game. No need for that anymore with this color palette preview and built-in edition dialog window.

Reworked explosion effects:

I found the explosion effects to be a bit underwhelming in the previous version so I've taken the liberty to enhance them a little. The ground now not only gets caved in, but it does so in a concentric manner, as if traversed by a wave.

De-cluttering of the UI: