protowlf

@protowlf@mastodon.gamedev.place

indie game dev, formerly AAA | Programmer and 3D artist | funding expensive coffee habits | 🏳️‍🌈🐺 | No NFTs / AI | banner by NomaxArt

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protowlf, to vr

Nobody asked, but re: VR discourse(TM) and motion sickness:

When devs talk about most people getting sick from sliding-motion VR games, I see others "agree", but then immediately reinforce the problem.

Like, suggesting it's an "onboarding" issue, or we need to label "enthusiast" VR games.

It's very frustrating.

The best experiences (by far!) I've had in VR were built for it, and play to the medium's strengths. Hot take, I know.

Why even flirt with making players hurl?
1/3

protowlf, to Unreal

Spout output is working! Here it is in OBS.

You get pixel-perfect transparency. Also switched to the forward renderer to enable MSAA.

video/mp4

protowlf,

@_benui There is an existing Spout plugin for UE4: https://github.com/AleDel/Spout-UE4
I updated it for UE5 and played with different ways to get transparency working, ultimately most of the work was done by the plugin.

As @agersant said the game is Ballistic NG, very good game!

protowlf, to gamedev

A little thread about options menus.

Maybe you've played PC games with great options menus and thought, “why doesn’t every game just do this?”

Lots of reasons, but I’d argue the big one is: it’s hard.

Not sure how well-known this is by gamers, but options menus are a notoriously challenging feature. They somehow steal months of engineers’ time, every time.

On the face of it it’s simple. Add a widget, it sets an integer for an option, done.

Well, let's break it down.

🧵 (1/5)

protowlf,

Think graphics options. Some should change instantly, but others should require an “apply”, like resolution options.

Okay, we have an intermediate state where the value is set but not applied.

Wait, what if something outside the menu changes something?

We need a manager class separate from the menu, the menu is a layer on top.

Let's let users set/revert/apply options. Load/save to file. Ooh we need different types, events.

The feature-katamari is already growing…
(2/5)

video/mp4

protowlf,

Uh oh, we can’t let the user set any option to any value. Fullscreen mode changes resolution options. V-Sync isn’t always available. We have presets.

Options menus are a perfect storm of UX pitfalls. They get confusing.

Fine, we make a system where options can depend on others. Need more events, handle menu changes, handle applied changes, run logic based on each option’s needs...

Wait how are we defining these options? Hope we’re not hard-coding them. Should make that data-driven.
(3/5)

video/mp4

protowlf,

It spirals from there. And various options have special needs.

You might throw in the towel and say, “let’s just hand-script each option.”

If you’re a console game, maybe you can! But oops, the dream of a good options menu is dead.
(4/5)

protowlf,

Anyway, I just released an Unreal plugin solving this junk. Check it out!

It started as an options plugin, and evolved into a general save data tool, because these lessons apply to other data too.

It's some of the better engineering I've done, I'm really happy with.

It was also made to solve specific challenges for my VTuber app! But more on that later...

(5/5)
https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/proto-profiles-options

protowlf,

@MrBehemo Thanks!

Hopefully it gives you everything you need. If you run into issues let me know.

protowlf, to unrealengine

New Unreal plugin RELEASED! 🎉

It's called PROTO Profiles & Options

If your Unreal game saves any data or options to file, I just spent the last 4 months building the perfect tool for you!😃

Marketplace Link: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/proto-profiles-options

video/mp4

protowlf,

Based on advice from several friends, I settled on $80 for this one. It's a BIG plugin.

If you have questions or feedback let me know! Happy to answer.

This video is a brief introduction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F9CLWVjhNY

_benui, to random
@_benui@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    protowlf,

    @_benui Pretty great loot!

    protowlf, to unrealengine

    With recent Unity news...

    Is now a good time to mention I'm making a VTuber app in Unreal? 👀

    Video showcasing a cel shaded anthro wolf avatar. Head tracking and lip-synching. Cycling through a few animation poses.

    protowlf, to ZBrush

    My take on @gamutfeathers 's behemoth Elwen

    Based on a concept he posted a while back on twitter.

    protowlf, to unrealengine

    Unreal Devs!

    Do you need to print out or animate TEXT?

    My plugin adding support for this is currently 50% off on the marketplace!
    https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/proto-animated-text

    video/mp4

    protowlf, to Furry

    First render of the new unnamed-fox.

    Model is for an upcoming game project.

    protowlf, to Furry

    Focus Attack

    Made this to celebrate 1k followers on twitch! 🎉

    Thanks for being an awesome community.

    protowlf, to Furry

    I heard it's international tiger day 🐯

    Some older renders of this guy.

    image/jpeg

    protowlf, to Furry

    All the twitch emotes I've done so far for the channel.

    Some of these are animated! See them here: https://imgur.com/a/f2LeGBZ

    protowlf, to random

    Cleaning up my desktop and discovered this thing we made on stream weeks ago.

    The default cube is enormous.

    protowlf, to random

    protopet

    video/mp4

    protowlf, to random

    Another big Mastodon influx is happening. Hi!

    I'm an indie gamedev and 3d artist. Floofy furry boys are neat. Also I'm releasing Unreal plugins and writing tutorials sometimes.

    I recently got active on twitch and am streaming every weekday: https://www.twitch.tv/protowlf

    I hope you enjoy Mastodon.

    video/mp4

    protowlf, to gamedev

    By the way, I'm a little self conscious of being too negative of . I don't want to give the wrong impressive.

    Unreal is AMAZING. Wow. What incredible tech to put in our hands.

    It's just whenever you find a part of it that's underdeveloped or buggy, you get this bewildering feeling, like "how could this be the way that it is?"

    All game engines are like this as far as I've seen. Shippable code isn't pretty. And NOBODY has written a perfect FBX importer

    protowlf,

    And then you go and see two CPP files: SkeletalRenderGPUSkin.cpp and SkeletalRenderCPUSkin.cpp

    And you think "Yeah alright CPU skinning is done in the second file"

    YOU FOOL. YOU LET YOUR GUARD DOWN.

    protowlf, to random

    Pretty disappointed with Unreal and the state of UE4 :(

    UE4.27 is a great opportunity to support a long-term stable version of the engine. Yet after 2 days following (incomplete, conflicting) documentation to get 4.27 from source compiling, I actually can't do it. I'm giving up.

    Different visual studio installs, various SDK versions tried from echos and whispers on old forum responses. I still get inexplicable errors.

    I guess I have to move to 5.2, which makes no sense for my project.

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