SpacePirate Ridley
Member
Pahesse tutorials are amazing!
What size of brush do you use (and size of character)?
What size of brush do you use (and size of character)?
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GAF Indie Game Development Thread 2: High Res Work for Low Res Pay
- Thread starter Jacksinthe
- Start date
- Status
Exactly my situation.
I'm considering asking to go down in hours so I can at least work one day a week on my own stuff. Either that or using holiday days so I can take every Friday off for a few months.
Mystic River
Member
I'm glad for you man, I know what a slow compile time is. Congrats. Honestly, I think that rewriting all of the assets just because you changed/added one was just dumb.
GM also has a test-friendly compile mode. As you said, performance is irregular, and in GM you also get blurry graphics every now and then. Once you compile for good that doesn't happen anymore.
By the way, finished fixing that shadow thing:
I should probably add a transition animation between the walk pose and the oh-fuck-i'm-falling pose.
for me looks fine without any transition, sometimes having faster things moving makes the gameplay better...
That'd be cool too.
Thanks!
I'm using a 2500x2500 canvas for the drawings/painting, then reducing to a 600x600 square for exporting the frame, before cropping further in Construct 2, finally reducing the sprite size to something like 320x500 or something.
As for brushes, I'm using a "brush" from Frenden's inking brushset: http://frenden.com/post/39394983582/custom-photoshop-inking-and-pencilling-brushes - best 5 dollars you'll ever spend if you ever plan to ink in photoshop.
For size, I use about 30 for sketching, and around 13-15 for lining. I *hate* using smaller than 10 brushes, I'd rather work on a larger canvas and reduce the result lots to get thinner lines.
Pehesse, you should consider making your own book some time.
Or if you have infinite free time and hate money, putting it on the web for free I guess.
Thanks guys
You're giving me too much credit, though. Honey is the first project I've done 2D animation for, so I'm learning everything as I go - hell, learning animation was actually one of my reasons for doing Honey, I only had *very* limited experience before that. I'm doing it like this because it's really the only way I know! As a matter of fact, I'd be *very* interested to see others post about their own animation process, especially yours, Jobbs. I wanted to post about the coloring process for the idle... but I was so focused on the idea to take screencaps of the process, I kind of forgot to actually take screencaps of the process. Sorry about that! I'll screencap the next one I'll color, though there isn't really much to the process.
Here's what the final result looks like for the idle, anyway:
Basically, it's all about getting your flat colors in (either brushing for small parts or using the lasso tool), then getting the shades (using the mask layers I mentioned in the previous post), then finally the gradients (basic round color gradients, with overlay mode).
For BB I'm using four different layers: one for the skin, then 3 different layers of detail. I generally try to put on the same layer the colors that are not directly adjacent to each other, so I can mask-paint with big brushes without worrying about painting what's next to what I'm currently painting. It helps limiting the amount of layers you have (one layer per color would be wayyyy too much).
The last important thing to note about this process is the framerate/playback rate. Since I use C2, I can directly time each indivual frame in the engine, so I sometimes actually cut on some inbetweening and tweak the screentime of some frames instead. It also allows to have more leeway for acceleration/deceleration and overall nice rhythm for your stuff, even if you don't have all the *right* inbetweens.
And that's about it, really!
Agreed! Unless you'd make this sort of transition animation cancellable/skippable, I think it works fine the way it is.
Jacksinthe
Banned
80+ followers so far for you guys in just a few days. Lots are devs from here but I keep RTing and work is being seen by a wider audience so that is a positive.
Keep giving @DevGAF stuff to RT and it will keep growing.
I'm going to try and target some specific tags. I have noticed #gamedev and #indiedev get lots of love but only when nowlt strung with a million other tags.
So keep in mind to use those 2 and when DevGAF RTs it will use more tailored tags in a quote to help spread it further.
Keep giving @DevGAF stuff to RT and it will keep growing.
I'm going to try and target some specific tags. I have noticed #gamedev and #indiedev get lots of love but only when nowlt strung with a million other tags.
So keep in mind to use those 2 and when DevGAF RTs it will use more tailored tags in a quote to help spread it further.
electroflame
Member
Quick update on this in case someone else has the same issue.
Installing IE 11 worked. It sucks that I lose my "real-browser" testing for IE 8, but I guess the simulated IE 8 in IE 11 will have to work.
Interestingly, this seems to be a 100% artificial roadblock. In VS 2015 there are two ways to sign in: a sign in button and an 'Add account' button. I could sign in with the 'Add account' button perfectly with IE 8, but the 'Sign in' button didn't work at all. So, to recap, the 'Sign in' button is the one you have to use to do the forced sign-in, and that button itself is used to force you to update to IE 11 before it'll even work.
So, thankfully, I did the sign in and logged out and it'll let me keep the license for half a year. I'm still annoyed that for whatever reason Microsoft wants me to A.) always be signed in to an IDE and B.) failing that, have me sign in at least twice a year. I guess I can't be too surprised given Microsoft fairly-recent downward trajectory in terms of user-friendliness and privacy protection, though.
But, whatever, at least I'm back up and running.
Jacksinthe
Banned
May the force be with you
Green Yoshi
Member
I played today Deliver Us The Moon at the Indie Arena of gamescom:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bwwUvWGo80
Looks really interesting. It uses Unreal Engine 4 and is inspired by the movie Moon from Duncan Jones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bwwUvWGo80
Looks really interesting. It uses Unreal Engine 4 and is inspired by the movie Moon from Duncan Jones.
I'll be curious to see where you take this in the immediate future. I redid the animations for every character in the game when I first got Spine (though it was only ~15 at the time, compared to the nearly 100 right now).
What were you using previously?
That is a lot of good info, I've been quite frustrated by GMs room editor (lack of rectangle select of tiles so I can more them in one go)
I understand the shadow solution now, thanks for explaining.
By the way, finished fixing that shadow thing:
That looks really good
Grats, these tools are really powerfull. Should save you tons of effort vs photoshop.
Does stencyl have buildin support for this?
Not sure if this has been reported yet but the "Indie Dev Showcase"-google doc has the wrong image for "Infinite Blocker"
Whoops, you're right! Sorry about that. Should be fixed now!
Photoshop.
It wouldn't be practical to redo all of the old animations in Ghost Song. I may try to implement it to do huge enemies that wouldn't otherwise be practical. There's no current support but I'm told it's theoretically possible, so we may give it a shot.
I'm more interested in starting to learn it now because likely anything else I work on after Ghost Song will use it heavily.
Yeah, I know it's not practical. There's just a huge temptation. Or at least there was for me. I wasn't putting as much effort into animations as you have been previously.
TheHollowNight
Member
The true purpose for Beacon's existence
The true purpose for Beacon's existence
That's some amazing VR you got there, sir.
Icyflamez96
Member
omg i'm doing something
Jacksinthe
Banned
I feel generous today.
A quick sneak peek at the rail section you saw here:
http://gfycat.com/AlertAromaticGroundhog
But this is what it actually looks like:
http://gfycat.com/ThunderousSlimyCopperbutterfly
Felt like sharing the real thing with an alt-weapon in action - the snake thing. Don't have a name for it but it can wreck shit if you have enough energy stored.
A quick sneak peek at the rail section you saw here:
http://gfycat.com/AlertAromaticGroundhog
But this is what it actually looks like:
http://gfycat.com/ThunderousSlimyCopperbutterfly
Felt like sharing the real thing with an alt-weapon in action - the snake thing. Don't have a name for it but it can wreck shit if you have enough energy stored.
looks good. I like the mix of post effects with a simple pixel style. more enemies though please.
Jacksinthe
Banned
We have more enemies - a lot more in that section - i was just doing a comparison between the two gifs.
Quite a few more will be shown I just don't want to tease every one before we show a bunch in the trailer. We have bosses, minibosses, etc to show. Soon, we hope.
SeanNoonan
Member
Enjoying my new job and still finding the time to plug away on the Jack B. Nimble update. It's pretty crazy how much bigger and how much more polished this version is compared to the iOS version that's currently out there...
Really wish I updated more frequently; I feel that any following I had has gone by now
Really wish I updated more frequently; I feel that any following I had has gone by now
Jacksinthe
Banned
You can get it back. How's the new gig, anyhow?Enjoying my new job and still finding the time to plug away on the Jack B. Nimble update. It's pretty crazy how much bigger and how much more polished this version is compared to the iOS version that's currently out there...
Really wish I updated more frequently; I feel that any following I had has gone by now
I've been learning Unity, and I had to get a couple of things off my chest.
1) MonoDevelop is complete garbage. Fuck MonoDevelop.
2) Unity itself is buggy as hell. "OH FUCK THERE'S AN ERROR IN YOUR CODE, CAN'T COMPILE!" But there is no error. My code is fine. Close Unity, reopen it, and suddenly the error's gone.
I mean it makes a lot of stuff way easier than programming from scratch, but it sure can be frustrating as shit.
1) MonoDevelop is complete garbage. Fuck MonoDevelop.
2) Unity itself is buggy as hell. "OH FUCK THERE'S AN ERROR IN YOUR CODE, CAN'T COMPILE!" But there is no error. My code is fine. Close Unity, reopen it, and suddenly the error's gone.
I mean it makes a lot of stuff way easier than programming from scratch, but it sure can be frustrating as shit.
Jacksinthe
Banned
Its definitely a lot more unstable with 5.x
I think it was rushed out the door to answer against UE4.
Still working on this guy.
He has this combo of gun shots he does where he progressively destroys his own organic gun hand (I plan to tweak this further so the spread increases with each due to the change in the opening) and after that he has to spend a moment regenerating it.
http://www.gfycat.com/CluelessTastyInvisiblerail
Additionally, like other enemies of this classification, he can't be killed unless you hit him after inhaling spore gas. He's a bit different from the other enemies in that his own body is a constant source of the gas.
http://www.gfycat.com/HeavyCookedHamadryad
He has some short range moves to look out for, though, like a big stomp stun thingy.
He has this combo of gun shots he does where he progressively destroys his own organic gun hand (I plan to tweak this further so the spread increases with each due to the change in the opening) and after that he has to spend a moment regenerating it.
http://www.gfycat.com/CluelessTastyInvisiblerail
Additionally, like other enemies of this classification, he can't be killed unless you hit him after inhaling spore gas. He's a bit different from the other enemies in that his own body is a constant source of the gas.
http://www.gfycat.com/HeavyCookedHamadryad
He has some short range moves to look out for, though, like a big stomp stun thingy.
Geminosity
Member
Wow, looks like I've missed a lot since the last time I poked my head in here ^.^;
Awesome work as always though
So, the current game I'm working on (A local-only mulitplayer game) is pretty close to finished but I'm kind of scratching my head over how to deal with fullscreen and windowed...
* When starting the game for the very first time, do people prefer stuff windowed at a rez most things can handle like 1024 x 768 or is going to native resolution in fullscreen the better way?
* Do windowed people actually want it to remember the window size or is it better if it always pops to a default res when launched?
* Would it be a big deal if I just use native resolution whenever people fullscreen? I don't think my game's that intensive but I do wonder if people would want to run it lower.
* resizable window vs non-resizable
* borderless windows?
Any personal preferences as gamers or experience as devs on how you handled this in your games?
I never play stuff windowed so it's kind of alien territory for me, plus I don't know how much of a nightmare fullscreen is for people with multiple monitors
edit: For existing examples, I noticed that towerfall goes non-resizable window (but I don't remember if it starts fullscreen or windowed the first time you run it, I'm suspecting windowed) While thief-town has a resizable window but doesn't remember the size you left it at if you restart (I also can't remember if it went windowed or fullscreen on first run but again I suspect windowed )
Awesome work as always though
So, the current game I'm working on (A local-only mulitplayer game) is pretty close to finished but I'm kind of scratching my head over how to deal with fullscreen and windowed...
* When starting the game for the very first time, do people prefer stuff windowed at a rez most things can handle like 1024 x 768 or is going to native resolution in fullscreen the better way?
* Do windowed people actually want it to remember the window size or is it better if it always pops to a default res when launched?
* Would it be a big deal if I just use native resolution whenever people fullscreen? I don't think my game's that intensive but I do wonder if people would want to run it lower.
* resizable window vs non-resizable
* borderless windows?
Any personal preferences as gamers or experience as devs on how you handled this in your games?
I never play stuff windowed so it's kind of alien territory for me, plus I don't know how much of a nightmare fullscreen is for people with multiple monitors
edit: For existing examples, I noticed that towerfall goes non-resizable window (but I don't remember if it starts fullscreen or windowed the first time you run it, I'm suspecting windowed) While thief-town has a resizable window but doesn't remember the size you left it at if you restart (I also can't remember if it went windowed or fullscreen on first run but again I suspect windowed
)I prefer a game to take up my whole screen, even if that means huge pixels or black bars somewhere. It's the game telling me that I need to give it my whole attention, that it deserves my entire focus and is more than a minor dalliance.
But most PC games have options. Options are good too. All your questions can be answered personally with user settings.
But most PC games have options. Options are good too. All your questions can be answered personally with user settings.
electroflame
Member
Quick question for those of you using Unity (or C# in general, I suppose).
What do you use as your Event System/Messaging System (if you use one)?
I'm at the point where I really need to start locking down my core design decisions (it'll start getting exponentially more difficult to make sweeping changes pretty soon...), and a solid Event System is going to be part of that. Basically, I'm thinking something along the lines of:
Any thoughts/advice?
What do you use as your Event System/Messaging System (if you use one)?
I'm at the point where I really need to start locking down my core design decisions (it'll start getting exponentially more difficult to make sweeping changes pretty soon...), and a solid Event System is going to be part of that. Basically, I'm thinking something along the lines of:
- Typesafe
- Static/Globally accessible
- Performant
- Easy-to-use
Any thoughts/advice?
Candescence
Member
For 1), use Visual Studio.
JeffG
Member
Visual Studio is the answer for #1. #2 the answer is patience. After you save the class file it takes a sec for Unity to a) figure out something changed and b) recompile it
On my pc it takes ~5 sec for the console to report an error.
To clear an error on the console after you have fixed the code, you have to make Unity the "active" application by clicking on it. (after saving the file of course)
Icyflamez96
Member
I have a question about the OP description about Unity. It says steep learning curve if you're new to programming, but I thought Unity was supposed to be one of the more accessible software to use as far as that's concerned.
JeffG
Member
There is no way to get around writing some code. So if you don't know how to code you will hit a wall at some point.
GroundCombo
Member
Friends don't let friends use MonoDevelop. I'm using Sublime on Mac with Omnisharp and some other plugins, and it does pretty much everything I need.
Unity has actually become a lot more robust throughout the past year; it used to crash all the time, but I'm losing a lot less hair these days.
I ended up using this as a base in our project. It's rather simple and I haven't had any problems with it. One possible concern could be memory allocation for the event classes, but if you're passing enough messages for that to be a concern, there's probably something wrong with the architecture anyway. (Insert rant about how garbage-collecting managed languages are garbage and that we need support for a modern language with automatic scope tracking / reference counting)
Icyflamez96
Member
Not that i'm worried about any curve. I'm already full on board with learning Unity regardless. I consider it better if it actually has a steep learning curve.
I'm just confused at the statement, because I always heard that Unity was supposed to be more user friendly and capable for those who may not have strong coding skills.
It's speaking relative to options like GameMaker, and especially Stencyl, RPG Maker or Alice.
JeffG
Member
You can do a lot with the base product. Enough to make it look like a game is being made. But to take it to the next step will require some coding by someone.
(Jim Sterling has posted tons of videos commenting on developers who's "next step" is rather lame, but the products end up on steam anyways.)
You are either writing code or using code written by someone else (via the asset store) to create the specific rules for your game.
I am an asset store slut. I don't have a problem buying code for a couple of bucks if it saves me weeks/months of coding. (Especially if it deals with something I am weak on)
But I have written lots of code that works as "glue" to make everything work together as I want them to.
SeanNoonan
Member
Yeah, it's good. Early days obviously, but the team seems awesome so far. Star Citizen is super ambitious; hopefully my experience and input will go some way to help realise that potential.
It's also good being back in the UK. Comforts
New here, quick intro, friend of Pehesse (did same video games school together), indie dev as a hobby, professional career otherwise.
What I did when I was working on the early PC port of Puddle is start in windowed mode but make the well known shortcut (EDIT: Alt+Enter) to switch to fullscreen work well. What I mean by "work well" is no non sense freezing for ages like Source did a while ago. On Windows at least you can exploit the fact that a fullscreen borderless window will automatically hide the taskbar (exactly like VLC) so you just have to resize your viewport and window and that's it.
For the content itself, black bars are usually my preferred option just so everyone sees the same thing on screen. That also helps with authoring because you know some parts won't ever be seen by the player.
What I did when I was working on the early PC port of Puddle is start in windowed mode but make the well known shortcut (EDIT: Alt+Enter) to switch to fullscreen work well. What I mean by "work well" is no non sense freezing for ages like Source did a while ago. On Windows at least you can exploit the fact that a fullscreen borderless window will automatically hide the taskbar (exactly like VLC) so you just have to resize your viewport and window and that's it.
For the content itself, black bars are usually my preferred option just so everyone sees the same thing on screen. That also helps with authoring because you know some parts won't ever be seen by the player.
Welcome aboard!
For the record, I wouldn't have guessed Ctrl+Enter since I thought Alt+Enter was the standard fullscreen shortcut.
Welcome aboard!
For the record, I wouldn't have guessed Ctrl+Enter since I thought Alt+Enter was the standard fullscreen shortcut.
Yeah that's the one ! My bad
Jacksinthe
Banned
Welcome, speps!
Dude, that's amazing. I like the feeling of speed in that train section.
jimmythepage
Member
finished (nevermind still need so work) the idle animation, it should be a red bearded archer, hope it's recognizable enough xD
Geminosity
Member
Yeah, I'm definitely more of a fullscreen user myself :3
Most of the stuff I listed isn't traditionally user setting stuff though, at least not without having an obnoxious pop-up like the traditional Unity Launcher thingy which most games on Steam turn off (and as a user I'm not a fan of it hitting me in the face each time I launch either.)
Thankies
Oddly it seems that Alt+Enter works by default in a standalone Unity build so there's not much work for me to do regarding that (though it annoyingly doesn't resize when you going back to windowed via the shortcut, but I can intercept that and fix it at least
)I guess I'll probably start it windowed seeing as anyone can alt+enter for immediate fullscreen
Still not quite sure about resizable or not seeing as you can make some really awkward sizes (like super thin horizontally or vertically) plus you can accidentally scale it off the screen making it impossible to resize back, but I can imagine people who do play windowed wanting to resize and being miffed if I didn't let them (again, I don't play windowed so I don't really know for sure XD )
I thought they were wearing a knotted red scarf round their face and kneck, kind of like a bandit
Jacksinthe
Banned
- Status