On-Day Seven - TWO WEEKS!?
Mar. 17th, 2023 05:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
relee5:10pm - It's on day seven, and with a day-on day-off schedule that means I've been at this for two weeks now. That's kind of amazing? It does feel more like one week with days that are twice as long, but while that could be technically accurate it also doesn't make good sense.
I've got a lot on my mind today. I was driving around both to get groceries and get to the Tim Hortons where I am right now. I was thinking about trans issues, I was thinking about poverty, I was thinking about all the things I posted about thinking about last time I think?
I had a notable discomfort after an hour of writing about that stuff last week, though. I spent about 50 minutes writing about IP stuff though I barely scratched the surface. I'm not sure why I didn't want to continue after that. Usually when I get started talking about these things, it's hard to stop when I realize the person I'm talking to is uncomfortable. ^.^;;
I think I'll not write/talk about that serious business stuff today. I was thinking I'd touch on some things, but there's other stuff I want to do.
I think today will start with gamedev talk.
6:00pm - I've poked around a tiny bit but I've mostly been reading stuff I shouldn't and socializing. ^.^;;
I suppose I didn't mention it but today did have a 'bad day' feeling. I think I overworked myself with other work the last few days and I had planned to do more and had to cancel that plan. Still, I'm here and I want to do things!
There are a few ideas I've been toying with in my head. Before I get into them, a concern I have is trying to do more than I actually can. I'm doing actual work regularly for the first time in a while, but even if this continues I'm only able to do so much, and I'm already trying to dedicate myself to my Dommy Monsters game.
I'm very interested in Open Source. As a game developer, I'm also interested in Open Source games. As it happens, there's not a lot of really popular open source games, and they're mostly remakes of classic games. Stuff like OpenTTD or OpenRA or... I think there's a popular open source Doom? Though I also think they gave away the code for the original Doom after it got old enough.
One open source project I'm interested in is Vircadia, because I'm interested in shared online virtual world simulations. Vircadia is effectively an open source 'sequel' to Second Life though, a social virtual world. You can put game elements in there, but it's not made for them. More modern games that are in that space are things like VRChat and Neos, but they focus even MORE on the social aspects and barely at all on the world simulation. Second Life isn't just a place, it's a world. VRChat and Neos have lots of tiny worlds, but they're more like rooms or maybe a building or two in a small area.
I've been playing ARK: Survival Evolved lately. I kinda love it? A lot? I bounced off it the first time I tried it, and was frustrated because I liked the idea. As it turns out, ARK's onboarding isn't great. There's nothing that says, "Try the solo game first." If you play the solo game on ARK: Survival Evolved, you start off at the tip of a small penninsula on an island called "The Footpaw", in the south of the first ARK called "The Island". It's seperated from other portions of The Island by rivers, and the penninsula only has one non-water way in or out. There's hardly any violent or dangerous dinos there, and most of them you have a fair shot of defeating when you're new. You have space and time to figure out what's going on, to learn what those symbols on your HUD mean, and how much time you actually have for food and water, and how dangerous cold and heat are.
Without that time to calmly learn to play, the game is a huge stressor and you're gonna be running around getting killed a bunch and thinking it's way harder/worse than it is.
If you start on a server, and you're alone, you might choose a different starting spot, which has more dangerous dinosaurs. If you're on a server with other players, even a PvE one, there's a pretty good chance someone will either accidentally or on purpose lead extra dangerous dinosaurs to the newbie areas. Even Titanoboas, huge snakes, are way too much for a new player to handle. A snake or two on the beach is a really bad time, when you don't even know what you're doing.
So, when I tried ARK again, and suddenly got really into it, it's because I played the solo game first, for the first time. Oh my gosh it is so good when you do it that way. o.o;;
Even playing on official servers isn't that bad, after you've had time to figure out how the game works and what to do and what's safe and dangerous. I still think your hunger and thirst meters shouldn't even show up until you're at least half empty on food or water, though. ^.^;;
Really though, there's berry bushes heccin' everywhere and all the water is fresh and potable, you'll be fine.
So, now that I've gotten into ARK and HARD, I realized I'd like to contribute to this genre myself. See, there aren't actually that many games like this. Most survival sandbox games are semi-realistic, with more "Realistic" style graphics, equipment, they tend to take place either in the modern world or just after a recent post apocalypse, so there's normal clothes and modern buildings or ruins around. Maybe there's cannibals or just other players, or zombies?
ARK has Dinosaurs and occasionally man-made horrors beyond comprehension. It's a scifi/fantasy sort of story and setting. It's weird and a little cartoony, and I love it.
You know what I'd like though? Fantasy stuff. Some weird non-tolkien-esque/DnD fantasy would also be nice, but that's pretty good too. Moving to the adjacent space, there is a single survival game like that right now. It's called Conan Exiles, and I'm pretty interested in it too. I also bounced off of that one! But, one of my main issues with Conan Exiles is the slavery. See, in order to get any NPC people on your team in Conan Exiles, you have to basically capture/kidnap them, and then break their will by forcing them to push a wheel around in a circle. It's not terribly realistic though, so why did it have to be slavery only? Why a wheel of pain? When they're on your team, unmodded they just stand around like a game object, only doing anything when ordered. There are mods to make them do more, though. I was asking around if there were mods to make alternatives to slavery. It turns out that they actually added alternatives in the first expansion, Isle of Sitaph! There are NPC slavers, and you can buy slaves from them, but more importantly you can kill them and free the slaves, and they join you, giving you the same gameplay element with a much more righteous story!
7:26pm - I got really distracted and socialized more. I want to at least talk about my idea while I'm here, and I told my Dad I'd like dinner at 8:30 or 9 so I don't want to be late just because I was goofing off when I should be working. In case you're worried, the reason I'm goofing off is a bit unique. I had joined an RP discord and they started having the first session. I was trying to stay out at first, but decided that knowing it was happening would be too much of a distraction even if I closed Discord. The first session won't happen every day.
7:52pm - The RP is paused for now but I'm still super distracted. I'll try to hurry up and finish.
I want to make an open source multiplayer server-based survival sandbox game.
There's none out there I've been able to find, not even projects to make them. I did find someone selling lessons on how to make one in Unreal, though.
I want to make one in Godot, but I'm thinking even more than that. I'm a bit inspired by this creation of Game Maker's Toolkit. https://gmtk.itch.io/platformer-toolkit
They went beyond making just a custom 2D character controller, and made a 'game' where you can tweak the values and see how all of the standards and customs of 2D platformers work, and how they feel if you modify this or that, right from the start. You don't import a character controller and jam it on whatever sprites or model you have and have to make your own level to test it. It's all in there.
What if I did something like that, but for each gameplay element of a 3D Survival Game? Culminating in putting them all together in a complete package open-source template survival game?
I heard some good advice recently that you shouldn't make a tool for others if they didn't ask for one. Don't assume people want another RPG Maker, or whatever you want to make, that sort of thing. Make what you want, not tools for someone else to make things they haven't asked for. They might just make their own or use others and your work was for nothing. They might not even find out yours exists before they start development!
For me, I want to make a survival game like this, but I don't think I can do what I really want alone, and I don't know if I can get folks to do it. I have an idea that I could make each part of the game as a seperate project like this. Further, I want to use really simple assets and design the game to be modded or total-converted. People should be able to make their own survival sandbox using this by swapping out the resources and changing values. I'm really sick of everyone having to reinvent the wheel every time they make another computer project.
I don't know if it's as important to me as the other goals I've listed, but I really want to fill this world with public domain open source "Wheels" that anyone can use and modify to their own purposes.
So, I can start a project of making this game, and intend to use simple, low-spec resources for it. Partly so it'll run on more things, but also so that I dont have to do the hard work of making good resources and making them look really nice myself. If possible, I'd also really like to convince people to make open source, public domain resources for the game that are higher quality, or more specific or thematic, so that I can have a better game for myself but also others can use and re-use them, and modify them too.
The main issue is that this would be a lot of work. Besides just making it, I'd have to start out managing the whole open source project. Make a home for it, like a website or something. Put it on places like Github and their competitors. I'm not sure who all is doing that now? And manage anyone who joins or submits pull requests, etc...
And each part of the game, especially if I end up doing it all myself, would be a lot of work. Would I be able to do that? Even if I didn't make Dommy Monsters and made this instead? And, do I want to do this more, or do I want to do them both at the same time, or is this all a pipe dream fantasy?
This reminds me of another project I started and abandonned early on a while back. I wanted to make a program for creating 3D characters. Models, animations, the whole thing. Inspired by the Spore creature creator, but taken even further. I ended up looking around, and there are some commercial software projects that aren't quite that, but are for making high quality characters in their own way. I ended up a bit disillusioned and I was worried about making money and surviving.
I guess I sorta still am? Part of the reason I decided to do Dommy Monsters was inspiration from Xey and their games To Love a Googirl and The Merging. https://xey.itch.io/
See, they actually make quite a bit of money from Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/XeyGames
They usually work on either game for ten days each month. One at the start, the other at the end. This is their 'job', their main source of income. They make two games, manage two communities in isolated parts of a single discord server, and livestream their development.
I've been on disability a long time and I'm not really making ends meet, so I want more money. I thought making erogames couldn't actually make me money, and nobody would hire me if I used them on my resume. But, now I don't think I can get a pro job anyways unless I know somebody, and I always loved that sort of thing too. But, I could also do something like THIS which isn't ero but also interests me. (or at least not on purpose? Surely folks will make ero mods like other modded games.)
So that's the idea that's rolling around in my head. I'm not entirely sure what to do, but I wanted to get it 'out there' and talk about it. I'll share this with some friends and see what they think.
I could probably set up a patreon and convince people to subscribe to me if I'm making clear progress on something they want, whether it's an erogame or a bunch of open source public domain game parts.
8:16pm - It's late, I've gotta go. Thanks for reading!
I've got a lot on my mind today. I was driving around both to get groceries and get to the Tim Hortons where I am right now. I was thinking about trans issues, I was thinking about poverty, I was thinking about all the things I posted about thinking about last time I think?
I had a notable discomfort after an hour of writing about that stuff last week, though. I spent about 50 minutes writing about IP stuff though I barely scratched the surface. I'm not sure why I didn't want to continue after that. Usually when I get started talking about these things, it's hard to stop when I realize the person I'm talking to is uncomfortable. ^.^;;
I think I'll not write/talk about that serious business stuff today. I was thinking I'd touch on some things, but there's other stuff I want to do.
I think today will start with gamedev talk.
6:00pm - I've poked around a tiny bit but I've mostly been reading stuff I shouldn't and socializing. ^.^;;
I suppose I didn't mention it but today did have a 'bad day' feeling. I think I overworked myself with other work the last few days and I had planned to do more and had to cancel that plan. Still, I'm here and I want to do things!
There are a few ideas I've been toying with in my head. Before I get into them, a concern I have is trying to do more than I actually can. I'm doing actual work regularly for the first time in a while, but even if this continues I'm only able to do so much, and I'm already trying to dedicate myself to my Dommy Monsters game.
I'm very interested in Open Source. As a game developer, I'm also interested in Open Source games. As it happens, there's not a lot of really popular open source games, and they're mostly remakes of classic games. Stuff like OpenTTD or OpenRA or... I think there's a popular open source Doom? Though I also think they gave away the code for the original Doom after it got old enough.
One open source project I'm interested in is Vircadia, because I'm interested in shared online virtual world simulations. Vircadia is effectively an open source 'sequel' to Second Life though, a social virtual world. You can put game elements in there, but it's not made for them. More modern games that are in that space are things like VRChat and Neos, but they focus even MORE on the social aspects and barely at all on the world simulation. Second Life isn't just a place, it's a world. VRChat and Neos have lots of tiny worlds, but they're more like rooms or maybe a building or two in a small area.
I've been playing ARK: Survival Evolved lately. I kinda love it? A lot? I bounced off it the first time I tried it, and was frustrated because I liked the idea. As it turns out, ARK's onboarding isn't great. There's nothing that says, "Try the solo game first." If you play the solo game on ARK: Survival Evolved, you start off at the tip of a small penninsula on an island called "The Footpaw", in the south of the first ARK called "The Island". It's seperated from other portions of The Island by rivers, and the penninsula only has one non-water way in or out. There's hardly any violent or dangerous dinos there, and most of them you have a fair shot of defeating when you're new. You have space and time to figure out what's going on, to learn what those symbols on your HUD mean, and how much time you actually have for food and water, and how dangerous cold and heat are.
Without that time to calmly learn to play, the game is a huge stressor and you're gonna be running around getting killed a bunch and thinking it's way harder/worse than it is.
If you start on a server, and you're alone, you might choose a different starting spot, which has more dangerous dinosaurs. If you're on a server with other players, even a PvE one, there's a pretty good chance someone will either accidentally or on purpose lead extra dangerous dinosaurs to the newbie areas. Even Titanoboas, huge snakes, are way too much for a new player to handle. A snake or two on the beach is a really bad time, when you don't even know what you're doing.
So, when I tried ARK again, and suddenly got really into it, it's because I played the solo game first, for the first time. Oh my gosh it is so good when you do it that way. o.o;;
Even playing on official servers isn't that bad, after you've had time to figure out how the game works and what to do and what's safe and dangerous. I still think your hunger and thirst meters shouldn't even show up until you're at least half empty on food or water, though. ^.^;;
Really though, there's berry bushes heccin' everywhere and all the water is fresh and potable, you'll be fine.
So, now that I've gotten into ARK and HARD, I realized I'd like to contribute to this genre myself. See, there aren't actually that many games like this. Most survival sandbox games are semi-realistic, with more "Realistic" style graphics, equipment, they tend to take place either in the modern world or just after a recent post apocalypse, so there's normal clothes and modern buildings or ruins around. Maybe there's cannibals or just other players, or zombies?
ARK has Dinosaurs and occasionally man-made horrors beyond comprehension. It's a scifi/fantasy sort of story and setting. It's weird and a little cartoony, and I love it.
You know what I'd like though? Fantasy stuff. Some weird non-tolkien-esque/DnD fantasy would also be nice, but that's pretty good too. Moving to the adjacent space, there is a single survival game like that right now. It's called Conan Exiles, and I'm pretty interested in it too. I also bounced off of that one! But, one of my main issues with Conan Exiles is the slavery. See, in order to get any NPC people on your team in Conan Exiles, you have to basically capture/kidnap them, and then break their will by forcing them to push a wheel around in a circle. It's not terribly realistic though, so why did it have to be slavery only? Why a wheel of pain? When they're on your team, unmodded they just stand around like a game object, only doing anything when ordered. There are mods to make them do more, though. I was asking around if there were mods to make alternatives to slavery. It turns out that they actually added alternatives in the first expansion, Isle of Sitaph! There are NPC slavers, and you can buy slaves from them, but more importantly you can kill them and free the slaves, and they join you, giving you the same gameplay element with a much more righteous story!
7:26pm - I got really distracted and socialized more. I want to at least talk about my idea while I'm here, and I told my Dad I'd like dinner at 8:30 or 9 so I don't want to be late just because I was goofing off when I should be working. In case you're worried, the reason I'm goofing off is a bit unique. I had joined an RP discord and they started having the first session. I was trying to stay out at first, but decided that knowing it was happening would be too much of a distraction even if I closed Discord. The first session won't happen every day.
7:52pm - The RP is paused for now but I'm still super distracted. I'll try to hurry up and finish.
I want to make an open source multiplayer server-based survival sandbox game.
There's none out there I've been able to find, not even projects to make them. I did find someone selling lessons on how to make one in Unreal, though.
I want to make one in Godot, but I'm thinking even more than that. I'm a bit inspired by this creation of Game Maker's Toolkit. https://gmtk.itch.io/platformer-toolkit
They went beyond making just a custom 2D character controller, and made a 'game' where you can tweak the values and see how all of the standards and customs of 2D platformers work, and how they feel if you modify this or that, right from the start. You don't import a character controller and jam it on whatever sprites or model you have and have to make your own level to test it. It's all in there.
What if I did something like that, but for each gameplay element of a 3D Survival Game? Culminating in putting them all together in a complete package open-source template survival game?
I heard some good advice recently that you shouldn't make a tool for others if they didn't ask for one. Don't assume people want another RPG Maker, or whatever you want to make, that sort of thing. Make what you want, not tools for someone else to make things they haven't asked for. They might just make their own or use others and your work was for nothing. They might not even find out yours exists before they start development!
For me, I want to make a survival game like this, but I don't think I can do what I really want alone, and I don't know if I can get folks to do it. I have an idea that I could make each part of the game as a seperate project like this. Further, I want to use really simple assets and design the game to be modded or total-converted. People should be able to make their own survival sandbox using this by swapping out the resources and changing values. I'm really sick of everyone having to reinvent the wheel every time they make another computer project.
I don't know if it's as important to me as the other goals I've listed, but I really want to fill this world with public domain open source "Wheels" that anyone can use and modify to their own purposes.
So, I can start a project of making this game, and intend to use simple, low-spec resources for it. Partly so it'll run on more things, but also so that I dont have to do the hard work of making good resources and making them look really nice myself. If possible, I'd also really like to convince people to make open source, public domain resources for the game that are higher quality, or more specific or thematic, so that I can have a better game for myself but also others can use and re-use them, and modify them too.
The main issue is that this would be a lot of work. Besides just making it, I'd have to start out managing the whole open source project. Make a home for it, like a website or something. Put it on places like Github and their competitors. I'm not sure who all is doing that now? And manage anyone who joins or submits pull requests, etc...
And each part of the game, especially if I end up doing it all myself, would be a lot of work. Would I be able to do that? Even if I didn't make Dommy Monsters and made this instead? And, do I want to do this more, or do I want to do them both at the same time, or is this all a pipe dream fantasy?
This reminds me of another project I started and abandonned early on a while back. I wanted to make a program for creating 3D characters. Models, animations, the whole thing. Inspired by the Spore creature creator, but taken even further. I ended up looking around, and there are some commercial software projects that aren't quite that, but are for making high quality characters in their own way. I ended up a bit disillusioned and I was worried about making money and surviving.
I guess I sorta still am? Part of the reason I decided to do Dommy Monsters was inspiration from Xey and their games To Love a Googirl and The Merging. https://xey.itch.io/
See, they actually make quite a bit of money from Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/XeyGames
They usually work on either game for ten days each month. One at the start, the other at the end. This is their 'job', their main source of income. They make two games, manage two communities in isolated parts of a single discord server, and livestream their development.
I've been on disability a long time and I'm not really making ends meet, so I want more money. I thought making erogames couldn't actually make me money, and nobody would hire me if I used them on my resume. But, now I don't think I can get a pro job anyways unless I know somebody, and I always loved that sort of thing too. But, I could also do something like THIS which isn't ero but also interests me. (or at least not on purpose? Surely folks will make ero mods like other modded games.)
So that's the idea that's rolling around in my head. I'm not entirely sure what to do, but I wanted to get it 'out there' and talk about it. I'll share this with some friends and see what they think.
I could probably set up a patreon and convince people to subscribe to me if I'm making clear progress on something they want, whether it's an erogame or a bunch of open source public domain game parts.
8:16pm - It's late, I've gotta go. Thanks for reading!
