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GAF Indie Game Development Thread 2: High Res Work for Low Res Pay
- Thread starter Jacksinthe
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20%, looking great for 20%. I thought it was a lot further. I understand not thinking about trailers until later.... I'm still debating if I am rushing w what we have. I would guess we are around 50% done but..... well maybe that is over optimistic.
nude pics!
I'm releasing the ones with you in them, duh
electroflame
Member
Mystic River
Member
well that's a quick estimate, I remember about 7 months ago I was at about 75% of what I was planning to do, then decided to add ship to ship boarding and crew and many more things so the % went down for every change, I was feeling I had 40% about 3 months ago but decided to go with full planetary exploration and cities so it went down even further
, I remember in the 80's I was trying to make something better than Sundog with all the things I am adding now and ran out of memory, out of disk space , etc... , I couldn't deliver all the things I wanted so I quit at that time, so it looks like this time I will make all that real finally.SpacePirate Ridley
Member
What would that be, mmm...
Jacksinthe
Banned
This is good. Wind chill some 20 below here in Chicago slated for tomorrow so I'm off of work
I agree that audio bridge was pretty distracting. When my son (the musician for all game tunes) heard the trailer he hated the use of multiple songs for it. He set out to make a new track specific for the trailer and the feel he wanted for it. He was right.... the new track upped the epic feel dramatically. I'll post a link after a couple more revisions from feedback. Thanks a ton for the help!
I agree with your comments. The quote is actually from the intro story line and fits perfectly within the context of the intro story... but not so much w the trailer jumping right to 'yep lots of aliens'. We will find another quote. Any ideas for a great Starflight / Starcontrol vibe quote as an opener?
We will move the realtime planet from 15 sec somewhere else or remove. It didn't go well right after the concept art section.
And the music splicing.... yep seemed to be a consistent issue for people viewing the first draft. I look forward to sharing the single track one my son made.
-COOLIO-
The Everyman
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
So that was the surprise!
As I said in the gift thread, you are a gentleman and a scholar Feep.
As I said in the gift thread, you are a gentleman and a scholar Feep.
that's a lot of keys to give away. I won't be replying in the thread, I'll just buy the game. I try to make a point of buying fellow indie peoples' games if I am able to, and right now I am fortunate enough to be able to. (I own noogy's game on all three platforms and have also gifted it several times)
it's a good idea though, and will possibly end up to your benefit because of all the additional neogaffers who will be able to discuss the game in the OT.
Jacksinthe
Banned
Putting together a teaser site. A little something special to feed the back story of the game. Will be updated throughout development to flesh out the story and a real huge fucking surprise for Kickstarter.
We want to do something special for a single tier that rewards the curious and unlike some other give-no-fucks devs in recent news, we will make good on the reward. I have some trick ideas up my sleeve.
We want to do something special for a single tier that rewards the curious and unlike some other give-no-fucks devs in recent news, we will make good on the reward. I have some trick ideas up my sleeve.
VisceralBowl
Member
Diablohead
Member
Oh boy I love pizza!
Mechanical Snowman
Member
Oh neato, good luck with this!
I wish I was a couple of months ahead of where I am now, I'd probably be far enough along to get my application considered. Can't be helped I guess.
eot
Banned
I'll be honest, that thread of yours makes me uneasy. You had a succesful kickstarter, scored celebrity voice talent, showed the game at PAX and got a publishing deal on PS4. Despite that you still feel like you have to give away ~10,000(!) copies of the game. Generosity is a virtue, but it can't sustain you. I hope all those people return the favour and that the game does well for you.
God damn it, Blender's FBX importer is a bizarre piece of shit.
Importing animations with sudden decimal keyframes (not 2, but 2.1, etc) you can't even select in the fucking program? How does this happen?
It gets even 'funnier' if you export it to fbx AGAIN, then import THAT one, this hardcodes every frame as a keyframe... but at least they're actually selectable this time.
In happier news, Feep is still a generous gentleman and an example to us all
Importing animations with sudden decimal keyframes (not 2, but 2.1, etc) you can't even select in the fucking program? How does this happen?
It gets even 'funnier' if you export it to fbx AGAIN, then import THAT one, this hardcodes every frame as a keyframe... but at least they're actually selectable this time.
In happier news, Feep is still a generous gentleman and an example to us all
I don't feel like I have to. If I feel like it's a good move, it doesn't matter how visible or good the game was prior, this move would help it. x + a > x for all positive a.
Generosity does not sustain me, but this generosity is not sustained. It's a limited offer to what seems like a butt-ton of people, but how many sales to these people would I have really made? Tons of people in that thread were like "I've never even heard of this game before", despite me being (semi) notorious on the boards. I estimate maybe I'm losing 500 or so sales. After everyone's cut, how much do I really lose? $5000? I'll get $2000 back in donations, so I'm paying $3000 for what effectively amounts to a goddamn insane grassroots marketing campaign.
I mean, I'm being nice, but I've certainly thought about this from a business perspective.
Plus there will at least be a couple of people that will take the money they were going to spend on their own copy and pay it forward towards a copy for a friend that might not have bought one themselves, so...
mantrakid
Member
What do you think feels more natural for a platform shooter that lets you run whilst shooting. (think contra3). For gamplay reasons, I am already using left stick to move and right stick to aim the gun.
- Jump / Jetpack with Right Trigger
- Hold L-Trigger to shoot. (aim with Right Stick)
or
- Jump Jetpack with Left Trigger
- Hold R-Trigger to shoot.
its unorthodox to begin with, but keep in mind traditional contra controls are also available just by using A to jump and X to shoot.
- Jump / Jetpack with Right Trigger
- Hold L-Trigger to shoot. (aim with Right Stick)
or
- Jump Jetpack with Left Trigger
- Hold R-Trigger to shoot.
its unorthodox to begin with, but keep in mind traditional contra controls are also available just by using A to jump and X to shoot.
Probably need to try it to see how it feels, but by just thinking about it, left trigger to jump and right trigger to shoot.
Platforming / movement with the left hand, aiming and shooting with the right. The important one being the right hand, so I can "grip" to shoot. I imagine jumping / jet pack is more of a press and release sort of thing. (Unless your shooting is also the one shot for every press variety...)
Thinking about it a little bit more, for some reason left bumper to jump seems better (I know it wasn't an option. =) ). Jumping on what's more or less an analog button sounds weird.
Jacksinthe
Banned
Shoot - RIGHT
Jump - LEFT
liliththepale
Banned
I don't think that shooting and aiming should be on different hands. That said, I don't like jumping with my left hand either. Is there a reason why you can't just offer an option in the settings menu?
I was just teasing about giving the game away to GAF members for free again Feep, but kudos for doing it a second time. It does build goodwill and publicity so I can understand it from a business standpoint.
It does make me feel kind of bad as a developer though, since I don't plan to give mine away to everyone on GAF.
Just curious, is there a reason There Came An Echo can't be preordered on Steam? No price shows up for me yet.
It does make me feel kind of bad as a developer though, since I don't plan to give mine away to everyone on GAF.
Just curious, is there a reason There Came An Echo can't be preordered on Steam? No price shows up for me yet.
Great idea. Might do the same, but limit it to a certain amount.
No one should feel bad about not insanely giving away over a hundred thousand dollars worth of product. This is a wild risk. But so is There Came an Echo. I'm a little crazier than most people with regard to what my level of acceptable risk is. I also have no family to support, no outstanding debt, and still live a very meager lifestyle.I was just teasing about giving the game away to GAF members for free again Feep, but kudos for doing it a second time. It does build goodwill and publicity so I can understand it from a business standpoint.
It does make me feel kind of bad as a developer though, since I don't plan to give mine away to everyone on GAF.
Just curious, is there a reason There Came An Echo can't be preordered on Steam? No price shows up for me yet.
I cannot accept pre-orders. Can't say any more than that.
Jacksinthe
Banned
http://www.savethesystem.com
Soon it will be time to start putting the puzzle together. This is going to be a long fucking trail that starts next month and kudos to those who figure it out over the course of development as more documents are uncovered.
Soon it will be time to start putting the puzzle together. This is going to be a long fucking trail that starts next month and kudos to those who figure it out over the course of development as more documents are uncovered.
My 2 cents, excellent reasoning and cheap marketing
Numerous changes from all the feedback, Thanks All!!
My son made a new score just for the teaser, and I really dig the epic feel of it. Any more feedback is appreciated as we have a few days before GDC time.
http://youtu.be/PfXAX7lIBgk
My son made a new score just for the teaser, and I really dig the epic feel of it. Any more feedback is appreciated as we have a few days before GDC time.
http://youtu.be/PfXAX7lIBgk
mantrakid
Member
Thanks so much, dudes. what is the left bumper? Sorry
liliththepale
Banned
Thanks so much, dudes. what is the left bumper? Sorry
The shoulder buttons on the back of the gamepad above the triggers are sometimes called bumpers.
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
It's amazing how programming a seemingly simple puzzle game can get really complicated really quickly
I've been stuck for the last week or so because I'm determined to solve an isolated bug that came up before changing much in the code base, so I -know- what's causing it.
I still have not determined what's causing it, and it is still difficult to reproduce. I did implement a basic match-recording system which I needed anyway. I reasoned that this would allow me to precisely reproduce the bug condition!
...tonight, I hilariously discovered that the actual final bug step is NOT recorded in the match recording. That is itself potentially a clue, but it is still annoying since it means it is harder to 100% identify the sequence of events.
Lord_Balkan
Member
Not at that point yet, but I am interested in hearing people's answers.
plagiarize
Banned
I'm working on level 8 of a planned 13. Still have basically all the dialogue and sound design to do after I've finished the level design parts, but I figured I had enough in there to make the pitch.
I thought about putting everything on hold to move up the planned trailer, but I'd rather wait until I have most of the level design locked before deciding what goes in the trailer.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
As the old team I worked wanted to do everything as professional as they could without having nothing really to show (and still 3 years after that they have nill), it was amazingly horrible, being for Spain and all. Taxes there, even for really small companies, crush you and is neraly impossible to be gainging soemthing when you start.
In the new team, we are more preoccupied right now of making a good game, and then, when we start with the money, we can talk about bureaocracy and taxes.
It's a long and dull process, but it's not really THAT hard.
Being located in France, I have all the boring regular paperwork but dealing with Steam forces me to also deal with the IRS and it's not that fun.
I mean, I have to fax them the forms I fill. Fax. 21th century and all.
Steam handle VAT themselves, which means you only have to handle corporate taxes after that (>33.33% of your profits in France for example). But yeah, VAT can be a real bitch if you don't work with an accountant.
I got back from gog.com, they want to see the last build of our game. Hopefully, a lot of what I had to do for Steam will work there too if they pick us up, so once it's done for one store, it becomes easier.
Candescence
Member
Cloudbuilt actually uses the 'left bumper to jump, right to shoot' setup for controllers, and it works fairly well. I'm doing the same thing, really.
Right, so, parkour has been re-implemented, and I've also implemented a stopgap solution to prevent walking up overly-steep slopes - just lock out controls until the player is either in the air or on reasonable ground. I'm probably gonna tinker with the movement and parkour mechanics some more, try and get the system feeling reasonably good before moving on to the combat.
So yesterday I had a chat with a friend over the specifics of my project's combat and weapons, with the context being that it's basically Kid Icarus Uprising with parkour, and we came up with some things:
Right, so, parkour has been re-implemented, and I've also implemented a stopgap solution to prevent walking up overly-steep slopes - just lock out controls until the player is either in the air or on reasonable ground. I'm probably gonna tinker with the movement and parkour mechanics some more, try and get the system feeling reasonably good before moving on to the combat.
So yesterday I had a chat with a friend over the specifics of my project's combat and weapons, with the context being that it's basically Kid Icarus Uprising with parkour, and we came up with some things:
- Two weapons per stage at most, for sake of simplicity for switching, and the game is meant to be played with virtually any weapon type, along with replayable stages, anyway.
- A secondary equip representing the generally-empty left hand. These include shields, deployable sentry turrets, forcefields, and grenades. Basically, adds a little gameplay depth without that much complication.
- Leave out powers for now. Save that for either a sequel or if there's room in development, there's enough to balance as it is.
- Introduce a recharging shield mechanic, but the shield is mainly a lifeline/buffer that recharges slowly and will cause the user to take damage if an attack connects and the damage is greater than the shield's strength. Also gives continous fire an additional role to wear down shields.
Mystic River
Member
Looks a lot better than the first one, I like how it starts and makes me feel I am exploring at the begining, looks good, one thing that came to my mind at the end is the alien with the robes, made me wonder if I am going to save humanity, who is that? is it going to be my enemy? hmmm...
just a feedback after watching a few times
1- minor one, maybe no one else will notice... when the first ship travels the one thing that bothered me is that the transition happens when the ship animation stops, so better make the ship travel a little bit more while it is fading or start fading before the animation stops, otherwise it looks like you ran out of footage.
2- probably I will remove the clip with the red/orange planet with the rings since nothing happens there, and you see the planet again when two ships are fighting
Wish I get a son who can do some music for me , well by the time mine will be able to do so it will be a decade later at least , anyway, I will start to do some music soon too for my game...
Jacksinthe
Banned
Still needs some audio-tune ups in terms of levels between VO and music.
I would also suggest nixing the ping-pong delay on the first VO. Or if you do use it - stagger the delay between left/right, pass the delay through a bandpass and cut below 500hz and above 4k to limit the ears snapping to the delay and not the original VO.
You can also bring the delay slightly in a bit more from being so far left/right of center. I would offset the left a bit more than the right but put a faster delay on the right channel and leave a bandpass on both. This will push it farther back in the mix and open up the ears to snap to the VO better without being distracted by the delay and still keep the delay in.
Is a MacBook recommendable for Game Development in cooperation with a buddy who uses a Windows Laptop? :c
Edit:
I'm a noob in game development so far, and am thinking about buying a work-laptop. (Through my vocation I'm bound to OSX) It'd be great if I could use it both ways. (Work and Game Development)
Edit:
I'm a noob in game development so far, and am thinking about buying a work-laptop. (Through my vocation I'm bound to OSX) It'd be great if I could use it both ways. (Work and Game Development)
lashman
Steam-GAF's Official Ambassador to Gaming-GAF
here are some test shots from a GDC demo I've been doing with a buddy of mine
hope you like 'em
also - it's in Unity5 and 100% realtime ... no pre-baked lighting
<3. So pretty. Love that art style.
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