After playing with #GodotEngine GraphEdit nodes, i'm refraining myself to port #Blender geometry nodes into Godot ! I don't have the time for that ! No no no ... i know that part of Blender code, and it's really tempting (but challenging). Halp ! There's a game i need to finish first !

#GodotEngine graph editor nodes are so useful ! I think I'll use them for basic low-poly procedural mesh generation (... blender geometry nodes port to godot later ? 😅)

As i feared, It's a mess 😅 Plus, I need basic QoL features like copy/paste cluster of node. And certainly use GraphFrame. But most importantly, "Proxy Bus" nodes. #Godot #gamedev #procgen

The Flora Cellular Automaton Rules Editor is fully functional, even tho it lacks some QoL. Still working on Load/Save. It's a matter of minutes before I finish it. Next, FUN: compile the content of this graph to a script, a compute shader or other and apply to terrain. #Godot #gamedev #procgen

In #Godot editor, you can create a new scene from previous copied nodes. I've totally overlooked that feature until now ! #GodotTips

Flora cellular automaton rules editor is on its way to be fully operational. #progcen #godot #gamedev #solodev

What do you think about having an in-game graph editor for some gameplay features ? I'm asking myself about it ... perhaps not as a central feature. Perhaps more as an optional editor if the player want to customize their experience further. 🤔 I fear it could be too "heavyweight". #Godot #uiux

Trying to keep up the pace. Not easy those days with health issues, but i hope I'll be able to make some devlog on YT, even tho it seems to be a tremendous task ...

Out here typing in Doonrunes Pretty fun. #gamedev #indiedev #socialgame #godotengine #solodev

My tool to design flora cellular automata is progressing well. I love how #Godot already has so many nodes to make things easier, even putting 3D viewports in GraphNodes ! #gamedev #procgen

With #Godot, you can make addons to add features to the IDE as tools to develop your game. But i prefer to make 'out of editor' tools because i secretly hope it'd lead to a "tool-as-a-game" (can we say TaaG ? 😉). It takes longer to make, but the potential benefit is so tempting !

Should have done it earlier. I was a long time supporter back in the days and never took the time to renew the membership at the foundation. Now, it's fixed : #Godot

Let's start something new. I only have access to a low-end laptop. Time to work of my flora cellular automaton definition builder. Let's make something practical to use, with very short workflow. The `GraphEdit` node is fun to use, isn't it ? #godot #procgen

I'm struggling to transform a macro-path so a smooth path correlated to the terrain bicubic Bézier interpolation. Nominal cases work like a charm. But as always, there's edge cases : local minimum or smoothing deviating too much from the original path. And i'm still failing ... #gamedev #headache

The struggle is real. I've tried 3 different methods. 1. Following terrain normals (fail if the source is unluckily placed), 2. Supersampling terrain and do some pathfinding (it's ugly). 3. Use terrain normals + macro paths and heuristics as a trade-off (per use-case tweaks). #procgen #godot

Made a short video with a simplified explanation for my new freeze effect. nojoule.itch.io/pixel-ui-vfx #godotengine #gamedev #shaders #pixelart

Spacefarer Games, a 1 person "indie game studio" steals Cyeides' Zera: Myths Awaken game, renamed it, recolored the textures and has it listed up on the Nintendo eShop. Spread the word that Spacefarer is a game thief! Support Cyreides, the original creator! cyreides.itch.io/zerama #videogames #psa

Fixed most of the "still water" artifacts. There's still "bleeding shores" but that's "happy accident that will lead to terrain feature. The stream path are correctly macro-computed. The last step is to generate their mesh with correct UV so water stream VFX could "flow" on them. #proggen #Godot

#GodotCon Amsterdam is open for ticketing ! tickets.godotengine.org/foundation/g... I still don't know if i can go. I'll be sure in 3 loooong weeks. I hope it won't be sold out ... #Godot

Due to the RAM crisis, I'm paying extra attention to memory consumption on both soft/CPU and hard/GPU. The usual trade-off between computation and data baking is shifting toward the former,leading to rethinking certain algorithmic choices, especially when you're dealing with #progen ... HALP !

Chasing artifacts. #procgen is nice, but there's some edge cases that can be super annoying, like the one in screenshot. There's an awful alternance of streams and still water. Not to mention what is "working" in the bulky dataset and isn't when interpolating terrain. Time to reset. #gamedev

Want better looking water ? Go to @godotshaders.com.web.brid.gy , search "Absorption Based Stylized Water", copy/paste the code in the shader material, set some uniforms right, and voilà ! In 5 minutes, top. Thank you #GodotShaders ! #vfx #gamedev #Godot

Even if it's just prototyping, I wish I could spend more time on configuring proper lighting (I'll do this later, "for sure", but it could be nice to have something acceptable right now). If there's any #Godot #lighting gurus around, i'm all ears ! #vfx #gamedev

Left : blocky prototype/raw data generation. Right : interpolated terrain and "lakes" water mesh generation. Next steps : Streams/Waterfall meshes generation and water LoD management (more specifically : mesh decimation when detailed meshing not required). #Godot #procgen #terrain #gamedev

Even if it's meant for prototyping purpose, the meshes are computed on the fly, it's clearly NOT the final use-case. But i'm still happy with the performances. Thinking about optimizing the mesh by merging patches ...or not ? local ripple effect when interacting with water maybe ? #procgen #gamedev

I've chosen to divide the water meshes into two categories : still water/lakes and streams/rapids. For the former, I needed to compute a mesh that could expand on "non water" cells if the terrain interpolation allows it (red patches). Patches number depends on LoD. #procgen #Godot #gamedev

As I worked on the water meshing, I've came across a subtle bug in my parametrized height computation. No big deal but it helped fixing my terrain/player camera obstruction management (although there's still an edge case with the frustum - check the bottom left corner). #Godot #gamedev #camera3D

I'm not stalling. I'm thinking. Actively. This "water mesh" problem is challenging and, to be honest, really interesting. After a good chat with a dear friend of mine, I've came up with an action plan. I think i'm on something here :) But in the meantime, admire some big failures ! #gamedev #procgen

I've still the idea of using bicubic Bézier interpolation for the final terrain rendering. What i need now is to compute water shore effectively (dark magic incoming - especially with auto-lod and wandering mesh). #Godot #procgen #gamedev

Ported my new lakes and rivers algorithm to #Godot module as a replacement of the "not-so-great" former one. Really like the new generated features/configurations. However, this is only the prototype view. There's still work to do (compute finer geometries for the final render). #procgen #gamedev

My rivers and lakes algorithm could be improved. But, as it's pretty simple as it is right now, I'm considering giving a snow explanation of it. Perhaps one of you will find some smart/out of the box" way to improve it or even simplify it even more. #ProcGen #GodotEngine

Should i add more comments to the code i share as snippets, or is API description enough (entey points, parameters, signals) ?

Let's bring some spice to a heightmap by adding lakes and rivers. The following @thegodotbarn.com contribution is a #Godot #gdscript snippet to quickly distribute water from a specified source. Enjoy ! thegodotbarn.com/contribution... #gamedev #solodev

Made a major breakthrough on lakes and rivers computation. After stepping back for a while, i came back with a fresh mind and re-think my yet-steady-fast algorithm ("fill and flood back"). It is fast enough to be usable as a #gdscript in #Godot. So expect a contribution @thegodotbarn.com soon.

Doing my part in the field of terrain rendering using level of detail : thegodotbarn.com/contribution... Not as advanced technique as @passivestar.bsky.social 's tho (GPU based LOD using tessellation). Maybe digging this one next ! #gamedev #rendering #terrain

The article is still in review, but you can pull the #Godot project about terrain rendering here : codeberg.org/CasualGarage... #gamedev #solodev

❄️⛸️❄️It was amazing to show the first peek of the game to people at @mivsmagfest.bsky.social ❄️⛸️❄️

This kind of Open Source initiative should be supported. Codeberg (codeberg.org) is (basically) a git platform for FOSS projects with very interesting "guaranties" about the code openness and safety (yeah, i'm looking at you github). #FOSS #sourcecontrol #git #codeberg

Finally finished the "article" @thegodotbarn.com about the Wandering Mesh Terrain. Keep your expectations low. The article is still in peer-review. As I wrote it, the need for a minimal #Godot project to support it grown stronger. #gamedev #writing

Article about this terrain rendering technique is on its way. But lower your expectations. It's not the mighty grail you're looking for ;) #gamedev #terrain #rendering

Each time I'm saying that i work on the AI for one of my projects, I *need* to add "Not a generative one ! Fear not ! Just a plain old smokes and mirrors !". What a time to live when you have to hastily clarify things ... #gamedev

I added implemented FLAK turrets and replaced 12 of the Carrier's CIWS with them. Did that improve the balancing? Nah. But hear me out: I rewatched all of Battlestar Galactica (2004) over Christmas. That's it. store.steampowered.com/app/4060820/... #indiedev #gamedev #indiegame #godot #spacegame

A new week begins! What are your current projects ? Are you making progress, or are you stuck ? Good luck to you all. Don't hesitate to reach out to me here or on Discord if you're struggling. Perhaps i could help or at least be your rubber duck :) #gamedev #indiegamedev #solodev

Made some interesting progress on my side project that will benefit all the other projects. Especially a prototyping workflow in #godot / #gdscript that i could document. But first, let's finish that article on wandering terrain mesh technique. Lower your expectations: it's not the smart. #gamedev

Lots of work to do. I'm still writing the article on the wandering terrain. But also working on a side project (tactical rogue like) and an addon for #godot. Let's not forget my main project, which depends on the former ones... I'm doing my best, but it takes time, especially when you're part time.

Small #GodotTips about generic recursive directory browsing. #Godot #GodotEngine thegodotbarn.com/contribution...

Still working on my small article about the Wandering Terrain technique. Making a good documentation takes time. Finding the balance between enough information and explanation length (and no, i won't use "tools" to generate the article ...). #godotbarn #godot #documentation #gamedev

Making a side project with my daughter. Tested the game mechanics on pen and paper. That might be fun ! #game #boardgame #indiegame

Here's how to support human artists! 🎨

Soon at @thegodotbarn.com , a complete article about "wandering terrain", from terrain mesh generation to shader to manager script handling camera movement to shader uniform update. #indiegamedev #solodev #Godot