Spent all day rigging the NPC hairstyles to the skeleton (they were static meshes before) and making sure they fit each head model perfectly. It was a lot of work but had to be done. Still have more jank and bugs to clean up before the NPC playtest though. #gamedev #indiegame

None of your favorite games ever became masterpieces because of the critics. They became what you love because of the creators making a daring attempt, often taking risks, often against the grain. You want these moments again, you need to relearn how to uplift.

Been experimenting with using @runevision.bsky.social's noise shader for post-processing effects in Unreal and I made this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxu_...

New devlog about the dialogue system I've planned for my procedural NPCs that I just recently started working on: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHXO... #gamedev #indiegame #procgen

Today on the 'dame – @jbarnes1926.bsky.social chats with @vuntracity.bsky.social dev Lara Davidova about the city exploration game she's been working on since 2022 videoda.me/the-open-wor...

Bluesky friends, I need some game recommendations to get my mind off things. Preferably something with a chill vibe, but not about farming or management. Can contain combat, but not solely focused on it. Puzzle, story, or exploration are all good. Preferably 3D and indie. Any suggestions?

Having a lot of fun with the NPC AI and dialogue. The NPCs will now freak out and run away if you hit them (or throw anything at them) and refuse to talk to you. They will calm down shortly, but still expect an apology. #gamedev #indiegame

I refactored some of my NPC spawn code to make them aware of their work and home locations no matter where they currently are. So now they can tell you where they live or work if they like you enough. Now excuse me while I fix the million bugs I've just created 😆 #gamedev #indiegame #procgen

Implemented the NPC dialogue interaction in VR as well. This is probably not the final state of it, but for now I am moving on to the dialogue + personality + relationship system that I've planned for the NPCs. #gamedev #indiegame

Working on the NPC dialogue UX. Don't mind the text, it's just a placeholder for now. The sounds are also not final. What do you think so far? #gamedev #indiegame

Youtube alerted me that my channel got over a million views, and my mind is blown 🤯 I know it's not a lot by youtuber standards but I just can't wrap my head around the idea that a number of people equivalent to a small nation saw my videos.

People watching in Vuntra City today. #screenshotsaturday #gamedev #procgen

The NPC talking interaction is very straightforward in flat screen, but less so in VR. So far the one I came up with is targeting the NPC with your hand the same way you target items and then pressing "Interact". But I'm open to other suggestions. #gamedev #indiegame

The video: youtu.be/il-TXbn5iMA

I started implementing NPC interactions and I accidentally...

I just published a new devlog where I explain in more detail how the NPC schedule and spawn system works and what I've changed recently to improve it. Check it out! youtu.be/eUi7DB1ar3s #gamedev #indiegame #procgen

Just added floating text that indicates which floor an NPC went to when they use an elevator. Makes stalking so much easier! 🕵️‍♀️

Happy New Year everyone! May the next year be better than the last! #happynewyear

The NPCs at parties will now dance! This applies to both the interiors, public spaces, and rooftops. #indiegame #gamedev

I've clustered the NPC schedules around the 9-5 work schedule, so now there are rush hours and common leisure hours, and it's pretty neat! There are still outliers who work in the middle of the night, but they are rare (probably game developers like me 😅). #screenshotsaturday #gamedev #procgen

One benefit of enabling foot IK for sitting animations is that sometimes the NPCs will unexpectedly adapt their foot positions to the quirks of the furniture in really organic looking ways. #gamedev #indiegame

I got a little distracted by playing around with javascript trying to come up with a style for my personal website that I plan to revive. So I came up with this iridescent shard transition.

Bro didn't see that coming 🤾‍♀️ (I swear I'm not a psycho, just messing around while recording a new devlog).

The City is looking particularly romantic tonight! #screenshotsaturday #gamedev #indiegame

I have re-enabled foot IK for sitting animations with some modifications to make sure the NPC's feet always rest on the ground (or dangle in the air if they can't reach it) while sitting and it works pretty well!

Had to tweak the head and hands scaling numbers to absurd values trying to figure out why the hair and beard attachments were sometimes off. And got this stuff of nightmares 😖 #gamedev #procgen

Some neon city glow for #screenshotsaturday. #gamedev #indiegame

Refactored the core city layout generation code today to cache some of the calculations and got a huge performance boost across the board. I didn't even realize how much that code was being used by the game objects and how much computation I could save by caching. Feels good! (Pic unrelated)

I refactored my code that generates a density map for the city to be more detailed and loved the resulting texture so much that I felt compelled to use it in the game. So I added these parallax map displays kind of like some cities have miniature versions of them. #gamedev #indiegame #procgen

I am starting to lay the groundwork for giving the procedural NPCs personalities and interests, and I just can't wait! Getting so excited just thinking about it. But I still have some boring refactoring and optimization work to do first. #gamedev #indiegame #procgen

It's time for a new devlog folks! In this one I talk in detail about all the work I've done to add leisure and idle behaviors for the procedural NPCs. Check it out! www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ba0... #gamedev #indiegame #procgen

The weather may be gloomy outside but it's always sunny in Vuntra City! (Except when it's not) #screenshotsaturday #gamedev #indiegame

I made the NPCs turn their heads to look at each other and the player. Small touch but it makes them look so much more lifelike. #gamedev #indiegame

Following yesterday's discussion with @nifflas.bsky.social I decided to fix my dialogue widget to prevent words from jumping to next line as they get typed in. Right now I'm only using this widget for info terminals around the city, but it will be used for NPC dialogue as well in the future.

There's still a lot of work to do on the NPC behaviors but the city already looks so much more alive! #gamedev #indiegame #procgen

My friend Lucian just started a devlog where he shares his experience and the struggles of starting out as a part time gamedev. Check it out! #gamedev #indiegame

Oh I almost forgot. The NPC hit impacts are still working with the new modular models. And they are even more hilarious now! (Sound on! 🔊🔊🔊) #gamedev #indiegame

The NPCs can now lounge on the sunbeds both outdoors and indoors. Although they won't fully lean back, as different sunbed models may have their backs at different inclines. So I figured it's safer if they just sit casually. #screenshotsaturday #gamedev #indiegame

The good news is I managed to get the NPCs to find beds and sleep in them. The bad news is, well... #gamedev #indiegame

Managed to teach my NPCs some civic sense by using dynamically placed Nav Mesh Modifiers (shown in yellow). Now they will avoid walking on grass and roads, unless they really have to. #gamedev #indiegame

Added a leisure phase to the NPC routines. Every day after work each NPC will stop at some point of their commute home and visit a rooftop terrace, a park, or a leisure related interior. Unlike the work schedules, leisure time and location will be different every day. #gamedev #indiegame

Currently working on adding variety and flare to the NPC routines. In the meantime, here are some glamour shots of the living city. #gamedev #indiegame #procgen

More hairstyles, facial hair, and glasses for the procedural NPCs! Also fixed the hair UVs somewhat. Very tempting to add some clothing options too, but I think I'll leave that for later. #gamedev #indiegame #procgen

Added 40 new hairstyles today, and I still have more hair assets that need to be adjusted and fine tuned to fit my NPCs. Pretty tedious work, even though I am not modeling them from scratch, but the increase in NPC variety is worth it. Facial hair and accessories next! #gamedev #indiegame #procgen

All the wall art in Vuntra City is procedural, and I love it when the game generates something that actually looks good! #gamedev #indiegame #procgen

I recently had some fun taking texture photos in both a rural and urban environment. I'm definitely no professional, but the quality of the images is pretty good. I made two texture packs you can use for FREE: cashew-olddew.itch.io/village-high... cashew-olddew.itch.io/urban-high-r... #GameAssets

Tomorrow I will be giving a presentation on my solo dev experience for the local gamedev community. It will be live streamed on the Transylvania Association for Gamedev and Art Projects (TAGAP) youtube channel: www.youtube.com/@TAGAP-org The stream will start at around 7:30 EET. #gamedev #indiedev

The transitions could still use some work, but I got the basic "at home" idle routine working! The NPCs now pick a random available seat within a range, sit there for a bit, then get up and pick another. I can add other animations and build more complex idle behaviors on top of this. #gamedev

Ok I think I'm getting somewhere. This is how y'all sit down, right? #gamedev #indiegame

Trying to teach my NPCs to sit on the furniture. Nailed it? 😖 #gamedev #indiegame