Time to start populating this out!

Spent some time last night cleaning up the process of adding new weapons, now it should be much faster, meaning I can add more gun more fast.

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #ue5

New devlog!
Learn more about the new level editor I'm using, Scythe, and how its changed the game for how I'll craft levels in the game.

youtu.be/GZooMKXFiFY

Check out scytheeditor.com for more info, and follow @kronok.bsky.social!

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #ue5 #scytheeditor

Slone's in game model, rendered in game using Unreal Engine, modeled, rigged and textured in Blender.

And here she is! In the.. polygons?
Slone will be a playable character, and the process of bringing her design to life spans months of concepts, iteration, learning and failure - but I couldn't be prouder of the result.

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #ue5 #characterdesign #blender

Quick little teaser for #screenshotsaturday.
First production character will be revealed soon.

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #fps #ue5 #characterdesign

A more animated look at the model of Alt-Fire's assault rifle.

While rule of cool comes first in an arena shooter, I like to make weapons somewhat sensible. Magazines, a bolt, a chamber, ways to reload - even if gameplay stretches realism.

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #fps #ue5 #blender

Finished the first weapon model for Alt-Fire, the R17 Combat Assault Rifle.

Modeled, rigged, animated and texture painted in Blender.

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #fps #ue5 #blender #screenshotsaturday

For anyone wondering how those textures are made, they're all compiled within the material, the texture is just a series of channel packed masks. Gives me a lot of flexibility, but its hard to parse before you actually *get* them in the game.

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #fps #ue5

MATERIALS! I don't envy those who make textures. As satisfying as it is to have them, making them - imo much less so.

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #fps #ue5

Now that I've procrastinated with level design tools and textures enough, I have to face my player rig 😭

Here I successfully got the rig in and working, and setup a reusable bob and sway animation. Took careful setup, but its worth it.

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #fps #ue5 #blender

Finishing up work on a small demo area testing out textures and scythe, a new level design tool by @kronok.bsky.social I've been loving. Excited to share more about the process!

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #fps #ue5 #screenshotsaturday

Finished a solid concept piece for one of the protagonists of AF.

Agent Rebecca Slone, the UEG Commando.

You can see the time lapse and concept sketches that led to this design here www.artstation.com/artwork/6Lr2On

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #fps #art #clipstudio #characterdesign

Made a system of parenting material instances upward to a common color patch which lets me update a whole color scheme at once.

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #fps #ue5 #materials

I've been testing out some new tech over the holidays, and while on the surface it doesn't look like much, I think it'll be a game changer. Can't wait to share more.

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #fps #ue5 #scythe

I've never felt quite as seen as I do now that Unreal - a game engine started with FPS games mind you - has native first person rendering 🙌

3 tick boxes later and you have this. No panini projection, no distortion, just - works.

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #fps #ue5 #screenshotsaturday

Nick, where has all the Alt-Fire stuff been?

Here. In this Charlie Day red yarn meme of a level.

This is the scratches on the wall from someone desperately trying to figure out matched player character rigging 🤣

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #fps #ue5

Spent some time this morning adding a 'temp rifle' which will be the base for all future weapons in #altfire.

Every weapon will initially start with this mesh, and once its mechanics are settled it'll get swapped for its own custom one.

#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #fps #ue5 #screenshotsaturday

When the Farquaad vibe hits.

I have successfully refactored and rebuilt (and now surpassed) all the previous player controller code.

Feels good to just delete all the old broken stuff and finally clear out the content browser / blueprint list.

#indiedev #programming #gamedev #ue5 #altfire

Reworking the player has included reworking the HUD, but I've taken the chance to add some visual spice to it.

Refining some of the elements like HUD effects when taking damage and acquiring vitality pickups. All of which are material driven!

#altfire #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #fps #ue5 #ui

Turns out roundish physics props have a bit of a funny bug interaction with BSP. They *slowly crawl* away.

@michaeldillabough.bsky.social put it well, there is a speed running strat in here somewhere 🤣

#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #altfire #fps #ue5

You ever have those moments where you're like "there are 2 solutions to this, one is stupid, & the other is complicated - a AAA studio would surely do the complicated correct one?"

Then turns out the answer is the stupid one.

Love when the bar is lowered!

#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #altfire

I couldn't handle the indecisive Canadian spring for #screenshotsaturday I made myself my own pool day!

In my rework of AF's player controller, I finally got around to adding swimming... and all the audio/visual hell that came along with water 🙃

#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #altfire #fps #ue5

#ScreenshotSaturday time!

One thing led to another and now I've refactored all my previous first person animation into lean, code driven procedural animation (all the leaning, bobbing, etc)

You don't want to see how it worked before 🫣

#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #altfire #fps #ue5 #animation

Started working on the first weapon for Alt-Fire, the Paladin Pistol, excited to see this one textured and rigged!

#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #altfire #fps #art #blender

I've been enjoying using Milanote for planning on this project recently. I find it great for visually exploring ideas, like this breakdown of AF's pistol functionality.
Visually and easily shows inputs, actions, inspirations, etc.

#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #altfire #fps #milanote

Just to note for anyone here for Alt-Fire, my involvement on Mushroam doesn't halt work on AF, I'm just splitting time between the two!

I'll still share regular updates on AF's progress as well as our pixelated mushroom adventure.

#altfire #mushroam

Some more weapon concepts for Alt-Fire!
Literally just doodling to see where things go.

#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #altfire #fps #art

OKAY! Let's get some Screenshot Saturday going!'

Quick shot of my art test level. What can I say I'm a sucker for up lighting 🤣

#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #altfire #fps #ue5 #screenshotsaturday

A few of the key rooms from my art test level featured in devlog 4.

I was actually inspired to do an art test based on the Halo UE5 demo they showed, where they had their artists set out to make distinct areas, to establish the art style.

#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #altfire #ue5

New two-part devlog for Alt-Fire!
Covering the adventure of establishing a world creation pipeline, incl. building levels, textures, props and the beginnings of the art style.

Part 1: youtu.be/MBpj8CCqMfw
Part 2: youtu.be/s2Fm8VHzQ7g

#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #altfire #ue5