Great read. And yes the Silva book is a great reference for when you are starting out.ThanksI sort of miss the old indie thread, something about 'who has released a game and made a profit from it.' I've done the former, I haven't done the latter (yet), but I think I can continue game development, which is all I ask.
Yep, both born in a little rundown shack known as XNA. May she be remembered fondly.
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Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor
- Thread starter chubigans
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I had a pretty heavy day, so didn't feel like busting into Chopper Mike. Instead I put together a quick Nexus 7 graphical test for a potential future game...
Click for video...
It's perfectly smooth running on the device, I think some juddering was introduced from iPad->VirtualDub->Youtube!
But yeah, well pleased with this. And impressed with the Nexus!
Click for video...
It's perfectly smooth running on the device, I think some juddering was introduced from iPad->VirtualDub->Youtube!
But yeah, well pleased with this. And impressed with the Nexus!
Have you given up on xna? What have you moved on to?
OccamsBlender
Member
Hello fellow devs (hmm, that sounds like the first line to a song)...
Gamasutra posted my postmortem last night, available here:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/180520/Postmortem_Humble_Hearts_Dust_An_Elysian_Tail.php
Here's a sample of production art:
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm glorious 2D art post mortem. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Thank you for sharing your epic pipeline with us!
BomberMouse
Member
Awesome post mortem, thank you noogy
You made those assets yourself? if so very impressive.
You made those assets yourself? if so very impressive.
Thanks, and very true
Having an understanding significant other (or parents, depending on your age/circumstances) cannot be overstated. I'd say more than 50% of your success depends on how motivated you are. The rest is talent, money, and faith.Ha, no. I optimised the mesh and created the shaders. I just wanted to get an idea of vertex counts that look good and run well. Most of the verts are in the seats! I have a lot more work to do
OccamsBlender
Member
Thanks, and very true
No kidding, a support network can be everything!
Question for you:
You said some websites refused to cover your game. What reasons did they give? Can you say?
Doing all that art and code yourself is beyond amazing, I wish my 360 wasn't red ringed. :<
Wok
Member
The 304 student entries for IGF 2013 are known, although there has not been an official annoucement yet. Any GAFfer?
Hello fellow devs (hmm, that sounds like the first line to a song)...
Gamasutra posted my postmortem last night, available here:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/180520/Postmortem_Humble_Hearts_Dust_An_Elysian_Tail.php
Here's a sample of production art:
Great writeup. It's really great seeing people this dedicated to a personal project. I've yet to find the project that gets me this fired up.
bumpkin
Member
Man, that post-mortem is simultaneously inspiring and depressing. I've been a programmer for at least a decade -- though mainly on the web -- and you, as a programming newbie, solved problems that I've been struggling with for weeks (well, a few hours each week).Thanks, and very true
Still, I can't deny that your game is pretty awesome. Very cool write-up about its development, thanks for sharing!
Basically, that's my story as well. I started programming about 15 years ago with a dream of creating my own games, but nowadays I mostly work on web stuff. Right now I'm trying to get back to that dream just a bit, more as an exercise in C++ and general design patterns and algorithms (games development is great for that). However, it would be cool to create something that people would play and enjoy.Man, that post-mortem is simultaneously inspiring and depressing. I've been a programmer for at least a decade -- though mainly on the web -- and you, as a programming newbie, solved problems that I've been struggling with for weeks (well, a few hours each week).
Do not overestimate the article. It's an compressed run-down of somethingMan, that post-mortem is simultaneously inspiring and depressing. I've been a programmer for at least a decade -- though mainly on the web -- and you, as a programming newbie, solved problems that I've been struggling with for weeks (well, a few hours each week).
cool, which has also its oddities. Dedication is key, no matter what. Keep
going! Btw; How many hours are you spending per week on your game?
bumpkin
Member
Probably not nearly as many as I need to for the solution to come together. I typically end up spending a portion of each time I sit down trying to remind myself where I left off, what issues were manifesting at last compile and so on. I've finally got a quiet weekend coming up, so maybe I'll really sit down and put my nose to the proverbial grindstone.
Ihateyouchris
Member
I just updated Another Castle, adding in spells, clothing items, and falling platfroms. Here's a vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8t75roFGrTA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8t75roFGrTA
Looks cool! I really like the art style.
You make me think I should do a video soon for my game. If only for updating my porte-folio website. I am still quiet about it because I am into "ingredients design" right for doing my level design afterward. Anyways, I always like to see your progress.
Ihateyouchris
Member
Thanks!
You definitely should! It always helps to get your work out there and get feedback.
I just want to say that there is this absolutly ADOWABLE game being developed by bvrazilian dudes that got Indiemag attention's
Read the article or see the trailer here
Read the article or see the trailer here
Man, that post-mortem is simultaneously inspiring and depressing. I've been a programmer for at least a decade -- though mainly on the web -- and you, as a programming newbie, solved problems that I've been struggling with for weeks (well, a few hours each week).
Still, I can't deny that your game is pretty awesome. Very cool write-up about its development, thanks for sharing!
To be fair, I struggled a LOT with seemingly basic stuff. For example, the game didn't have a 'zooming/scaling camera' until about two years in. Trying to figure out the math to make that all work took me months of iteration, whereas a 'real' programmer could probably do that in a day.
Sometimes I think I'd rather just go with a prebuilt game engine for future work, but I'm glad I put myself through the fire at least once and built my own tools. At least it gave me that understanding.
Hehe, so there was a bit I cut out of the postmortem about PAX East. Basically, they set the two kiosks up, James Silva came over about 30 minutes before the show started and was the first person to pick up and play the build. It crashed within seconds. I picked up the controller on the other kiosk, and that build immediately crashed. My producer and I took a look at eachother like "This is going to be a LOOOONG show." Thankfully the build was fairly stable otherwise, but it was a scary start.
That was an awesome article Noogy, congrats! Any sales data by chance?
Sadly nothing I can share
I can say sales aren't bad, but they aren't mindblowing either. Still, I can't complain.FormallyMegadrive
Member
I just want to say that there is this absolutly ADOWABLE game being developed by bvrazilian dudes that got Indiemag attention's
Read the article or see the trailer here
this looks great!
To be fair, I struggled a LOT with seemingly basic stuff. For example, the game didn't have a 'zooming/scaling camera' until about two years in. Trying to figure out the math to make that all work took me months of iteration, whereas a 'real' programmer could probably do that in a day.
Sometimes I think I'd rather just go with a prebuilt game engine for future work, but I'm glad I put myself through the fire at least once and built my own tools. At least it gave me that understanding.
Hehe, so there was a bit I cut out of the postmortem about PAX East. Basically, they set the two kiosks up, James Silva came over about 30 minutes before the show started and was the first person to pick up and play the build. It crashed within seconds. I picked up the controller on the other kiosk, and that build immediately crashed. My producer and I took a look at eachother like "This is going to be a LOOOONG show." Thankfully the build was fairly stable otherwise, but it was a scary start.
Sadly nothing I can share
Hahaha oh wow. You must have shit a brick.
So now that I have power again I'm back to work on the shape shifting game. I've hit a snag with regards to the player character landing. As a circle he jumps from the height of 470 and lands at 470. However, now that I've included this attack mechanic (just ups the gravity while right trigger is pulled so the character falls faster) the character lands at seemingly random heights around the 400 range. I have not found a pattern yet and it doesn't seem to matter what I change the gravity to, it still acts the same.
Now as I'm trying to figure that out I'm having these thoughts of how it's going to be down the road when the "ground" is not some integer I've made up but is actually the level it's going to become. It got me thinking about what the system will have to be like and if I'm approaching it all wrong just to get this prototype up and running.
Should I just build a level with varying heights and build a system that can adapt to it right now for a prototype. I mean, the point of this protoype is to just see if my combat idea is good enough to flesh out. In one sense I probably should just keep it as bare bones as possible to get the prototype up and running quickly but on the other hand I know that when (if) I start full development of this idea that the previous system I used with the prototype just won't work at all.
I would share my code but it's pretty shitty and I've forgotten a lot of the commenting standards that makes code clear and easy for other people to understand.
I could have built a house.
I just want to say that there is this absolutly ADOWABLE game being developed by bvrazilian dudes that got Indiemag attention's
Read the article or see the trailer here
I love their pixel art really.
Was it worth it? It sounds like you sacrificed a lot to meet the summer of arcade deadline. I would have responded with "How about next year?", but perhaps I don't really have a realistic idea of what that would cost, both in wasting the buzz from the show, and in additional budget for the additional development.
Haha, I think this happens to pretty much everyone at at least one show.
Also, using standard design patterns (Factories, Model-View-Controllers, Dependency Injection, Service Layers, etc) even without comments will significantly help with readability/understandability.
Snails has entered a new stage. We now (finally) have the feature set complete and we are now in the phase of creating the levels (a lot of work incoming...).
We decided to upload new gameplay videos. We uploaded 3 videos from the same level just to show that there are multiple ways of completing the levels.
Getting the gold medals is good for players that like to be challenged, the bronze medals are good for players that just want to spend some time and have fun.
Sample level: How to get Bronze, Silver and Gold
Bronze medal
Silver medal
Gold medal
Hope you enjoy!
Cheers
We decided to upload new gameplay videos. We uploaded 3 videos from the same level just to show that there are multiple ways of completing the levels.
Getting the gold medals is good for players that like to be challenged, the bronze medals are good for players that just want to spend some time and have fun.
Sample level: How to get Bronze, Silver and Gold
Bronze medal
Silver medal
Gold medal
Hope you enjoy!
Cheers
Want some Saturday night fun?
Download Unity. Add a static cube. Add a cube above it. Add a particle effect. Trigger it on OnCollisionEnter. Fun, fun, fun!!
Chopper Mike now has collision sparks. Unity makes this too easy! Well, not quite...
Protip: If you use one particle effect for collision effects, you need to move the transform, then call Simulate with ( 0.005, true) or some small number, then call Play. Otherwise you get stray particles emitted from an interpolated position between where the emitter is now, and where it used to be.
Note: the above illustrates what making games is all about. Not much usually works as you'd imagine, and you spend most of your time working around limitations and bugs. It's how it is, and why we're SUPERHUMAN HEROES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!! (For dealing with it, and getting on with things).
High five IndieGAF!! o/
Download Unity. Add a static cube. Add a cube above it. Add a particle effect. Trigger it on OnCollisionEnter. Fun, fun, fun!!
Chopper Mike now has collision sparks. Unity makes this too easy! Well, not quite...
Protip: If you use one particle effect for collision effects, you need to move the transform, then call Simulate with ( 0.005, true) or some small number, then call Play. Otherwise you get stray particles emitted from an interpolated position between where the emitter is now, and where it used to be.
Note: the above illustrates what making games is all about. Not much usually works as you'd imagine, and you spend most of your time working around limitations and bugs. It's how it is, and why we're SUPERHUMAN HEROES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!! (For dealing with it, and getting on with things).
High five IndieGAF!! o/
Would you be mad if I made a 2d serial killer game called, Chop Her Mike! ?Want some Saturday night fun?
Download Unity. Add a static cube. Add a cube above it. Add a particle effect. Trigger it on OnCollisionEnter. Fun, fun, fun!!
Chopper Mike now has collision sparks. Unity makes this too easy! Well, not quite...
Protip: If you use one particle effect for collision effects, you need to move the transform, then call Simulate with ( 0.005, true) or some small number, then call Play. Otherwise you get stray particles emitted from an interpolated position between where the emitter is now, and where it used to be.
Note: the above illustrates what making games is all about. Not much usually works as you'd imagine, and you spend most of your time working around limitations and bugs. It's how it is, and why we're SUPERHUMAN HEROES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!! (For dealing with it, and getting on with things).
High five IndieGAF!! o/
You can also just keep the particle system playing and use enableEmission = true/false instead of calling a very low simulate time along with stop and play. I still ran into some very infrequent interpolation errors using simulate until I switched to using enableEmission.
Got the fail report just now, but it still doesn't seem too bad. Most of it was related to the emanual where I really should have read the specifications more carefully, but it should be very easy to fix. There was only one real code issue. Not sure if that's because they stopped testing it after finding a handful of issues, or if they did a full test and this was really the only things they found. It was in testing for a number of days though, which should be more than enough time to thoroughly examine every aspect of a tiny game like Gunman Clive.
Old reply, but I also wanted to plug this tool. Just started using it, and I'm having a great time. Great free solution for pixel art creation.
With it and aseprite, my needs are satisfied.
Nah I'm not trying to write a Javadoc. I should probably leave some comments even for myself here and there though.
I don't know what those are besides M-V-C lol
edit: Man this landing shit is pissing me off. I moved on to other stuff just to make sure I get something done today. I made the enemy move in the direction the player character is in now. That was pretty damn easy to do.
I'm thinking if it would be best to just have the player character fall and check where the ground is every frame. And then when the character == ground, stop movement and reset jump/gravity settings.
This is fairly possible. Well, they probably don't it on small games like yours but if your game is big and you have a reputation of needing more than once submission to get a pass they would most probably stop after you mess up a couple of times
I would also expect them to take more than usual right now to get back to you because they are in their crazy rush for holiday season. (games for late November and December)
Noogy, that is a really great article and I just wanted to say thanks for taking to time to share it with the public. After stealth following your progress here on gaf for the last few years it was nice to see your game turn out so awesome.
Now for a quick update on my own progress..
Over the past week I decided I really wanted online leaderboards in Antibody, so I started reading about PHP/SQL (never used them before) and unity integration, as it turns out there are lots of people out there who don't know how to do this stuff so there was an abundance of information on the net
I'm happy to say that Antibody 1.2 is now live with full online leaderboards! http://circleofjudgement.com/antibody/
Thankfully Tim (the programmer/artist I'm working with) ended up handling the Unity side while I figured out the logic/databases etc so I wasn't completely overwhelmed. The next challenge awaits...
Now for a quick update on my own progress..
Over the past week I decided I really wanted online leaderboards in Antibody, so I started reading about PHP/SQL (never used them before) and unity integration, as it turns out there are lots of people out there who don't know how to do this stuff so there was an abundance of information on the net
I'm happy to say that Antibody 1.2 is now live with full online leaderboards! http://circleofjudgement.com/antibody/
Thankfully Tim (the programmer/artist I'm working with) ended up handling the Unity side while I figured out the logic/databases etc so I wasn't completely overwhelmed. The next challenge awaits...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIm0PzbELyg
Added some new stuff from the last update. Just couldn't quite fix making sure the object lands at the right height so I decided to work on other stuff. The player object and enemy now all stay on the screen at all times. Also, the enemy will follow the player object. Another thing I added was collision for the objects themselves. There are bounding rectangles around the line, circle and enemy. I'm very close to working on combat. Excited!
Added some new stuff from the last update. Just couldn't quite fix making sure the object lands at the right height so I decided to work on other stuff. The player object and enemy now all stay on the screen at all times. Also, the enemy will follow the player object. Another thing I added was collision for the objects themselves. There are bounding rectangles around the line, circle and enemy. I'm very close to working on combat. Excited!
OccamsBlender
Member
A question for Indie Gaffers in general:
When have all of you made details about your games public? I've been doing little side projects here and there, but I've never made a game screen or information public yet.
I know every project is different, I just want some "here's how we decided" type info.
Thanks!
When have all of you made details about your games public? I've been doing little side projects here and there, but I've never made a game screen or information public yet.
I know every project is different, I just want some "here's how we decided" type info.
Thanks!
Pix or didn't happen. When? Well, if I'm on something new I give some details
away as soon as possible, since it just helps me to foster my own vision of
what I'm going to create. And I don't necessarily speak about pictures and /
or art here. A good thing to make public is posing the idea, the essence of
the game, in just one sentence! It's a standard you can follow right from the
start ... helping you a lot.
I've found this thread to help a lot actually. I am pretty uncomfortable with self-promotion, but I feel like I can do it in this thread in a way that isn't scummy. My game is (pretty much) done, so I've given myself a schedule for promotion. Site A one day, then a couple days later Site B. Etc.
I generally wait until my project is done before I display it. The most important part for me is getting it playable. From there, I get people that I actually know to play it (friends and coworkers).
OccamsBlender
Member
That's a bold request, fair enough! At the very least, proof the sideproject got a fair way before shutting down:
Here are the last WIPs I've done for this project.
Game Screen
Main Character regular vs SD, no black outline vs black outline test.
Genre is matching puzzle.
I feel a lot like this, there's something very nerve wracking about self promotion. Have you had a lot of luck contacting various review sites when you were a first time developer, or what sort of things did you have to do?
I agree I'd love to do some polish passes in private before asking people here or anywhere else on the interwebs to check it out.
DeanoCalver
Splash Damage
The full time indie life isn't easy that for sure, its great to have the freedom but paying bills means doing work when perhaps you really want to do something on your game.
And the emotional rollercoaster of things like doing a Kickstarter is a killer. Even a few days in and not being depressed is hard for me for sure.
And the emotional rollercoaster of things like doing a Kickstarter is a killer. Even a few days in and not being depressed is hard for me for sure.
Main Character regular vs SD, no black outline vs black outline test.
Way better without the outline. It's very obvious you added the outline after making the sprite. Makes it look too chunky and pasted on, heh. I think it's the worst on the arms, because you already have a coloured outline going on there, so it looks super weird to draw another outline around that instead of making that outline black.
I like how you did the hair.
And regular looks better than SD.
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