Legato.Reborn-
Member
What is Sethos doing in he.. oh god your avatar keeps confusing me lol
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Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor
- Thread starter chubigans
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What is Sethos doing in he.. oh god your avatar keeps confusing me lol
Heart of Black
Member
I keep wanting to post some sort of screen shot, but I'm super protective of showing unfinished stuff.
Hell the HUD I have is changing wildly in a few days.
I've been spending the day working on writing/tutorial stuff while the coder is building out the map that we're using.
Coming out of AAA is weird, because I have the urge to share with everyone, but the urge to be uber protective at the same time.
Hell the HUD I have is changing wildly in a few days.
I've been spending the day working on writing/tutorial stuff while the coder is building out the map that we're using.
Coming out of AAA is weird, because I have the urge to share with everyone, but the urge to be uber protective at the same time.
Mystic River
Member
I'll do a programming screenshot saturday, because I haven't made any art yet. I've just been testing out making a laser that will lock on to enemies
that looks nice, what are you using to create the laser? is it a 3d mesh? wondering because I was thinking to add some kind of rope style beam like that to my game too, for the tractor beam to retrieve objects in space.
RelentlessRolento
Member
What are you guys using to make the GIFs of your games? I'm working on something right now and may be looking for some input
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
I made the laser line with vectrosity for unity. But it is just a mesh I gather.
Mystic River
Member
ah I see, I just checked it and looks interesting, maybe I will replicate that if I have the time, but looks like is a nice plugin.
Mental Atrophy
Banned
I don't know if people are interested in the tools side of development, but the Tiled Map Editor has become pretty commonplace with indies and hobbyists. Its feature set is rich enough that I can do most of the level scripting within the map editor, from placing enemy spawn points to collision metadata to configuring viewport boundaries and offsets.
The screenshot for this saturday is our elevator for the Hotel Lisbon.
It is always cool to have a different perspective on your game and get close and personal, on our early tests people always react very good to changing the side perspective for something like this. It also feels like there lot's of freedom since you can go to any floor and knock on every door.
It is always cool to have a different perspective on your game and get close and personal, on our early tests people always react very good to changing the side perspective for something like this. It also feels like there lot's of freedom since you can go to any floor and knock on every door.
I just started watching the video with you commentary and the game looks fantastic! The whole artstyle is brilliant.
If you don't mind me asking, do you plan to add animations to the characters/objects on screen?
Re. Ghost Song: I know there's only so much you guys can offer without knowing intimately the design and mechanics of the game, but given that you know it's generally a Metroid-like, what sort of special abilities (particularly ones with actual utility; not just a weapon) would you like to see? I'm looking to make some new additions to the lineup, and it's particularly challenging coming up with solid ideas that are not contrived or completely played out. I'd be interested in suggestions.
I'm currently sort of running thought experiments on a move that involves some kind of force push and/or force pull. Some kind of cool way to push enemies around, reveal weakpoints, manipulate the environment. It's still a bit fluid.
If you want a mini-update, for the last few days I've been working on the player sprite. Getting the player art right and getting it done is one of the biggest individual tasks for me. At first I was trying to scrap it and start with a much cleaner looking cel shaded style, but after a few days of this and some early spritework it didn't seem to match up well with the game, and in particular, without all the color variation and detail, the player art doesn't interact with the overlays and lighting as well. The more "painted" style surfaces of the original spritework really grabbed the overlay and lighting and made everything come alive.
So now I'm looking at instead focusing on my original method, approaching it in a similar way but going bigger and better. I accomplish this by a merging of traditional animation techniques and more tricksy "manipulation" style animation, where I'll take pieces of the body and manipulate them frame by frame to help get the desired movement. The end result is that it looks like a moving 2D painting. I have no idea how Vanillaware does things, but by playing their games I get the idea that there are some parallels between their 2D art process and mine. E.g., a combination of traditional animation and manipulation.
One other note -- I'm almost certainly going to have "side consistency" -- in other words, the cannon hand is always going to be on the left hand, whether you're facing left or right. I didn't do this in the flash game, but now it seems logical, and after some early testing with a couple of poses, I think the allure of it is too great to ignore at this point. Something like this not only do I find gratifying purely on its own merits, but I think when people see this they might respect the game more for taking itself that much more seriously. It's just one of those things.
I'm currently sort of running thought experiments on a move that involves some kind of force push and/or force pull. Some kind of cool way to push enemies around, reveal weakpoints, manipulate the environment. It's still a bit fluid.
If you want a mini-update, for the last few days I've been working on the player sprite. Getting the player art right and getting it done is one of the biggest individual tasks for me. At first I was trying to scrap it and start with a much cleaner looking cel shaded style, but after a few days of this and some early spritework it didn't seem to match up well with the game, and in particular, without all the color variation and detail, the player art doesn't interact with the overlays and lighting as well. The more "painted" style surfaces of the original spritework really grabbed the overlay and lighting and made everything come alive.
So now I'm looking at instead focusing on my original method, approaching it in a similar way but going bigger and better. I accomplish this by a merging of traditional animation techniques and more tricksy "manipulation" style animation, where I'll take pieces of the body and manipulate them frame by frame to help get the desired movement. The end result is that it looks like a moving 2D painting. I have no idea how Vanillaware does things, but by playing their games I get the idea that there are some parallels between their 2D art process and mine. E.g., a combination of traditional animation and manipulation.
One other note -- I'm almost certainly going to have "side consistency" -- in other words, the cannon hand is always going to be on the left hand, whether you're facing left or right. I didn't do this in the flash game, but now it seems logical, and after some early testing with a couple of poses, I think the allure of it is too great to ignore at this point. Something like this not only do I find gratifying purely on its own merits, but I think when people see this they might respect the game more for taking itself that much more seriously. It's just one of those things.
I'm going to try working in 640x360 for a while and see how I like it. Thanks!
The screenshot for this saturday is our elevator for the Hotel Lisbon.
It is always cool to have a different perspective on your game and get close and personal, on our early tests people always react very good to changing the side perspective for something like this. It also feels like there lot's of freedom since you can go to any floor and knock on every door.
Nice!
bumpkin
Member
Thanks for the insights and candid anecdotes, guys. As much as I love doodling on paper with a pencil, it just seems to me like I'd be creating more work for myself going that route. I ended up tracking down a Wacom Bamboo Splash drawing tablet at Best Buy (on sale for $64.99, FYI). Spent a little time installing it and the software it came with this morning, farted around a bit in one of the programs (ArtRage Studio).
If I can say anything, tablet tech has come a long-ass way since I last touched one. My prior experience with one was literally 13 or 14 years ago, and the one I tried back then definitely didn't sense the pen and thus move a cursor on-screen when not drawing. There's going to be a period of adjustment using it, mostly me shaking the dust off of my drawing skills. I was never an amazing artist, but I was pretty decent once upon a time; once upon a time being almost 20 years ago.
Not to get all sappy, but my grandmother was pretty much the biggest mentor and nurturer as far as my art went, though her medium of choice was oil painting. When she passed away, I guess you could say so did my interest in drawing.
Hi guys, am still alive an kicking. I've put myself under wraps for the time
being since am currently deep into studying fluid dynamics and aerodynamics
esp. the theory of wing sections and their stalling characteristics, which
will play a significant role for my game Superstall. Unfortunately, I haven't
any feats to show despite I have made some pretty awesome theoretical
improvements with respect to a wing's center of pressure. Secondly, I've
started work on a 3d fluid solver. Basically, for the time being, am just
tinkering around with some conservation laws of Nature in deriving the 3d
Navier-Stokes equation from scratch before considering some approximation
schemes and numerical solution techniques. The fluid solver should compute
a wind field making flying the aircrafts of Superstall, well, very exciting!
trying to get sort of a grant over here from the Austrian government for a
video game I'm making. A good business plan is vital. Haven't started with it
yet, since am developing the technology behind and the prototype -- being
priority #1, since otherwise there is nothing to talk about.
being since am currently deep into studying fluid dynamics and aerodynamics
esp. the theory of wing sections and their stalling characteristics, which
will play a significant role for my game Superstall. Unfortunately, I haven't
any feats to show despite I have made some pretty awesome theoretical
improvements with respect to a wing's center of pressure. Secondly, I've
started work on a 3d fluid solver. Basically, for the time being, am just
tinkering around with some conservation laws of Nature in deriving the 3d
Navier-Stokes equation from scratch before considering some approximation
schemes and numerical solution techniques. The fluid solver should compute
a wind field making flying the aircrafts of Superstall, well, very exciting!
Sounds right to me! :+ Can you write a business plan for video games? Am
trying to get sort of a grant over here from the Austrian government for a
video game I'm making. A good business plan is vital. Haven't started with it
yet, since am developing the technology behind and the prototype -- being
priority #1, since otherwise there is nothing to talk about.
My ridiculously old laptop worked fine, and my newer one handled it as well. It all depends on the graphics you want to use in your games, but the editor doesn't take that much processing power to run on its own.
By the way, does anyone know if there's a way to change a material's properties through scripting without it becoming a separate instance of its original one in Unity? Whenever I change any values through a script, Unity ends up duplicating the material for each object that uses the script, therefore splitting what could be a single draw call into N calls (one per object!), even when all the scripts are basically doing the exact same thing. I've been thinking about using a static material and have all instances of an object reference it, but I'm not sure if that'd work, and even if it did, it'd probably be too clunky.
What kind of powers do you currently have, or would that be burgeoning into spoiler territory?
One of the "weapons" I see so rarely in this type of game is one that constructs platforms, like the foam gun in Shadow Complex or the glue shot in Mega Man Unlimited. Besides being an aid to mobility, you can use it to gunk up and disable machinery, freeze or kill foes, et cetera. A couple years ago, I actually prototyped a game where this was your only weapon, and there were all sorts of puzzles you could make around it. Certain fields prohibited formation, gaps had to be crossed in creative ways, and the like.
Another lesser used skill is the short-distance teleport. Maybe this wouldn't gel with the dashing you already have, or maybe it could serve as an upgrade at times, I don't know. Does it stun enemies on impact? Does it stun the player when coming out of the move? Do you have to be careful to not phase into collision geometry? Could it leave a staticky, damaging trail in the median?
What about a body-swapping teleportal? That is, fire at a minion of similar size and swap positions with it. Its effective range would need to be limited, but this opens up the possibility for traversal by e.g. swapping with an enemy that was in a place you couldn't get to prior. You would have to be careful, though, that the passage was able to be taken again in case of mistakes. Another fun usage of such a tool would be to jump into a precarious location, such as over a lava pit, and then swap with a safely-positioned enemy while midair, thus treating that enemy to a hot hot demise.
You're absolutely right about vanillaware, they use a blend of 2d skeletal and flipbook animation*, and it's amazing what they're able to do with it. Their technique is really advanced and as far as I know somewhat underappreciated for just how technically impressive it is (people appreciate its beauty, but its also kind of technically mind blowing). The only games I know of which might be around the same level are the recent ubiart framework games.
I'll think about the special moves... Metroidvanias aren't my most familiar genre.
By the way Jobbs, congrats on your kickstarter, I'm looking forward to playing a game filled with your awesome art. Make us Ohioans proud
(I'm in Northern Cali now, but grew up in Springfield.)*this is what I call "moving stuff around aimation" and "drawing each frame" animation, seems like lots of people have different names for the two different techniques.
Yeah, the Rayman and other UbiArt games do the same thing as is done in Dragon's Crown. It blends the best of paper doll and traditional animation. Double Fine's upcoming Broken Age is doing something sort of similar, but is actually putting the 2D art on a 3D model rather than a 2D one (paper doll). Come to think of it, Vanillaware may have done the same thing.
For the game I'm making, the approach is fairly similar. I normally work with traditional animation, but I have 100+ animations for the player and procedurally generated armor sets (with about 100 permutations), so traditional was out of the question. The trick, then, was making that kind of animation still look decent.
For the game I'm making, the approach is fairly similar. I normally work with traditional animation, but I have 100+ animations for the player and procedurally generated armor sets (with about 100 permutations), so traditional was out of the question. The trick, then, was making that kind of animation still look decent.
Hey guys! Quick question for y'all.
Basically, the only thing getting in the way of me working on my game is money. I work a full-time job, so working on a side project is tough. After working 8 hours every day, I just want to relax for a bit, y'know? I've made games before (went to school for it), so I know I can do it, I just can't support myself for a year+ without a full-time job to pay the bills.
Do any of you guys have any tips? For either motivating yourself to work on a side project while having a full-time job (when do you work on it? For how long?), or for getting funding so that you can go full-time indie.
Basically, the only thing getting in the way of me working on my game is money. I work a full-time job, so working on a side project is tough. After working 8 hours every day, I just want to relax for a bit, y'know? I've made games before (went to school for it), so I know I can do it, I just can't support myself for a year+ without a full-time job to pay the bills.
Do any of you guys have any tips? For either motivating yourself to work on a side project while having a full-time job (when do you work on it? For how long?), or for getting funding so that you can go full-time indie.
Mana Fan Game WIP
If you have time check the DEMO [12.0 MB WIN]. Is the game running slow for you?
Disclaimer: Save often.
If you have time check the DEMO [12.0 MB WIN]. Is the game running slow for you?
Disclaimer: Save often.
BurritoBushido
Member
Yeah, I'm more or less in the same boat. I tried full time for a while but it was actually hard for me to stay totally motivated. The constant worry of money plus lack of structure in my life made it really difficult. Now I'm working full-time and I find myself working on solo projects even more now. It is murderous on your free time though, but I really enjoy it anyway. It kind of bums me out sometimes though when people try to talk to me stuff and I feel kind of annoyed because it's pulling me away from my work. Only so many hours in the day :/
I wrote a 100+ page business plan last year in 5 months with the help of some classmates. It was a semester long project that had us invent a product that's not on the market and go through the entire business process up until bringing the product to market. Here's a link to the entire thing. http://www.scribd.com/doc/144445314/Stable-Baby-Integrated-Business-Plan-Text
The thing about a business plan is that it takes a tremendous amount of research. However, what you normally present is a 1 page double-sided piece of paper that summarizes everything an investor would want to know. Nobody is going to read a 100+ paper... In order to help, I would need to either do this research with/for you, or you would already need to have it done. Also, what type of funding are you looking for? A ton of work normally goes into this, which I'm happy to do, but I need to get the scoop of what your project is and such.
good suggestions, I'm looking at the glue gun stuff but I'm a little concerned about the implications this could have for the map design as a whole. it feels like it'd be more central to the game.
You're absolutely right about vanillaware, they use a blend of 2d skeletal and flipbook animation*, and it's amazing what they're able to do with it. Their technique is really advanced and as far as I know somewhat underappreciated for just how technically impressive it is (people appreciate its beauty, but its also kind of technically mind blowing). The only games I know of which might be around the same level are the recent ubiart framework games.
I'll think about the special moves... Metroidvanias aren't my most familiar genre.
By the way Jobbs, congrats on your kickstarter, I'm looking forward to playing a game filled with your awesome art. Make us Ohioans proud
*this is what I call "moving stuff around aimation" and "drawing each frame" animation, seems like lots of people have different names for the two different techniques.
I'm sure Vanillaware's techniques and technology are far beyond anything I do. What I do is all in photoshop, I'll figure out the poses and movements by traditional means and/or manipulating body segments, and then retouch over them to make it all look good. Sometimes I'll rough out an animation idea and then build up the detailed body parts piece by piece like I'm building up a structure. So, I imagine it's the same basic idea at play as what VW does, but much less sophisticated.
This is my old run animation from the old game.. It's a bit lower res because I only ever expected the character to be rather small on screen. As such it's a little messy looking because the small size hid any warts.
What I'm working on doing now is fixing up the pose and proportions a bit (not quite happy with them), longer, better looking cloth, blowing it up to a higher res and retouching it, and generally rebuilding the same animations but doing it better and adding new ones as well, such as connective transition animations. Also, the aforementioned "left-right consistency" (as opposed to flipping the sprite left and right).
The original animations, as seen above, while they took a lot of effort, were always done with a certain "well, I'll let that slide" type of laziness because it was "just" a flash game. The approach is a bit more thorough now. It's a big job, and it'll take me a while, but I think the end result will be worth it. A good visually compelling main character is essential to this type of game especially if you want to stand out.
Thanks for the input regarding unity and laptops guys. I'll definitely hook up to a monitor at home. Sounds like I might do ok with the typical integrated graphics.
Now to see if I can actually play other people's indie games on it. I was thinking of installing windows and boot camping the MacBook, but I have a feeling that it's too old (2.0 c2d with 9400m). I'll try the indie games thread to see.
Now to see if I can actually play other people's indie games on it. I was thinking of installing windows and boot camping the MacBook, but I have a feeling that it's too old (2.0 c2d with 9400m). I'll try the indie games thread to see.
Heart of Black
Member
I used to work sometimes 12 hour + days, married with a kid.. and would come home and work nights and weekends on the game. It's rough, but if it's what you want to do...
I'm lucky to have some funding right now, and I ended up with 3 months pay + 6 months of funded self employment assistance(which was really just unemployment for people starting a business).
I don't have a whole lot of money though, and my wife is pulling in most of the dough.
It's fucking hard.
This is brilliant, truly impressive. I love how both the character and the animation look clean but solid at the same time. Really 'satisfying' for the eye.I'm sure Vanillaware's techniques and technology are far beyond anything I do. What I do is all in photoshop, I'll figure out the poses and movements by traditional means and/or manipulating body segments, and then retouch over them to make it all look good. Sometimes I'll rough out an animation idea and then build up the detailed body parts piece by piece like I'm building up a structure. So, I imagine it's the same basic idea at play as what VW does, but much less sophisticated.
This is my old run animation from the old game.. It's a bit lower res because I only ever expected the character to be rather small on screen. As such it's a little messy looking because the small size hid any warts.
I'm planning to do the same thing with my game, even if the whole process seems a proper time consuming task (I mean, even the idle animation I tried to put together - which looks embarrassingly jerky compared to your result - took me some serious time in order to be done in PS-only).
If I can ask, do you have any tip/suggestion in order to optimise time and resources? I'd love to see how you work on the single frames from start to finish.
That said, congratulations again, excellent job.
Depending on how is your life is organized you might be able to work at night or weekends. If you are married with kids then probably forget about it, you need stable working hours free of distractions. If you live alone or with your girlfriend/boyfriend then it might work.
As some gaffers have already said, the best is realy to take a gamble and try to get 3 to 6 months of work just to do your game. Get some funding, either at the bank or somewhere else. Or, if you can do it, get an unpaid license from work to go away for 6 months and come back later (some coutries or companies you can do this).
The best is always to do this with at least another person. A 2 people team is great because you can discuss problems, share ideas and motivate each other to reach the goal. Alone also works but it depends on your personality.
Good luck.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Just broke 8k lines of code. Only 2k more to 10.
My head is throbbing. Going to bed.
I've come to the conclusion that all game devs are insane.
My head is throbbing. Going to bed.
I've come to the conclusion that all game devs are insane.
bumpkin
Member
Ah, but is that 8k including comments and whitespace?
I'm wondering if any fellow Gaffer's might be able to offer some advice (I'd be really grateful).
Kind of out of the blue, it looks like I may have snagged a publisher (or at least a financial backer) for my game.
Over the weekend, they sent over a draft publisher, developer contract agreement for me and my brother to look at (this would be our first game).
One of the points that stood out was a part which basically said that if we failed to deliver the game, we'd have to pay back all the advance money we had received up to that point.
a - is that normal?
b - does anyone know of any free council that's available to indie devs? I've scoured the IGDA website, and while generally helpful, it hasn't been in this instance.
Kind of out of the blue, it looks like I may have snagged a publisher (or at least a financial backer) for my game.
Over the weekend, they sent over a draft publisher, developer contract agreement for me and my brother to look at (this would be our first game).
One of the points that stood out was a part which basically said that if we failed to deliver the game, we'd have to pay back all the advance money we had received up to that point.
a - is that normal?
b - does anyone know of any free council that's available to indie devs? I've scoured the IGDA website, and while generally helpful, it hasn't been in this instance.
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
I think that would be normal of any contract where you are given money in advance for something
Felsparrow
Neo Member
Another question, anyone know of a good 3D JRPG-like kit for Unity that's meant to produce games similar to FF7-10 and other modern games of the type? Some framework for a turn based battle system would also be nice.
I'm a writer and artist, and as the script and design doc first drafts near finish, I wanted to get started on prototyping gameplay, or at least throwing everything into a basic level before I start shopping this to friends for help. I have enough coding skill to modify, but not quite enough to create an entire game back end.
The problem isn't searching for these, the problem is sifting through all of them to find a good one worth spending money on.
I'm a writer and artist, and as the script and design doc first drafts near finish, I wanted to get started on prototyping gameplay, or at least throwing everything into a basic level before I start shopping this to friends for help. I have enough coding skill to modify, but not quite enough to create an entire game back end.
The problem isn't searching for these, the problem is sifting through all of them to find a good one worth spending money on.
That is normal in contracts, but make sure that it specifically states that it is only if you don't deliver the game. If for some reason it is delayed, your fault or theirs, it must state that you are given x amount of time to deliver or some kind of addendum with the new schedule can be attached to the original contract. Imagine that they get you delayed on some decision like the color of the logo or some strange thing like that. You need to be covered that the game was delayed by them, not you, and in that case you don't have to pay them back.
Also, search Gamasutra.
bumpkin
Member
Hmm, does anyone here have any experience with Box2D? After realizing that the last time I tried to roll my own physics, I was likely wasting a lot of cycles (aka time), I spent some time getting Box2D included and compiling into my engine. For the most part, it's working. The game starts and the sprites on-screen succumb to gravity and fall. The problem I'm encountering is the ground I defined -- following a tutorial I found online -- doesn't seem to be positioned right. Both of the sprites fall just far enough that they're mostly off-screen. All I see is the top of them.
If I had to venture a guess, I suspect maybe it has to do with the position of Box2D's bodyDef components versus the positioning of sprites in my engine. All of my rendering is treating the top left corner of the window as 0,0 and the bottom right as 640,480. The sprites themselves use the top left corner for placement.
Since I know code is infinitely more useful than words, this is the code for the creation of my Box2D "World".
This is when a sprite is added to the World.
And this is the code that runs in the Step() function of my game loop.
Does anything jump out as being wrong? I was toiling over it for a few hours last night and couldn't come up with a fix.
If I had to venture a guess, I suspect maybe it has to do with the position of Box2D's bodyDef components versus the positioning of sprites in my engine. All of my rendering is treating the top left corner of the window as 0,0 and the bottom right as 640,480. The sprites themselves use the top left corner for placement.
Since I know code is infinitely more useful than words, this is the code for the creation of my Box2D "World".
Code:
// This is defined elsewhere (in another header file)
const GLuint BOX2D_PTM_RATIO = 32;
// Define the gravity vector
b2Vec2 b2Gravity;
b2Gravity.Set(0.0f, 10.0f);
// Let bodies sleep, speeds up Box2D's simulation
bool b2Sleep = true;
// Construct the "game world" (aka Box2D's little bubble), this will contain all of the physics-affected objects
pWorld = new b2World(b2Gravity, b2Sleep);
// Toggle CCD (constant collision detection) on to help avoid tunneling
pWorld->SetContinuousPhysics(true);
// Define the ground "body"
b2BodyDef groundBodyDef;
groundBodyDef.position.Set(0, SCREEN_HEIGHT/BOX2D_PTM_RATIO);
// Call the body factory which allocates memory for the ground body
// from a pool and creates the ground box shape (also from a pool).
// The body is also added to the world.
b2Body *groundBody = pWorld->CreateBody(&groundBodyDef);
// Define the ground box shape
b2PolygonShape groundBox;
// Bottom
groundBox.SetAsEdge(b2Vec2(0,SCREEN_HEIGHT/BOX2D_PTM_RATIO), b2Vec2(SCREEN_WIDTH/BOX2D_PTM_RATIO, SCREEN_HEIGHT/BOX2D_PTM_RATIO));
groundBody->CreateFixture(&groundBox, 0);
// Top
groundBox.SetAsEdge(b2Vec2(0,0), b2Vec2(SCREEN_WIDTH/BOX2D_PTM_RATIO, 0));
groundBody->CreateFixture(&groundBox, 0);
// Left
groundBox.SetAsEdge(b2Vec2(0,0), b2Vec2(0,SCREEN_HEIGHT/BOX2D_PTM_RATIO));
groundBody->CreateFixture(&groundBox, 0);
// Right
groundBox.SetAsEdge(b2Vec2(SCREEN_WIDTH/BOX2D_PTM_RATIO, 0), b2Vec2(SCREEN_WIDTH/BOX2D_PTM_RATIO, SCREEN_HEIGHT/BOX2D_PTM_RATIO));
groundBody->CreateFixture(&groundBox, 0);This is when a sprite is added to the World.
Code:
// Define a new dynamic body
b2BodyDef bodyDef;
// Set its type explicitly
bodyDef.type = b2_dynamicBody;
// Calculate the starting position of the GameObject (based on Pixel-To-Meter ratio)
GLfloat startX = (position->GetCoords().x) / BOX2D_PTM_RATIO;
GLfloat startY = (position->GetCoords().y) / BOX2D_PTM_RATIO;
// Attach the Box2DComponent to the dynamic body
bodyDef.position.Set(startX, startY);
bodyDef.userData = position;
// Add to Box2D's world
b2Body *body = pWorld->CreateBody(&bodyDef);
// Define another box shape for our dynamic body.
b2PolygonShape dynamicBox;
dynamicBox.SetAsBox(0.5f, 0.5f);//These are mid points for our 1m box
// Define the dynamic body fixture.
b2FixtureDef fixtureDef;
fixtureDef.shape = &dynamicBox;
fixtureDef.density = 1.0f;
fixtureDef.friction = 0.3f;
body->CreateFixture(&fixtureDef);And this is the code that runs in the Step() function of my game loop.
Code:
pWorld->Step(dt, 8, 1);
for (b2Body *b=pWorld->GetBodyList(); b; b=b->GetNext())
{
if (b->GetUserData() != NULL)
{
PositionComponent *position = (PositionComponent *)b->GetUserData();
position->SetCoords(b->GetPosition().x * BOX2D_PTM_RATIO, b->GetPosition().y * BOX2D_PTM_RATIO, position->GetCoords().z);
}
}Does anything jump out as being wrong? I was toiling over it for a few hours last night and couldn't come up with a fix.
Thanks guys, I really do appreciate the feedback. Headed straight to Gamasutra.
Anyone here willing to do some playtesting for my game, Malebolgia? I have a demo, that should take about an hour to finish, that I want people to try out and give feedback on.
Shoot me a PM or reply here if you're interested.
And here's the Greenlight page with info on the game: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=157945114 (don't have a proper stand-alone site yet)
Shoot me a PM or reply here if you're interested.
And here's the Greenlight page with info on the game: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=157945114 (don't have a proper stand-alone site yet)
Do you need specific strange hardware combos?
A PC from the last 5 years should do. 360 controller is an option, if you want to try that out.
Piercedveil
Member
Is there a good way to make a 2D game in Unity without buying any packages from the store? I just want something to work on in my free time. Also, I am not an artist whatsoever. Should I just use my own "programmer art" unless the game actually ends up being something worth showing to others?
I'm open to other suggestions for an engine if Unity is no good for my situation. I just want something easy to use since I don't have a ton of free time to learn more complicated things at the moment. Thanks!
I'm open to other suggestions for an engine if Unity is no good for my situation. I just want something easy to use since I don't have a ton of free time to learn more complicated things at the moment. Thanks!
SlipperySlope
Banned
Out of the box Unity is a little tricky if you want to do a tile-based game. Box2D is an option, but it's apparently being included in Unity in the next release anyway.
2D Toolkit is a really good plug-in in Unity though. It's not free however, $65. But from what I understand, it's better than what will come in vanilla Unity in the next version (Unity is moving some important 2D stuff to the Pro version).
2D gameplay can be done without too many hiccups, but 2D graphics are considerably more problematic. If you wanted, you could try using planes with colliders attached (just don't ask for pixel-perfect collisions) and an orthographic camera, but that tends to have its own set of issues.
If you're going with 2D and 2D alone, then I guess something like GameMaker would be a better option, since Unity's kind of complicated to get into due to how its component system works, while GM is a lot more straightforward and even allows Drag&Drop commands to ease you into programming stuff rather than having to start coding right from the start.
Hey Indie-GAF. This has undoubtedly been asked before so apologies in advance...
Are there any particularly good communities for finding teams to work on projects? I'm a (game and level) designer/hobbyist 2D artist with 2 years professional console/PC experience who was made redundant several months back. I've tried looking on sites such as EpicGames and ModDB but the recurring themes appear to be collapsing teams with no motivation or grandiose ambitions that are unrealistic for such a small number of people.
I've looked into creating solo works with programs such as Stencyl but don't have the programming knowledge to produce mechanically unique ideas. I'm not looking for a paid gig (assuming the project is not for profit), just something worthwhile to contribute to so that I can scratch that itch and add to my portfolio, while also improving my skills. Essentially, what's the best way to go about finding like-minded/enthusiastic/talented individuals to team up with?
Depending on the genre/scope of your project and style you're looking for I could possibly help out. PM me if you're interested.
Are there any particularly good communities for finding teams to work on projects? I'm a (game and level) designer/hobbyist 2D artist with 2 years professional console/PC experience who was made redundant several months back. I've tried looking on sites such as EpicGames and ModDB but the recurring themes appear to be collapsing teams with no motivation or grandiose ambitions that are unrealistic for such a small number of people.
I've looked into creating solo works with programs such as Stencyl but don't have the programming knowledge to produce mechanically unique ideas. I'm not looking for a paid gig (assuming the project is not for profit), just something worthwhile to contribute to so that I can scratch that itch and add to my portfolio, while also improving my skills. Essentially, what's the best way to go about finding like-minded/enthusiastic/talented individuals to team up with?
Depending on the genre/scope of your project and style you're looking for I could possibly help out. PM me if you're interested.
Piercedveil
Member
Thanks a lot for the responses. I may look into game maker instead, but I'm also interested in the 2D toolkit for Unity, although it costs some money. I'll check both out!
Well, I don't have a significant other, so I may be in a better position for this than some. Guess I should take advantage of it and quit complaining that it's hard!
If he has programming knowledge Unity would be better. Just set the camera to ortho, some 2d controls and collision(he can use the physics engine that comes with unity) and he's good to go in regards to prototyping.
tigsource.com is a good place to start. You can even put an art portfolio up on the site or just link to it.
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