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[fengshuifever]

Personally I found that a combination of Codecademy (Javascript track) and Unity Tutorials can be pretty effective. Of course the best way would be to have one or more developer friends who can help you after you spent four hours in a row trying to fix some script that refuses to work. But the basis can be learnt relatively easily.

EDIT: I found it quite easy to learn Javascript first via Codecademy and then switch to C#. But my business partner is a C# developer by trade, so it was easier for me. I don't know if, as a beginner, is better to start directly with C#.

I don't have any developer friends unfortunately.
Awesome, thanks though! I was up till all hours on Codecademy last night, the way the learning modules are set up makes things very very easy to pick up.
I've been on Unity Tutorials a bit, but it's almost a "too much, too fast" type of situation.
It's not that I don't get programmer logic, it's more of a "what does what and how can I use it and where".

Appreciate the recommendation!

 

[RelentlessRolento]

I'm loving the art style. Looking forward to see the finished game.

Thanks, the motivation helps

I'm not the best programmer, so expect some basic stuff. It'll probably look better than it will play

The plan so far is a micro game style.

 

[Feep]

Hey guys, having a HUGE problem in Unity.

Apparently...and this is not documented anywhere...Unity does not allow for two NavMeshAgents to be on the same OffMeshLink at the same time. This is really, really stupid...I have a line of troops jumping over cover walls all the time in my game, and as it is now, one soldier can't start the jump until the one before him lands and continues on. This looks extremely dumb. = (

I've boiled it down to a very simple scene, which you can download here. (I think you need Unity Pro to *generate* off mesh links, but I don't think you need it if they've already been generated?) If anyone wouldn't mind taking a look, I'd be extremely grateful.

I thought I could just place two separate OML's in the same place, but the units always want to route to the same one, and I'm not sure how to change that. Any clever ideas are appreciated. <3

 

[Raonak]

after some graduate school critiques, work on my game is moving forward... just started on the next character... this is only the head so far for when the main hero shows up in the game over screen. It's a priest bear named Jesus Santos Bear. He is basically going to be dressed similar to the Pope.



Colors are not final and I still have to draw out the body.

that looks really nice!

 

[Turfster]

I've boiled it down to a very simple scene, which you can download here. (I think you need Unity Pro to *generate* off mesh links, but I don't think you need it if they've already been generated?) If anyone wouldn't mind taking a look, I'd be extremely grateful.

Nothing doing on Unity Free, sorry. No Off Mesh Links for us peasants.

 

[Jobbs]

I've been working on the main character art for a while now. First I tried one thing for a couple days, got mad, went back tot he drawing board, tried something else -- rinse repeat.

Now I'm working on keeping it more similar to the original design, but improving on it and making it suitable for high res.

I've adjusted the proportions to make the character a bit thinner and more pleasing to look at, and redid it for higher res. I'm rebuilding the animations basically from scratch. Here we see I've got a longer cloak than before because I decided that looked cooler. The character in the gif represents the approximate character size on the screen.

*this is work in progress, still needs more touch up work, and I have to redo that cannon hand*

If you think this looks the same, just check the old version again here http://www.ghostsonggame.com/miscd/runfinale.gif from the original game and note how much stubbier it looks as well as a lot of other minor details that are different.

It's challenging getting the clothed portion to move well while maintaining its painted appearance, what I'm doing is basically the same as before -- taking painted still segments and animating them with the warp tool.

As usual, I work in dull colors, and will do the final colors and contrast as a step after this. (I make a sprite sheet, then apply various adjustments and effects to the entire sheet at once). In addition, there'll be blending effects in the game engine that will further enhance the sprite's appearance.

P.S. it bears mentioning that I'll be doing left-right consistency this time, so the left hand will always be the cannon no matter what way you're facing.

 

[charsace]

Hey guys, having a HUGE problem in Unity.

Apparently...and this is not documented anywhere...Unity does not allow for two NavMeshAgents to be on the same OffMeshLink at the same time. This is really, really stupid...I have a line of troops jumping over cover walls all the time in my game, and as it is now, one soldier can't start the jump until the one before him lands and continues on. This looks extremely dumb. = (

I've boiled it down to a very simple scene, which you can download here. (I think you need Unity Pro to *generate* off mesh links, but I don't think you need it if they've already been generated?) If anyone wouldn't mind taking a look, I'd be extremely grateful.

I thought I could just place two separate OML's in the same place, but the units always want to route to the same one, and I'm not sure how to change that. Any clever ideas are appreciated. <3

I have Unity free so I can't help you. Maybe if you had a dynamic batching question.

 

[missile]

At times am so focused on things that I lose the feeling for time on a global
scale. I was looking on a best-by date (11/2013) of some food, yesterday,
while I realized how many month have already past since the start of the year.
I was surprised a little. And also I have to look up the current year at
times. lol Anyone made some similar experiences?

... There's an article i saw recently (that I can no longer find, sigh) that talked about the common "trap" that people fall into with spending a ton of time working on game systems/engines and building great code, instead of getting the game done. ...

One may write an article about the common "trap" that people fall into
spending not much time working on game systems/engines building games which
aren't interesting, look meh, have not depth nor good gameplay. Games, no one
wants to play, no one wants to pay any money for -- despite the developer
thinks it's a great game (s)he has clicked together in about -21 days. And
there are a lot of such games. Well, it's like with the digital cameras a few
years ago. Suddenly everyone who could push the button on a digicam thought
(s)he were a photographer. Well, no. It pretty much depends on the game, I
guess.

 

[Ashodin]

P.S. it bears mentioning that I'll be doing left-right consistency this time, so the left hand will always be the cannon no matter what way you're facing.

Loving the longer cape!

 

[Lautaro]

One may write an article about the common "trap" that people fall into
spending not much time working on game systems/engines building games which
aren't interesting, look meh, have not depth nor good gameplay. Games, no one
wants to play, no one wants to pay any money for -- despite the developer
thinks it's a great game (s)he has clicked together in about -21 days. And
there are a lot of such games. Well, it's like with the digital cameras a few
years ago. Suddenly everyone who could push the button on a digicam thought
(s)he were a photographer. Well, no. It pretty much depends on the game, I
guess.

You are missing the point, your game can be awful, "meh" or great, independent that you do it with a custom engine or a licensed one.

The point is that if your real objective is to make a game, making a custom engine most of the time will just get in the way (obviously because you are burning your energy in another project instead of the game). Of course, if your real objective is to learn about the underlying technology then a custom engine is the way to go.

 

[razu]

You are missing the point, your game can be awful, "meh" or great, independent that you do it with a custom engine or a licensed one.

The point is that if your real objective is to make a game, making a custom engine most of the time will just get in the way (obviously because you are burning your energy in another project instead of the game). Of course, if your real objective is to learn about the underlying technology then a custom engine is the way to go.

Or if you want to do something that an engine doesn't support! Or, if you want to develop for a specific platform, or build the value of your business... there are loads of reasons to write your own stuff.

I would add that if you are writing your own low level systems, make sure you only write stuff you need. I'd do this by designing a game in the first place, and building the tech to get that made.

 

[Five]

I've been working on the main character art for a while now.

This version looks notably smoother and cleaner when compared to the older one. I like how it looks, but it also feels a touch more androgynous. I can't put my finger on why it does, but I'd guess it's the narrower leg stance and longer cape. Being a robot suit in a desolate realm, I'm not sure that's something that matters, but I thought it was worth mentioning just in case!

 

[GulAtiCa]

I spent a good portion of last night doing two things: Game Balancing and Speed Optimization.

I reduced the algorithm for price upgrades to a much more reasonable level. I like the prices now. The prices increase from 50% to 25% each time as you level up each ability. So the first level upgrade will be an inc of 50%, then 45%, and so on till it just does 25% increases over previous.

Also for balancing, I messed around with how much power each upgrade give you. Still got a lot of testing to do, as game feels a little easy now. I mean I could get to level 15 without much of an issue. Need to change how the power increases. Going to try to increase it by 40% for Sentry and see how that feels, but might decrease that.

For optimization, I found out that my main code that handles the bot activity (shooting at enemies in range), the movement of enemies and spawning of enemies was getting long and longer to load. This entire big script is ran every 10 ms. Normally it's pretty fast as is, but when there are a lot of enemies on screen, it slows down. I found out that it was my bot activity portion of it that was slowing things down. After spending an hour working on it, I narrowed it down and found the issue, rewrote the algorithms and now the entire script takes less then 5 ms, even when it's heavy loaded with enemies/bots. Game runs a lot faster now.

I also came to the conclusion I need to do many UI changes to the bottom Wii U gamepad screen. Need to make it easier to use. Think I will introduce Tabs. First tab for overall (short) view, Store tab, Active Bots tab. I'll probably to this last, though will do it before I do graphics/audio. Graphics I will likely do myself, I have a few ideas I can do. Though audio/music I'll hire someone.

I actually think I can complete the entire gameplay code, with the 4 maps at least, within 2 to 3 weeks. I really don't have too much left to do. Mostly small things before I start on a new map.

 

[beril]

You are missing the point, your game can be awful, "meh" or great, independent that you do it with a custom engine or a licensed one.

The point is that if your real objective is to make a game, making a custom engine most of the time will just get in the way (obviously because you are burning your energy in another project instead of the game). Of course, if your real objective is to learn about the underlying technology then a custom engine is the way to go.

Making an engine for a small game does not have to be a massive undertaking. And it lets you set up the workflow exactly the way you want which can make the development of the game much faster despite not having a nearly as complex tools as a commercial engine like unity. And you own all the code and can put it on any platform without any licensing costs.

 

[BurritoBushido]

after some graduate school critiques, work on my game is moving forward... just started on the next character... this is only the head so far for when the main hero shows up in the game over screen. It's a priest bear named Jesus Santos Bear. He is basically going to be dressed similar to the Pope.



Colors are not final and I still have to draw out the body.

Hey Rolento, are you doing a game dev grad school program? If so, where?

Also your art is friggin' awesome.

 

[missile]

@Lautaro:
Most of the things with respect to game development are in constant flux
anyways. One always has to customize many parts to represent a new game. You
may wonder how many developers are using given engines yet build their own
engines around them for various purposes resampling an entire custom engine on
its own. And there are other good reasons next to -- learn about the
underlying technology -- for building custom engines, like razu has written.
But granted, if a given engines has all what's needed, then, as you have said,
it might be better using this engine straight. But this is almost always not
the case. It just seems like so. In the end one always has to customize a lot
of things. So it's good to have kind of an attitude for building custom
things/engines if needed, instead of hopping and relying always on the work of
others, work which may either not exist, may have bad documentation, or is
scattered with a lot of bugs.

I would go as far saying that customization, i.e. building custom solutions,
is what makes game development one of a kind.

 

[RelentlessRolento]

Hey Rolento, are you doing a game dev grad school program? If so, where?

Also your art is friggin' awesome.

It's a program called Art + Technology... It's more of a contemporary art focus but using technology (we cover Unity, Arduino, Processing, etc. here) to make artworks. It's tough but good. It's at the University of Florida. Hit me up if you got more questions.

thanks too for liking the artwork ^_^



I pretty much mostly completed it today between classes with the little time I have but am still not happy with color choices. The final will fade down to an alpha ghostly thing at the bottom of the torso if that makes sense. His torso may get enlarged as well.

I'm moving to the next thing for this game before I decide on colors though. Can't get hung up on minor details.

 

[DSix]

Most awesome bear I ever saw.

 

[GulAtiCa]

I love that art style.

 

[Five]

I'm getting mixed Guacamelee and Insanity Wolf vibes, and I'm loving it.

 

[Lautaro]

Hey guys, having a HUGE problem in Unity.

Apparently...and this is not documented anywhere...Unity does not allow for two NavMeshAgents to be on the same OffMeshLink at the same time. This is really, really stupid...I have a line of troops jumping over cover walls all the time in my game, and as it is now, one soldier can't start the jump until the one before him lands and continues on. This looks extremely dumb. = (

I've boiled it down to a very simple scene, which you can download here. (I think you need Unity Pro to *generate* off mesh links, but I don't think you need it if they've already been generated?) If anyone wouldn't mind taking a look, I'd be extremely grateful.

I thought I could just place two separate OML's in the same place, but the units always want to route to the same one, and I'm not sure how to change that. Any clever ideas are appreciated. <3

I'll give it a try when I get home but if it's a limitation of Unity the best posible solution would be to create code that somehow overrides the navigation for those specific cases, I think.

@Missile, Beril and Razu:

Regarding the custom engine vs licensed engine debate, we are not actually disagreeing, I'm not against using a custom engine in those cases but I think for most hobbyist like me, you have to be honest regarding your time, knowledge and specific goal in the moment to decide about the engine. I had a lot of failures (projects that ended only as prototypes) because I chewed more than I could swallow so keeping it simple seems to be the #1 rule.

 

[Feep]

I'll give it a try when I get home but if it's a limitation of Unity the best posible solution would be to create code that somehow overrides the navigation for those specific cases, I think.

@Missile, Beril and Razu:

Regarding the custom engine vs licensed engine debate, we are not actually disagreeing, I'm not against using a custom engine in those cases but I think for most hobbyist like me, you have to be honest regarding your time, knowledge and specific goal in the moment to decide about the engine. I had a lot of failures (projects that ended only as prototypes) because I chewed more than I could swallow so keeping it simple seems to be the #1 rule.

Thanks! It's really tough to find people who have access to Pro. = (

 

[Lautaro]

Thanks! It's really tough to find people who have access to Pro. = (

Maybe you should ask for help in the oficial forums too.

 

[RelentlessRolento]

Most awesome bear I ever saw.

I'm getting mixed Guacamelee and Insanity Wolf vibes, and I'm loving it.

I love that art style.

Thanks guys! Makes me glad people like it

 

[Feep]

Maybe you should ask for help in the oficial forums too.

I did! Nothing just yet.

It's a program called Art + Technology... It's more of a contemporary art focus but using technology (we cover Unity, Arduino, Processing, etc. here) to make artworks. It's tough but good. It's at the University of Florida. Hit me up if you got more questions.

Hey, my alma mater! Say hi to Professor Schwartz for me. = D

 

[RelentlessRolento]

Hey, my alma mater! Say hi to Professor Schwartz for me. = D

I'm not sure I know Schwartz but I'll say hi to someone

 

[motorsep]

Hi all,

I've missed all these posts while I was getting DLC for Steel Storm done Gotta catch up

At last, DLC has been released: http://steamcommunity.com/games/steelstorm-br/announcements/detail/1586681398620611864

Come and check it out please!

 

[BurritoBushido]

It's a program called Art + Technology... It's more of a contemporary art focus but using technology (we cover Unity, Arduino, Processing, etc. here) to make artworks. It's tough but good. It's at the University of Florida. Hit me up if you got more questions.

thanks too for liking the artwork ^_^



I pretty much mostly completed it today between classes with the little time I have but am still not happy with color choices. The final will fade down to an alpha ghostly thing at the bottom of the torso if that makes sense. His torso may get enlarged as well.


I'm moving to the next thing for this game before I decide on colors though. Can't get hung up on minor details.

Haha groovy. I was just wondering in case you were at my grad program. I went to a game dev Masters at UCF. But hey you're close! I'm still hanging around Orlando for the time being. When you're further along with your game you should come out to one of the Mininomicon showcases and show it off!

 

[bkw]

I've been working on the main character art for a while now.

Cool stuff. Animation's looking smoother.

Is the light on the head its eye? I don't know if that's going to be a separate piece and adjusted in code to look at different things, but right now it looks like it's head is down, looking at the ground, just a couple of feet ahead. (Though maybe that's appropriate, depending on the environment...)

 

[F-Pina]

Gamasutra article by Mike Rose on the videogames industry (or lack of it) in Portugal.
I got asked a lot of good questions and replied as best as I could. Our game is also featured with our trailer which is great for us of course.

 

[More_Badass]

Hey, have you guys seen the new IndieGameStand store?

I was chatting with the creators on the forums and according to them, their site offers the most freedom to devs compared to other online distributors.

 

[RelentlessRolento]

Haha groovy. I was just wondering in case you were at my grad program. I went to a game dev Masters at UCF. But hey you're close! I'm still hanging around Orlando for the time being. When you're further along with your game you should come out to one of the Mininomicon showcases and show it off!

Cool ill make a note to come down during that time ill let you know if I pop by Orlando at some point

 

[Duderino]

One of the team members is doing a gameplay stream tonight. Have a bunch of updates from visuals to the animations:

I was able to add in some tone mapping as well. Again, all this is with Unity Free, so I'm applying it at the shader level

(Click Here to Watch)

 

[GulAtiCa]

My game was going to be 100% single player. But just added a simple co-op to the game (Tower Defense genre). Basically got a good idea to add a simple support to the game via up to 4 controllers (not including gamepad, so with gamepad it = 5)

I mentioned this before, but I added a "Drone" bot type to the game. This will basically fly around the edge of the map looking for enemies on it's own. So I decided to let additional controllers get complete control over the movements. So anyone (even the person using the gamepad) could control one of their "Droid" bots, if there are any that is, to help out.

 

[Anustart]

Been setting up the devkit today. Was scratching my head forever as I had to select an option on the devkit with seemingly the gamepad to enable syncing the gamepad...

Had to connect a wii mote first, then do it. Dunno why I went dumb there.

 

[Ashodin]

Been setting up the devkit today. Was scratching my head forever as I had to select an option on the devkit with seemingly the gamepad to enable syncing the gamepad...

Had to connect a wii mote first, then do it. Dunno why I went dumb there.

I can't wait for Nintendo to contact me. I want to make a Wii U version of Apexicon!

 

[Feep]

I can't wait to contact Nintendo!

Fixed?

 

[Ashodin]

Fixed?

I sent them an application.

 

[Feep]

I sent them an application.

^^

 

[Ashodin]

Been struggling with getting this right all night. But it FEELS SO GOOD WHEN IT WORRRRRRRRRRKS

I was testing the skill over and over to make it work, and I found I was doing something completely unexpected: I was holding back the letters of the word "PENMER" as I knew those would be the ones charged.

I was playing my own game as if I was trying to win, the mechanics of the game starting my brain to form strategies. Fuckin' awesome.

 

[fengshuifever]

Count another one down for a WiiU dev kit application.

 

[Jobbs]

This version looks notably smoother and cleaner when compared to the older one. I like how it looks, but it also feels a touch more androgynous. I can't put my finger on why it does, but I'd guess it's the narrower leg stance and longer cape. Being a robot suit in a desolate realm, I'm not sure that's something that matters, but I thought it was worth mentioning just in case!

Are you just assuming the character is male? the inhabitant of the suit is one of the mysteries of the game. As such, some ambiguity about who or what is inside the suit it part of the design.

 

[V_Arnold]

Ashodin, nice work!

In a few weeks (hopefully), I shall reveal our puzzle+rpg game in public as well! It is so weird when one gets hooked on his own gameplay!

 

[F-Pina]

Been struggling with getting this right all night. But it FEELS SO GOOD WHEN IT WORRRRRRRRRRKS

I was testing the skill over and over to make it work, and I found I was doing something completely unexpected: I was holding back the letters of the word "PENMER" as I knew those would be the ones charged.

I was playing my own game as if I was trying to win, the mechanics of the game starting my brain to form strategies. Fuckin' awesome.

Have been following this here on gaf. It's coming along nicely dude, congrats.

 

[Five]

Are you just assuming the character is male? the inhabitant of the suit is one of the mysteries of the game. As such, some ambiguity about who or what is inside the suit it part of the design.

Actually, I thought I had seen that it was female. It was probably a bit of confirmation bias at some point, considering the nature of Samus' gender.

It sounds like you've succeeded, then.

 

[GulAtiCa]

Man, I have so many good ideas for different games I want to make. Some ranging from kinda big, like online poker game, to smaller games like puzzle or platforming games. If only I had more free time! lol.

I've been recording my hours I've put into my game so far. So far I've done about 45 hours in 2 weeks. Not bad considering I work full time too.

Been setting up the devkit today. Was scratching my head forever as I had to select an option on the devkit with seemingly the gamepad to enable syncing the gamepad...

Had to connect a wii mote first, then do it. Dunno why I went dumb there.

Heh, I had similar issue, but only cause I was impatient and tried to skip a step. lol

I can't wait for Nintendo to contact me. I want to make a Wii U version of Apexicon!

That be awesome.

 

[Jobbs]

Actually, I thought I had seen that it was female. It was probably a bit of confirmation bias at some point, considering the nature of Samus' gender.

It sounds like you've succeeded, then.

in that case, I think the newer design is, if anything, more feminine than the previous. it's slimmer and the cloth is longer, further giving it a slim lighter look. ymmv I guess.

 

[Ashodin]

Ashodin, nice work!

In a few weeks (hopefully), I shall reveal our puzzle+rpg game in public as well! It is so weird when one gets hooked on his own gameplay!

Have been following this here on gaf. It's coming along nicely dude, congrats.

That be awesome.

Hey thanks a lot guys! I'm pushing hard to get some sort of a demo going, and when that happens, it's kickstarter time!

And Feep I'll be counting on you for voice over work!

 

[Feep]

Hey thanks a lot guys! I'm pushing hard to get some sort of a demo going, and when that happens, it's kickstarter time!

And Feep I'll be counting on you for voice over work!

*bigbosssalute.gif*

 

[Diablohead]

So many Wii U dev people here now, you best be making good games!