Hello all,
So it's been about a month since my last update, in which I explained we've been dealing with a very surprising and sudden death in the family.
The funeral was last week, it was a lovely service and we are holding together as well as we can hope to.
I am personally beginning the process of returning to work. Given that I have already been away for so l...
2024-02-13 22:17:01 +0000 UTC View PostHello all.
Last Thursday my partner's mother died unexpectedly in her sleep. She was 63 years old and this was the last thing anyone could have expected. We were very close and this has hit us both extremely hard and we've yet to really process what has happened.
A lot now falls to my partner as next of kin to arrange a funeral among so many other logistics and I am doing everything in my power to share the load wherever possible.
As such I won't have the capacity to re...
First video of the year! I meant to bring this out earlier but I was sucked into the Christmas vortex not to be seen again until now.
I think this has some useful insights for developers eyeing a commercial release for their first game/s. Maybe this kind of thing is obvious to most people but it definitely was not for me!
2024-01-03 18:49:52 +0000 UTC View PostHello! This is just a musing that I probably haven't thought through enough but I had a moment of inspiration today while playing around with the old ARPG files.
The things I don't like about my series (and tutorials in general) are:
The new demo for my game PokeyPoke is finally available! It carries with it nearly four years(!!) worth of improvements and changes to the game. If you played the old demo, a lot has changed!
Thank you everyone for your continued support! Speaking of support, it helps the game a lot algorithmically if ...
2023-11-17 17:56:45 +0000 UTC View Post
This took a while to put together and hinges wholly on footage that Line recorded while we were out there! Hope you enjoy this little retrospective on my time out there.
And hey look! early access! Two whole days early! Don't say I don't treat you all to anything.
More to come soon =3
-S
2023-11-01 15:41:27 +0000 UTC View PostHello everyone! I'd like to have an important, long overdue chat! About the content I make and what I'd like to do in the future.
Since Gamescom I've been working a lot on PokeyPoke. I've released a new build of the upcoming (new) Steam demo to a private discord of playtesters who have been breaking the build apart with great efficiency. And it's going well! I've got a fancy pause menu I'd love to talk about in upcoming devlogs, and perhaps turn into a template/resource...
2023-10-09 15:45:24 +0000 UTC View Post
After the success of episode 1, here finally is episode 2!
In this one we talk about tutorialisation! Teaching your players how to play your game. I don't go into a lot of specifics as it's such a huge topic that varies so much across genres that there's no way I could cover every little "mistake" people might make in these ways. (And I'm sure there's plenty of mistakes I still make and I'm n...
2023-09-07 13:29:20 +0000 UTC View PostI have finally returned from Gamescom. The whole UK airspace got closed during my return trip which left me stranded in Germany for several days. I am now back in the UK but very very tired, and still very busy.
Just writing a quick update for now and will do a more thorough retrospective on Monday!
For now before I collapse in bed:
* I have a new episode of "beginner gamedev mistakes" on its way, vossel has done a great job editing this one together and I'm really looking f...
2023-09-01 20:05:34 +0000 UTC View Post
Just a simple one to provide a break after the last couple of very intense episodes. Enjoy!
Source code is up on itch.io
-S
2023-07-26 11:57:17 +0000 UTC View PostSo big news, GameMaker have invited me to join their stand at Gamescom in Germany next month! I'll be showing off PokeyPoke for most of the week in the indie area. So if any of you happen to be there, feel free to come meet me and chat!
This puts a deadline on my new demo build for PokeyPoke. And therefore I need to accelerate the pace at which I work on the game. This might mean fewer tutorial videos from me (although potentially more devlogs) over the next few weeks. I will still be c...
2023-07-20 13:20:37 +0000 UTC View Post
Starting a little series on the common "mistakes" I see from newer developers in my Feedback streams, streams I don't really do much of any more, but I played a LOT of games. And across those games I noticed myself saying a lot of the same things! So I thought it might be nice to put those things into videos. Here's the first one, talking about inconsistent art and aesthetics.
-S
2023-07-07 16:02:25 +0000 UTC View Post
Target selection at last! Finally through the more painful areas of the series, looking forward to the somewhat more fun follow up episodes now that we can finally select and target our unit actions.
Releasing on YouTube on Friday afternoon.
Source code can be accessed via Itch.
-S
2023-06-28 13:55:39 +0000 UTC View Post
Here is part 2! I'd hoped to bring this out earlirer in the week but it just needed a bit of tidy up by the time I was finished with the first draft last Friday. I've had the rest of this week off to catch up on home chores and spend time with Emma for her birthday. Next week I'll likely be chopping back away at the JRPG / Turn Based Stuff.
If you'd like to hear about some of the none-LD games I didn't get chance to cover in this two part series (like PokeyPoke for instance), let me kno...
2023-06-16 14:01:42 +0000 UTC View Post
An episode I was dreading for a while, but I think it came together ok. Actually compiling a units actions into a menu is a tricky process and this episode is more intermediate/advanced than some of the others have been. Hope you're able to follow along ok!
If you can get through this, the rest will be very very easy. So hang in there!
-S
2023-06-02 11:57:56 +0000 UTC View Post
Another devlog on PokeyPoke and a topic ive discussed a lot on stream at various times. What platforms am I targetting, what controllers will you be able to use. Why it's kinda tricky trying to support both mouse and keyboard *and* controllers and the steps I've taken to try and find a parity.
A 12 minute blast through making a menu that can be any size, scrollable and contain sub-menus. And hopefully in the near future we'll be able to use these to select actions for our characters! Will be updating the source code on itch.io shortly.
2023-05-18 14:53:15 +0000 UTC View PostHello everyone!
It's been a rough and wild couple of weeks. Apologies to anyone who's been messaging me recently I'll be getting through as many of you as I can today.
A new 12 minute episode of the turn based battle system is on its way today, assuming Premiere wants to behave and finishes rendering it. It's kind of a nightmare to edit videos of this length in my new style, but now that we're into the "meat" of the series I suspect this episode, and maybe the next couple will be ...
2023-05-18 13:21:22 +0000 UTC View Post
Some more insights into the slow but steady development of PokeyPoke and how I added a procedural voice generator to my gems!
2023-04-28 13:22:49 +0000 UTC View Post
A short episode where we learn how to write simple AI scripts to pick actions and targets for a unit on its turn.
Source code will be added to itch shortly after this post!
2023-04-17 14:14:11 +0000 UTC View Post
A simpler episode after last weeks shotgun blast of information. This time we're adding floating damage numbers to our attacks and applying a visual death state to various units. Source code is already available on itch.
Will be added to the playlist upon public release on either Thurs or Friday.
Episode 5 is written and on the way too, hopefully later this week!
-S
2023-04-11 13:38:01 +0000 UTC View Post
This was a very beefy episode to get together. It covers the entire foundation of how the system works, so I hope it's clear enough to follow! Let me know what you think and I hope you're enjoying the series!
Source code has been updated over at: https://shaunjs.itch.io/shauns-turn-based-battle-system
This video is only available for patrons right now and will release to the public like...
2023-03-31 14:30:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Episode 2! Some real life stuff stopped me getting this out as quick as I'd have liked, but it's here. Check the itch io page for this episode's source code.
Still trying to navigate the workflow for this series as I make it in order to make it even slightly efficiently. Thanks also to folks who've posted bugs etc on the itch io community board and helped me fix up some stuff before it ...
2023-03-23 15:55:51 +0000 UTC View Post
Threw this together today quickly just to cover the new things released in 2023.2! There won't be a 2023.3 it turns out due to work on LTS, but they're going to roll new features into a bigger 2023.4 instead. Hope this is helpful!
-S
2023-03-07 17:47:59 +0000 UTC View Post
This was something suggested by Endmark Games on my other post earlier this week, to share more about the process and development of PokeyPoke in perhaps a looser and simpler manner than I have done before (where I've done in-depth, edited videos about particular features). While I can still cover interesting technical details and implementations, I think this new approach is a great idea because I can put out lots of interesting stuff quickly, and the minimal-work approach to creating it all...
2023-03-02 18:07:41 +0000 UTC View PostHello everyone! Rather than do another poll I wanted to get some general feedback on the kind of work I've been putting out and working towards. I want to make sure I'm making stuff that's:
1. Useful to the GameMaker and game development community
2. Helping get more people started with GameMaker
3. Living up to the expectations you had when you decided to support my work.
It's finally, finally here! The first episode of the turn based battle tutorial series. While I've done my best with the editing for this first episode (as episode 1 of these things always performs a ton better than the rest of the series) there's no way I'm going to be able keep up this level and see the series through to completion. So expect future episodes to be a more editing-light, live-walkthrough style. I'll still be doing my best to keep it punchy and well paced throughout.
Thi...
2023-02-22 15:51:04 +0000 UTC View Post
You've probably seen this by now as I'm very late in posting this to patreon but I finally finished this video! This was a tough one to script and plan, and I'm grateful to Vossel for his excellent work on the editing side of the video. I think this showcases well the quality of work we can create, and that I hope to create more of given more funding to do so!
2023-02-22 15:44:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Some useful keyboard shortcuts that are worth knowing that can make things go faster for you!
Let me know any that I didn't mention that you think are helpful!
2023-01-25 15:55:16 +0000 UTC View Post
Itch link: https://shaunjs.itch.io/shauns-turn-based-battle-system
The source code for my JRPG/Turn based battle system is now available. It is the first version that will still be refined somewhat before the final tutorial videos release. Anyone in the $5+ tier can access this by linking their itch/patreon accounts. Simply click the patron access button on the itch page!
Now is the pe...
2023-01-13 18:40:03 +0000 UTC View Post