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

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liliththepale said:
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oh shit. hope i don't get sued.

VisceralBowl said:
I like it. My only real suggestion is maybe an option to switch the bright background to a darker one, as it can get a bit eye strain-ey.

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good idea. could have a slider to adjust it too.
 
HellBlazer said:
That all sounds really cool. So let me get this straight, every "screen" in your game is an individual Unity scene..? And then, when a designer is done with such a scene, they take a screenshot of it, and add that to another "scene" that acts as your screenshot map.
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Every screenshot REPRESENTS a unity scene and they're laid out in the same exact way the actual unity scenes are laid out in world space, so that we can be 100% certain that every screenshot is an accurate representation of the unity scene. That way, when we move screenshots around or 'enter' the screenshots, we can be certain that it's 1:1 the same stuff. The screenshots are being updated by hitting a hotkey and the screenshots can be activated / deactivated in every single unity scene, so you can always have them active and check how everything connects together while you're working on a scene.

And from this map scene, you have a script that can generate some kind of data structure based on where the screenshots intersect that tells the game which scene to load and when? Is it something like that?
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I THINK that just happens in realtime - As you walk around the world, the game is trying to figure out where you could possibly go next and starts streaming in that scene before you can even get there, so often times in the game, there's 2 levels at once loaded at the same time.
 
Dynamite Shikoku said:
Can I get a colour critique?

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I'd probably introduce some gradients so that it doesn't look quite as mundane / boring. Have the orange bits go from a darker orange to a slightly lighter orange, etc. And maybe make it look like the squares are big buttons that are standing out of these holes a bit, so you have a bit of dimensionality in there.
 
thomasmahler said:
I'd probably introduce some gradients so that it doesn't look quite as mundane / boring. Have the orange bits go from a darker orange to a slightly lighter orange, etc. And maybe make it look like the squares are big buttons that are standing out of these holes a bit, so you have a bit of dimensionality in there.
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Cheers. I'm so bad at art I've been trying to keep things as simple as possible, including the colours. I'll have a try with some gradients though and see how it looks.
 
Am currently considering to implement multiple desktops for the user interface
I am developing. But what is the current stance on using multiple desktops?
Are you using multiple desktops, why, why not?
 
So I said fuck it and launched my Greenlight campaign: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=427297728



MTMBStudios said:
Last night I relaunched our old greenlight as the old one was going nowhere and we actually have most of the game done now. It seems to be going pretty well I think:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=426286776

I love some of the random comments you get...

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OS warriors!
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Haha, yeah my campaing has 15 minutes of existence and I'm already being trolled. We must steel ourselves!
 
Burt said:
Looks good! What do you think is keeping you from porting the game with Construct 2? I know there are some people in this thread that've used C2 to get games on Wii U, so maybe they could offer some advice.
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I've found there are some serious limitations with frame rate when you have more animations and objects on screen. I almost shelled out the money for a dev kit that focuses on HTML5, but opted not to after doing some digging.

There is another dev who makes Super Ubie Land, which started in C2 and is pretty much completed, had to build the game from scratch with Unity. Also, the Wii U plug in was handed down to a third party which doesn't look like it gets updated much due to lack of free time, maybe one day it'll work.

That's not to say you can't make a C2 game for Wii U, but you are better off starting from scratch and testing on the kit every step of the way like with Psysclr, Block Drop, and the other one that looks like Flappy Bird. I'd have to make a simpler type of game, that's not demanding of the hardware. If I were to port Baxter's Adventure I'd have to take out some of the bells and whistles like particles and WebGL to make it somewhat functional.

I'd like to slot some free time away this summer and learn Unity more now that its free and there are more tools for 2D game development. Programming is my weakest attribute, but i can adapt after some practice.
 
MrNyarlathotep said:
I love Sid Meier maybe even more than the next guy, but I'm certainly not going to credit him with inventing games set in space where spaceships fight
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The guy must be joking, my game clearly states being a RTS. Also there's other more famous game that I could be accused of "ripping off" (so easy for gamers to throw around hostile phrases).
 
As someone with absolutely zero programming knowledge, where should I start? What's the best programming language to learn first and the game-making engine that is easier to learn?
 
thomasmahler said:
Every screenshot REPRESENTS a unity scene and they're laid out in the same exact way the actual unity scenes are laid out in world space, so that we can be 100% certain that every screenshot is an accurate representation of the unity scene. That way, when we move screenshots around or 'enter' the screenshots, we can be certain that it's 1:1 the same stuff. The screenshots are being updated by hitting a hotkey and the screenshots can be activated / deactivated in every single unity scene, so you can always have them active and check how everything connects together while you're working on a scene.



I THINK that just happens in realtime - As you walk around the world, the game is trying to figure out where you could possibly go next and starts streaming in that scene before you can even get there, so often times in the game, there's 2 levels at once loaded at the same time.
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I don't know if you have a lot of plans for future sidescrollers. If you decide that you're done with them however, you and the programmers could probably sell that as a Unity improvement for a decent bit of money I'd think. It sounds incredibly useful.
 
BernardoOne said:
As someone with absolutely zero programming knowledge, where should I start? What's the best programming language to learn first and the game-making engine that is easier to learn?
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I can't say which one is the best for you but I think that Unity with C# is a pretty good combo.

Now, learning programming takes time (but is worth it imo), if you are impatient you could try an engine that requires less coding, maybe GameMaker?
 
Lautaro said:
I can't say which one is the best for you but I think that Unity with C# is a pretty good combo.

Now, learning programming takes time (but is worth it imo), if you are impatient you could try an engine that requires less coding, maybe GameMaker?
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I can dedicate around 2 hours a day to learn a programming language. Is there any good free materials online to learn from, that someone with no previous knowledge can use?
 
So in the last few days, ive discovered my love of voxels, especially voxel moddelling and destruction. So ive started to try and understand how the amazing magicavoxel tools work.

Started with some basic free voxel models

robots.png


Built a test scene where you can just blow up everything (left click to destroy)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2022922/Public.html

Really no gameplay yet, still thinking of ideas on how to have fun with voxels. I love the idea of total destruction of levels.
 
BernardoOne said:
I can dedicate around 2 hours a day to learn a programming language. Is there any good free materials online to learn from, that someone with no previous knowledge can use?
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Yes, there are plenty of first-rate materials out there for free, including entire university level courses (starting from introductory), video lectures and exercises.
If your first priority is to learn programming, my stock recommendation is the Python language. It has a good balance of features for a learning language and has some of the very best free materials available. It's not generally used for core game programming, but remains useful for tool development, data analysis and in-game scripting after switching to some "heavier" language for the core.

I recommend Unity as the first game engine; unfortunately beginner-oriented programming materials for C# are pretty weak, it would be more efficient use of your time to first learn to program with eg. Python outside Unity.
 
Some more screenshots for "Baxter's Adventure"

This is my first true full scale game. It's actually a remake/remaster of a game I made on Desura years ago. The best way I can compare this game is that it takes the "no lives" concept from Super Meat Boy. If you take a hit, you just start from the beginning, but it's a bit more forgiving as certain tasks you do in each level doesn't reset.

It also takes elements from other classic platformers, and has some puzzle inspiration from Portal in some respects.

Other elements in later levels it'll take more than just mere platforming to beat a level, there will be some simple problem solving, like activating switches, finding a key (and outrunning a familiar triangle-shaped meme), using other enemies as ways to open paths, etc.

It's already on greenlight, despite the game being done I've taken feedback from the comments and fixed some things graphic wise. I'm still going back and adding little animated effects.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=274636766

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If there is anything I learned from this project, is that I'll reconsider doing a game like this again in pixels instead of hand drawn. I'll probably go back to 3D once I can make up my mind between Unity and UE4. I'd prefer to make my own models, I had some 3D experience using 3DsMax. Right now I'm having issues with Blender, I don't know if it's an OS things but certain functions don't seem to work after following tutorials and it feels weird on how you model things.
 
Anyone know of the legalities around using people with similar color schemes to branded icons.

For example I am thinking about a pixelated game around superheroes , so naturally I'm looking at doing simple 8bit models with similar color schemes to batman, spiderman etc

No actual names but most people could instantly see similarities . Guess it would fall under parodies but not sure how it works.

I love the idea so don't want to waste time and eventually get shutdown .
 
Those who have experience with databases what's best to use?

I've set one up using MS Access, as that's what I'm familiar with but I'm not sure how useful it'll be with GameMaker for retrieving information (and no idea how to store user custom databases yet). This isn't for an online game, just a desktop game (which I know don't usually have databases), but this has a lot of information and data ala Football Manager, Out of the Park, etc.

I can't think of how to do it in-game other than have 1000s of objects for each person, venue, city, etc.

EDIT:

It would seem with a bit of modding and extension work, I could use XML with GameMaker. I know FM and OOTP use XML... so I guess I'll look at that!
 
anteevy said:
Looks cool, voted. :) And just try to ignore the trolls, even if it's not easy. :P
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Thanks, I hope to be stronger person when all this is done :)

That said, I have a good amount of positive feedback (and votes). I'm feeling pretty optimistic right now. I'm also sending e-mails to the press right now.
 
xplicitone said:
What programs do people use to create gifs of your game?
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For a mobile game I made some time ago I used GifCam.

It doesn't work for my current PC project so I've been using Fraps to record and then turn the video into a gif with the first online converter I can find (or upload directly to GfyCat so they make the conversion).
 
So this might be something dumb but is there any tutorials or anything for spritework? I'm starting working on something, still just barely getting started and fleshing things out but art itself isn't my strong suit exactly so I was wondering if there's some kind of tutorials for creating my own sprites and all that.
 
I really liked the Ludum Dare theme, but I did poorly this time. I spent too much time just getting the mechanics running, and didn't even get to the point where I made sound effects or music. I also had more mechanics/puzzle ideas and didn't do those, so the result is a really trivial thing that takes less than a minute.

I also know on an intellectual level that having not practiced art much at all in the last few months, my art should be terrible...yet it still bothers me that it sucks so much. :P

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-32/?action=preview&uid=12278
 
I'm unreasonably proud of this. Just a starting point, but I'm beginning to enjoy the overall style. Can kind of picture how it's gonna end up in my head, if that makes sense, and that hypes me up like nothing else. Next step, actually model the torches so they aren't completely flat on the walls...then figure out whether to fake the flames or try to do them in real time with Unity. Probably gonna have to spend a while screwing around with particles before I find out either way, I know less than nothing about how they work.

Guess I should probably model the door before worrying about fire or anything though.
 
I don't really know much about Facebook, but how important do you guys think it is to have a Facebook page for your company or game? Is it of different worth to a normal website?
 
Dynamite Shikoku said:
I don't really know much about Facebook, but how important do you guys think it is to have a Facebook page for your company or game? Is it of different worth to a normal website?
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It should be mandatory at this point. It is relatively easy to maintain, can bring in absolutely huge reach towards a new auidence, and facebook ads are very efficient when targeted properly.
 
V_Arnold said:
It should be mandatory at this point. It is relatively easy to maintain, can bring in absolutely huge reach towards a new auidence, and facebook ads are very efficient when targeted properly.
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Do you make a page for each of your games? Or just one for your company?
 
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