Where Ya Been?
I’ve built a few prototypes for a second game, learned a bunch of Web3 stuff, and took a class on hard surface modeling. I was also able to attend (virtually) the 2022 Game Developers Conference; this was another great one! John Romero gave a talk on Wolfenstein 3D and — seriously — someone at Netflix needs to get that guy a show called “Romero’s Tales“. Besides working on some of my favorite games back in the 90’s, he’s also had the opportunity to brush elbows with people like Silas Warner (one of the guys that made the original Apple II Wolfenstein) and Ken and Roberta Williams, husband-and-wife founders of Sierra.
Where Can I Download the Update?
Just click that SideQuest link above! If you don’t have SideQuest installed, what are you waiting for? It’s a great way of checking out games that are either in beta or still building up a following before launch. You can run it from your Android phone, or you can install the desktop version on PC, Mac, or Linux.
SideQuestVR setup help and install files are here!
Is Someone at the Door?
I created a neat little DamageSound class that allows me to play a sound when something is damaged or destroyed. This makes it easier to attach sound effects to breakable objects, and mixes the volume up a bit too.
The first time I heard a zombie thump on the wall, I realized what a HUGE part had been missing from this game. It’s not like it’s library-quiet, but there are a whole lot of little things that really add to (or take away from) the immersion. I’d love to add footsteps, I bet that would sound great — especially if they can vary based on what surface the player is walking on.
Those Fireworks Sound Great!
I was surprised I didn’t get more questions about the bow and exploding arrows, people were pretty accepting of it (or just not using it?) In any case, there’s now a little firework burning on the end of the arrows. I found some great WAV files on Freesound.org (they’re a great resource!) and now the bow is a lot more fun.
There’s an initial “fuse-burning” sound, plus a second actual firework sound. I split that second sound in two to have more control over when it plays. The initial THUMP of the launch is triggered as soon as the zombie head starts going up. Once it reaches maximum height (or time-since-launch, technically), it creates a temporary audio source where the head was and plays the explosion sound.
This one really got me, I can’t honestly say how much time I’ve spent running around with the bow in the game. Those sounds were PERFECT!
New Newscast!
It’s new, it’s improved, but best of all it’s not hand-drawn! I found a “business-man” 3D model at CGTrader (another great resource if you need characters). This one had an awesome and complicated skeleton already fully rigged, I just had to position it.
I really struggled with wanting to do a fully animated newscast here. Surprisingly, each frame takes a little over two minutes to render. At 24 frames per second, and roughly 48 seconds, that adds up to I don’t know how to lip-sync! I think I could get away with just making his mouth flap like he was some sort of fish, but I don’t think that would end up looking very good. I’d love to learn this at some point though!
Play the game and let me know what you think, is it super distracting that his lips don’t move? If you don’t have a Quest/Quest2, you can watch the video on YouTube or in the Videos section.
What’s Next?
I’ve been dabbling with a few prototype ideas for a second game. I’m not calling this one finished, but there are some neat ideas I’d like to play around with that don’t really fit the theme of this game. I may have something to show off soon, thanks for checking out the update!