3D Platformer Update - NO CAPES

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:01]Yo, what up? Hello. It is me. It is I, Solar Loon. It's been a little while since the last stream.

[00:00:08]Um and it's been a Well, not it's been a little while since the last stream. I'm starting over, man.

[00:00:13]>> [laughter] >> No, hi. I'm Solar Luna. I'm an independent game developer uh and I'm the creator of this game that I've been working on for the past uh little while, past few months. Uh it is a 3D platformer.

[00:00:25]And it is made entirely uh from scratch almost. Uh it's it's going pretty good.

[00:00:31]Also, this is in the shot.

[00:00:34]Uh but yeah, hi. Uh so yeah, I just wanted to make a little update video.

[00:00:38]Uh so I just there's a variety of new things.

[00:00:43]Um added this little cape, which is kind of cool, kind of a cool little detail on main character. Um I have been working on level geometry a lot and it's looking and feeling pretty good pretty solid.

[00:00:55]Uh found a uh method of making levels that works for me, works pretty well.

[00:01:01]Um I implemented or or Well, yeah, I implemented uh mesh deformed animation, like uh like blending mesh like shape keys or or morphing animation uh into this 3D engine that I'm a 3D renderer that I'm using for this game, which is PS1 kind of styled.

[00:01:19]>> [music] >> So, now I can do that.

[00:01:25]Previously, that was just like not really possible to do with bones, not really a video a lot of bones.

[00:01:31]Uh this is much better. So, yeah, very nice. And uh we got a part of particle effect that looks pretty good.

[00:01:38]Just have to adjust it when it's when the water's on, but yeah, not bad. So, the idea is basically you flip a switch, then you can raise the water level or lower [music] the water level depending on whether the water is on or not.

[00:01:49]Um which is important because now when you walk into water, you move slowly.

[00:01:53]You have a little splash animation when you're like half in, but then when you're fully dis emerged, you move slow.

[00:02:00]Um may maybe that's a little too slow.

[00:02:04]I also added a new running animation, uh so you can walk or kind of just run and then you can sprint.

[00:02:11]Um and I'm using the same mesh deform animation code on the water, uh the same mesh animation system system as on the cape. So, you can see the cape gets more uh it goes out more as he runs.

[00:02:31]Looks pretty smooth. I just need I I need like a waving effect cuz it looks just kind of stiff.

[00:02:38]Like like it getting uh wavy or it, you know, moving upwards looks really good, but then it still needs to wave. So, I got to figure out how I'm going to how I'm going to do that. Um I added the ability to spawn a ring, the like rebound ring. So, when you jump off of something and land on it, you jump up the same distance. So, I added the ability to spawn that. I'm not sure if I want to keep that or not. Um but so far so far that's how it works. And overall, it's this is feeling like super super good.

[00:03:11]Added this little uh flip kick for a little extra distance. I I don't know how I feel about it.

[00:03:18]It's not animated as well as I would like, and I'm not sure if I even like the idea of having it cuz I kind of want the idea of super kind of like committal platforming, and this just kind of lets you escape some things um that you would otherwise, you know, have to like live with. But at the same time, it also allows you to do stuff like that where you can kind of like skip um things that are kind of slow where you would have to jump up a little bit more slowly. You can just get in there much more quickly the flip kick with uh proper speed.

[00:03:56]Like that.

[00:03:57]Um I've also been tweaking the the movement a little bit where he feels like he accelerates more slowly and especially on the ground. So, again, it's more committal. Um so, you can't just like jump from a standstill and hit this that uh that rail that rod.

[00:04:16]It's just you need more more speed. So, you can't like you have to actually like intentionally move. But you have a little bit of an ability to like adjust your movement in the air. So, it's not like you have no ability, you have no uh options, but it's a nice middle ground where it feels like you have to kind of like get a running start. You can't just like jump into things.

[00:04:41]I think yeah, pretty I'm pretty pretty happy with that where it's like, "Okay, you have to actually like maintain momentum." And I think that's the kind of the the goal is to maintain maintain momentum as you traverse this uh the the course. And that's the idea behind every level is basically like, "How do I get to certain places? How do I do certain things?"

[00:05:04]I feel like there's uh there's kind of a uh a mixture of like Tony Hawk um Mario 64 kind of a thing where it's like you could I could make a game where the goal is to kind of like make certain jumps. And so, you have to kind of like see how to get there and and when to get there.

[00:05:25]Um yeah, I feel like there's there's things I could do to make this game really fun.

[00:05:30]And overall, so far it's it's solid.

[00:05:32]Running running pretty well.

[00:05:34]Uh not the best, but none of this geometry is like merged or anything.

[00:05:39]It's just blocks and stuff. So, once the level's done, then I can merge everything together and make it uh perform a lot better.

[00:05:47]But yeah, have some interior stuff, which is good.

[00:05:51]Interiors and and things like that. So, I'm I'm planning to like flesh this out with enemies and and switches and stuff like that.

[00:06:00]So, overall, I'm I'm pretty happy with it. Um there's probably other things I'm missing, too, but overall, this is looking and feeling really good. Uh just working on the API for Tetra 3D and making changes, making things work better.

[00:06:14]Uh and I'm really happy with it. I'm really happy with it.

[00:06:18]Yeah, it's it's smooth, man. It's smooth. It's not perfect. There's still like some collision stuff I need to fix, but uh this is really solid. It feels very smooth in a way that uh I I don't really see too many games kind of feel.

[00:06:37]He feels like heavy, but uh like fast. He's he feels like a a charging dude.

[00:06:58]Yeah, so I'm happy with this. Overall, this is really good. Feels like a PlayStation 1.5 game.

[00:07:03]Like what would have happened if the PS2 was like weaker.

[00:07:07]Or the PS1 had some more graphical oomph.

[00:07:10]Um but yeah, I'm pretty happy with this.

[00:07:12]And yeah, that's that's kind of it.

[00:07:13]There's not really much else to say. Uh just working on yeah, Tetra 3D, working on stuff. Working on the API to make it easier to use. Something I added recently, just like yesterday.

[00:07:26]Previously, like you could queue up animations.

[00:07:30]Where it's like, "Oh, play this animation and then queue another animation." So, that when the first one's done, then if the other one plays.

[00:07:36]And then I thought, "Well, it probably would be better to maybe maybe make it so that you can play an animation and then do something. So, I can say for example, play an animation and then and then like run this function to do something.

[00:07:54]So, I can say like, oh, you know, after the animation, every time it loops, then do this or or after the animation finishes, then you know, run into another animation.

[00:08:03]And [music] just a nice helper function for that is just then play by name. So, basically, you can run a function or you can play an animation either by name or a pointer.

[00:08:13]So, that's cool because that allows you to chain things. That allows you to do things like after an animation finishes, you know, play a sound or or switch to a different state that kind of stuff.

[00:08:25]And that's something I'm doing a lot, you know, in this uh in this uh uh kind of movement state machine. As you can see, like I when you enter the swing animation, it plays the swing animation, the player swing animation. And then when it's done, on update every frame, I'm checking is it done playing this animation essentially. Now, I can just do this.

[00:08:52]And then put this stuff here like that.

[00:08:59]Which feels I think feels feels better.

[00:09:03]And it should just work. We'll see.

[00:09:10]Yeah.

[00:09:13]Yeah, exactly. So, I mean like that's that's cool. I like that. And I think that's kind of the the cool thing about um about this kind of game is that it's fully moddable. So, people can, you know, make their own content.

[00:09:27]They can make their own game entirely from this.

[00:09:30]Um but like I like making an API and being like, it could be better, and you know, I want this to be smoother. I want this to be more comfortable, you know, what is it what's the experience for me as the developer and trying to figure out a way that makes it that you know, trying to figure out something that makes it more comfortable, makes it makes it easier.

[00:09:48]And this is better. This is just like, oh yeah, that would be that's a cool system. That's something that that's the way I would want it to be if I was making a game which I am. So, it's cool.

[00:09:58]I I like working on the API and making it comfortable and uh you know, working on the performance and you know, making it just better, making it better.

[00:10:08]It feels like the kind of thing I would want it to be and how I would want it to work.

[00:10:15]So, anyway, yeah, thank you very much for watching. That's it. There's not too much more just slowly making kind of like incremental progress.

[00:10:24]Um Yeah, that's about it.

[00:10:30]That's about it, I suppose. So, we'll see. I'll keep working on this and I'll keep streaming and stuff. Maybe I'll do a like an early access thing on like Patreon or something.

[00:10:40]Um I cuz I think it would be cool to allow or maybe not even Patreon. Maybe I'll just put it out early access for for anybody. Cuz I think it would be it would be cool to get some feedback on how it you know, how people are using it or or if people think it's useful or you know, if they would even want to make a game or mod you know, in levels for this.

[00:11:05]Um Yeah, so I'm working on it. I'm working on it. I'm working on it. Anyway, but yeah, thank you very much for watching. I've been Solar Solar Loon.

[00:11:14]It's been real. I'll catch you guys on the flip side next time and yeah, see you.