I may be overestimating the significance of my particular Photoshop animating quirks and nuances, but I always felt as though starting to add Spine produced units into the game would cause some some visual dissonance. I could be wrong. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm probably wrong. Maybe I should do more Spine experiments.
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GAF Indie Game Development Thread 2: High Res Work for Low Res Pay
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I may be overestimating the significance of my particular Photoshop animating quirks and nuances, but I always felt as though starting to add Spine produced units into the game would cause some some visual dissonance. I could be wrong. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm probably wrong. Maybe I should do more Spine experiments.
liliththepale
Banned
Oh, I thought that might be what you were talking about. Just wanted to make sure.
LordRaptor
Member
I don't know if its any replacement for dedicated software like Spriter or Spline, but when Unity released their 2D tools they did a talk on 2D skeletal animation and provided some 2D IK scripts to let you animate within the editor - obviously a major benefit of a dedicated tool is its probably functionally more useful and also doesn't tie you to one engine.
liliththepale
Banned
I'll take a look for sure. I'm a little worried about feature parity (again, mesh warp is crucial) but if it's all there then it's probably worth using instead.
superNESjoe
Member
Excellent, thanks for the insight! I'm going to start experimenting with it as I'm finishing up Super GunWorld 2, and I hope to be able to use it in my next game. If it works great in Game Maker I may stick around that engine for a bit, but Game Maker's lack of Nintendo platform support is really pushing me away from it.
Here are a few new gifs showing wallrun and ledge climb working together:
Now I need to make different length reactions for different climb heights, which will eventually correspond to arm animations.
btw, let me say how excited I am to finally be participating in this thread after lurking for a very long time.
Now I need to make different length reactions for different climb heights, which will eventually correspond to arm animations.
btw, let me say how excited I am to finally be participating in this thread after lurking for a very long time.
superNESjoe
Member
Have any local game shops around that do community gaming? There are lots of shops near me that sell either video games, comics, or tabletop games that also have become the host of local tournament scenes for Smash Bros, and another one that has regular fighting game tournaments. Any tabletop place that also regularly hosts Magic tournaments or DnD games, those types of places that encourage communal gathering and playing are a great place to ask.
If you have any shops remotely similar to that, ask the owners. There's always a crossover between different fandoms and that's how I've done the majority of my playtesting.
Have you mentally prepared yourself for the reactions and reviews when people ask for online multiplayer?
If you have, and you're dead set on local-only, then great. But I think most any local multiplayer dev needs to understand that frustrated reaction will happen.
superNESjoe
Member
Not only that, but you're going to have a hell of a time selling it and making any sort of profit. Not everyone catches lightning in a bottle like Towerfall. That game didn't succeed because it was local only, it just happened to do so despite it.
EDIT: Not saying that to be discouraging or imply sales are all that matters (because we all know there's a personal passion that matters a lot to us and our projects), but Blizzard's point is really strong. Make sure you're ready for the reaction to that. I have had a game that was demoing really really well in its prototype form rejected for release based entirely on the fact that online multiplayer wasn't in the budget, and it was being marketed as a multiplayer game.
Yup, there are plenty. I just need an in. I've done it casually before, so maybe time time to go official and actually ask shops or venues. There's a few local multi meetups I'm thinking of trying, although I always feel like a shill if I'm like "hey, play my game!". Thanks for the advice.
I'm not dead-set on local only. I've actually done online multiplayer in the past with mixed results (the prototype was fully functional, but the game was later scrapped). So it's something I'm capable of doing. Issues is, the game is so twitchy and timing-based that I fear any online would completely dilute the experience to essentially blind luck. Maybe it's something I'll experiment with if I get any traction.
Eh, I'm not expecting it to go gangbusters or anything. It's been a side project of mine is all, and I want to get some exposure. I care more about releasing it to some people that will enjoy it than making a significant profit. Of course, if that comes, woo.
superNESjoe
Member
Hey, I totally get that. I don't think there's a single one of us here that are to the point where we're making a living who didn't start off with that mindset.
I'm still thrilled that some people are really enjoying some of my games even if they didn't sell well.
Annoying Old Party Man
Member
Thanks a lot for the info. I may pursue tinkering with Game Maker as when I started the tutorials and courses it seemed to me that it was much simpler than Unity. Will look into Construct as well. Thanks so much!
Funny, I've installed the three latest versions of UE4 and haven't gotten the time to try either of them out, and here's a new version xD Have find the time for this :/
Engine backlog!
Yeah xD Got rid of all but one the other day, and now I'll have to do it again!
OricWindstar
Member
So, my partner and I are doing our best to keep all the work on our game between just the two of us until we can create some sort of crowdfunding page and as a result I'm having to write music for our demo stage. I've only written stuff as a hobby before, so would love to hear any feedback on the rough track I'm working with. The chorus definitely needs some work, but any opinions would be great and maybe even pointing me in the direction of some video game music that's similar for inspiration. It just loops at the 2 min mark:
https://soundcloud.com/user-464243136/stormy-clocktower
And feel free to be as honest as possible; I'd rather hear it now than later. Thanks!
(The game is a Mega Man/Shovel Knight-esque action platformer)
https://soundcloud.com/user-464243136/stormy-clocktower
And feel free to be as honest as possible; I'd rather hear it now than later. Thanks!
(The game is a Mega Man/Shovel Knight-esque action platformer)
I'm getting a Megaman x Donkey Kong Country vibe from this. I like it a lot.
I guess my one criticism could be that you go from verse -> chorus -> alternate verse -> alt chorus kind of deal, adding different stuff and altering the base slightly as you go until you finally loop again, which is cool but maybe unnecessary? You could loop it even earlier, really. Just my two cents, though. Again, I really like it.
I guess my one criticism could be that you go from verse -> chorus -> alternate verse -> alt chorus kind of deal, adding different stuff and altering the base slightly as you go until you finally loop again, which is cool but maybe unnecessary? You could loop it even earlier, really. Just my two cents, though. Again, I really like it.
OricWindstar
Member
Thanks man! David Wise is my favorite video game composer, so that means a lot.
Not bad advice. I definitely have a tendency to over complicate stuff sometimes in the pursuit of making some more, for lack of a better word, sophisticated, so there's probably some truth to that. Thanks for the feedback!
tamaster92
Member
Oh man... The dynamic mesh slicing in UE4.13 excites me greatly
Probably won't ever use it for much but it sounds super fun to play with.
Wonder if you can make it slice skeletal meshes... Be able to use it for cutting off limbs and such would be amazing
Probably won't ever use it for much but it sounds super fun to play with.
Wonder if you can make it slice skeletal meshes... Be able to use it for cutting off limbs and such would be amazing
Thx a lot!
Tried it but it gives me a really pale, washed out colored video when played with vlc or other players on pc. But on youtube colors are fine.
Video of the animation in action
Far from perfect yet. i'll try to let the arms raised till the landing like Correojon said!
The worst part is that few people actually understand just how hard it is to actually implement good, stable netcode for most games. Like, there's nothing to compare among an online Tetris or Mario Kart compared to a Counter Strike, Street Fighter or Smash Bros, but of course players will often mistakenly group them together when asking for online features in a game.
I, for one, don't think I'm still at a level where I could be reliably implementing online gameplay for anything that requires frame-perfect synchronization or intensive use of techniques such as lag compensation.
The end of an era -- I got a Dropbox email saying that they will no longer render HTML pages past October. I'll finally have to find another hosting site if I participate in Ludum Dare again.
And of course, even if you have the world's greatest netcode, some people will still blame the netcode when the actual fault lies with the network connections of the players involved, their ISPs, their routing, their ping, etc.
LordRaptor
Member
I used itch.io for the first time this last LD, and couldn't recommend it highly enough.
Kicking myself for never actually doing more than signing up an account earlier tbh.
It just feels weird and icky to me since that site is used to sell games, like I'm using a Ludum Dare game for advertising.
LordRaptor
Member
You can explicitly turn any possible means of monetisation off in your upload on itch.io - its GameJolt that's the vaguely scummy one, and I mutter to myself when I see someones put their LD entry there and the "wait for this ad before continuing to GameJolt" appears.
PirateHearts
Neo Member
To second this, Bandicam is amazing. I used Fraps for video capture for years and was never totally happy with it. Tried Bandicam on a whim once and the difference was night and day. In addition to high-quality video footage, I also use a preset with uncompressed RGB24 video at 15fps that works great for converting to GIF in VirtualDub or other video-to-gif software.
Diablohead
Member
Feels like it's been too long since I entered this thread, been busy.
trees.
trees.
Same as LordRaptor - itch.io has been a fantastic experience and I'm really wondering why I never bothered to give them a real chance before. I'm pretty sure I tried them years back, which left me a poor impression, but they've certainly grown since, and they're my number one target platform now, even before steam itself. Wish it had more recognition!
Feels like it's been too long since I entered this thread, been busy.
trees.
Man, this looks real good!
And now the trees are behaving properly, too! :-D
OricWindstar
Member
That's looks really solid. What are you animating with?Feels like it's been too long since I entered this thread, been busy.
trees.
Each year an improvement!Feels like it's been too long since I entered this thread, been busy.
trees.
Hopefully you get it done someday.Feels like it's been too long since I entered this thread, been busy.
trees.
This continues to look great, loving the movement of the trees, good stuff.
superNESjoe
Member
Feels like it's been too long since I entered this thread, been busy.
trees.
Excellent job!
Making a horror game has been a dream of mine for quite some time. Playing a haunted house game with the og Rift is something I'll never forget, it seems (though the name escapes me :lol). But I'm kinda struggling with finding a gameplay mechanic that brings depth to the concept :/ Alan Wake's flashlight and Luigi's vacuum have already been done obviously. I wonder if doing a genre mashup would work? Kinda how rpg elements are everywhere these days. I'm just thinking out loud here, but still.
Similar feeling here. I'm doing some stuff on my side with UE4, though right now it's just a personal project thing... I wish I could show it here, but it might take a while to get something out there and I don't want that gap to feel long for anyone.
I might start some development blog sometime for myself and give the link to whoever is interested tho.
OricWindstar
Member
I'd definitely check that out. I love any kind of developer log.
ThePhotoshop
Member
Feels like it's been too long since I entered this thread, been busy.
trees.
Looks amazing. Is your grass an animation or is it programatically swaying?
OricWindstar
Member
That looks great! What kind of game is this?
Made a new progress report for Beastmancer: http://www.indiedb.com/games/beastmancer/news/beastmancer-progress-report-5
My sleeping schedule is all messed up right now but progress with the game is going smoothly so is worth it (of course, I need to try to find some balance).
At least I managed to have interaction with NPCs: https://gfycat.com/ResponsiblePleasedArcticduck
And other features ready:
My sleeping schedule is all messed up right now but progress with the game is going smoothly so is worth it (of course, I need to try to find some balance).
At least I managed to have interaction with NPCs: https://gfycat.com/ResponsiblePleasedArcticduck
And other features ready:
It's an adventure game, with some VN elements here and there.
Question: Do you need any license to make a sport game?
I wanted to make a basic Tennis game, but I do not know if sports are "public domain" or not.
shadow2810
Member
I believe you don't need license unless you include real team/players in your game.
OricWindstar
Member
Very cool, definitely want to see more about this.
And, yeah, unless you're including real teams or leagues, you should be fine.
Time to wind down the industry everyone.
Not sure what I'll do now that game developers aren't needed anymore. Become a baker perhaps? I'll have to think about it.
(fake edit: resurrected gaf thread)
Not sure what I'll do now that game developers aren't needed anymore. Become a baker perhaps? I'll have to think about it.
(fake edit: resurrected gaf thread)
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