A Day in the Life of an Indie Game Developer
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- Опубліковано 9 чер 2024
- Devlog video about "Homegrown", a casual farming game I'm creating using my own engine.
Support the channel on Patreon and get access to the code for this game and the city-builder:
/ thinmatrix
My previous game "Equilinox":
store.steampowered.com/app/85...
You can follow the progress of the game on my social media:
Twitter: / thinmatrix
Instagram: / thinmatrix
Facebook: / thinmatrix
Trello: trello.com/b/W3zkIJTM/farm
Email: thinmatrix@gmail.com
Background music by Jamal Green:
open.spotify.com/artist/50jTM...
Outro music by Dannek Studio:
/ dannekstudio
#devlog #Homegrown - Ігри
As a dev, I liked that small insight into the code and class implementations! Would be up to see more of that in future.
I agree with this, I remember your tutorials from back in the day. It's always nice to gain some insight into how the tech actually works.
Agree, it's the most interesting part. I'm always urged to scroll around a little.
Agreed!
You motivated me to start being more orderly, to have plants and to eat healthier. I really like your routine and I'm trying to improve mine as well. Soon I will also enter patreot. I really appreciate what you are doing.
That's awesome ^^
@@ThinMatrix can you add something to equilinox son I mean it have bin yers since last time
I have to ask, how do you line up the monitor camera transitions so well XD? Is it really just holding the camera precariously at an angle that lines up the monitor bezels and then moving it out? So well done.
Haha thanks, I'm glad you like them. Mostly it's done during editing - I just expand and rotate the camera footage so that it matches perfectly with the screen footage at the moment of transition, and then add an animation to slowly undo those changes in the few seconds after. But having the camera reasonably well lined up with the monitor helps as well.
THANK YOU for having asked ! The answer is a obvious and clever as I never thought about it ! ...I will keep the idea, thanks to our host, and thanks to you !
@@newf_gg1230 probably a translation error
@@newf_gg1230 host is referring to the channel owner.
This game feels way better to me now that you've chilled out the tool usage. A really good and subtle change to the vibe.
I love these calm, relaxing devlogs! Keep it up! :DD
Thanks!
I feel like enjoying your healthy daily routine, more than the coding part XD. I like how you mix designing, modeling, coding and life style content in your dev logs, great content !
Great update! Love your focus on the little details that ensure this game will be a relaxing experience for players. On an unrelated note, I look forward to the day when I can eat dinner without my puppy needing to go in the crate :P
I like how Dwarf Fortress implemented the "clicks" on sections of the land - you select a rectangle (which you can then edit by adding or removing the sections) and after you submit the selected area, it is put in the queue so that when the dwarves are available, they will come and do something about that selected area. Until then the area is just there, in the queue, nothing really happens to it. And you can remove it from the queue anytime you want.
For the digging clicking issue, I would suggest making it so that if you hold Shift + click you can drag a rectangle across a section of land. However, the time it would take to do each cell individually is added together and you need to hold down the mouse button for that long.
It is important for your player to not get bored and I can imagine that having to hold down on every single cell can get fairly boring after a while.
You could also start a cooking channel. Your food looks incredible delicious!
I’d very much like to watch that, I’m just a mess at cooking right now and could definitely use some nice soft spoken guidance!
this is an amazing idea lol
Your videos are such a treat to watch. Always excited when a new one is posted. Keep up the good work! The game is really coming along nicely!
Thank you! :)
That Curry looked amazing
Your meals look divine. 😋😋
The game is progressing nicely.
Loved the update. I really enjoy seeing your whole routine, I feel that life bleeds into the things we create and vice versa. Thanks for giving us a window into that!
Always enjoy seeing you post again and again since you're basically the og game dev vlogger that started the genre lol
I think contents like yours is the main point of the UA-cam and best part of it.It does what social media contents must do.You're one of the bests.Keep on this way.❤❤
really nice video. its always relaxing and inspiring watching your dev logs! something that i would love to see more of though is more showcase and explanation of the actual code. thats always interesting :)
Loving your game dev journey. Your videos are always so relaxing and emphasize the importance of living a well balanced work-life which can be especially hard as a game dev! Thank you!
I've been watching your day in the life of videos for years, and I have always loved them. You're exactly how I wish I was day to day as a stay at home dev, so productive! haha
You're making me want to start vlogging about my day as well, not because I want to share them with anyone but because it seems like a great way to hold yourself accountable and reflect on how you're spending your time. Great inspiration :)
OOOh that transition at 5:28 was sooo smooth!
Looking forward to your next one. A fun addition to your game would be adding some unpredictable events. For example: weather events. Rain (can overwater plants, ruin compost that is not covered, fill well for watering, wash out weed whackers), wind (can damage certain crops, damage compost cover), hot weather (some crops benefit, others don't, dries water faster), seasonal events (seasonal crops). Maybe introduction of a greenhouse (since you are working on rendering - include transparency) with open/close interaction on objects. Include daytime with day & night mode (optional speed increase with buttons) and, if its not an overkill, real growth scale.
Keep up the good work :)
Rufus seems so happy :)
I am already getting really excited to play the game! Brilliant solution with making interactable objects; definitely will make the whole game feel very fluid! Keep up the great work!
Thank you! :)
Good advice the multi selection!
Mate where do you get your cooking recipes? I am literally drooling over the food you are making.
Nice video as always. Maybe you could make a farmer model that does the actions you do - like when you dig, the farmer goes to that tile and a dig action commences. I also think that having to wait till you finish digging each square is still a very tedious thing to do. Maybe you could click and drag and select an area, and it takes time to dig that whole area rather than tile by tile. Maybe some shovels can dig in bigger areas faster than others. Nice work though!
Was literally about to comment the same thing!
Thanks for the feedback! I get what you mean, but it's just not the sort of feel I'm going for here. I want the player to player to feel like they're doing the gardening themselves, rather than assigning it to be done. Think how farming works in Minecraft or Stardew Valley for example, rather than in more of a simulation game.
Perhaps it's the 3rd person camera or lack of character that makes it feel like it should be a simulation game - I'm still thinking about changing that. But I am fairly set on having the farming work this way.
After watching a little more, maybe it could be cool to make this mechanic a late game feature - A tractor or a piece of larger equpiment where you draw out the plot of land by clicking and dragging and it gets on with it as you do other things :)
@@ThinMatrix Maybe you could make a farmer model that does the actions you do - like when you dig, the farmer goes to that tile and a dig action commences.
@@ashleyedwards9523 Yes I agree with that, and that's the direction I plan to go in. As you progress through the game you can invest in making aspects of farming more efficient. To start with that would just be getting faster tools with larger areas of effect, and then later there will be some possibilities for automation, such as sprinklers for watering and things like that. To start with you'll only be able to look after a small garden - but later in the game with improved tools and some methods of automation you'll be able to efficiently farm a much larger area.
You should check out Anno 1800. It has one of the most sophisticated systems in terms of tile placements. The way Anno 1800 implemented tile placement using drag and drop (for example farm fields or building streets), is borderline perfect. Everything feels so natural and intuitive. It makes it incredibly comfortable and efficient to play.
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out!
It's crazy how much work you fit in a day, I'd burn out very quickly if I tried to be that efficient
Love your vids , probably my favourite cooking channel on UA-cam! I joke of course I really enjoy your Dev vlogs, they are so nicely paced. I hope you're doing well these days too
When watering plants, you definitively could leave your tile concept and apply watering depending on the coverage from the watering can onto the tiles.
The maths for this would just be linear formulas: deltaWater = max(0,1-2*abs(tileCenterX-mouseX)) *max(0,1-2*abs(tileCenterY-mouseY)) * flowRate
Moving away from the tile based approach would completely change the game though. For example certain plants could probably need different amounts/frequency of watering to grow well. So making it harder to water specific tiles a certain amount would be frustrating more than anything.
@@Ash_18037 I don't think so. You just need to have the plant info tab open while watering them, and then could water until they are perfectly happy.
I am not thinking of an x seconds operation here, but one where the duration is completely user controlled.
It would be awesome to see events in the game like rainy days or drought days.
Didn't know you also watch Better Call Saul, glad to see you're a man of culture :P
I'm not a developer (yet), but I'm somehow always drawn to your videos. They are so relaxing ☺
Loved it! Thx ThinMatrix! Great Content!
I can't believe literally no one is talking about how satisfying Nice tutorials voice softs.
Your office look amazing!
Feel like I was having a jog and came across someone’s dream house.
These videos are really cozy feeling
You're a legend for creating your own game engine, solo, in 2022!
Love your videos! The new tool behavior seems a lot better
Thanks!
It would be great to perhaps see a short video on how you manage your Trello boards, I'm always curious on how others use the tool.
Its been a real pleasure to watch the progress over the years. its impressive that you are making games using your own engine made in Java. That's not an easy task. hope you are doing well
Love your content. Cant wait to play the game. I open Equilinox from time to time and leave it open in one of my monitor, it give me an odly satisfying ASMR.
man the transitions are awesome :D
WE NEED MORE RUFUS :CCCC
greate video as always!
Your devlogs are always so cute
holyshit your still active xD i was indiedeveloper+ a few years back nice to see your channel still up lol
It would be great to see how you are working with version planning etc. Great videos - they are always inspiration for me to work on my project :D
Not only is this man a good dev, hes also a good cook... your dinner at the end made me so hungry haha. Keep up the amazing work
Wow, that was very smooth. 5:28
Great to see you improve the farming to have multiple spades and whatnot!
As a fellow game dev UA-camr, I think your editing is amazing!
Thanks! :)
you can use a dragging system similar to the city builder game where the user can highlight the area of land they want to carry out an action on, it can still take a certain minimum time but i thinks its a nice balance between gameplay convenience and speed.
Good to see a new video from u
Id love if rather than holding over a tile, that you could drag and select an area to get worked on, release to start the work.
Then you can have a certain time to completion per tool and plant depending on tool quality and plant type.
I think that would yield in a better UX.
Thanks for the feedback! I get what you mean, but it's just not the sort of feel I'm going for here. I want the player to player to feel like they're doing the work themselves, rather than assigning it to be done. Think how farming works in Minecraft or Stardew Valley for example, rather than in more of a simulation game.
Perhaps it's the 3rd person camera or lack of character that makes it feel like it should be a simulation game - I'm still thinking about changing that. But I am fairly set on having the farming work this way.
@@ThinMatrix i think the problem with the current implementation is that actually just clicking takes no time, so the timer feels very artificial. Stardew valley avoids this with prolonged animations, to hide the timer. Hiding the timer from the user seems like a pretty crucial ingredient.
@@azyrael96 I completely agree with that - as I mentioned I'm planning on adding many more visual and sound effects to the actions so that they feel more real. With enough visual cues that would remove the current need to show the progress bar.
@@ThinMatrix Gotcha, yes that would more be the game working than you working, a different feel for sure!
Loving the look and feeling of the game, It's so cute :3
Keep up the good work!
AN IDEA;
You can add boulders to randomly generate in the field that needs a pickaxe to be removed. It would stop the player from planting crops on that land until the boulder is removed using a pickaxe. The item that can be obtained from the boulder can be stone and the player can sell it in the market place.
This is starting to look pretty promising, looking forward to playing it myself.
Great video. I Love the focus on a relaxing experience. There should be more games like this 🧘🏽also, your lunch/dinner looks really good 😋
Thanks Falco ^^
You should really make a cook book of some sort because every time you cook it makes me hungry cuz of how delicious is looks and I would love to try some of those recipes myself xD
I notice with the large shovel that it takes just as long to dig out 2 squares as it does to dig out all 4. might be a nice QoL change to make a smaller dig take less time.
7:17 about the compost heap:
I might have missed this in an earlier video, but why do you need to "start" the composting at all? Shouldn't it just convert constantly (at a certain rate) if you give it plant matter? The real life example would be that you add compostable matter at the top and remove compost soil from the bottom. At least that's how the compost heap at my home worked.
It was more an issue of how to show that in the game - I want the player to be able to look at the compost heap and instantly see how much compost/plant matter is in there, or how long they'll have to wait for it to be compost. I wasn't sure how to do that with both plant matter and compost in the same heap; and not just that but also some sections of the plant matter would then be closer to becoming compost than others. For simplicity's sake I decided to clearly separate these different states.
Thinking about it a bit more...perhaps with a cube-shaped compost bin it would be doable - then you'd be able to see the multiple layers from the side (one layer for every time you added a load of plant matter to the bin) and I could just vary the colour to show how far decomposed each layer is. But I don't know how I'd do that with the current compost heap model - I don't think layers would look very natural there.
I have an idea that would probably make digging for example more satisfying:
Make a 3d shovel appear and do a basic animation while you are digging
I agree and it's something I actually already have on my ideas list. I like the idea in theory but it would certainly give me more work to do as the developer - for a start for every tool I'd need to make a 3D model and at least one animation (right now I just need to make an icon for each tool). Certainly do-able, but I'd like to keep things simple for now. I'll keep it in mind though!
@@ThinMatrix I know it's extra work and it may not be worth the effort.
When I make games I have to admit I almost always go the easy route and only do basic particles for effects
And hopefully you are able to finish this game without feeling burnt out by the end
Actually, I find your new serie about farming as interesting, and more relaxing (and relaxed) than your previous serie of city builder. As I am myself fighting against overwhelming environment and behavior, I can't help myself to enjoy your videos more to than I should, knowing your doing this "second serie" in order to not be overwhelmed by the city builder. Easier goal, but great path and way to success anyway.
By the way... ...I think a part of my decision to hit the brake, myself, comes from YOUR example. Thanks for that.
TL;DR: keep up the gook work, and do not overshoot. Just enjoy your days as we are enjoying your videos.
Amazing video. What a dream life
was already missing ur vids
Small suggestion that also works with your current system.
It would be nice if you could use dragging with a key to define a area and then hold the mouse when it started digging and it slowly digs out the entire area.
Reduces mouse movements too, and allows easier planning since most of your plots will be most likely rectangular in the first place.
And the addition of making tools decide the actions instead of reverse sound like a good idea.
Cool dev log.
Can't Wait for the next one :)
Loving it! :D
Avoiding a lot of clicking actions is definitely an easy way to increase accessibility. Both clicking and holding can be difficult for some people (anything from severe disabilities to just very common carpal tunnel) so it's usually a good idea to give players options imo. Most of the time if you can hold for an action you can also click so it's automatically a choice, in a case like this where you need to hold until a timer is done it's still relatively easy to implement a setting that starts the timer when you click and doesn't interrupt if you let go. Another easy option is to add a setting for toggles so instead of holding or clicking the tool is toggled on or off with a single click, that's slightly more unusual though.
It's definitely a topic to think about imo in a game that's very ui/interaction heavy and supposed to be relaxing.
So an idea: You can buy and place a water tap (or there could just be one on the house). On this you can attach hoses of different lengths and diameters. You can right click to pick the hose up and left click to water the plants. As an extension you could maybe even attach a garden water sprinkler to it. The thing is that the hose is limited in range so the length would limit how far you can get with the mouse.
This would require quite some programing so probably a feature creep at this stage, but thought it would be cool!
I like that idea a lot and it's something I've already been considering :) It's on my ideas list but, as you mentioned, it's definitely something for much further down the line.
Don't know if its on your planned todo already but if you're still wanting to reduce the amount of clicks it could be nice if some of the tools on the hotbar can be assigned number keys so you don't have to constantly go back to it everytime you want to swap tool, eitherway really nice watching all this come together!
Thanks, and yeah, I'll be implementing hotkeys soon :)
when you dig 2x1 tile with upgraded shovel (2x2 one) it could be faster then normal. What i mean is if that shovel can dig 2x2 in 1 second then it should be digging 2x1 in 0.5f second.
Got another idea - digging depth, which affects how different plants grow, or trees. Maybe an Easter Egg allowing you to dig to the other side of the planet. Hah! Maybe not!
I would love if you shared your recipes with us. I always want to cook them, they seem so delicious
we miss your tutorial videos very much and are waiting for the continuation
Hello i have a small idea for the mouse action instead of keep hovering at each tile to do action, you can let player select an area and this area will take the 1 tile action time * area tiles, so for example if 1 tile takes 1 sec to dig in it, an area of 10 tiles will take (Number of tiles) * 1 sec, because in my pov clicking each tile might be boring when making a big land.
Btw your game is amazing and you give me motivation to work on my game.
Thanks
You should also have a faster shovel for only 1 tile, for the edge cases
For the watering: maybe you can implement a sprinkler plant to have automated watering after some amount of money.
Instead of the simple timer countdowm and a box...you could try do some small animation low poly shovel digging.... for like exactly how long the box countdown you put it.... same for other tasks...could be a nice touch
3:00 I think the speed of planting definitely should be increased for foster planting. 👍
working fine thank you
As usuall your videos are all worth for the wait. The new tool update is very good and I look forward to the future additions to your relaxing game. I am very excited for the new video. Oh btw just asking, is it your first time showing your face or it is just my first time seeing your face clearer at 3:21?
Thanks! And no, it's not the first time, it makes the occasional short appearance in some videos :P
@@ThinMatrix Oh maybe old videos or I just never noticed it. Tnx for clarifying because it shocked me Hahah :D
yo! What is the font called? It looks awesome
(love your devlogs and equilinox, how relaxing it is btw)
Here's a suggestion! As you click and hold your mouse to carry out an action, you can already start dragging over all the tiles you wish to perform that action on. It would then automatically do them one by one in order unless you let your mouse button go in the middle of it.
Him: awake at the crack of dawn
Me: midday or nothing
The meals you cook always look incredible! I was especially interested in that curry + the homemade bread. Would love to be able to attempt some of them myself, do you follow recipes or is it all your head? If there's recipes I'd love to get my hands on them haha, it could even be a patreon reward
Nice progress! Love how the game has a very simple game loop that you can build on. Do you plan on having multiple locations, such as a shop or another farm, or do you want it to just revolve around the one farm? Also, is the economy going to be a simple as this or will you think about dynamic features such as weather, season, or supply/demand curves. Not trying to rush you, just wanting to see how far you think this game can go?
Thanks! Currently I plan for there to be one other location which will be the town where all the shops are. You'll go there to sell your produce and buy new tools and equipment for your farm. I'm also considering that there could be a farmer's market in the town area once a week, but that's definitely something for much further down the line.
I don't think the economy will be too complex, but I could certainly imagine having some sort of price fluctuations which could be based on seasons or supply/demand. Would make the decision of what crops to grow a bit more interesting and dynamic.
As you mentioned, it's a very simple core game loop but I think that the possibilities for adding more content and complexity to the game are almost endless. I can definitely see myself initially releasing the game perhaps next year with a decent amount of content, but then continuing to update it and add more content for a long time after that.
Waiting with your mousecurser over a tile gets boring very fast. You could also click a drag multiple tiles and let them be dug one by one. While the tiles are being dug you can do another action.
Also actions can be canceled if you drag over them again. hope this gives you some ideas! keep it up!
Lovely update! Do you come up with recipes yourself for what to eat, or where do you find inspiration for recipes? I want to eat healthier but I find it difficult to find new healthy recipes.
Maybe it would be more fun or interesting, if the factors that influence the plants health are visible on the plant. That would maybe help the immersion and make caring for plants more interesting (I don't really know how that would actually work). I really appreciate you devlogs and you allways motivate me to work on own projects. Thank you :)
Very good video, it is always interesting to know how others devs do it.
Can you share some of the recipes you cook? They look very delicious.
Thanks a lot ;)
I think you should make a short series on cooking that great looking food. XD
man, for the tools, you should do selection areas, like in strategy games, you just select a tile, drag until you cover all the tiles you want to work on, and once you lift the click, all the tiles are worked (they still take time, but the ones you wanna work on are selected)
Thanks for the feedback, but I'm not really trying to create a strategy/management game here. I want the player to feel like they're doing the gardening themselves, rather than just assigning it to be done. Similar to how farming works in Minecraft or Stardew Valley, for example. Perhaps it's the lack of character or the 3rd person camera that makes it feel like it's more of a strategy game, so I'll think more about that. But I'm pretty set on this method for farming.
The idea of the game is that it's iterative - as you make more money you can reinvest it into your tools and equipment which will allow you to farm more efficiently with less effort and therefore make more money, which you reinvest. Eventually you'll be able to get some level of automation going (such as sprinklers for watering) so that you can manage a much larger farm. I think of it a bit like a Cookie Clicker game but for farming.
Dream setup 😍
Nice work on those transactions from the computer screen to the camera :)
Maybe a reticulation system for a more end-game/advanced farm? I think it might help with a sense of progression, it's difficult for games like this to toe the line between effort put in to accomplish something and it becoming tedious. On that topic, maybe self seeding plants also
Yes, that's the plan! As you progress you can invest your money into your equipment to make farming more efficient and require less work. At first that will be you be upgrading your tools to be faster and have a larger area of effect, and later it will be investing in equipment that has aspects of automation, such as sprinklers for watering.
@@ThinMatrix sounds good! Have you considered ornamental pieces also? E.g. pretty flowers or other scenery structures which are mainly there to make the garden your own? In rollercoaster tycoon that element of the game ended up becoming one of the most popular aspects.
So cool to see you're a Better Call Saul fan as well! What do you think of the final season so far?
I think it's been fantastic! And now I'm really interested to see where they go with the final few episodes.
I think you should add a numeral counter in the curser tool/item box and hover descriptions on items in the inventory on the left. Just my two cents.
I like how you solved the shovel clicking "issue" for players, but one thing that stood out was how buying a better shovel means you can do 2x2 area quick, would it be a possibility to have the range be changeable? So you can use the best shovel to dig a 1x1 quicker, feels like having to go back to an old tool just dig a single square might get a bit annoying.
Also the transition when watering a tile is so satisfying! :D
That's a very good point, I think that would make a lot of sense. Perhaps I'll make it so that pressing shift cycles through the available ranges for that tool. Thanks!
@@ThinMatrix Yeah maybe shift! Or if it's not in use the scroll wheel perhaps? Keeps all tool usage on the mouse that way! :)
@@GamesBySaul Hmm, I'd prefer scroll wheel but that's currently used for zooming the camera in and out. I'll have to think about it!
@@ThinMatrix ah! Yeah that makes sense, I mean it's one of those things, play around see what feels good when you play and doesn't feel like you have to do too much :) !