Beta Beartopia [Sandbox Building Game] (Beta Version Available)

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Welcome to the Beartopia Devlog! The game is FREE on Itch right now!


Download Beartopia [Windows]
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Beartopia is Sandbox Building game that allows you spawn an infinite amount of bears (limited by your PC of course XD).
These bears will interact with the environment and items that you drop. Bears can plant trees, mine stone, run away from zombies, and even build houses!
beartopia2.gif 3beartopia2.gif beartopia5.gif

FEATURES:

- Multiple Player-Bear Interaction

- Easy to use U.I.

- Smart Obstacle Pathfinding

- Day/Night Cycle

- Beautifully Crafted Pixel World using Shaders

- Optimized for Low-End Computers


I am rebuilding this game from scratch and will post updates and implementations on this thread. I shall compare the old from the new and share the improvements made so stay tuned!
 
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Update 1 : Changing the Bear Sprite

The old bear sprites were made back in 2016, inspired from the Mother/Earthbound Series. They were nice, efficient, and easy to expand.
However, I thought it was about time for change.

OLD vs NEW:
OLDNEW

Putting the two side-by-side, the new version really puts the old one to shame.

The big problem with the new version is it's harder to make more of them. Compared to the old one which only has 4 frames, the new sprite has 16! Quality comes with a price. Right now, I have only made the side run and idle sprite. I still need to create forward, back and 2 diagonal runs to have all directional variations. Plus, there are also the Zombears, frightened bears, item carry bears, and possibly even more kinds of variations as I further develop this game. Writing this all down makes me overwhelmed XD. I prefer programming to making art so I do not need really look forward in sprite making.

I would love to hear your feedback on the new vs the old. Which one do you like better? Is the old one already good enough? Do you think making new sprites is too much work?

Stay tuned for more updates! The next will be about camera movement :)
 

ribbyte

Member
Hey, this looks super fun! :)
I don't have a Windows machine right now to try it out, but I have a suggestion for the itch.io page: the top "screenshot" that looks like it's blinking is distracting and annoying, the page would look a lot better without it. And the font is really hard to read.

I would love to hear your feedback on the new vs the old. Which one do you like better?
I like the old one, but I might be in the minority here, because I don't like pixel graphics.

As I said, this looks fun, so keep up the good work đź‘Ť
 
Depending on the rest of the art i would prefer the first bear since it feels more defined. Surely the second one has a better motion.
curious concept!
I guess I shouldn't have used the "shame" word. I really like the old one as well but I do prefer the new one more. Thanks for your feedback!
 
I have a suggestion for the itch.io page: the top "screenshot" that looks like it's blinking is distracting and annoying, the page would look a lot better without it. And the font is really hard to read.
Sorry it took too long. I have updated the gamepage as you suggested. I completely agree with you there. I kept the top screenshot but removed the blinking dark parts. It looks a lot nicer now.

Thanks for the suggestion!
 
T

Two Tail Fox

Guest
So cute and charming - it's got that Stardew vibe shining through and I adore it! ;)
Your half-a-year of dev time is super impressive considering the complexity and optimisation of your AI systems, and it's really amazing how far the intial idea goes back (2014... WHAT???). The graphics are really pleasant, especially after seeing the improvement from before, and I really love the way you did the fog-of-war like effect to the edge of the built up regions. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this game progresses. I dropped a sub too cause your video was super fun to watch and I'd love to see more (longer videos pleeeease!) :)
 
I dropped a sub too cause your video was super fun to watch and I'd love to see more (longer videos pleeeease!) :)
Thank you very much @Two Tail Fox ! The next videos will talk more about the progress made and I plan on sharing some tips on what I have learned while developing Beartopia so most likely the videos will be longer. :) I made the Intro a bit short to get those with short attention span. Based on the analytics, my video only gets about 1 min of watch time. I could tell you watched till the end so thank you very much for your support!
 
So I realized I haven't posted anything to keep you guys up to date so here's the latest thing I have made :)
Beartopiaworldgen4.gif
World Generation! Say goodbye to gray lands! There's still lot's to work with like making biomes, rivers and trees (caves?). The chunk handling is also a bit slow and random. There also needs to be a way to save any modifications made on the chunks. Honestly, I have no idea how I am going to do all those.

The world gen uses GPU based Perlin generated on 16x16 chunks --The chunks go infinite :) . For each chunk. I fetch the pixel data of the perlin noise generated from a surface through a buffer then convert that information into vertices. Yes.. the Beartopia is now secretly 3D!
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secretly 3D
For the sprites, I used Z-Tilting based on @Ariak 's implementation. Z-Tilting not only speeds up the game, it also makes it easier to manage the depth sorting. I would've had a hard time sorting the depth of sprites on the terrain if the game wasn't secretly 3D.

Here's some more pics:
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When I get more things working, I might upload the new version for testing :)
 
I made another Devlog on Beartopia. I gave some tips that I have learned while making Beartopia. I hope you guys like it! (hit the like button if you really do and subscribe if you haven't :) )

...btw, this video took me more than a week to develop.
 
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Hello GrizzliusMaximus,

I triedBeartopia and played during 5/ 10 minutes. Download it from itch.io

Really like it, it's neat and works well. No performance issue as you discuss this in your youtube video. Very cool game, I would like to play again.

Frustration point I add :

1. When clicking on the reset button, the first time, I didn't know it will erase everything and start from a blank page again. As I had my little ongoing village and was trying to develop a bit, it was frustrating. Maybe you can show a warning message the first time.
2. The zombie can attack through fences. I did a few blocks of fences to try the combat system with on one side bear with weapons and on the other side, zombie. Both started to go to the fence and fight across it. I guess, it might work if i put a two-layer fence, but it lowers the game experience.



Small UI improvement :

3. When changing the screen to window screen - the button for fullscreen or the cross on the top didn't work. And, I am not sure what the red cross is for (quit the game, I guess).
4. the music is nice and the sound to put object is ok but becomes annoying after a few minutes. There is no way in the game, to stop the sound for the music or for the 'add in-game object' sound.

Note: I add a memory error when starting to "draw" with the torch during the night and putting torch everywhere. Maybe limit the number of torch that can be put at once.
In the same fashion, could we generate more weapon/ axe/ nuts faster when put on the ground?

Game player wish list:

5. Bow for the bear, so we can fight zombie at distance.
6. Top Hat or wearable that can be put on the ground and bear would wear them :)

Cool game, I would definitely test it again. Don't hesitate to send me a pm for a second trial and I hope the comments are useful.
I would appreciate a lot if you can test my latest game and give me similar feedback, thanks in advance if you do so :)
 
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@lalileloluly Thank you very much for the great feedback! I didn't notice that UI glitch.

I'm not sure if I should update the beta version as the new version I'm currently working is a completely different code. I'll make sure to fix all the bugs you have mentioned in the new version and the bow and top hat idea is a pretty cool :)
 
I made a New Devlog Video on Youtube!
It's been almost a month since I updated this devlog... I need to speed up the pace! I joined the GMC Jam 37 if you guys are wondering what I was up to :)
 

Fern

Member
Watching bears swim through the water with a sword in hand is a special experience. I think you've got a really cool concept here. It's clear you've got a very good grasp on programming and it seems like you're learning a lot quickly. You've got something here but I think you have to start focusing on gameplay and what your game is about if you want to grow your audience. Your devlogs are done well too.
 

lurker907

Member
Great-looking engine! I think you can build really cool games on top of it. AI, lighting, depth - you have all the building blocks. Curious how some things are done lol. E.g. efficient depth ordering - do you use objects and tilesets? Or do you leverage the GPU?
 
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