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GAF Indie Game Development Thread 2: High Res Work for Low Res Pay
- Thread starter Jacksinthe
- Start date
- Status
liliththepale
Banned
^ two first of pages in a row.
can you attack from the tightrope?
hehe
No. Not in the current incarnation. I don't have any idea how that would work since the reference material for swordfighting on a tightrope is surprisingly scarce. It would involve a lot more than just fancy IK work, I can be sure.
The jump is pretty high so you can bound from one rope length to another. I'm sure I can come up with some other stuff to jump over that some insensitive architect placed precariously close to the tightrope, and I can re-skin the rope to spiderweb or other stuff too. But this isn't something I need to make highly compelling, I just thought it'd be fun to put together today.
Sounds like my approach to underwater. I tacked it on relatively quickly and it's not really an important part of the game overall -- I just wanted it to be in a couple of areas.
You doing water?
liliththepale
Banned
I'm not sure. It's always a lot of work and it's easy to make it too boring, too inconsequential or too difficult. There are some interesting things I've seen done with water in platformers, but it's rarely actually moving through the water itself. I like when the water level changes and something that was previously inaccessible can now be reached, or vice versa, especially if it's on a regular interval and that adds to the puzzle. Or moving floating platforms and obstacles around in currents and whirlpools can be neat.
If I do water, it'll probably not involve being fully submerged at any point. I'll have the player wade or tread water, or just drown.
I put a couple of unheard tracks from the OST of my game to Youtube if that's anyone's thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud1XmOXQ-JA&index=1&list=PLrXjZ11Pl7WbO-F1qOvfTUpkjoKCjfy8m
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHCybVe2p9I&index=2&list=PLrXjZ11Pl7WbO-F1qOvfTUpkjoKCjfy8m
I'll probably upload more in coming weeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud1XmOXQ-JA&index=1&list=PLrXjZ11Pl7WbO-F1qOvfTUpkjoKCjfy8m
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHCybVe2p9I&index=2&list=PLrXjZ11Pl7WbO-F1qOvfTUpkjoKCjfy8m
I'll probably upload more in coming weeks.
bumpkin
Member
Thanks guys! Later on last night I finally figured it out. The issue was none of the game objects were rendering in my scene and when I logged the loop that was doing the render calls, it was saying there weren't any to render. As it turned out, I fat-fingered my STL iterator name. Whoops! lol.
Icyflamez96
Member
Niceee! My friend did those
yep, he's good.
there's actually 3 diff people on the soundtrack. I didn't start working with Karma until after I thought I already had all my music done... But I liked what he was doing and he filled in some stuff I didn't realize was missing until I heard it.
Yo, happy new year gamedev gaffers!
New year, new project! Well, I've finally decided to work on a real CRT
project alongside programming my TV simulator. My goal is to control and drive
a real CRT (very tiny one, about 1-2") straight out of my TV simulator by
generating all the necessary signals in software (as much as possible).
Generating the signals in software would allow me to create cool video effects
on real hardware making it possible to study and tinker with them more deeply.
It would also allow me to align the TV simulator's CRT output with a real one
driven by the same signal. Would be cool to get a 1:1 match on certain parts.
But there is a little downside here, there will be no color, unfortunately,
because such tiny tubes (scope tubes etc.) were not produced to image
real-world pictures, not considering that building an RGB (three-gun) CRT with
a diagonal of about 1" and all of its color-alignment systems is a very
difficult task. Anyhow, B/W will be sufficient for me for the time being,
there is always the option to switch to bigger screens with color later on
(yet they are more demanding from a physical point of view). For now the
primary goal is to actually make it work physically as well as from the
software site of things. I already got a few tiny CRTs now and I'm now looking
for some hardware to drive them, perhaps an Raspberry Pi, Arduino or something
similar which can run the software fast enough to keep the CRT busy.
If this will work out the way I want it, I will be able to transcode anyone's
game into a video signal displaying it on a tiny real CRT screen with the
ability to distorted the video signal in software simulating whatever sources
of distortion the signal may undergo. This will be the real-world counterpart
of my software TV simulator (sort of).
New year, new project! Well, I've finally decided to work on a real CRT
project alongside programming my TV simulator. My goal is to control and drive
a real CRT (very tiny one, about 1-2") straight out of my TV simulator by
generating all the necessary signals in software (as much as possible).
Generating the signals in software would allow me to create cool video effects
on real hardware making it possible to study and tinker with them more deeply.
It would also allow me to align the TV simulator's CRT output with a real one
driven by the same signal. Would be cool to get a 1:1 match on certain parts.
But there is a little downside here, there will be no color, unfortunately,
because such tiny tubes (scope tubes etc.) were not produced to image
real-world pictures, not considering that building an RGB (three-gun) CRT with
a diagonal of about 1" and all of its color-alignment systems is a very
difficult task. Anyhow, B/W will be sufficient for me for the time being,
there is always the option to switch to bigger screens with color later on
(yet they are more demanding from a physical point of view). For now the
primary goal is to actually make it work physically as well as from the
software site of things. I already got a few tiny CRTs now and I'm now looking
for some hardware to drive them, perhaps an Raspberry Pi, Arduino or something
similar which can run the software fast enough to keep the CRT busy.
If this will work out the way I want it, I will be able to transcode anyone's
game into a video signal displaying it on a tiny real CRT screen with the
ability to distorted the video signal in software simulating whatever sources
of distortion the signal may undergo. This will be the real-world counterpart
of my software TV simulator (sort of).
Just try not to absorb TOO much radiation in the process. I was hoping that of all people, maybe at least you would comment on my bytecode compiler and virtual machine. Sadly, everyone stayed far away so I've got to make my scripting even cooler to draw comments.
Now on to the most exciting part of a new year -- updating all documentation and source code copyright dates to 2016!
ken_matthews
Member
It probably just needs some "Juice." Add some screen shake, particles, flashing lights...that will get peoples attention
Ah sorry, Blizz, I really wanted to comment on your stuff but got sidetracked.Just try not to absorb TOO much radiation in the process. I was hoping that of all people, maybe at least you would comment on my bytecode compiler and virtual machine. Sadly, everyone stayed far away so I've got to make my scripting even cooler to draw comments.
Now on to the most exciting part of a new year -- updating all documentation and source code copyright dates to 2016!
I really like it because I literally had a similar idea of using
interpretation to control a craft for a game I envisioned many moons ago.
Anyhow, cool stuff all the way down you did there! I love seeing such things.
More of it, please!
Regarding people not commenting; well, I think theproblem with your comment isn't the lack of any flashy colors, but the
connection to any game you are making resp. where you want to use it. I face a
similar problem at times when writing a more technical post. Look at my last
post, last paragraph. It's there to give people who are not into the same
technical thing sort of an idea for what it can be used regarding games.
So question; where do you want to use your bytecode stuff? I mean, you've spent
some amount of time into it, so I guess there will be some usage of it for any
game related stuff of yours, no?
Considering the radiation, I'm fine with it because it will be a tiny tube
operated with a very low high-voltage anode, i.e. less than 500V which is very
low in accelerating an electron leading to any harmful radiation upon impact.
But thx for the hint. One needs to put an electron into an electrostatic field
of over 20kV to scratch on gamma-radiation issues. The problem becomes more
serious while going into 40, 50, 60kV range where some of the large projectors
are operated on. The bigger TVs running at over 30kV do all have their front
glass enrich the with some lead (contributing to the tint of the glass).
Comfort Jones
Banned
Someone did a video/article on my mod and wants to do an interview with me in about a week! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76R-Yc3tc2I
Kinda wish they had linked to my moddb page instead of simply rehosting it but I'll take free publicity either way.
Kinda wish they had linked to my moddb page instead of simply rehosting it but I'll take free publicity either way.
SeanNoonan
Member
Finally got my new blog up and running: http://noonan.design/
Website is basically missing, just working on the format, etc. Feedback welcome.
Website is basically missing, just working on the format, etc. Feedback welcome.
ken_matthews
Member
So I did something I've never actually done before, I actually drew (part of) a concept for our game character prior to modeling it. The colors are temporary, and that thing on her back is supposed to be sword (I know it looks terrible, the whole thing is kind of sloppy). Don't know what I am going to do with the hair yet, and one of her hands+forearms will eventually be cybernetic. The overall theme is cybernetic ninja-lady with maybe a little goth mixed in. What do you guys think (ignore waist down)? Solid? Not so much? Suggestions?
Hey, I'm looking for general feedback on the latest playable version of Wildfire. Basically I just want to know if you find it fun.
Download link: (Windows, ~60MB)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dg5m3hkbsyaj8jv/wildfire_alpha_decemberv2b.zip?dl=1
This is a stealth platformer where you can control the elements. It's inspired by immersive sims like Thief and Deus Ex.
This version has same screen, local co-op play. You just need a gamepad plugged in. If you want to turn off co-op, just press ESC and toggle it off in the Options menu.
Also, press F4 to toggle windowed/full screen.
I really liked that you found a lot of ways to use the various gameplay objects. I found it fun, though it was tough since I was playing alone and had to control 2 players.
Also, I wish there was a way to extinguish fire. Sometimes things got out of control and I couldn't help but run through fire for half a level.
I was mostly teasing, but thank you for the kind words! I do indeed plan to use the scripting system for my game. I could have tried pulling another third-party library in to support Python, or Lua, or whatever, but this way I got an education and have more control over the end product. AND I don't have to bother with reading and managing another license agreement.
I wanted to have mod support as a significant component of my game, so I started thinking about it early in development rather than later. Having scripting language support seemed like a good way to do this while also potentially helping me with development (making changes without recompiling).
Having a bytecode compiler meant that I could precompile some scripts and just one-time-compile mod scripts each time they are changed, while hopefully maintaining some decent runtime performance.
I don't think I had ever written a compiler or virtual machine/bytecode interpreter before so that was another reason.
I revised some aspects of the OCTAHEDRON Greenlight page after getting feedback from some people that they didn't really grasp the core mechanic of creating platforms based on the videos, gifs and descriptions... I even added this gif to make it REALLY obvious:
Feedback on how this comes across on the page appreciated:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=534653006
Big GameBoy fan... LOVE the aesthetic of this!
Feedback on how this comes across on the page appreciated:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=534653006
Finally got my new blog up and running: http://noonan.design/
Website is basically missing, just working on the format, etc. Feedback welcome.
Big GameBoy fan... LOVE the aesthetic of this!
SeanNoonan
Member
Thanks
On a small scope I also prefere homemade solutions over third-party. I think
indie game developers are the most versatile game programmers out there in
trying out new ways while experimenting a lot. That's pretty much impossile
for AAA games. As I've found out how Creative Assembly as done their video
effects for 'Alien: Isolation', it became pretty clear to me that there is no
solution on the marked for (AAA) video games (otherwise they would have bought
it) and that they couldn't effort the time buiding their own solution let
alone experimenting with it. Hence, they reverted to pre-recoding the video
effects from real hardware.
Sounds good. But scripting is only cool as long as the scrips don't become too
complex.
lol Can still be improved, I guess. xD
put screen shake in the garbage
That's something I'm trying to manage. I feel like I'm learning why old version(s) of C (K&R or whatever) did certain things when I end up making limitations. Like, defining all local variables at the start of a function and/or extending their scope to the entire function? Way easier on the compiler than trying to juggle variables that go in and out of scope.
superNESjoe
Member
Feeling pretty good today. I managed to refine how levels are streamed in GunWorld 2, and now the only spot in the game with a framerate dip goes from 60 to 54 FPS. It was pretty catastrophic yesterday, with that same section dropping the game to under 10 FPS.
I also have managed to make all load times basically nonexistent. There's only one level with a noticeable load of 5 seconds. I think anyone who played the first GunWorld will find that to be a very welcome change (GW1 had a level that took 60 seconds to load).
I also have managed to make all load times basically nonexistent. There's only one level with a noticeable load of 5 seconds. I think anyone who played the first GunWorld will find that to be a very welcome change (GW1 had a level that took 60 seconds to load).
ken_matthews
Member
Now that is what I am talking about!
shaowebb
Member
I bet my brother in law would LOVE to have this as a setup for his coding just to spice up his work experience lol.
UPDATE:
Getting through the basics on Blender and I'm already finding things VASTLY superior to Maya in terms of stability and shortcut options. I'm seriously considering remodeling one character in Blender from scratch just for some of the options I'm finding for geometry control. I already know its way easier to setup things like 2d meshes for hit spark effects in Blender considering I can draw the shape in point for point on the grid in top down view, fill it in with faces, then scrub along the timeline to edit the coordinates of the sparks or add delete faces along the timeline.
This coupled with the standard options of timeline animating a flash of light's intensity means I should have some FAST and sweet hit sparks and arcs I can sculpt now on a layer right beside the model I'm animating as it animates! Maya has a simlar sorta kinda way to do this but again way less intuitive and way more memory heavy on the program.
Seriously...switch to blender. Within the week I'll be accelerating my old workflow beyond what I could output with Maya easily.
ken_matthews
Member
Blasphemer!
I love Maya's shortcut options; every thing is 1 key+click away. Couple that with the modeling toolkit turned on and the workflow is incredible efficient.
shaowebb
Member
Depends on how many tools you use. After awhile some shortcuts blur together as the key combinations for them become less and less obvious. I had to use an app to keep a cheat sheet handy in Maya and I've been using it since 2011. And like I said before, I am greatly enjoying the stability offered by Blender with it not logging ridiculous amounts of history and then not putting the options to delete specific areas of history RIGHT BESIDE the core histories you need to not delete where a slip of the mouse ruins you. Like I said with Maya when I started testing Blender...its efficient when it works, but Maya is setup to log too much crap and crashes/chugs as it eats up memory too often and I'm rocking 16gb ram here. Plus I dig the left click right click thing so that if I work on an object I never leave that object period until I right click something else instead of trying to select a vertices and then suddenly finding I have deselected my object and ended up selecting another.
Oh did I mention the menus? Everything is visible at all times in tabbed stacks of options taking up less space than in Maya and never really hiding stuff within menus hidden within menus hidden within a different edit mode hidden in a property window (fuck maya for that).
Use whatever is comfortable for your work, but I gotta say Blender sure as hell does everything imaginable to make folks comfortable easily from basics to advanced options. Been using Maya for 5 years now and bought two different suites to keep up. In the end I'm happier without it.
ken_matthews
Member
Definitely comes down to user preference. And I will admit that Maya's history can be a pain in the ass (especially when you accidentally delete all history when rigging a character). I started with Max, but hated the modifier stacks and editor panels, but loved the polygon tools. At the time I also messed with blender for a bit but never really got into it. This was a few years ago, so i am sure things have changed a lot. I only really started seriously doing 3D design about 8 months ago (when I met my development partner and decided to make a game), and since Autodesk "gives" their software away for free under the educational licenses, I decided to give Maya a shot (now own a commercial license). Maya 2015 and 16 are my only experiences and I will admit, menus in 15 were all over the place, but organization was drastically overhauled in 16 and it is significantly better.
And after getting used to Maya's hotkeys and shortcuts, I cannot imagine a better workflow (especially when using a pen tablet)
All the menus and almost every function is accessible with a combination of three keys + one mouse button (shift, cltr+shift, space bar and the right mouse)
EDIT: digging through the attribute editor is still a pain in the ass.
When you started posting stuff from this, I really didn't care. But each post the game looks better and better. It actually *looks* fun, now. I see it and think "I wanna play that."
Jobbs, you continue to impress as well.
Everyone here puts me to shame and I love it. 2016 will be great with you all.
shaowebb
Member
It gets better with each iteration in areas, but they've never addressed the history issue sadly. The gif you have is something its always had. Its just been something that never really worked well in a crowded scene as it was easy to end up accessing the wrong loadout by mistake or to again click onto an object by mistake trying to mouse access the popup menu options. You can do that in Blender with short cuts as well.Definitely comes down to user preference. And I will admit that Maya's history can be a pain in the ass (especially when you accidentally delete all history when rigging a character). I started with Max, but hated the modifier stacks and editor panels, but loved the polygon tools. At the time I also messed with blender for a bit but never really got into it. This was a few years ago, so i am sure things have changed a lot. I only really started seriously doing 3D design about 8 months ago (when I met my development partner and decided to make a game), and since Autodesk "gives" their software away for free under the educational licenses, I decided to give Maya a shot (now own a commercial license). Maya 2015 and 16 are my only experiences and I will admit, menus in 15 were all over the place, but organization was drastically overhauled in 16 and it is significantly better.
And after getting used to Maya's hotkeys and shortcuts, I cannot imagine a better workflow (especially when using a pen tablet)
All the menus and almost every function is accessible with a combination of three keys + one mouse button (shift, cltr+shift, space bar and the right mouse)
EDIT: digging through the attribute editor is still a pain in the ass.
I just got tired of all the stuff it did falling apart on me, being hidden, or getting in the way in Maya after all these years because they built too much on top of a core that had issues needing addressed in layout and memory usage. Its fantastically powerful but like its menus it trips over its own self executing these functions due to how much it has goin on after you work awhile.
I went from Maya, over to its other suite programs to take over more and more functions until eventually I was using game engines for lighting and rendering, crazy powerful stuff like Substance Designer for texturing, Zbrush instead of Mudbox, and occassionally 3ds Max for rig/weighting. It was just time to admit that it got in my way.
If you're comfortable always work in your comfort zone. After all its the artist and not what brand inkpen they use.
However, I was not comfortable after 5 years with putting up with the same old problems. At least they made texturing a bit better in 2015 with the bonus features, but the price tag to keep upgrading for scraps that I could get standard elsewhere wasn't worth continuing to chase it to me.
liliththepale
Banned
When you started posting stuff from this, I really didn't care. But each post the game looks better and better. It actually *looks* fun, now. I see it and think "I wanna play that."
Jobbs, you continue to impress as well.
Everyone here puts me to shame and I love it. 2016 will be great with you all.
Aww, thank you! ♥ I'm pretty happy with how it's shaping up myself.
Damn it, Matt. You planted this seed in my head and now I can't think about anything else. I'm animating her treading water right now, and I think I have a pretty good idea for how to make this swimming thing fun.
Essentially it's the same controls as running around on the ground, which I think is key to making it intuitive. Normally she'll tread water or swim at surface level, but you can hold the crouch key to submerge a few inches below. No fancy deep diving or anything, and not just regular walking with low gravity. I don't know if that makes sense. I'll have another gif tomorrow probably.
shaowebb
Member
thanks
got the cabinets set up properly, now
Nice! That opens you up to hiding objects behind one of the doors to entice players to fully explore opening all the doors instead of just one. You could even reward them with little moments like something alluding to "dont open the other door" and if they do they see something odd or silly as a payoff. If its a scary game I guess you could jump scare them to make it a memorable payoff or something too.
Lots of stuff opens up with things as small as this. Glad its working for you now!
Here's a new weapon for Snail Storm:
https://gfycat.com/SpeedyKnobbyErin
Also shows a lot of environment dressing up from the last time I posted anything.
That looks great. I just wanna run through that environment and open up everything now!
https://gfycat.com/SpeedyKnobbyErin
Also shows a lot of environment dressing up from the last time I posted anything.
thanks
got the cabinets set up properly, now
That looks great. I just wanna run through that environment and open up everything now!
Rad, dude.
At the risk of planting more nagging ideas, why NOT have a submerged mode? Don't do "pump to swim" like Mario, but do "press the direction you want to go" sorta like the Frog Suit in Mario 3.
Treasure chests on lake beds, maybe underground cave networks that lead to air pockets and proper labyrinths... Deeper bodies get dark. There's a lot of potential for fear and wonder when it comes to exploring oceans and lakes.
liliththepale
Banned
Rad, dude.
At the risk of planting more nagging ideas, why NOT have a submerged mode? Don't do "pump to swim" like Mario, but do "press the direction you want to go" sorta like the Frog Suit in Mario 3.
Treasure chests on lake beds, maybe underground cave networks that lead to air pockets and proper labyrinths... Deeper bodies get dark. There's a lot of potential for fear and wonder when it comes to exploring oceans and lakes.
I just don't enjoy those parts of games. Not in the new Rayman games, not in Crash Bandicoot 3, not Aquaria. I imagine plenty of people like that kind of game, but I personally don't.
liliththepale
Banned
Not everything about playing a game needs to be enjoyable.
I mean, I'm one of those people who think Dark Souls would be better if failing a boss fight respawned you right outside of instead of a five minute slog away.
No. Not everything about playing a game needs to be enjoyable. Certainly taking damage or hitting a failure state is rarely intrinsically enjoyable, but there should at least be long term satisfaction or appreciation for the way the challenge is set up.
I haven't thought through why exactly I don't appreciate that style of game (which is kind of odd since Crash 3 was eighteen years ago!), but I don't.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
I get back from Florida.
Log on to GAF.
So.
Lillith's new avatar happened.
Log on to GAF.
So.
Lillith's new avatar happened.
Well, what do you know? apparently making custom clothes for Fuse is not that hard (even for a non artist like me). I made this Nomad Fleet t-shirt in Blender and its far from perfect but I think I got the general idea.
There's so much potential here, if I could provide myself of character art using Fuse and Blender (and Gimp/Bitmap2Material) I could save a lot of money (the cheapest offer I got for a single piece of clothing for Fuse was 400 USD).
I would be so happy if I could become self-sufficient... I'm still short in time though.
There's so much potential here, if I could provide myself of character art using Fuse and Blender (and Gimp/Bitmap2Material) I could save a lot of money (the cheapest offer I got for a single piece of clothing for Fuse was 400 USD).
I would be so happy if I could become self-sufficient... I'm still short in time though.
Local variable declaration, initialization, use, and assignment appears to be working properly. Returning a value back to the engine also works. Next up:
That should wrap up basic script functionality so I can start focusing on actually USING scripting. I will then presumably find more features I need, and repeat the cycle. Unfortunately, I'll have some non-game consulting programming to do Monday-Friday so time may become more limited again.
- Compiling and running "while", "continue", and "break". This actually seems a little trickier than it might at first appear, and involves adding one more bytecode and having two pushed addresses per loop.
- Being able to "return" from the middle of a "while" loop
- Being able to nest "while" loops
That should wrap up basic script functionality so I can start focusing on actually USING scripting. I will then presumably find more features I need, and repeat the cycle.
Unfortunately, I'll have some non-game consulting programming to do Monday-Friday so time may become more limited again.ken_matthews
Member
400 bucks for a single piece of clothing? For just the shirt mesh? Never used Fuse before (just realized its part of Adobe's CC, looks interesting and will have to check out) but are Fuse clothing objects just meshes that are simulated in app or are they skinned objects that go to a specific Fuse skeleton? Either way, that sounds crazy expensive.
Edit: Results look really good though
Not a shirt, more like a full suit. Artists were asking me for 400-1500 USD (2200 if I wanted exclusive rights) for the suit and even more for an armored suit that I wanted too. Its not that I consider those prices unfair, its just that I can't afford them so I decided to dust off my limited Blender skills and give it a try.
I have no idea how the clothes work internally in Fuse.
JeffG
Member
What if it takes 8 or more hrs to do a suit?
I am using fuse for my POC and there is a shortage of fantasy armor. (Your choice is 1)
So unless someone is making suits for fuse and putting them on the asset store (which I would love to see), it doesn't surprise me that someone would want that kind of cash.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Happy new year, fellow devs, one and all. May 2016 be full of bugs and hair-raising bullshit! Would not have it any other way.
Jacksinthe
Banned
Yo this looks really good. I'd play this for sure. Which might say something since I don't have much time to enjoy games like I used to so yeah. I'd make time for this. Really good stuff.
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Happy New Year, all! Better late than never.
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