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[EDarkness]

This looks relevant to my interests. Care to share more info on your game?

Not much to tell right now, but you can check out my dev blog on TIG Source.

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=40360.0

Skullforge: The Hunt homepage:

http://skullforge.omc-games.com

The game is an action RPG kind of like old school SNES top-down RPGs. The main difference with this one is that it's using polygons instead of sprites. Progress has been fairly slow, but that's because there are only two people working on the game. It doesn't look bad for just a couple of folks working on it. In any case, if you have specific questions, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer the best I can,

 

[eot]

None.

If you want to make a game use a framework. Making a game is difficult enough, no need to also make an engine besides making a game.

It depends on the game.
Making 2D games with SDL + OpenGL is a great choice. I haven't tried GLUT so I won't comment on that.

GLUT is long abandoned. Although FreeGLUT is around I would recommend GLFW if you want something similar.

That said, you're going to need more than just OpenGL + window / input, so I'd say going with SDL or SFML would be the better option.

I messed around with SFML a few years ago and it seemed promising, but was still a little rocky. A lot of small weird issues and much smaller community. How is it now?

 

[BomberMouse]

It depends on the game.
Making 2D games with SDL + OpenGL is a great choice. I haven't tried GLUT so I won't comment on that.

I think you are better of using game maker at that point. You get exports for all the major platforms for free.

I think there's value and fun in doing your own, but that's beyond doing a game and is going to make everything more complicated than what you need.

 

[_machine]

More particle testing!

Reposting the new card concepts too since they got left at the bottom of the page:

 

[Bit-Bit]

Since I'm using UE4, I'd like to transition over to 3D graphics more. Is there any place where you can get 3D assets for free?

 

[Jacksinthe]

I think you are better of using game maker at that point. You get exports for all the major platforms for free.

I think there's value and fun in doing your own, but that's beyond doing a game and is going to make everything more complicated than what you need.

Or they want the experience from top to bottom. Plenty of pros and cons on both sides but the bottom line is what serves the long-term interests the best.

 

[SeanNoonan]

I think you are better of using game maker at that point. You get exports for all the major platforms for free.

No you don't, each platform module comes at a cost.

 

[_machine]

Since I'm using UE4, I'd like to transition over to 3D graphics more. Is there any place where you can get 3D assets for free?

You can't expect much from most free 3D assets vs. the ones you could get from marketplaces, but Open Game Art and 3dvalley apparently are worth checking.

 

[eot]

I think you are better of using game maker at that point. You get exports for all the major platforms for free.

I think there's value and fun in doing your own, but that's beyond doing a game and is going to make everything more complicated than what you need.

This is discussion is well trodden ground and in the end I think there's valid arguments on both sides, but portability is definitely not an issue with SDL. That's one of its main draws actually.

 

[Bit-Bit]

You can't expect much from most free 3D assets vs. the ones you could get from marketplaces, but Open Game Art and 3dvalley apparently are worth checking.

Thank You! These will have to do for now until I can get someone to do the 3D art for me.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

You can't expect much from most free 3D assets vs. the ones you could get from marketplaces, but Open Game Art and 3dvalley apparently are worth checking.

Probably worth checking Blendswap and Turbosquid too - I suspect they might have better quality game resulted results.

EDIT:
If you want humans, you can always use MakeHuman which looks like it has a workflow setup to bring into UE4

 

[BomberMouse]

No you don't, each platform module comes at a cost.

I meant from a time investment perspective, those license are dirt cheap.

 

[timetokill]

So we've been trying out the UI stuff I showed last time and it's working OK though right now we have to fix quite a bit of stuff to get the game back to fully playable and featured. I do have some quick card concepts to show and as always some feedback would be appreciated

Just sent our application for the Dev Grant too, wasn't the easiest thing to write

I like the ones with "Jonna" at the top, away from the gameplay information text.

My reasoning is that, if people are going to be seeing these cards a lot, reading "Jonna" a million times isn't going to be necessary. Furthermore, it complicates the process of reading the relevant (gameplay-related) text. Better to let their eyes skim straight down and isolating the relevant information for the gameplay experience.

 

[Ashodin]

updating playmaker broke everything X_X

 

[Jacksinthe]

updating playmaker broke everything X_X

Source control 4 lyfe! No time like the present. I personally never update anything without absolutely needing things in an upgrade or without using alternate test installations to make sure things don't break when updating. You can have multiple installs of Unity in different named folders to do this. Super easy and peace of mind.

 

[Ashodin]

Source control 4 lyfe! No time like the present. I personally never update anything without absolutely needing things in an upgrade or without using alternate test installations to make sure things don't break when updating. You can have multiple installs of Unity in different named folders to do this. Super easy and peace of mind.

Interesting. I needed the update because I couldn't compile.

 

[SquirrelWide]

Spending all of this week looking at UE4 Blueprints tutorials. Trying to get a grasp of the basics and hope to have a prototype up and running by the end of the week. Wish me luck!

Blueprints are definitely doable, but it's a little lacking in the code documentation factor. The nice thing is that Epic seems to be aware of the gap and are striving to fix it.

 

[Jacksinthe]

Interesting. I needed the update because I couldn't compile.

Ouch. I know nothing about Playmaker or its requirements for platforms

PC or WiiU version that isn't compiling?

 

[Ashodin]

PC! Oh it compiles now!

 

[JulianImp]

Well, in the end I decided to add a graphical node representation of the game script for my dialog system, mostly since I saw nearly everything I heard about that handled VNs (such as Fungus or Twine) use nodes, and how it actually looks way better and makes the script easier to read than displaying a single message at a time on a rough-looking text editor.

I've still got to tweak some things in both the node and script editors, but here's how they look like after working on them for a couple of days:


Undo support for my editor extensions was really difficult for me to get at first due to how scarce documentation and resources about it were when I looked up how I was supposed to handle it, but now that I got the node editor working with it I guess it won't be too hard to implement in the style and script managers as well.

Now all that's left for release is implementing branching dialogue trees and polishing the script editor window a bit more, and the tools will probably be ready for release after some testing. Yay!

 

[Das-J]

We released some new Character Portraits today along with 15 minutes of raw Gameplay Footage.

Check it out!

Into the Stars Gameplay

 

[Jobbs]

We released some new Character Portraits today along with 15 minutes of raw Gameplay Footage.

Check it out!

Into the Stars Gameplay

this stuff looks amazing, and the depiction of space ships and outer space is among the best looking I've seen. I'd buy this in a minnesota minute.

 

[oxrock]

Above is a picture link to a quicky look at a shmup mini game I've been working on to be embedded in my main project. It's taken a little bit of time but a majority of the mechanics in it are functioning, just needs a few tweeks and polishing. So click the picture and sneak a peek! Mind you this is a mini game and not intended to last someone several hours or anything. Just some shoot-em-up fun.

If anyone is actually interested in playing it, I have a stand alone windows version hosted. Just ask.

We released some new Character Portraits today along with 15 minutes of raw Gameplay Footage.

Check it out!

Into the Stars Gameplay

Now those are looking pretty sweet.

 

[Delstius]

Reposting the new card concepts too since they got left at the bottom of the page:

The dark one with the name at the top on the second row from the top is my favorite. Mainly for the readability like timetokill said, the icon above the description help with that too.
The card itself might be too dark though. I prefer the light brown background and the four circle placement of the one next to it.

 

[SeanNoonan]

updating playmaker broke everything X_X

You're using Unity? Moved away from Construct 2?

 

[Ashodin]

You're using Unity? Moved away from Construct 2?

Apexicon I have determined needs Unity for dat hawt Hi-Rez grafix. construct 2 just won't cut it sadly.

Downside? Learning a new visual scripting method.

Plus side? I can utilize Unity's store to put in assets quickly. I also am learning Unity in the process, which is a huge plus.

 

[Nemo]

Anyone else absolutely amazed by the ease of UE4? Maybe it's just me but coming from a strictly 2D and non technical background I'm completely flabbergasted at what you can do 3D wise using UE4!! I mean using just the free assets and packs available in the engine and the various tools you can create levels which I could only dream of before. Hell within only a week of looking at tutorials and playing around I can make stuff comparable to this. If people are going to tell me it was this easy to get into 3D prior to UE4 I might have to slap myself for not getting into it much earlier, wondering if I should drop cash on Maya LT now

Can't wait to get into blueprint scripting and making actual playable prototypes! Anyone already have a good grip on this?

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

We released some new Character Portraits today along with 15 minutes of raw Gameplay Footage.

Check it out!

Into the Stars Gameplay

This is superb potna.

 

[cbox]

We released some new Character Portraits today along with 15 minutes of raw Gameplay Footage.

Been throwing around a few more design concepts for a new game.

 

[timetokill]

Oh man,

Quickly scrolling down the page, I had the impression that this artwork:

...was being used for this game:

Too funny.

 

[Das-J]

Thanks for the props guys! Wish those in the press agreed with your sentiments... finding it hard to get coverage even when we release quality content.

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

Been throwing around a few more design concepts for a new game.

I like your colours

 

[timetokill]

Been throwing around a few more design concepts for a new game.

Not gonna lie, those perfectly round, smoothly textured tires make for a kinda weird clash with the rest of your designs here.

 

[SeanNoonan]

Apexicon I have determined needs Unity for dat hawt Hi-Rez grafix. construct 2 just won't cut it sadly.

How wasn't it cutting it? Genuinely curious. The engine annoys me from time to time, but I thought I was just nitpicking.

If you ever need cutscenes or anything like that, I have a pal that makes a tool on the store called "U Sequencer" - it's pretty good, it was built in mind for AAA development back when we worked together at my last studio.

http://www.wellfired.com/usequencer.html

Worth a try if you need such a thing.

Also, new level for Jack B. Nimble is coming along... https://vine.co/v/O9eV52gUhQU

 

[taku]

Been throwing around a few more design concepts for a new game.

Looks real cool.

 

[_machine]

I like the ones with "Jonna" at the top, away from the gameplay information text.

My reasoning is that, if people are going to be seeing these cards a lot, reading "Jonna" a million times isn't going to be necessary. Furthermore, it complicates the process of reading the relevant (gameplay-related) text. Better to let their eyes skim straight down and isolating the relevant information for the gameplay experience.

Yeah I agree and it's still nice to have it easily visible at the top for the spell cards so you can quickly read the names of your spells. Thanks for the feedback

The dark one with the name at the top on the second row from the top is my favorite. Mainly for the readability like timetokill said, the icon above the description help with that too.
The card itself might be too dark though. I prefer the light brown background and the four circle placement of the one next to it.

Yeah we will have to see about the card background since we haven't still decided on the minion portrait. Currently working on that though so I'll try to get a new concept posted later today. Thanks for the feedback

More juiciness:

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

gahhhhhhhhhh just fixed a bug that had me stumped all night. bloody hell that was a bastard. im covered in sweat.

 

[V_Arnold]

gahhhhhhhhhh just fixed a bug that had me stumped all night. bloody hell that was a bastard. im covered in sweat.

Tell me about it.
I remade the puzzle module in my match-3 game a few days ago (in the process of migrating the whole Canvas-based code of mine to instead use pixi.js), and it was all fun and laughs until I got the one crucial function that manages to replace disappeared gems with new ones.

Needless to say, it took me a solid 10-12 hours of pain to work that out, feeling devastated every night when I had to go to sleep with the code still not working. Last night, I fixed it, and it was the best sleep I had in 2015

Now to go back to the combat engine before I forget how it works

 

[Jacksinthe]

gahhhhhhhhhh just fixed a bug that had me stumped all night. bloody hell that was a bastard. im covered in sweat.

Grats. Bug fixing is for the fucking birds, man

I remember we had a spawn bug for our mobile SHMUP wreaking havoc through the entire build that got fixed just a week before release. It was a quick fix once found but hot shit that took some digging. I feel your pain.

 

[Jacksinthe]

How wasn't it cutting it? Genuinely curious. The engine annoys me from time to time, but I thought I was just nitpicking.

If you ever need cutscenes or anything like that, I have a pal that makes a tool on the store called "U Sequencer" - it's pretty good, it was built in mind for AAA development back when we worked together at my last studio.

http://www.wellfired.com/usequencer.html

Worth a try if you need such a thing.

Also, new level for Jack B. Nimble is coming along... https://vine.co/v/O9eV52gUhQU

Damn. I'll have to check u sequencer out. I have my own system for cutscenes which are relatively simple but this looks really good and +1 on the new level. Nice stuff.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

That looks a lot like Ming-Na Wen. Like, A LOT.
Like, might be worth changing enough so that it can't be claimed you're trading on her likeness a lot.

 

[EDarkness]

We released some new Character Portraits today along with 15 minutes of raw Gameplay Footage.

Check it out!

Into the Stars Gameplay

That looks awesome. Great work. I really like the detail.

 

[Sycle]

Paz mentioned us hitting alpha a few pages back, but I figured I could mention a few specifics!

I'm a big fan of skyboxes and the goal is to have one per 'world' so I made the one for world 5 - you can see it in this gif (everything above the the short white wall with the vents in it is skybox)

and that's the new subboss that went in for Alpha, called Liquorice, and she's an enemy Android that operates under the same rules as the player. I wanted to do this fight from the start because I thought it'd be super cool and a good way to twist things around, but I was really worried about if it'd work or if it could feel right (we did a VS test early on in development and it sucked)

It was actually replaying Muramasa on the Vita that convinced me to go for it (those that have finished all the endings hopefully know what I'm talking about?) the symmetrical-ness of it was really cool and I loved that the reason WHY the enemy felt dangerous was because you knew just what they were capable of. So just like a player character, Liquorice has a battery, she can get knocked down but gets back up, her health will recharge if she doesn't get hit, she can steal the battery (so it's tug of war over who dies first) and she can use the players powerups. Her AI was pretty straight forwards but she does a bit of leading (which makes her a surprisingly dangerous enemy) and has a badass secondary weapon (which like the players weapon is on a cooldown)

her secondary weapon is a knife and when she uses it, she picks a target and high-speed dashes behind them and starts charging up this big omni slash. (in the gif, she then collects enough player orbs to level up her gun and because the player is downed, she's heading up to steal a powerup)

I designed the knife as if it was a player weapon so it'd feel believable, yet still have a tell so human players had a chance to get out of the way. All through the dev it felt like a huge gamble - what if it didn't work I'd have to strip it out and do something else, but it all came together, I was happy with it, we put it live and people seem to dig it, so, hurrah!

 

[Bit-Bit]

Blueprints are definitely doable, but it's a little lacking in the code documentation factor. The nice thing is that Epic seems to be aware of the gap and are striving to fix it.

Yeah, I'm liking it so far. I'm already picking up on most of the terminology. Yesterday, I picked up this book from Amazon https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?10221-BOOK-Blueprints-Master-the-Art-of-Unreal-Engine-4-Blueprints and it's been immensely helpful.

The author does a great job of explaining what everything means.

 

[_machine]

We've been able to come up with some new UI and Card concepts updates, any more thoughts on these two?

LINK TO FULLSIZE

LINK TO FULLSIZE

I won't reveal my favorite yet, but there's still disagreement over the two portrait styles inside our team

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

We released some new Character Portraits today along with 15 minutes of raw Gameplay Footage.

Check it out!

Into the Stars Gameplay

Modenr of god, this looks incredible. The girl design is lovely, love the stern look and determination of it.
And the video gameplay is amazing, of course.

 

[Mystic River]

We released some new Character Portraits today along with 15 minutes of raw Gameplay Footage.

Check it out!

Into the Stars Gameplay

looks pretty nice! congratulations, the only thing that bothered me a little bit after watching the video is the fighting sequence, looks like a little bit boring just waiting for a button to click, but that is my personal opinion

 

[WanderingWind]

Yeah I agree and it's still nice to have it easily visible at the top for the spell cards so you can quickly read the names of your spells. Thanks for the feedback


Yeah we will have to see about the card background since we haven't still decided on the minion portrait. Currently working on that though so I'll try to get a new concept posted later today. Thanks for the feedback

More juiciness:

Fucking hell man. This thread has some of the most talented guys I've run across in a very long career. I may be more excited to see this thing in action than Uncharted 4.

 

[Das-J]

That looks a lot like Ming-Na Wen. Like, A LOT.
Like, might be worth changing enough so that it can't be claimed you're trading on her likeness a lot.

Ha well it's actually based on a friend of mine so I think we're covered, but appreciated!

 

[Jacksinthe]

So I am cutting my release platforms down and its for the best. I can't spread myself too thin and had to make what I feel is an appropriate console choice given that I want to release on PC and console at the same time. It will be rough but there's a very good reason I should not be killing myself over multiple devices.