Progress update- Force, physics, and UX (Patreon)

P*netration mechanics! Like I said last time, we're back to actually making the game. And it feels great.

Also! Now's a good time to switch over to subscribestar! There's a gif that goes along with this post that I couldn't post here. Substar is the same as Patreon, just less censored and less likely to kick me off without warning. Thanks, and sorry for the hassle! >.>;

Btw there's a stream starting in 20 minutes!

To new patrons: We’re in the middle of an absurdly-long update cycle. Here’s the summary and how to access content.

What's being worked on?

Physics and force.

So now, the mouse moves the p*netrator using physics forces. Up until now it's only moved via the debugger. But this is just the beginning! More sources and influences of force are coming. First, orifices resisting the p*netrator's entry based on their size and shape. Then, I'll work on orifices pushing the p*netrator out, machines moving the p*netrator, and even other p*netrators pushing each other around.

Technically, it's not real "force" if you're a physics nerd. It's just the unit I use to describe attempted movement. Force converts to in-world distance (assuming there's no resistance), then that converts to motion along a p*netration path.

Targeting.

This might feel small but I'm very excited about it. The new targeting system for starting to p*netrate is now "working" (tm). I talked about this a while ago.

You hold a toy and click on an area, like the hips area, and all the possible orifices/targets pop up in a targeting circle. You use that to raise/lower the tip to aim at different orifices.

It's a small but meaningful step cause it means I'll now be testing and iterating on p*netration using the same tools that the player will be using, instead of doing everything through the debugger. So I'll be able to refine and improve the actual feeling of playing with p*netration in this game.

As a reminder, my Trello has the release checklist.

... and that's all for now!

I'm finally back to making a game instead of digging through engine nonsense. I am so glad. After some soul-searching, I'm pretty satisfied with game dev as a pursuit in general, though core engine work isn't really my jam. I have to be careful in the future to not choose projects that frontload a ton of engine work before you get to the fun stuff.

This project has been very difficult on both a technical and personal level. It's also been the catalyst for a lot of growth in my skills as a programmer and as a person who wants to make things. It kind of feels like those kung fu movies where the student has to train while carrying a backpack full of rocks or whatnot.

I probably won't ever choose to take on a game engine project like this again, even if the results turn out to be amazing. It's a brutally effective teacher though, damn. And because of that, I don't think it was a mistake to do it despite the difficulties.

Clearly, y'all are invested in seeing this get made. And I'm incredibly excited about the results of all of this work. I guess what I wanna say is-

This has been a hilariously hard project. Thank you all so for supporting me through it.

<3