Icyflamez96
Member
What's your game called?
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GAF Indie Game Development Thread 2: High Res Work for Low Res Pay
- Thread starter Jacksinthe
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What's your game called?
Okay, last small update from me before I go in and try to get something more substantial than animations.
Tried to make an animation that turns the character around, actually kind of proud of it. The slight shading on the back arm for the transition of the "front" arm to the "back" and vice versa sells it for me, though the leg is kind of funky.
I'll do some more substantial things and update you guys later on. I appreciate the feedback, keeps me pumped and energized to do stuff.
Tried to make an animation that turns the character around, actually kind of proud of it. The slight shading on the back arm for the transition of the "front" arm to the "back" and vice versa sells it for me, though the leg is kind of funky.
I'll do some more substantial things and update you guys later on. I appreciate the feedback, keeps me pumped and energized to do stuff.
Okay, last small update from me before I go in and try to get something more substantial than animations.
Tried to make an animation that turns the character around, actually kind of proud of it. The slight shading on the back arm for the transition of the "front" arm to the "back" and vice versa sells it for me, though the leg is kind of funky.
I'll do some more substantial things and update you guys later on. I appreciate the feedback, keeps me pumped and energized to do stuff.
Looks great. I don't even think the shading is necessary, personally. It's the way he shifts his weight that sells it for me.
At the very least it makes it so much easier to distinguish between limbs when I'm animating
Been playing around with an effect to help find players/enemies/objects that are hidden behind walls. It's pretty bare bones right now but it's already really helpful for playing.
I was tempted to try to make it just the outlines but I'm not sure if it'll end up being more or less messy that way.
Related - has anyone gotten unity's SpriteRenderer to use a multipass shader? That was my first approach but I couldn't ever get it to execute the second pass - looking in the frame debugger it seemed like it was just rendering the first pass twice. In the meantime I'm working around it by just having objects that need to spawn a duplicate sprite with a different material, but it'd sure be cleaner to just use a single shader.
I was tempted to try to make it just the outlines but I'm not sure if it'll end up being more or less messy that way.
Related - has anyone gotten unity's SpriteRenderer to use a multipass shader? That was my first approach but I couldn't ever get it to execute the second pass - looking in the frame debugger it seemed like it was just rendering the first pass twice. In the meantime I'm working around it by just having objects that need to spawn a duplicate sprite with a different material, but it'd sure be cleaner to just use a single shader.
Sure! There are a few different ways to go about it, I'll list an ideal way and then describe my hacky way:
Ideal
- Have your roof as a separate mesh, and have the shader for your roof set a bit in the stencil buffer
- In the first pass of the shader for your character, ignore the stencil buffer and draw as normal
- In the second pass of the shader for your character, do a test against the stencil buffer and only draw where the bit your roof layer set is valid
My hacky way because my multipass shader wasn't working in unity:
- Have the roof as a separate mesh like I mentioned above setting the stencil buffer again like I mentioned
- Have 2 sprites for your character, they're always in the same position showing the same sprite
- The first sprite has your normal pass and draws normally, this is handled however occlusion works in your game already (depth, draw order, etc)
- The second sprite has a different shader that checks the stencil buffer and draws the occlusion color if the stencil bit is set
So my hacky way is basically just using extra geometry to work around the fact I couldn't get multpass shaders to work this weekend. I'm going to tackle it again during the work week because there's no good reason to do it the way I am now. But it works well enough for testing so my teammate can give me feedback on the effect.
Edit: If you're using unity here's a page with an example that's more illustrative of how the stencil buffer can be used to do different rending stuff http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/SL-Stencil.html
Though it looks normal when in game.
I really need to figure this out before proceeding.Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
Been playing around with an effect to help find players/enemies/objects that are hidden behind walls. It's pretty bare bones right now but it's already really helpful for playing.
I was tempted to try to make it just the outlines but I'm not sure if it'll end up being more or less messy that way.
Related - has anyone gotten unity's SpriteRenderer to use a multipass shader? That was my first approach but I couldn't ever get it to execute the second pass - looking in the frame debugger it seemed like it was just rendering the first pass twice. In the meantime I'm working around it by just having objects that need to spawn a duplicate sprite with a different material, but it'd sure be cleaner to just use a single shader.
How come the gun doesn't show through as well?
Just a bug/todo - I haven't gone through and done the sprite doubling thing on all the different items yet because I still want to see if I can get the multipass shader method to work
Posting and adding a subscription to hound myself into making progress on my project.
I mostly use Manga Studio and Krita and saw both posted on the first page. I can't stress enough how awesome both are--Manga is like SAI and Painter had a kid and Krita is a unique beast with decent default tools that's free. So good.
I mostly use Manga Studio and Krita and saw both posted on the first page. I can't stress enough how awesome both are--Manga is like SAI and Painter had a kid and Krita is a unique beast with decent default tools that's free. So good.
lordfroakie
Member
Welp I wanted to tryout ZX Spectrum machine coding for fun and this is my result:
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
Today I'm really nervous, I'm filling the app form of our first kickstarter, for our game Tank. I hope that the crowdfunding go without many problems and ends well!
If this is as addictive as the wiiplay tank game, I think is going to be great. I still remember that frst christmas with my wii that I brought to my uncles home (he was the one who introduced me to videogames more than 20 years ago), and we stayed all that cold night playing the tank game and eating pizza becuase it was the best of the bunch and the final part hard as hell.
BlazeHedgehog
Member
So what kind of screen are you looking for here? I did some variants:
Resized, modified, with logo
Resized, modified, no logo
Just a regular game screen, but at the resolution you wanted
Those will do just fine, thanks
I'll go for the third one for now since I feel it showcases mechanics more, but if you have your own preference, I'll replace it, no problem!
BlazeHedgehog
Member
Those will do just fine, thanks
I'll go for the third one for now since I feel it showcases mechanics more, but if you have your own preference, I'll replace it, no problem!
Fine by me!
Been playing around with an effect to help find players/enemies/objects that are hidden behind walls. It's pretty bare bones right now but it's already really helpful for playing.
I was tempted to try to make it just the outlines but I'm not sure if it'll end up being more or less messy that way.
Related - has anyone gotten unity's SpriteRenderer to use a multipass shader? That was my first approach but I couldn't ever get it to execute the second pass - looking in the frame debugger it seemed like it was just rendering the first pass twice. In the meantime I'm working around it by just having objects that need to spawn a duplicate sprite with a different material, but it'd sure be cleaner to just use a single shader.
Looks pretty awesome! If you'll allow me to suggest one piece of additional design, I'd try to add a small 1 or 2 pixel line that demarcates the edge of the playable space that's hidden by the roof. This way the player knows, once their sprite collides with the edge of the playable bounds, because they'll have the visual feedback informing them of this. You could also make the lines only display when the player is near the edge, by creating a circular mask centered on the player sprite that only draws the line when any boundary is within the mask's radius. You could also hide items behind stuff this way, and make them show up when they enter the same mask's radius, for example!
Looks pretty awesome! If you'll allow me to suggest one piece of additional design, I'd try to add a small 1 or 2 pixel line that demarcates the edge of the playable space that's hidden by the roof. This way the player knows, once their sprite collides with the edge of the playable bounds, because they'll have the visual feedback informing them of this. You could also make the lines only display when the player is near the edge, by creating a circular mask centered on the player sprite that only draws the line when any boundary is within the mask's radius. You could also hide items behind stuff this way, and make them show up when they enter the same mask's radius, for example!
Interesting idea! I hadn't considered anything like that because the roof line is always consistently one tile deep, but it might be useful as an additional visual cue - especially as people are learning the game. I'll have to give it a try after this first bit is polished up.
Candescence
Member
Subtle, but the action is still clear. I approve.Okay, last small update from me before I go in and try to get something more substantial than animations.
Tried to make an animation that turns the character around, actually kind of proud of it. The slight shading on the back arm for the transition of the "front" arm to the "back" and vice versa sells it for me, though the leg is kind of funky.
I'll do some more substantial things and update you guys later on. I appreciate the feedback, keeps me pumped and energized to do stuff.
Oooh, nice. Very handy for visibility. Wish more games, especially in 3D, would do this sort of thing.Been playing around with an effect to help find players/enemies/objects that are hidden behind walls. It's pretty bare bones right now but it's already really helpful for playing.
I was tempted to try to make it just the outlines but I'm not sure if it'll end up being more or less messy that way.
Related - has anyone gotten unity's SpriteRenderer to use a multipass shader? That was my first approach but I couldn't ever get it to execute the second pass - looking in the frame debugger it seemed like it was just rendering the first pass twice. In the meantime I'm working around it by just having objects that need to spawn a duplicate sprite with a different material, but it'd sure be cleaner to just use a single shader.
Looks crazy nuts. Good luck with the Kickstarter, mate.Today I'm really nervous, I'm filling the app form of our first kickstarter, for our game Tank. I hope that the crowdfunding go without many problems and ends well!
I think I'll hold back on proper showcase material until I have something more substantial. Shouldn't take too long, hopefully. Maybe next Screenshot Saturday, if what I've got is good enough.
Right now, I've got melee collisions working surprisingly well (yay!) but I've realized I need to refactor my code somewhat to allow for both player input and AI control. I'll start with that tomorrow, though I've got some other work that needs doing. Then I'll implement firing projectiles as the other type of primary attack, work on secondary attacks (basically stuff like sub-weapons from Castlevania), special attacks (super moves), and then defense actions (I've already got dashing as a 'mobility action'). Once that's done, the general foundation should be set.
Also, ladders are a bitch to implement. I think I'll either avoid them entirely, wait till much later when much more urgent features are done, or let a better programmer handle them if/when I get a team going for this thing.
Oh, and I have a control bindings menu, thanks to Rewired's very handy control rebinding menu prefab. It allows rebinding for keyboard, mouse and controller with very little effort. Very nice.
What type of game are you planning to do?
I used www.draw.io for my game design.
My game genre is not common, so I don't know if it applies to yours.
As for document itself, I have a document written with stuff like:
What is the game story? And its turning points?
What difference about this game than the others?
What are the goals?
Nothing to fancy, tbh.
Dead Prince
Banned
jobbs is using stencyl
Damn, man, I'm looking into what it'll take to run a Kickstarter, and my game just keeps getting more and more expensive. I won't talk specifics, but based on my estimates of what art and music will cost, I came to something that seems like a reasonable, reachable goal. But then I look at Kickstarter, and they take 10%. Then taxes will take like 6% of the rest of that. So I'll have to up the goal by another good chunk to reach my original goal.
I know it's pretty early to start thinking about a Kickstarter, but I'd rather start thinking about it too early than too late.
Anyway, what do you guys think about these possible names?
I know it's pretty early to start thinking about a Kickstarter, but I'd rather start thinking about it too early than too late.
Anyway, what do you guys think about these possible names?
SeanNoonan
Member
Feeling pretty much ready to "sign off" on this level now. I don't think I should spend any more time polishing... unless anyone can see any issues?
Vine: https://vine.co/v/eIx7de7Y9gr
Vine: https://vine.co/v/eIx7de7Y9gr
Icyflamez96
Member
Feeling pretty much ready to "sign off" on this level now. I don't think I should spend any more time polishing... unless anyone can see any issues?
Vine: https://vine.co/v/eIx7de7Y9gr
That guy is just wreckin town
Feeling pretty much ready to "sign off" on this level now. I don't think I should spend any more time polishing... unless anyone can see any issues?
Vine: https://vine.co/v/eIx7de7Y9gr
I love the parallax effect!
plagiarize
Banned
Downloading UE4.9 and more than a little bit excited that the first game I'll play running on DX12 is going to be the one I'm making! Shame about Nvidia DX12 performance, but whatever.
Candescence
Member
On some reflection concerning the design for my 2D project, I've decided I'm probably going to scale down the 'scope' somewhat. The original scope basically involved a more open free-for-all metroidvania map involving various actors including the player being involved in the game world at once. I've realized this presents a variety of issues concerning complexity, all sorts of things that could go wrong gameplay-wise, and character interactions, which would expand exponentially with each new actor.
Instead, I'm likely going to use a 'tournament' structure instead, with multiple maps ala the last two DS Castlevania games, and the player 'competing' against a single other actor for each map, and with inter-character interactions instead occurring in a much more controlled capacity outside of that. While this isn't as 'grand' a scope, this does have the advantage of making replayability much more certain, provide better gameplay and narrative focus for individual characters, as well as make post-release expansions much easier to implement. We'll see how it goes.
Geez, Jack B. Nimble, indeed, that looks crazy. Hopefully the GB aesthetic doesn't make it difficult to discern actual platforms too much, but I might be worrying too much.
Instead, I'm likely going to use a 'tournament' structure instead, with multiple maps ala the last two DS Castlevania games, and the player 'competing' against a single other actor for each map, and with inter-character interactions instead occurring in a much more controlled capacity outside of that. While this isn't as 'grand' a scope, this does have the advantage of making replayability much more certain, provide better gameplay and narrative focus for individual characters, as well as make post-release expansions much easier to implement. We'll see how it goes.
Feeling pretty much ready to "sign off" on this level now. I don't think I should spend any more time polishing... unless anyone can see any issues?
Vine: https://vine.co/v/eIx7de7Y9gr
Geez, Jack B. Nimble, indeed, that looks crazy. Hopefully the GB aesthetic doesn't make it difficult to discern actual platforms too much, but I might be worrying too much.
Does anyone know where I can find reliable salary averages for game dev jobs in the UK? I got in contact with a recruiter and they want to know what my salary expectations are, and I have no idea xD I've only seen several years old numbers and I most likely have more years of higher studies than the average employee, but I'm not sure if that's even a factor. I'm still considering myself a junior designer or similar, as it's my entry position.
I got in contact with a recruiter and they want to know what my salary expectations are, and I have no idea xD I've only seen several years old numbers and I most likely have more years of higher studies than the average employee, but I'm not sure if that's even a factor. I'm still considering myself a junior designer or similar, as it's my entry position.Have you tried looking for reference? Develop for example has a lengthy jobs sections and some of the positions have salary guides (usually still DOE - depending on experience). I only know more about the averages in Finland so I'm not really use in giving out numbers.Does anyone know where I can find reliable salary averages for game dev jobs in the UK?
I'm a bit terrified and excited for the update; there were some nifty features, crash fixes and other fixes that would benefit the game, but on the other hand it's getting very late to do engine updates and we're definitely gearing up to shipping the game soon. On the art side there's a few features worth R&Ding for potential post-launch additions.
I did an ordinary google search but I mostly got 2-6 years old numbers :/ I'll check Develop later, good idea.
JeffG
Member
Does anyone know where I can find reliable salary averages for game dev jobs in the UK?
I did a google search on "salary survey europe software game development"
Found this site
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/221533/Game_Developer_Salary_Survey_2014_The_results_are_in.php
and also this site.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/revealed-average-game-developer-salary-falls-to-32-500/0188668
Looks to me that indie salaries drive down the average.
So, your salary looks like it is very dependent on the type of company you get hired by.
Just took delivery of my new tablet huion pro+
Pretty pleased with it all in especially as a wahoo was almost 3x the price
Pretty pleased with it all in especially as a wahoo was almost 3x the price
Great, thanks, yeah I think I saw something like that too. I'll check those later ^^
Lol I'll use that one for sure xD Good for a laugh.
Even though my game is now out, I started work on the next content update. Am a little inspired by runbow to allow 9 people for my game. As thus, I recently upped the amount of controllers to allow for max 9 people. Before, my game just used Wiimotes for co-op, now players can use Wiimotes, Nunchuks, Classic Controllers & Pro Controllers. Not to mention the Wii U Gamepad can now directly take part in co-op.
I'm essentially calling this the Local Multiplayer update. Adding a new player-controlled weapon, new maps, more focus on action, ability to save the game and quit for later time. Safe to assume I'll be busy next few weeks.
Hopefully I finish all of this by end of Sept so I can submit this patch to Nintendo and get it out by Nov.
I'm essentially calling this the Local Multiplayer update. Adding a new player-controlled weapon, new maps, more focus on action, ability to save the game and quit for later time. Safe to assume I'll be busy next few weeks.
Hopefully I finish all of this by end of Sept so I can submit this patch to Nintendo and get it out by Nov.
Theanine3D
Member
AAA game developers do this all the time and I don't see anyone bothered by it. I know I'm personally not.
I mean, the characters in FF7 look like LEGO people in-game and that's one of the most highly-regarded games of all time. In more recent examples, Bravely Default's characters look like this in official artwork but like this in-game.
timetokill
Banned
Well, consider that games have done this for a very long time, and intentionally! It would allow players to mentally "replace" the abstract sprites with the more defined drawings.
SeanNoonan
Member
Does anyone know where I can find reliable salary averages for game dev jobs in the UK?
PM me if you want to talk some specifics.
But I'd say a starting salary of £18k is fair, especially if you've not had any previous paid experience and are going straight into design.
If you've got a strong portfolio and/or personal projects to show, then you could probably get that figure up a bit, but nothing too crazy - you'll likely hit £20k in no time anyway.
You could try talking up your education, I guess, but it depends who you're interviewing with...
for example, it wouldn't work on me.
Mmm, I have a patch and a visibility round ready for today but I don't know if I should do it right now with all the super seller games that are available today (MGS V, Mad Max).
Anyone have any tips regarding Steam visibility rounds?
EDIT: ah fuck it, I'm going to upload it anyway.
Anyone have any tips regarding Steam visibility rounds?
EDIT: ah fuck it, I'm going to upload it anyway.
I just realized that this could be a great time for promoting. Lots of people login in and searching for those hyped titles.
..or maybe not :/
Since I don't have a blog, I guess I'll post it here for those interested.
Throwback game.
Project Alice was a Metroidvaina game, but since the Wii didn't support HD, we dropped that version. And here the very first Alice Concept Art:
And this map was the very first scene of the game.
I think still have the executable and the animations somewhere...
Edit: Actually, it was the second scene, not the first.
Throwback game.
Project Alice was a Metroidvaina game, but since the Wii didn't support HD, we dropped that version. And here the very first Alice Concept Art:
And this map was the very first scene of the game.
I think still have the executable and the animations somewhere...
Edit: Actually, it was the second scene, not the first.
Been playing around with an effect to help find players/enemies/objects that are hidden behind walls. It's pretty bare bones right now but it's already really helpful for playing.
I was tempted to try to make it just the outlines but I'm not sure if it'll end up being more or less messy that way.
Related - has anyone gotten unity's SpriteRenderer to use a multipass shader? That was my first approach but I couldn't ever get it to execute the second pass - looking in the frame debugger it seemed like it was just rendering the first pass twice. In the meantime I'm working around it by just having objects that need to spawn a duplicate sprite with a different material, but it'd sure be cleaner to just use a single shader.
I like the effect. So many games allow the player character or items to get obscured
Theanine3D
Member
Upgraded my project to UE4 4.9 today with no major issues. Only fixes I needed to make was re-setting the z-index in a few UI elements (which for some reason were all reset to 0).
I know I'm probably incredibly lucky that I've been able to upgrade with every single update since UE4 was first made available without anything major breaking in my projects. I think the most severe thing that ever happened was that some materials in a VR demo I made were borked because a material function I'd been using had become deprecated and removed.
I know I'm probably incredibly lucky that I've been able to upgrade with every single update since UE4 was first made available without anything major breaking in my projects. I think the most severe thing that ever happened was that some materials in a VR demo I made were borked because a material function I'd been using had become deprecated and removed.
I'll close this page with my last animation for this set!
Finally done with this crunch, now onto the next thing on the planning: scripting the match proper, before fixing up the test version based on the latest feedback.
I'll admit my thoughts have drifted pretty much exclusively to the design of my platformer/action idea during the coloring process, but it's time to get my head back in the game now :-D
Finally done with this crunch, now onto the next thing on the planning: scripting the match proper, before fixing up the test version based on the latest feedback.
I'll admit my thoughts have drifted pretty much exclusively to the design of my platformer/action idea during the coloring process, but it's time to get my head back in the game now :-D
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