GAF Indie Game Development Thread 2: High Res Work for Low Res Pay

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Woot! We're finally live on Steam! Right now it's only for PC but Mac and Linux versions are planned.

With that said we're having some problems with signatures on Mac. I'm still confused on the process since I don't have access to a Mac, but for Unity games, how have you guys managed builds for other platforms?
 
OricWindstar said:
Definitely a step in the right direction! If there's a way to make them fade out slower, I think that would help, but I have no idea what's possible in the engine (is that the proper term?) you're using.
Click to expand...
Using Unity. I changed it up some. Made the fade in/out smoother, added multiple sizes, as well as a gradient of colors. Also made it look like a isometric view of a cube rather than squares. I think it looks a lot better now.

n81m977.gif
 
Exuro said:
Using Unity. I changed it up some. Made the fade in/out smoother, added multiple sizes, as well as a gradient of colors. Also made it look like a isometric view of a cube rather than squares. I think it looks a lot better now.

n81m977.gif
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Lookin' good! If it were me, I'd have he fading happen more frequently, as the dots just hanging there makes the glimmering effect less apparent, but it's already looking solid.
 
neko.works said:
ygISlyR.gif
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Looks pretty good! Did you try to activate shadows on the particles? Though I don't know if it is technically possible / still as smooth.
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Done. Had some spare hours today.

6mpijqT.png


If you guys want i can upload some gifs. I think I'll make a blogpost about how this smoke works anyways. Don't mind colors and stuff, Time of day and colors are experimental all the time.
 
PointerToAddress said:
Woot! We're finally live on Steam! Right now it's only for PC but Mac and Linux versions are planned.

With that said we're having some problems with signatures on Mac. I'm still confused on the process since I don't have access to a Mac, but for Unity games, how have you guys managed builds for other platforms?
Click to expand...

You don't need to worry about making extra steps with your Mac build if you use Unity. Just generate the build and upload it.

Of course, you should get some testers before making the depot public.
 
Hm... So I've come to a cross roads. Currently I developed a system to show my weapons in hands... But I'm starting to wonder if that will cause issues with trying to make nice animations for attacks and such. More so when it comes to layering and the combinations of weapons you can have... That or maybe my Sprite isn't very good for attack animations...
 
Can I get some help with proof reading, please? I'm not a native speaker so I need help fixing some of my english text.

I'm also looking for someone that can help me with future requests like this one. In exchange I'm willing to share my knowledge of Unity, C# and experience publishing on Steam (send me a PM if you are interested).

Well, here's the text (spoilers for my game Nomad Fleet):

1
We are finally doing it, crossing the Gate,
not to escape but to a last battle.

2
The jump is long so we have time to check all
the information we could download from the Gate’s systems

3
They tell the story of how the Ancestors built the Gate with hopes of
meeting an advanced sentient race for the first time

4
but instead they were attacked, invaded by a coalition of barbaric alien
species, united only by despair and lust for conquest.

5
The Ancestors were peaceful but had to abandon their ways in order to survive,
fighting a long war that they would eventually win at great cost.

6
The Gate records mention a long decline that would lead to their extinction but it also mentions a group of survivors that would try “emigrating to a higher plane”.

7
None of that matters now, we won’t have a long decline like them.
For better or for worse, everything will be decided in the next battle.
Click to expand...
 
Lautaro said:
Can I get some help with proof reading, please? I'm not a native speaker so I need help fixing some of my english text.

I'm also looking for someone that can help me with future requests like this one. In exchange I'm willing to share my knowledge of Unity, C# and experience publishing on Steam (send me a PM if you are interested).

Well, here's the text (spoilers for my game Nomad Fleet):

[/SPOILER]
Click to expand...

Here you go. It's a little tough without some context but I did the best I could with it:

1
We are finally passing through the Gate,
Not to flee but to a final battle.

2
The jump takes a long time, so we have time to review
all the data we downloaded from the Gate’s systems.

3
They tell the story of how the Ancestors built the Gate in hopes
of making first contact with an advanced sentient race.

4
But the Gate enabled an invasion by a coalition of barbaric alien
species that were united only by hatred and a lust for conquest.
(ttk note: the original said "despair?" is the alien species afraid of its own downfall? I tweaked it to make them sound more sinister)

5
In order to survive, the Ancestors had to abandon their peaceful ways.
They fought a long war that they eventually won at a great cost.

6
The data describes a long decline that led to the extinction of the Ancestors but it also mentions a group of survivors that would try “emigrating to a higher plane.”

7
We will not follow the path of the Ancestors. We will not slowly fade out of existence.
For better or for worse, everything will be decided in the next battle.
(ttk note: I didn't understand why "it doesn't matter" in the original. if it doesn't matter you should actually cut the text entirely.)
Click to expand...
 
timetokill said:
Here you go. It's a little tough without some context but I did the best I could with it:
Click to expand...

Thanks, its not that "it doesn't matter" is just that the narrator thinks that it doesn't matter at the moment (this text belongs to a cinematic before the ending and final explanation).
 
Lautaro said:
Thanks, its not that "it doesn't matter" is just that the narrator thinks that it doesn't matter at the moment (this text belongs to a cinematic before the ending and final explanation).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I get that, I just felt like it was a bit jarring to say it right after talking about the survivors emigrating to a higher plane. It brings up a new topic and then the narrator shuts it down, so is he saying the group of survivors doesn't matter, or all the data about the ancestors in general? If he's saying there will be no survivors after the final battle if they lose, then that's pretty dramatic and I'd prefer to make it clearer.

6
The data describes a long decline that led to the extinction of the Ancestors, but it also mentions a group of survivors that would try “emigrating to a higher plane.”

7
But tales of survivors are meaningless. We will not slowly fade out of existence.
For better or for worse, all of our fates will be decided in the next battle.
Click to expand...
 
timetokill said:
Yeah, I get that, I just felt like it was a bit jarring to say it right after talking about the survivors emigrating to a higher plane. It brings up a new topic and then the narrator shuts it down, so is he saying the group of survivors doesn't matter, or all the data about the ancestors in general? If he's saying there will be no survivors after the final battle if they lose, then that's pretty dramatic and I'd prefer to make it clearer.
Click to expand...

Both, the survivors refers to the Ancestors. The narrator thinks that what happened to the Ancestors had nothing to do with humanity even if he finds the information interesting enough to check it during the journey.
 
Lautaro said:
Both, the survivors refers to the Ancestors. The narrator thinks that what happened to the Ancestors had nothing to do with humanity even if he finds the information interesting enough to check it during the journey.
Click to expand...

Roger. Okay, here's the last line then:

7
But none of that matters now. We won't fade out of existence like the Ancestors did.
For better or worse, everything will be decided in the upcoming battle.
Click to expand...
 
Hey, I wanted to gather feedback about what you'd consider putting in a Steam "special edition" of an indie game - the kinds of things that you'd like to see both as a developer and just as someone buying it.

There's the usual stuff I've thought of, like the soundtrack, and artbook, etc. Some people are suggesting developer commentary, playable early builds, and the like, but it's something I need to put more thought into. So what would you theoretically like to see?
 
ThePhotoshop said:
Hey, I wanted to gather feedback about what you'd consider putting in a Steam "special edition" of an indie game - the kinds of things that you'd like to see both as a developer and just as someone buying it.

There's the usual stuff I've thought of, like the soundtrack, and artbook, etc. Some people are suggesting developer commentary, playable early builds, and the like, but it's something I need to put more thought into. So what would you theoretically like to see?
Click to expand...
As a casual consumer, soundtrack is pretty much all I care about -- either as a special edition or as a standalone.
 
Hmm, is there a way to have a UI image changed to be something completely different via script? As in, well, character data contains a string referring to what image should be loaded, and I'd like to adjust things based on the string - is it possible to make it so that the string itself is the file name?

(Unity 5.3.x)
 
Fox1304 said:
We got water !
aYrXB3S.gif


And (colorless) fire !
ckEL9Xy.gif


By their power combined, we should have a new event ready soon !
Click to expand...

Looks interesting! Perhaps something is in order... makes me wonder what it is!

(Hmm, still trying to think about handling possible sprite changes for portraits. Some GameObject to hold all the possible sprites sound like a possible thing...)
 
Noivern said:
is it possible to make it so that the string itself is the file name?
Click to expand...

Anything in a folder called "Resources" is handled differently to normal Assets in a Unity project, and you can explicitly load them via script from their filename by referencing their name as a string.
As you are explicitly referencing them as a string, you can use string manipulation for some degree of procedurality too, eg if you have an array of image files that are all called Image_1 to Image_5 (or whatever) you could do something like (pseudocode)
Code: 
int arrayLength = array.length;
int currentSelection;
string imageName = "Image_";
string pathName = "Sprites/Menu/"
string fileType = ".png";
sprite getImage;

public void NextButton
{
     currentSelection++;
     if (currentSelection > arrayLength)
     {
          currentSelection=0;
     }
     imageName = pathName + "Image_" + currentSelection + fileType;
     getImage = Resources.Load(imageName);
}
 
LordRaptor said:
Anything in a folder called "Resources" is handled differently to normal Assets in a Unity project, and you can explicitly load them via script from their filename by referencing their name as a string.
As you are explicitly referencing them as a string, you can use string manipulation for some degree of procedurality too, eg if you have an array of image files that are all called Image_1 to Image_5 (or whatever) you could do something like (pseudocode)
Code: 
int arrayLength = array.length;
int currentSelection;
string imageName = "Image_";
string pathName = "Sprites/Menu/"
string fileType = ".png";
sprite getImage;

public void NextButton
{
     currentSelection++;
     if (currentSelection > arrayLength)
     {
          currentSelection=0;
     }
     imageName = pathName + "Image_" + currentSelection + fileType;
     getImage = Resources.Load(imageName);
}
Click to expand...

Hmm, interesting. I'm now trying to make it so that it works now.

Besides the thing I want to make it work that way right now, what else should be resources?

It's probably just a logical extension of having the character data refer to the UI sprite that should be loaded, anyway, but I think enemy data sprite references could work, too.
 
Noivern said:
Besides the thing I want to make it work that way right now, what else should be resources?
Click to expand...

IIRC the Resources folder is sort of not best practice / legacy holdover from before Unity had streaming capabilities or access to things like asset bundles or www loading, so anything in there doesn't benefit from things like batching, compression, compilation or obfuscation and just gets bundled 'as is' with a build in its install directory, and you have to manually unload any loaded assets.

You can do pretty much everything that pseudocode does without using the resources folder just by manually creating a sprite array inside the editor for example, then explicitly referencing the array index either by rememebring what index each asset is, or by having a constants file (much better for readability and future upkeep) where you do things like
Code: 
public const int SPR_MALE_FACE_1 = 0;
public const int SPR_MALE_FACE_2 = 1;
public const int SPR_FEMALE_FACE_1 = 2;
public const int SPR_MALE_FACE_3 = 3;

(a 'real world' example where I added a new entry to a series after I'd ended a series, but it doesn't matter because all scripts are referencing constants and I can just make a list of everything in my constants file called SPR_MALE_FACE_)
 
is there any place that specifies what Steam deems as "offensive material"? In extreme cases, such erotic games or games that propagate hateful ideas, it's pretty obvious, but what about stuff like partial nudity, or drug use, or heavy gore? Do they decide on a game by game basis?
 
LordRaptor said:
IIRC the Resources folder is sort of not best practice / legacy holdover from before Unity had streaming capabilities or access to things like asset bundles or www loading, so anything in there doesn't benefit from things like batching, compression, compilation or obfuscation and just gets bundled 'as is' with a build in its install directory, and you have to manually unload any loaded assets.

You can do pretty much everything that pseudocode does without using the resources folder just by manually creating a sprite array inside the editor for example, then explicitly referencing the array index either by rememebring what index each asset is, or by having a constants file (much better for readability and future upkeep) where you do things like
Code: 
public const int SPR_MALE_FACE_1 = 0;
public const int SPR_MALE_FACE_2 = 1;
public const int SPR_FEMALE_FACE_1 = 2;
public const int SPR_MALE_FACE_3 = 3;

(a 'real world' example where I added a new entry to a series after I'd ended a series, but it doesn't matter because all scripts are referencing constants and I can just make a list of everything in my constants file called SPR_MALE_FACE_)
Click to expand...

Well, seeing as I'm having problems trying to load resources from there, I guess I should think about doing it a different way.

Constants file, huh? Now, makes me wonder if they'll work for me. A constants file, and something that holds all possible portraits at runtime... (I'm going to guess I need to create one more GameObject for it.)

Also, I bet that constants file will also come in handy for string references with my text loader...

Back to it... I'm thinking of doing this:
1. Make a new GameObject prefab that will get automatically loaded by something that already exists in the scene and can be accessed anywhere
1a. This prefab contains a script which then contains an array of all the possible sprites
2. Make a constants file with constants corresponding to the appropriate slots in said array
3. From the relevant UI script, grab the sprite by calling a function on whoever that holds the instantiated prefab
 
Fox1304 said:
Let's say things are heating up for Tanoo, and Pandas don't like it that much !
panda-water-1.gif
Click to expand...

Leaky container is leaky. :3 Looks fun, though.

Now back to tearing my hair out trying to whack things together in my project. I think I have all the constants now, and they are coming in very handy for referring to lines in the text data without ending up with a confusing numerical mess in the actual scripts.

Was thinking about this, though:
1. What would be a good way to introduce "codes" within a line of text that, when handled by the actual scripts, the script will then pick up on these codes and replace as appropriate? (Like a player character's name that might be changed.)

2. If you were referring to something else that can never have its name changed, would you write the thing "baked into" the line, or use codes and have it refer to something else for lookups?

3. I believe no one has mentioned about handling portrait swaps exactly yet...? (For more information, see previous posts up this thread.) Actually, for sprite arrays, I'm thinking that I need to create a blank GameObject, have it hold a script, which then holds the actual sprite array. Is this right or wrong?
 
Finally releasing my first game on steam. Only took........almost 4 years! Enjoyed every step of the way at least. If any of ya'll have questions about steam, Greenlight, contacting publishers, working with contractors, or any of the nitty gritty let me know. All of that stuff was key to getting a large scale multiplayer online game to the finish line, and it's also rarely discussed.. Anyways, obligatory link.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/439960

Also, thanks everyone here for the feedback! This community is awesome!
 
TheKroge said:
Finally releasing my first game on steam. Only took........almost 4 years! Enjoyed every step of the way at least. If any of ya'll have questions about steam, Greenlight, contacting publishers, working with contractors, or any of the nitty gritty let me know. All of that stuff was key to getting a large scale multiplayer online game to the finish line, and it's also rarely discussed.. Anyways, obligatory link.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/439960

Also, thanks everyone here for the feedback! This community is awesome!
Click to expand...

Congratulations. It's wonderful to see 4 years of your hard work to finally come to fruition.
 
Does anybody have advice for places to turn for commissioning/licensing/finding music? Any specific communities to look into or anything?
 
Tain said:
Does anybody have advice for places to turn for commissioning/licensing/finding music? Any specific communities to look into or anything?
Click to expand...

You could probably do worse than browsing SoundCloud and directly contacting unsigned artists whose work you like, to be honest (I say unsigned as signed artists might have contracts in place preventing scoring for video games)
 
Tain said:
Does anybody have advice for places to turn for commissioning/licensing/finding music? Any specific communities to look into or anything?
Click to expand...

I got an entire score written for my game by contacting a guy who is a professional orchestrator but wrote sci-fi scores as a hobby. Check out communities where players share an interest in your type of game and see if there is any talent.

Also, check out /r/gamedevclassified on reddit.

Last, I met a guy a few years ago who runs a really cool royalty-free music site where you can buy all of his music dirt cheap, and use it pretty much however you want. it's incompetech.com. Very knowledgeable composer who will also work on commission too!
 
Feep said:
Almost everyone does. They did actually find a couple real bugs, which are totally on me, but there are a ton of things that you just sort of have to get used to with the submission process. For instance, in Spanish, my translation of "stick derecho" did not match the brand guideline of "joystick derecho". Or my spec.xml file did not have everything set up exactly as they need it. Or the music that plays when you hover over the game in the OS was two dB too loud.

I mean, it's possible, all these things were listed and everything, but it's a *ton* of stuff and it's all new and it's just really tough to catch everything the first go-around.
Click to expand...

When submitting a PS3 game a few years ago, I had to submit to both Europe and US QA, both found different sets of issues.
We fixed the issues and resubmitted, all the stuff they found previously was fixed, but they rejected it again with a new set of issues.
Thankfully by the third attempt it actually went through, but it was super painful and really hard for an Indie studio like the one I worked in at the time.
 
LordRaptor said:
You could probably do worse than browsing SoundCloud and directly contacting unsigned artists whose work you like, to be honest (I say unsigned as signed artists might have contracts in place preventing scoring for video games)
Click to expand...

TheKroge said:
I got an entire score written for my game by contacting a guy who is a professional orchestrator but wrote sci-fi scores as a hobby. Check out communities where players share an interest in your type of game and see if there is any talent.

Also, check out /r/gamedevclassified on reddit.

Last, I met a guy a few years ago who runs a really cool royalty-free music site where you can buy all of his music dirt cheap, and use it pretty much however you want. it's incompetech.com. Very knowledgeable composer who will also work on commission too!
Click to expand...

JeffG said:
http://www.audionetwork.com/
Click to expand...


Thanks dudes.
 
Good lord, Unity's canvas UI is giving me a huge headache. I feel like it used to be so much easier in their previous (albeit not very robust) version.

All I want to do is have a UI text element appear over a characters head. That's literally it. I'm in 2D, so I've got a canvas set up for world space scaled waaay down to hover over a character's head (which I learned via some documentation that that's the way to do "in game" UIs) and, and image that is scaled down to fit in said canvas, which all works. Issue is when I add text it comes out freaking enormous and scaling it down only makes it extremely warped.

I've been scratching my head for like two hours figuring there's got to be a better way than this. You used to be able to draw UI elements anywhere, anytime on the screen, and update their position, too. Now that it's this in-engine thing it's really, really giving me grief and it doesn't look like there's enough documentation on it to really answer my questions. I'm just trying to get a simple text bubble!

Anyone have any ideas?
 
Hopefully someone can help me with this. I'm using Unity and building to Android. Whenever I build and run or uninstall the apk from the phone the phone restarts ie uninstalling either manually or with build and run restarts it. This is extremely annoying and I couldn't find any results of anyone else having this issue. Does anyone know whats causing this and/or how to fix it?
 
Timeaisis said:
Good lord, Unity's canvas UI is giving me a huge headache. I feel like it used to be so much easier in their previous (albeit not very robust) version.

All I want to do is have a UI text element appear over a characters head. That's literally it. I'm in 2D, so I've got a canvas set up for world space scaled waaay down to hover over a character's head (which I learned via some documentation that that's the way to do "in game" UIs) and, and image that is scaled down to fit in said canvas, which all works. Issue is when I add text it comes out freaking enormous and scaling it down only makes it extremely warped.

I've been scratching my head for like two hours figuring there's got to be a better way than this. You used to be able to draw UI elements anywhere, anytime on the screen, and update their position, too. Now that it's this in-engine thing it's really, really giving me grief and it doesn't look like there's enough documentation on it to really answer my questions. I'm just trying to get a simple text bubble!

Anyone have any ideas?
Click to expand...

The old way through code is still there. I still use it for my controller prompts
 
Anyone have suggestions for quickly prototyping in Linux?

I've been working on a 2D game (with engine I've written) for some time now and I'm starting to wonder if I need to go from side view to full-on isometric, but I'm not sure how big I want to make the tiles, if it will 'work' for gameplay or not, and so on. I don't have any isometric support built into my engine, so I figured I'd go try it out in a 'real' engine before spending the effort to write it myself. Most of the big-name engines can export games to Linux, but the development environment is still Windows/Mac only (or in the case of Stencyl, dies with strange Java errors). I'm continuing to look, and in the worst case I'll just spend a few days and write an add-on for my own engine, but if anyone has any suggestions not in the OP, that'd be great.
 
So I started my very first big project about 2 weeks ago and in the past few days ive hit a wall.

Ive been implementing things like a combat system, enemy AI, etc. But when it comes to sitting down and figuring out level design, I draw a blank. I have to make sure this wall doesnt stop me from continually putting it off until it becomes a dead project.
 
Gurrry said:
So I started my very first big project about 2 weeks ago and in the past few days ive hit a wall.

Ive been implementing things like a combat system, enemy AI, etc. But when it comes to sitting down and figuring out level design, I draw a blank. I have to make sure this wall doesnt stop me from continually putting it off until it becomes a dead project.
Click to expand...

When I get to that point in development I will just play around and see what works and build upon that. You could always draw inspiration from other games, there's a lot of them with great level design out there.
 
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