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[Jacksinthe]

Yeah, VS is such an improvement over MonoDevelop.

That said, it seems VS is the cause behind Unity freezing sometimes when I get a null reference error, is weird and I haven't found a solution.

Always happens with Mono for me.

A complete freeze or just like 20 seconds? With mono its about 20 for me, sometimes longer. I'll have to try it using VS.

 

[Enigmatic Rainbow]

It´s an exported model from blender

Nice, thank you!

 

[mantrakid]

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.

You know whats worse than that? When you feel guilty you're not putting 100% into your game, but then you realize you're not giving your family / wife / kid 100%. If anything its a wakeup call that it's not about giving 100% ALL THE TIME it's about giving 100% when you're working on it, but the real success and happiness comes from acceptance that there needs to be a balance.

 

[electroflame]

I'll have to use it more regularly. Just started toying about with 2012 pro today. I will have to dive into some serious coding to see it's quirks. I just like that so far it feels infinitely faster than Mono and haven't had an issue with it most of the morning preparing v1.0 for our mobile title.

I'll keep my eyes peeled. Hopefully it works out to be a better candidate than Mono and so far it is looking that way, for me, at least.

VS 2012 should be alright for the most part. I've only had the aforementioned issues with 2013 onward.

That said, though, Visual Studio is a huge step up from MonoDevelop (or, in my case, MonoDevelop was a huge step down from Visual Studio when I tried it).

 

[Lautaro]

Always happens with Mono for me.

A complete freeze or just like 20 seconds? With mono its about 20 for me, sometimes longer. I'll have to try it using VS.

Complete freeze. I can't even close it so I have to end the application from the taskbar.

Maybe is not VS but the new version of Unity or maybe I just have too much shit in my project, I don't know.

 

[friken]

Out of interest, did you guys release a game previously or did you sign up for the ID program with your first game?

Looking at the requirements, I noticed this:

"We evaluate each developer individually on its own merits. In the initial phase of ID@Xbox, we’re looking for experienced independent game developers who have a proven track record of shipping games on console, PC, mobile, or tablet, or clear evidence of a game well in flight, such as a successful Kickstarter or entry in a showcase event such as the IGF. These developers will help us smooth the path for those who come later"

I have released other tilles, mobile and dialup bbs games (yeah... I'm oooolder than dirt

But, I didn't mention any other games on the forms. I don't even recall any place in the process to mention other games/stuff you have released.

 

[BlastProcessing]

this was a fun design to do -- If I succeeded, she's frightening and also oddly alluring. This, like many other things in the game, is a "zombie" -- in my world, the recently dead retain human like characteristics for a while. Over time they become more monstrous.

The fungal growths on her body are similar to the ones seen on common enemies throughout this region of the game.

She looks like something out of Henson's Dark Crystal. I Dig it.

 

[Skab]

Slowly wrapping my head around Stencyl. Lots to wade through and learn, but I'm enjoying it. It did make me realize over the weekend that I really needed a better, proper work space. So I spent basically a full day Monday cleaning my computer area and getting better set up. Helped a lot.

Also decided to sign up for that C# course someone linked a couple pages back so I can try diving into Unity down the road. Excited about that!

 

[Jobbs]

Slowly wrapping my head around Stencyl. Lots to wade through and learn, but I'm enjoying it. It did make me realize over the weekend that I really needed a better, proper work space. So I spent basically a full day Monday cleaning my computer area and getting better set up. Helped a lot.

Also decided to sign up for that C# course someone linked a couple pages back so I can try diving into Unity down the road. Excited about that!

stencyl is really very simple once you get the basic concepts, which is why I've been able to make a game at all. let me know if you have questions

She looks like something out of Henson's Dark Crystal. I Dig it.

This is fantastic, exaggerated but believable anatomy is my favorite art style for human characters. Do you have an art blog or anywhere that I can see more?

Edit: Got it!. Edit 2, I see that's the game general blog, do you have anything that's specifically art from the game? If you don't you definitely should! The art and visuals are stunning.

thanks guys. glad people seem to get the 80s vibes I'm constantly putting out with this game. + I don't really have a good and up to date art blog right now. it's a good idea though.

My drawing style was heavily influenced by mangas when I was coming up, especially Ghost In The Shell, Appleseed, and Battle Angel Alita. The 80s/90s hints come naturally.

 

[Skab]

stencyl is really very simple once you get the basic concepts, which is why I've been able to make a game at all. let me know if you have questions





thanks guys. glad people seem to get the 80s vibes I'm constantly putting out with this game. + I don't really have a good and up to date art blog right now. it's a good idea though.

My drawing style was heavily influenced by mangas when I was coming up, especially Ghost In The Shell, Appleseed, and Battle Angel Alita. The 80s/90s hints come naturally.

What programs are you using to make your in game art and sound?

 

[Jobbs]

What programs are you using to make your in game art and sound?

the process to make this game is for the most part pretty straightforward.

scripting: stencyl
art/animation: photoshop cc with a wacom intuos pro large (though a medium is just as well, I probably shoulda just saved the money)
sounds: anything I can do. some of the sounds are made by roger, who also does most the music. Other sounds I do by modifying/mixing various samples I either record or find. I also use bfxr sometimes when that type of sound is applicable. Sometimes I mix BFXR sounds together or mix them with other sound samples. I use mixcraft 6 and audacity for sound editing and mixing.
video editing: premiere

I want to learn after effects, I heard you can do great stuff with it, but haven't gotten to it yet.

 

[lionplex]

Your game looks really fun, and your website makes me feel like a ten year old in a game store, which I think is a good thing.

lol thanks. Do you mean that in a nostalgia kind of way?

Looking fun! And is a great example of something I want to talk about. I have had a few comments lately on my dev blog, tig, and indiedb that I need a solid landing page / first post that captures the essence of what StarDiver is. I agree.

I am jealous of how easy it is to get the idea of what the game is like for games like "Neon Krieger Yamato". A one line description works great and with a good gif players just get it.

For those on here that have seen StarDiver posts and immediately thought "Cool looks like StarControl, or StarFlight", I love it! Unfortunately, very few gamers know the reference and there just are not modern examples of that sort of game to draw on. So.... today I am going to take a stab at a new landing page for my blog site to try to best describe and show "What is StarDiver". I will post a link here shortly and would love feedback on what I can do to improve the copy, describe the game, and get players excited about what I am making.

Thanks. My influences are pretty straightforward though, my game is mostly just taking what I liked growing up and channeling it through myself into a game I'd like to play.

Your game looks cool (I'm a sucker for outer space), and the fact it's a complete family-made game gives it a really unique angle to talk about. I actually haven't played any of the games you mention as influences, but the vibe I get looking at the game is it's kind of an offline version of EvE.

Love the idea. The brawler/platformer with fighting game type mechanics is something I've been thinking about for awhile (but I don't really feel I could pull it off on my own). Will be keeping an eye on this.

Thanks. This is the first "real" game I've tried to make, other than simple "web advergaming" type stuff (I kind of hate my day job now). I've got some other ideas for games but I figure I might as start with the game influences that are kind of ingrained into me from what I loved playing growing up.


Here's a screen of how the level intro titles look

 

[Xtra Mile]

I have released other tilles, mobile and dialup bbs games (yeah... I'm oooolder than dirt

But, I didn't mention any other games on the forms. I don't even recall any place in the process to mention other games/stuff you have released.

Thank friken, appreciate the response. Would be nice to have the game on Xbox One as well

 

[SeanNoonan]

I did another thing (sorry)...

 

[AzureSkies]

Sorry for this question, as I guess that everyone reads it all the time:

I'm looking for a good game development tool that could be used to introduce me into programming? Any suggestions? I toyed around with Unity and C# for a day but felt like it was a little bit too large of a scope for what I'm looking to make.

of course, I might be wrong.

 

[Enigmatic Rainbow]

Sorry for this question, as I guess that everyone reads it all the time:

I'm looking for a good game development tool that could be used to introduce me into programming? Any suggestions? I toyed around with Unity and C# for a day but felt like it was a little bit too large of a scope for what I'm looking to make.

of course, I might be wrong.

The OP has some great recommendations. It depends on what type of game you're making.

Try out Stencyl, Game Maker Studio, or Construct 2.

 

[AzureSkies]

The OP has some great recommendations. It depends on what type of game you're making.

Try out Stencyl, Game Maker Studio, or Construct 2.

Thanks for your suggestions!

Stencyl and Construct definitely do interest me, but I'm thinking of doing something involving 3D, so maybe I'll give Unity another chance.

 

[Enigmatic Rainbow]

Stencyl and Construct definitely do interest me, but I'm thinking of doing something involving 3D, so maybe I'll give Unity another chance.

Be sure to try and do/watch some tutorials. I have experience with C# and JavaScript, and just jumped into Unity blind.

It made things a lot harder than they needed to be.

 

[AzureSkies]

Be sure to try and do/watch some tutorials. I have experience with C# and JavaScript, and just jumped into Unity blind.

It made things a lot harder than they needed to be.

I tried some of the Unity tutorials and I loved the program, I just felt that I needed more C# experience to really be able to properly use it.

I started talking to my brother about it (since we're both interested in creating a game together), and he had some ideas for a 2D game too that I'd like to pursue.

Out of Stencyl, Game Maker Studio, and Construct 2, which would you consider to be the easiest to pick up? I screwed around with Game Maker YEARS ago but didn't like it, however I did get the free copy of Studio that was given away last year.

 

[Feep]

Starting to label very minor bugs in the database as "No time - will not fix"

:/

 

[Enigmatic Rainbow]

I'm not the best to answer this as I only personally used Construct 2 of those three.

I found the Event Sheet, basically the "coding" part, easy to use. It's set up pretty well that most things are visual.

 

[AzureSkies]

I'm not the best to answer this as I only personally used Construct 2 of those three.

I found the Event Sheet, basically the "coding" part, easy to use. It's set up pretty well that most things are visual.

Thanks for your advice, I'll try out Construct 2.

 

[Korten]

http://thebordergame.blogspot.com/

Hopefully this is allowed, but I started up a sort of dev blog for my game! I hope some people check it out and give comments. Currently there is just 2 posts, a sort of general information, and one that goes over how the class system currently works.

 

[Dewfreak83]

Are you curious how long it might take a programmer, wanna-be artist to hand animate the sides of each dice rolling? That answer is 10 hours. Additionally it may cost you your insanity from all the monotonous work!

Now I'm wondering how long it might take your average real artist to do this? Just how far off am I from getting the hang of this art-thing?

 

[missile]

I work may way through the RF tuner section of a common CRT for my simulator,
but man, RF circuit theory is perhaps the most delicate circuit theory of all, Jesus!

 

[ZehDon]

Indie-Gaf, once again I need your feedback and opinions. I've put together a "space nebula" image for the story intro for a mobile rogue-like. I've limited myself to the NES palette, and I've attempted to imitate the low-resolution stylings. I'm happy with it, but I guess I need to know if it reads like a nebula, rather than a weird blob of pixels:

All feedback welcome! Thank you in advance.

edit:

...Just how far off am I from getting the hang of this art-thing?

That's actually fantastic. Captures that hand-drawn feeling perfectly. I can't speak for others, but I tried to do something like that once for a PC version of an educational board game. After six hours of attempts, I stopped and just rendered a 3D object instead. You should be proud of that man. Simple, but effective.

 

[Violet_0]

Indie-Gaf, once again I need your feedback and opinions. I've put together a "space nebula" image for the story intro for a mobile rogue-like. I've limited myself to the NES palette, and I've attempted to imitate the low-resolution stylings. I'm happy with it, but I guess I need to know if it reads like a nebula, rather than a weird blob of pixels:

All feedback welcome! Thank you in advance.

looks nice, but I think you could do a better transition from red/blue to black, either with more colors or more dithering, to simulate the cloudy effect

oh, and the purple needs a higher blue value/stronger contrast I think

 

[Blizzard]

Starting to label very minor bugs in the database as "No time - will not fix"

:/

This is the reality of software developments with deadlines.

With any luck later on, you'll happen across some random Steam community comment about the "lazy devs" not fixing simple bugs in There Came An Echo, from someone who is blissfully unaware of the insane work weeks you've been running.

At least you're tracking them so you can fix them in a post-release patch, if you don't die of overwork first!

 

[Sword Familiar]

I did another thing (sorry)...

Chocolate mousse? ( .__.)

 

[oxrock]

Are you curious how long it might take a programmer, wanna-be artist to hand animate the sides of each dice rolling? That answer is 10 hours. Additionally it may cost you your insanity from all the monotonous work!

Now I'm wondering how long it might take your average real artist to do this? Just how far off am I from getting the hang of this art-thing?

That actually looks pretty good. You can draw my dice anytime

As far as my game goes, after tons of code restructuring and finagling I was able to finally correct the game combat. So now all my mercenaries can attack and all the enemies can attack any merc. Far from done, no special attack implemented yet so the combat is rather dull with nothing but basic attacks, but so glad that's finally implemented correctly.

 

[Jacksinthe]

I work may way through the RF tuner section of a common CRT for my simulator,
but man, RF circuit theory is perhaps the most delicate circuit theory of all, Jesus!

There you are. I was wondering what you've been cooking up in your secret underground lab.

 

[Jacksinthe]

Our game was just approved for PS4. That was unexpectedly fast

I am seriously going to start sweating it. This is a lot I have to get in order now and it's just me at the helm with programming now for XO, PS4 and PC so I have more than my work cut out for me.

A bit fucking insane, if you ask me. But it's also good. Because I get to rework my development plan at a super early stage instead of in the middle of it - which is a huge bonus I know many don't get right off the bat with new IPs so I am very thankful that I have this opportunity at this stage. I made a huge effort over the past two months with a proper push and I'm glad to see the extra work paid off, at least in the form of IP approvals from MS and Sony.

A bit surreal. Definitely a monumental undertaking for someone like me so I need to stay focused.

 

[Dead Prince]

Our game was just approved for PS4. That was unexpectedly fast

I am seriously going to start sweating it. This is a lot I have to get in order now and it's just me at the helm with programming now for XO, PS4 and PC so I have more than my work cut out for me.

A bit fucking insane, if you ask me. But it's also good. Because I get to rework my development plan at a super early stage instead of in the middle of it - which is a huge bonus I know many don't get right off the bat with new IPs so I am very thankful that I have this opportunity at this stage. I made a huge effort over the past two months with a proper push and I'm glad to see the extra work paid off, at least in the form of IP approvals from MS and Sony.

A bit surreal. Definitely a monumental undertaking for someone like me so I need to stay focused.

thank you based adam boyes.

 

[desu]

A bit surreal. Definitely a monumental undertaking for someone like me so I need to stay focused.

Congrats on the early approval (for PS4 AND Xbone). That will make things a lot easier and it's good to hear that it actually can happen (with all the bad press in regards to Microsofts handling on Indies with the parity clause).

 

[cbox]

Our game was just approved for PS4. That was unexpectedly fast

I am seriously going to start sweating it. This is a lot I have to get in order now and it's just me at the helm with programming now for XO, PS4 and PC so I have more than my work cut out for me.

A bit fucking insane, if you ask me. But it's also good. Because I get to rework my development plan at a super early stage instead of in the middle of it - which is a huge bonus I know many don't get right off the bat with new IPs so I am very thankful that I have this opportunity at this stage. I made a huge effort over the past two months with a proper push and I'm glad to see the extra work paid off, at least in the form of IP approvals from MS and Sony.

A bit surreal. Definitely a monumental undertaking for someone like me so I need to stay focused.

Badass, congrats! I didn't even think to try for ps4, will look into it now

 

[Jacksinthe]

thank you based adam boyes.

This is very true, actually XD

Congrats on the early approval (for PS4 AND Xbone). That will make things a lot easier and it's good to hear that it actually can happen (with all the bad press in regards to Microsofts handling on Indies with the parity clause).

Aye. It is a huge bonus for me going forward knowing more about the paths I need to take with project management. Its doable in the middle of a project but just thinking of the forks I need to make for PC, Linux and Mac alone coupled with 2 more console forks and I'd be hurting if this happened 9 months from now. A lot to consider right off the bat. My biggest worry is the ability to hit the ground with playable builds as early as possible for console. I use Unity but there's still some translation that has to happen across all of the platforms, less on PC, but console for sure. I'm the only programmer so I'm very worried my skills may not be up to snuff. Although I usually think that about everything as I am very negative towards my work.

Badass, congrats! I didn't even think to try for ps4, will look into it now

Definitely. After their new onboarding system went up just exaclty 7 days ago I went from a reapply, to getting approved Monday as a partner to submitting my design docs Wednesday to getting my game approved today. That's a 1 week turnaround. I'm sure not every dev will have that happen but I had all of my stuff ready to go before my first click and i caught the system literally maybe no more than 30 minutes after it went live - so I was in their first batch of the new year and had a high place in the queue.

Also, PM incoming.

 

[Blizzard]

There you are. I was wondering what you've been cooking up in your secret underground lab.

Well it's not SECRET anymore, now is it. Way to go!

 

[Korten]

Started up my own Twitter as well!

https://twitter.com/ExpanseGames

Though I am a bit concerned... I have the name of the "studio" (ie myself) but don't own the name. So If I fucked up, please tell me... Not sure where to go on that part. Any other general information I should know now that I am sort of letting out the game's information and such to the public? Any like things I should tweet out.

 

[Pehesse]

Our game was just approved for PS4. That was unexpectedly fast

I am seriously going to start sweating it. This is a lot I have to get in order now and it's just me at the helm with programming now for XO, PS4 and PC so I have more than my work cut out for me.

A bit fucking insane, if you ask me. But it's also good. Because I get to rework my development plan at a super early stage instead of in the middle of it - which is a huge bonus I know many don't get right off the bat with new IPs so I am very thankful that I have this opportunity at this stage. I made a huge effort over the past two months with a proper push and I'm glad to see the extra work paid off, at least in the form of IP approvals from MS and Sony.

A bit surreal. Definitely a monumental undertaking for someone like me so I need to stay focused.

Congrats, all of these latest developments feel surreal simply to read about, so I can't imagine having to deal with the real thing :-D

 

[Feep]

This is the reality of software developments with deadlines.

With any luck later on, you'll happen across some random Steam community comment about the "lazy devs" not fixing simple bugs in There Came An Echo, from someone who is blissfully unaware of the insane work weeks you've been running.

At least you're tracking them so you can fix them in a post-release patch, if you don't die of overwork first!

I mean, these are extremely minor. "Cannot grab and drag sound effect volume slider using RealSense motion control", and "Minor clipping into a wall when a soldier dies". I'm like, man, AAA's have more clipping than I do, chill.

 

[DigiMish]

I suggest trying Project Spark for people that aren't sure if making games is for them. It's free on Windows 8 and Xbox One.

The game has a visual based scripting language that lets you do anything you want. However, it uses real programming code language principles like variables, conditions, etc.

If you can wrap your head around this, then you're ready to try something less hands holdy.

 

[Jacksinthe]

Well it's not SECRET anymore, now is it. Way to go!

Hehehehe... Oops

I always pictured it like dug into the side of a mountain with a huge sculpture of his face in iron where the mouth opens and that's the door to his lair. Helicopters flying about, guards, big laser guns mounted up top.

Congrats, all of these latest developments feel surreal simply to read about, so I can't imagine having to deal with the real thing :-D

Thanks! I prefer not to deal at the moment, lol. Letting the shock value pass me by while I clean the house haha!

I mean, these are extremely minor. "Cannot grab and drag sound effect volume slider using RealSense motion control", and "Minor clipping into a wall when a soldier dies". I'm like, man, AAA's have more clipping than I do, chill.

Bethesda, EA and Ubi have all proven you can get away with about a million times worse ha. If its small things like you mention that can get taken care of later, you're fine, bro. I have zero doubts when I get my paws on it in a few weeks I will love it. Everything shown so far has been amazing and a huge inspiration to myself and other devs here.

You got this.

 

[OldmanAndroid]

Our game was just approved for PS4. That was unexpectedly fast

I am seriously going to start sweating it. This is a lot I have to get in order now and it's just me at the helm with programming now for XO, PS4 and PC so I have more than my work cut out for me.

A bit fucking insane, if you ask me. But it's also good. Because I get to rework my development plan at a super early stage instead of in the middle of it - which is a huge bonus I know many don't get right off the bat with new IPs so I am very thankful that I have this opportunity at this stage. I made a huge effort over the past two months with a proper push and I'm glad to see the extra work paid off, at least in the form of IP approvals from MS and Sony.

A bit surreal. Definitely a monumental undertaking for someone like me so I need to stay focused.

Congrats! I appreciate you being so public and tranparent, look forward to reading about some of the hurdles of multiplatform development. Im looking at PC and ps4 with Unity for my next game, so it's good to know I can just ask you questions when I get stuck. I guess you'll be switching over to Unity 5 at some point mid project?

*Edit* I put up a full version of our game Shutter for free over at Indiedb, seems to be getting some decent response so far. I was really just looking for playtesters, so rephrasing it as a "free full version" seems to have been a good marketing strategy. Going to pull it down when we finally go live at Desura (submitted the game about 11 days ago.)

I'm really happy with this description of our game written by the artist, Luke: "Re-live a dark and haunting tale in this fixed camera puzzle-horror game RE-miniscent of the the first generation of survival horror games. Using both CCTV cameras and your upgradable RC surveillance unit, you have to keep your eyes and ears sharp in order to take photo's and unearth a chilling event that unfolded years ago."

 

[Jellycrackers]

"Re-live a dark and haunting tale in this fixed camera puzzle-horror game RE-miniscent of the the first generation of survival horror games. Using both CCTV cameras and your upgradable RC surveillance unit, you have to keep your eyes and ears sharp in order to take photo's and unearth a chilling event that unfolded years ago."

Shutter looks great! But take that apostrophe out of the word "photos" lol... pet peeve...

 

[OldmanAndroid]

Shutter looks great! But take that apostrophe out of the word "photos" lol... pet peeve...

Thank you! Good find, already changed it.

 

[Michael Armbrust]

Our game was just approved for PS4. That was unexpectedly fast

I am seriously going to start sweating it. This is a lot I have to get in order now and it's just me at the helm with programming now for XO, PS4 and PC so I have more than my work cut out for me.

A bit fucking insane, if you ask me. But it's also good. Because I get to rework my development plan at a super early stage instead of in the middle of it - which is a huge bonus I know many don't get right off the bat with new IPs so I am very thankful that I have this opportunity at this stage. I made a huge effort over the past two months with a proper push and I'm glad to see the extra work paid off, at least in the form of IP approvals from MS and Sony.

A bit surreal. Definitely a monumental undertaking for someone like me so I need to stay focused.

Congrats!!

Sounds like the new process is so much faster than when I did it a year and a half ago.

...

Gosh darn I'm really getting tired of working on this game haha.

Almost two years since starting and yet the end still feels far away. My goal right now is to have VizionEck fully playable from start to finish with all features by the end of the month. Then one month of polish, another two months of testing plus refinement, and then hopefully release!

 

[BlastProcessing]

Are you curious how long it might take a programmer, wanna-be artist to hand animate the sides of each dice rolling? That answer is 10 hours. Additionally it may cost you your insanity from all the monotonous work!

Now I'm wondering how long it might take your average real artist to do this? Just how far off am I from getting the hang of this art-thing?

This is a great animation. I would play a game for this dice roll animation alone.

Congrats!!

Sounds like the new process is so much faster than when I did it a year and a half ago.

...

Gosh darn I'm really getting tired of working on this game haha.

Almost two years since starting and yet the end still feels far away. My goal right now is to have VizionEck fully playable from start to finish with all features by the end of the month. Then one month of polish, another two months of testing plus refinement, and then hopefully release!

You know what they say: "There are two halves of game development, the first 90% and last 10%". I hope your "testing plus refinement" goes quicker than mine did!

Does anyone have any experience dealing with any of the Bundles? Would you say it was worth your time?

 

[Feep]

Does anyone have any experience dealing with any of the Bundles? Would you say it was worth your time?

Both Indie Royale and Humble Bundle were worth my time, for sure.

 

[VisceralBowl]

Just submitted a WiiU developer application.

It seemed a little too easy.

 

[Blizzard]

Just submitted a WiiU developer application.

It seemed a little too easy.

It was very easy. I'm kind of sad that I've been so slow at developing anything, since I could have actually put something out on the Wii U in the time I've had with a devkit, had I worked at it.

I kind of figure I'll eventually finish a game about the time Nintendo releases 1 or 2 consoles past the Wii U.