• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

Status
Not open for further replies.

Dascu

Member
Welcome Ziophaelin! I think the character design looks very nice. My only comment would be that the shading and highlight on his hair looks a bit off.
 

Jobbs

Banned
I would like some feedback on:

  • Do you believe the WIP hero is cool? I am debating whether or not he should be a Zatoichi style blind martial artist (no story impact, just cool or not factor)
  • If this art style is something that would interest you in seeing in a game? Would it excite you to see giant quality hand animated sprites in a modern action game?
  • General idea is for the hero to be in warm colors tone accents to help him stand out from cool toned backgrounds.
  • Any tips or suggestions for the art itself.
  • General critique.

Hi Kris. Good to see you here. :)

Since you asked for feedback, I think that while the character sprite idea is well drawn, it is conceptually boring. I don't know exactly what the new game is, but I imagine it could be kind of an arcadey throwback like Volgarr was in some ways -- Which often calls for generic heroes. I get that. I just find generic heroes very boring. When I see this, I don't think "oh, this is a cool new game, I want to know more" -- Instead, I honestly thought you were posting sprites from street fighter and that was one of them. Took me a minute to realize what was new.

Again, without knowing what your new game is or what the greater concept is, I can only examine the character in isolation and on its own merits. In that spirit, I can't say I find it very interesting. I'd look for ways to make it more memorable.

P.S. Asymmetry ain't all it's cracked up to be. Only a crazy person would attempt that. :)
 
I would like some feedback on:

  • Do you believe the WIP hero is cool? I am debating whether or not he should be a Zatoichi style blind martial artist (no story impact, just cool or not factor)
  • If this art style is something that would interest you in seeing in a game? Would it excite you to see giant quality hand animated sprites in a modern action game?
  • General critique.

- yes
- yes
- if you're making him being blind a visual flair, maybe having the unkempt hair is overkill for facial features, and it will get lost within it? For example making him clean shaven, or giving him an eastern style top-knot rather than a western style pony-tail so more of his face is visible and the bandana covering his eyes draws more focus?
 

Ziophaelin

Member
Hi Kris. Good to see you here. :)

Since you asked for feedback, I think that while the character sprite idea is well drawn, it is conceptually boring. I don't know exactly what the new game is, but I imagine it could be kind of an arcadey throwback like Volgarr was in some ways -- Which often calls for generic heroes. I get that. I just find generic heroes very boring. When I see this, I don't think "oh, this is a cool new game, I want to know more" -- Instead, I honestly thought you were posting sprites from street fighter and that was one of them. Took me a minute to realize what was new.

Again, without knowing what your new game is or what the greater concept is, I can only examine the character in isolation and on its own merits. In that spirit, I can't say I find it very interesting. I'd look for ways to make it more memorable.

P.S. Asymmetry ain't all it's cracked up to be. Only a crazy person would attempt that. :)


Looking at the character as he is and NOT knowing what the game back story is, what would you do to this character to make him more memorable for you out of curiosity.

I can't tell you why I chose to make him look this way without saying things at this point that I shouldn't, yet. That shouldn't stop you from making assumptions though and/or telling me what you would like to see changed or added, however.

Thanks!
 
Hi! It's my first time posting in this thread.
2 of my friends and I are currently developing a game based on the idea of RPG monsters.

I would like to share it to you so we can have feedback to know if we are in the right direction.
Kindly PM me if this type of post is not allowed here in the thread so I can remove it.

Here is a quick introduction written by my friend:
qlogo.jpg


Imps, Goblins. Slimes, Shitake mushrooms. These are a few of the weakest RPG monsters that you face in classic JRPGs such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy. These monsters have a depressing existence: go to the forest, get hit once or twice by a hero, and then die.

We choose to believe in a better world. Inspired by similar concepts in Wreck-It-Ralph (the movie), we imagined that these monsters are merely going to work every day. Their job just happens to be to pretend to die to heroes, similar to short guys in Tom Cruise movies, or jobbers in Pro Wrestling.

Mediocre Monster is a game about the daily life of one of these common RPG monsters. Gob, a goblin, (obviously) goes through everyday life as an RPG Monster, and you guide him through his journey from a lowly tutorial monster who dies after one hit to level 1 heroes, to a well-respected monster who still dies to heroes easily, but after a few more hits.


Gameplay

The game is split into two basic parts. The Battle, and the Town.

Battle

This consists of a "Reverse JRPG Battle System" where the goal is to die to RPG heroes, while ensuring that they get maximum enjoyment from battling you.

You work for Bestiary Inc., a company which specializes in outsourced RPG monsters for various JRPG games. You go to work everyday and face various heroes and their parties as they grind their way to xp and items. Various rules and regulations are in place to make sure you do your job properly as a Random RPG Monster.

A few of these include:

  • When you get taunted by a tank, make sure to attack him the next round. (They like thinking that they got the best of your emotions)
  • When a hero gets a certain gleam in their eye, they are "doing a critical attack". Lean your face forward to maximize the impact of their weapon against your face.
  • Make sure to drop items, or "loot" as the heroes call them, once you "die" (the more the merrier). This makes their task of killing you more enjoyable.
  • DON'T KILL HEROES (Heroes hate wasting a Phoenix Down on lowly random monsters.)

dyingsmall.gif

Gob doing his thing

Town

Gob lives in Random Monster Town, a town populated by other monsters such as slimes, serpents, and harpies. The town, whose main industry is JRPG monsters, is in danger of being repurposed for casual games, which are more lucrative nowadays. Gob must use his hard earned money from his job, and enlist the help of his neighbors to preserve the identity of the town.

So, kinda like Harvest Moon, except instead of farming, you're the one who gets farmed. (get it? :p)

buildings.png

Sample Town Buildings Art


Characters

Here's a few of the characters in the game:

gob-prof.png

dog-prof.png

dudu-prof.png

ed-prof.png



Thanks!

Here's the link to our sample music done by our good composer:

We're finishing up a very short demo of the battle system, while music and concept art is almost complete. Animations have just started, an example of which is GOB pretending to die above.

So GAF, what do you think? Is the core idea neat?
Does it sound boring? Any features you want to see?

I hope to update you guys soon! :)
 

Moosichu

Member
Hi! It's my first time posting in this thread.
2 of my friends and I are currently developing a game based on the idea of RPG monsters.

I would like to share it to you so we can have feedback to know if we are in the right direction.
Kindly PM me if this type of post is not allowed here in the thread so I can remove it.

Here is a quick introduction written by my friend:


Here's the link to our sample music done by our good composer:

We're finishing up a very short demo of the battle system, while music and concept art is almost complete. Animations have just started, an example of which is GOB pretending to die above.

So GAF, what do you think? Is the core idea neat?
Does it sound boring? Any features you want to see?

I hope to update you guys soon! :)

The art and idea are both awesome. Have no idea how it will be implemented and what new stuff could be added to keep it interesting but will definitely keep an eye out for it!

Will the end goal be having your character promoted to a boss? Maybe sometimes being put in games which are known for difficulty (such as Souls-inspired) where you do have to kill the 'player' characters? Maybe a joke-level where you try are in a casual game and have to be something like a pig from angry birds?
 

anteevy

Member
Hi! It's my first time posting in this thread.
2 of my friends and I are currently developing a game based on the idea of RPG monsters.

I would like to share it to you so we can have feedback to know if we are in the right direction.
Kindly PM me if this type of post is not allowed here in the thread so I can remove it.

Here is a quick introduction written by my friend:


Here's the link to our sample music done by our good composer:

We're finishing up a very short demo of the battle system, while music and concept art is almost complete. Animations have just started, an example of which is GOB pretending to die above.

So GAF, what do you think? Is the core idea neat?
Does it sound boring? Any features you want to see?

I hope to update you guys soon! :)
I like the concept! Looks like a challenge to make something like this work gameplay-wise, so I'm really curious about how it will play. I love the " Lean your face forward to maximize the impact of their weapon against your face." part. :D
 

Moosichu

Member
Hi everyone, I've haven't been very active recently but I have been lurking and feeling really unproductive compared to all of you :p. Essentially, because of University I haven't had as much time as I wish to work on our game, but have been making slow progress (still really struggling to implement a pause-menu in a sensible way in GameMaker Studio.)

However, the reason I've posted is because I've managed to get an internship working on an open-source educational game over the summer called Pyland.
https://github.com/pyland/pyland
logo.png


At the moment, it only runs in Linux/Raspberry Pi, but it is open-source and I'm hoping to learn a lot about game-engine development working on it.

I think the goals for this summer are to basically polish the engine as much as possible, improve the core gameplay, make it so that the gameplay systems can all be implemented in python and port it to Windows.

I am really excited about this, and if anyone has any advice that would be great. I may even port the game I have been working on to this engine if I become comfortable enough with it and it's suitable. :)
 

Rubikant

Member
Part of the high contrast look you are talking about came about from necessity for Ryu/Ken in that example and other older games to compensate for their being displayed on CRTs or old arcade monitors. I have been making game art that long to know, heh. I'm old. :p

Part of what I was trying to do is compensate for the fact that this game would be displayed on LCD/LED and new tech HD displays that do not alias or have shadowmasking etc.

Bah, screw LCD's, I actually like the way CRT-based art looks on LCD's aside from dithering (like dithered shadows - but we have alpha blending to do that now anyway). Maybe its just because I'm used to it from playing so many older games on my LCD TV.

Besides that though, if one prefers that more "muddy" look for their sprites, scaling up the art to full resolution via bilinear filtering does much the same thing anyway (and combining the two may be making it worse, perhaps that's why people accused Volgarr of looking "blurry" with filtering on?).

I'm no artist or art critic though, or even really a graphics programmer, I just know I personally like graphics that "pop" as he said (like most everything Nintendo makes). Of course I may be subconsciously influenced by the argument that it would be less work for you ;). Obviously I'd have to see what it looks like in the other style to give any real judgement on if its better that way or not.
 
Well, here's my own Ludum Dare entry. As always, I wish I had the time to do a bit more; it's really very short. At least the mechanics are working decently though, and I'm pretty happy with the "boss" sequence. The concept is that you have the ability of short-range teleport, and that's also your only way of attacking: by teleporting into the enemies.

My awful pixel art may damage your eyes, sorry about that.

29335-shot1-1429579626.png-eq-900-500.jpg


Hey my first post to gaf! although I have been lurking for a while now.

I just submitted my ludum dare jam entry, we didnt get quite enough time to add sound sadly but other than that I think it turned out pretty well!
f13fafd8d8.gif

you can check it out at:
http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-32/?action=preview&uid=7173

Man, you can't have graphics that nice in a game jam. Way to make the rest of us look bad. ;)

EDIT (as I'm trying out other games):

Another horrible Ludum Dare in the can: Strike Dungeon

Horrible?? Man, that's possibly the best entries I've played so far. Quite fun, plays well, impressive random generation, good art and music... All by yourself within 48 hours, damn. I wish I was this "horrible". ;)
 

mantrakid

Member
hey, who was the gentleman who gave away keys for their game for free to any NeoGAF homies who posted in the thread? What was the game again? Sorry!! Just want to see if there was a follow up...
 

Jobbs

Banned
It's official. I'm famous!

Looking at the character as he is and NOT knowing what the game back story is, what would you do to this character to make him more memorable for you out of curiosity.

I can't tell you why I chose to make him look this way without saying things at this point that I shouldn't, yet. That shouldn't stop you from making assumptions though and/or telling me what you would like to see changed or added, however.

Thanks!

When I think of a memorable character, I think of someone I can root for, or at least understand. A musclebound hulk who seems to be sort of a cliche is something I just don't relate to -- Even if it's an arcadey action game, we can, I feel, have a more interesting character. Someone maybe with less body mass, more of an underdog, maybe some kind of interesting hook like a signature weapon or other accessory. Anything so that if you see the game somewhere -- then see it again later -- and you remember it. "Oh, THAT game, the one with the guy with the ___".

The character is the frontman of your game. It is therefore so incredibly helpful that he or she be more than just a cliche, and be something that you'd remember and recognize.

I know we come at this from two different places, most likely, but all I can offer is my own reaction and perspective.
 

xillyriax

Member
Ziophaelin -
Add some gradient to the sprites. Ken & Ryu's colors get a tad darker the closer they are to the ground.
Add a darker outline on the character's parts and juxtapose it with a lighter color. Even in grayscale you are still able to define Ken & Ryu's pants, muscles, etc.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Just focus on getting it running on the PC. Don't worry about localization or porting to other platforms until you have a really mechanically solid game.

I'll probably do that, but I fear that I'll end up with a functioning PC game where I have to do the complete view-part of the game new, where I'd hope to do it in a way that game logic and view can be taken straight from the original work and only the controller / interface implementation and GamePad-Streaming needs to be taken care of for porting (I'll make sure to support the relevant resolutions from the get go). Thus I was asking all those questions beforehand.
 

Minamu

Member
Anyone have experience with putting their games on Google Play? Seems it was a bit more complicated than I/we initially expected it to be. We made a short action packed game this weekend and I'm quite proud of it so far. I don't have any photos or videos of it at the moment unfortunately. But it seems you need to register an actual company to be allowed to sell a game on there (although a free game with ads is okay as an individual). You also need to add achievements, icons, screenshots on various devices we don't have and make sure it works on tablets (but it's a mobile game :/). Rather more complex than we thought, like I said. Not sure what my question is, juts wondering if others have had to go through the same thing and have any tips and tricks :)
 
Anyone have experience with putting their games on Google Play? Seems it was a bit more complicated than I/we initially expected it to be. We made a short action packed game this weekend and I'm quite proud of it so far. I don't have any photos or videos of it at the moment unfortunately. But it seems you need to register an actual company to be allowed to sell a game on there (although a free game with ads is okay as an individual). You also need to add achievements, icons, screenshots on various devices we don't have and make sure it works on tablets (but it's a mobile game :/). Rather more complex than we thought, like I said. Not sure what my question is, juts wondering if others have had to go through the same thing and have any tips and tricks :)

I'm going through this right now!
Yeah, its weird having to have things like a compulsory minimum 5 achievements with 1000 fake-gamerscore to publish using google play services
EDIT:
Obligatory grumblings about having to make your name and address visible to customers bullshit
 

missile

Member
dsk.gif


Got virtual desktops implemented seen in gray on the image above. Usually,
only one desktop is shown at fullscreen size. Doesn't look as colorful as my
last one. Friend of mind said it looks like "Windows 0.2432". xD However, I
built the desktops in such a way that they are first-class citizens like any
other UI element such that they can behave and profit from the same dynamic
event/message handling system etc. as well.

An interesting idea I got in using said desktops (next to some standard use-
cases) for debugging is the following; guess you have your game/whatever
running on desktop one. On the second desktop you can show the same windows
but get an entire debug overlay on the screen. That means, all of the windows
may show additional information. But not only this. Because the second desktop
can have its own even/message system, one can expand/extend on the one from
desktop one or may change it entirely. For example, hovering the mouse over a
window may now show a popup full of debug infos while being on desktop two.
Keyboard bindings, mouse behavior, context menus, or visual representations may
all be different on desktop two depending on the task at hand. With a simple
key press desktop one may transit smoothly into desktop two. Hence, one may
switch back and forth between the two as needed. Having said that it is
obvious to extent the same mechanism to arbitrary many desktops each showing a
different aspect of interest. Just an idea.

Another aspect I'm currently considering is to whether incorporate arbitrarily
shaped buttons (which may also be arbitrarily connected) or not. Because doing
so will have some serious effects on the rendering backend as well as on some
inner workings of the user interface itself. Leaving it out and wanting to
bring it in later on (when the user interface has matured) will be a big
problem. Anyhow, the advantage is obvious. An artist may simply draw up the
shapes (can be polymorphic) of the elements needed in his/her favorite paint
program. Would you like it? If this is going to work, one can easily imagine
to have (shape-) animated buttons as well. Has anyone some experience in
implementing such things? I'm interested in the hell that awaits me!
 

Minamu

Member
I'm going through this right now!
Yeah, its weird having to have things like a compulsory minimum 5 achievements with 1000 fake-gamerscore to publish using google play services
EDIT:
Obligatory grumblings about having to make your name and address visible to customers bullshit
Are you gonna make a company? I don't know what that entails here in Sweden costs and tax wise. But I'll probably have to pay taxes on the ad revenue, if there ever is one of those, anyway.

The achievement thing etc is kinda strange, this is a game two guys made over one weekend, it's not super fancy or very graphical at all. Having a fancy icon to press would be the most fancy in the entire game, as my friend's a programmer and I'm a designer, neither of us can draw to save our lives :lol So the game is saturated colors and squares, with a home made arrow as the player. Looks crappy as hell, but also quite abstract which I like.

But, having a functional achievements system now is good for future projects where you migth be able to just plug and play that into those too.
 

jrush64

Banned
Just found this thread. I'm making a game for school and have run into a bit of a programming logic problem.

Is there a topic where I can ask for help?
 
What does everybody use to host their websites? Squarespace sounds nice and simple but I already have a domain and it's a tad bit pricey for where we are at the moment.
 
Are you gonna make a company? I don't know what that entails here in Sweden costs and tax wise. But I'll probably have to pay taxes on the ad revenue, if there ever is one of those, anyway.

I'm in the UK, so up to a certain level of income - which I'm not hitting as an indie anytime soon, heh - there's no real practical difference between being a business and being an individual, you just declare yourself on a tax form.

Having a fancy icon to press would be the most fancy in the entire game, as my friend's a programmer and I'm a designer, neither of us can draw to save our lives :lol So the game is saturated colors and squares, with a home made arrow as the player. Looks crappy as hell, but also quite abstract which I like.

But, having a functional achievements system now is good for future projects where you migth be able to just plug and play that into those too.

If it helps motivate you, here's my crappy achievement icons (at a much smaller size than the obnoxiously huge 512px required)
i3M1ZpN.png


Just found this thread. I'm making a game for school and have run into a bit of a programming logic problem.

Is there a topic where I can ask for help?

Honestly can't hurt to just ask here.
 

jrush64

Banned
Honestly can't hurt to just ask here.

Ok here is my problem.

Let me break it down, please bear with me.

Basically there are 4 switches - Switch 1, Switch 2, Switch 3, Switch 4.
2 Gates - Gate 1 and Gate 2
1 Platform
1 Cage

This is the way the logic is supposed to work and the order.

- You press Switch 1 with Character 1, and Platform 1 on character 2's side, starts moving, but a cage locks Character 1 in. So you switch to Character 2. Character 2 can't get to switch 3 until platform 1 starts moving.

- Character 2 presses switch 3 which opens gate 1. Character 1 is still locked in.

- After switch 3 is pressed, Character 2 goes to switch 4 which opens the cage.

- Then character 2 presses switch 2 which opens gate 2 for character two.

This is the order:

- Switch 1, moves platform
- Switch 3 opens gate 1
- Switch 4 opens cage
- Switch 2 opens gate 2

Code:
public bool SwitchOne;
    public bool SwitchTwo;
    public bool SwitchThree;
    public bool SwitchFour;
    public bool SidePlatformOne;
    public bool SidePlatformTwo;
    public bool UpDownOne;
    public    GameObject platform;
    public    GameObject gate;
    public    GameObject cage;
    public bool CageOne;
    private Animator anim;
    private Animator animone;
    private Animator animtwo;
    public bool gateone;
    public bool gatetwo;
   
    // Use this for initialization
    void Start () {
       
        anim = platform.GetComponent<Animator>();
        animone = gate.GetComponent<Animator>();
        animtwo = cage.GetComponent<Animator>();    
       
    }
   
    // Update is called once per frame
    void Update () {
       
    }
   
    void OnTriggerEnter (Collider other)
    {
       
        if (gameObject.tag == "SwitchOne")
        {          
            SwitchOne = true;
            SidePlatformTwo = true;
            anim.SetTrigger ("SidePlatformTwo");
           
            if((SwitchOne == true) && (SidePlatformTwo == true))
            {
                CageOne = true;
                animtwo.SetTrigger ("GateBlockOne");    //Block's Tarro In and activates  her platform    
               
            }
        }
       
       
        if(gameObject.tag == "SwitchTwo")
        {
            SwitchTwo = true;
        }
            if((SwitchTwo == true) && (gateone == true) && (SwitchThree == true))
            {
                gatetwo = true;
                animone.SetTrigger ("GateTwoLevelTwo");
            }
 
       
        if(gameObject.tag == "SwitchThree")
        {
            SwitchThree = true;
        }
            if((SwitchThree == true) && (CageOne == true))
            {
                gateone = true;
                animone.SetTrigger ("GateOneLevelTwo");
            }
 
       
        if(gameObject.tag == "SwitchFour")
        {
            SwitchFour = true;
        }
            if((SwitchFour == true) && (SwitchThree == true))
            {
                CageOne = false;
            }
 
       
       
       
       
    }
   
}
I've checked everything, added debug log. The code that executes the gate open logic doesn't work. The gate is supposed to open as soon as switch 1 and switch 3 are pressed. But it doesn't work.

I have no idea what to do anymore.

I'm a major noob as i just started 3 months ago and would really realy appreciate the help. Thanks
 

Minamu

Member
I'm in the UK, so up to a certain level of income - which I'm not hitting as an indie anytime soon, heh - there's no real practical difference between being a business and being an individual, you just declare yourself on a tax form.



If it helps motivate you, here's my crappy achievement icons (at a much smaller size than the obnoxiously huge 512px required)
i3M1ZpN.png




Honestly can't hurt to just ask here.
That's way better than my skills hehe. As for having a company, I suppose I'll have to look into it some day anyway :) I'm mostly doing this for portfolio purposes though.

Ok here is my problem.

Let me break it down, please bear with me.

Basically there are 4 switches - Switch 1, Switch 2, Switch 3, Switch 4.
2 Gates - Gate 1 and Gate 2
1 Platform
1 Cage

This is the way the logic is supposed to work and the order.

- You press Switch 1 with Character 1, and Platform 1 on character 2's side, starts moving, but a cage locks Character 1 in. So you switch to Character 2. Character 2 can't get to switch 3 until platform 1 starts moving.

- Character 2 presses switch 3 which opens gate 1. Character 1 is still locked in.

- After switch 3 is pressed, Character 2 goes to switch 4 which opens the cage.

- Then character 2 presses switch 2 which opens gate 2 for character two.

This is the order:

- Switch 1, moves platform
- Switch 3 opens gate 1
- Switch 4 opens cage
- Switch 2 opens gate 2

I've checked everything, added debug log. The code that executes the gate open logic doesn't work. The gate is supposed to open as soon as switch 1 and switch 3 are pressed. But it doesn't work.

I have no idea what to do anymore.

I'm a major noob as i just started 3 months ago and would really realy appreciate the help. Thanks
Can't really help you but there's an awesome programming OT in the OT section on this forum, I've gotten lots of help in there before and it doesn't matter if it's for a game or something else.
 
Ok here is my problem.

Let me break it down, please bear with me.

Basically there are 4 switches - Switch 1, Switch 2, Switch 3, Switch 4.
2 Gates - Gate 1 and Gate 2
1 Platform
1 Cage

This is the way the logic is supposed to work and the order.

- You press Switch 1 with Character 1, and Platform 1 on character 2's side, starts moving, but a cage locks Character 1 in. So you switch to Character 2. Character 2 can't get to switch 3 until platform 1 starts moving.

- Character 2 presses switch 3 which opens gate 1. Character 1 is still locked in.

- After switch 3 is pressed, Character 2 goes to switch 4 which opens the cage.

- Then character 2 presses switch 2 which opens gate 2 for character two.

This is the order:

- Switch 1, moves platform
- Switch 3 opens gate 1
- Switch 4 opens cage
- Switch 2 opens gate 2

I've checked everything, added debug log. The code that executes the gate open logic doesn't work. The gate is supposed to open as soon as switch 1 and switch 3 are pressed. But it doesn't work.

I have no idea what to do anymore.

I'm a major noob as i just started 3 months ago and would really realy appreciate the help. Thanks

Erm, yeah... that might not be the best way to organize things... but let's try to get the behavior working first. What is this script attached to? All your switches? Have you tried to step through the code execution using the debugger? I assume the "gateone = true" part is where the gate should open right? Does the debugger reach that part? If it does, then it seems like it's your animator that isn't doing the job of opening the gate correctly; if it doesn't, well... which path does it take through the code then?



Can't really help you but there's an awesome programming OT in the OT section on this forum, I've gotten lots of help in there before and it doesn't matter if it's for a game or something else.

Well it's a Unity question so it's better asked here, I think.
 
I've checked everything, added debug log. The code that executes the gate open logic doesn't work. The gate is supposed to open as soon as switch 1 and switch 3 are pressed. But it doesn't work.

I have no idea what to do anymore.

I'm a major noob as i just started 3 months ago and would really realy appreciate the help. Thanks

The way you've laid things out is quite labyrinthine, so I can't be as helpful as I'd like, but you seem to be passing a collider but then not referencing it - where you call gameobject.tag, are you expecting that to be the thing that is being collided with?
If yes, you probably want to be using collider.gameobject.tag rather than gameobject.tag (which is the thing doing the colliding - it would actually be other.gameobject.tag in your codeblock, and I would guess other.animone.settrigger etc).

I'd also suggest just for readability splitting out "results" from "triggers" rather than doing both in the same code block - it makes following the logic harder.
 

Lautaro

Member
Is that script supposed to be in each switch? is that why you are asking for the tag of the current object instead of the tag of the collider that is getting into the trigger?

Your code is confussing.
 
2 Questions:

1) What programs do people use to create their own Font? I'd like to create my own assets but I have no idea how!
2) Are there any good tutorials for Pixel Art that anyone has used to help them with sprite drawing?

Thanks in advance!
 
Is that script supposed to be in each switch? is that why you are asking for the tag of the current object instead of the tag of the collider that is getting into the trigger?

That's how I understood it.

Anyway, jrush64, simplifying your logic would probably help with your problem. From what I understand of the puzzle you're making, each switch just triggers something else (whether it be a platform, or gate, or whatever), correct? So the switches don't really need knowledge of each other's state, the logic of the puzzle just depends on the events they trigger, and what order you trigger them in.

What I would do is make a very generic switch script that just has a public UnityEvent, and call the event's Invoke() method when the switch's trigger is hit. What this will allow you to do is set up methods to be called on other objects in the Unity editor when the switch is triggered (this is the same thing that is used by Unity's UI system for button click events and the like, if you've used that). So for instance, for your first switch, you could just click to add a listener to its event, drag your object that has the animator in there, and set it to call the animator's SetTrigger function with the SidePlatformTwo parameter all directly in your editor. Now, mind you, I wouldn't really recommend moving platforms using an animator but... let's get it working first, and I can advise further about that later if you want.

Now, I'm possibly being really unclear so feel free to ask questions if that's the case. And to the other folks who use Unity, feel free to tell me if I'm giving terrible advice or something. ;)
 

jrush64

Banned
Is that script supposed to be in each switch? is that why you are asking for the tag of the current object instead of the tag of the collider that is getting into the trigger?

Your code is confussing.


Yeah the script is supposed to be in each switch. Yeah thats why it's the tag of the collider.

That's how I understood it.

Anyway, jrush64, simplifying your logic would probably help with your problem. From what I understand of the puzzle you're making, each switch just triggers something else (whether it be a platform, or gate, or whatever), correct? So the switches don't really need knowledge of each other's state, the logic of the puzzle just depends on the events they trigger, and what order you trigger them in.

What I would do is make a very generic switch script that just has a public UnityEvent, and call the event's Invoke() method when the switch's trigger is hit. What this will allow you to do is set up methods to be called on other objects in the Unity editor when the switch is triggered (this is the same thing that is used by Unity's UI system for button click events and the like, if you've used that). So for instance, for your first switch, you could just click to add a listener to its event, drag your object that has the animator in there, and set it to call the animator's SetTrigger function with the SidePlatformTwo parameter all directly in your editor. Now, mind you, I wouldn't really recommend moving platforms using an animator but... let's get it working first, and I can advise further about that later if you want.

Now, I'm possibly being really unclear so feel free to ask questions if that's the case. And to the other folks who use Unity, feel free to tell me if I'm giving terrible advice or something. ;)

Yeah each switch triggers something. I'm a noob, i don't even understand half of what you're saying. I'll look into the invoke event and see what i can do.

After looking at the code again, I noticed that each switch is using the same code. but if on switch 1, switch 3 and switch 2 have collided; the code doesn't update on the other switches.

It doesn't update thats why it's not working.

I don't know how to fix that yet.

Thanks for all the responses though, i really appreciate it.
 

Xtyle

Member
discovered this thread by accident.
Hmm I am no programmer but this is a cool place to check what people make.
Say, any interested in doing something, or an indie fighting game, with this project of mine?
I am not here to advertise my stuff, just really curious to see if someone's making something that may want to collaborate with

http://www.spoonfeedheroes.com
 

Lautaro

Member
After looking at the code again, I noticed that each switch is using the same code. but if on switch 1, switch 3 and switch 2 have collided; the code doesn't update on the other switches.

It doesn't update thats why it's not working.

I don't know how to fix that yet.

Ok, let's see if I understand, you are modifying a variable called SwitchThree in the third switch to true and you are expecting that the code in switch #4 knows that?

Do you understand the concept of Scope and Instances? when the variable SwitchThree is turned into true, the only script that knows about that is the script that contains that variable, in the other switches there are other scripts with other variables called SwitchThree that are NOT the same variable.

EDIT: if you want to share information between the switches you could probably create a class with static variables or a singleton (this is what I mostly use). That or you add a parameter to each switch referencing the others so you can see its propoerties directly (this is less elegant but it would solve your problem quickly).
 

jrush64

Banned
Ok, let's see if I understand, you are modifying a variable called SwitchThree in the third switch to true and you are expecting that the code in switch #4 knows that?

Do you understand the concept of Scope and Instances? when the variable SwitchThree is turned into true, the only script that knows about that is the script that contains that variable, in the other switches there are other scripts with other variables called SwitchThree that are NOT the same variable.

EDIT: if you want to share information between the switches you could probably create a class with static variables or a singleton (this is what I mostly use). That or you add a parameter to each switch referencing the others so you can see its propoerties directly (this is less elegant but it would solve your problem quickly).


I just started coding 3 months ago so I don't know much about Scope and Instances. I'll look into singleton and static variables.
 

Lautaro

Member
God! I no longer get burnout from coding but now I get burned out from promoting my damn game!


I just started coding 3 months ago so I don't know much about Scope and Instances. I'll look into singleton and static variables.

Scope and static variables are basic terms that every programmer should know. Instances is a part of learning Object Oriented Programming, also really critical to know.

Singleton is a more advanced concept.

I think is healthy that you make a pause and learn proper programming before making a full project but if you insist in getting it done I suggest that you add other parameters to your scripts in order to reference the other switches.
 
Yeah each switch triggers something. I'm a noob, i don't even understand half of what you're saying. I'll look into the invoke event and see what i can do.

Right, OK. I was afraid I wasn't being explicit enough. Basically, this is the bare essentials of how I would set up the switch script:

Code:
using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
using UnityEngine.Events;

public class Switch : MonoBehaviour {

    public UnityEvent onActivate;
    
    private bool activated = false;

    void OnTriggerEnter (Collider other)
    {
        if(!activated) {
            activated = true;
            onActivate.Invoke();
        }
    }
}

So you have this UnityEvent variable that will allow you to add listeners in the Unity editor. Basically, this means your switch doesn't have to know what it triggers, it just has a public event that advertises that it can be activated, and any object that is interested in knowing when that happens can "listen" for when the event fires. That's done in the OnTriggerEnter method, when something enters the switch's trigger, onActivate.Invoke() is called, and any object listening for this event will get called. This script doesn't need to know anything about which object that is; this makes it very generic and you can use it all over the place.

The activated variable is just used so that the switch is only triggered once. I don't actually know if that's the behavior you want. If you want to trigger every time something enters its trigger, just remove the if(!activated) check. Maybe you'd actually want the switch to do something when you exit its trigger as well (if the switch is only activate while you're standing on it, for instance), in which case you would probably add another UnityEvent (say, onDeactivate) and call its Invoke() method in OnTriggerExit().

Now, if you add a script like this on an object, and look at it in the Unity editor, you'll see that there is now a section called On Activate() on the component that lets you add any number of listeners for this event. You just click the + button to add one, then drag whichever object you want to call in the box that appears, then select a function to call on that object. For instance, in your case, you would probably drag your object that contains your animator in there, then in the function drop-down, select Animator -> SetTrigger (string), then you can enter the name of the animator trigger in the parameter box below the drop-down, say, SidePlatformTwo. So when the switch is triggered, your Animator will also be set in motion, without needing any more code. The same can be done for the three other switches (each will have its own separate listeners list), and so each switch doesn't even need to know what the others are doing.

Hopefully this makes more sense to you now, but let me know if any of it is still unclear. You should always strive to make your components as generic and reusable as possible, it makes things simpler and easier in the long run.
 
The art and idea are both awesome. Have no idea how it will be implemented and what new stuff could be added to keep it interesting but will definitely keep an eye out for it!

Will the end goal be having your character promoted to a boss? Maybe sometimes being put in games which are known for difficulty (such as Souls-inspired) where you do have to kill the 'player' characters? Maybe a joke-level where you try are in a casual game and have to be something like a pig from angry birds?

The end goal is to save the town from being re-purposed into an "FPS Town" and for Gob himself to appear in higher levels but not as boss (to be a mediocre monster). :p

Thanks for the feedback Moosichu!

I like the concept! Looks like a challenge to make something like this work gameplay-wise, so I'm really curious about how it will play. I love the " Lean your face forward to maximize the impact of their weapon against your face." part. :D

Yeah. We really have to make sure the battle feels fluid and exciting.
We're still looking for more ways for the battle to be more interesting.

Thanks for the feedback Anteevy!

What does everybody use to host their websites? Squarespace sounds nice and simple but I already have a domain and it's a tad bit pricey for where we are at the moment.

You can start with Tumblr though I don't know if people look down upon games who uses that website
 

missile

Member
pbaa554.gif


I got some prototype working of my arbitrary button concept. Hacked some major
modification into my rendering backend and user interface over night to get it
somehow working. The UI is now completely unaware about what shape/geomtry an
UI element has. For a lack of a better example the button's shape (in the
image) looks quite regular (I love the cosine function ;)), but as one can see
the shape is not connected. I will come up with a fully irregular shape
(possibly animated) tomorrow, I guess.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Ok here is my problem.

Let me break it down, please bear with me.

Basically there are 4 switches - Switch 1, Switch 2, Switch 3, Switch 4.
2 Gates - Gate 1 and Gate 2
1 Platform
1 Cage

This is the way the logic is supposed to work and the order.

- You press Switch 1 with Character 1, and Platform 1 on character 2's side, starts moving, but a cage locks Character 1 in. So you switch to Character 2. Character 2 can't get to switch 3 until platform 1 starts moving.

- Character 2 presses switch 3 which opens gate 1. Character 1 is still locked in.

- After switch 3 is pressed, Character 2 goes to switch 4 which opens the cage.

- Then character 2 presses switch 2 which opens gate 2 for character two.

This is the order:

- Switch 1, moves platform
- Switch 3 opens gate 1
- Switch 4 opens cage
- Switch 2 opens gate 2

Code:
public bool SwitchOne;
    public bool SwitchTwo;
    public bool SwitchThree;
    public bool SwitchFour;
    public bool SidePlatformOne;
    public bool SidePlatformTwo;
    public bool UpDownOne;
    public    GameObject platform;
    public    GameObject gate;
    public    GameObject cage;
    public bool CageOne;
    private Animator anim;
    private Animator animone;
    private Animator animtwo;
    public bool gateone;
    public bool gatetwo;
   
    // Use this for initialization
    void Start () {
       
        anim = platform.GetComponent<Animator>();
        animone = gate.GetComponent<Animator>();
        animtwo = cage.GetComponent<Animator>();    
       
    }
   
    // Update is called once per frame
    void Update () {
       
    }
   
    void OnTriggerEnter (Collider other)
    {
       
        if (gameObject.tag == "SwitchOne")
        {          
            SwitchOne = true;
            SidePlatformTwo = true;
            anim.SetTrigger ("SidePlatformTwo");
           
            if((SwitchOne == true) && (SidePlatformTwo == true))
            {
                CageOne = true;
                animtwo.SetTrigger ("GateBlockOne");    //Block's Tarro In and activates  her platform    
               
            }
        }
       
       
        if(gameObject.tag == "SwitchTwo")
        {
            SwitchTwo = true;
        }
            if((SwitchTwo == true) && (gateone == true) && (SwitchThree == true))
            {
                gatetwo = true;
                animone.SetTrigger ("GateTwoLevelTwo");
            }
 
       
        if(gameObject.tag == "SwitchThree")
        {
            SwitchThree = true;
        }
            if((SwitchThree == true) && (CageOne == true))
            {
                gateone = true;
                animone.SetTrigger ("GateOneLevelTwo");
            }
 
       
        if(gameObject.tag == "SwitchFour")
        {
            SwitchFour = true;
        }
            if((SwitchFour == true) && (SwitchThree == true))
            {
                CageOne = false;
            }
 
       
       
       
       
    }
   
}
I've checked everything, added debug log. The code that executes the gate open logic doesn't work. The gate is supposed to open as soon as switch 1 and switch 3 are pressed. But it doesn't work.

I have no idea what to do anymore.

I'm a major noob as i just started 3 months ago and would really realy appreciate the help. Thanks

A few remarks up-front:
if((SwitchOne == true) && (SidePlatformTwo == true)) <-- this line is redundant because it follows directly after you have set both variables to true within the same if-block.

Now I only get started with Unity, but please try the following: replace
public bool SwitchOne;
public bool SwitchTwo;
public bool SwitchThree;
public bool SwitchFour;
with
public static bool SwitchOne;
public static bool SwitchTwo;
public static bool SwitchThree;
public static bool SwitchFour;

I'm assuming you add one instance of the listener to each button, static should then make them share these variables instead of making them separate variables. Please try this and tell me if the variables SwitchTwo and SwitchThree update for SwitchOne this way. If this works, I'll explain the concept to you, but since I - as seen above - am also just starting working with Unity this weekend, guessing is involved here and I don't want to explain something without knowing my assumption of what is going on internally is correct. Of course this might end up being redundant if someone else solves your problem in-between.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom