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[Xtra Mile]

The greenlight tips are very much appreciated. Didn't know about the concepts page.. Will put a page up asap.

Edit: And here I am http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=332530536

 

[Mystic River]

This threat is moving fast! Really cool stuff everyone!

I've been working on a little side project because I got to a point with Rain Reverse where I just couldn't tell if the art and feeling of it were any good. Does anyone else "suffer" from that? Where you're just to close or something and can't look at your own stuff objectively?

Anyway, I've been working on this super simple soccer game where I stripped the game down to the most basic rules: score the most goals before time runs out.

I'm trying to keep everything simple including limiting the controls to just 2 buttons plus the left stick for movement.

this game reminds me the atari 2600 soccer of the 21st century! looks really good!

 

[Gameboy415]

Sorry to hear it! Welcome to full-time gamedev

You know what they say: when a door closes, a window opens! Good luck!

Thanks for your kind words! The holidays might be a bit rough but I'm sure I'll bounce back eventually.

In more positive news, we finally have the new trailer for Anomaly 1729 up on YouTube and Steam Greenlight!

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

Please check it out when you have a chance and let me know if you have any questions and/or comments.

Also, big thanks to everyone that retweeted my Kickstarter and/or Greenlight links on Twitter!
We're admittedly not doing so hot thus far, but we've got a big marketing push coming up and there's still plenty of time left before the end of the campaign so we'll have to wait & see what happens.

 

[friken]

Not sure many know, but I also do indieteamup on twitter to help get devs and talents together, we released a site a few hours ago for that purpose. I just really want to help get people together to create games. If you feel you need help with your game please check out http://www.indieteamup.com/ and let me know if it's something that could help ^ ^

great idea for a site! hope it takes off.

 

[Jobbs]

this comes in handy more some times than other times.

http://www.gfycat.com/VelvetyVigilantHuia

 

[OccamsBlender]

http://giant.gfycat.com/MistyClassicAustralianfurseal.gif[/img]

What is this sweetness?

 

[Galdelico]

You have a keen eye, sir! Originally we started with regular sprites and a much lower frame count, but the artist and I wanted to raise the bar much higher. And we studied the technique used by that team. Thanks for your kind words. There will be more very soon.

Looking forward to see the updates. I still love classic, sidescrolling beat'em ups and your game seems adding to that formula a more modern, refined look. Super promising.

More (unrequested ) tips, just driven by my passion and not because your project would actually need them:
- you may consider tilting the drop shadows a little bit, as it happened in Streets of Rage Remake, so they better cast on the floor;
- separating some background elements in open areas - and to make them scrolling on different layers (as in: buildings far away-slow or still/main scene-normal/street lights-bit faster) - would definitely increase the sense of depth.

Once again, it's all stuff that genuinely came up to my mind just because I love the genre and I feel your project quite alot.

 

[kingPenguin]

I think those subtle little animations you have really sell this game. Very well done.

What toolset did you use for creating it?

Gamemaker. The fist few animation were also make in Gamemaker because that's all I had access to at the moment, but after that I switched to Photoshop for the graphics/animations.

this game reminds me the atari 2600 soccer of the 21st century! looks really good!

Thanks

this comes in handy more some times than other times.

http://www.gfycat.com/VelvetyVigilantHuia

I love it when you can use enemies against each other!

 

[mabec]

I love it when you can use enemies against each other!

Yup. I Vote yes.

 

[_machine]

What is your game?

Cheers.

I'm currently working Ancestory, a 3d, grid-based card game, with 8 other developers and we are heading to Greenlight in just a few weeks.

Speaking of Ancestory, our Sound Designer posted an Update on IndieDB, talking about his experiences with the project and doing the design and setting up the VO in the game. It's definitely been a great learning experience to him so far and we're quite lucky to have a little sound studio at our uni, even if it's just in a cleaning closet and has no proper AC:

Two of our programmers also got a working AI done in UE4 in just 5 days and we had a nice chance to test it out at a local LAN party. It's completely functional already, but so far people have found it just a bit too easy and there are a few super-effective tactics against it, but overall I'm super happy that we got it working so fast and it should not be a huge issue to make it a lot better since the behavior trees seemed really good at a glance and I'll eventually delve into them personally. With the AI working we're now considering sending builds to some people (youtubers, maybe some written press), but I'm not sure who we are going to send it since the game is still far from being polished, despite having all the core features and lacks in the UI and feedback department.

 

[Paz]

Adding a real level select system has made Cactus feel about 5 times bigger than it used to, really looking forward to getting this out to people (will be trialing it at PAX Aus for feedback first).

We went with a minimalist 3D map that you can walk around and additional players follow you, but it's very minimalist in that it uses a sort of VR type motif walking through a tiny holographic version of the ship and little gateways to levels.

If you have a game with very self contained levels It's really worth thinking about how they link together, making players spend an extra few seconds changing levels (unless you finish a level and just opt to start the next one, that skips the process) has such a huge impact on the feel of a game, and in our case really drives home that you are traveling from one end of a giant space ship to the other without the levels themselves connecting.

 

[Jacksinthe]

Just finished my first "full" playthrough of GunWorld, with development set to wrap up in the next two weeks. I had a level bug out so I had to skip it, and there is some content still missing from the build I played. Took me about 54 minutes.

Our development goal was to build an NES style game that, once memorized, could be cleared by skilled players in around an hour. I can't tell you how great it feels to have completely nailed that. I've seen some testers spend two hours trying to clear a single level, only to return to it after beating it and finish it in ten minutes. It's so satisfying to see things come together in a way that closely emulates what you set out to do.

I can't wait to play some of the great looking games I've seen in this thread, and I hope some of you folks seek out the sacred temple when we launch GunWorld next month.

Count me in.

 

[Xtra Mile]

Looking forward to see the updates. I still love classic, sidescrolling beat'em ups and your game seems adding to that formula a more modern, refined look. Super promising.

More (unrequested ) tips, just driven by my passion and not because your project would actually need them:
- you may consider tilting the drop shadows a little bit, as it happened in Streets of Rage Remake, so they better cast on the floor;
- separating some background elements in open areas - and to make them scrolling on different layers (as in: buildings far away-slow or still/main scene-normal/street lights-bit faster) - would definitely increase the sense of depth.

Once again, it's all stuff that genuinely came up to my mind just because I love the genre and I feel your project quite alot.

Thanks for the kind words. No problem, happy to hear all feedback. Keep it coming!

For both of those, they're on the long "todo" list . Parallax scrolling and more accurate shadows have been on my mind for a while.

 

[TouchTiltGames]

I'm currently working Ancestory, a 3d, grid-based card game, with 8 other developers and we are heading to Greenlight in just a few weeks.

Speaking of Ancestory, our Sound Designer posted an Update on IndieDB, talking about his experiences with the project and doing the design and setting up the VO in the game. It's definitely been a great learning experience to him so far and we're quite lucky to have a little sound studio at our uni, even if it's just in a cleaning closet and has no proper AC:


Two of our programmers also got a working AI done in UE4 in just 5 days and we had a nice chance to test it out at a local LAN party. It's completely functional already, but so far people have found it just a bit too easy and there are a few super-effective tactics against it, but overall I'm super happy that we got it working so fast and it should not be a huge issue to make it a lot better since the behavior trees seemed really good at a glance and I'll eventually delve into them personally. With the AI working we're now considering sending builds to some people (youtubers, maybe some written press), but I'm not sure who we are going to send it since the game is still far from being polished, despite having all the core features and lacks in the UI and feedback department.

Looks great! I've tracked and followed you on IndieDB and Twitter. Good luck on the Greenlight!

 

[TouchTiltGames]

We used to be in Montreal but we moved to BC

When you get there, you should definitely go to the Mont-Royal Game Society meetups. Awesome group of people there.

The IGDA presentations in Montreal are really good too; they get high-profile speakers in to do presentations pretty regularly (Cliff Blezenski, Arkane Studios, etc.).

We're in Halifax, not too far! But I used to live in Vancouver.

 

[Jobbs]

Yup. I Vote yes.

I love it when you can use enemies against each other!

What is this sweetness?

thanks guys. the game is called Ghost Song.

 

[friken]

this comes in handy more some times than other times.

http://www.gfycat.com/VelvetyVigilantHuia

Cool bullets w tails, and use of them

 

[okiemok]

Is anyone using Unity 5 yet? I would be interested in hearing comments about it if so.

 

[Zakalwe]

Wrong thread, soz. :3

 

[tumm]

So I think I've learnt just enough about GameMaker to start putting together a proper 'game', or at least enough for my needs, thanks for all the help guys!

I do have a couple of problems someone may be able to help with though.

Firstly, in the example video below you can see that the fade-in from black doesn't apply to backgrounds set as a foreground--any way around that? or should I create what I intend to be foregrounds as objects and place them at a depth above everything else?
(The fade effect is just a draw event of a rectangle with transitioning alpha based on room speed, currently set to -100 depth)

Secondly, any other animation files GameMaker can read apart from GIF? I know of a tedious work around or two to avoid getting the white outlines/pixel specs on a GIF with translucency/soft edges, but it'd be great if it could read some other format which allow animations which aren't clean and solid (a photoshop or AE file of some sort?)

Example video here with the foreground and black plant which grows with the white speccy outlines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LroOh7YTTlc&feature=youtu.be
Excuse the crude drawings/sounds, simply put together to test out the GameMaker functions and such~

 

[desu]

thanks guys. the game is called Ghost Song.

This week ? Stop posting awesome gifs ^^

 

[kingPenguin]

So I think I've learnt just enough about GameMaker to start putting together a proper 'game', or at least enough for my needs, thanks for all the help guys!

I do have a couple of problems someone may be able to help with though.

Firstly, in the example video below you can see that the fade-in from black doesn't apply to backgrounds set as a foreground--any way around that? or should I create what I intend to be foregrounds as objects and place them at a depth above everything else?
(The fade effect is just a draw event of a rectangle with transitioning alpha based on room speed, currently set to -100 depth)

Secondly, any other animation files GameMaker can read apart from GIF? I know of a tedious work around or two to avoid getting the white outlines/pixel specs on a GIF with translucency/soft edges, but it'd be great if it could read some other format which allow animations which aren't clean and solid (a photoshop or AE file of some sort?)

Example video here with the foreground and black plant which grows with the white speccy outlines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LroOh7YTTlc&feature=youtu.be
Excuse the crude drawings/sounds, simply put together to test out the GameMaker functions and such~

The problem with the fade is (probably) that it's drawn below the foreground stuff. If you spawn the foreground thing through code you can give it a depth and thus have it render below the fade.

As for image files, I use PNGs (I think that's pretty standaard). No ugly white edges. Just load a sprite sheet (see example below), and tell gamemaker how to divide it up into frames and you're good to go!

 

[cbox]

So I think I've learnt just enough about GameMaker to start putting together a proper 'game', or at least enough for my needs, thanks for all the help guys!

I do have a couple of problems someone may be able to help with though.

Firstly, in the example video below you can see that the fade-in from black doesn't apply to backgrounds set as a foreground--any way around that? or should I create what I intend to be foregrounds as objects and place them at a depth above everything else?
(The fade effect is just a draw event of a rectangle with transitioning alpha based on room speed, currently set to -100 depth)

Secondly, any other animation files GameMaker can read apart from GIF? I know of a tedious work around or two to avoid getting the white outlines/pixel specs on a GIF with translucency/soft edges, but it'd be great if it could read some other format which allow animations which aren't clean and solid (a photoshop or AE file of some sort?)

Example video here with the foreground and black plant which grows with the white speccy outlines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LroOh7YTTlc&feature=youtu.be
Excuse the crude drawings/sounds, simply put together to test out the GameMaker functions and such~

Definitely a png sprite sheet, though I'm not certain of gamemaker's features. Good luck!

 

[fuzzy_slippers]

Is anyone using Unity 5 yet? I would be interested in hearing comments about it if so.

Public beta is rough. Even on a tiny new project it crashes constantly. Trying to lightmap either screws up or just crashes about 1/2 the time. Various built in functions will just straight up crash if you try to use them. Not much documentation at the moment as they released videos that are from a version that isn't yet public so it doesn't match the current behavior.

New standard shader is pretty cool and the built in reflections work well but nothing else looks particularly impressive to me. Maybe when I get Enlighten to behave I'll be more impressed.

 

[Aeonofgods]

Hey guys i was told to come here for some help maybe. Theres a game on kickstarter that seems pretty cool and has been funded already. It has stretch goals lined up that are pretty interesting and i wanted to bring it to more people's awareness. I cannot make a thread because I'm a junior member, which sucks, but heres the link. If any of you like the game enough to make a thread about it I'm sure it would help hit those goals. Thanks!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/molassesflood/the-flame-in-the-flood?ref=card
Also apparently they have an AMA at 3 pm EST this wednesday

 

[Ashodin]

Going back over the Magi fight because it'll take longer than I'd like.

Shortening it up will make it much easier to complete too!

 

[Five]

Hey guys i was told to come here for some help maybe. Theres a game on kickstarter that seems pretty cool and has been funded already. It has stretch goals lined up that are pretty interesting and i wanted to bring it to more people's awareness. I cannot make a thread because I'm a junior member, which sucks, but heres the link. If any of you like the game enough to make a thread about it I'm sure it would help hit those goals. Thanks!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/molassesflood/the-flame-in-the-flood?ref=card
Also apparently they have an AMA at 3 pm EST this wednesday

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=773681

 

[Aeonofgods]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=773681

Even better. Thank you!

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Did a dev blog about the lore/thought process behind a level I've been working on.

http://www.dualwieldsoftware.com/blog/2014/10/26/sehktus-desert-religion-sand-and-heat

That's what the level looks like with the sand and water going, though the gif is a hair sped up. Not sure why.

 

[Xtra Mile]

What is this sweetness?

It's called Dead on Assault. But check out Ghost Song too, it's awesome

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

I really wish I understood completely how KS works. I ran a successful one and I still don't really understand. Looking back, I don't even think my game looked all that good in the prototype form it was shown in for that listing.

I think luck has a lot to do with it -- Having the right thing at the right time. I also wonder if it's generally getting harder compared to a year or two ago as the novelty of backing something wears off.

Yeah. I think luck plays a huge factor now, and that's not something you can control.

The good news about my project is that it isn't contingent upon a successful kickstarter to see completion. failed once, but onward we go.

 

[Jacksinthe]

Did a dev blog about the lore/thought process behind a level I've been working on.

http://www.dualwieldsoftware.com/blog/2014/10/26/sehktus-desert-religion-sand-and-heat

That's what the level looks like with the sand and water going, though the gif is a hair sped up. Not sure why.

:O

 

[Jobbs]

Got something for the OCD crowd.

http://www.gfycat.com/MarvelousOccasionalHapuka

 

[Blizzard]

For anyone interested in music creation products, Music Creator 6 (and the Z3TA+ 2 bundle, and the sound pack bundle) is 75% off as the daily deal on Steam. The software seems pretty decent, though I'm nowhere near skilled with it.

Disclaimer, I'm unaffiliated but own it and Sonar X3 myself, I was not paid to make this post, yada yada. *edit* For any future internet people who might end up here from Google, I can also confirm both products work with the M-Audio Oxygen 25 keyboard.

*edit again* Reviews suggest Sonar X3 is better, so you may want to do a bit of research.

 

[lashman]

Got something for the OCD crowd.

http://www.gfycat.com/MarvelousOccasionalHapuka

you monster!!!! O_O

 

[superNESjoe]

Did a dev blog about the lore/thought process behind a level I've been working on.

http://www.dualwieldsoftware.com/blog/2014/10/26/sehktus-desert-religion-sand-and-heat

That's what the level looks like with the sand and water going, though the gif is a hair sped up. Not sure why.

This reminds me of Marble Madness and Snake Rattle N Roll.

 

[Xtra Mile]

Okay. Have changed the standing animation as requested. Please let me know if this one is good.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B52f2JUlXcSIM1YzYzBfcWN5NEQ5NHFuVnAzNFFCWjF5ZDE4/view?usp=sharing

We also added some random idle animations if the player stands still. Like so:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B52f2JUlXcSIdHd6b2x6WVFLY0JBNHZTV1JWREpHTjN2Vl9z/view?usp=sharing

 

[Jobbs]

Okay. Have changed the standing animation as requested. Please let me know if this one is good.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B52f2JUlXcSIM1YzYzBfcWN5NEQ5NHFuVnAzNFFCWjF5ZDE4/view?usp=sharing

We also added some random idle animations if the player stands still. Like so:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B52f2JUlXcSIdHd6b2x6WVFLY0JBNHZTV1JWREpHTjN2Vl9z/view?usp=sharing

I dig it.

 

[TouchTiltGames]

Hey guys,

So we have a whopping 8 days left in our kickstarter and a whopping 7% funded. We decided to try KickDriver as it's a neat way of earning bonus rewards as an existing backer of our game.

So..you can get the Buildanauts Alpha this December for $1, just back us for $1 on our Kickstarter and please leave a comment too bit.ly/Buildanaut

...And then help here on KickDriver by choosing a referral reward: bit.ly/DriverBuilda

If you meet your referral reward, you'll get a copy of our game for as little as 30 referrals. It's a win/win for both the developer and the backer.

You can learn about how it works on their site, but basically it's 30 of your friends on twitter/facebook etc who share the link to our KickDriver campaign.

Thanks for the support!
Shane

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

This reminds me of Marble Madness and Snake Rattle N Roll.

Not the first time we've gotten that. Well, the Snake Rattle n Roll is a first, but the Marble Madness thing is a common comparison.

 

[Galdelico]

Okay. Have changed the standing animation as requested. Please let me know if this one is good.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B52f2JUlXcSIM1YzYzBfcWN5NEQ5NHFuVnAzNFFCWjF5ZDE4/view?usp=sharing

We also added some random idle animations if the player stands still. Like so:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B52f2JUlXcSIdHd6b2x6WVFLY0JBNHZTV1JWREpHTjN2Vl9z/view?usp=sharing

So much better, and the extra standing animation is sweet.

 

[Mr. Virus]

Did a dev blog about the lore/thought process behind a level I've been working on.

http://www.dualwieldsoftware.com/blog/2014/10/26/sehktus-desert-religion-sand-and-heat

That's what the level looks like with the sand and water going, though the gif is a hair sped up. Not sure why.

Oooo... That looks really nice. Loving the sorta stained glass motif too!

 

[bkw]

Anyway, I've been working on this super simple soccer game where I stripped the game down to the most basic rules: score the most goals before time runs out.

I'm trying to keep everything simple including limiting the controls to just 2 buttons plus the left stick for movement.

Nice! Can you share a bit on how the AI works? I'm always wonder how team based sport AI might be done.

 

[kingPenguin]

Nice! Can you share a bit on how the AI works? I'm always wonder how team based sport AI might be done.

Sure, although you might be a little disappointed

It's super simple, because I want the player to do all the actual big actions on the team. The "AI" will for instance never actually shoot for the goal. So the most important thing is for them to be at more or less the right place (a little chaos is good for this game). It's not always working as planned yet, but here's the idea:

The way it works is every player is either an attacker (left of right flank) or a defender (also left or right). They each have their own quadrant they're responsible for. If the ball is in their quadrant they just run towards it, assuming the (actual human) player will want to switch to the player that's closest to the ball. If the ball isn't in their section of the field they move towards a position that's probably more or less gonna help the player do what they want.

For instance if the AI is controlling a defender, it checks whether or not it's team is on the offence. If it's not it tries to position it's self between the ball and the goal the block the opposing team. If it is on the offence it goes forward further into the field then normal to catch any balls that might bounce back.

Same for an attacker, if the team is on the offence it goes forward so the player can pass the ball over to the other side of the field. If the team is on the defense it goes back and tries to get to the ball.

And then you have to keeper, who's job is simply to stand between the ball and the goal.

So it's pretty simple, it mostly depends on the location off the ball, which triggers a bunch of if statements.

I am gonna try to make a better bit of AI that controller 1 player at a time like a human does, so you can play against the computer if you've got nobody around for local multiplayer. That might get a little more complicated, but it should be all right. It's a pretty simple game after all

 

[Chaos]

Just a heads up 3dbuzz.com have just started a haloween sale so if you are interested in learning 3d then they have some great products, nearly everything is half price.

Some I would recommend -

Mastering 3ds Max The Fundamentals
Mastering Maya The Fundamentlals
Maya Advanced Modelling
Maya Advanced Digital Production

For the price you are getting a crazy amount of hours of traning.

Note: I am in no way affiliated with them, I have used there products in the past.

 

[devo1989]

Just a heads up 3dbuzz.com have just started a haloween sale so if you are interested in learning 3d then they have some great products, nearly everything is half price.

Some I would recommend -

Mastering 3ds Max The Fundamentals
Mastering Maya The Fundamentlals
Maya Advanced Modelling
Maya Advanced Digital Production

For the price you are getting a crazy amount of hours of traning.

Note: I am in no way affiliated with them, I have used there products in the past.

Hey, thanks for this. Have you used any of the programming courses on this site? If so have they been any good?

 

[Chaos]

Hey, thanks for this. Have you used any of the programming courses on this site? If so have they been any good?

Just the 3d courses, you could check their forums for feedback on the programming courses.

 

[_machine]

Has anyone found an answer as to why there haven't been any big batches Greenlit on Steam since August?

I've tried searching quickly, but no answer and I've only seen a couple of games being greenlit. It's quite frankly a bit concerning because like so many other PC developers Steam is really the lifeline for us and while we can certainly make the game without any more funding or Early Access it's still important that we at least get the game on sale even if it'd never really sell much.

EDIT: Well the situation is not that bad they're still greenlighting decent amount of games even though it's a bit slower and there are no press releases to get coverage: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=325330168

 

[BlazeHedgehog]

Gonna straight up admit that I saw the Halloween update for Jack B. Nimble and thought

"What if that jack o' lantern guy could shoot fireballs from his mouth and it was sort of like Mega Man but not really"

A week and a half later

Unfortunately I work for a small-ish site writing game reviews and Bayonetta 2 just came in, signalling the beginning of my holiday review rush. Not gonna feel much like working on a Halloween project in three weeks! So this is probably as far as I'm gonna get.

 

[udivision]

Gonna straight up admit that I saw the Halloween update for Jack B. Nimble and thought

"What if that jack o' lantern guy could shoot fireballs from his mouth and it was sort of like Mega Man but not really"

A week and a half later

http://i.imgur.com/OjyGeBI.gif[IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/OY1ztFY.gif[IMG]

Unfortunately I work for a small-ish site writing game reviews and Bayonetta 2 just came in, signalling the beginning of my holiday review rush. Not gonna feel much like working on a Halloween project in three weeks! So this is probably as far as I'm gonna get.[/QUOTE]

Wow, that looks nice. I especially like the fire-gathering particles.

What program did you use to make the project?