More_Badass
Member
Just checked out your site. Love the minimal art style and tone. Will be keeping an eye out for the gameplay video
-
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
Michael Armbrust
Member
Thanks.
The current site is being fully replaced, so you're one of the last few people to see it as is.
I see all you guys posting great screenshots of your games, that I fear to show mine. When I do post a screen I'll have to explain why I am developing such a simple and stupid game.
Meanwhile I'm making progress on Android. It's not running yet but it's reaching java code. Now I have to find out what the hell is happening with my c++ lib that it's crashing on load. It's only 150 source files, should be easy...
Meanwhile I'm making progress on Android. It's not running yet but it's reaching java code. Now I have to find out what the hell is happening with my c++ lib that it's crashing on load. It's only 150 source files, should be easy...
post away, every one of us worry our games arent up to snuff
Looking very nice!
BTW - I picked up Sprite Lamp after you posted about your 2D lighting techniques a couple months ago and it's been fantastic to use. Much easier and less labor intensive than the 'fake' lighting I was trying earlier and wasn't a problem getting it running in Unity. Thanks for posting about that
Michael Armbrust
Member
I sure know what you're talking about
Here people are showing great artistic games (edt: perfect example above) and I'm all like, "I made a cube!"
Post it regardless though. I think most of us are smart enough to see projects for what they are.
Jacksinthe
Banned
Look at my avatar. Now look at what everyone else is doing. POST UP, YO.
More_Badass
Member
I'm no developer, but I'm always following the development of games and always immersed in the indie scene. Don't be ashamed to show what you have. I've tried my hand at game dev once, and it made me realize just how taxing and challenging it can be. Any game is an achievement worth showing off.
So come on, show us what you're working on
I'll post it sure, soon...
Meanwhile I caught the problem!
This was the faulting code:
There's no #define for Android returning an unknown result!
This was making the lib crashing on load because this is used in the constructor of the only global object I have.
Still crashing, but now I can track the code (or will, when I manage to debug the c++ code).
Meanwhile I caught the problem!
This was the faulting code:
Code:
// static
PK_String PK_Environment::GetGameStoragePath()
{
#ifdef POKE_IOS
return GetAppDocumentsFolder();
#endif
#ifdef POKE_WINDOWS
return PK_String(".");
#endif
}There's no #define for Android returning an unknown result!
This was making the lib crashing on load because this is used in the constructor of the only global object I have.
Still crashing, but now I can track the code (or will, when I manage to debug the c++ code).
Looking very nice!
BTW - I picked up Sprite Lamp after you posted about your 2D lighting techniques a couple months ago and it's been fantastic to use. Much easier and less labor intensive than the 'fake' lighting I was trying earlier and wasn't a problem getting it running in Unity. Thanks for posting about that
np, i just saw a nice spritelamp like unity addon in the asset store. dont recall the name but looked nice.... always more asset store stuff i want to buy
Geminosity
Member
I thought the blocks on the left minimized the game and the one on the right makes you quit ;D
It be a physics puzzle
hahahah
edit: this is why you attach your setpieces to your blocks, kids
http://gfycat.com/UnimportantGlaringArthropods
I fixed some bugs and worked more on the interface states, but I also started playing with background tiles since missile mentioned it was annoying to look at them. No one had suggestions, so I hope it is okay if I post some experiments and ask for opinions again.
I may also try to provide a few different variants of the tiles throughout a map, and/or provide some texture in the middle. It is difficult to do fitting low-contrast textures that look fitting, and not high-frequency/busy/distracting.
As always, please let me know (either post or PM) if I am spamming too many posts or screenshots in the thread!
Original:
Experiment 1:
Experiment 2:
Experiment 3:
Experiment 4:
I may also try to provide a few different variants of the tiles throughout a map, and/or provide some texture in the middle. It is difficult to do fitting low-contrast textures that look fitting, and not high-frequency/busy/distracting.
As always, please let me know (either post or PM) if I am spamming too many posts or screenshots in the thread!
anonymous_abc
Member
My vote goes to Experiment 3.
I like the brighter color of experiment 2, i think it fits vehicles colors better, but the tile should have details like experiment 3 imo.
I really like the block movement effect!hahahah
edit: this is why you attach your setpieces to your blocks, kids
http://gfycat.com/UnimportantGlaringArthropods
superNESjoe
Member
Really cool stuff Ashodin. Seeing your guys builds makes me nervous to show off our game =P.
I would make the transition effect of the particles coming towards you muchHere you go! We need to adjust the size of the pieces so it fits in a bit better, but here's the jist
http://www.gfycat.com/EnchantedSmoothAmazontreeboa#
smoother. Seems like said particles are generated on top of the bulk upon
implosion.
Big ego, you have. Heh?
lol No, you don't have. And btw 'simple and stupid' games were quite successful
in the past. Screens, now!
For the time being, experiment number 3.
Funny!...
Seems to be hexagons.
enemies interacting.
http://gfycat.com/AncientFlickeringCaribou
since taking this gif I've added a few things, (mainly visual) but generally speaking what happens is the support bots feed ammo to the main bots which lets them shoot at you. if you kill all of them and leave the support bots intact, the support bots will take you to be another battlebot and start following you and feeding you special ammo (which, by the way, is a nice thing -- special ammo isn't commonly found outside of save rooms)
http://gfycat.com/AncientFlickeringCaribou
since taking this gif I've added a few things, (mainly visual) but generally speaking what happens is the support bots feed ammo to the main bots which lets them shoot at you. if you kill all of them and leave the support bots intact, the support bots will take you to be another battlebot and start following you and feeding you special ammo (which, by the way, is a nice thing -- special ammo isn't commonly found outside of save rooms)
Started working on my first game this week. Had a week of from my gap-year job in between school and uni and had a crack at using GameMaker Studio. All the art is done by myself and my girlfriend with all programming done by me. GML has been really quick to learn.
Sprite art is surprisingly difficult but I feel like making a game might be doable considering the you can get away with surprisingly low frames of animation.
I also found an interesting way to get the game running at 60FPS while keeping the sprite animations at a lower one and wondered if this was the create way to do this.
Essentially, the room settings are set to 60FPS and I have an object which all other objects in the game inherit, where the create event runs a script which sets the image_speed to the low value required.
I have made three characters so far. I haven't decided which one(s) will be playable so they currently all are. Here is a gif of me testing a blocking animation. (So far only downard facing is animated.) :
http://i.imgur.com/BkqrqKb.gif
And here I am testing 8 directional movement and the way depth is calculated (no collision detection but can walk in front of and behind trees
):http://i.imgur.com/MymQfVz.gif
Finally, some large character art:
superNESjoe
Member
Started working on my first game this week. Had a week of from my gap-year job in between school and uni and had a crack at using GameMaker Studio. All the art is done by myself and my girlfriend with all programming done by me. GML has been really quick to learn.
Sprite art is surprisingly difficult but I feel like making a game might be doable considering the you can get away with surprisingly low frames of animation.
I also found an interesting way to get the game running at 60FPS while keeping the sprite animations at a lower one and wondered if this was the create way to do this.
Essentially, the room settings are set to 60FPS and I have an object which all other objects in the game inherit, where the create event runs a script which sets the image_speed to the low value required.
I have made three characters so far. I haven't decided which one(s) will be playable so they currently all are. Here is a gif of me testing a blocking animation. (So far only downard facing is animated.) :
http://i.imgur.com/BkqrqKb.gif
And here I am testing 8 directional movement and the way depth is calculated (no collision detection but can walk in front of and behind trees
http://i.imgur.com/MymQfVz.gif
Finally, some large character art:
GMS is a really powerful tool if you really dig deep into GML. I honestly use a variety of different image speeds for each object and the various animations within them, but I'm not trying to get very smooth looking animation considering we're visually emulating an NES game. Our current project will be the last time we use GMS, so we intend to go out with a bang.
Good luck on your first game! If you can finish one, you can finish anything.
Thank you!
Honestly, I haven't done too much investigating but did old NES (or SNES) games have sprites with different animation speeds? I think I may do that as I have 4 frames of animation for blocking but only used to as cycling through the 4 was to slow. I was worried that it may look a bit 'off' if some things animate at different speeds to others, or is it all ok?
Is there anywhere I can see the game you are working on? I love the artstyle of your avatar.
superNESjoe
Member
We're taking some liberations with the NES hardware limitations to make a game that feels like an NES game (both in visuals and, perhaps more importantly, design and gameplay) but isn't hindered due to those restrictions. Some of our decisions for things like varying animation speeds basically came down to a gameplay reason being more important than an authenticity reason.
Visually, it's mainly the restricted color palette and amount of colors per sprite and background that we are sticking to to maintain that NES look. We are also building the game off a simulated NES resolution with a pixel height of 240. With 16x16 tiles that allows us to have 15 tiles on our screen at a time, just like an NES game like Mega Man. Again, some liberties have been taken such as amount of sprites on screen, but we feel it still looks the part.
There is no website up for GunWorld yet, I'll probably be posting the first screenshot tomorrow in the Screenshot Saturday thread. We'll be launching a website for the game later this month, and doing a Kickstarter as well.
EDIT: Against my better judgment I've decided to just show a chunk of a screenshot. We're in Pre-Alpha so I'm nervous about showing the game before I feel it's visually ready. This is our main character wielding the default knife you spawn with.
As for my avatar? That's Little Mac from Punch-Out.
Yaay! Submitted version 1.1 of Acrocatic to the Unity Asset Store. Hope it gets accepted soon and boosts the sales a bit. It adds moving platforms, sinking platforms, ladder climbing and much more. For the ones who're interested, click here for the changes.
Michael Armbrust
Member
Michael Armbrust
Member
Not bad at all.
I've messed around with some other engines on it, but VizionEck is being made with Unity.
Jacksinthe
Banned
This is refreshing and amazing. This is what my game would look like in 1st person haha!
Michael Armbrust
Member
Thanks!
Yeah I hadn't thought about it but it does kinda resemble 3D pixel art with your style.
(also I'm a member now. wohoo)
superNESjoe
Member
What kind of art style are you going for? I looked at a lot of Mega Man stuff for reference for my game.
oh, I should probably specify -- more human proportions, less chibi style big head stuff. Looking for more detailed animations just to get some inspiration. Obviously I'm already familiar with Metroid + Mega Man games, which generally have good spritework.
This is creative, but feels kind of headache-inducing on my eyes...maybe because of the 0% to 100% contrast. It brings back nightmares of NaissanceE and it's seizure inducing pure white/black areas. At least yours isn't flashing!
I don't know if some less extreme form of white, or some soft form of glow could help or not. Or it could be mine is just a fringe opinion.
I still like the dark colors better for contrast, but part of my motivation is that I had intended the area surrounding the map to have be light-colored. Maybe I should try the opposite -- light background, dark surrounding structure.
Thanks! In return to my spending this time so that you're not so annoyed, you're going to occasionally post without the 78-character limit so your posts aren't annoying to look at, right?
Also, do you have any suggestions for improving further? That would be great since I'm still a super noob at artistic design.
Pasta_Soup
Member
Castlevanias (though a lot of these run/walk cycles, albeit interesting, are kinda strange), Guacamelee, Mark of the Ninja, Street Fighter III, King of Fighters, LucasArts/Sierra point n' clicks (can be stiff, but still lots of good stuff), Dragon's Crown...
Not sure if this is the type of stuff you're looking for, but I hope it helps!
TunaUppercut
Neo Member
oh, I should probably specify -- more human proportions, less chibi style big head stuff. Looking for more detailed animations just to get some inspiration. Obviously I'm already familiar with Metroid + Mega Man games, which generally have good spritework.
Muramasa the demon blade and Dust an Elysian Tail.
Michael Armbrust
Member
Yeah, we did around April. Tends to get lost in the shuffle, though. = D
I think it lends itself to watching people play really well, as you're having to tell the game what it is you're trying to do, rather than using an 'invisible' controller to do it, if that makes sense?
Really good stuff!
Meanwhile... I made this tonight...
How strict are they one the dev program requirements? My company isn't yet incorporated.
Jacksinthe
Banned
Welp, started work on the first trailer this week. Got lots of setup work done. I need to tidy up several areas of the game to record gameplay but it shouldn't be too time consuming. This weekend I begin work on the trailer music. I make all my arpeggios myself (instead of pre-programmed) so this will be a VERY fun weekend
I'm getting some insight into the first few trailer drafts from a friend at a 1st party studio and his minions. Not direction, just insight. He is excited with what he saw so far but did have a few thoughts. All in all he and the folks at the studio want to see the first rough cut. I have some people to impress over there - not that it will get me anywhere, I really haven't asked, kinda want to pull this on my own steam.
As an aside, a question:
How does everyone feel about having control pad options? As in you can select your control pad type and also customize their bindings. I am doing this to help people who want to use Dualshock controllers without a wrapper. I'm just coding them in and giving the end user an option. Thoughts on this? Should I not offer a simple option and let people use wrappers or include the option for easy controller use?
I'm getting some insight into the first few trailer drafts from a friend at a 1st party studio and his minions. Not direction, just insight. He is excited with what he saw so far but did have a few thoughts. All in all he and the folks at the studio want to see the first rough cut. I have some people to impress over there - not that it will get me anywhere, I really haven't asked, kinda want to pull this on my own steam.
As an aside, a question:
How does everyone feel about having control pad options? As in you can select your control pad type and also customize their bindings. I am doing this to help people who want to use Dualshock controllers without a wrapper. I'm just coding them in and giving the end user an option. Thoughts on this? Should I not offer a simple option and let people use wrappers or include the option for easy controller use?
I have a few of game concepts, but I really don't think I have it in me to learn programming.
I suppose the best bet is for me to get a team together, but I really don't know where I'd start.
Perhaps I should animate a few of my concepts to try and entice people to help out on it?
I suppose the best bet is for me to get a team together, but I really don't know where I'd start.
Perhaps I should animate a few of my concepts to try and entice people to help out on it?
I believe they are, as the bulk is a sprite animation, and the smaller pieces are generated afterwards. It's all force based, so depending on which weapon you use to initiate the explosion, they react accordingly. For example, a missile will send them flying in the opposite direction.
We're going to be holding an Alpha test for the first world of Tinertia next week, if anyone is interested in participating check out the details here.
I made an iOS game with a similar premise a few years back, except it was an endless
I wish I had actually promoted the game, since I think this is an interesting concept. I'm not planning to do anything with it, so I'm hoping your game really takes off! I don't have a YouTube or Twitch channel, though, so I'm probably not who you're looking for in this program. Good luck!
More_Badass
Member
Posted the Screenshot Saturday thread a bit early
- Status