my first website
3D platformer feel
my first website
3D platformer feel
i gotta be honest i have no fucking idea what i'm doing.
i'm currently studying biology at university and i'm totally enjoying that but at the same time i feel like i'm not even trying to do anything for myself. recently i've been watching some old smosh videos and something kinda resonated with me about how genuine everyone was. they were being creative, making stuff that they wanted, being little goofballs. honestly i haven't found my people yet so it feels a bit disheartening to be here on my own just kinda waiting for an excuse to go outside like the societies i've joined.
i want to make shit! but at the same time i don't. it's fucking weird that my brain simultaneously can obsess over really cool projects but then instead want to not do them and watch youtube instead.
i want to make more shrines here! i love sharing things that i love but for some reason the pseudoregalia shrine has been stuck in limbo FOREVER. i think it's because the blue fire and pseudoregalia shrines really are stories i'm telling, hence the scrapbookish theme. once that's done I'LL GET TO IT SOON I SWEEAAARRR then i can start doing some cooler shit.
i want to embark on some more modding projects! hyper light breaker just released and i've been enjoying digging into that but i'm lacking inspiration for stuff to make for it, especially since the game's in a rough state currently. i can probably make some balance modifications for now like removing boss minions but the custom breaker framework might need some cooking time. custom weapons and modifications and danger level events would be fun to do and i reckon that might be easier and more functional too.
unsurprisingly, different games implement the same mechanics in different ways. in a genre revolving around simple ones those must feel good - however what's perfect for one character or dev will be different for another. i did a study of all the 3D platformers i own to find these different perspectives
higher accelerations increase responsiveness but making them too high can stretch believability. umbra treads this line since he reaches max speed in 1560/9000 = 0.17 seconds - that's half sybil's 550/1600 = 0.34 seconds! (using MaxWalkSpeed and MaxAcceleration in the player blueprints).
max speeds will also change responsiveness but in more of a sweet spot way - high values sacrifice precision while low ones sacrifice the player's patience. max speeds can also change e.g going down a slope or sprinting you'll be able to go faster than you could walking on flat ground.
turning is also involved in this responsiveness balance as characters shouldn't be able to make sharp turns instantly. again, umbra shows how light a character can feel if this is the case. to acknowledge this, most games will have some sort of skid state or animation if you make too extreme a turn. but even for less extreme turns characters like sev and mario have lower turn rates (and accelerations) to sell their heft.
you can't really fall backwards if you didn't start going backwards. but that can make mistakes feel more punishing, so many characters don't change how turning works in the air e.g hat kid. even when this is changed, it's only slightly muted so that you can still
in terms of jump arcs you'd probably assume that all jumps would just follow parabolic motion (a symmetrical curve) like in real life. honestly, if not for this blog post i wouldn't have noticed raz's gravity in psychonauts 2 at the peak of his jump is lower to allow for better precision. while i can understand this, ultimately it may be overengineering a problem which didn't need solving.
| game | character | ground acceleration | turn rate | skid | air acceleration | air rotation | air turn rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| the big catch | caster | high | high | yes | high | none but looks back | cannot go backwards |
| super kiwi 64 | kiwi | high | instant | no | high | high | instant |
| metro gravity | stephanie | low | instant | no | medium | delayed | medium |
| celeste 64 | madeline | high | medium | yes | high | none | low |
| blazing dynamo | bucket | high | instant | only when sprinting | high | instant | low |
| psychonauts | raz | high | instant | animation | high | instant | low |
| corn kidz 64 | sev | medium | low | yes | medium | delayed | medium |
| pseudoregalia | sybil | high | instant | yes | high | high | medium |
| blue fire | umbra | high | instant | no | high | yes | instant |
| mario odyssey | mario | low | low | yes | high | high | low |
| a hat in time | hat kid | high | instant | animation | high | none | high |
| spyro reignited trilogy | spyro | high | instant | animation | high | medium | high |
if you didn't know i am half british and half chinese. have been all my life funnily enough and i think it's granted me a very unique cultural perspective.
because my dad couldn't speak mandarin (also because my mum was at home less) i didn't speak mandarin at home although i did go to a "chinese school" every week to learn the language. the school was a place where chinese families could meet and chat while the kids learnt. i always felt out of place because i was the only one who didn't have black hair (which is weird because every other half'n half person i know does) and i personally don't feel i look very chinese anyway, although according to other people and a face ai i do. i definitely wouldn't have the confidence to join any chinese clubs at my uni since i'd definitely feel alienated.
i can speak mandarin fairly well and can hold a conversation with anyone who speaks standard mandarin but definitely have more to be desired in terms of language ability because i couldn't speak it at home. this hurts how well i can connect with my chinese family - although many speak in dialects which sound completely alien anyway. of course i love them very much but i do feel slightly disconnected, not only because of my background but also because i'm not considered part of the main family line (i don't have the surname).
i had two very different cooking styles in my household: my dad served cauliflower cheese, casserole, pies and sausages while my mum brought noodles, rice, dumplings, 粥 and 粽子 to the table. i loved this and i think it really sucks that most families don't have as large a range of dishes. it also meant i didn't hate vegetables like the rest of the people in this country because i had stir-fried vegetables. COOK YOUR FUCKING VEGETABLES DON'T PUT THEM IN A SALAD.
i was able to experience both cultures simultaneously which was very cool. i know quite a few immigrant families don't celebrate a lot of festivals like bonfire night, halloween and christmas and obviously most british families don't celebrate 春节, 中秋节, 端午节 or 清明节 so i felt very priveliged to be able to both trick or treat and make dumplings with good company
i honestly don't think the uk's a very racist place, at least where i'm from. of course there's the whole 'ching chong' stuff that happens on the playground in primary school but other than that i haven't experienced anything and neither have any of my not-ethnically-british friends as far as i know.
funniest story i got from it was getting asked if i was mixed race by a drunk chinese lady at a corner shop at 3 am where i just bought some ginger beer
well this is my first post on my first website! ISN'T THAT COOL? i think i've always wanted a little outlet to just talk about stuff i love that no-one else really gives a shit about.
i initially heard about neocities from a great video about the indie web - i wholeheartedly agree that the mainstream internet has regressed and want to be a part of this lovely community. i've always been a big believer that the internet is for collaboration and sharing, especially in regards to open source software and learning resources. additionally, despite being born in the 2000s i missed the entirety of the early internet so i thought that this would be a nice way to try and experience it.
in terms of what i actually want this website to be i want it to be a place i can ramble about my interests, dump my thoughts and document my hobbies. one thing i really don't want to do is add to the pile of unoriginal trash that already exists here this should be a place which is completely, absolutely, truly mine
what will i actually do here then?
thank you neocities!