Draknier Story - Dev Diary #02 - Moving to full 3D development, A Peek Into my Game Development History & Going Forward, and Moving to Unity Engine

Hi everyone, this will be a long update as to address the situation so if you have some spare time, please bare with me (≧▽≦)

I 've decided to make the Draknier Story into full 3D. As much as I love 2D pixel art, and it having special place in my heart, I believe that going full 3D is more optimal preferable(personally) and beneficial for both me and my supporters.

With my game dev, I was planning to approach it like going 2D for the first game, 2nd game, and eventually move to 3d on 3rd or 4th game(Yes, it's plenty of game,but I plan to make games for the rest of my life and I'm not expecting to make all these games within a short amount of time<like just few years>) by then just like how the classic jrpg games evolve(Breath of Fire, Final Fantasy, etc.). If I was going to move to 3D eventually, I might as well start developing my skillset for it from the beginning instead of working on my 2d pixel art that I eventually plan to move away from.

I do have some background & understanding with 3D so it won't be an overwhelming transition. Here are some of the stuff I did in the past.

This is one from I think july of 2013, I used this model to experiment and use it as a placeholder for my game project(I know, you might think of it as an abomination, I actually had no plan,concept, or direction when I made this one(ᗒᗨᗕ)).

In august of 2013 I have made another, but no longer as a placeholder, but base on the concept I did for the game project 'descend arc' which was suppose to be an arpg(also this monster is one of the weakest mob, equivalent to a goblin)

Then in 2015, the project had a reboot and I made a basic 3d model to be use as the main placeholder complete w/ animation (walk, run, idle, angry, & talk)
Here's a video sample of the project:

In 2017, I did some 3d spaceship models for a client's manga project to help me with drawing the manga (but this time in sketchup, which have different workflow -- and I rarely use any curves with this one as I was after the lineart generated by the software, and curves don't work well with that)

With going 3D, here are the list of positives:

• Scope - With going full 3D, I know that creating characters can take more time and resources upfront, but depending on how it is utilize, 3D can be less work in the long run compared to 2d pixel.  

• Character Design - With 2D , I pretty much have to design the character in a way that it can translate well to a 2d pixel character, I do have the option of having a more detailed sprite, but that would increase the complexity and more work for drawing each frame. Going 3D will give me the leeway to design a more detailed Character.

• Versatility in Art - Going 3D gives me flexibility to able to modify/add/refine animation, 3D model change or add design, reuse animation for other characters, attach 3d objects(armor, accessories, weapon variation, horns, wings, etc.), customization, and more.
There will be transformation involve in the story so it really helps, unlike with 2D, i will have to redraw every frames for each action.

• Versatility in Game Design - with 2D, if I were to make an art w/ isometric view, that means should I make some changes to the art direction later on or change to battle/gameplay mechanics, the 2D asset may end up not to be usable, unlike with 3D which can still be useful.
It will also allow me to implement a more complex battle gameplay that t I've always wanted without worrying the number of frames I have to draw for each character like the example below.
(Unfortunately, patreon doesn't allow video in the body text, but here's an image and link to the video) https://youtu.be/8jrutqOzj9g?t=9

• Versatility in Story Telling - The camera, I can play with the camera to tell a different kind of story! You've probably notice in my #00 dev diary post that I've been drooling over the potential of 3D cinematography/cutscene (ᗒᗨᗕ)

Also it gives me another option of using the 3D models outside of the game and make pre-rendered cutscenes(By this, i mean a short video clip instead of in-game engine cutscene)


• 3D Model sharing - with 3D, I'll be able to share to you the 3D models of the main characters for your personal use if you are into Modding, VRChat,  MMD, Meme Making, or something else  (≧∀≦). With this, I am able to share something that you can play or have fun with while the game is still not yet playable or ready (ง `ω´)۶.

--
I do have more experience with 3D as I've been doing it before so I just need to do some refresher and learn the new workflow of Blender 2.8 (Which was very recently released)


Moving back from Godot Engine to Unity Engine

I've been doing lots of research the past few weeks whenever I get a chance for a bit regarding Godot, Unity, and Unreal.

I have decided & I am leaving Godot Engine for Unity Engine as Unity is more feature rich for 3D development currently. Also, this gets rid of my concern about any potential for porting. With Godot, you have to go through 3rd party for porting to console. (Although Unreal has caught my attention because of japanese developers moving to unreal and developing games like Dragon Quest XI, and it's powerful terrain editor)

Second, the resources w/ Unity is just massive when it comes to game development, you will probably find a solution with a quick search due to its large community. With Godot, I spent most of time last year trying to figure out how things works as the documentation is quite lacking, even finding examples is difficult, particularly with 3D. When it comes to 2D development, Godot is very great, but with 3D, it has lot to work on yet. I love Godot & I truly believe Godot Engine will be great, it is growing at a fast pace, but I think unity is the better choice for me now.

I originally started with unity back in 2012-2013 and I used javascript/unityscript back then which I just found out that it was removed now. I've always been interested in using Unity w/ C# and comparing it to few years ago and this time, there is massive resources to unity's C# game development so it will help me a lot with the pacing.

Some inspirational developer who used unity for making jrpg is Tokyo RPG Factory
(I know game engine are just tools, but it's impressive to think that it is made of unity)
I am Setsuna

Lost Sphear

And plenty of other jrpg-inspired indie


2D vs 3D  Development
The scope and roadmap is pretty much the same, it's just the character will utilize 3D instead of 2D characters in 3D engine. Complexity isn't really that different from 2D as the game features I am planning still works the same.

3D Models
I won't be targeting to make AAA or realistic 3D models, I aim to make around low-poly or mid-poly. The lowest detail I could go with is something like most of the PS1 title, like threads of fate, megaman legends, Legend of Legaia, etc. But with how fast the technology has become and hardware having more power, somewhere between low-poly and mid-poly or up to the state that it doesn't look very boxy(Although I actually love those boxy low-poly, they have a special place in my nostalgic heart(ᗒᗨᗕ)).In fact, very low-poly can be more difficult as you are reducing the poly count and trying to still make it not look weird as possible, most low-poly are because of hardware limitation, and the design being optimized for it.

Below are some previews of the inspiration I have:

Threads of Fate which is the one I am pretty much aiming back in 2013(Since I was also considering a mobile development & consider smartphone capabilities) Video to show see the 3d models in action:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmA5mBy7m4A 

Legend of Legaia (which I mentioned on the  in "Versatility of Game Design")

Megaman Legends 2
(without anti-alias)

(with anti-alias)

And some modern ones like :
Bravely Default (The combination of 3d w/ 2d painting background is alluring)

Alliance Alive:

Ideally, I would love the level of 3D Model of Radiata Stories (One of my all-time favorite ps2 jrpgs), It's one of my major inspiration when it comes to 3d modeling

And Tales of Abyss is a great one too

If you want to know the peak or I hope to someday achieve since long time ago( I don't see it happening anytime soon, just a dream of mine(≧▽≦)), that would be Tales of Vesperia.
Now that I've seen them side by side, I actually feel like the level of detail is not far from Tales of Abyss, but is rather using unique shader and other post-processing effect

And one of the major 'inspiration'(Although this one is maybe something I won't reach, just an 'inspiration') is Xenoblade Chronicles 2, I really love the 3D cutscenes, character animation, & environment, in this game (ᗒᗨᗕ)

A Peek into my Game Development History & Going Forward

You've probably notice that I keep stopping on my project, this is due to an incoming freelance project w/ tight deadlines during that time and me in need of money (fortunately, my situation now is not as terrible as it was compared to the past years) and not due to running out of passion.
Every time I return to the project after a long time of not working on it, I feel lost with the programming code I did as it wasn't organize enough and I didn't add enough line comment(e.g. //This Code function as -- and so on) and also it's a terrible  spaghetti code, where I just go on if it works, which makes restarting to be much easier. With my recent project, I've been trying to make it more organized(Can't perfectly say it as OOP/Object Oriented Programming, but I guess something like that, or at least trying to be).  

Then my next development move to 2D and change my engine preference to Godot(Actually it was in 2016 I think), I was thinking of a simple short mini game that looks like a jrpg, but not really a jrpg, just rpgmaker-esque without battle, but only dialogues(It was supposedly a tribute project).
Then the cycle only continues to repeat, and then I rebooted again my 2D game project last year< I was actually able to reuse fragments of the code this time and move to Godot 3.0 which had a lot of changes, as the old build i used is Godot 2.1> while trying to avoid freelance as much( which was the Draknier prototype, it is actually featured rich when it comes to story telling as it has movement, npc (ai, emotions, & actions), cutscene management, camera management, weather, multi-event, dialogue tree<different sequence>, door triggers<moving outside to inside>and more).  

The way I worked on the last project is, modular, so if something doesn't work, not everything breaks. With moving to unity, I do hope that I will be able to keep up with this practice.

I just tire of these cycle of stopping and restarting, it pains me, and it never fades, but only accumulates, and I've reached my limit, that's why I am taking more risk with  different approach (patreon). I've been passionate about making games since as far as I can remember, I used to make games on paper back then like during elementary, creating puzzles that may require certain item to pass over, secrets, and trap passages -- or creating rpg on paper with saves making people(classmates) play it, while I manage the system(a.k.a.  the game master/human game engine). Good times, and sorry, I seem to be derailing from the topic (≧∀≦)

With that endless cycle, I hope to end the cycle this time with the help of moving away from freelancing and focusing on creating self/original content through patreon (Art packs & this game development project).

Conclusion
One thing I've notice is I am always looking ahead and what the end result would be and I always put lots of pressure to myself to finish the game within the a certain period of time.  

With patreon and my current state, everything changes, I don't have to take the traditional approach of development to meet a specific deadline with a full length complete project(jrpg is a type of game that is quite long). I've also learn something from my supporters. Although I am not sure if every supporter I have will agree, I've decided to take things more slowly(not rushing) and spend quality time working on it. This will give me the leisure of having some space to innovate game features and make more quality content than quantity.

I think I should approach this more positively, like I can have fun and share stuff with my community about the games we enjoy, while alongside also sharing the game development I do, that is inspired & birthed from my love of games.
And going forward, I do think that I should also share my study progress or result related to my game development (music, 3d modelling, etc. even if it's not good?(ᗒᗨᗕ)) and not only the major progress report of the project. While it can be a serious project it can be treated in a casual way, more of a fun project. I am afterall making a game the way I want it to be played and story to be told and share that, and not perfecting a 'product' to 'ship' within a period of time.

The Draknier project will evolve as it goes, but the focus on the main core features is still there, and I do have some draft plan for game features(after the development of core features)  that might work well with this method of development(Which I'll talk about in future dev diaries).

Lastly, all I can say is I'll give my best!

Thank you again for supporting and being interested with the stuff I do! Without your interest and support, I won't be fortunate enough to be in my current state  and be able to work on the stuff that I love ｡^‿^｡

Sorry if this post is too long, it's hard to convey all these in a short post, My Draknier Dev Diary seems to become my development diary instead, sorry if that may not interest you (；´∀｀). Thank you again for sparing your time, if you have any concern, you may comment or private message me, have a pleasant day （＾ｖ＾）!