You want to make the ship a kind of moving HQ, if I take it right. I think it would be more fun if the player could return to it whenever and do whatever. Maybe raising anchor and leaving the island could be a step before charting course to the next. You could have multiple different stations to interact with on the ship and then one would be a map or a navi-computer or whatever. So that returning to the ship and leaving the island would be two different things.
What you're saying about the various stations on the vessel is exactly what I have planned! I agree with the suggestion to make entering the ship and leaving the island two separate actions. Should be an effective improvement for players who visit the ship often!
@@DevDuck TL;DR: Returning to the vessel could be an interesting decision in and of itself. And another idea that came to my mind. Just throwing it out there, maybe it's helpful, maybe it's not. I don't think the player should have to go back often. If the player want's to just explore the islands the caves or do any number of activities you decide to add to the game they should be able to enjoy those things with minor interference. Somewhat similar to my experience with Stardew Valley. I didn't realize until the middle of my first summer that the backpack can be upgraded, so until then I planned ahead what I wanted to do that day and brought only what I thought was nescecary, so I wouldn't clutter my inventory with useless items. Maybe some amalgamation of systems that would make the player think ahead and plan out what they want to do. Maybe they want to slay a dragon that day. Then they'll have to bring a sword, a shield and nothing much else, so that they could bring back all the loot. Or maybe they want to convince the king of all crabs that spreading corruption is not something good. Then they will have to leave the weapons, whip out all the legal dcuments supporting that claim and their best attire. Obviously these are not scenarios that would fit into Dauphin as it is right now, but I believe you understand what I'm trying to say.
@@thatpalkesz3667 I totally agree. I'd imagine returning to the vessel an interruption of the RPG part of the game. I don't know what is planned, but I'd say the having a day- and nightcycle with enemies changing behavior over night or different enemies appearing (e. g. Bats from the cave on the beach at nighttime) could also add another layer to the game. It could make the planning mentioned in the comments above more important if you are limited to a certain time before the situation changes. You'd have to prepare the night. Having it go dark once you get back to the vessel seems weird.
@@DevDuck I was going to suggest something similar as making your boat your "homebase" and maybe even being able to upgrade and add to your boat! I think people would really enjoy being able to customize parts of their boat like placing decorative elements in different areas. Might not be your highest priority in development but would add a lot of charm!
Have you ever heard of Jackup Rigs? They're mobile surveying platforms used for oceanographic studies and are basically a large raft like ship with extendable legs that allow the facility to anchor itself like off-shore oil rigs. It may be worth considering using these floating research facilities for journies between islands while the smaller tug boat is used to travel from the rig to the islands. This would overcome your forthcoming problems with the boat being a limited size but you wanting to add more tech tree features. As for the boat itself and adding a purpose for why you'd return to it? Well, make it the player's storage chest. The point of the game is exploration but to give a sense of progression you need a logical barrier that gradually relaxes to allow the player to progressively explore further bit by bit. If the aim is be done before nightfall then the more you can carry (ie. Backpack upgrades) means less trips back to the boat to drop items off. To avoid tedium, I'd recommend a fast travel system rather than having the player walk back to the boat manually.
How about there being a NPC where the player would be able to buy new maps? Maybe trade them for some exotic material or something like this. Then, you could use the new map to explore a new island, or just see where you are. Love your Devlogs! :D
I definitely like the idea of trading resources to someone who can provide more detail on your "Sea Chart", which you'll use in the cabin of your boat to plot a new course!
@@DevDuck I could sea it as a kind of similar thing to Legend Of ZElda: Wind Waker, where you collect maps, some clear, some unclear, that you can flick through them on a screen.
I will try and summarize my thoughts as well as I can without dragging on, first taking the opportunity to say that I have been following your progress for a long while and it is a continuing source of joy to do so! Thank you for sharing the project and I am excited to see where it leads in the future. Now to the suggestions. The Transition I think a cinematic transition is good, although you could do that more for leaving the island all together. I feel like actually getting onto the boat should be shown with some king of simple animation, or even just letting the players freely walk up onto the ship as they please. When on the boat some kind of visual reference for how to get into the cabin, such as a door, which would change the scene to the interior of cabin. Research ships function Having the research ship be a sort of base of operations while on each island could expand game play a lot. I am not sure if you are planning on implementing some kind of camp site feature for larger islands that will take more time to complete, or if there are certain game play mechanics you are thinking about that would require a player to be at a static location to use, such as larger storage, crafting, sample analysis and so on. The research vessel would be one place to do this kind of thing, helping to make it a true "research" vessel, and not just a boat to ferry the player around to the various islands. Other random ideas Here is an alternative way of handling the ships interactions with the islands and launching away from an island. If the ship had a gangway that allowed the player the ability to walk onto the ship of their own accord that could help with player immersion, making the ship feel more real. The ship could also use an anchor instead of a mooring line. This would be less realistic, but more visually appealing when leaving an island. So when a player is leaving an island the gangway would be retracted and the anchor weighed, while the cinematic transition/fade takes place. Thank you again for the amazing update and I wish you all the best with the new year. I look forward to seeing where the Dauphin is heading!
Thanks so much for this thorough feedback. Great ideas. I definitely plan to have the vessel be a "base of operations" where the player can store loot, craft, research, and more. And others have mentioned the gangplank idea too - maybe that would just be a simpler option. Appreciate the thoughts!
I just love how unique your game is. It's like "I'm not gonna kill enemies; I'm going to save them" And now also "I'm not searching for treasure; I'm searching for new species" Keep up the good work man!
I think that the Transition looks good, but when the camera shows a big part of the shore, i found that it looked a bit weird and could probably break some of the immersion, so maybe you could make it so that the beach is less of a straight line and rather with some Parts that go further into the sea and some that stay where they are now. Also it would be cool if you could recruit crew for your ship and upgrade it, so that you might have a solar powered big ship with many possible unlocked features, for example maybe on one of the later stages the ship coul have a device with which you are able to fish below the surface, like the u-boat from the stardew valley night market.
I don't know about the unmatching light when the player go to boat, feels like we missing something and the screen only turned more dark, a sunset pixel art in between could set this chill tone that you looking forward. The game looks so cool, keep up!
Great job on that boat pixel art! It looks fantastic! Maybe you can have it so that the player can control and steer the boat somehow to make it so that they can sail the seas and explore different islands. I enjoyed the DevLog :)
I love the cinematic approach to getting on a boat, I agree that the player should be able to get on the boat whenever but the style and the feel of it is really nice. Maybe for the first time you get on the boat it could be a big deal and be night time but after that it's like "ok time to get on the boat again!" and be quicker.
Thank you for your videos, they are very informative and calming. I feel more confident in my dream of being a game developer after watching your videos! Also, the aquarium is awesome! The shrimps and fish are very calming as well! 🦐 🐟 💻 Thank you!
Hey, I suggest you could build a little dock, where the player can walk onto the ship. Then there could be the question if Player wants to leave the Island. Then a little transition of the boat driving away and the camera zooming out, so that you can have a seamless transition from island to map of islands
I believe that you could, at each island, just have a tent outside by the HQ that acts the exact same as if they were on the boat. This way they can choose to stay or go to look at their samples. Love to see you back.
once again, another amazing high quality devlog I think you are my favorite devloger! keep up the goo content, you game looks really interesting, I like the idea that the boat is your main house!
Amazing progress mate. The game is looking amazing, and I'm really enjoying hearing about how you're more effectively using Godot as it's an engine I want to be looking more into this year.
It would be cool if you could get onto your boat as many times as you want I think. I'm imagining a little bridge that you walk across to board your boat (i.e no transition animation, just walking straight on) whilst it's docked, and then when you want to leave you interact with something to lift the anchor and leave (transition screen here). You could have also 'Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass' approach where you can sail freely and discover hidden islands, but I realise you said you envisioned the boat to be a place to relax after work on an island (whereas in Phantom Hourglass there's all sorts of enemies and interactions you can have whilst sailing) so that may not fit your vision as well. Great video and excited to see what comes next!
I think it looks fantastic, but the boarding scene would really benefit from some sound effects! Maybe once it fades to black, you hear the sound of the boat rocking and then being pushed off the shore (like a *swoosh* ocean-y noise haha) before fading back into the game with the character on the ship! My favorite sound effects in games have always been the “entering room/new area” sound effects like in Pokémon where you hear the sound of your footsteps increase in volume and then fade out quickly as you enter a house, so adding something like this into the game would really make that transition a whole lot more believable in my opinion. But wow, this game looks amazing so far! I couldn’t even imagine working on a project this, it’s really inspiring to watch!
You might want to create a separate array at the beginning of your json file for yes/no responses, so you can use it as the input for “responses” whenever necessary, and consolidate all prompts into one json file. That way you could reuse common “response” inputs. Or, if you want to keep your prompts a separate files, you could create a response-templates.json to store commonly used responses like yes/no. Keep putting out content!!
Thanks for doing these devlogs; I'm also in the process of creating my own game, and whenever I feel low on motivation your positive, upbeat videos pick me back up and get me excited for development again. Dauphin is looking great and I'm looking forward to watching its progress!
I think matching the bobbing of the boat as it's on the shore to the motion of the waves would be a small but very appreciated improvement too. Awesome to see your progress!
Seaweed and flotsam would make more sense than rocks to be honest. Boats would generally not want to approach a beach so close to hazards like rocks as they can't tell what is below the surface.
@@KryyssTV I guess the flotsam and seaweed could have a corrupted look, like the crabs, which - over time - become more clean as you progress through game.
I think there should be an island with buried treasure! That would be EPIC. The player would trade something for a map with an 'X' on it and use the shovel to dig up the treasure.
The transition is simple and effective. Reminds me a lot of those Stardew Valley events. I guess you be working more on the UI later, but the responses definitely should be accessible keyboard only as well as putting the arrow only on the selected option. It's good to see your game taking form, I've watched your devlogs since the beginning.
I think some fake-lighting effects would go a long way to help with the night time feeling of the ship. Moon reflecting in the ocean. Little lights creating a glow. Not really a priority, but just a thought! Looking great so far.
This game is looking great so far. I can't wait to see what you do with it. And when you finally finish I'll be able to say I was there at the beginning. Love you DevDuck!
I kind of like the Idea to customize the interior of your cabin. And to build an "base of operations" on the island you like the most. Like a 1 story loghut or even a 2 story brickhouse (given that you have aquired enough materials). An other way to go about that Idea would be to set up an NPC which sells you a house on the island, for the player to customize the interior, sleeping for the night and researching new information. PS: sorry if my english is bad ^^
Man as a developer myself i can see how you develop things and its just amazing. I have creative ideas and some skill but to do this is just an hole other level cant wait for it to be finished. Finally a good fun game!
This is really shaping up! I do like the transition to the boat, but if it ends up being something the player interacts with often, I'd make it much shorter and much less dramatic. Maybe only for the end of a day, if there is a day and night cycle. Thank you for such a detailed update. And Happy New Year!
Allright, going to leave my five cents on it. I think you should be able to enter your cabin anytime you'd like, for instance also on the island scene. This should make it feel more like a moving base. I think the best way to do this would be by making a plank the player could walk over to board the ship. I'm sure this could be achieved in a similar way the anchor rope is now generated, but only in a straight vertical, or horizontal (when boarding from the side of an island) line. Once the anchor is used I would give the player control of the boat, by having your camera zoom out and you moving the boat instead of your character. Either make their ship move in real time and simply map a key to have the player character exit the cabin, or basically have (a smaller, zoomed out version of) their little ship move around a world map, that way you could move to certain locations and have them exit the cabin.
Brilliant devlog as always, I think when u enter the boat the timing should be sped up, because if you want people to board at anytime in the game, you dont want them to constantly be waiting that extra second or 2 just to get moving
I believe that "anchor" is properly called a _bollard._ From the dictionary: Bollard _noun_ "A strong post (as on a wharf, quay or ship for attaching mooring lines)"
The transition looks great! Plus it looks like you could easily put in banners, later on in development, at the top half of the screen when the player anchors onto islands, which could show the loaction's name, just an idea 🤷🏻♂️. Awesome work tho!!
Hey! I love your videos and have watched every single devlog thus far. I think it would be cool to have some kind of storage on the ship as well as whatever else needs to be there. I saw another comment about making it like a HQ and I think this would help!
Always glad to see another Dauphin video! Hope you had a nice new year! I think the whole research vessel looks beautiful, but one thing, I think it would be nice to see the game in the night more often, being on the boat at night, in the middle of the ocean seems very relaxing to me, and I think that's great. Being able to explore the islands at night could be a great feature, especially if you get to islands with more life and seeing it thrive with night life and such. That might be too much though x)
I certainly plan to implement a day/night cycle! I actually already have the node created, with the ability to use system time or a custom day length. Just need to really figure out lighting / shading effects, right now I really don't think it looks very good as a modulate.
@@DevDuck Perfect! Hmm I see what you mean as obviously there is no lighting, what is Godot like for 2D lighting? As I know Unity has only just started to step into it. I do think you got the darkness of the scene right, it paints a nice picture in my mind of a sunset, but like you said actually doing the lighting needs some work Also if you use system time, make sure you don't have certain things that are only accessible at specific times, as in my opinion it can be quite annoying for some players who will miss these things as they are asleep for example. :)
Looks awesome! Totally get the feeling of needing to take a break and actually rest with time off from work or just being too busy at the day job to get much done on the game/TH-cam channel. I've been through similar recently. Keep up the great work!
I like That Palkesz's idea that the player can just return to the ship. To achieve that you could probably allow the player to wade knee-deep into the shoreline, far enough to reach and board the ship. Potentially you can even add a walking plank so the player doesn't have to hoist themselves into the ship. Then actually leaving the island means picking up the mooring pin and walking it on board. Now that the ship is free you can even animate it sailing away. Allowing the player to wade in the water might also give rise to interesting research for him, the area just below the water has a lot of interesting biology. For example: when water ebbs away around mussels they spit out the water from their shells. That area is also where crabs often hang out. An idea for a new area: sandbanks. In the north of the netherlands (and germany and denmark) there is the wadden sea. This is a sea mostly closed off from the north sea by multiple islands and not all that deep. At low tide the sand banksstick out above the water and become the resting place of sea birds and seals, while during high tide they are submerged. It is possible to walk around on these sand banks during low tides (for some islands it is even possible to walk to from the mainland). When you anchor above such a sandbank and wait for low tide you can get off and explore, but make sure to be back before the tide rises (dutch: droogvallen).
Awesome, stopped everything I was doing as soon as I got the notified of this devlog and had to watch. Nice progress on the game, the ship looks awesome and the plans for the player are cool, explore islands during the day research and rest at night. 👍
Yes definitely the lighting of the boat in the evening needs more work to get that cozy feeling. Maybe you can make the back of the boat pretty illuminated, the front a bit less and the sea very dark. Also I think you should add a foam animation around the boat, that would help to read better that the boat is moving
Ahh sadness... i am sticking to a sleep schedule and i close youtube before bed and i see this!!! tommorrow i will see! I know its gonna be great DevDuck!
Another great devlog by another great dev :) Been watching your devlogs regularly and just have to say I'm always quite excited when I see there is a new one. Your project is looking very good! Quite liking the art style and the mechanics are refreshing as I've not really seen them before in this way :D Keep up the great work man! Very inspiring you are :)
I'm a Software Engineer myself and really like what you're doing. I tried doing my own games back in the day but never had enough passion to finalize something properly, so I mostly have a bunch of POCs and drafts so far :D Kudos for keeping this up. I would add a bridge between the boat and the island so player really can go back and force as many times as he wants. I would still keep the anchor being interactive and probably that would still transition to the new scene away from island (as you have now), but that thing would be purely for activities like fishing and travelling between islands :) Another community related idea - I think it's time for you to create some Discord server and start building some community around this game. Some place where you can always jump in and ask for some advice (and you don't have to wait for another episode to be published to ask opinions), have some Q&A thing, maybe even some help testing your stuff at some point.
I have been watching since the first devlog and see a load of potential in your game. Things that I would change: You can go like inside the vessel and store your items there or do other things. Drive the boat and discover different islands with different bosses like the first one ( a corrupted crab ) so another one will have like corrupted seeguls. You don't have to add these if you don't want to. Still a big fan and you made me start game dev!!!
A friend of mine recommended your channel to me and I've binged practically you're whole catalogue in just a couple days. Really enjoying the vlogs. I admire your work-life balance and think that your videos are really quite well-produced. Looking forward to seeing more from you this year! Shameless plug here: I am a composer and game dev myself if you are ever looking to outsource some of your development. Cheers!
I would suggest building a small boarding bridge between the island and the boat. Like this the player has the option to do stuff back at the „base“/boat without the animation of going out into the sea. I‘d then maybe add a steering wheel which the player can interact with and then choose to go out in the sea. You can actually use all the logic and cinematic effects from before. And as always nice devlog!
Looking good! I would move the player to the boat once the camera start zooming out. Even if its just a teleport I think it would help the sense of the player boarding the ship. Now I almost get the feeling the ship is leaving without them.
8:51 It would be nice that instead of all options having an arrow, only the 'hovered' one has it. This could also allow the user to interact with the dialogues with arrow keys and not only the mouse. It is something very little but may improve the user navigation flow. Everything else is looking great, will be looking forward for the next one!
I would expect that boarding the vessel would take you straight to the cabin, and from there you can either chart a new course, sleep, or exit the boat. I would also suggest a day-night cycle that is not tied to simply entering/exiting the boat, if you’re going to have day/night at all
I think it'd be cool to have both options for the boat. One where you could travel to different islands during the day and one where you can just chill at night and go over your research items. Lots of progress being made on the game it looks like!
Always happy to see a new devlog, loving the progress so far. Regarding the transition, maybe you might just have to add a limit of islands you can visit in one day? So if you visit one it is early afternoon if you board the boat, if you visit four it is nighttime when you board the boat? Otherwise, it might feel jarring to jump from the day to night if you only had a short visit on an island, since some players might not be set on exploring or clearing everything and spending a long time at a certain island. I do have some questions about the boat's cabin (or boat's interior)! Would there be any customisation inside the cabin? Or maybe trophies for certain achievements or moments from islands? I think the idea of adding personlisation to the boat's cabin would make it more rewarding coming back after a long trip on an island, it feels like you are truly returning to something that is your own. Loving this devlog, your editing is masterful by the way, feels super relaxing to watch.
I think it would be awesome if you could board the boat at any time via bridge or something. To start sailing you could maybe interact with like a steering wheel. And if you would like to rest you could go inside the boat and maybe have rooms inside, like sleeping quarters, lab and other rooms. And in the future buy or upgrade your ship that would be pretty cool. Just some ideas :) I really like your devlogs, been following you for some time now. I have been thinking of getting in to some development myself but I'm to busy with work and family life.
Honestly, the "boss fight" trope needs to just die. There are plenty of ways to end on a satisfying, climatic high without having a big baddie which you need to defeat. It could be something as simple as escaping a volcanic island that has just become active with you rushing to the boat ahead of pyroclastic flows and avoiding forest fires.
I think making the vessel an end-of-level decision could place your game at least somewhat into the Roguelite genre. And as a fan of Rogueli[k/t]es I would certainly welcome that decision myself. For example, in the game Noita (which I highly recommend), you can leave the level you're on at pretty much any time. The bulk of the strategy in that game is to stay on the level as long as you can without dying, collecting items and powering up for the next level. Not that it would need to be that extreme, but it's a good example of the kind of mechanic it would introduce. I think it would add a very "gamey" feel to the game, where you would need to gather as much as you can from the island before moving on, potentially making interesting decisions about what to take or how long to stay. It would also encourage moving on to a new island rather than overstaying on one island.
Transition looks good, but I noticed the player "jumped" after transition was done, but before you moved him. Also slightly odd was the fact that it was daylight when you boarded, but when you appear on the boat, it's more like late evening/early night.
Great develop! :D I think you should add more movement options like a dash or something just to make it more fun to move. Movement is a core gameplay feature so having good movement can really improve your game.
I think something you can do is access different parts of the island by this transportation, like there’s another side you need to get to but oh no you can’t because some mountain or something is blocking the way, well you use the boat to get to the other side, then you find something that destroys the mountain and now you can access the other side when you want now yayyy
I think this is the first time that I really can see where this game is going and I am actually hyped for the game :D Keep up the good work and this will be the next stardew valley xD
Love the art! Looking really good, keep up the great work
It’s a lot like Stardew Valley! And that’s a good thing! XD
You want to make the ship a kind of moving HQ, if I take it right. I think it would be more fun if the player could return to it whenever and do whatever. Maybe raising anchor and leaving the island could be a step before charting course to the next.
You could have multiple different stations to interact with on the ship and then one would be a map or a navi-computer or whatever. So that returning to the ship and leaving the island would be two different things.
What you're saying about the various stations on the vessel is exactly what I have planned! I agree with the suggestion to make entering the ship and leaving the island two separate actions. Should be an effective improvement for players who visit the ship often!
@@DevDuck
TL;DR: Returning to the vessel could be an interesting decision in and of itself.
And another idea that came to my mind. Just throwing it out there, maybe it's helpful, maybe it's not. I don't think the player should have to go back often. If the player want's to just explore the islands the caves or do any number of activities you decide to add to the game they should be able to enjoy those things with minor interference.
Somewhat similar to my experience with Stardew Valley. I didn't realize until the middle of my first summer that the backpack can be upgraded, so until then I planned ahead what I wanted to do that day and brought only what I thought was nescecary, so I wouldn't clutter my inventory with useless items.
Maybe some amalgamation of systems that would make the player think ahead and plan out what they want to do. Maybe they want to slay a dragon that day. Then they'll have to bring a sword, a shield and nothing much else, so that they could bring back all the loot. Or maybe they want to convince the king of all crabs that spreading corruption is not something good. Then they will have to leave the weapons, whip out all the legal dcuments supporting that claim and their best attire.
Obviously these are not scenarios that would fit into Dauphin as it is right now, but I believe you understand what I'm trying to say.
@@thatpalkesz3667 I totally agree. I'd imagine returning to the vessel an interruption of the RPG part of the game.
I don't know what is planned, but I'd say the having a day- and nightcycle with enemies changing behavior over night or different enemies appearing (e. g. Bats from the cave on the beach at nighttime) could also add another layer to the game. It could make the planning mentioned in the comments above more important if you are limited to a certain time before the situation changes. You'd have to prepare the night.
Having it go dark once you get back to the vessel seems weird.
@@DevDuck I was going to suggest something similar as making your boat your "homebase" and maybe even being able to upgrade and add to your boat! I think people would really enjoy being able to customize parts of their boat like placing decorative elements in different areas. Might not be your highest priority in development but would add a lot of charm!
Have you ever heard of Jackup Rigs? They're mobile surveying platforms used for oceanographic studies and are basically a large raft like ship with extendable legs that allow the facility to anchor itself like off-shore oil rigs. It may be worth considering using these floating research facilities for journies between islands while the smaller tug boat is used to travel from the rig to the islands. This would overcome your forthcoming problems with the boat being a limited size but you wanting to add more tech tree features.
As for the boat itself and adding a purpose for why you'd return to it? Well, make it the player's storage chest. The point of the game is exploration but to give a sense of progression you need a logical barrier that gradually relaxes to allow the player to progressively explore further bit by bit. If the aim is be done before nightfall then the more you can carry (ie. Backpack upgrades) means less trips back to the boat to drop items off. To avoid tedium, I'd recommend a fast travel system rather than having the player walk back to the boat manually.
I thought that the title said “Beginning the Marine Part of my Marine Biologist RPG”
Yeah he was just a regular biologist before
I didn't even knew I was subscribed to him
Not like anyone cares
Is it actually confusing? Should I change it? Always struggle with the titles lol
@@DevDuck I don't think it is lol it happens to the best of us
the game is already looking so good and polished. all the best for further developments 👍🏻
How about there being a NPC where the player would be able to buy new maps? Maybe trade them for some exotic material or something like this. Then, you could use the new map to explore a new island, or just see where you are.
Love your Devlogs! :D
I definitely like the idea of trading resources to someone who can provide more detail on your "Sea Chart", which you'll use in the cabin of your boat to plot a new course!
@@DevDuck I could sea it as a kind of similar thing to Legend Of ZElda: Wind Waker, where you collect maps, some clear, some unclear, that you can flick through them on a screen.
Hey, super happy to see my tweet helped you out! The game is coming along great!
Really appreciated your feedback on twitter! Think i'm on the right track now.
I will try and summarize my thoughts as well as I can without dragging on, first taking the opportunity to say that I have been following your progress for a long while and it is a continuing source of joy to do so! Thank you for sharing the project and I am excited to see where it leads in the future. Now to the suggestions.
The Transition
I think a cinematic transition is good, although you could do that more for leaving the island all together. I feel like actually getting onto the boat should be shown with some king of simple animation, or even just letting the players freely walk up onto the ship as they please. When on the boat some kind of visual reference for how to get into the cabin, such as a door, which would change the scene to the interior of cabin.
Research ships function
Having the research ship be a sort of base of operations while on each island could expand game play a lot. I am not sure if you are planning on implementing some kind of camp site feature for larger islands that will take more time to complete, or if there are certain game play mechanics you are thinking about that would require a player to be at a static location to use, such as larger storage, crafting, sample analysis and so on. The research vessel would be one place to do this kind of thing, helping to make it a true "research" vessel, and not just a boat to ferry the player around to the various islands.
Other random ideas
Here is an alternative way of handling the ships interactions with the islands and launching away from an island. If the ship had a gangway that allowed the player the ability to walk onto the ship of their own accord that could help with player immersion, making the ship feel more real. The ship could also use an anchor instead of a mooring line. This would be less realistic, but more visually appealing when leaving an island. So when a player is leaving an island the gangway would be retracted and the anchor weighed, while the cinematic transition/fade takes place.
Thank you again for the amazing update and I wish you all the best with the new year. I look forward to seeing where the Dauphin is heading!
Thanks so much for this thorough feedback. Great ideas. I definitely plan to have the vessel be a "base of operations" where the player can store loot, craft, research, and more. And others have mentioned the gangplank idea too - maybe that would just be a simpler option. Appreciate the thoughts!
I would love to see all of this in Dauphin this is great advice
Very well written comment stating the same ideas i tried to share in mine!
I just love how unique your game is.
It's like "I'm not gonna kill enemies; I'm going to save them"
And now also "I'm not searching for treasure; I'm searching for new species"
Keep up the good work man!
I think that the Transition looks good, but when the camera shows a big part of the shore, i found that it looked a bit weird and could probably break some of the immersion, so maybe you could make it so that the beach is less of a straight line and rather with some Parts that go further into the sea and some that stay where they are now. Also it would be cool if you could recruit crew for your ship and upgrade it, so that you might have a solar powered big ship with many possible unlocked features, for example maybe on one of the later stages the ship coul have a device with which you are able to fish below the surface, like the u-boat from the stardew valley night market.
36 likes and no replies, how? Also I totally agree.
Agree
I don't know about the unmatching light when the player go to boat, feels like we missing something and the screen only turned more dark, a sunset pixel art in between could set this chill tone that you looking forward. The game looks so cool, keep up!
Great job on that boat pixel art! It looks fantastic!
Maybe you can have it so that the player can control and steer the boat somehow to make it so that they can sail the seas and explore different islands.
I enjoyed the DevLog :)
I love the cinematic approach to getting on a boat, I agree that the player should be able to get on the boat whenever but the style and the feel of it is really nice. Maybe for the first time you get on the boat it could be a big deal and be night time but after that it's like "ok time to get on the boat again!" and be quicker.
Thank you for your videos, they are very informative and calming. I feel more confident in my dream of being a game developer after watching your videos! Also, the aquarium is awesome! The shrimps and fish are very calming as well! 🦐 🐟 💻 Thank you!
Hey, I suggest you could build a little dock, where the player can walk onto the ship. Then there could be the question if Player wants to leave the Island. Then a little transition of the boat driving away and the camera zooming out, so that you can have a seamless transition from island to map of islands
Am I the only one upvoting this before I even click the play button? I can't be the only one here! :)
Congrats for being nominated for best Unity devlog series! Sad that you didn't win, maybe because you moved to Godot and they took it personally? Ahah
I believe that you could, at each island, just have a tent outside by the HQ that acts the exact same as if they were on the boat. This way they can choose to stay or go to look at their samples. Love to see you back.
I've waiting for this for months. You're my main source of inspiration, dude. Thanks for making this!
Your pixel art is starting to become very impressive! The boat decorations look nice
once again, another amazing high quality devlog
I think you are my favorite devloger!
keep up the goo content, you game looks really interesting, I like the idea that the boat is your main house!
great devlog! looking forward to seeing Dauphin's progress throughout 2021 :D
Amazing progress mate. The game is looking amazing, and I'm really enjoying hearing about how you're more effectively using Godot as it's an engine I want to be looking more into this year.
So happy to see you uploaded!
It would be cool if you could get onto your boat as many times as you want I think. I'm imagining a little bridge that you walk across to board your boat (i.e no transition animation, just walking straight on) whilst it's docked, and then when you want to leave you interact with something to lift the anchor and leave (transition screen here).
You could have also 'Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass' approach where you can sail freely and discover hidden islands, but I realise you said you envisioned the boat to be a place to relax after work on an island (whereas in Phantom Hourglass there's all sorts of enemies and interactions you can have whilst sailing) so that may not fit your vision as well.
Great video and excited to see what comes next!
woah, i've watched you grow from 5,000 to 25, 000 views, congrats on the massive boon my guy
Your all game Dev setup is heaven
A lot have been added since your first devlog really exciting to see all the thing
I think it looks fantastic, but the boarding scene would really benefit from some sound effects! Maybe once it fades to black, you hear the sound of the boat rocking and then being pushed off the shore (like a *swoosh* ocean-y noise haha) before fading back into the game with the character on the ship! My favorite sound effects in games have always been the “entering room/new area” sound effects like in Pokémon where you hear the sound of your footsteps increase in volume and then fade out quickly as you enter a house, so adding something like this into the game would really make that transition a whole lot more believable in my opinion.
But wow, this game looks amazing so far! I couldn’t even imagine working on a project this, it’s really inspiring to watch!
You might want to create a separate array at the beginning of your json file for yes/no responses, so you can use it as the input for “responses” whenever necessary, and consolidate all prompts into one json file. That way you could reuse common “response” inputs. Or, if you want to keep your prompts a separate files, you could create a response-templates.json to store commonly used responses like yes/no. Keep putting out content!!
Thanks for the video! ❤️ Epik progress!!
Thanks for doing these devlogs; I'm also in the process of creating my own game, and whenever I feel low on motivation your positive, upbeat videos pick me back up and get me excited for development again. Dauphin is looking great and I'm looking forward to watching its progress!
I think matching the bobbing of the boat as it's on the shore to the motion of the waves would be a small but very appreciated improvement too. Awesome to see your progress!
Great Devlog, Ben! Love how the little boat is looking.
I think a few rocks or something should be placed in the sea by the beach, otherwise it just looks a little empty when the camera pans out
Seaweed and flotsam would make more sense than rocks to be honest. Boats would generally not want to approach a beach so close to hazards like rocks as they can't tell what is below the surface.
@@KryyssTV I guess the flotsam and seaweed could have a corrupted look, like the crabs, which - over time - become more clean as you progress through game.
I think there should be an island with buried treasure! That would be EPIC. The player would trade something for a map with an 'X' on it and use the shovel to dig up the treasure.
The transition is simple and effective. Reminds me a lot of those Stardew Valley events. I guess you be working more on the UI later, but the responses definitely should be accessible keyboard only as well as putting the arrow only on the selected option. It's good to see your game taking form, I've watched your devlogs since the beginning.
I think some fake-lighting effects would go a long way to help with the night time feeling of the ship. Moon reflecting in the ocean. Little lights creating a glow. Not really a priority, but just a thought! Looking great so far.
really happy to see u have uploaded a video, please continue the development, really enjoying what u do.
This game is looking great so far. I can't wait to see what you do with it. And when you finally finish I'll be able to say I was there at the beginning. Love you DevDuck!
I kind of like the Idea to customize the interior of your cabin. And to build an "base of operations" on the island you like the most. Like a 1 story loghut or even a 2 story brickhouse (given that you have aquired enough materials). An other way to go about that Idea would be to set up an NPC which sells you a house on the island, for the player to customize the interior, sleeping for the night and researching new information.
PS: sorry if my english is bad ^^
Well worth the wait! This is my favorite series and whenever I see a new upload I can't help but smile!
Man as a developer myself i can see how you develop things and its just amazing. I have creative ideas and some skill but to do this is just an hole other level cant wait for it to be finished. Finally a good fun game!
I love the devlog! Keep up the good work and the game is looking amazing!
Getting some Endless Ocean vibes and loving it! Hoping to see animals pop on my boat in Dauphin just like Endless Ocean.
This is really shaping up! I do like the transition to the boat, but if it ends up being something the player interacts with often, I'd make it much shorter and much less dramatic. Maybe only for the end of a day, if there is a day and night cycle. Thank you for such a detailed update. And Happy New Year!
Allright, going to leave my five cents on it. I think you should be able to enter your cabin anytime you'd like, for instance also on the island scene. This should make it feel more like a moving base. I think the best way to do this would be by making a plank the player could walk over to board the ship. I'm sure this could be achieved in a similar way the anchor rope is now generated, but only in a straight vertical, or horizontal (when boarding from the side of an island) line.
Once the anchor is used I would give the player control of the boat, by having your camera zoom out and you moving the boat instead of your character. Either make their ship move in real time and simply map a key to have the player character exit the cabin, or basically have (a smaller, zoomed out version of) their little ship move around a world map, that way you could move to certain locations and have them exit the cabin.
Brilliant devlog as always, I think when u enter the boat the timing should be sped up, because if you want people to board at anytime in the game, you dont want them to constantly be waiting that extra second or 2 just to get moving
I believe that "anchor" is properly called a _bollard._
From the dictionary:
Bollard _noun_
"A strong post (as on a wharf, quay or ship for attaching mooring lines)"
The transition looks great! Plus it looks like you could easily put in banners, later on in development, at the top half of the screen when the player anchors onto islands, which could show the loaction's name, just an idea 🤷🏻♂️.
Awesome work tho!!
Hey! I love your videos and have watched every single devlog thus far. I think it would be cool to have some kind of storage on the ship as well as whatever else needs to be there. I saw another comment about making it like a HQ and I think this would help!
Thank you for video! That's really powerful motivation for me!
The art work looks so good already, I’m exited to see further developments!
Always glad to see another Dauphin video! Hope you had a nice new year!
I think the whole research vessel looks beautiful, but one thing, I think it would be nice to see the game in the night more often, being on the boat at night, in the middle of the ocean seems very relaxing to me, and I think that's great.
Being able to explore the islands at night could be a great feature, especially if you get to islands with more life and seeing it thrive with night life and such.
That might be too much though x)
I certainly plan to implement a day/night cycle! I actually already have the node created, with the ability to use system time or a custom day length. Just need to really figure out lighting / shading effects, right now I really don't think it looks very good as a modulate.
@@DevDuck Perfect! Hmm I see what you mean as obviously there is no lighting, what is Godot like for 2D lighting? As I know Unity has only just started to step into it.
I do think you got the darkness of the scene right, it paints a nice picture in my mind of a sunset, but like you said actually doing the lighting needs some work
Also if you use system time, make sure you don't have certain things that are only accessible at specific times, as in my opinion it can be quite annoying for some players who will miss these things as they are asleep for example. :)
Looks awesome! Totally get the feeling of needing to take a break and actually rest with time off from work or just being too busy at the day job to get much done on the game/TH-cam channel. I've been through similar recently. Keep up the great work!
I like That Palkesz's idea that the player can just return to the ship. To achieve that you could probably allow the player to wade knee-deep into the shoreline, far enough to reach and board the ship. Potentially you can even add a walking plank so the player doesn't have to hoist themselves into the ship. Then actually leaving the island means picking up the mooring pin and walking it on board. Now that the ship is free you can even animate it sailing away.
Allowing the player to wade in the water might also give rise to interesting research for him, the area just below the water has a lot of interesting biology. For example: when water ebbs away around mussels they spit out the water from their shells. That area is also where crabs often hang out.
An idea for a new area: sandbanks. In the north of the netherlands (and germany and denmark) there is the wadden sea. This is a sea mostly closed off from the north sea by multiple islands and not all that deep. At low tide the sand banksstick out above the water and become the resting place of sea birds and seals, while during high tide they are submerged. It is possible to walk around on these sand banks during low tides (for some islands it is even possible to walk to from the mainland). When you anchor above such a sandbank and wait for low tide you can get off and explore, but make sure to be back before the tide rises (dutch: droogvallen).
I love the idea of the research vessel and it giving the player a nice respite. Great devlog!
Ayyee another devlog
Something definitely needs to be in the water, rocks or fish maybe. It just looks empty. Great devlog! Cant wait for the next one!
Awesome, stopped everything I was doing as soon as I got the notified of this devlog and had to watch. Nice progress on the game, the ship looks awesome and the plans for the player are cool, explore islands during the day research and rest at night. 👍
Yes definitely the lighting of the boat in the evening needs more work to get that cozy feeling. Maybe you can make the back of the boat pretty illuminated, the front a bit less and the sea very dark. Also I think you should add a foam animation around the boat, that would help to read better that the boat is moving
I'm excited about some boat sailing gameplay 😍 Keep it up, great work 👍
I see game a talented person making game and I click
Im a simple man, I see
Ahh sadness... i am sticking to a sleep schedule and i close youtube before bed and i see this!!! tommorrow i will see! I know its gonna be great DevDuck!
Cool stuff as always. The crab reminds Beyond oasis boss a bit. Thanks for all the interesting work
Another great devlog by another great dev :) Been watching your devlogs regularly and just have to say I'm always quite excited when I see there is a new one.
Your project is looking very good! Quite liking the art style and the mechanics are refreshing as I've not really seen them before in this way :D
Keep up the great work man! Very inspiring you are :)
I'm a Software Engineer myself and really like what you're doing. I tried doing my own games back in the day but never had enough passion to finalize something properly, so I mostly have a bunch of POCs and drafts so far :D Kudos for keeping this up.
I would add a bridge between the boat and the island so player really can go back and force as many times as he wants. I would still keep the anchor being interactive and probably that would still transition to the new scene away from island (as you have now), but that thing would be purely for activities like fishing and travelling between islands :)
Another community related idea - I think it's time for you to create some Discord server and start building some community around this game. Some place where you can always jump in and ask for some advice (and you don't have to wait for another episode to be published to ask opinions), have some Q&A thing, maybe even some help testing your stuff at some point.
I have been watching since the first devlog and see a load of potential in your game.
Things that I would change:
You can go like inside the vessel and store your items there or do other things.
Drive the boat and discover different islands with different bosses like the first one ( a corrupted crab ) so another one will have like corrupted seeguls.
You don't have to add these if you don't want to. Still a big fan and you made me start game dev!!!
Pretty much have both of these in mind already!
A friend of mine recommended your channel to me and I've binged practically you're whole catalogue in just a couple days. Really enjoying the vlogs. I admire your work-life balance and think that your videos are really quite well-produced. Looking forward to seeing more from you this year! Shameless plug here: I am a composer and game dev myself if you are ever looking to outsource some of your development. Cheers!
I would suggest building a small boarding bridge between the island and the boat. Like this the player has the option to do stuff back at the „base“/boat without the animation of going out into the sea. I‘d then maybe add a steering wheel which the player can interact with and then choose to go out in the sea. You can actually use all the logic and cinematic effects from before.
And as always nice devlog!
Looking good! I would move the player to the boat once the camera start zooming out. Even if its just a teleport I think it would help the sense of the player boarding the ship. Now I almost get the feeling the ship is leaving without them.
8:51 It would be nice that instead of all options having an arrow, only the 'hovered' one has it. This could also allow the user to interact with the dialogues with arrow keys and not only the mouse. It is something very little but may improve the user navigation flow. Everything else is looking great, will be looking forward for the next one!
I really enjoy these devlogs great job!
I think it makes more sense with the storyline that the player should start on the boat
I would expect that boarding the vessel would take you straight to the cabin, and from there you can either chart a new course, sleep, or exit the boat.
I would also suggest a day-night cycle that is not tied to simply entering/exiting the boat, if you’re going to have day/night at all
Also I love the artwork! Keep it up!
This man is a game-making magician. Can't wait to play the game. 😀
It’s so crazy how far this series has gone
Your devlogs are great, I make a devlog every Friday but it's not quite at the level your videos are yet. I'll keep watching for tips ❤👍
I think it'd be cool to have both options for the boat. One where you could travel to different islands during the day and one where you can just chill at night and go over your research items. Lots of progress being made on the game it looks like!
I think that being able to modify the interior of the cabin might be an interesting idea for later down the line.
Always happy to see a new devlog, loving the progress so far. Regarding the transition, maybe you might just have to add a limit of islands you can visit in one day? So if you visit one it is early afternoon if you board the boat, if you visit four it is nighttime when you board the boat? Otherwise, it might feel jarring to jump from the day to night if you only had a short visit on an island, since some players might not be set on exploring or clearing everything and spending a long time at a certain island.
I do have some questions about the boat's cabin (or boat's interior)! Would there be any customisation inside the cabin? Or maybe trophies for certain achievements or moments from islands? I think the idea of adding personlisation to the boat's cabin would make it more rewarding coming back after a long trip on an island, it feels like you are truly returning to something that is your own.
Loving this devlog, your editing is masterful by the way, feels super relaxing to watch.
Tackling tech debt is definitely super important. Wish the webdev job I have would tackle that more
Saw you that you uploaded and stopped everything I was doing. Great dev log dude!
Everytime i watch your video I always find my inner peace
I think it would be awesome if you could board the boat at any time via bridge or something.
To start sailing you could maybe interact with like a steering wheel.
And if you would like to rest you could go inside the boat and maybe have rooms inside, like sleeping quarters, lab and other rooms.
And in the future buy or upgrade your ship that would be pretty cool.
Just some ideas :)
I really like your devlogs, been following you for some time now.
I have been thinking of getting in to some development myself but I'm to busy with work and family life.
Love your vids
Suggestion for boarding the boat dialog options
> Yes - You board the boat
> Not yet - stay on the island for now
> Never - instant game over
I think a universal day/night cycle would be a really cool feature, with maybe some events or creatures happening during one or the other
What a pleasant surprise!! I missed your devlog! Happy New Year, man!! I wish this year be a very productive one for you!!! Cheers from Brazil. :)
you should make the final boss of the game the Dauphin, a giant, corrupted dolphin, love the vids btw.
Shark or whale is even awesome
Honestly, the "boss fight" trope needs to just die. There are plenty of ways to end on a satisfying, climatic high without having a big baddie which you need to defeat. It could be something as simple as escaping a volcanic island that has just become active with you rushing to the boat ahead of pyroclastic flows and avoiding forest fires.
I think making the vessel an end-of-level decision could place your game at least somewhat into the Roguelite genre. And as a fan of Rogueli[k/t]es I would certainly welcome that decision myself.
For example, in the game Noita (which I highly recommend), you can leave the level you're on at pretty much any time. The bulk of the strategy in that game is to stay on the level as long as you can without dying, collecting items and powering up for the next level. Not that it would need to be that extreme, but it's a good example of the kind of mechanic it would introduce.
I think it would add a very "gamey" feel to the game, where you would need to gather as much as you can from the island before moving on, potentially making interesting decisions about what to take or how long to stay. It would also encourage moving on to a new island rather than overstaying on one island.
Yay new Devlog!
Transition looks good, but I noticed the player "jumped" after transition was done, but before you moved him. Also slightly odd was the fact that it was daylight when you boarded, but when you appear on the boat, it's more like late evening/early night.
Just started and finished all the other vids glad a new vid is out
I can’t wait to try this game 😃
This looks so amazing.
Love your videos
Great develop! :D
I think you should add more movement options like a dash or something just to make it more fun to move. Movement is a core gameplay feature so having good movement can really improve your game.
Maybe you could make it a possibility to go below deck and store some stuff you found, further more the game looks really cool and polished !
Yes, you'll be able to enter the cabin in the boat very soon!
What sounds the most fun... legit all mechanics so far xD
I think something you can do is access different parts of the island by this transportation, like there’s another side you need to get to but oh no you can’t because some mountain or something is blocking the way, well you use the boat to get to the other side, then you find something that destroys the mountain and now you can access the other side when you want now yayyy
I think this is the first time that I really can see where this game is going and I am actually hyped for the game :D
Keep up the good work and this will be the next stardew valley xD