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Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor
- Thread starter chubigans
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Oh, right! Corrin's new mesh will be weight painted using some magic my animator calls "double quaternions" to prevent his wrists from candy-wrappering, but since the mesh hasn't been finalized just yet, we're waiting. = D You can see his shoulder's a little wonky, too.AAhhhh his hand/wrist becomes super thin!
I'm sure you'll work it out
MikeHaggar
Member
i say keep the dong. it really gives the sprite personality!
oh man sorry dude! hahaha
AusRoachman
Member
Whats better then games with dinosaurs, games with dinosaurs and guns attached to there head.
and ive got a few more coming also
and ive got a few more coming also
Pretty much finalized my character and took some screenshots of the game-res model:
Next up is rigging.
Rad.
May look rather untextured, but it's part of the overall style I'm going for with the game.
Next up is rigging.
DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNN
Wow, those are nice. I'm always scared to death of going off a strict grid when doing any modular pieces, but you've managed to pull it off and come away with a backdrop that has a very natural flow.Thanks guys! I model them in blender and texture in photoshop. The tricky part is that they have to tile and be split into small sections. For example, here's the whole cave background:
And here it is split up into pieces:
Make it look more like a dong. Embrace the dong.
What was that, hun? I couldn't hear you, seeing as I have FREAKIN LASER CANNONS for ears.
Rad.
Whats better then games with dinosaurs, games with dinosaurs and guns attached to there head.
and ive got a few more coming also
Where are the feathers????
Just kidding
I'm into everything, honestly. One of the things I enjoy most is making towns and dungeons. Adding quests and expanding the story is fun for me, too. However, I can see how people hate that part. The thing I hate most is squashing bugs. Nothing is more tedious than that.
MikeHaggar
Member
Where are the dongs????
I'm Serious
fixed that for you.
Perfect, I love it!
We created our minefield gametype, here's a little showcase of what to expect.
Right now we have 4 spots you need to fly through for points, and we were thinking of adding one enemy type that eventually catches up to you in order to add in a sense of urgency. We were thinking that each time you complete a level, the play-field gets bigger and the mine count increases.
And this is what happens when I get my hands on the code, I like to fiddle with numbers...
toddhunter
Member
Adding to Dino Day (quick and dirty place holder stuff)
Call me nuts but I like the idea! xDWhats better then games with dinosaurs, games with dinosaurs and guns attached to there head.
...
Coding tile adjacency for a geodesic sphere has been quite the challenge. I can find all tiles which surround a given tile (Top Left, Top Right, Middle Left, Middle Right, Bottom Left, Bottom Right), but it gets trickier to find a tile multiple tiles away. Things break down at the seams because the adjacencies switch orientation. Instead of going in a straight line like on a 2D map, I need to snake around the net. I normally draw reference materials before I start coding, but I stopped in the middle of filling out the lines for this because it was getting so cluttered. Is there a better way to do this? o_o
McFadge
Member
Might want to get a quick test in before he goes ahead and does that - I don't believe Unity supports dual quaternion skinning out of the box
Huh. That's interesting.
Should I recommend any other techniques to prevent the phenomenon?
McFadge
Member
Common solution is to put an extra couple of bones in the forearm to smooth the transition (through weight painting) between the elbow and wrist/hand. While you can handle the animation of these bones manually, you can get a little bit fancy and have the rotation of the wrist drive their rotation, meaning you don't have to worry about animating it yourself.
Googling something along the lines of "rigging forearm twist" should turn up a bunch of results, and there should be a bunch of tutorials for any art package.
AusRoachman
Member
Oh ankylosaurus you so cute.
Ah! Thanks for the assist. I'll let him know.
BomberMouse
Member
Change your coord system? Clearly yours is flawed with all those holes.
Leave out the holes or use discrete spherical coordinates.
It probably sounds very silly to be happy about a GUI editor, but for the first time a while on a personal project, I got to some "This is cool!" moments when the program I've slowly been putting together started working just as intended, with few compile errors and not many apparent bugs each time I add new features.
I may find the code too unwieldy in retrospect but I am trying to keep it clean and well-documented along the way.
All I really have is code to place regions and widgets, drag them around, properly restrict the placement, and delete them, but I feel like I'm making real progress again. Hopefully I can increase the pace and actually get to gameplay some day!
I may find the code too unwieldy in retrospect but I am trying to keep it clean and well-documented along the way.
All I really have is code to place regions and widgets, drag them around, properly restrict the placement, and delete them, but I feel like I'm making real progress again. Hopefully I can increase the pace and actually get to gameplay some day!
I need a little help. I have this model that I got from the Unity Asset Store, but it uses the legacy animation system. On top of that, the legs are bowed which means any animation I try to add via mecanim looks all crazy. I contacted the original creator, but he has yet to respond. Would anyone be able to make the model mecanim ready and possibly rip out the animations so I could use them in mecanim?
Unfortunately, I'm just a programmer so I don't know much about Blender or Maya to really do something like that. Let me know and thanks in advance.
Unfortunately, I'm just a programmer so I don't know much about Blender or Maya to really do something like that. Let me know and thanks in advance.
Dat reload animation. Trickier than we thought it would be...
This is definitely a tricky thing to animate. To me it looks *just a tad odd*, I think maybe he should be raising his elbow more when reaching back like that... (or it could just be that you lead me to scrutinize it by implying it was a struggle to do) That's just my first instinct. I wouldn't want to have to try to do that animation, myself, and honestly, it'd be fine as-is. I don't think users would think twice.
Dat reload animation. Trickier than we thought it would be...
My oppinion is you should add a belt to the character and have him reload from a belt (or maybe chest piece or something more accessible)
Regardless if you can change it or not, its a lesson here for you character designer. You need to think about the animations and actions the character will be performing and cater to that. Asking for a character to reach for his middle back, an extreme stretch, is always going be tough to animate well.
Model looks good though, nice and simple.
Pasta_Soup
Member
And this is what happens when I get my hands on the code, I like to fiddle with numbers...
Love this. The colors, the shapes, the mayhem - it's fantastic.
Little continuation on this; my friends just posted a retrospect on the greenlight campaign what they thought about the whole process: http://tjrdev.blogspot.fi/2014/01/interplanetarys-greenlight-stats.html
Hey guys, I have a question to ask you. I'm going to be creating a game using Vector assets, but I'm kinda confused about how resolution works. Like, is there a good base resolution to work with? I'm assuming bigger is better? Because then the art can be crystal clear right?
But then how does that translate to my code in regards to x and y values, wouldn't that effect that too?
Thanks for the consideration.
But then how does that translate to my code in regards to x and y values, wouldn't that effect that too?
Thanks for the consideration.
So the unfortunately not straight forward answer is it depends entirely on your target platform number of assets and the engine your using.
Some engines will have built in support for choosing different asset sets, some will make their own (original resolution, half resolution, quarter resolution, etc). But it depends on the platform and honestly if memory is a concern.
The engine is using it's own worldspace to screen space math so that should keep everything aligned correctly it's just a matter of whether or not you need to manage any of it yourself (some engines you'll supply a reference resolution that it can makes assumptions based off of).
The benefit of vector is of course it's a lot easier to make larger versions of your art, it's actually harder to scale them down because you'll start to crush line weights and what not at a certain point.
I usually make art to look good on the smallest screen I'm expecting to run on and then scale up versions for higher resolutions,
Some engines will have built in support for choosing different asset sets, some will make their own (original resolution, half resolution, quarter resolution, etc). But it depends on the platform and honestly if memory is a concern.
The engine is using it's own worldspace to screen space math so that should keep everything aligned correctly it's just a matter of whether or not you need to manage any of it yourself (some engines you'll supply a reference resolution that it can makes assumptions based off of).
The benefit of vector is of course it's a lot easier to make larger versions of your art, it's actually harder to scale them down because you'll start to crush line weights and what not at a certain point.
I usually make art to look good on the smallest screen I'm expecting to run on and then scale up versions for higher resolutions,
The idea behind vectors is that they are infinitely scalable (both ways). So you shouldn't really worry about what size you create originals out. Like Vark said, just make them simple enough in DESIGN so that when shrunk to the minimum screenspace size you expect to see them, they still look good.
Thanks, that helps. Yeah, it seems to vary from project to project. Here's another question:
Would it be a good idea to know the size my assests are going to be before I start coding? Like, the size of the characters, and things like that? I feel like I'm going to be testing my code for critical bugs and then once the actual assests of a different size are thrown in, everything is gonna be out of whack or something. I guess if I just take that into account now, I can write code that applies to objects of all sizes or something.
Yeah, I'm a super novice here lol.
Hey, got to start somewhere!
You usually would want any temp are to be the intended final size yes. If I know my characters are going to be 128x256 for instance i'd have a 128x256 colored square or a square with a stickman drawn on it in the final file format ready to go. You can also use things like checkerboard patterns or resolution test patterns on your temp art so you can watch for how objects look when scaled, when they get blurry, when you're using too much detail for size on screen, etc.
My suggestion is that it is not really worth the time, effort, and technical challenge to make it realistic in this case.
Games may have one person carrying 8 different guns with no obvious place to store them, or reloading with no obvious clip source.For a game where the focus is on being way zoomed out and doing strategic stuff, I think making a reload animation reach all the way around to the back instead of just fiddling with the gun is way overkill. If this were a first-person shooter or third-person shooter, maybe.
Whats better then games with dinosaurs, games with dinosaurs and guns attached to there head.
You didn't even mention the hexagons! Hexagons are always cool. But you didn't stop there, you put dinosaurs in a game with hexagons. But wait! You didn't stop there!! You put guns on dinosaurs in a game with hexagons...
This game is on the watch list
Indeed, it's so crazy and stupid I hope AusRoachman brings it to fruition.You didn't even mention the hexagons! Hexagons are always cool. But you didn't stop there, you put dinosaurs in a game with hexagons. But wait! You didn't stop there!! You put guns on dinosaurs in a game with hexagons...
This game is on the watch list
I mean, dinos with guns on their head! lol Awesome!
MikeHaggar
Member
why is it so hard to find a decent artist to work with? i'm pretty sure i just got beat for some cash i paid to a pixel artist to do some test work for me. haven't heard from him since he got the payment and he hasn't responded to either of my emails asking for a status update.
my last project (which was cancelled) was a nightmate too with regards to art. it took forever (3+ months) to get someone to come on-board and we were offering full-time work at $30/hour. we ended up with someone who nickel-and-dimed us, demanded that there never be any requested revisions and, if there were, he'd need to be compensated for the extra time. i also believe his time estimates for finishing tasks were extremely bloated so that he was essentially billing us for hours he didn't actually work.
i just want to get a game made... not looking for sympathy, i am just frustrated and need to vent. has anyone else faced such difficulties in finding artists to work with?
my last project (which was cancelled) was a nightmate too with regards to art. it took forever (3+ months) to get someone to come on-board and we were offering full-time work at $30/hour. we ended up with someone who nickel-and-dimed us, demanded that there never be any requested revisions and, if there were, he'd need to be compensated for the extra time. i also believe his time estimates for finishing tasks were extremely bloated so that he was essentially billing us for hours he didn't actually work.
i just want to get a game made... not looking for sympathy, i am just frustrated and need to vent. has anyone else faced such difficulties in finding artists to work with?
studioMDHR
Member
Thanks for the feedback Joakim! We have much more to show and tell...all in good time
Every time I hear a programmer discuss their experiences with an artist, I feel like I'm one of the few somewhat rational artists out there. If they're not prima donnas, then they're painfully inexperienced with game asset workflows it seems, and the attitude seems to be more prevalent among sprite artists. I don't mean to make any sweeping generalizations, but I'm amazed by the stories I hear sometimes.
Though I'm surprised that it took so long to find someone on your last project; the art side is a rather competitive industry so I figured it would have filled up quickly.
HellBlazer
Member
Well, Unity now officially supports deployment on Vita (if you're a licensed Sony dev). Cool stuff.
Now if only they'd add 3DS support.
Now if only they'd add 3DS support.
Although most of that may be bad stuff, it actually sounds reasonable to me that an artist be paid more if they have to spend time doing revisions. I am guessing normally people would have it in the initial agreemen that they deliver draft versions or something, or have X number of reworks per piece of art?
So ... I had quite a revelation tonight, and it's giving me a lot of thoughts.
The game I'm making at the moment was originaly conceived as an asynchronous multiplayer game.
But tonight, I suddenly realised that the core concept and mechanics would also work very well in a standard puzzle game. By standard i mean a hundred levels increasingly harder, think Candy crush.
Having realised this, I'm wondering which way I should take and if I shouldn't transform the game into this.
The only technical downside would be having to build the levels. All the rest is already done, only needs a few adjustments.
Now I have three choice according to me ...
- keeping my focus on multiplayer asynchronous game.
- redesigning the game to become a puzzle level oriented game
- include both in the game.
Now the main advantage of puzzle style is that there are a good number of way to monetize the game, much easier than an asynchronous game.
But I originally envisionned the game as a Versus game. As you can see, I'm quite conflicted on this. I'm currently thinking about shipping the game with either of the modes, and updating later with the other, but I'm not sure it's a good idea.
Anybody having a few insights on this ?
The game I'm making at the moment was originaly conceived as an asynchronous multiplayer game.
But tonight, I suddenly realised that the core concept and mechanics would also work very well in a standard puzzle game. By standard i mean a hundred levels increasingly harder, think Candy crush.
Having realised this, I'm wondering which way I should take and if I shouldn't transform the game into this.
The only technical downside would be having to build the levels. All the rest is already done, only needs a few adjustments.
Now I have three choice according to me ...
- keeping my focus on multiplayer asynchronous game.
- redesigning the game to become a puzzle level oriented game
- include both in the game.
Now the main advantage of puzzle style is that there are a good number of way to monetize the game, much easier than an asynchronous game.
But I originally envisionned the game as a Versus game. As you can see, I'm quite conflicted on this. I'm currently thinking about shipping the game with either of the modes, and updating later with the other, but I'm not sure it's a good idea.
Anybody having a few insights on this ?
Is there a good paper about player movement(3D)?
I have several player actions (run, walk, jump, fall, climb, grab ledge, etc)
I made a base class Action that I derive all those actions from
Put them into a list and on each frame I loop through it and check if it's active, if it's active call the Action's Update function.
So far so good but to decide when each can be triggered is a nightmare.
I only want to grab a ledge if I'm jumping and if I've grabbed a ledge check if I want to move left/right or climb up or simply let go.
Or if I jump and hit something I want to invoke the fall action and check if I can grab a ledge.
It's if/else hell, I'm sure there's a better way.
I have several player actions (run, walk, jump, fall, climb, grab ledge, etc)
I made a base class Action that I derive all those actions from
Put them into a list and on each frame I loop through it and check if it's active, if it's active call the Action's Update function.
So far so good but to decide when each can be triggered is a nightmare.
I only want to grab a ledge if I'm jumping and if I've grabbed a ledge check if I want to move left/right or climb up or simply let go.
Or if I jump and hit something I want to invoke the fall action and check if I can grab a ledge.
It's if/else hell, I'm sure there's a better way.
Do you mean besides a state machine?
Code:
if (state == NORMAL) {
// do walk/run and idle stuff
} else if (state == AIR) {
// do falling and checking for ledges
} else if (state == LEDGE) {
// do left/right movement and climbing up
}
MikeHaggar
Member
yeah, i've only done 2d development, but i used a state machine as well. i can't imagine how else you would handle this even in 3d, unless you are using a framework that has built-in classes to handle it for you and, even then, i'd imagine it's a state machine under the hood. however, i could be wrong and showing my ignorance on the matter.
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