Adding NPCs with Random Personalities to my Indie Game (Devlog)

In this indie game devlog I completely redesign Lumbermill's hiring and personality systems to make the experience of finding new staff more satisfying. I've also started work on a new art style for the game, keeping the isometric style but aiming to make the game feel more cohesive. More of the new art style to come in the next devlog!

▶︎ About BWDev ◀︎

If you're new to the channel, welcome! I'm an Indie Game developer working in Unity 2D. Lumbermill is my main project - a management/factory builder game, which I began work on in Feb 2019. I make videos to share the development process and also get feedback - so let me know your thoughts and ideas in the comments!

▶︎ Socials ◀︎

▶︎ Timestamps ◀︎

0:00 - Intro
0:18 - Staff Statuses
0:47 - Conveyor Animations
1:30 - Brilliant (Sponsor)
2:20 - Current Hiring System
3:19 - New Hiring System
5:30 - Applicants
6:33 - Moving to Scotland
6:58 - Personalities
8:15 - Job Offers & Negotiation
8:59 - Full Hiring Overview
9:51 - Employee Names
10:04 - Improved Pathfinding
10:30 - New Art Style

▶︎ Music ◀︎

All the music in Lumbermill devlogs is from the game's soundtrack, except for:

🎵 Chiapas Marimba by Jimena Contreras, Youtube Audio Library

FTC: This video was sponsored by Brilliant.

#devlog #gamedev #unity

[dm]

To me visual's are something that make or break a game, as they piece together the mechanics in a way the player can feel and interact with. The changing of the grass, in my opinion is excellent. It adds an amazing layer of polish to the game and you should be very proud. This is shaping up to look like an amazing game.

[lmmy_k]

In my opinion, if you're looking for a little bit more variation, you could have stone patches where trees can't grow, change their size randomly too but keep them far apart to have enough room to automate tree chopping and such.
It's really nice to see lumbermill devlogs again!

[GonziHere]

the grass art is incredible change.
And I'm hoping that the negotiation won't stop with the first decline. For example:
guy wants 100, is willing to work for 80, you offer 70, he declines and adds the difference to his lowest value, so his new lowest is 90 or whatever... and you go on as long as you are undercutting his expectations, or until his lowest reaches the asking price...
This way, you are actually negotiating, you can learn some reasonable price ranges, etc. overtime and you don't loose talent because you weren't willing to offer the full price.

[blauw]

I think it would be fun if the employees you've hired would arrive by parachuting out of some dinky plane that flies over the entire map in 1 direction. Or multiple jumping out at the in a line if you've hired multiple in one go from a single campaign

[olivierdemers]

Love the new hiring mechanics ! I think it could be nice to also have the option to offer more than what the applicant is asking for. This could give a random chance of increasing one of the stats. The employee could be "Wow, for that amount I'll work extra hard !" and get +1 in ethics for instance. Sometimes you get no bonus stats, and just overpay an employee so you have to take a gamble each time !

[SuperDutchrutter]

I think the paths would also be improved with intermittent darker patches like you did for the grass

[SamSam-dsny]

I think the grass could use a little bit more color (saturation, maybe some blue shades), some little flower patches, even ?

[samllea]

I'm so excited for when this comes out!! Just looks like such a chill game, something I think would be cool thought, is a tiny random offset to the trees to fix the plain tiling look. Great job!!

[puzzlick]

I think it looks great so far, but I feel like it might feel a bit empty. Maybe a couple of rocks, bushes or rabbits could fit nicely in

[lastSKYsamurai]

Also I want to just say the redesigned trees look great! Everything’s looking super neat!

Lastly, any chance you could leave us with a vertical slice playthrough at the end of your next video.

It’d be super fun to see a peak of things in one liner slice with a bit of commentary. After so much time it’s not easy to remember how all the bits & pieces mesh together as a whole.

Thank you Ben 🙌🏼

[cidcid]

New grass looks really good, i think that the less blue toned colors for all your plants makes them look less fake, nice job!

[pwyounggamedev]

Ironic timing on this video. I was just watching your last video wondering about a new update, and then boom! I see this. Lol. Updates look great. Glad to see someone giving lots of update on an isometric pixel art sim game. Keep up the great work! The art is looking great!

[Bobplayrox]

Glad to see you're back! Watching this game slowly grow over the years has been amazing.

[Nicolas-idfh]

Crazy to think i've been following this project for over 5 years now! love to see how far it's came, keep up the great work and don't feel pressure to "finish" it, just take it at your own pace and keep making great videos man

[Chesterr]

The grass change is excellent, as a small detail you could add some clouds that float past the sides of the screen, and more importantly; what would add HEAPS of life and movement to the world, is cloud shadows across the landscape.

[zerofirex]

Absolutely excellent work man. The game is coming out absolutely fantastic. The updated trees and grass tiles look great as well as the UI changes. Have you considered adding grass tiles that have longer grass on them that are animated to look as if they are swaying with the wind? I feel like that might add an extra level of coziness to the overall feel of the game. Maybe adding grass tiles that have different flower variations as well although I don't know if that will start extending passed the aesthetic you already have in mind. Either way, great job! Looking forward to playing it!

[GamesBySaul]

Interesting video Ben! Good luck with the Masters too! I think the idea of negotiating with hiring staff is super nice! Looking forward to seeing what kinda weird teams I could put together :D

[SZvenM]

Awesome stuff, as always. UI design in particular I find super interesting in video games, and I think your systems are quite nice, though the inconsistent pixel sizes are definitely still a bit of an eyesore. Do you plan on making more detailed character portraits for the UI view of the employees?

[enigmaticcat]

Glad to see you back! The new employment screen is great, definitely a huge improvement. Would you consider adding full-on "3D" grass to add some more depth to the environment? And have a little wriggle animation whenever lumberjacks walk through it?

[kingkeesietv]

7:00 it shouldn't be worst and better it should be less and more. For variety, after all its the players choice who they hire in the end, also a hint of luck. Also it should cost double and triple if you pick 2 or 3 different types