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Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor

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Lo_Fi

Member
Looks sweet! Btw; What's the degree the guy in the video is doing or has done?

That's me in the video! I have a Bachelor of Arts in Game Design from DigiPen Institute of Technology.


Popping in here to get some opinions on an alternate cut of the trailer, since the current one is seeing a lot of ciritcism.
Here's the original, currently on the Kickstarter page:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiUSGJDEk7Q

Here's the alternate edit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq4AMt5k5fg&feature=youtu.be

Thoughts? Thanks!
 

Roubjon

Member
That's me in the video! I have a Bachelor of Arts in Game Design from DigiPen Institute of Technology.


Popping in here to get some opinions on an alternate cut of the trailer, since the current one is seeing a lot of ciritcism.
Here's the original, currently on the Kickstarter page:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiUSGJDEk7Q

Here's the alternate edit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq4AMt5k5fg&feature=youtu.be

Thoughts? Thanks!

I do like the alternate version more than the previous one, but I didn't have a problem with the original in the first place. I think getting rid of a lot of the repeat footage near the end of the original was a good idea though.
 

Alts

Member
I feel like we do a lot of discussion about the development of a game, but not much for post-release stuff. I feel like that's a really crucial part of the lifecycle for a game that isn't really being serviced. I'd like to change that a bit.

For context, I released a freeware game on PC/Mac almost two months ago. Here are some things I learned. Maybe they're obvious to everyone else, but hopefully I help somebody.

Reddit is spiky
I was able to get a couple hundred downloads of the game from Reddit pretty easily with just a couple posts on r/indiegames and r/indiegaming. The immediate jump in downloads was nice, but as soon as it dropped off the first page of those subreddits (or even the top 5 posts), it went quiet, and there was no residual discussion in other channels about it. Things simply aren't visible for long enough there to have a significant impact.

Twitter less important than I thought?
I don't have many people following me, but luckily some people with significantly larger audiences managed to find the game and tweet about it, complete with links, videos, etc. From what I can tell, that promotion led to very little in terms of actual download numbers. Tweets fade very fast into the background, and if people didn't catch it right when it was made, they'll probably never see it. So despite a reach of several thousands, I think I got maybe 40 downloads form it. It doesn't help that Twitter is primarily accessed (I believe) from mobile devices that can't play the game (I may be changing that).

TIGsource saved me
I'd made a devlog on tigsource when I first started working on the game, and within a couple months had stopped updating it at all. Now that the game was done, I figured I may as well put a last post on and mark it as finished. That one action is actually the most significant thing I did in promoting the game. There is this weekly "magazine" called the TIGSource devlog magazine that ended up featuring my game near the top (as the only finished game of the bunch). This got it a whole lot of attention, which leads to the next point.

Press love curation
As soon as it appeared in the tigsource devlog magazine, other press places started to pick up on it. indiegames.com. freeindiegam.es. pcgamer. And for each one it was pretty apparent where they'd first encountered the game. Each of those sites mentioned is another layer of curation, but the first occurrence seems to give the work credence, and then other places' job was made easier. I just happened to be lucky in this case.

Finally, neogaf
This thread is also a good vehicle for driving downloads. Based on the number of people that post in the thread and the number of downloads I got, it seems like there are a lot of lurkers monitoring, which is great.

Download numbers by platform
Code:
237 	umbragram_mac
562 	umbragram_win32
1032 	umbragram_win64
 

Feep

Banned
It's media blitz time next week. First trailer. A big announcement. Voice cast reveal. PAX East playable demo.

omgomgomgomgomg
 
I think i continue my voyage into the indie world by getting the Unreal Engine 4 tomorrow :D
I only have opensource tools tho for content creation (Blender and Gimp) and VS Express 2013.

I have a rough idea what kind of game i want to create and i will see if i can pull it off with a 1 man team. Maybe i need some help later when it comes to the soundtrack or sound effects.
 

missile

Member
That's me in the video! I have a Bachelor of Arts in Game Design from DigiPen Institute of Technology.
Well done! :+

... Popping in here to get some opinions on an alternate cut of the trailer, since the current one is seeing a lot of ciritcism.
Here's the original, currently on the Kickstarter page:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiUSGJDEk7Q

Here's the alternate edit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq4AMt5k5fg&feature=youtu.be

Thoughts? Thanks!
Well, I think both suck. I can't see the game. The only thing I can see and
like is the art style and sound. The game needs to be put more into
perspective. And I don't care about who ever has won any award on anything. I
would never put something like this in a video esp. not for a new game. Either
you (the studio) has the reputation or not. If not, then you have to build it
by doing greate games. Since on the other hand I ask myself why do "you" need
support when you have award winners on-board? And having won something doesn't
say anything about the next game. There is nothing one can rest upon in the
games industry. About the studio's name; just show it once in the beginning.
The reputation for a studio needs to be build on solid games and won't come
from showing the studio's name multiple times.


I feel like we do a lot of discussion about the development of a game, but not much for post-release stuff. I feel like that's a really crucial part of the lifecycle for a game that isn't really being serviced. I'd like to change that a bit.

For context, I released a freeware game on PC/Mac almost two months ago. Here are some things I learned. Maybe they're obvious to everyone else, but hopefully I help somebody.

Reddit is spiky
I was able to get a couple hundred downloads of the game from Reddit pretty easily with just a couple posts on r/indiegames and r/indiegaming. The immediate jump in downloads was nice, but as soon as it dropped off the first page of those subreddits (or even the top 5 posts), it went quiet, and there was no residual discussion in other channels about it. Things simply aren't visible for long enough there to have a significant impact.

Twitter less important than I thought?
I don't have many people following me, but luckily some people with significantly larger audiences managed to find the game and tweet about it, complete with links, videos, etc. From what I can tell, that promotion led to very little in terms of actual download numbers. Tweets fade very fast into the background, and if people didn't catch it right when it was made, they'll probably never see it. So despite a reach of several thousands, I think I got maybe 40 downloads form it. It doesn't help that Twitter is primarily accessed (I believe) from mobile devices that can't play the game (I may be changing that).

TIGsource saved me
I'd made a devlog on tigsource when I first started working on the game, and within a couple months had stopped updating it at all. Now that the game was done, I figured I may as well put a last post on and mark it as finished. That one action is actually the most significant thing I did in promoting the game. There is this weekly "magazine" called the TIGSource devlog magazine that ended up featuring my game near the top (as the only finished game of the bunch). This got it a whole lot of attention, which leads to the next point.

Press love curation
As soon as it appeared in the tigsource devlog magazine, other press places started to pick up on it. indiegames.com. freeindiegam.es. pcgamer. And for each one it was pretty apparent where they'd first encountered the game. Each of those sites mentioned is another layer of curation, but the first occurrence seems to give the work credence, and then other places' job was made easier. I just happened to be lucky in this case.

Finally, neogaf
This thread is also a good vehicle for driving downloads. Based on the number of people that post in the thread and the number of downloads I got, it seems like there are a lot of lurkers monitoring, which is great.

Download numbers by platform
Code:
237 	umbragram_mac
562 	umbragram_win32
1032 	umbragram_win64
Thank's for the write-up! What's the strategy for the next game?


It's media blitz time next week. First trailer. A big announcement. Voice cast reveal. PAX East playable demo.

omgomgomgomgomg
omg ... will there be a dirty-talk patch day 1? :D
 

missile

Member
So I sent out a bunch of promo codes last night. First reply was listing of prices. From $0, which includes a news post and a social media promotion. Reviews starting at $99 then all the way up to $499 for videos...

While searching for sites I found a bunch that sell reviews, which I ignored. But it's kinda depressing how many sites do this. This one in particular doesn't seem to advertise that its reviews are paid...
Perhaps they need to pay for the bandwidth, electricity, and their babies
as well? I don't know. At least you have the freedom to say no.

What would be cool is if there would be a section on GAF where members can
post reviews of a game enlisted for everyone to read. I think this would
fit the community quite well. Members can build reputation for being good
reviewers such that their critics may value higher than any possibly biased
magazine trying to make a profit out of it.


Guys, I'm still a junior and henceforth still am restricted from erupted no threads on here. May anyone post a topic on the practice of copying other games and resources for the development of mobile games, and the solutions to prevent them and protected oneself. For instance, I have just learned that the 2048 phenomenon turns out that I be a copycat from one title name THREES. And it turns out that it is simply one amongst a myriad of other examples are here a game has been ripped and published, witnessing the original game fall into somber darkness whereas the copycats reaching the apple store / Android top 3. I am therefore curious about those practices, why they exist and why and how to prevent others from ripping a game published my myself for instance, and whereas it is possible or not to sue them. An informative topic dedicated entirely to that matter would most certainly be very practical and would prove incredibly useful to many. A list of different games and studios that witnessed such unfortunate experience could be listed as well to expose dangers ans safety measures. Thanks.
I think this will lead to nowhere. The only way out is to go ahead doing new
things and exploring new ways. If you rest for too long the pack catches up on
you. That's the fundamental problem with art, creativity, etc; you can't rest,
you always have to go new/other ways. And this is what makes an artist --
taking the risk doing so. Same applies for games. If you stick for too long,
others will catch up on you. And if your game is so simple that reskinning
makes it a hit, well, dig deeper next time. ;)
 

Davision

Neo Member
My game Last Knight got a update last night. (launched last week on Steam) It is mostly a patch but there is also now the freeze and cheese feature for your deaths.
smashcam-1.jpg

Here is the whole news:
http://steamcommunity.com/games/262210/announcements/detail/1280454197282206734

Also new since yesterday, a video about the game by Unit Lost:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj5D9IO7a7M
 

friken

Member
Well, I think both suck. I can't see the game. The only thing I can see and
like is the art style and sound. The game needs to be put more into
perspective. And I don't care about who ever has won any award on anything. I
would never put something like this in a video esp. not for a new game. Either
you (the studio) has the reputation or not. If not, then you have to build it
by doing greate games. Since on the other hand I ask myself why do "you" need
support when you have award winners on-board? And having won something doesn't
say anything about the next game. There is nothing one can rest upon in the
games industry. About the studio's name; just show it once in the beginning.
The reputation for a studio needs to be build on solid games and won't come
from showing the studio's name multiple times.

I get what you are saying to a point but disagree with some of this. Yes ultimately great games have a huge leg up on success, but marketing current awards and previous awards helps a lot. As a gamer, I definitely take note of such things as it shows me that they have been around before, and their games have displayed enough quality to get industry attention, which can be hard to do.

There is something very humbling that I've started looking into lately... and that is exactly how many indie games are competing for attention. I knew the indie space was crowded but the more I look into it I'm dumbfounded by how much more crowded it is than I thought. Steam is a single target of many and they greenlight between 100-150 indie games EVERY MONTH! 1200-1800 indie titles a year -- gulp. Add to that the indie titles that get to skip the greenlight process due to existing popularity. Add to that the A to AAA studio games we compete with. It is a VERY crowded place!

Back the the two videos. I do like the second video better. It does a better job of showing me what the game is. I did see enough gameplay to get an idea of puzzles that use edge wrapping, clever. The art and music feel is great. And showing awards does help you stand out to viewers as something that has already gotten some attention and is worth of looking into further.

In this crowded space marketing is very important -- critical even. It can make a meh game successful and lack of marketing can doom a great game to obscurity. My 2 cents on the two videos... the first is a 7/10 and second a 8/10. I do think that both could show more clever level designs so it isn't as hard to tell exactly what the puzzles are. Minor critique though, as I think most people will get it enough to decide if that game-play type is of interest to them. Good work and nice looking game!
 

friken

Member
Our next two alien races are ready for animation. Hopefully I'll have both ingame and animated next week:

The Lopik, a telekinetic race:


The Krex:


Also next week, we are working on the storyline intro sequence. The current plan is to get the intro sequence, and alien dialog system in place so we can make an end to end promo video showing story, exploration, alien interaction, and combat. It seems like a minimum needed to get the idea of what the game is about across in a video, especially for gamers unfamiliar with starflight/starcontrol type games from a couple decades ago.

Misc. dev videos of progress over the last few weeks:
http://www.indiedb.com/games/stardiver/videos
 

missile

Member
I get what you are saying to a point but disagree with some of this. Yes ultimately great games have a huge leg up on success, but marketing current awards and previous awards helps a lot. As a gamer, I definitely take note of such things as it shows me that they have been around before, and their games have displayed enough quality to get industry attention, which can be hard to do. ...
But what does it say about the game in the video? A special video about the
studio, or a special place on their webpage will be just fine in telling their
achievements. For me it was irritating seeing the video with these kinds of
interruptions -- taking me out of the game as such. It's not about being
against the awards, it's about how the video is composed together. The awards
don't tell me nothing about the game. If they do for you, go for it. Just my
perspective no one needs to adhere to. ;)
 

fin

Member
That's me in the video! I have a Bachelor of Arts in Game Design from DigiPen Institute of Technology.


Popping in here to get some opinions on an alternate cut of the trailer, since the current one is seeing a lot of ciritcism.
Here's the original, currently on the Kickstarter page:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiUSGJDEk7Q

Here's the alternate edit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq4AMt5k5fg&feature=youtu.be

Thoughts? Thanks!

I didn't have a problem with the first one either. But ya use the second one.
 
forestfire2.jpg


Another image of our game of the forest shown earlier but now on fire. We have full 360 degree rotation of the gunner and her hair animates (her hair will look slightly different from this). The pilot animations are done and just need to be programmed in. Next up is the pilot's hair animations and finishing up the gunner's secondary weapon animation.

We also have the whole scene in motion somewhere, I need to ask my partner for it.
 

Makai

Member
Guys, I'm still a junior and henceforth still am restricted from erupted no threads on here. May anyone post a topic on the practice of copying other games and resources for the development of mobile games, and the solutions to prevent them and protected oneself. For instance, I have just learned that the 2048 phenomenon turns out that I be a copycat from one title name THREES. And it turns out that it is simply one amongst a myriad of other examples are here a game has been ripped and published, witnessing the original game fall into somber darkness whereas the copycats reaching the apple store / Android top 3. I am therefore curious about those practices, why they exist and why and how to prevent others from ripping a game published my myself for instance, and whereas it is possible or not to sue them. An informative topic dedicated entirely to that matter would most certainly be very practical and would prove incredibly useful to many. A list of different games and studios that witnessed such unfortunate experience could be listed as well to expose dangers ans safety measures. Thanks.
We're all copying each other to varying degrees. Take it as a compliment.

PS: Because 2048 was open source, it led to a creative explosion of 2048 forks and a lot of them were pretty neat.

http://jamesdonnelly.github.io/Isotopic256/
http://emils.github.io/2048-multiplayer/
 

Jobbs

Banned
playing with light bloom shader effects. this is in stencyl, the feature is still preliminary.

this is probably turned up a bit more than I'd actually use it.

(I'm aware some people don't like bloom, and again, it's exaggerated a bit here. I'm just experimenting. :) )

bloomvalues.gif


watch the light colored stones as I creep right, they come into the light radius and become bloomed.

here you can see how it makes sparks and explosions look kind of interesting.

bloom2.gif


again, work in progress, still playing with my new toy.

(p.s., I'm aware the light orbs on the plants aren't being blocked out by the passing enemies, that's just a layering annoyance I didn't bother to fix yet)
 

cbox

Member
Our next two alien races are ready for animation. Hopefully I'll have both ingame and animated next week:

The Lopik, a telekinetic race:


The Krex:


Also next week, we are working on the storyline intro sequence. The current plan is to get the intro sequence, and alien dialog system in place so we can make an end to end promo video showing story, exploration, alien interaction, and combat. It seems like a minimum needed to get the idea of what the game is about across in a video, especially for gamers unfamiliar with starflight/starcontrol type games from a couple decades ago.

Misc. dev videos of progress over the last few weeks:
http://www.indiedb.com/games/stardiver/videos

Can't wait to see em! Great work again.

No new progress on Shwip, but here's a gif of some mine/whip action

izQpMnB1gWujy.gif
 
playing with light bloom shader effects. this is in stencyl, the feature is still preliminary.

this is probably turned up a bit more than I'd actually use it.

(I'm aware some people don't like bloom, and again, it's exaggerated a bit here. I'm just experimenting. :) )

bloomvalues.gif


watch the light colored stones as I creep right, they come into the light radius and become bloomed.

here you can see how it makes sparks and explosions look kind of interesting.

bloom2.gif


again, work in progress, still playing with my new toy.

(p.s., I'm aware the light orbs on the plants aren't being blocked out by the passing enemies, that's just a layering annoyance I didn't bother to fix yet)

That looks like it could be pretty cool although obv needs a bit of fine tuning.

How easy it for you to port things from Unity to Stencyl? Kinda curious. I've played around with both, not sure what engine I should really use since I'm a total beginner.
 

Five

Banned
There's some obscenely beautiful stuff here on this page so far.

@Jobbs
The bloom effect makes the emissive stuff look good, but the non-emissive bright stuff looks strange. Generally, bloom is used for elements that are way brighter than everything else, so light sources. The best way to do that is with an HDR frame buffer that allows colors brighter than 1.0, but I don't know if Stencyl has that capability. Maybe it'd be enough to adjust the curve so that only the very brightest parts of the image get an Airy pattern.

That said, since you're clearly okay with using post-processing shaders, might I suggest a Perlin noise shader instead of that three-image noise pattern you've been using? I think you'll appreciate the results.
 

Jobbs

Banned
@Jobbs
The bloom effect makes the emissive stuff look good, but the non-emissive bright stuff looks strange. Generally, bloom is used for elements that are way brighter than everything else, so light sources. The best way to do that is with an HDR frame buffer that allows colors brighter than 1.0, but I don't know if Stencyl has that capability. Maybe it'd be enough to adjust the curve so that only the very brightest parts of the image get an Airy pattern.

That said, since you're clearly okay with using post-processing shaders, might I suggest a Perlin noise shader instead of that three-image noise pattern you've been using? I think you'll appreciate the results.

Well, it's a work in progress, there are a lot of values on this thing to figure out and it's a lot of trial and error. I'm not sure which part you think is strange, but the "inflict damage" stuff is a flashing inversion effect and not caused by the bloom. in the first image it's intentionally exaggerated, and would probably represent a specific type of extra luminescent area.

My goal has been to make the effect apply to the brightest colors, and that's generally how I'm getting it zeroed in.

There's a noise shader, too, (among others) I just haven't gotten around to experimenting with everything yet.

How easy it for you to port things from Unity to Stencyl? Kinda curious. I've played around with both, not sure what engine I should really use since I'm a total beginner.

It's pretty easy to use Stencyl so long as you're using it for what it's good at, so the process of stencyling has been pretty easy. You get involved in a little setback when you cahnge something, but I've quickly learned to roll with things and understand that ebbs, flows, and setbacks are just all part of it.

If you're a total beginner and have no programming background, Stencyl's not a bad place to start if you want to make 2D games.
 
I feel like we do a lot of discussion about the development of a game, but not much for post-release stuff. I feel like that's a really crucial part of the lifecycle for a game that isn't really being serviced. I'd like to change that a bit.

For context, I released a freeware game on PC/Mac almost two months ago. Here are some things I learned. Maybe they're obvious to everyone else, but hopefully I help somebody.

Reddit is spiky
I was able to get a couple hundred downloads of the game from Reddit pretty easily with just a couple posts on r/indiegames and r/indiegaming. The immediate jump in downloads was nice, but as soon as it dropped off the first page of those subreddits (or even the top 5 posts), it went quiet, and there was no residual discussion in other channels about it. Things simply aren't visible for long enough there to have a significant impact.

Twitter less important than I thought?
I don't have many people following me, but luckily some people with significantly larger audiences managed to find the game and tweet about it, complete with links, videos, etc. From what I can tell, that promotion led to very little in terms of actual download numbers. Tweets fade very fast into the background, and if people didn't catch it right when it was made, they'll probably never see it. So despite a reach of several thousands, I think I got maybe 40 downloads form it. It doesn't help that Twitter is primarily accessed (I believe) from mobile devices that can't play the game (I may be changing that).

TIGsource saved me
I'd made a devlog on tigsource when I first started working on the game, and within a couple months had stopped updating it at all. Now that the game was done, I figured I may as well put a last post on and mark it as finished. That one action is actually the most significant thing I did in promoting the game. There is this weekly "magazine" called the TIGSource devlog magazine that ended up featuring my game near the top (as the only finished game of the bunch). This got it a whole lot of attention, which leads to the next point.

Press love curation
As soon as it appeared in the tigsource devlog magazine, other press places started to pick up on it. indiegames.com. freeindiegam.es. pcgamer. And for each one it was pretty apparent where they'd first encountered the game. Each of those sites mentioned is another layer of curation, but the first occurrence seems to give the work credence, and then other places' job was made easier. I just happened to be lucky in this case.

Finally, neogaf
This thread is also a good vehicle for driving downloads. Based on the number of people that post in the thread and the number of downloads I got, it seems like there are a lot of lurkers monitoring, which is great.

Download numbers by platform
Code:
237 	umbragram_mac
562 	umbragram_win32
1032 	umbragram_win64
Very interesting. Yeah, I totally agree about Reddit. My blog will get hundreds of views when I post an article link on Reddit; usually I get in the 30-50 range

Oh, and I'm helping out with the TIGForum Devlog magazine now, combing through the devlogs and curating the interesting and regularly updated ones to be featured in the magazine. So if you guys are planning on starting a devlog, I'll keep an eye out. I know Friken has one for StarDiver.
 

Blizzard

Banned
Technically Saturday is already over, but here is some more work in progress pixel art practice for the game I am working on. I hesitate to even share since it is so bad, but at least it is sort of cool to see progress in a sculpting-esque fashion. I am trying to remember to save versions as I go so I can see the progress when I am done.


ship4tssi9.png


I am going on 3 weeks straight where I have done pixel art every day. I am not sure I have really improved much, but I am trying to keep going. Sometimes even visualizing exactly what I want is difficult too.

The background is SUPER placeholder since at minimum I would want a bigger pattern to make tiling less obvious, and a better solution might be to use some procedural generation and a big background image anyway.

I do not have many colors yet too. :p
 

Five

Banned
Well, it's a work in progress, there are a lot of values on this thing to figure out and it's a lot of trial and error. I'm not sure which part you think is strange, but the "inflict damage" stuff is a flashing inversion effect and not caused by the bloom. in the first image it's intentionally exaggerated, and would probably represent a specific type of extra luminescent area.

The problem areas for me are the ground and the player character. The rocks in the middle of the screen at the end of the first GIF look like they're floodlights based on how bright they are, and the character appears to be emitting a sort of blue light as well.

I'm all for fun effects, and playing with shaders is an addiction I can appreciate, but you need to know when to be bombastic and when to be subtle. You've mentioned twice now that the effect is exaggerated, and I'm merely agreeing with this.
 

EDarkness

Member
Well, my Kickstarter is just about done. Took a lot of work, and outside of a couple of tweeks to the video, it's finished. Honestly, can't wait to get this over with. Heh, the whole thing makes me nervous and many people have lots and lots of feedback. Sifting through it all is hard and I'm pretty much to the point where I'm gonna go in as is. I could spend weeks messing with it. So good or bad, I'll just have to live with what I have. I hope everyone likes it.
 
Yaaaaaaaaaay !

We did it ! We finished our Kickstarter for Planets³ !

Now the hardest/funniest part begins, thanks for everybody who shared or donated here ! :)
Planets³ dev is a Gaffer, didn't even know. Congrats! Your game looks awesome and incredibly ambitious

Well, my Kickstarter is just about done. Took a lot of work, and outside of a couple of tweeks to the video, it's finished. Honestly, can't wait to get this over with. Heh, the whole thing makes me nervous and many people have lots and lots of feedback. Sifting through it all is hard and I'm pretty much to the point where I'm gonna go in as is. I could spend weeks messing with it. So good or bad, I'll just have to live with what I have. I hope everyone likes it.
What game are you working on? I'll add it to the 2014 Kickstarter thread (if it's not there already)
 

Lihwem

Member
Planets³ dev is a Gaffer, didn't even know. Congrats! Your game looks awesome and incredibly ambitious

Actually I'm the sound designer/composer of the game but thanks ! The team (both programers & artists) is very very talented and it's really motivational to work with them !
 
Does anyone know the easiest way to get an xna game running on mac? I'm guessing it's porting it to monogame but if there's any simple way to package it up and get it playing as quickly as possible, that'd be great.
 

friken

Member
Felt like getting some work done today. All the arm segments were fun to cutup and get rigged :)

First go at krex idle animation (note the particles won't loop in a gif):
iEBL7BNITpfjM.gif
 

lashman

Steam-GAF's Official Ambassador to Gaming-GAF
well ... just wanted to drop by and show 2 short gifs from a game we're currently working on :) hope you like 'em

Ys7Ym0Z.gif
LqzyWgP.gif
 

friken

Member
well ... just wanted to drop by and show 2 short gifs from a game we're currently working on :) hope you like 'em

Nice work. The flashlight effect is well done. I especially like that in the non lit area on the chair scene you can still make out stuff. I dislike when games fully black out all but flashlight area.
 

lashman

Steam-GAF's Official Ambassador to Gaming-GAF
Nice work. The flashlight effect is well done. I especially like that in the non lit area on the chair scene you can still make out stuff. I dislike when games fully black out all but flashlight area.

thanks :) and yeah - that's pretty much the effect we're going for ... you can always see SOMETHING, even in total darkness :)

I still have to do a better cookie for the flashlight, though ... this one is the default one ;)
 

Jobbs

Banned
well ... just wanted to drop by and show 2 short gifs from a game we're currently working on :) hope you like 'em

Ys7Ym0Z.gif
LqzyWgP.gif

I agree the flashligjht effect is pretty awesome, I like the colors a lot in the left image, and I like the strange green glow from the flashlight (some kind of lens anomaly?). \

so what is the game?
 

Blizzard

Banned
Is that another horror game with chromatic aberration? ;____; There are some really glaring color rings at the bottom, is it a game where you are looking through a visor/helmet/camera?
 

razu

Member
Is that another horror game with chromatic aberration? ;____; There are some really glaring color rings at the bottom, is it a game where you are looking through a visor/helmet/camera?

If we're going to point out, "Is that another...", then we're going to have a lot of "Is that another" posts...

Personally, I love the look and feel, but am in a difficult place. I want to know what the *game* is about. But I want to play the game, and so I don't want to know what the game is about :D
 

Blizzard

Banned
If we're going to point out, "Is that another...", then we're going to have a lot of "Is that another" posts...

Personally, I love the look and feel, but am in a difficult place. I want to know what the *game* is about. But I want to play the game, and so I don't want to know what the game is about :D
Maybe I didn't make myself clear -- there are lots of horror games, and that's fine. I just wanted to voice my opinion that excessive chromatic aberration, especially when it doesn't make sense (no bad camera/lens/helmet in the line of sight), is the hellspawn of all foulness and evil.

I said "another" because if I recall correctly, there is another prominent horror game recently, using UE4 (Daylight?) that has super blatant chromatic aberration for no apparent reason. =P

It's the difference between saying "Another indie horror game?!" which is not my intention, and saying "Another game using this effect which I wish to voice my discouragement of?". :D

Note that anyone is welcome to do this. This is part of the reason I post my own terrible graphics. Anyone is welcome to say "Hey, pixel art SUCKS because [reasons]" or "Hey, your style SUCKS because [reasons]". If no one speaks up to point out criticisms, none of us as developers learn anything or hear anything except occasional positive feedback, no?
 
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