-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor
- Thread starter chubigans
- Start date
- Status
AusRoachman
Member
Created my first ever youtube video and my first ever game video.
Easier then i expected
Everything i would still consider placeholder so please give me feedback. Im still searching for a name too so please fire em at me.
About the Game
It is a turn based strategy game, im unsure if ill do a straight dino vs dino battle or adding guns. This video shows off my initial test map, some foliage with wind effects some selection/movement.
It takes some influences from rts games (bases/resource collecting e.t.c). The game is broken into 3 phases per turn (provided you have the points)
Breed Phase
This is the first phase where you build your units, initially you start the game with your main dinosaur which is essentially your base.
Scavenge Phase
This is where you collect your resources. There will be one unit which acts as your refinery , any tile you collect can only be done once and in the next turn that tile will dissapear (along with any unit thats on it)
Attack Phase
As the name applies this is your attacking stage, not only moving units but attacking enemies if they are in reach, not shown in this vid as it still requires work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_A9jgLlKYE
Future Additions
Some of my plans for the future
- Both ground and air based dinosaurs. This is just ground units atm
- Special Tiles, there are some random tiles which give bonus points if you scavenge the tile, but i may add more special tiles for health and attack bonuses e.t.c
- Obviously more animations and final polish e.t.c
Love to get your feedback and ideas, right now this is just human vs ai but i do want to add hotseat multi for my first demo and hopefully online.
Still not sure what my plans are beyond an initial demo, kickstarters, steam greenlight e.t.c are all possibilities but right now its just a 1 man show (so grateful for that unity asset store).
Easier then i expected
Everything i would still consider placeholder so please give me feedback. Im still searching for a name too so please fire em at me.About the Game
It is a turn based strategy game, im unsure if ill do a straight dino vs dino battle or adding guns. This video shows off my initial test map, some foliage with wind effects some selection/movement.
It takes some influences from rts games (bases/resource collecting e.t.c). The game is broken into 3 phases per turn (provided you have the points)
Breed Phase
This is the first phase where you build your units, initially you start the game with your main dinosaur which is essentially your base.
Scavenge Phase
This is where you collect your resources. There will be one unit which acts as your refinery , any tile you collect can only be done once and in the next turn that tile will dissapear (along with any unit thats on it)
Attack Phase
As the name applies this is your attacking stage, not only moving units but attacking enemies if they are in reach, not shown in this vid as it still requires work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_A9jgLlKYE
Future Additions
Some of my plans for the future
- Both ground and air based dinosaurs. This is just ground units atm
- Special Tiles, there are some random tiles which give bonus points if you scavenge the tile, but i may add more special tiles for health and attack bonuses e.t.c
- Obviously more animations and final polish e.t.c
Love to get your feedback and ideas, right now this is just human vs ai but i do want to add hotseat multi for my first demo and hopefully online.
Still not sure what my plans are beyond an initial demo, kickstarters, steam greenlight e.t.c are all possibilities but right now its just a 1 man show (so grateful for that unity asset store).
Awww yeah, loving my rig and loving dynamic joints, they're a lot of fun to work with (or I'm a terribly dull person who gets a kick out of the smallest things).
Wow, you CAN get a kick out of this, it's looking really great.
Would love to be able to do some 3D, got to try it sometime !
AusRoachman
Member
Awww yeah, loving my rig and loving dynamic joints, they're a lot of fun to work with (or I'm a terribly dull person who gets a kick out of the smallest things).
I get some awesome journey vibes from that model. looks fantastic
LSauchelli
Member
I love that scarf. Looks great. BTW, are you going to use Mecanim when putting this in Unity?
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
We just got into the first 100 games (99 lol) in Greenlight with Crazy Hotel, let's hope that means the ones in valve that give the ok to enter steam see us.
bumpkin
Member
The same times infinity. I've had at least three false starts on developing my own game, it seems like something different trips me up every time. Whether it's finding myself in a corner from a class structure standpoint, having trouble communicating between things cleanly, or simply biting off more than I can chew, I've yet to reach any sort of finish line. It's really disheartening to say the least. I'm clinging to 2014 being *the year* when I'll finally plop my ass down, focus and actually finish something.
Talk is cheap though. :-/
We've started thinking of our next game. I'm INCREDIBLY excited to announce it and to get started on it, but sadly it's still in the early stages of brainstorming. I think it will appeal to a LOT of people, and I'm going to try my hardest to learn whatever I need to learn in order to achieve our vision. That means unity, blender, and maybe some code.
Nice work! It'll be awesome to see everything completed once you get around to it.
Awww yeah, loving my rig and loving dynamic joints, they're a lot of fun to work with (or I'm a terribly dull person who gets a kick out of the smallest things).
Nice work! It'll be awesome to see everything completed once you get around to it.
I feel like showing off my first environment assets for my game now. I'm going for an aesthetic that is mainly inspired by Mirror's Edge (as if the character didn't give that away already).
Here are some girders:
Most assets are based on higher-poly versions like this. It's something I'm rather new to and it's more involved than what I've done in the past, but I'm really enjoying the workflow and the quality of all the maps being generated from such models.
I plan on everything being unlit surface shaders, so texture work is really important in bringing out the look of the game when I can't depend on fancy specularity and the like.
I'm working with a fixed camera that will only translate along one axis, so I have quite a bit of leeway in the kind of illusions that I can pull off, some things only need aspects that break the silhouette to be modeled in.
If there is something I've learned from working on rComplex (a past iOS game we did), it's that interesting parallax movement and strong silhouettes go a long way in visually defining objects, so that is something I'm trying to focus on with this game since I have the benefit of a fixed camera.
Soon I'll share the game's design premise with GAF and I hope you'll give me some feedback on it. It isn't too complex but I want it to be perfect; simple and enjoyable.
I'm very comfortable with animation in Maya, so I'm just doing my animation work there. Maya also provides dynamic joints I can use for the scarf and sleeves (that utilize their awesome ncloth solver) and then bake out on export, since doing actual dynamic cloth in Unity seems to be much too heavy for iOS devices.
If it's really unique and brilliant you may want to hold off on explaining it publicly until a lot of the work for it is already done, so no one makes a quick, cheap version of it just to beat you to market; I never used to be nervous about stuff like that before the travesty that is Ninja Fishing.
Here are some girders:
I'm keeping everything as extremely low-poly as possible so I can support as many past iOS devices as I can (I have an ipod 4 still and I know how annoying it is when all the newest games only play on 5th gen devices); the assets pictured here total 680 tris. The lighting is baked into the actual diffuse maps rather than being included as a separate overlay map, so this results in needing more texture space since there can't be much UV overlapping, but these assets will be repeated so much that I feel it's worth the cost.
Most assets are based on higher-poly versions like this. It's something I'm rather new to and it's more involved than what I've done in the past, but I'm really enjoying the workflow and the quality of all the maps being generated from such models.
I plan on everything being unlit surface shaders, so texture work is really important in bringing out the look of the game when I can't depend on fancy specularity and the like.
I'm working with a fixed camera that will only translate along one axis, so I have quite a bit of leeway in the kind of illusions that I can pull off, some things only need aspects that break the silhouette to be modeled in.
If there is something I've learned from working on rComplex (a past iOS game we did), it's that interesting parallax movement and strong silhouettes go a long way in visually defining objects, so that is something I'm trying to focus on with this game since I have the benefit of a fixed camera.
Soon I'll share the game's design premise with GAF and I hope you'll give me some feedback on it. It isn't too complex but I want it to be perfect; simple and enjoyable.
Didn't plan on it; haven't touched Mecanim at all yet, it seems like something that would be more useful for a more robust game on stronger hardware than what I've been designing for iOS. I would certainly look forward to using it on a different project though, as the results seem fantastic.
I'm very comfortable with animation in Maya, so I'm just doing my animation work there. Maya also provides dynamic joints I can use for the scarf and sleeves (that utilize their awesome ncloth solver) and then bake out on export, since doing actual dynamic cloth in Unity seems to be much too heavy for iOS devices.
I LOVE that feeling, it motivates me more than anything else. Can't wait to see what you're up to!
If it's really unique and brilliant you may want to hold off on explaining it publicly until a lot of the work for it is already done, so no one makes a quick, cheap version of it just to beat you to market; I never used to be nervous about stuff like that before the travesty that is Ninja Fishing.
This stuff all looks pretty sweet. You should talk more about what kind of game this is.
Really nice work!
I was in a modeling mood tonight.. this confirms I will be making triangles, not lines of code tonight!
Actually, I ended up experimenting with soft shadow settings...
Thanks! Yeah, and, even the bullets cast and receive shadows
Cool looking dude you got there BTW. I like the eyeballs
^Maybe it's just an artifact of the GIF, but it looks off to me that the attack button and the glowing letters are different tones of green. I like the button's tone more because I think it fits the game's aesthetic and palette more. Also, the type and color used for "VICTORIOUS" make it hard to read.
Thanks for the feedback, it's a stylistic choice to be sure, but if it becomes enough of an issue I'll look into making it easier to read. Hmm the difference in greens. Will look into that.
Kuler from Adobe. Free online tool for lots of inspiration. Its primarily a tool to help web design color schemes but it can lend itself to elements for interface cohesion.
Ashodin: That's looking slick! It took me a little bit until I realized the pop-up text said "Victorious", though. I think the diagonal slashes on some of the letters could be impairing readability (mostly the "O"s... perhaps because diagonal slashes are often used for zeroes?).
So, I'll be attending the Argentine GGJ tomorrow after work. It's my first GGJ ever, and my second game jam, so I'm really looking forward to doing stuff and meeting new people from the local game dev scene.
So, I'll be attending the Argentine GGJ tomorrow after work. It's my first GGJ ever, and my second game jam, so I'm really looking forward to doing stuff and meeting new people from the local game dev scene.
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
Nice one. Thanks.
Yeah I'm most likely going to change them, I'll just need to find a good font to replace.
+1 for Kuler. Great for finding complementary colours.
The font has a nice style to it; I think the only thing that makes it difficult to read is the slashes through the O's like JulianImp mentioned. Perhaps you can just eliminate those slashes from the font itself (but still use it in the main title logo, it looks cool there). It's nice to maintain consistency with the font style of headers throughout the game, perhaps even have 2 variations of the same font style; one that is easy to read and used throughout the game for important headings that don't fall within the body text, and then another that is reserved almost exclusively for your title logo or promotional material that is much more embellished.
Also I'm not really feeling the green outline around it, even if it was made a different kind of green. I think you can get away with the beige outline that I see elsewhere (like on "you earned"), and having a quick shine effect roll across the word with a subtle glow so that it's immediately apparent that it's a positive aspect without needing the green to reinforce that.
---------------------------------
Group of buildings, for mid-distance use in the background; 215 polys:
Thanks for this, totally forgot it existed, will come in handy when I'll dig a bit more in de design.
I use these sometimes for when I'm doing painting, or UI stuff.
A bit more indepth than kuler, but great for getting solid colour palletes.
http://colourco.de/ - really good for UI, (the grey schemes). Quite simple to use.
http://colorschemedesigner.com/ - good for paintings and full pallettes.
A bit more indepth than kuler, but great for getting solid colour palletes.
http://colourco.de/ - really good for UI, (the grey schemes). Quite simple to use.
http://colorschemedesigner.com/ - good for paintings and full pallettes.
Holy shit these are awesome! Thanks!
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
Let me say those buildings look fantastic.
I think I will soon have inventory, HUD, and stats set up to a point where I'll be able to start the process of making my combat system really soon. I guess I'll have to design it without animation for now and leave in some hooks for it. I'm getting really stoked about it, though.
They look wicked! Really nice work
I love the colour code one. Will use! Thanks for sharing
Hey guys, I wanted to show you what I've been working on for the last 4 months:
The player takes direct control of a ball and leads it through levels filled with traps, puzzles, enemies and glorious treasures. Okay, mostly traps and enemies that will kill the ball over and over again and only few treasures... but don't tell him that. The better you play, the more points you get to unlock new levels. Each level can be replayed in Time Mode which also rewards unlock points. I'm planning to do 30 levels, most of them introducing new gameplay elements (or new ways to use old ones) to keep things fresh. They include floor traps, projectile turrets, laser beams, moving enemies (Pacman-style), buffs (like invisibility or bullet time), teleporters, keys & doors, buttons, speed fields and many more.
Gameplay Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePJGJxSugWM
The graphics are very basic, but I think I'll keep that style (just doing some improvements here and there). I'd like to hear what you think of them and am open for suggestions/tips. Sadly I'm quite limited in terms of visual effects with Unity Free. There is no sound/music yet - what are your resources here? Anything else besides http://www.freesound.org/ ? Maybe I'll just let the game take place in space - no sound problems there.
For those of you who want to try it, I've put together a current prototype of the game with 5 levels (no time mode and score system yet): Prototype Download Link
I'm hoping for some feedback, thanks in advance!
The player takes direct control of a ball and leads it through levels filled with traps, puzzles, enemies and glorious treasures. Okay, mostly traps and enemies that will kill the ball over and over again and only few treasures... but don't tell him that. The better you play, the more points you get to unlock new levels. Each level can be replayed in Time Mode which also rewards unlock points. I'm planning to do 30 levels, most of them introducing new gameplay elements (or new ways to use old ones) to keep things fresh. They include floor traps, projectile turrets, laser beams, moving enemies (Pacman-style), buffs (like invisibility or bullet time), teleporters, keys & doors, buttons, speed fields and many more.
Gameplay Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePJGJxSugWM
The graphics are very basic, but I think I'll keep that style (just doing some improvements here and there). I'd like to hear what you think of them and am open for suggestions/tips. Sadly I'm quite limited in terms of visual effects with Unity Free. There is no sound/music yet - what are your resources here? Anything else besides http://www.freesound.org/ ? Maybe I'll just let the game take place in space - no sound problems there.
For those of you who want to try it, I've put together a current prototype of the game with 5 levels (no time mode and score system yet): Prototype Download Link
I'm hoping for some feedback, thanks in advance!
Hey guys, I wanted to show you what I've been working on for the last 4 months:
The player takes direct control of a ball and leads it through levels filled with traps, puzzles, enemies and glorious treasures. Okay, mostly traps and enemies that will kill the ball over and over again and only few treasures... but don't tell him that. The better you play, the more points you get to unlock new levels. Each level can be replayed in Time Mode which also rewards unlock points. I'm planning to do 30 levels, most of them introducing new gameplay elements (or new ways to use old ones) to keep things fresh. They include floor traps, projectile turrets, laser beams, moving enemies (Pacman-style), buffs (like invisibility or bullet time), teleporters, keys & doors, buttons, speed fields and many more.
Gameplay Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePJGJxSugWM
The graphics are very basic, but I think I'll keep that style (just doing some improvements here and there). I'd like to hear what you think of them and am open for suggestions/tips. Sadly I'm quite limited in terms of visual effects with Unity Free. There is no sound/music yet - what are your resources here? Anything else besides http://www.freesound.org/ ? Maybe I'll just let the game take place in space - no sound problems there.
For those of you who want to try it, I've put together a current prototype of the game with 5 levels (no time mode and score system yet): Prototype Download Link
I'm hoping for some feedback, thanks in advance!
Cool!
You can still add a shadow by using a projector. Beware! This causes any object that's hit by the projector to be drawn again with the projected texture on it. So, if your object fills the screen you'll get a whole screen's worth of overdraw. That's why Chopper Mike levels were split into tiles. Worse case: four tiles were overdrawn.
Second, write your own snazzy shaders. Check vamflax.com and scroll down to "Gem Materials". Custom Cg shaders kick ass!!
For music.. try Garageband auto-mode. With a bit of fiddling it can make some decent stuff!
Good luck!!
AxiomVerge
Neo Member
So I guess this is where indie devs introduce themselves and their games?
Anyway, I'm Tom Happ and I'm working on a game called Axiom Verge.
Here's the webpage: http://www.axiomverge.com/
And the facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AxiomVerge
I'm working on making a Kickstarter pitch, and I recently cooked up these GIFs as I build the trailer:
Thanks!
Tom
Anyway, I'm Tom Happ and I'm working on a game called Axiom Verge.
Here's the webpage: http://www.axiomverge.com/
And the facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AxiomVerge
I'm working on making a Kickstarter pitch, and I recently cooked up these GIFs as I build the trailer:
Thanks!
Tom
So I guess this is where indie devs introduce themselves and their games?
Anyway, I'm Tom Happ and I'm working on a game called Axiom Verge.
Here's the webpage: http://www.axiomverge.com/
And the facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AxiomVerge
I'm working on making a Kickstarter pitch, and I recently cooked up these GIFs as I build the trailer:
Thanks!
Tom
god yes! into my veeeiiins! that boss!
So I guess this is where indie devs introduce themselves and their games?
Anyway, I'm Tom Happ and I'm working on a game called Axiom Verge.
Here's the webpage: http://www.axiomverge.com/
And the facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AxiomVerge
I'm working on making a Kickstarter pitch, and I recently cooked up these GIFs as I build the trailer:
Thanks!
Tom
That looks gorgeous. I wish I had half the skill at pixel art as you or your artist has.
I'll definitely back it when the time comes!
AxiomVerge
Neo Member
I think it basically amounts to just making lots of it and then you get better. After animating about 20 monsters it was time to go back and edit the first few so they matched . . . same for the tiles
AxiomVerge
Neo Member
YOU LOSE
You should check out the latest Penny Arcade; maybe make a GIF of the word "Saga":
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2014/01/24
LSauchelli
Member
Another Metroidvania? Seriously, straight to my veins.
The art looks really good, very different and just screams 'fun'.
Edit: I went to the website and saw the older trailer, just realized that I watched this a while back. Good to see that you're still working on this!
Thinking about making a GIF of the wordsmith using SAGA as an attack word, then it just goes to a C&D letter
maniac-kun
Member
AxiomVerge
Neo Member
Well, I'm getting better.. I think. Still needs a lot of work.
Looks good to me! One of the great things about pixel art is how your mind fills in the blanks (though I had one guy think my character's gun was his head and that his head was some kind of growth, so maybe that's not always so good).
- Status