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[Limanima]

thank you muchly to answer your question, I mainly do it alone - I have a little help and support here and there, for instance, someone from the Stencyl forums wrote my shaders, but generally speaking I'm alone.

I think for the second game I'll need a small team to take it to the next level, but for this specific "thing" I'm doing now, a very core style game, what I'm doing seems to be working.

Are you developing the game for how long? Fulltime?
I'm asking this, because it took me (and a friend) almost 3 years to complete our game Snails, and it was much less complex (we developed it on spare time).

 

[Jobbs]

Are you developing the game for how long? Fulltime?
I'm asking this, because it took me (and a friend) almost 3 years to complete our game Snails, and it was much less complex (we developed it on spare time).

Fulltime, and the development has been pretty long and storied, the game's been under development in some form or another for almost 2 years. Its current iteration, the build I'm on now, is about 5 months old, but the design and ideas and some of the art are far older.

It'll be until later this year, if not sometime next year, before it's done. Doing this alone, and never having done a project this big, it's a bit hard to predict these things.

 

[cbox]

It'll be until later this year, if not sometime next year, before it's done. Doing this alone, and never having done a project this big, it's a bit hard to predict these things.

We figured that out too. Even though our game is pretty simple, it has a lot going on in the backend and we had to figure out everything from the ground up multiple times. I've also changed the design of certain elements several times and that Impacted the project time also. We definitely have learnings that we'll take into our next project.

 

[Jobbs]

We figured that out too. Even though our game is pretty simple, it has a lot going on in the backend and we had to figure out everything from the ground up multiple times. I've also changed the design of certain elements several times and that Impacted the project time also. We definitely have learnings that we'll take into our next project.

You say your game was simple outside and complex inside, I'd say mine is somewhat the reverse. The gameplay is very "core" and straightforward, and while there's some stats and stuff and some neat moves, it's all very traditional gameplay. The art is more the thing that makes it take a long time.

I plan the sequel to be complicated inside and out.

 

[cbox]

You say your game was simple outside and complex inside, I'd say mine is somewhat the reverse. The gameplay is very "core" and straightforward, and while there's some stats and stuff and some neat moves, it's all very traditional gameplay. The art is more the thing that makes it take a long time.

I plan the sequel to be complicated inside and out.

Funny since I'm the artist in our group I found that part to be the easiest, and always had time to give my friend ideas when he was writing code.

Can't wait to hear about your sequel, we have a huge game idea that we want to do next which makes me incredibly excited

 

[Jobbs]

Can't wait to hear about your sequel, we have a huge game idea that we want to do next which makes me incredibly excited

It's only in my head right now, it will be based on a character who appears in the first game as an NPC.

It'll be a more curvy, organic world, and have a higher emphasis on horror and alternatives to combat (although combat will still be possible, it just won't always be preferable -- different character, different abilities). Exploration remains and there'll be a bit more in the way of puzzles and even some stealth as well as new modes of mobility. It'll be all around more ambitious and I likely will need to assemble a team and get organized.

I'm not insane enough to spend a great deal of time designing the sequel before the first game is done, but as you can see nothing has stopped me from getting ideas in my head.

 

[Limanima]

I have my remote debugger working on my engine!
The remote debugger is a console that runs on a remote PC and receives data from the game that is running.
The game reports data, like FPS, objects that are in memory, assets that are loaded, logging information, everything I want. This happens in real time while the game is running.
I can also send commands to the game (quit game for instance).
At the moment I've only tested from PC->PC, but I'm hoping it will work from device (iPad, Android)->PC.

 

[Five]

Cool stuff!

I've been thinking about an action-y game similar to what you have and I'm thinking of ways to implement a shield. I was thinking of having a boolean isShielding and then have it set to true when the player holds down a key. Then do something like this:

if (isShielding) {
changeAnimations(); //change to animations with the shield up
lowerStaminaOnHit(); //instead of lowering health on hits, lower stamina
if (stamina == 0) {
lowerHealthOnHit();
}
}

That's pretty rough, but has the main ideas for what changes when you shield.

Well, I'm not sure you'd want to call all of those functions in perpetuity, but kind of.

In my game, there's a lot of things that change when you put your shield up. The animation has to change, but what it changes to depends on which animation it was previously in. Running changes to sidling. The character's locked to the direction she's facing, so pressing the key for the other direction makes her sidle backwards instead of turn around. Melee attacks change from a quicker, open swing to a slightly slower, shielded lunge. Getting hit from the front at the level of the shield doesn't hurt, but causes a mild stagger every time. Ducking no longer does a slide/roll if she's moving forward, but just hunkers down to the crawl pose. Various extra-idle poses won't trigger. There's probably more, too, that I'm missing.

In most of those cases, I don't have one huge bucket that takes care of it all. I have the bool like you say, isShielding, which I check whenever I need to do something. I don't know about Haxe, but GameMaker doesn't have ternary evaluations unfortunately, so I just add a script that duplicates what they do, where q(t, f, ?) returns the first or second parameter based on the truth value of the third parameter. That way I can call setAnimation(q("idleShield", "idle", isShielding)) instead of if (isShielding) setAnimation("idleShield") else setAnimation("idle").

Asking again, does anyone here know French or know anyone that could do some simple text translations for me?

I'd point you to the French-GAF sub, but there doesn't seem to be one. Maybe just start a thread in OT about it?

 

[razu]

We figured that out too. Even though our game is pretty simple, it has a lot going on in the backend and we had to figure out everything from the ground up multiple times. I've also changed the design of certain elements several times and that Impacted the project time also. We definitely have learnings that we'll take into our next project.

I'm not even bothering with thinking about a release date until the game is finished this time. There's no cost to development, no budget for marketing.. it'll be done when it's done!

I do like to set myself mini-milestones with deadlines though. Like, "get the rope powerup by the end of the month". Otherwise you can just drift..

 

[cbox]

I'm not even bothering with thinking about a release date until the game is finished this time. There's no cost to development, no budget for marketing.. it'll be done when it's done!

I do like to set myself mini-milestones with deadlines though. Like, "get the rope powerup by the end of the month". Otherwise you can just drift..

Agreed, we're doing the same for the most part. I'm using agile methods and other ways of managing work at my full time job and applying it to how we get things done. Been really helpful I must say, though I understand when you speak of drifting.

 

[chubigans]

Got my Xbox One devkit in the mail today! Wasn't expecting that at all. Now Game Maker just needs to support XB1 export and I'm all set!

edit: gonna make a Best Buy run to buy a new TV for it. I friggin' love electronics runs.

 

[Ashodin]

Wii U exclusive version screenshot of Apexicon, the bottom part is the GamePad interface.

 

[Blizzard]

I don't want to bog down in too much sprite detail adjustment again, but automating palette swap sprite creation made me realize that I had some flaws with my original sprites.

Namely, for at least two of my units, I had the attack animation built into the sprite, and the attack animation (such as fire) can use contrasting colors to the unit.

I could still try to go with full palette swaps, resulting in things like red lasers and blue fire, but I think for consistency I should probably completely split off the attack animations. More to manage, but the result should be cleaner and I can avoid palette-swapping the effects like fire and lasers and explosions completely.

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

Why is there almost zero documentation for using FMOD with Unity? And off topic, why does my local pizza shop only deliver after 5:00pm? wtf where's my lunch

 

[HelloMeow]

Why is there almost zero documentation for using FMOD with Unity? And off topic, why does my local pizza shop only deliver after 5:00pm? wtf where's my lunch

What are you trying to do?

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

I've only just started trying to use it today, but I want to know if there's a way to stop a sound only after it has completed it's loop, so it doesn't stop mid-sound.

 

[electricpirate]

Has anyone here submitted to IndieCade before? This is our first time Submitting and we aren't totally sure where to focus. The app suggest videos, but we don't have any, so we are going to do a quick and dirty multiplayer match commentary/tutorial. "Player 1 is doing this, and player 2 is attempting to stop him by doing x and y". I don't think we have the time or skill to cut a trailer yet sadly . Any other suggestions on what to watch out for, or target?

FWIW, this is a local multiplayer minimalist strategy game with rounds that last 2-4 minutes.

 

[HelloMeow]

I've only just started trying to use it today, but I want to know if there's a way to stop a sound only after it has completed it's loop, so it doesn't stop mid-sound.

Have you tried setting loop to false and just playing the sound? It should play only once.
http://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/AudioSource-loop.html

If that doesn't work with what you're trying to do, you could look at how much of the clip is remaining by looking at audioSource.time and audioSource.clip.length. Those will give you something more specific to work with.
You shouldn't have to do anything with FMOD. I believe you can't even use it directly.

 

[Wyndstryker]

As posted in another thread, Gamemaker Studio: Standard Edition is now free permanently.

http://gamemakerblog.com/2014/06/07/gamemaker-studio-standard-is-now-completely-free/

For those who paid for standard originally, you can look up this FAQ on what is different between the paid standard version and free one.

http://help.yoyogames.com/entries/73256086-GameMaker-Studio-Standard-Goes-Free-FAQ

 

[Michael Armbrust]

Got my Xbox One devkit in the mail today! Wasn't expecting that at all. Now Game Maker just needs to support XB1 export and I'm all set!

edit: gonna make a Best Buy run to buy a new TV for it. I friggin' love electronics runs.

Congrats!

Have you announced your XBOX title yet?

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

Have you tried setting loop to false and just playing the sound? It should play only once.
http://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/AudioSource-loop.html

If that doesn't work with what you're trying to do, you could look at how much of the clip is remaining by looking at audioSource.time and audioSource.clip.length. Those will give you something more specific to work with.
You shouldn't have to do anything with FMOD. I believe you can't even use it directly.

Yeah, I'm not using unity's system. I'm using fmod directly with their unity plugin.

 

[HelloMeow]

Yeah, I'm not using unity's system. I'm using fmod directly with their unity plugin.

Since when is that available? Interesting. I assumed you were since Unity uses FMOD.

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

Since when is that available? Interesting. I assumed you were since Unity uses FMOD.

Maybe just this year. And it's free for indies to use now, so I figure I might as well use it and have more control with fmod studio.

 

[Popstar]

Why is there almost zero documentation for using FMOD with Unity? And off topic, why does my local pizza shop only deliver after 5:00pm? wtf where's my lunch

FMOD Studio is a new product. It's only a couple months old.

Even the docs for using it directly with their C/C++ library aren't really up to snuff. The 10-ish line example for initializing the library doesn't even compile. You're on the bleeding edge.

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

So I'm a pioneer. Woohoo.

 

[Robin64]

I got my first ever game published on the Apple app store! I'm dead pleased with that.

It's really simple but it was mostly my project to start learning this sort of thing, so to get it into a state where it's playable on iPhone and iPad is a pretty big deal for me.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/heartfall/id885885378

 

[maniac-kun]

Started to make some stuff:

 

[razu]

Agreed, we're doing the same for the most part. I'm using agile methods and other ways of managing work at my full time job and applying it to how we get things done. Been really helpful I must say, though I understand when you speak of drifting.

Agile might actually work for something without a deadline! We use agile at work, but have fixed deadlines, which isn't a great fit! Really we're just re-planning all the time..

I don't need much more than a few todo post its for my own projects. And there's no coordination to manage, as there's only me working on it. I am the critical path, guaranteed!

So I'm a pioneer. Woohoo.

Blaze that trail!!

 

[SlipperySlope]

Oh yeah, Screenshot Saturday! I'll show off some concept art for the two main characters.

 

[maniac-kun]

Maybe i should add some pauldrons.

€: result:

Skeleton enemy:

 

[Feep]

Yo guys!

I was part of Glitch City Demo Night on the last day of E3...it was kind of like a mini-TED talk about game-related stuff. Here's the link.

My talk starts at around 55:10! It's about choice in gaming narrative.

But I'm really posting this so you guys can see Teddy Diefenbach's (Hyper Light Drifter) performance at 1:55:00. Everyone in this thread should watch it. IT IS AMAZING. Trust me.

And you should watch the others too, if you have time! They're all very interesting. Ashly Burch is in there, and a level designer at Insomniac, and other rad people.

 

[show me your skeleton]

Wii U exclusive version screenshot of Apexicon, the bottom part is the GamePad interface.

the thought of something i've written being on a mother fucking nintendo console is making my eyes get all soggy.
what is this?
why are my eyes wet?

 

[Ashodin]

the thought of something i've written being on a mother fucking nintendo console is making my eyes get all soggy.
what is this?
why are my eyes wet?

 

[chris-013]

Asking again, does anyone here know French or know anyone that could do some simple text translations for me?

I can try ! PM, what exactly do you want me to do.

 

[Ecto311]

In the very start is it good to have a GDD done and is there a preferred format for this?

Goal is a sidescroller with a few videos between parts of it. I know almost nothing and looking to use the free version of unity since it seems simple for this. My idea of the process would be to do an outline or GDD fleshing out what I want/need then use that to base it all around right? Better way to do this? Good to keep a notebook of things or use my phone to sync to evernote?

 

[-Winnie-]

I got my first ever game published on the Apple app store! I'm dead pleased with that.

It's really simple but it was mostly my project to start learning this sort of thing, so to get it into a state where it's playable on iPhone and iPad is a pretty big deal for me.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/heartfall/id885885378

Congrats! I'll check out the game now.

[edit]
I enjoyed it! It was pretty simplistic, but it made it easy to get into. Gameplay was pretty standard, but the main thing I liked was the unique atmosphere of each level. Great work on that!
If you plan to work on it more in the future, I've got a few suggestions:
-Should make the in-game HUD look nicer. Just plain text floating there makes it look unfinished.
-You've got some potential for a story. Doesn't need to be anything mindblowing, but some context for why you're collecting hearts could make it more enjoyable.

I left a review on iTunes for you, hope it helps!

 

[Michael Armbrust]

In the very start is it good to have a GDD done and is there a preferred format for this?

Goal is a sidescroller with a few videos between parts of it. I know almost nothing and looking to use the free version of unity since it seems simple for this. My idea of the process would be to do an outline or GDD fleshing out what I want/need then use that to base it all around right? Better way to do this? Good to keep a notebook of things or use my phone to sync to evernote?

GDDs are really important if you have a team and/or are working with outside sources.


If it's just you developing your game, then a GDD is still valuable but it can be a lot more sloppy since you'll be the only one reading it. Format it to suit your needs.


VizionEck's GDD was 70 pages and I just used Microsoft word.

 

[Limanima]

Congrats! I'll check out the game now.

[edit]
I enjoyed it! It was pretty simplistic, but it made it easy to get into. Gameplay was pretty standard, but the main thing I liked was the unique atmosphere of each level. Great work on that!
If you plan to work on it more in the future, I've got a few suggestions:
-Should make the in-game HUD look nicer. Just plain text floating there makes it look unfinished.
-You've got some potential for a story. Doesn't need to be anything mindblowing, but some context for why you're collecting hearts could make it more enjoyable.

I left a review on iTunes for you, hope it helps!

Now that you are at it, try mine!
Snails
It's been a huge fail regarding the download count. The game is steadly getting 250 downloads per day on Windows Phone for a year, and next to 0 downloads on iOS. What a disappointment.
There's also a paid version with game center leaderboards and achievements.

 

[HellBlazer]

It's only in my head right now, it will be based on a character who appears in the first game as an NPC.

It'll be a more curvy, organic world, and have a higher emphasis on horror and alternatives to combat (although combat will still be possible, it just won't always be preferable -- different character, different abilities). Exploration remains and there'll be a bit more in the way of puzzles and even some stealth as well as new modes of mobility. It'll be all around more ambitious and I likely will need to assemble a team and get organized.

I'm not insane enough to spend a great deal of time designing the sequel before the first game is done, but as you can see nothing has stopped me from getting ideas in my head.

Stealth E3 announcement: Ghost Song 2 confirmed!

 

[Granadier]

Wii U exclusive version screenshot of Apexicon, the bottom part is the GamePad interface.

Picking up a Wii U soon. Excited to play your game on it!!

It's looking great.

 

[-Winnie-]

Now that you are at it, try mine!
Snails
It's been a huge fail regarding the download count. The game is steadly getting 250 downloads per day on Windows Phone for a year, and next to 0 downloads on iOS. What a disappointment.
There's also a paid version with game center leaderboards and achievements.

250 a day on Windows Phone is pretty amazing! Too bad about the iOS, but it's definitely much harder to make an impact in that market. We released an iOS game about a month ago and it's been a real challenge getting noticed on iOS. Have you done much marketing for Snails on either platform?

I'll give your game a play and report back when I'm done!

 

[Ashodin]

Picking up a Wii U soon. Excited to play your game on it!!

It's looking great.

Uploading a youtube vid of the Wii U version atm!

 

[Limanima]

250 a day on Windows Phone is pretty amazing! Too bad about the iOS, but it's definitely much harder to make an impact in that market. We released an iOS game about a month ago and it's been a real challenge getting noticed on iOS. Have you done much marketing for Snails on either platform?

I'll give your game a play and report back when I'm done!

A few posts on our facebook page and some tweets, nothing that would inpact downloads. But the game was featured several times on Windows Phone in a lot of countries. But that was some time ago,i don't know why we keep having so much downloads on Windows Phone.
The game (both versions) has about 350k downloads on wp, having it's peek in about 8k downloads on a single day.

 

[-Winnie-]

A few posts on our facebook page and some tweets, nothing that would inpact downloads. But the game was featured several times on Windows Phone in a lot of countries. But that was some time ago,i don't know why we keep having so much downloads on Windows Phone.
The game (both versions) has about 350k downloads on wp, having it's peek in about 8k downloads on a single day.

Wow, 350k is sweet! Goes to show the power of getting featured.

Anyways, played Snails. Here are my thoughts:
-Seems to be heavily inspired by Lemmings but with the twist of having snails that can walk on walls. This made it easy to grasp the core of the game, but it was different enough that it doesn't feel like a ripoff.
-The levels I played were pretty challenging, even at the beginning. I enjoyed the challenge though.
-The game has a Flash-game kind of look to it, which isn't overly appealing. Still, I thought there was a good amount of polish in the presentation, especially with all the nice GUI animations. Also small detail, but I liked watching the snails go around corners haha

I left a review for you as well.

 

[Ashodin]

Youtube of Wii U Version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d94IQ88TAnU

 

[-Winnie-]

Youtube of Wii U Version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d94IQ88TAnU

Looking good! (error was unfortunate haha)
I'm curious, was it hard/expensive to get onto Wii U? We've got a title in the works that could be worth porting to Wii U, but not sure if it'd be worth the investment.

 

[Jobbs]

Youtube of Wii U Version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d94IQ88TAnU

Nice. Exciting!

Hoping to be in this situation in the near future myself!

 

[Michael Armbrust]

Looking good! (error was unfortunate haha)
I'm curious, was it hard/expensive to get onto Wii U? We've got a title in the works that could be worth porting to Wii U, but not sure if it'd be worth the investment.

Ashodin would probably agree with me, but the best thing to do is just contact Nintendo.

It doesn't take that long to become a registered developer, and then you can get the "meat" of the information that's hidden behind NDAs.

Also it really depends on what engine you're using. If it's something multiplatform like Unity, then yeah it'd probably be worth the investment. I've yet to release a Wii U title though. My answer is only from the perspective of development.

 

[Ashodin]

Yep, go all in on Ninty. Just get yourself out there.

 

[domino99]

Gifs ftw

and a new devlog

http://youtu.be/qk6cLp2U5kU

Website: http://beyondhumanproject.com/