General Thoughts

Game Dev on a saturday - Is there anything sweeter? I’ve worked on my game a few nights here and there since my last update. I now have a workable class for being the enemy NPC.

I’m really pleased with how it came out, because it will be very easy to make lots of enemies with this with minimal work. In a nut shell, I have an object in Godot that takes in one parameter - a word. Based on the word entered through the object, it will auto fetch the image, and setup the object as needed so that it will animate properly when the words are typed. The power of exported variables!

Things Done

  • Now have an enemy that chases you through the level
  • The enemy can be destroyed by typing the words over its head
  • Enemy setup is controlled entirely through a single word exported to the editor.

There’s a couple of things I can do from here. I could spend some time improving my enemy (It just floats at you through the air). I could spend some time setting up the environment. I could spend some time making typing feel better (adding sfx, effects, etc). I could also spend some time coming up with a word bank. All of this needs to happen, so I guess it’s just what I feel like doing next.

To conclude, these updates might seem small, and in truth they are. But they’re the product of working a few pockets of minutes here and there after work on and some weekends, and I’m really happy with it so far. Doing a game in 3D has been a fun change of pace.

It’s been roughly two weeks since my last devlog, so I didn’t really look at my AI start because I knew what I needed to do - Get an enemy up and completed. Still, I’m going to continue generating a todo list with AI. Today, we’ll try Google Bard, which I hear is getting better.

Prompt Used: “I want you to analyze a body of text for actionable items. I am going to send you an entry for a game development log. This log belongs to a single developer. I want you to analyze the text to determine what the next steps should be, ending with a single motivating quote. If you understood this message, say “Ok!”. Afterward, I will send the text that will be analyzed”

Google Bard AI’s Game Dev To Do

I analyzed the text you sent me and here are the actionable items for the next steps:

  • Improve the enemy so that it doesn’t just float at the player. Maybe it could move around more randomly or try to dodge the player’s words.
  • Set up the environment. This could include adding obstacles for the player to avoid, or creating different areas for the player to explore.
  • Make typing feel better by adding sound effects and visual effects. This could make the game more satisfying and engaging.
  • Come up with a word bank. This will give the player a variety of words to type and destroy enemies with. Here is a motivating quote that I think is relevant to the game developer:

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” - Lao Tzu

This quote reminds us that even small steps can make a big difference. So don’t be afraid to start small and gradually work your way towards your goals.

I hope this helps!