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Rosa | Masterpost

This masterpost contains stuff related to the game I'm working on for school, currently named Rosa, from fall of 2024 onwards. Posts related to Rosa will be tagged as #/projectRosa and will be linked to in this post.

Work on Rosa began in fall of 2022 for another class in a small group of four. I'm redoing/continuing work on the game as a solo capstone project for college. The Rosa of 2022 was a 2D game made in Unity. The Rosa of today will be a 3D environmental puzzle game made in Godot.

I'm not sure if I will be required by the professor overseeing my capstone project to post updates on social media, but I'm doing it anyways since he made me do it in that 2022 class. Plus, it's fun, don't you think?

Things will be here. Eventually :)

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I've been working on a godot plugin for controlling how pixel art behaves with lighting, and I'm almost done with a really basic version! (more info under the cut)

this plugin is based on some techniques I have been developing over the years, featured most prominently in silt spawn.

it's a huge step forward though, since it requires no setup whatsoever, and it works with any normal light sources in the engine. the way it works is by generating an encoded sprite and a bespoke shader that can really quickly pick the exact color to show for each pixel based on how well-lit it is. as this gif shows, the plugin works with existing light sources and sprites, so you can really use these pixel-picky sprites as much or as little as you need!

now that the main feature is done, all I need to do is finish the UI in the editor, and then I'll feel comfortable releasing a bare-bones version of this plugin. I'm really proud of how it's coming along, and this quick little gif is just the beginning! :D

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Hey everyone, please consider buying the 2024 itch.io Palestinian Relief Bundle- it's 373 games, game-making assets, tabletop roleplaying games, zines, and comics for a minimum of just 8 USD! They have a goal of 100,000 USD, and as of the time I'm writing this post, they have 8 more days to reach it.

Link will be in the reblog!

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Every so often I'm reminded of how many people don't realize just how high the bar is for indie titles to actually make enough money or gain enough recognition to be sustainable.

Like someone will say "I think it's great that mildly successful indie titles exist that no one has heard of before, such as [multi-award winning indie game that was incredibly financially successful that has had coverage by multiple major news outlets]! It's so nice small indies exist" :)

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five hundred and thirty people laid off from riot. We aren't even one month into 2024.

there is no security in the work within game development. My dad would tell me 'just work hard, be essential and earn your place' but that isn't how it is anymore. You could be the best, most amazing artist, as so many of my friends who were laid off were, and it doesn't matter. They will get rid of you just as easily. I don't even know what to feel anymore, but as someone who had been laid off in the past, I cannot convey how devastating it is to have your life uprooted just like that.

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11 of my tutorials (Couldn't fit more in this post). All available on my discord though!: http://discord.gg/n5TDnqfR5P

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holy fucking shit what. soulstruct for blender is out

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Advice For Making Realistic Characters:

Make them have multiple interests - Your character doesn’t have to fit one aesthetic alone. For example, I like collecting feathers and vintage keys, but also notebooks and squishmallows, none of which are all the same aesthetic

Allow for improper dialogue - We know not to use “and” at the beginning of a sentence, but humans do that anyway. We stutter and catch our breath and forget how to word things properly. We don’t have to be diagnosed with a stutter or speak multiple languages to screw it up now and then

They should all have their own voice - This is mainly for writing in multiple perspectives. Personally it’s hard to give each character their own voice rather than my own. Regardless of the language or era of your story, each character should sound unique, whether they have certain catchphrases or use more slang or talk more formally

Give them all a self-presentation - We all act differently depending on who we’re around, and characters should be this way as well

Give them mindless habits - Possibly for a filler scene or something in the background, but give your character more than just nail biting habits. Allow for a small or simple change (like moving furniture around) where your character still has a habit of doing the old thing (going where the furniture used to be, not being able to find anything after it was moved)

Let them be bored - People are always and I mean always finding ways to entertain themselves. If you’re writing a character that sits still and thinks and doesn’t always have to be doing something, just make sure that it fits their personality. I don’t know a lot of people who can go for long without some form of entertainment.

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Dialogue red flags

Here are some practices to AVOID when writing compelling dialogue for your novel.

👉 Info-dumping

Would your characters realistically say the things they are saying if you didn’t need the reader to know that information?

EX. A person wouldn’t refer to their brother as “my brother Charles” in dialogue if the other character they are speaking to is their friend and knows Charles.

This can be avoided by putting yourself in the head of the speaking character, and understanding which information they know.

👉 Directness

Overly-direct dialogue can be incredibly boring and make your readers feel stupid. If everyone outright says exactly what they mean, then there is no brain-work left for your readers to read between the lines or ask questions.

Unless you have a certain character whose trait is direct honesty, most good dialogue should be interpretable in different ways to the reader.

👉 No thought-out subtext

Similar to the previous one, do you know the actual motivation behind what each of your character’s is saying? Your character should have a motivation or a goal during every conversation they are having, even if it’s something as simple as “end this conversation as soon as possible” or “find out more about the person I’m talking to”.

👉 Too much jargon

Character voices are a super important part of crafting a character and keeping interesting dialogue rhythm, but don’t get too carried away! You still want to make sure your readers are able to understand the type of jargon you’re aiming for, unless the purpose of the character or scene is to be non-understandable.

As ever, act with purpose.

👉 Excessively descriptive dialogue tags

In fast-paced conversations, dialogue tags can really slow down the rhythm of your dialogue. You don’t need to explain the way every single sentence is delivered. If you can make the dialogue work for you, do so.

A very simple example:

“Don’t go there,” he shouted. 👉 “Don’t go there!”

Strong dialogue is one of my focus areas when coaching my private clients.

Would this character truly say that?

Do we need to know this now, or would it be more powerful later?

Are you sticking well to that character’s voice and vocabulary?

Can you trim the weeds to let their voice shine through?

If you’re interested in working with me privately, I’m all booked up until the end of this year, but I’m taking on new clients for 2024 now!

You can follow the [link here] or below to my coaching page, learn more, and apply for a discovery call!

Did you know my coaching includes all of my other offers, such as my digital course and my e-books?💜

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DEAR ARTISTS, PLEASE READ THIS POST I STUMBLED ACROSS

IF YOU ARE NOT DOING THIS ALREADY, YOU SHOULD TRY IT

I even tested it out myself, it works great

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Unity thinks it can "appease enough to make it work"

TL!DR:

Among Us Dev got a phone call with Unity execs. They said they would do deals with specific devs, to mitigate the fee and the backlash but they would not cancel their decision.

He added that the execs seems to think if they can wait long enough, and if few enough have to pay, all devs will drop the matter and not care about those that are still affected. (because solidarity is not a concept that those money-hungry fucks understand)

Among Us Dev then said he was going to start looking into other engine options.

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I can't say what I'm thinking the unity higherups should do or my blog will get suspended

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If you're ever worried about your topology with 3D modeling, this is a sandwich in Starfield

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Important things to note about the Unity engine fiasco:

1. The CEO of Unity was the CEO of EA from 2007 to 2013, until he was forced to resign due to poor company performance.

2. The CEO has been steadily selling off his stocks over the last year. He dumped 2000 shares just last week.

3. In the last year, there have been 49 instances of insiders in the company selling their shares, and 0 instances of insiders buying. This indicates a negative internal view of the company future.

4. Unity went IPO 3 years ago, and last year received $1 billion+ from venture capitalist investors.

5. Most companies end their fiscal year in February. The beginning of this change is January 1st.

All of this tells me a couple things. This decision was made almost entirely for short term profit. It is intended to pay back the investors. It is intended to do so with a "windfall" of income right before the end of the fiscal year, so that this year looks more successful for the company. The leadership of the company intends to cut and run after.

This is everything that has been wrong with capitalism in the creative industry over the last few years, and with companies in general. This is short term greed with exactly no thought to their future. This is what happens when all you care about is making your next fiscal quarter look better than it did last year.

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