puzzles? how cool is this?

~ whats up

started puzzles, hopefully gonna finish very soon?

implementation

Most of my puzzles involve doing something, then something else happens (eg appearing vs disappearing). So I just made a script and attached it to certain places where objects are supposed to be inter-actable with. more detailed desc later

Future

finish the puzzles oof

FAV ROOM + glow in the dark pumpkins??

~ whats up

so i got the enemy to work. thank god.

PLUS I GOT MY FAVORITE-ST ROOM EVER MADE!!

Implementation/fix for enemy

• Looping btw 2 rooms: wander code picked farthest random point, so movement was lwk sporadic and weird. So we switched to getting the first valid point randomly generated instead.
• Walked off into the void: bc the navigationmesh or where it can roam WAS PARTIALLY OUTSIDE. bruh. so just resized the NM
• Never saw me or chased: LMAO this was so funny. So apparently my body was like 115 WHOLE-STINKING units away from where the code thought I was.. so easy fix, but bruh.
• Lost me at corners when i sharp turned: chase_memory now is for keeping track of position even after losing sight.
• Also added the hit screen, which is like a little bit of blood, for funsies

THE ROOM

OMGGOGMG - this was so heavily inspired (not copied… cuz yk i got crates here) by that one bunker room in Stay Out of the House by PUPPETCOMBO (omg peakkk). it’s a maze in there. check out the 2nd image!

Future

PUZZLES. OMG (still) I have so many ideas and so little timeeee.

PS: wanted to fit all images in one frame. (yea okay syre bvro)

GUMBALLS

~ whats up

FINALLY finished decorating??

Okay, so I got the enemy to work - FOR LIKE 5 SECONDS - before i broke it again T-T. IDEK what I did bruh.

Implementation

So I baked a navigationmesh which is all the places the enemy can go (eg mostly where the player can go mostly) and then successfully (for a while at least) made it move randomly and chase the player when it crossed its line of view. It would even hit the player and make a bloody screen show up.

BUT NOW IT DOESN’T WORK. HUhhh?? It doesn’t even move at all.

So comes debugging: I integrated each step one by one instead of working on the code for like 5 hours and then testing it. Hopefully I can get this thing to work ugh. (My desc are lwk bad here but its because Im raging)

Future

PUZZLES. OMG I have so many ideas and so little timeeee.

anyway, here’s this gumball machine which might be my favorite thing ever. toodles

WE GOT CABINETS

~ Happy Spooky-Season!! HORROR SEASON + whats up

Player can finally open doors- nope not doors, those are harder to implement than cabinets.

But then isn’t a door literally just a big cabinet? #showerthoughts

Implementation

Basically, interact ‘E’ asks whether the raycast, or the “imaginary line” shot out the player though the red dot in the center, hits the object. If the player is standing close enough and they press E, it turns the door 90 degrees about the side aixs.

It took a bit to implement bc I kept MESSING UP what the raycast would collid with. Plus this cabinet is like A MILLION different pieces. it legit takes 10 seconds to scroll through everything.

I mean ig bro.

Future

Do this to like all the other cabinets (T-T), fix enemy (idk why its glitching), implement puzzles.

AND ADD HALLOWEEN EASTER EGGS! (or are they called Halloween Eggs bc its not rlly easter… #showerthoughtsagain… haha)

PLAYGROUND - and pick up

I added this cool playground into the game, where you can actually go inside and even slide down the slide. Peak childhood nostalgia :)

You can also now pick up items and drop them realistically, affected by gravity. I’m holding a hammer in this image!

I think the game is coming along well. Slowly… AHhhh gotta pick up the pace.

Added a simple pass

You now need to enter the correct passcode to view the drawpad, and it locks by pressing the left side button. Necessary to protect any… private drawings. 👀

But then i just leaked it to everyone who sees this. Oops gotta change it

Still decorating…

Sometimes the things you look the hardest for…
Is just in plain sight…

I also added in the enemy. Dw it won’t be a cubicle forever.

** PARKOUR **

Still decorating. but im so proud of myself for making this little parkour. the ladder was so hard to get the player to actually get on T-T

A cool gamepad - 1st Devlog, DRAWPAD

This is the first time I’m posting hardware, and I lwk didn’t know there was an option to record build time lmao. Uh ok. And also forgot to make devlogs along the way so we got this.

~ What is this?

• I’m making a gamepad using Arduino, with different games on it.

• With Arduino Uno and a TFT LCD Display, I made this tiny drawing pad, which will eventually be one part of the overall gamepad, with 4 different colors and a clear button.

• For size reference, it’s about the size of an airpod pro case.

~ Plan

For this drawpad specifically, I’ll add an erase button and possibly more colors!

I will make a retro pingpong game and add it to the overall gameboard. More to come on that.

corn….

Hallow Continued - MECHANICS

~ What’s been going on

Still working on decorating. Aesthetics are important oookkk?

Been working on mechanics, such as interacting. Since these models are from online, I have to resize everything and also make a function so they can be interacted with.

How it works: basically you just have to be close enough to some object, then press ‘E’ to interact with the object, which then causes some change. For example, this cabinet opens, but I’m planning on adding different puzzles which isn’t as simple as opening a drawer.

Issues:

• Since the hitbox (or CollisionShape3D in Godot) is over the whole cabinet, it opens all the drawers. I guess that makes it easier for the player lmao. But if I wanted to make it over each drawer, then I would’ve had to make smaller hitboxes and arranged them properly.
• I accidentally made this cabinet TOO TALL T-T. So I wonder how the player will get up there… (totally on purpose haha)
• It limits which models I could take from online. A lot of models are not separated into parts (eg drawer1 is attached permanently to drawer2), meaning they can’t actually open. I realized this half way thru scavenging. :(

Also started on the enemy AI stuff, but it’s not that done yet.

~ Plan

Continue decorating, making them interactable.

I have also made a whole map of the layout and the fun puzzles I’m planning to put in.

I would share it but spoilers… :)

Credit for cabinet below:
Bedside table: “Bedside table old” (https://skfb.ly/owuAQ) by Nollien is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

SKETCHFAB is a peakkk website! pretty realistic looking things on here!

Hallow Continued - COUCHES

~ What’s been going on

Really right now is one of the fun-ner parts: just adding in open-license 3D models from online and decorating the whole place (in- and ex-terior). And obviously crediting everything on this massive google doc. 👍

I was hoping it would be sorta fast, but tell me how it’s been a few hours already lol T-T

~ After this

Make everything interact-able and bring in the props and tools you need to find to escape with. Some of these models don’t have an interior, so I’ll need to figure how to sideball that issue.

And a gamedev’s worst nightmare: doors… 👀

Ohhh and also rearrange my whole filesystem and Scene panel. Uhhh which door is which again…. absolute monstrosity right now…

Credit for sofa below: “trashy backyard sofa” (https://skfb.ly/pHVBH) by Schmoldt5000 is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). 

SKETCHFAB is a peakkk website! pretty realistic looking things on here!

Devlog 2 - Layout Done

It’s been a while since my last post, but I’ve finished the pretty giant layout.

I think I want a couple of floors, but that might be ambitious. We’ll see. Right now it has over 10 rooms and an outside!

The doors are a big large right now, but this is an orphanage and the player is a kid so maybe its ok. 😓

I also started brainstorming some puzzles.
Next step: decorating the interior and exterior and adding in items.

Devlog #1 - Hollow GAME Dev

Hey everyone!

This is my first time posting and first time ever doing anything Hack Club related. I’ve seen so many cool projects already, and it really inspired me to create something and ship it out.

Lmao, skip all this rant and go to the bottom for the actual project to save time! I’m developing a GAME!

– A little about me and why I’m here: I LOVE horror! Especially horror games. However I’m more of a person who likes watching people play games and am too scared sometimes to play them myself. Things like the Resident Evil series, indie games (like by Puppet Combo), or even mobile games like Granny. So I thought why not make one myself since it’s summer and all.

I’m familiar with programming but totally new to game dev, so this will be an interesting adventure.

– What I’ve learned so far about the game dev process:
There’s a LOT to learn and decide. Eg

• What gaming platform you wanna use (so many differences lmao) like unreal, unity, and godot
• Plot of your game (so MUCH stuff to consider here)
• General gameplay style (open exploration? cutscene hand holding gameplay?)
• How long you want your game to be (uhhh…)
  and so much more… 😓

I’ve tried making a GDD (game dev doc), and rn its still being refined as the vision comes together.

—– MY GAME PREMISE —–

Game name: Hollow
Gist: The player is stuck in an Orphanage and strives for a way out + An investigator attempts to voyage to the Orphanage, but seeks shelter in somewhere unknown… (trying to go for the multiple enemy/story happening but its all connected…)
**Inspo: **HEAVILY from Resident Evil 7 (the Baker’s House), the mobile game The Evil Nun, puppet combo games (like Stay Out of the House or Nun Massacre), random dreams I’ve had (lol)
Platform: GODOT (highkey underrated)

– Whats done so far

• a dark environment and a few bare rooms
• stamina bar that can be recharged
• flashlight
• movement controls
• 1/2 of door mechanics (so many memes about how game devs hate door physics hahaha.. yea me too)

Js the first week, so player basic mechanics are in.

– Future plans for posts

• Polish the environment and figuring out the enemy
• Finishing the GDD and posting clips of it
• Posting a short demo game on Itch.io

Thanks for reading this post!