Bringing Back the Genius Level Design of the 90s in My Game
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- Опубліковано 14 лип 2024
- In this Devlog I talk about how I'm using Godot and Trenchbroom to make levels inspired by games like Quake!
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Welcome to the latest video for Bloodthief: My Retro first person melee action game made with Godot 4. In this devlog I talk about:
- Quake and it's awesome level design
- Trenchbroom (a level design tool I'm using)
- Wally, Aseprite, and Substance Designer
- Godot 4 game dev tips
Leave a comment below if you have any feedback on the game or questions about my process!
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Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:45 Gameplay Montage
2:17 Analyzing the Original Quake Maps
4:57 Trenchbroom
8:58 Wally
10:40 Aseprite & Substance Designer
11:41 The Map
12:54 Wrapping Up
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TUTORIALS MENTIONED
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All dumptruck_ds tutorials can be found on his channel: / @dumptruckds
Trenchbroom tutorial series: • TrenchBroom 2 Tutorials
Substance Designer Beginners Quake Texture Tutor: • Substance Designer Beg...
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MUSIC
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All music by Midnight Crawler:
Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/2Mxdt...
Website: www.midnightcrawler.com
The Green Mist - Midnight Crawler:
open.spotify.com/track/7BmRHn...
Leviathan - Midnight Crawler: open.spotify.com/track/4Uw7Ae...
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Alagard font by Hewett Tsoi: dafont.com/alagard.font
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#devlog #gamedev #godot #trenchbroom #godotengine #indiegame #indiedev - Ігри
Im so glad theres finally a devlog with a game that has a true vision and passion for what they are taking inspiration from
That's so kind of you to say, thank you!!
I wish there were livestream style game devs
@@trumtrum51363 REPLIES
@@Blargis3d what's the website you found Wally on?,
@@trumtrum5136I mean, Thor does that (piratesoftware CEO)
Oh wow I did the Godot 4.0 port of Qodot! Always awesome to see it being use din the wild
Omg, I owe you my life. Qodot is the best, and it works amazingly in 4.0. THANK YOU for your work!!
Thank you my man, because of your port of qodot to 4.0 I have decided to get back into game creation and level editing. I miss quake and quake 2 level editing so much
you deserve all the praise @embyrdev :)
Thank you SO much it literally is the only thing keeping me sane as everyone else except valve gives up on level design focused tools ❤
dude i beg you PLEASE link the wally download page
@@Blargis3d
Around 2003ish, we seemed to move away from BSP and similar techniques to build levels and switched to building with static meshes. Suddenly, maps were not as slick to move around about, there was all sorts of greeble to get stuck on. Maps got more visual fidelity, but became harder to glide through, and the focus became more on looks than how well you could move though the environment.
Interesting, I love hearing the insider history stuff like this
That's the process I used on my maps - my projects didn't depend on precise player movement.
As someone who modded quake and half-life back in the day, seeing wally and trenchbroom (a modern alternative to worldcraft/valve hammer editor) is a blast from the past. These workflows are how we did it back then, when modeling and level design were totally separated with different tools and workflows.
Since the game is called blood thief, you should totally do the artifact stealing thing
If there is a story that would be fun to work with.
Or could totally stick with "Roid -Rage-Knight" idea.
Who knows, maybe they just took his favorite *insert random medieval items here*.
Even a mix of level types would be a great idea.
Or the player could just be a sword using vampire.
The Pizza Tower-esque escape sequence would be very interesting to see! There's probably a lot you can play with regarding changing level geometry, opening up new areas or secrets, and new enemy placements to make the reverse trek a fun twist on the level itself.
Yes!! Totally agree, love the ideas.
@@Blargis3d2 REPLIES
im 1 min in and already stunned by your presentation level up over the last couple videos. excited to try your game
I appreciate the kind words, thank you!
I love how you show your workflows! Please don’t ever lose that aspect of your devlogs.
Trenchbroom and godot interactions are incredible!! Been following this from the start. Keep up the good work! Definitely would love punishing spike pits that enemies might fall into too! Enemies should definitely be affected by the same traps as the player for creative kill strategies.
This is a great idea, I definitely plan on adding stuff like this!
I would love to watch a deepdive on how you have trench and godot interact. This is so cool. As an old UE1 mapper, i'm happy to see brush based level design tools again.
The go back-mecanics is so cool. Maybe not in every level, but really cool. Specialy in a kinda-maze map with multiple path.
When I watch devlogs it's rare that I see a game I actually want to play, but blood thief is an exception
That means a lot, thank you!
love the movement in the intro, i'm very excited to see where this goes. the artifact heist idea sounds epic and i'd love to see that implemented
Been following this since the first video you did on it, this looks extremely fun and I'm definitely going to be picking it up when it drops.
That intro sequence by itself looks like a lot of fun! The sliding kick type move knocking enemies away and into things/each other looks really cool, reminds me a bit of Dark Messiah where you could kick enemies into traps, spikes, ledges, and so on, lots of creative ways to beat a level, your game looks very promising!
This is amazing. Subbed instantly. And you might have just convinced me to finally make a devlog for my game
thank you! You totally should. One side benefit I've found to starting this devlog is that it keeps me motivated to stay on track :)
Bless you for this. I've been fighting with grid maps for days now and trench broom looks like exactly like what I need!
As someone who's been doing a lot of Quake mapping as a way to train my own level design skills, it's great to see the revival of Quake mapping tools, and hopefully soon enough people will start paying more attention to the INSANELY COOL modding scene this game has since the start, along with its AMAZING maps the community has made.
Very nice to see how you integrated it with QODOT too, more people should be doing this and I'm not gonna rest until they realize how powerful it is
What have you uploaded to Quaddicted & Slipgate Sightseer?
@@50PullUpsI haven't uploaded them publicly on those websites (yet) cuz I don't feel that I have worked on something good/long enough, but I've posted some of my 1-day map challenges on the Quake Mapping Discord. Might get back to that when work is not as rough as it has been, cuz I've just been sketching random structures recently
Inspiring, happy to see your progress and thought process
This is awesome man
I was born in 2005 and I freakin' love Quake 1, it has to be my all time favorite game ever created and I'm fascinated by how the game was designed and works. I've started working on my own Quake 1 maps since a month ago. I'm currently still learning most of the aspects in trenchbroom but i like it a lot so far.
I had an idea that the lore reason the player was able to dash at people is that their other hand was some eldrich being like tentacle.
You should also add a grapple ability which would still work with the tenticle idea.
Wow this looks so cool, not only reminds this of Quake but also Hexen. This looks so good, looking forward to it and wishlisted of course
Amazing video, gave me a lot of insights, thanks bro, im glad!
Thanks! Glad you liked it :)
this was so helpful thank you!
I was thinking about starting to work on 3d games.
But I was always missing a good and fast level design solution.
I will definitely try it out!
Great to see people appreciate the many games I grew up playing! There are many gems from that era and even more great that your updating and implementing newer high volume aspects to it.
Also if you need some more textures I actually am crazy 🤣 into making them but have yet to get to uploading videos cause I wasn't sure if people would enjoy watching them or not. 🤷
As a huge Doom/Quake fan growing up I am really into these devlogs and am really excited to try this game when it releases. Awesome work.
Looks sick 🎉
YO!!! I just gotta say I was watching the video and then the sick beat at 8:47 dropped and I went to find the song and hey, its OST for your game... Actually crazy sick, oh wow I will buy ur game
Subbed and wishlisted. Best wishes to you mate, as a long-time old-school fan, I am happy to see more of these types of games come along!
Thank you!!
I love this video. Very interesting
This is sick thanks for all the info
Glad you liked it!
Yoooo NetRadian! I can't believe it! this is sooo good!
My biggest inspiration for old school levels is the modern Hocus Pocus doom.
Old design philosophy with the classic looping around design.
The bridge above you, you'll go there.
The floor sinking into a whole new area.
Everything is used and developed with limitations in mind.
And that gives it such creative solutions to the geometry.
But it's also beautiful and some of my favorite level design of any game ever.
Even with looping texture blocks like the original Hocus Pocus on the PC. It still looks amazing and they mask the repetition very well.
Especially with amazing texture work to simulate depth, transparency, shine and detail.
neat well done - looks very good
Pretty impressive! I love these graphics btw
Thank you!
Trenchbroom/Qodot have been insane for me as well, of course I have a few years within Trenchbroom already but it's such an amazing workflow to have, iteration is SO fast.
Nice! This reminds me of my short period creating Quake maps back in the late 90s. I was a total noob, but had tons of fun experimenting and learning more about the process. I wish I still had those maps, but sadly I was too lazy -- yes, LAZY -- to bring them over to my next pc and they just got lost forever. So incredibly stupid... Today I can't even remember what software I used to build them. 😄
Ah, I feel that. I’ve lost so much old stuff from old computers. I’m always too lazy to move everything over when I get a new computer. Anything that’s not on GitHub is basically lost forever for me
Super cool of you to use trench broom!
This "transverse the level back idea" is pretty interesting, especially feel and fixed enemies. It would allow the player to strategize about which enemy to kill on the way in to have enough to dash throw and get momentum on the way out.
Yes! Having to escape with the goods under full pursuit, maybe open up the level a bit more on the backtrack, sounds awesome.
I mean you could always mix it up too. This one looks fun man, hope you get some support to make it your vision!
This is amazing
Wally is a blast from the past. I remember using that to make textures almost 20 years ago for my own game projects at the time. I forgot it even existed, and by the looks of things, so did everyone else!
i saw knights, medieval combat, and fast paced movement. i love all those things you bet ur ass im adding ur game to my wishlist
What a throwback of a video. I used to make Quake2 maps and I had totally forgotten Wally but I remember using it.
Wild to see you making maps in Trenchbroom for a new game, and on Godot! Good luck on the game!
In my opinion Quake2 maps were a little better than Quake1 because they had really thought of a story element, but they were still full of secrets and crazy traps and reactive murderboxes.
Really cool to see. I still remember where in the world is Carmen sandago back on windows 95 great times.
Your devlogs are a treat! Something for interactive elements, a puzzle to gain access to a secret area. For example a mural or some statues that give a clue for how to open a secret door somewhere in the level. Could be something simple as finding a bunch of levers that need to be put into a specific orientation or shooting windows or targets in a specific order, or a statue room where some statues need to be destroyed and 1 needs to remain intact so it can then come to life and open a door or pull a cool sword out of stone for you. Just some random ideas
Freaking love these ideas. Will absolutely have stuff like this
This video was great and made me eager for the next
About stuff to add to the maps using interactive triggers, I think something cool you can set up as a way to challange the player and also hint that the enemy is trying to organize in order to catch the thief are ambushes in later levels/missions. Think about knights dropping form the ceiling when a key item is taken, blocking the obvious path with falling rubble in order to punish slow players with a forced fight, or maybe dropping the player into a pit with knights waiting at the bottom which would give the player the choice of either fighting the knights or trying to climb out of there.
Anyway, form what you have shown us i think you are pretty capable of comming up with great stuff to surprise the payer and try to catch the thief off guard.
Keep it up my dude!
Love these ideas! There will definitely be stuff like this in the game
I REALLY love the movement of the character. You have nailed wall-jumping and air-dashing perfectly in the example footage, I wish I could plug that movement into every shoot-em-up and every blood bath game.
Highly recommend looking PSX type shaders or bit-crushed/jittery movement of characters and textures. Lower Resolution + Crunchy/Vertex Lighting might also give it a look closer to older games.
I really like the new look of the game, especially the lightning and the feeling that the map gives you.
Thank you!!
As soon as you used the description "Unapologetically Arcadey" I knew you had this.
Nicely said.
Trenchbroom is something i've had a lot of fun with, i need to get into it again.
Returning to the start to finish a level sounds cool. Even subtly changing the level layout when you hit a trigger might be interesting, although it might just end up being frustrating.
you clearly are a talented dev, but I also think you're a really talented youtuber!
Thank you!
8:47 interactivity-music synced-platformer boss battle. drop the certain walls on player that kill him, use levers to make a platform boss is at go down, with second phase at 10% hp of boss running away through a paltforming area with platforms that trigger things when you step on them, for example sliding the hidden platform from the walls to outside for you to jump in a limited time. while the lava is rising from the bottom of the area
dude the mini-trailer at 0:46 gave me a goosebump omg
Glad you liked it!!
This looks like a fun game!
Verticality, interactivity and foreshadowing via ledges, or windows to other parts of the map are hallmarks of Quake mapping. The multiplayer maps made by American Mcgee (DM2 and DM4) are some of my favorite of all time. Good luck on the project.
8:55 Man i would love to see you adding lots of secrets like in classic doom games it would be awesome :)
There’s gonna be lots of secrets in every level
This is so cool... As a 90s kid I grew up on level design like this and even learned how to use the old Unreal One engine for making Deus Ex maps. Learning Godot now I decided I wanna go back to doing level design like this even if I'm really good in Blender now. Trenchbroom is interesting, but I'm currently using Cyclops right now which is kinda like Trenchbroom but as a plug-in for Godot where I use Godot as a level editor directly. I hope tools like this really evolve as the industry seems to have given up on them, which I feel was a mistake as level design and modeling are pretty different in scope and ideally suited to their own program. I can make one amazing looking flower vase in Blender now, and while sure I could make nice looking maps in Blender too, if I gotta change anything it would become one massive UV/texturing headache to redo any part of it. Cyclops lets me make a map, then change it quickly if I don't like it without needing to redo all the UVs and what not, that's really why Level editing and 3d Modding should be done in their own respective programs I feel.
Try Material Maker, it is node-base, free and made in Godot. I use to create procedural dirt, rocks, bricks, (...) textures for my 3D pixelated stuff.
I'll look into it, looks very cool!
i absolutely love combining medieval themes with these sort of retro-style graphics, even better if you mix in horror and a vhs filter (in that case it doesnt even need retro-style graphics, just looking like one of those extremely old movies is enough to make me think "oh man, this is special"). maybe cause ive had similar dreams, but i just love that vibe in general.
i also love darker levels from really old games, like the haunted mansion from super mario 64. it just gives me that surreal feeling that no modern horror movie can replicate. similar thing with halloween in general. it feels like the holiday has just carried the nostalgia and surrealism with itself throughout its existence. thats why, even though its not celebrated in my country, its my favorite holiday.
this inspires me
told you trenchbroom was insane, welcome to the club :D
Powerups and Secret rooms would be really cool. Keep up the great work man. And please please add the stelaing from the level to complete it. That'd be so cool
Thanks!! Glad you like the stealing idea :)
One thing I've done recently that I'm quite proud of, is a system where I can optionally do more complex targets, to mimic Hammer's system of inputs and outputs. My entities have multiple events/actions that you can specify in TB. For example, a single trigger that opens/closes a door when I enter/exit the trigger looks like this in TB:
target door1 (name of target)
target_event on_enter (event of the trigger)
target_action open (action the door must perform, and that it supports)
target2 door1
target2_event on_exit
target2_action close
Having the same `target#` prefix helps parsing and joining them during build (into a dict). You can make it so all of those are optional, and it just uses the defaults when they're not provided, so you can still do a simple target/targetname connection anyway, if that's all you need. You can also add other things like *target_delay,* for example, to delay the triggering. The implementation is a little tricky, and requires some setting up during map building, and some during runtime initialization (like storing a reference to the actual target node).
TB is smart enough to still show connections if you use target1, target2, etc, so you can have multiple of these.
Another thing I'm doing is using image icons and 3D models in TB. It's tricky to do, because TB is kinda really bad at it, but it can be done. It requires you to edit the .fgd manually though. Tbh, I'm not sure Qodot is equipped for this. I haven't been using it because the .NET thing gobbles up way too much memory for my potato. I'm using my own modified fork of TBLoader and editing the fgd manually. But if you can do this, imo it improves the workflow.
There are two great articles about fgd editing by Valve Developer Union, where they explain all this (also TB manual). If you use image icons, you'll probably want to scale down your entities in your GameConfig.cfg so you can use bigger images. Iirc, a 32x32 image is 16x16 units in TB, and that's rather small. But if you scale down your entities, then you have to scale your 3D models to compensate. Knowing the following helps doing the math though:
1 Godot meter = 1 Blender meter = 64 TB units
A few other things about images and models:
- models have to be .obj, exported with .mtl file, and iirc with material groups and/or other groups (icr)
- it seems they must all be inside YourGameDefinition/assets. Models can be in subfolders of that.
- you must name your model's material inside Blender the same as the file name, for TB to find it
- TB uses quake coordinates, so you'll have to keep that in mind when exporting the model
Wishlisted after seeing Gameplay
OMG... I didn't know there was such a thing as qodot! At the same time, I'm not studied Quake and Trenchbroom enough to know where this actually creates limitations to what can be created, even though I think its generally a huge benefit to be able to use that tool, since it made to quickly create maps.
I LOVE secrets and easter eggs in these types of video games! Please add some!
Edit: i just watched the newest video and i am NOT disappointed
QUAKE is such a good game. I can jump in any time, and just start playing through the levels and loving every moment. :D
Okay, I've got to admit I'm a little biased because I know Blargis personally and he's one of my favorite people, but these devlogs are sooo good! Your love of the project is infectious. You've got a crisp vision, a logical and pragmatic toolchain, and a knowledge of what makes this genre legit (more designers need to play older games!). I'm so excited to see how this shapes up! Oh, and I love the idea of having to steal an artifact and then make it out alive.
Hey I learned from the best ❤️
I really get your angle here. I think when "secrets" started becoming "easter eggs" there was a shift from a funhouse to realism in gaming. I'll keep an eye out.
The escape sequence stuff, you can always have a single kind of enemy that becomes hostile the moment you claim an artifact, which may be an entirely optional bonus objective. bonus points if the enemies that become hostile have some cool theming, like statues that come alive, or crawl out of lava, or through windows, or something. So that a harmless feature of the level presents a brand new challenge
this looks so damn cool
Thank you!
woah Bloodthief, wishlisted
Shout out dumptruck ds fr, watched a bunch of his videos and I don’t even use trench broom lol. Great video too!
The wall jumping sold me.
Hey, keep the work up.
I'm a fulltime Game Designer and I'm looking forward to this game.
Your principles seem solid and I can't wait to see where you take this.
Just don't get bogged down letting features creep in! 😂
I feel you with the feature creep. It is a constant fight, lol
Wow, that Godot x Trenchbroom integration is insane. I've never been more jealous of Godot devs before
fuck yeah bro, I love these type of games
12:40 in my game i'm planning on having something kinda like that. it's a high speed roguelike, and when you get to a boss, before you're able to defeat them, you'll have to race back to the start area as they're chasing you down, and then when you fight your way back to them, then you can face off against them. but you'll only have to do that once (successfully) per boss, not every run
You just opened my mind with Trenchbroom + Godot + Wally. You have no idea the floodgates you've just opened for me lol.
Nice!! Love to hear it
I'd love to hear more specifics on what you believe makes good level design for a game such as Quake.
I felt like the video was missing a bit of depth in regards to the "design" aspect of level design, which usually gets ignored on UA-cam in favor of environment art. It definitely could've been interesting to see the application of some tangible rules and principles.
8:54 Indiana Jones style traps. And not just secret areas, but timed secret doors on the other side of the map.
Hey man, I just found your channel while I was searching for reference on dungeon crawlers. I'm really liking these devlogs, you're doing a great job showcasing the whole appeal of your game's system.
If you don't mind a small critique though, sliding into an enemy and knocking them down feels a bit like a waste in a game about killing and ditching cause it doesn't really support any of those things. I would suggest knocking them away in the direction of your slide so you could jump cancel and slash them or, if you want to go even further, use the enemy as a platform to reach a higher place. This would add a lot of verticality in the map and would encourage the player to make their own path rather than sticking with the obvious route.
Powerups would be cool. Things like the dual wield power up in Ultrakill that give you an immediate sense of power would be fun to see.
Loving the airy level design, should pair well with the fluid movement
dude, keep it up. GREAT FUCKING IDEA.
Hey great video, the game looks fast paced and really fun. Also if you want to use something similar to SD, material maker might be a good choice for your game.
Understanding your enemies and where to place them in your map is key, Doom had incredibly simple enemies, but by merging hit scanners, with imps and pink demons in a way they synergized with each other is what made those older games special.
huh, trenchbroom and Qodot thats neat. I dabble with godot but keep feeling overwhelmed since Im more of a mapper in other stuff I use. thanks for sharing these tools. that steal an artifact and flee thing sounds like a neat idea for a final lvl maybe, stopping some messed up ritual maybe?
I love your game and I love everyone who is tryign to bring retro back. My particular nostagia was for RPGs where it actually felt like anything was possible within that admittedly low poly and low detail world and it's not possible for an indy team let alone a solo dev to make that, But all nostalgia is good nostalgia. Hence my rampage across youtube following everyone who's making games. I do want to point out a thought. Why does no one ever think about the middle ground between the modern extreme and the retro extreme? On one end we have modern games trying so hard to recreate a specific ultra realistic experience that they sometimes forget that they're a game and soposed to be fun. On the other hand we have retro games that were a game first but then never told you what to do or why you were doing it and kept their worlds very empty. What is the middle ground?... A world that feels alive despite being rendered in a retro style and being designed thinking of gameplay first. Much of what seems to be there just for aesthetics at first could actually be part of the gameplay. Much of what was added only for gameplay to work could be designed to make sense within the world as well. I'd love to see that maybe just a little bit more that I'd love for my retro rpgs to return.
hey not sure if you will see this but adding more things like genre and style tags will help your game out more on Steam as well! this looks awesome im really excited to play it someday
I appreciate the tip, I'll look into this!
Your game looks amazing stylewise, digging the knight enemies.
A suggestion could be make the rooms less "boxy" and have some with more walls than 4 maybe? :)
I remember using wally for a mod i was developing like 13 years ago for Half life 1. So much fun memories.
I have a devlog addiction
I liked the secret rooms a lot of these games had. Like Tomb Raider and Return to Castle Wolfenstein or even Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.
1/3 secrets found?
What did I miss?
Was is Armor or Shield? A power up I can use against a tough room?
A gun you can get earlier than normal but need to ration the ammo for until it is more common?
The escape feature seems like it could be dope. That would give the levels a major objective to find object of interest and get out. It would become less about the combat and you might find players just moving past enemies to get to the object. It would need some balance for sure. If you do a back and forth style map, make sure the level is just as fun to play in reverse or set up a loop back to start. It could be cool to see windows and walkways that you can quite get to only to find yourself running through it in the second half of an escape. Digging the progress!
Thanks for the insight man! Agreed this is something I need to balance.
>> It could be cool to see windows and walkways that you can quite get to only to find yourself running through it in the second half of an escape.
Love that idea!
@SummonLemming already said what I was thinking but I wanted to add on to it by pointing out that if you design your levels to be played in both directions you can really change the way the player looks at the game. Like let's say you give players a few stock-standard levels to play around with and get them used to the idea that they have to run back through them, then have a level that's just a huge pit. Getting down to the bottom will be easy, but when it's time to return to the top the player needs to fight against both gravity and new enemies. Knowing beforehand that they'll have to climb up out of the pit after they drop down into it might make them pay more attention to level geometry, working backwards from the top to find out what route they'll need to take back up when they get to the bottom.
Just food for thought! Looking forward to playing