Shaders In GameMaker Studio 2

 Martin · 3 years

I'm pretty good at creating shaders in Blender, and I've made a few decent things in Unreal Engine as well. In GameMaker, shaders remain elusive. Why?

Well, Blender and Unreal both have intuitive methods for creating shaders. Blender has a node-based system where you connect different pieces of the shader program together and, based on how you do it, different effects are achieved. Unreal is similar, with a system called Blueprint.

GameMaker Studio 2, on the other hand, has none of this. If you want to create shaders in GameMaker, you have to either code them by hand, or find one that someone else has coded, and tailor it to fit your project. This can become especially difficult if you're not very familiar with GLSL, or you're trying to work from an example that was made with a different platform in mind.

I appreciate that it makes me think a bit more about what I'm doing on those other systems, and how to accomplish the things I take for granted elsewhere. I'm not very good at it yet, though!

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Andromedorks

 Martin · 3 years

I'm still working through Mass Effect: Andromeda, which I've been playing in between other games, as a follow-up to finishing the original trilogy remaster.

I've been trying to keep an open mind about this game and so far, it's been better than I remembered it, with just a few annoyances here and there. I've gotten past the point where I quit playing the first time!

But that means I've now met the Angara for the second time and boy, I hate how these guys look. The male Angara look lion-ish and sort of serviceable, but the female Angara - Why do they look like that? Are they... cross-eyed?

It also really bugs me that the Angara are so bow-legged. They look awkward when they walk around, and it's hard to suspend my disbelief through all this.

I think I just expect more from the creators of the original trilogy than this. The Angara look like a first draft for an alien race in a game with a fraction of the budget this game had. They aren't bad, per se - just not up to snuff with what I know BioWare is capable of.

Anyway, I continue on... slightly disturbed, but undeterred.

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Psychonauts 2 Is Sweet

 Martin · 3 years

I've been picking my way through Psychonauts 2 ever since it came out, and aside from gathering all the game's collectibles, I'm finally nearing the end of the game. It's been a fun ride so far, and I feel like the premise of the game - going into people's minds to help them sort out hang-ups - has aged extremely well.

I really like this game. The story is fun, the levels are diverse and interesting, the art and music are top-notch, and the heart of the game is just genuinely sweet. This game is a triumph for Double Fine!

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Day & Night 2

 Martin · 3 years

After a couple of days goofing around with this, I think it's in a pretty decent place. It now has dynamic clouds, drawn in 3D, and a moon that has phases!

I might come back and clean things up later, but for now, this is fine. My project doesn't even have anything to do with any of this stuff, it's just for the background!

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Re-starting Mass Effect: Andromeda

 Martin · 3 years

Years after my original attempt at playing through Mass Effect: Andromeda, I'm back at it. I've started playing the game in earnest after finishing the original trilogy once more, via the Legendary Edition.

So far, so good, I suppose. I'm not very far yet - I'm on the first proper planetary expedition at Eos - and I haven't yet caught up to where I was when I quit the first time, which I believe was at the end of that sequence.

I replaced my dopey male Ryder with this one.

I didn't quit my first attempt because I disliked the game. Rather, it just didn't grab me the same way the original trilogy did, and some other game came out soon after (Fallout 4?) and I lost interest entirely.

I don't really hate anything yet, but there are a lot of little things about the game that are sort of collectively annoying:

  • I don't like how virtually everyone in the game is young. As far as the story is concerned, it makes some sense, but it doesn't feel like Mass Effect because of that.
  • The idea that the game's pseudo-narrator AI, SAM, has to be fused to your character's mind in order to save them from death is dumb.
  • The Frostbite engine (along with BioWare's stable of graphic artists) is capable of some amazing visuals - but it sure didn't seem ready to take on the close-ups required for a game like this. I especially don't like the way the Krogan and Salarian NPC's look, compared to their original Unreal counterparts.
  • The exploration camera's FOV is too high, and it creates a fisheye effect when you're running around exploring.
  • There are too many points/currencies/etc. going on for purchasing new equipment and upgrades. It's very confusing.
  • Combat seems accidentally difficult at 30fps.

A friend of mine, who played through the game when it launched, assures me that Andromeda is actually a decent game that just got a bad wrap. I might come away with that opinion too. But it's too early to say.

Anyway, I'll continue playing and will report back as I go. Reviewing old games is fun!

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Chalk It Up 2021 Final

 Martin · 3 years

I spent 8 hours on the pavement today, creating a chalk art drawing for Chalk It Up 2021. I'll have a set of photos up on a more formal project page soon, but here's how the final thing turned out!

It looks small because the square is so large - about 8 feet squared. I wish I could fill in more, but I don't like working on these across multiple days.

Now, it's time to nurse myself back to health. My left hand is tingling and I'm very likely sunburned. So it goes!

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