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[fengshuifever]

Spoiler

disregard that half-second sneer he seems to put in there for some reason

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hub4kla7te8

Still a bunch of work to do, but I think the title works really well there



What do you mean by anti-piracy specialist exactly? Third party software like Denuvo? I doubt that there's anything out there that'd be worth the amount of instant spite-hate that you would get from using it. Trying to fight piracy with anything other than positivity and good marketing might be the most failsafe way out there for generating backlash.



Sorry, I don't hang around the thread too much, but what kind of game is this for?

Ah! It's a Adventure/RPG (the main genre, there's a lot of other elements integrated into it)

 

[Jumplion]

Just a quick heads up, if any of you guys are at PAX South be sure to drop by the AdMagic booth to check out my board game, Circular Reasoning. It's either going to be me, the guy with the glasses, or my partner Ed, the lanky guy with hipster hair, at the booth.

I'll have the latest build of my mobile game I've been sharing here, would love to get live feedback from y'all.

 

[Anduron]

I've completely convinced myself now that the most productive way of dealing with this would be to seed your own game, fully functioning, but including friendly reminders to please buy it.

That might actually get you a few sales. Pissing someone off will never gain you any sales.

I actually really like this idea, anything more time consuming than that would be better spent improving the game / working on promotional material etc imo.

 

[Burt]

Ah! It's a Adventure/RPG (the main genre, there's a lot of other elements integrated into it)

Ah nice. I know the feel of having narrowing something down to just a genre or two too well.

 

[fengshuifever]

Ah nice. I know the feel of having narrowing something down to just a genre or two too well.

Haha the hardest part is that because it takes so many influences from so many things my conversations usually end up like "well, it's an RPG and Rhythm game but there's also this, plus there's surreal horror plus there's and so on"

It's probably easiest to say that in my head at concept level it's a bizarre mesh of Earthbound, Persona 3, Recettear, Gitaroo Man and Silent Hill 2.
When in reality it takes very small small concepts from each of them, essentially things that I wanted to see done...better? And put together as a whole

When I first started writing the game my thought was "Man...what if someone made Earthbound today" and it's completely and drastically changed from the original idea.

Sidenote, I'm loving the look of your game. I can't wait to see more!

 

[Geminosity]

Spoiler

disregard that half-second sneer he seems to put in there for some reason

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hub4kla7te8

Still a bunch of work to do, but I think the title works really well there

Glad the suggestion was useful
Have you tried experimenting with keeping the background transparent when you show the title so it appears over the castle? Sort of similar to how you handle the company name disappearing but in reverse :3

 

[Diablohead]

It's not exactly dev work but I wanted to sprite some big full scale stuff to get back into the flow of it, after working for ages on tiny flat pixels it's refreshing to return to bigger detailed stuff.

I post my stuff on twitter but i'll throw it in here since it's indie related as 1) it's the style I want to use for nakiti generations, and 2) the characters are from indie games, one of them coming out in the next month or so.

Edith (a friend's OC), Sarah (from Dreaming Sarah) and Kaho (from Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight)

And then Momo & Dora from Momodora III, slightly bigger then the others but same style.

All the poses are from my mind without much of a reference, i'm getting better at it but it takes me a long time to get them looking correct or natural.

 

[V_Arnold]

It's Blow's fault for pricing.

It's indie.

Repeat ad-nauseum.

Weird how you manage to take nothing but that away from a 2000+ post thread.

 

[Jacksinthe]

Weird how you manage to take nothing but that away from a 2000+ post thread.

There was a lot of victim blaming in that thread. Most of the excuses for piracy (there's never a "reason") revolve around blaming the dev for pricing first and foremost. A LOT of discussion was about the price which is irrelevant as shown a zillion times in the thread.

What's there to take away other than people trying to make excuses for pirates being douchebags?

Every time you try to have a discussion about piracy - everyone thinks they can find a reason why people pirate - but there never is a legit reason to pirate. Ever. Ever, ever. It's bullshit. There's no way to actually figure out any logic to why people pirate anything.

Parroting "omg its the price!" over and over again is irrelevant as fucking Humble Bundle games, shit you can pay next to nothing for and acquire far faster and safer than any torrent, get pirated.

That's fucked.

So what is there to discuss? Tell me. Right here. Go on. What is there to discuss? What logic do you possess that can accurately explain away piracy? What information was gleaned from that thread that is so pressing, so on point, that it needs to be regurgitated from that shithole of a thread?

I'm far more amazed people actually believe they can figure out piracy and that there actually IS a discussion to be had. That's just fucking lunacy.

 

[Dascu]

Been a while since I posted anything, so here's two gifs from The Godbeast. As maybe stated before, it's kind of supposed to be Shadow of the Colossus in a dark, cyberpunk-ish environment. Everything is work in progress obviously, though it somewhat conveys the general look of the game.

 

[V_Arnold]

There was a lot of victim blaming in that thread. Most of the excuses for piracy (there's never a "reason") revolve around blaming the dev for pricing first and foremost. A LOT of discussion was about the price which is irrelevant as shown a zillion times in the thread.

What's there to take away other than people trying to make excuses for pirates being douchebags?

Every time you try to have a discussion about piracy - everyone thinks they can find a reason why people pirate - but there never is a legit reason to pirate. Ever. Ever, ever. It's bullshit. There's no way to actually figure out any logic to why people pirate anything.

Parroting "omg its the price!" over and over again is irrelevant as fucking Humble Bundle games, shit you can pay next to nothing for and acquire far faster and safer than any torrent, get pirated.

That's fucked.

So what is there to discuss? Tell me. Right here. Go on. What is there to discuss? What logic do you possess that can accurately explain away piracy? What information was gleaned from that thread that is so pressing, so on point, that it needs to be regurgitated from that shithole of a thread?

I'm far more amazed people actually believe they can figure out piracy and that there actually IS a discussion to be had. That's just fucking lunacy.

I am sorry man, but you are not thinking straight. You are emotional. You dismiss arguments, opinions, viewpoints. You just cite your connections, your PM's, your work in the field, and dismiss any other viewpoints as lunatic. I am sorry for this, but this is not constructive in any discussion when such a topic is coming up.

That thread is not piracy washing, not piracy reverse engineering, not victim blaming. It is a complex issue. There is a range of options available to you (as I brought up there) strating with only releasing on secure platforms, wasting energy on "fightin" it, calculating your pc budget according to how high sales you were expecting, securing timed exclusivity, etc, releasing constant upgrades, etc.

You can do a lot of things to work with a constant you have in the field (that is, piracy). Weird that you do not see big studios like Netflix cry about piracy of, say, House of Cards or Jessica Jones. They take whatever they can, to offer a service valuable to us. And, for example, Netflix itself is built to be MORE accessibble than torrent sites. That is what it comes down to. You cant brand humans that torrent something as subhuman irrational freaks. Most of the times, they just prefer the accessibility. And Netflix keeps increasing its subscriber numbers because it offers accessibility to the point where it is good for people to just pay a single subscription price for the ease of use and variety/amount of content.

(Also, I hope you do not use adblocker yourself in that case, cause if your site relies on ads to sustain itself, adblocking is pretty much the same as pirating a game, right? Right, that is another huge topic).

So, before I sidetrack you any further, let me just say this: you cant keep fighting the fight that is an unseen, unmoving opponent (a devil, in torrenter subhuman's disguise), when you have other fights to fight. Mainly: creating good games, fighting for attention, fighting for quality. That is one too many fights. But, obviously, this is just *my* viewpoint, and I accept if yours differ. But I take issue with having a complex conversation and reducing it to "the usual victim blaming/price too high/his fault bullshit". NO.

 

[DNAbro]

Been a while since I posted anything, so here's two gifs from The Godbeast. As maybe stated before, it's kind of supposed to be Shadow of the Colossus in a dark, cyberpunk-ish environment. Everything is work in progress obviously, though it somewhat conveys the general look of the game.

Looks really cool, I assume somewhat Akira inspired?

 

[Jacksinthe]

I am sorry man, but you are not thinking straight. You are emotional. You dismiss arguments, opinions, viewpoints. You just cite your connections, your PM's, your work in the field, and dismiss any other viewpoints as lunatic. I am sorry for this, but this is not constructive in any discussion when such a topic is coming up.

That thread is not piracy washing, not piracy reverse engineering, not victim blaming. It is a complex issue. There is a range of options available to you (as I brought up there) strating with only releasing on secure platforms, wasting energy on "fightin" it, calculating your pc budget according to how high sales you were expecting, securing timed exclusivity, etc, releasing constant upgrades, etc.

You can do a lot of things to work with a constant you have in the field (that is, piracy). Weird that you do not see big studios like Netflix cry about piracy of, say, House of Cards or Jessica Jones. They take whatever they can, to offer a service valuable to us. And, for example, Netflix itself is built to be MORE accessibble than torrent sites. That is what it comes down to. You cant brand humans that torrent something as subhuman irrational freaks. Most of the times, they just prefer the accessibility. And Netflix keeps increasing its subscriber numbers because it offers accessibility to the point where it is good for people to just pay a single subscription price for the ease of use and variety/amount of content.

(Also, I hope you do not use adblocker yourself in that case, cause if your site relies on ads to sustain itself, adblocking is pretty much the same as pirating a game, right? Right, that is another huge topic).

So, before I sidetrack you any further, let me just say this: you cant keep fighting the fight that is an unseen, unmoving opponent (a devil, in torrenter subhuman's disguise), when you have other fights to fight. Mainly: creating good games, fighting for attention, fighting for quality. That is one too many fights. But, obviously, this is just *my* viewpoint, and I accept if yours differ. But I take issue with having a complex conversation and reducing it to "the usual victim blaming/price too high/his fault bullshit". NO.

Doing this from mobile.

First off, I cited I "talk to people", because I do. Anything else you stated about PM's and the like I didn't say. Cool your jets with trying to slap shit my way. I'm very aware of what I said.

Second, there is a discussion to be had in the part of the developer and what they can do to keep attention of the end user and drive sales. That's fine.

At no point in that discussion should a developer feel the need for timed exclusivity, can a platform because its rampant with piracy.

What kind of a world do you live in where the onus is on the developer to stop piracy? Developers and their games are not the problem but the argument you present - blames the fucking victim. That IS lunacy!

"If only she covered up more, she wouldn't have been sexually harassed" is a bullshit argument just the same as "A developer should have really just not released on PC if he's concerned with piracy. That is such a shit argument it baffles me to no end how anyone can even consider that idea as a plausible solution. Its asinine. Its beyond the scope of rational thinking to put that blame on the developer for the actions of others.

Third, as far as big studios like Netflix - they do what anyone else does - deal with it by simply doing what they can to bring good content to people who pay. You don't bend over for pirates by excluding platforms.

You are grossly over-reaching with your arguments against me as my fight was to defend the developer from bullshit victim blaming, not pass on well-reasoned approaches to dealing with them. I will fucking pass on batshit crazy ideas like only releasing on secure platforms which does nothing but back down from the problem. That's fucking sad.

Again, the onus is not on the developer, its on the pirate. People in that thread were giving absolutely inconsequential excuses for why Blow's game was being pirated and the top two cited arguments were because of price and that he's an indie and how fucking dare he price his game at 40 whole US dollars! The audacity!

You are confusing my argument of responsibility with dismissing rational and logical avenues by which developers can get the most out of their products. I don't mean this through the lens of competing with pirates - I mean this through the lens of competing with other developers for the end-user's time. For people who pay to play your game. At no point in development should anything be done through the lens of the pirate, as you suggest. That's flat-out stupid. It should ALWAYS be done for the people who will be enjoying your game legally.

 

[mStudios]

#screenshotsaturday
or
#saturdayscreenshot

 

[Burt]

Haha the hardest part is that because it takes so many influences from so many things my conversations usually end up like "well, it's an RPG and Rhythm game but there's also this, plus there's surreal horror plus there's and so on"

It's probably easiest to say that in my head at concept level it's a bizarre mesh of Earthbound, Persona 3, Recettear, Gitaroo Man and Silent Hill 2.
When in reality it takes very small small concepts from each of them, essentially things that I wanted to see done...better? And put together as a whole

When I first started writing the game my thought was "Man...what if someone made Earthbound today" and it's completely and drastically changed from the original idea.

Sidenote, I'm loving the look of your game. I can't wait to see more!

Lawl, that's gonna be a tough one to wrap up into a single line. Sounds like fun though. Totally know what you're saying with 'seeing something done better.' It's pretty much exactly what I'm going for, except with Ogre Battle. Hasn't changed that much from the original idea though.

Glad the suggestion was useful
Have you tried experimenting with keeping the background transparent when you show the title so it appears over the castle? Sort of similar to how you handle the company name disappearing but in reverse :3

Yeah, I tried a bit but the logo doesn't show up as well against the brighter/more varied background, so I'm messing with both the logo coloring and the composition of the background. We'll see how it turns out.

 

[Fou-Lu]

I have an idea I think is pretty clever for a simple 2D, top down puzzle game (though I can't help but wonder if the idea has been done before and I got it from somewhere else without knowing it), but I have no game dev experience outside of RPG Maker. I really want to make at least a prototype of this game, but I am overwhelmed at where to start when making a game solo. I have programming experience, but mostly only related to physics simiulations and mathematical algorithms. I've done a bit of sprite art for fun, but only characters and never with animations. I have fooled around with making music using my midi controller and a DAW, but never really gotten anywhere. What should I work on first and how should I go about it? Getting my game concept written out fully in a design document? Learning game programming? Sprite work? Music? How do I make it all come together?

 

[Vincent Alexander]

Hello Everyone! Reposting this from the Unreal Engine thread a bit....My co-worker and I came to the realization the other night that we love video games, used to make tons of stuff in RPG Maker, and that we need to do what we love. So after reading about all the different kinds of game engines out there we have decided to give Unreal Engine 4 a go. We're going to try to learn together so we can keep each other motivated.

Does anyone have any recommendations for beginner videos? There are so many on YouTube that we don't know where to dive in at. Any recommended series or anything? We've dedicated ourselves to at least a few hours a night to practice, but our brick wall at the moment is having far too many tutorial videos online, and not knowing which are good or not. Would really love some feedback from anyone else here using Unreal.

I have an idea I think is pretty clever for a simple 2D, top down puzzle game (though I can't help but wonder if the idea has been done before and I got it from somewhere else without knowing it), but I have no game dev experience outside of RPG Maker. I really want to make at least a prototype of this game, but I am overwhelmed at where to start when making a game solo. I have programming experience, but mostly only related to physics simiulations and mathematical algorithms. I've done a bit of sprite art for fun, but only characters and never with animations. I have fooled around with making music using my midi controller and a DAW, but never really gotten anywhere. What should I work on first and how should I go about it? Getting my game concept written out fully in a design document? Learning game programming? Sprite work? Music? How do I make it all come together?

I'm in the same boat with you in terms of RPG Maker being my only experience. The first thing my friend and I did was sat down and researched every game engine to figure out which would work best for us. I imagine that will be your step 1. The OP on this thread looks great in terms of listing out what all is available. When I narrowed my options down, I googled a lot of various opinion articles on game engines to try and come to a good conclusion for myself. In the end, Unreal Engine 4 won. But depending on the game you want to make it can be completely different.

Been a while since I posted anything, so here's two gifs from The Godbeast. As maybe stated before, it's kind of supposed to be Shadow of the Colossus in a dark, cyberpunk-ish environment. Everything is work in progress obviously, though it somewhat conveys the general look of the game.

This is pretty nice stuff. But I'm especially intrigued by the premise you're working off of. Sounds great and I hope you keep us updated.

 

[V_Arnold]

Absinthe_Games: Nope, I am *still* not victim blaming one bit. Planning with piracy is a sad reality, but not a victim blaming thing. If a game is well known, and uses a traditional model of release, it will be well knowin amongst people who pirate games too. Therefore, it will be pirated a lot.

Now, we agree with your last paragraph. I never implied to work a bit to try to convince those who would not buy your game. I said: I personally will not waste an ounce on trying to hurt those or trick them or whatever. I will (and I am) fully focus on my audience, the people who decide to buy my game. That is the only thing I imagine I can do, and nothing more. There is a vast gap between acknowledging the state of gaming and victim blaming. You should not reduce that gap to nothing. That is my point.

 

[Jacksinthe]

Absinthe_Games: Nope, I am *still* not victim blaming one bit. Planning with piracy is a sad reality, but not a victim blaming thing. If a game is well known, and uses a traditional model of release, it will be well knowin amongst people who pirate games too. Therefore, it will be pirated a lot.

Now, we agree with your last paragraph. I never implied to work a bit to try to convince those who would not buy your game. I said: I personally will not waste an ounce on trying to hurt those or trick them or whatever. I will (and I am) fully focus on my audience, the people who decide to buy my game. That is the only thing I imagine I can do, and nothing more. There is a vast gap between acknowledging the state of gaming and victim blaming. You should not reduce that gap to nothing. That is my point.

I disagree with the first paragraph. Any time you put the onus on the developer to release only on "secure platforms" you are inadvertently blaming the developer if things go wrong.

You also said there was no victim blaming going on in the thread. Too many people to count blamed the price or mentioned that 40 bucks was an issue. Too many people cited "but its an indie game" along with the price.

I'll ask. How is that not victim blaming? How are you glossing over that and shrugging it off as rational discussion?

I am really, really interested to see how you think blaming a price point as cause for piracy is not victim blaming.

I'm honestly trying to do mental gymnastics to jump through that hoop but its not working. I come up empty. Please explain what is rational about those points and how it leads to piracy because if I'm missing some grand fucking logic at play here - it can only help me in the future to see how blaming the developer is actually not blaming the developer.

 

[V_Arnold]

All I know man is that there were MANY opinions besides "lol 40$" and "lol why not skip pc". I do not like reductions that end up with information loss.

So my point is: I would definitely NOT reduce that thread to "victim blaming". It is a whole spectrum of interesting opinions and clashing arguments. That is it.

 

[liliththepale]

All I know man is that there were MANY opinions besides "lol 40$" and "lol why not skip pc". I do not like reductions that end up with information loss.

So my point is: I would definitely NOT reduce that thread to "victim blaming". It is a whole spectrum of interesting opinions and clashing arguments. That is it.

That's not the point. The point is that no matter what can be done to mitigate the losses from piracy, there should never be anyone defending piracy nor blaming developers for being targets of piracy because they didn't do enough to sidestep it.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

That's not the point. The point is that no matter what can be done to mitigate the losses from piracy, there should never be anyone defending piracy nor blaming developers for being targets of piracy because they didn't do enough to sidestep it.

Agreed!

Can we all move on now? Purty please?

 

[Jacksinthe]

All I know man is that there were MANY opinions besides "lol 40$" and "lol why not skip pc". I do not like reductions that end up with information loss.

So my point is: I would definitely NOT reduce that thread to "victim blaming". It is a whole spectrum of interesting opinions and clashing arguments. That is it.

You're not answering the question. You picked me, in this thread, instead of others who commented similarly - in this very thread. You don't get to pick me out of thin air and simply begin shrugging it off when you begin to lose an argument.

You stepped on my toes - might as well see this through or concede. Now, to reply:

Reducing the topic to the common denominator is often done especially in the case where the insane frequency and repetition of idiocy are also the most egregious as is the case with victim blaming.

There also can be no "interesting" opinions in a discussion of piracy that was decidedly one-sided from both camps - those who try to make excuses for piracy and those who try to defend the victim. The overwhelming theme most certainly wasn't "we should discuss ways in which we may quell piracy" and was, above and beyond, victim blaming and various other developer-driven causation. There was no "spectrum of interesting opinions" as in the case of piracy - there can never be. There's never an interesting reason for why blanket piracy happens. Never. How could there be? Since that is the case then how can anyone even remotely think that legit discussion about piracy factors are plausible in this scenario, let alone probable? What about other scenarios? People pirate because they are scum. I imagine some small percentage pirate out of what is perceived as necessity, ie: i'm poor. But there's still no rhyme or reason because you can simply not pirate.

I'll ask again - you said there was no victim blaming in the thread, despite an overwhelming fucking majority of the thread based solely on how the game was priced, him being 'indie", etc - which I'm asking you why you feel that blaming the victim isn't really blaming the victim?

 

[V_Arnold]

I "picked" you because I had an argument with you, saw the thread closed, and saw you comment in this thread about that reductions - namely:

It's Blow's fault for pricing.

It's indie.

Repeat ad-nauseum.

And I see the way you handle EVERY constructive opinion (yes, including but NOT limited to pricing, platform priorities, DRM options or ignoring piracy completely and having a proper business plan beyond "lets hope no one pirates this") as "victim blaming". I will repeat till infinity that since piracy is a problem that is NOT going to go away no matter how hard you try to fight it, it is better to focus on those players that WILL buy your game. So focus on you, your game, and your customers, instead of hating pirates.

You have yet to provide me with any argument that goes beyond "but you are victim blaming/you are just picking on me/you are justifying piracy". I am not. I am just not seeing the point in fighting it. Tons of good games live, piracy or no piracy.

Agreed!

Can we all move on now? Purty please?

Sure thing.

 

[Jacksinthe]

I "picked" you because I had an argument with you, saw the thread closed, and saw you comment in this thread about that reductions - namely:



And I see the way you handle EVERY constructive opinion (yes, including but NOT limited to pricing, platform priorities, DRM options or ignoring piracy completely and having a proper business plan beyond "lets hope no one pirates this") as "victim blaming". I will repeat till infinity that since piracy is a problem that is NOT going to go away no matter how hard you try to fight it, it is better to focus on those players that WILL buy your game. So focus on you, your game, and your customers, instead of hating pirates.

You have yet to provide me with any argument that goes beyond "but you are victim blaming/you are just picking on me/you are justifying piracy". I am not. I am just not seeing the point in fighting it. Tons of good games live, piracy or no piracy.



Sure thing.

Stop ignoring the question.

I've already stated business decisions should always be made through the lens of the paying customer and not the pirate. I'm also not taking anything beyond the scope of business decisions as victim blaming.

In case you quoted without reading and spouted off I'll repeat myself: there is no legitimate rhyme or reason for piracy nor should the onus be on the developer to bend over because of piracy.

I'm specifically talking about the overwhelming majority of the thread spouting bullshit at Blow as if it is his fault.

I'll ask one last time and if its not a direct answer or the same childish drivel being spewed about things I already covered, I'll just flat out block you because I have no time for ignorance - how is placing the blame on blow NOT victim blaming? You said none of that happened in the thread and it did.

Stop avoiding the question. If you don't have an answer them say you don't and stop trying to come at me and fight me over shit I already addressed. Talking in circles gets you nowhere.

I am repeatedly asking you how victim blaming is not victim blaming as you said it didn't happen against the myriad of posts in that thread that prove otherwise, that's why I keep asking it - because you haven't answered it.

Shit or get off the pot, man. Its a straight forward question. How is blaming Blow not victim blaming?

 

[tamaster92]

There is only one way I see piracy being fine - and if it's the only reasonable way to get a game.

If I wanted to play some obscure famicom game for example, there is little to no way for me to ever purchase that game legit and even if i did the dev wouldn't see a cent now. In that case I wouldn't mind downloading a ROM to play until I do manage to buy it.

 

[V_Arnold]

AbsintheGames: feel free to block me if you want me to solve percieved tautologies for you. You believe the whole thread is victim blaming, I oppose, you reduce it to "explain how victim blaming is not victim blaming".

We can either meet halfway (NOT all thread is victim blaming), or you can block me. Whatever meets your needs.

 

[SystemBug]

AbsintheGames: feel free to block me if you want me to solve percieved tautologies for you. You believe the whole thread is victim blaming, I oppose, you reduce it to "explain how victim blaming is not victim blaming".

We can either meet halfway (NOT all thread is victim blaming), or you can block me. Whatever meets your needs.

how far is your head up your own ass?

 

[Geminosity]

Was this the conversation that got the witness/piracy thread locked? If it is I'd rather we don't get this one locked too

 

[Jacksinthe]

AbsintheGames: feel free to block me if you want me to solve percieved tautologies for you. You believe the whole thread is victim blaming, I oppose, you reduce it to "explain how victim blaming is not victim blaming".

We can either meet halfway (NOT all thread is victim blaming), or you can block me. Whatever meets your needs.

Proof right here you aren't reading shit.

I already addressed that the whole thread wasn't victim blaming, but the majority was.

You want to meet there... Again?

Are you paying attention?

I keep asking you why you said victim blaming wasn't happening when it was. I ask you to explain why you think it didn't happen when it did.

I am positive my vernacular time and again phrased the question adequately enough for an answer which you refuse to give.

Blaming Blow for pricing his game at 40 bucks as a reason for piracy IS victim blaming. Its not percieved.

At all. Because you refuse to acknowledge it and when you hint at it... Its perceived?

Riiiight.

Totally didn't happen. Not at all. Myself and the myriad of others in that thread simply misread time and again. We must have just percieved it to exist when it never did.

Sure, sure.

You can avoid the question all you want, plug your ears and say lalalalalala - That won't make it go away, bud.

Adios.

 

[Jacksinthe]

Was this the conversation that got the witness/piracy thread locked? If it is I'd rather we don't get this one locked too

Not ours, no. I feel we are both being civil enough in here. We aren't going after each other's throats.

 

[mStudios]

It's Saturday guys.
Get to work!

 

[Geminosity]

It's Saturday guys.
Get to work!

I was hoping to have something for today's Saturday Screenshottage but sadly after the hectic fun and games of doing my taxes before the deadline tomorrow I had no energy left, so nothing from me

 

[liliththepale]

It's Saturday guys.
Get to work!

I'm still drawing dozens and dozens of NPCs. I have thirty-eight drawn so far with plans for about fifteen more. Here are a few from last week since this week I've been preoccupied with computer trouble and The Witness.

 

[V_Arnold]

It's Saturday guys.
Get to work!

I cant actually show this thread anything as I have been knee deep in once again completely rewriting my "engine" If I would not remember vividly about that talk that warns future developers the pitfall of trying to make universal solutions and complex stuff when you can just get **** done, prototype fast and move on if the project is not working out.

But Soon. SoonTM that is.

 

[Ashodin]

Trying to get stuff working here, just after a mini-boss fight against another Magi regular enemy. You win, and can collect the first PsySphere in the level.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

I just spent about 30 minutes tonight googling and youtubing Unreal Engine 4 to try and figure out where to even begin. It sucks that I'm losing a bit of hope for such a silly reason, but I've got no idea what to watch and where to begin. I did a tutorial series on Unreal's YouTube channel for building an office, and that was it. Maybe Unreal isn't even where I should be starting, but it seems for me since I don't particularly have a ton of free time to teach myself C++. Though maybe that's what I need to do.

 

[Blizzard]

I just spent about 30 minutes tonight googling and youtubing Unreal Engine 4 to try and figure out where to even begin. It sucks that I'm losing a bit of hope for such a silly reason, but I've got no idea what to watch and where to begin. I did a tutorial series on Unreal's YouTube channel for building an office, and that was it. Maybe Unreal isn't even where I should be starting, but it seems for me since I don't particularly have a ton of free time to teach myself C++. Though maybe that's what I need to do.

This may sound simplistic, but can you define your goal in simple terms? For example:

"My goal is to get some experience in creating 3D models," or

"My goal is to get some experience in creating a 3D game world," or

"My goal is to complete a game, no matter how simple," etc.

 

[Burt]

It's Saturday guys.
Get to work!

Someone told me I needed to show more combat footage, but individual character animations don't show up well, so...

"Wild Growth", I guess. I'm really bad at spell effects, but I at least understand the motion of vines as opposed to something like an explosion. No idea what to do with the motion blur with those thorns in there though. Might end up throwing 4-5 of these in at once and praying that no one sees the forest through the trees. Or the trees through the forest, which I guess is a better description of what I'm banking on.

edit

Getting there, but probably too cartoony. Something to work on tomorrow

 

[Blizzard]

I've been WRITING, of all things, and it's not easy to screenshot that. Plus I don't have anything ready.

 

[anteevy]

I just spent about 30 minutes tonight googling and youtubing Unreal Engine 4 to try and figure out where to even begin. It sucks that I'm losing a bit of hope for such a silly reason, but I've got no idea what to watch and where to begin. I did a tutorial series on Unreal's YouTube channel for building an office, and that was it. Maybe Unreal isn't even where I should be starting, but it seems for me since I don't particularly have a ton of free time to teach myself C++. Though maybe that's what I need to do.

This is a good level building tutorial for beginners: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZlv_N0_O1gak1_FoAJVrEGiLIploeF3F
Also touches a bit on Blueprints and the editor in general. Not sure though what has changed since 4.7 (I'm still using this version).

Besides that, I'd look in the UnrealEngine YT channel, lots of good tutorials there: https://www.youtube.com/user/UnrealDevelopmentKit/playlists

The official docs are also mostly well-written: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/GettingStarted/index.html

The search feature in the docs is still my #1 tool to find help if I'm stuck somewhere. If it's not explained in the docs, changes are high that someone has already asked about it in the forums or answer hub.

You don't need C++ for smaller games, most of it is exposed in Blueprints. So better start first learning to use the editor + Blueprints. Later, if you want to learn how to use C++ in the UE4, it'll be much easier for you, as you'll recognize functions and stuff you're already familiar with in Blueprint.

 

[correojon]

I´ve been adjusting the player movement and studying frame by frame footage of SMW to discover the cool movement tricks Nintendo uses in their platformers to make them feel "good". I only have some little things left (jumping up through 1 block gaps feels harder than in SMW) but it´s getting there. It´s amazing all the little tricks Nintendo puts behind the most basic things to make them feel good when playing.
I´ve also been building functionality into the level editor, the coolest one being auto-tiling like in SMM.

So...yeah, lots of coding but no progress appreciable in a screenshot

 

[timetokill]

Figured this would be a good question for you guys. May end up asking GAF at large, but we'll see.

What is your favorite non-combat, non-puzzle mechanic or system in a non-abstract game? Maybe more specifically, do you have favorite non-violent mechanic in a game where conflict resolution between humans/creatures is still a core component of the game?

 

[V_Arnold]

Figured this would be a good question for you guys. May end up asking GAF at large, but we'll see.

What is your favorite non-combat, non-puzzle mechanic or system in a non-abstract game? Maybe more specifically, do you have favorite non-violent mechanic in a game where conflict resolution between humans/creatures is still a core component of the game?

Well, anything momentum/jump-based surely is amongst my favorites. Reaching a hard to reach/seemingly impossible to reach place in a game is rewarding enough on its own, to me.

 

[DNAbro]

Figured this would be a good question for you guys. May end up asking GAF at large, but we'll see.

What is your favorite non-combat, non-puzzle mechanic or system in a non-abstract game? Maybe more specifically, do you have favorite non-violent mechanic in a game where conflict resolution between humans/creatures is still a core component of the game?

The only two things that really comes to mind is the blink mechanic in Dishonored and Zora swimming in the original Majora's Mask. Especially the swimming mechanic, I can't think of any game that got swimming to feel as good as MM.

 

[correojon]

Figured this would be a good question for you guys. May end up asking GAF at large, but we'll see.

What is your favorite non-combat, non-puzzle mechanic or system in a non-abstract game? Maybe more specifically, do you have favorite non-violent mechanic in a game where conflict resolution between humans/creatures is still a core component of the game?

It has combat uses, but Splatoon´s ink mechanics are the best I´ve seen in years. You can do many things and the different uses all compliment each other.

Also, Portal´s portal mechanics are awesome, very simple yet have a lot of depth, specially when you combine them with cubes, gels or player momentum.

 

[snarge]

Figured this would be a good question for you guys. May end up asking GAF at large, but we'll see.

What is your favorite non-combat, non-puzzle mechanic or system in a non-abstract game? Maybe more specifically, do you have favorite non-violent mechanic in a game where conflict resolution between humans/creatures is still a core component of the game?

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater combo / trick system. One of my friends described it as a fighting game you play by yourself. I like it so much, I'm borrowing heavily from it for Snail Storm!

 

[correojon]

I think that a very important factor of good mechanics is also how "external" mechanics interact with the basic ones. For example, Mario games have some very simple basic mechanics (run, jump, etc...) but the way they interact with "external" mechanics (enemies, platforms, obstacles...) and the many uses the devs pull out from the very basic set of mechanics is what make this games so praised and entertaining even after 30 years. So I think you should use as much (or more) time defining these external mechanics as with the basic ones.

There are exceptions of course, in Splatoon the basic set of mechanics and the type of game don´t really need any external mechanics to keep them entertaining after 400 hours. In the single player mode however, more external mechanics are introduced as the main objective and way to the play the game is very different.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

This may sound simplistic, but can you define your goal in simple terms? For example:

"My goal is to get some experience in creating 3D models," or

"My goal is to get some experience in creating a 3D game world," or

"My goal is to complete a game, no matter how simple," etc.

Definitely making a game. I don't even have a game in mind at the moment...I just know I've always loved games and wanted to be involved somehow. I think I'm ass-backwards because I'm thinking "I'll learn what I can, then from there determine what game I could make." I really want this to be a long term goal though. I'm fine with learning and practicing for years to get where I need to be---though I'm sure many will say you never stop learning. I just want to get in there and get my feet wet.

This is a good level building tutorial for beginners: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZlv_N0_O1gak1_FoAJVrEGiLIploeF3F
Also touches a bit on Blueprints and the editor in general. Not sure though what has changed since 4.7 (I'm still using this version).

Besides that, I'd look in the UnrealEngine YT channel, lots of good tutorials there: https://www.youtube.com/user/UnrealDevelopmentKit/playlists

The official docs are also mostly well-written: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/GettingStarted/index.html

The search feature in the docs is still my #1 tool to find help if I'm stuck somewhere. If it's not explained in the docs, changes are high that someone has already asked about it in the forums or answer hub.

You don't need C++ for smaller games, most of it is exposed in Blueprints. So better start first learning to use the editor + Blueprints. Later, if you want to learn how to use C++ in the UE4, it'll be much easier for you, as you'll recognize functions and stuff you're already familiar with in Blueprint.

Thank you very much! That level building tutorial you posted is pretty much all my friend and I have done so far. Each night when I can't find something else to learn from I just hop back into my office I created and tinker around, adding more here and there. Clicking around to see what happens with this-and-that. I'll definitely look into the other channel and start reading documentation. Are blueprints something I want to learn later for Unreal Engine 4, or should I be mixing my learning of that with my level-building itself? I wasn't certain if blueprints are more intermediate level and if I should stay away for now.

One thing I've learned very quickly....two monitors really helps.

 

[anteevy]

Are blueprints something I want to learn later for Unreal Engine 4, or should I be mixing my learning of that with my level-building itself? I wasn't certain if blueprints are more intermediate level and if I should stay away for now.

You should start learning Blueprints right away, as you build the actual game with them. It's really not that difficult. I mean, you've already started using them in that level creation tutorial (the doorway), right?

After you've learned the basics of level building and blueprints, the next step could be learning the whole GameMode/GameState/PlayerController/Pawn etc. stuff and how they connect (https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/GettingStarted/Terminology/index.html). With that knowledge you can start building the core of your game.