Shit, this hit me hard. Game dev can feel like a curse sometimes. You know what's the worst? The guilt when you're not devoting 100% of your time to it.
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GAF Indie Game Development Thread 2: High Res Work for Low Res Pay
- Thread starter Jacksinthe
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Shit, this hit me hard. Game dev can feel like a curse sometimes. You know what's the worst? The guilt when you're not devoting 100% of your time to it.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
So, are you guys drawing all your own sprites in Game Maker, or what? Hiring artists? Blood sacrifices?
GraphicsGale! And blood rituals, ofc.
plagiarize
Banned
I work a regular job full time. I spend most evenings working on my game. I'm literally scheduling in meal times, time spent with my wife, chores, etc, because if I didn't I'd just keep working on it. I harbor some guilt from that too, but my wife often has projects that take up similar amounts of her free time too, so I think we'll be just dandy.
If I don't schedule in eating, I forget until the halos for my migraines show up. Fortunately I've reacted to the halos in time to not actually get any migraines yet, but yeah. Time management is a toughie. I think I've got a grasp on it. No idea how I'll react to an Oculus Rift CV1 launch date though, which could throw me into crunch depending on how far out it is, since I hope to have the game done around then.
Azure Dream
Member
"Match 3" type puzzle meets proper RPG
It has no name yet. More details once all systems are in place. I plan on writing more on my ordeals with the battle system too - once I put it behind me
Here is a little sneek peak:
(One of the color variaton of sucubbus. The hero does have a proper get-hit animation too, his part is just placeholder.)
Edit: Here is another one, showing a different enemy and a proper get-hit/idle animation
That's excellent animation work! Very lively.
Jellycrackers
Member
Aww, thanks man! I can't wait to see what you create with that music in your head.
Michael Armbrust
Member
That's looking really really great!
Something I find fascinating about this game is that its controls are somewhat like a belt scroller (i.e. Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, etc) but it has full exploration in 3/4 perspective. Meaning, you can move in all 8 directions and the hero will actually face in the direction moving, and freely explore a level that expands in all directions like in a Zelda game, however, you can only ATTACK to the left or right, and same with the enemies.
This not only obviously reduces the animations needed, but has the advantages a true belt scroller does of making it easy for players to always know where their attacks (and enemy attacks) are going to go, and avoiding attacks by just moving up or down, but at the same time with much more exploration than you'd get from an actual true belt scroller. I don't think I've seen a set up like this before, has anyone else?
I have both a belt scroller and an overhead-view exploration-focused (zelda-like) game in my "list of game types I'd like to make", it never occurred to me that the concepts could be combined in any way. I'll be curious to see how the public reacts to this game.
I had this same revelation when I saw Eitr, which works in a similar way -- you can explore in all directions, but attack animations are to the side only. opens many possibilities for a 2d game.
Thank you! We are very afraid of whether people will like this or not at this point, hopefully as more details are fledged out, the nervousness will go away
Wow I hadn't heard of Eitr either, interesting! Its isometric rather than 3/4ths which makes it even more unusual that you can only attack left and right, as many isometric viewpoint games only allow you to attack at 45 degree angles (but still in 4 different directions).
it seems to work fine though because the range of collision is wide enough.
the reason this was revelatory is because, if you use 2d art, you can now do whatever elaborate and diverse attack animations you might do in a sidescroller, because you don't have to actually do other versions of them for other directions.
Exactly! As I mentioned I wanted to do an overhead-view game at some point so the player could more fully explore and navigate compared to a side-scroller, but having to have 3x the number of animations for every action (assuming you use sprite flipping, otherwise 4x) is a tall order when you have limited indie-dev resources!
show me your skeleton
Member
would anyone like some music? my schedule is getting rather free!
plagiarize
Banned
Thanks. I can't draw for shit, so getting positive feedback on how the game looks is especially appreciated. Working on these more detailed end of level areas has me considering taking this or a similar art style and using it to explore other genres outside of a game design that mandates such a look. On one hand, it'd be a lot more environment work. On the other hand getting all that done in a weekend is still fast.
I really don't know where this adventure takes me. If it's just going to be one and done, or if Primitive is just a first step on a longer journey.
This is why I've been putting off animating other directions once I prototyped top-down strategy game sprites. Horizontal mirroring might be workable, but to properly use an Advance Wars style, I really probably need to hand-draw different sprites and animations for up-facing AND down-facing units. I figured I should probably wait until I'm more confident in what units I'm using before I do that.
Has anyone seen any games being developed, released in the last few years, or is developing one themselves, based on the Punch Out style game play? The only one I can think of was Rage of the Gladiator ( http://www.ghostfiregames.com/gladiator/rage-of-the-gladiator/ ) and Infinity Blade on tablets but that was several years ago. Besides those and Punch Out itself (most recent version being Punch Out Wii), anything else? Is this still just a dead genre? I was always a big fan of these kinds of games but they seem so rare, do they just not sell well?
Enigmatic Rainbow
Member
Thanks!
Anything that's not actually boxing, like how Infinity Blade and Rage of the Gladiator were sword fighting? I guess boxing and sword fighting are the only thing that make sense for this style of game play probably...
Enigmatic Rainbow
Member
oxrock
Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
I'm a solo game developer who's much more into the programming side than I am artwork, I've done the best I can but there's only so far I can go with my extreme lack of artistic talent. So I was wondering, where do people go to find artists to do spritework? I was thinking once a get further along in my current game's development that I might attempt a kickstarter and I think hiring a legit artist would be at the top of my list for things to acquire. Ideally my game would be pretty before attempting a kickstarter to garner the most interest but of course there begins the cycle. Need funds to hire artist, need artist to acquire funds. Anyhow, would love to hear some insight as to what others have done to find artists for their games. I wish I could network to figure things like this out, but I'm a solo act working from home, so there's not a lot of intermingling with other people with the same interests, outside of this thread anyway.
My game has a long arduous journey ahead of it before acquiring funding is a potential reality, but I'd like to show a screenshot of where it's at currently. The following is a screenshot of a battle with my game's tutorial boss.I'd love some feed back on the UI and how to beautify it a bit. For instance, I know my buttons are completely utilitarian.
My game has a long arduous journey ahead of it before acquiring funding is a potential reality, but I'd like to show a screenshot of where it's at currently. The following is a screenshot of a battle with my game's tutorial boss.I'd love some feed back on the UI and how to beautify it a bit. For instance, I know my buttons are completely utilitarian.
some of the places I have looked:
TIGSource forums
wayofthepixel forums
/r/gamedevclassifieds
pixeljoint
I have heard that some people use DeviantArt but I have never given it a chance myself.
Jacksinthe
Banned
Trifecta complete - Sony's agreements signed.
Also, started dialogue to order my XO devkits. I'm going to start sweating profusely now.
The past few weeks have been a wild fucking ride.
Also, started dialogue to order my XO devkits. I'm going to start sweating profusely now.
The past few weeks have been a wild fucking ride.
Some info: Unlock Points is how much of a currency (gained from killing enemies) you need to get to buy the skill. You get 30 points per kill, 100 points from leveling, and undetermined amount from bosses/mini-bosses. However the points are not 100% final and will change after balancing.
TP is an energy source which is gained upon attacking and not when using skills. (Except for very specific ones.)
Higher the speed, faster the skill is used in the order of battlers.
What do you think of my Warrior and Monk skills thus far?
TP is an energy source which is gained upon attacking and not when using skills. (Except for very specific ones.)
Higher the speed, faster the skill is used in the order of battlers.
What do you think of my Warrior and Monk skills thus far?
OldmanAndroid
Member
oxrock
Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
My take away from this is animated gifs ftw. It's certainly good to gain a tiny bit of insight about greenlight though, hoping to go down that road at some point.
Northeastmonk
Gold Member
This is a lot of fun. I'd love a minimap, but I would enjoy this on Vita too. It's nice having the mode with the more powerful sword. I also like the different colored keys. It reminds me of Chip's Challenge a bit. Nox was a bad name IMO, so having his name be Nax is sort of refreshing. lol!!! I'd also love to have alien space stations. That would be a blast and some serious menus. I don't mean to sound like I'm hammering down on your work. Overall it's pretty good.
I just started a class on Udemy on developing in Unity. It's not bad. I have just gone over the basics of the UI for Unity 4.6.
I also did this jumping from a previous screen onto a corner. I ran past a few areas that I shouldn't have access to now. I got to a screen with all grass then I appeared back on the "trees?". I ended up freezing in one spot on the same yellow and orange path (trees), so I had to restart. I couldn't jump off either, so the areas were basically blocked off from actually exploring.
I'm pretty much the same. Working full time and then working on the game as much as possible after work or even during lunch breaks.
Northeastmonk
Gold Member
Ever played Beyond the Beyond or Golden Sun? That kind of UI would go perfectly with this. A really nice UI can go a long way. Having your HP and MP beneath or above the characters has always been a neat look to me. That seems very basic from the looks of it. You certainly aren't complicating things. Maybe flesh out your battle system a little more and give it some navigational options, possibly a "confirmation" button. Defense is another option as well as defending for other characters.
mantrakid
Member
that was not very subtle
haha I dont get it. What did i do?
mantrakid
Member
An increase of over 3000% from the week before.
First day of the sale was about 2x the amount of my launch day. Full weeks numbers were about 2x the amount i pulled in from all of december combined, including the tail of the fall sale and the full 2 or so week holiday sale.
mad visibility yo.
Apparently Construct 3 is a thing. No idea what significant changes there are though.
oxrock
Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
Firstly, thanks for putting some thought into your response. In earlier versions I had each mercenary's hp bar over their sprite kind of like how I have it for the pig boss. It seemed to me to clutter up the main viewing area while leaving the sides of the screen as almost completely wasted space. I think having a hp/mp display placed vertically next to each merc might be the way to go. I feel like I have so much horizontal space but vertical is at a bit of a premium. I image searched beyond the beyond's UI and there are certainly some things from that I could take inspiration from. The simplest that I think I've decided on was to get rid of the individual buttons (at least not visibly separate them so much) and just have clickable text inside a larger UI box. I think I'll stay away from that drab grey as well. As far as fleshing out the combat, for base attacks you simply hit the attack box and then the enemy, but for skilled attacks when you click skills it opens up a new set of options. I certainly agree with defensive options as well, at least for more defense oriented classes. There's definitely much to be done though. Right now it's not implemented but there's a row system planned. (Melee can only attack from front row and can only attack front row until all enemies in front row have been eliminated). This would allow more traditional tank and spank mechanics, also the picture isn't showing all the classes. There's currently also a ranger class and a planned guardian class. The guardian would certainly be getting the benefit of any defensive abilities I implement. I really like the idea of being able to put shield block on an ally, similar to blocking characters on DAoC.
Fairly obvious homage to a certain website.
Nice names, cool stuff all around. Two skills that kinda look out of the place power-wise is berserker rampage and tiger stance, imho. Especially tiger stance. Canceling all attacks AND counterattacking? Only one of those is a godsend in rpg's, having both seems OP. Like Jax's E in Lol, only for longer amounts?
oxrock
Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
At least it doesn't AOE stun I suppose, but it does seem rather OP. As for the move list, the warrior ability name "stunlock" bothers me. I guess I associate stunlock with evil combat rogues from my WoW days. I'd be much more in favor of "disorienting blow" or maybe "shield bash". A really stupid gripe on my part, I know. Also, thunder strike hits for fire damage? Seems a bit off, unless there's no electric element attack type I suppose. The paralyze chance seems cool though.
SeanNoonan
Member
Mac/Linux editor support is the biggest deal for me.
I also heard they are looking into better handling of lists/arrays (as currently it's a bit balls to manage and populate them).
Random - did a Jack B. Nimble sprite in a Google spreadsheet as part of pixel dailies... weird.
It should be noted that Berserker Rampage costs 100 TP which is the most TP you can have and takes quit a bit of turns to build up. So it's very difficult to spam it.
For Tiger stance I could make it just counterattack rather than also cancel.
Thunder..? Oh shit. I didn't even notice that. I just copied the description but forgot to change that part. Should say Thunder. Also I could change it to Shield Bash since Warriors do use shields.
Candescence
Member
They're focusing entirely on overhauling the editor. They're gonna keep the HTML5 runtime, as well, partly because making an exporter in a whole new language will just take time away from the new editor and be extremely time-consuming to develop and debug. Thankfully, they're finally looking into hiring more people, though, all this time it's just been the two guys working on C2.
People are on the forums have already made a suggestions thread for C3 features. Only three pages and the list is huge.
taku
Member
All I want for C3 is more console support and I'm good.
Dead Prince
Banned
mantrakid
Member
that was not very subtle
Oh yeah, no, it's a deliberate addition as a shoutout / thanks to the support NeoGAF showed me leading up to and throughout the kickstarter.
BlastProcessing
Member
Getting ready to hit the big green button and release my game on Steam.
Does anyone have any opinions on the best time to release? Right now We are thinking 5pm or 6PM PST.
Does anyone have any opinions on the best time to release? Right now We are thinking 5pm or 6PM PST.
Programmers, how do you guys do event systems? Have a global dispatcher on which listener/handlers register for events, and other things trigger events? Or have the event stuff on the game instances?
Right now I'm using the C# event system, which is the latter, and I'm trying to figure out a good way to do a stats tracker system. It seems like if I went with the global dispatcher way, things would be a whole lot simpler.
Right now I'm using the C# event system, which is the latter, and I'm trying to figure out a good way to do a stats tracker system. It seems like if I went with the global dispatcher way, things would be a whole lot simpler.
show me your skeleton
Member
better have some ideas ready for psyscrolr 2!
BlastProcessing
Member
But what could possibly go wrong?
I agree. Hit the button and go to bed.
BlastProcessing
Member
I hit the button!
Ephemerid is now available on Steam. For those of you about to rock, I salute you!
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