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[WIP] - Chuckwagon: On The Lone Prairie.

Joyhype
Honored Guest
chck1.jpg
Hi, everyone.

My name is Matthew and I'm making a game called Chuckwagon: On The Lone Prairie with the help of my two friends Mark DeNardo from Pixeljam Games (Robot Unicorn / Glorkian Warrior) and Chris from Fru for Xbox One. We run an indie game collective called Joyhype which is based in New York and The Netherlands. Mark does sound & game design, Chris handles the mobile implementation and stabilizes the build, I code and do the world set dressing, art/modeling.

I'd like to create this thread to do a little devblog to update the progress and share with you images of the dev pre-production cycle.

I will also stream development on Twitch.tv at http://www.twitch.tv/joyhype of me building the game. Since I'm not in school this week, I decided to try making my first ever VR game.

firepit.gif

What is Chuckwagon?: Chuckwagon : On The Lone Prairie is a frontier game where survival is paramount, and your only ally is your gun, your wits, and a bit of luck. The end user will be able to explore rich landscapes, avoid being stampeded by bison, and trade with a quest-keeper. Players will unravel the mysteries of the frontier through emergent storytelling, encounter a wide variety of animals, and see how long they can survive.

How does it work with Gear VR? Players can move, and can shoot, but cannot do them simultaneously. Players will be able to shoot using the touchpad, and interact with the quest-keepers quest UI via gaze interactions. Using a series of smart gestures, and recognizing whether or not the player is in the active move state, or shoot state, players will be able to move around the world, and interact with objects using just the gear vr and not having to pair to a controller. Chuckwagon is not a gaze shooter.



Here are some images of what the game is starting to look like:

chk2.jpg



Images hosted on Imgur.
    Image 1: Meet Chuckwagons Frontier-esque landscape: https://i.imgur.com/rcSPVDg.png

    Image 2: VR Bugs are Funny (GIF): http://i.imgur.com/fMx7F5r.gifv

    Updated: April 15

    Image 3: Updated Scene. Wagon area implemented: http://i.imgur.com/KpvBzXR.jpg

    Image 4: VR capture: http://i.imgur.com/vcop17G.png

    Image 5: Night time cycle: http://i.imgur.com/X5Pq3iq.jpg

    Updated: April 16

    Image 6: http://giphy.com/gifs/3d-fire-oculus-3o ... HaVxu?tc=1 Night time mode.

    Video Logs :

    Video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C4U0lZ5P1w


    * Notes: Some of the coloring is off because some are taken straight from Unity and the others from the Build. The higher contrast ones are the build versions. The game only has around 5,000 tri's right now.

    Update log: April 15 1AM: Added Wagon. Lighting changed. Location text shows in the sky "Westword Spires" and then fades away drifting into the distance. Clouds in the back move slowly. More cactus and grass added. Ray casting is coming soon and collectible weapon boxes floating around the land. Invisible border walls keep player contained in the land. Fog lighting altered for mobile.

    Update log: April 15 8PM: Polished lighting. You can shoot Bison and they rotate when they fall over. Now I want to make the Bison blink. Card game assets are implemented but functionality is missing.

    Update log: April 15 10PM: Recorded video. Bison blood added.

    Update log: April 15 10:44PM: Quest system implemented. Location UI added. LOD operations optimized.

    Update log: April 16 3AM: Night time cycle added. Bison now have different movement states. Blood spawns and the bullet has a new trail renderer attached to the end. Players can only move forward. And or only shoot. Aiming is done by positioning of the head.

    Update log: April 16 10AM: Firepit added. Bison moan. They Drop little packages when you shoot them. Shop keeper is designed but not implemented. Game is running around 100,000 tris right now. Hopefully I can optimize some things. The game runs smoothly at 50-60fps per eye on my Macbook.

    Update log; April 16 12PM: Players can starve to death. They also get thirsty, and hungry over time.

    Update log: April 17 10Pm: Fire pit colors tweaked. Took a day break to work on another game project that is due for testing soon and homework 😕

    Update log: April 18 2PM: Gaze functionality is in for the quest cards! We're working on our pitch video right now. And updating the of the graphics. Dynamic lighting is added in, and the sun now fully rotates around the world. We're at a 150k with good performance 60fps and very few draw calls.

    Update log: April 19 3PM: Polished some of the games mechanics / design. Grass patches added. LOD operations tweaked. Working on submission pitch.



Follow us on Twitter :3

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/MattStenquist

Mark on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/MarkDenardo

Chris on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Chrusb


Feedback is welcomed! 🙂

- Thanks,
Matt, Chris, and Mark.
SaaS and Fullstack developer. Hobby Game developer.
35 REPLIES 35

mallmagician
Expert Protege
I love the low poly artwork.

The only thing that jumped out at me is the gun. My concern is that it is another gaze shooter (look to shoot).

John Carmack said in his recent gdc talk (it's on youtube) that we don't really need more gaze Shooters.

However, I only have the screenshots to go on. The screens look lovely, but if you have a gaze shooter in the works, I'd respectfully suggest you try to make it different from all of the ones already out for gearvr. Not just a different setting.

However, I may be wrong. And maybe the gun is there for another reason or just makes uP a small part of the game. Or maybe it isn't shoot to kill, but shoot to herd or something that would make it unique.

Anyway. I've tried to be honest with my feedback. Hope it helps. Best of luck.

Joyhype
Honored Guest
"mallmagician" wrote:
I love the low poly artwork.

The only thing that jumped out at me is the gun. My concern is that it is another gaze shooter (look to shoot).

John Carmack said in his recent gdc talk (it's on youtube) that we don't really need more gaze Shooters.


Thanks for your feedback! It's not a gaze shooter. The player can walk, and or choose to shoot, but can't do both at the same time.
SaaS and Fullstack developer. Hobby Game developer.

mallmagician
Expert Protege
Awesome. Sounds great. Sounds like a bit of a sandbox. I love the art style. I'm a fan of low poly in vr. Looking forward to further updates.

Joyhype
Honored Guest
"mallmagician" wrote:
Awesome. Sounds great. Sounds like a bit of a sandbox. I love the art style. I'm a fan of low poly in vr. Looking forward to further updates.


Thanks!

An image that shows the skybox cycle, gun sway / breathing, and bullet fire.
game.gif


Here's an updated image of the wagon and color enhancements / more Bison.

http://i.imgur.com/KpvBzXR.jpg

But yeah, the game is sandboxy. It's a frontier-esque survival rouge like that encourages players to explore, manage resources, and develop their own emergent stories through environmental storytelling. There's lots of hidden goodies scattered around the lands that players can find. Just watch out for the rattlesnakes.
SaaS and Fullstack developer. Hobby Game developer.

cybereality
Grand Champion
Looks great.
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | MSI X370 Titanium | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3200 | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 | Corsair Hydro H110i Gigabyte RX Vega 64 x2 | Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB | Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB | Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV

drash
Heroic Explorer
I am digging those clouds. 🙂 Can't wait to play this one.
  • Titans of Space PLUS for Quest is now available on DrashVR.com

Joyhype
Honored Guest
"drash" wrote:
I am digging those clouds. 🙂 Can't wait to play this one.

"cybereality" wrote:
Looks great.


Thanks! 😄
SaaS and Fullstack developer. Hobby Game developer.

Joyhype
Honored Guest
Bump 😛

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C4U0lZ5P1w

Here' is a video showing off what Chuckwagon looks like.
SaaS and Fullstack developer. Hobby Game developer.

markdenardo
Honored Guest
Hey. I'm working on Game Design/Music/SFX for Chuckwagon w joyhype.
We're really excited about how the #VRJam is going so far! Stay updated. 8-)