Dynamite Shikoku
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Why not just use a physics engine?
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Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor
- Thread starter chubigans
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Why not just use a physics engine?
brettchalupa
Member
It's really important to understand how 2D collision works before just defaulting to an physics engine.
Also, most physic engines are total overkill, so when only needed for something like 2D collision that is bounding box based, it's best to understand how it works.
What's the problems you're running into specifically bumpkin?
Also, most physic engines are total overkill, so when only needed for something like 2D collision that is bounding box based, it's best to understand how it works.
What's the problems you're running into specifically bumpkin?
Heart of Black
Member
I wrote an article that was posted today on Unwinnable about the financial pressures of being an indie dev: http://www.unwinnable.com/2012/10/04/how-the-indie-half-lives/ Let me know what you think!
Every day someone makes a collision-detection post, I'm thankful I'm working on a turn-based strategy game.
Though some day on some other game I'll need collision, and then I'll be able to come back and learn everything from the thread! *evil laughter* "If you must learn from experience, make sure it's someone else's experience." or something.
Collision detection is an insanely massive stumbling block for making a 2D platformer. It's just so much harder than everything else you have to code. Mine's working fine now but I need some way to tackle multiple collisions. That should be fun :/
Hmm bumpkin it's really hard for me to just jump into your code and understand what's happening. Is the code for working out the end row right? Because as I read it, it does this:
That's assuming the height in tiles is 2. Ignore the "way".
Gosh I love Paint.net.
bumpkin
Member
It's just random weirdness when the sprite is in a position where a part of it is occupying three tiles instead of two (it's two tiles high and two tiles wide). I provided some simple diagrams of the scenarios that work for me and the ones that don't, along with the code that's driving 'em in a previous post.
Thanks to a link that charsace shared last night, I was able to make it so my sprite will start falling when it goes off an edge. I'm actually considering changing my other collision routines to use a similar set of logic, if only so that it's all somewhat uniform. It'll be a lot easier to maintain if I don't have to re-acquaint my brain with multiple approaches weeks or months down the line.
It seems to work out the end row right, but only when the sprite is touching the ground and therefore not encroaching on more than two tiles. When it's suddenly touching three, collisions are getting missed. The way it's working out the rows now, it's always rounding down; the float is being truncated during conversion to an int.Collision detection is an insanely massive stumbling block for making a 2D platformer. It's just so much harder than everything else you have to code. Mine's working fine now but I need some way to tackle multiple collisions. That should be fun :/
Hmm bumpkin it's really hard for me to just jump into your code and understand what's happening. Is the code for working out the end row right? Because as I read it, it does this:
That's assuming the height in tiles is 2. Ignore the "way".
Gosh I love Paint.net.
Welp, I'm launching my new indie game in a few hours. It's been in development since March, and I've spent around $8k on it.
I'm both excited and terrified at the same time. I'm glad it's done, but at the same time I'm nervous about how it'll do.
I'll post more info on the game once in home, and a month from now ill break down my sales and write an article on it. Wish me luck!
I'm both excited and terrified at the same time. I'm glad it's done, but at the same time I'm nervous about how it'll do.
I'll post more info on the game once in home, and a month from now ill break down my sales and write an article on it. Wish me luck!
prodystopian
Member
Does anyone know of a good way to get individual sprites from a sprite sheet? I tried this:
Alferd Spritesheet Unpacker ver.8
but it hangs on several sheets I've tried. I've contacted the author, but I'm just seeing if someone knows of something else. I found tile studio, but it isn't great for automating, and I'd rather not do it manually.
Alferd Spritesheet Unpacker ver.8
but it hangs on several sheets I've tried. I've contacted the author, but I'm just seeing if someone knows of something else. I found tile studio, but it isn't great for automating, and I'd rather not do it manually.
Well okay. Assuming it works as you say it does then in your example we have:
Top is around 1.75 truncated to 1. That's fine.
Bottom is 3.75 truncated to 3. This should be 4.
So all you need is to use some sort of ceil function to always get the biggest int for the bottom row. Same thing will apply to columns.
Graphics Gale can cut them up if they're evenly distributed on the page.
Overkill and its good to understand these things and to learn from doing them.
-COOLIO-
The Everyman
congratulations! definitely an anxiety filled experience though. Have you looked into advertising?
bumpkin
Member
Cool, man. Looking forward to checking it out!
I shudder to think how much I've spent -- if I had a measure other than time -- on developing the engine I've been working on. I started building it in late February, and I'm currently on the third rewrite. This one's a keeper though. It has a lot of structural enhancements learned from mistakes I made in the previous two iterations. It's actually getting close to being something usable!
Yeah, makes sense. I think what I'm going to do is change the endRow calculation to simply do (rect.bottom / TILE_HEIGHT). That should work whether the sprite is resting within two tiles or if it's overlapping across three.
Exactly. Though I certainly never plan to develop any sort of full-scale physics simulation akin to Box2D, I would like to figure out the pieces related to my engine's needs. I'm a very visual person, so it's been helping me taking a step back and creating diagrams of the problems I need to solve. The edited version of one of the problem scenarios that another member posted definitely made my error clearer. Hopefully I'll get that fixed tonight!
Does anyone here have experience developing on Tablets?
I'm looking for a breakdown of what part of the screen is easy to reach, most accidently touched, hardest to reach, and so on.
Any help or articles that you've seen or saved would really help. I can't seem to find anything!
I'm looking for a breakdown of what part of the screen is easy to reach, most accidently touched, hardest to reach, and so on.
Any help or articles that you've seen or saved would really help. I can't seem to find anything!
BomberMouse
Member
Is that the Ore no Ryouri inspired one?
I found a good resource from microsoft to answer my own question. it's a good read for anyone doing tablet work.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh465415.aspx
I literally have files in my engine code dating back to 2010. ;_; I haven't rewritten everything, thankfully. But just this morning I was lying in bed thinking "Hmm...guess I need to refactor class XYZ and how non-engine code will access it", so now I need to shift it around.
BomberMouse
Member
I literally have files in my engine code dating back to 2010. ;_; I haven't rewritten everything, thankfully. But just this morning I was lying in bed thinking "Hmm...guess I need to refactor class XYZ and how non-engine code will access it", so now I need to shift it around.
That's why the motto is "Don't make engines, make games"
bumpkin
Member
Well, I mean my engine development is pretty much a self-imposed burden birthed of me wondering "can I do this myself?" There's plenty of pre-fab engines out there, many of which are free, but I wanted to work with something I knew inside and out. I've got a game idea in mind, so I'm at least not going in without an objective. That was the mistake I made in the original version.That's why the motto is "Don't make engines, make games"
I actually haven't fully rewritten everything, but in the sense of structure, I changed things around a lot from iteration to iteration. Each successive version does share passing similarities to its predecessor, but comparing version 1 to version 3, it's like night and day. The best example I can give it the size of my main.cpp. In version 1, I'm pretty sure it had 50-75 lines of code. In version 3 it's less then 10.I literally have files in my engine code dating back to 2010. ;_; I haven't rewritten everything, thankfully. But just this morning I was lying in bed thinking "Hmm...guess I need to refactor class XYZ and how non-engine code will access it", so now I need to shift it around.
Yeah, I think I started it for a game. I just use that game code as engine test code at the moment. =P If I just wanted to render sprites as quickly as possible I'd use GameMaker, but the idea is that I want each new game to be easier to make with my own code, so I'm trying to build for the future while still keeping things limited to what I need for my immediate game.That's why the motto is "Don't make engines, make games"
To put it another way, I know I very probably don't need collision detection for a strategy game, and I haven't bothered with it. But for the things I need to work really well in a strategy game (GUI system for instance), if I'm gonna do it I might as well do it right (to some extent) so I don't have to do it over as much in the future.
I DO recommend against making an engine without any game in mind, but that's not the case for me currently, fortunately.
Ok, just released my game! It's called Cook, Serve, Delicious! and it's an Ore no Ryouri-inspired hardcore cooking game.
Gameplay trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w3V8tLmG3uU
Demo/Game Page: http://www.vertigogaming.net/blog/?portfolio=cook-serve-delicious
Steam Greenlight Page: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=100875859&tscn=1349467430
Any feedback would be awesome.
Thanks! Haven't really looked into advertising. I'm going to try it out on my own first and see how it goes.
I'd love to check it out when it's ready.
Indeed it is.
Ooh, just got my first negative comment on the Greenlight page. Milestones be droppin'!
Gameplay trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w3V8tLmG3uU
Demo/Game Page: http://www.vertigogaming.net/blog/?portfolio=cook-serve-delicious
Steam Greenlight Page: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=100875859&tscn=1349467430
Any feedback would be awesome.
Thanks! Haven't really looked into advertising. I'm going to try it out on my own first and see how it goes.
I'd love to check it out when it's ready.
Indeed it is.
Ooh, just got my first negative comment on the Greenlight page. Milestones be droppin'!
Ok, just released my game! It's called Cook, Serve, Delicious! and it's an Ore no Ryouri-inspired hardcore cooking game.
Gameplay trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w3V8tLmG3uU
Demo/Game Page: http://www.vertigogaming.net/blog/?portfolio=cook-serve-delicious
Steam Greenlight Page: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=100875859&tscn=1349467430
Any feedback would be awesome.
Thanks! Haven't really looked into advertising. I'm going to try it out on my own first and see how it goes.
I'd love to check it out when it's ready.
Indeed it is.
Ooh, just got my first negative comment on the Greenlight page. Milestones be droppin'!
Has this game been develloped on Game Maker?
Good one. How did you convinced your wife that the indie move will turn out
fine? "... At the end of the day, it’s hard to go from being a major
contributor in my house to being the one who is supported, while working
on a pie-in-the-sky outlook that hopefully will pay off. ...".
"A great deal of comments at this year’s Game Developer’s Conference had many
successful developers, people who had made quite a lot of money, telling the
world to just go and make your own games because they did and you can be
successful, too. As inspiring as that is, having a person who made money while
living at home with his/her parents, who didn’t have to work and perhaps was
able to take out loans from family members to pay staff or other assorted
fees, tell that to me, ...".
For me, the phrase; "can be successful, too", is a license to failure. Either
one wants to make games or not - independent whether others were successful or
not. And secondly, each and every one has different (initial) conditions
starting into game development. Nothing can be drawn from it. In the end, the
initial conditions are not that much of importance, but the dynamics is,
which is driven by external forces we all have to rely on. Understanding the
dynamics - how things shape up, how things change - can make one successful
under very different conditions. And in the end there is no unique way.
Drawing from other people is just a waste of time, if not just for
entertainment. I think some people are just too lazy to really sit down and
code up all the things necessary. Also, they don't want to take any risk,
they fear being a looser if unsuccessful, they prefer to live on a clean cv
(for other people!), etc. But they want to be indie game developers!
c'mon
@chubigans: Congrats!
Yup, GM 8.1 to be exact. I'm going to now port it to Studio and build the Mac version by the end of the year.
Thanks missile & Stuart!
BomberMouse
Member
Awesome, greenlighted
Niiice. I really like to see serious GameMaker projects coming to fruition. This software is fantastic and CLEARLY not perceived up to its true value by people in general. And even more now with GameMaker Studio, this is getting as serious as any other engine popular engine.
Oh I greenlighted it too. (and honestly not just because you're a fellow GameMaker but because I can like that game me thinks.)
BomberMouse
Member
I haven't played the demo yet, but I greenlighted it based on my previous experience with ore no ryomi 2 back in the day. Hope it gets released!
This could be the poster child of GMS, since it's on Steam software.
This could be the poster child of GMS, since it's on Steam software.
BomberMouse
Member
EDIT: DP
JasoNsider
Member
I consider a developer "indie" rather than simply independent if they don't have anyone who spends the majority of their time on tasks not directly related to the actual development of a game. Programming, drawing, designing, creating sound, etc...
I think this matches up fairly well with what people think of colloquially when they hear "indie".
You mean someone that's dependent on an income outside game making? If so, I agree!
Once you hit good enough success that you can quit your day (or in my case night) job that's where the indie term ends, totally my opinion of course
Well, I was talking about studios because that was the question.
I wouldn't call someone dependent on an outside income indie so much as I'd call them amateur (not meant in a derogatory way).
I read lots of meanings ... "Someone who funds their games from their own pockets" , "an individual or team that isn't associated with a big publisher/player" and even "Much more about passion than money"
It always complicated because the first one would leave FEZ out, the second would allow people like Gameloft and the second one would allow people like Skip and Platinum =P
It always complicated because the first one would leave FEZ out, the second would allow people like Gameloft and the second one would allow people like Skip and Platinum =P
Teknopathetic
Member
"It always complicated because the first one would leave FEZ out, the second would allow people like Gameloft and the second one would allow people like Skip and Platinum =P"
Gameloft is a big publisher/player.
Gameloft is a big publisher/player.
When the Playstation Mobile stuff came out I downloaded it and read the tutorials, but when it came time to actually try my own hand at something I honestly had no idea where to begin.
A guy at work told me to look into XNA, as there are a lot more tutorials and things out there. I really know nothing about graphics programming at all, so I quickly went from "I want to make a game!" to "how do i draw something on screen?" It took the wind out of my sails a little. I'm really impressed at how many people are working on games, as graphical programming seems very impenetrable and intimidating.
A guy at work told me to look into XNA, as there are a lot more tutorials and things out there. I really know nothing about graphics programming at all, so I quickly went from "I want to make a game!" to "how do i draw something on screen?" It took the wind out of my sails a little. I'm really impressed at how many people are working on games, as graphical programming seems very impenetrable and intimidating.
I consider it as small publishers who don't sell their games through traditional retail channels. i.e. you wouldn't see them in a brick and mortar store.
I've been working on an appIcon for my under development iPhone game. I can't say much about the game, but I can show you the logo.
I'm paranoid it's furry. It's not meant to be.
Okay everyone, you heard him. It's now a contest to draw the most inappropriate lower half of that picture possible!I've been working on an appIcon for my under development iPhone game. I can't say much about the game, but I can show you the logo.
I'm paranoid it's furry. It's not meant to be.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
I didn't realize this thread was finished, I'm quite late. Great stuff guys.
Haha, you're afraid that's unintentionally furry? Wait until you see the concept of my next parody JRPG I'm currently writing.
(cue avatar quote in 3...)
Ugh, tonight has been sort of wasted. Most recently one of the template compile problems happened that are part of the reason I tent to hate templates.
Apparently because of some include file ordering thing in other files, a static function identifier in a different header is not found when compiling a particular template method in a header file...yet everything appears to be in order, and checking the #define value for the other header file, it appears to be included everywhere.
The error messages are super confusing, too.
*edit* Found it. My general rule is that the more forward class declarations you can use in header files rather than including other header files, the better, and thankfully there was a case where I could do that. Side note, I found a file in my engine code from 2009. I'm turning into Duke Nukem Forever. ;_;
Apparently because of some include file ordering thing in other files, a static function identifier in a different header is not found when compiling a particular template method in a header file...yet everything appears to be in order, and checking the #define value for the other header file, it appears to be included everywhere.
The error messages are super confusing, too.
*edit* Found it. My general rule is that the more forward class declarations you can use in header files rather than including other header files, the better, and thankfully there was a case where I could do that. Side note, I found a file in my engine code from 2009. I'm turning into Duke Nukem Forever. ;_;
OK seriously. After fixing my template problem, I get hit by...this Visual Studio bug?
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/...o-files-were-found-to-look-in-find-stopped-pr
How is THAT for an incredibly obscure bug. I kept trying key combinations it suggested, and finally plain Break apparently made search start working all the time for me again. Prior to that, finding in the Entire Solution would either not return any results, or only return results occasionally.
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/...o-files-were-found-to-look-in-find-stopped-pr
How is THAT for an incredibly obscure bug. I kept trying key combinations it suggested, and finally plain Break apparently made search start working all the time for me again. Prior to that, finding in the Entire Solution would either not return any results, or only return results occasionally.
I have a question about ideas and similarities in games...
What would you do if you discover that an existing game is quite similar to yours?
I mean, let me tell you my little story. It's been a couple of days I am thinking about this all. Earlier this week I tried "La Mulana" for the first time. I wasn't aware of La Mulana before creating my game and while I knew LaMulana is a metroidvania style plafformer with some Indiana Jones looking hero since some time, that was about everything I knew about that game.
Anyhow, I wanted to that game so I did. Now I discovered it's mostly held in a temple (just like my game), there's no useful map and it's pretty hardcore (just like my game), there are plates (rosetta stones) to read everywhere (just like in my game). This is all stuff I discovered while I already both games were Metroidvanias.
What makes me uneasy now is that I am sure to get comparison with LaMulana when my game will come out. My game will also clearly be less original (at least for LaMulana fans) and since I am an indy nowhere dude, most people that will play my game will probably know about LaMulana. lol Long story short, I will be held for being a rip off and this irks me. It almost discouraging. I however don't want to abandon my game or "redo" my whole design.
What would you guys do in such a situation? Extreme "redo the game" move? Focus on what is different between the game? Maybe simply not giving a shit and stay confident your game will be good and interesting?
tks for your opinions,
What would you do if you discover that an existing game is quite similar to yours?
I mean, let me tell you my little story. It's been a couple of days I am thinking about this all. Earlier this week I tried "La Mulana" for the first time. I wasn't aware of La Mulana before creating my game and while I knew LaMulana is a metroidvania style plafformer with some Indiana Jones looking hero since some time, that was about everything I knew about that game.
Anyhow, I wanted to that game so I did. Now I discovered it's mostly held in a temple (just like my game), there's no useful map and it's pretty hardcore (just like my game), there are plates (rosetta stones) to read everywhere (just like in my game). This is all stuff I discovered while I already both games were Metroidvanias.
What makes me uneasy now is that I am sure to get comparison with LaMulana when my game will come out. My game will also clearly be less original (at least for LaMulana fans) and since I am an indy nowhere dude, most people that will play my game will probably know about LaMulana. lol Long story short, I will be held for being a rip off and this irks me. It almost discouraging. I however don't want to abandon my game or "redo" my whole design.
What would you guys do in such a situation? Extreme "redo the game" move? Focus on what is different between the game? Maybe simply not giving a shit and stay confident your game will be good and interesting?
tks for your opinions,
The good side: This might happen, Notch might be the other person with 0x10c, you might say you thought of your 0x10c-like-game before he did, and he might be cool and say oh hey, I'll post on Twitter to get some extra attention to your game from my 5 billion followers. You end up with a similar game but more attention! (this happened to someone)
The bad side: This might happen, and per a recent judicial decision and some opinions discussed in a thread (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=42873921), the fact that gameplay elements and themes are similar might be enough to put you in copyright infringement or something.
If someone understands the ruling (linked in that thread) better, let me know, but I really hope that lawsuits about similar gameplay elements do not become more common especially since that could be a nightmare for anyone trying to design games on their own (having to worry about whether there are any games with "similar enough" gameplay that you might get sued).
AcceptableGhost
Member
Every single person who has ever made a game has played a game and gotten a little uneasy with how similar it is to their own. Unless your art style and gameplay is literally identical no one will care.
Indiana Jones style characters in games is old hat anyway.
More like most people who make a game purposely pattern it on an existing game.
KodeAndGame
Member
There are tools in the OP that require no programming to render. Something like construct technically requires no programming (it still helps to have a programmers brain). Try some of those out
I just finished a track for my game. What do you guys think?
http://soundcloud.com/studioultimeight/for-the-clan
http://soundcloud.com/studioultimeight/for-the-clan
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