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Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor

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friken

Member
I think we're off to a decent start with Greenlight with over 500 total votes so far, but it's impossible to say just yet what will happen.

Good looking game and Greenlight, voted.


------
In an effort to make what looks good look better, I worked out our planet shaders yesterday. We now have atmospheric scattering and a much better edge glow than before. I wasn't using it before because I couldn't sort out how to get color, specular color, and shininess added to the shader which was really needed for the look/feel we were after. I finally figured it out and pretty happy w the results. Also, we are playing around with some depth of field fx that I'm digging.

new / old shader:
j6KM2AOmThXw7.JPG



Depth of field and new shaders: Opinions?

WeeklyPleasantGraysquirrel.gif

youtube

MelodicCornyClingfish.gif

youtube
 
Good looking game and Greenlight, voted.


------
In an effort to make what looks good look better, I worked out our planet shaders yesterday. We now have atmospheric scattering and a much better edge glow than before. I wasn't using it before because I couldn't sort out how to get color, specular color, and shininess added to the shader which was really needed for the look/feel we were after. I finally figured it out and pretty happy w the results. Also, we are playing around with some depth of field fx that I'm digging.

new / old shader:
j6KM2AOmThXw7.JPG



Depth of field and new shaders: Opinions?

WeeklyPleasantGraysquirrel.gif

youtube

MelodicCornyClingfish.gif

youtube
I think its looking gorgeous. I like the DoF.
 
Anybody have any tips for writing press? GunWorld should be available to purchase/send keys today (I hope) and I'd like to make a good impression.

I've created a press kit with videos and images, which I'll be sending alongside a short description and a key to download the game. My main conflicting suggestion is what I should title the email. Some people say trying to describe in a word or two in the title is good, others tell me to avoid any sort of buzz words.

I've compiled a list of press that have either shown interest in the game or have covered similar titles, so I have a good place to start. Anybody with good experiences here with advice would be appreciated.
 

friken

Member
I think its looking gorgeous. I like the DoF.

Thanks. It is interesting how something like DoF blur tricks the eye and brain into thinking a scene is more realistic and detailed when it is actually lessening the detail everywhere but the focal point. I honestly didn't think I would like it but instantly fell in love w the look and feel of it.
 

Phawx

Member
Anybody have any tips for writing press? GunWorld should be available to purchase/send keys today (I hope) and I'd like to make a good impression.

I've created a press kit with videos and images, which I'll be sending alongside a short description and a key to download the game. My main conflicting suggestion is what I should title the email. Some people say trying to describe in a word or two in the title is good, others tell me to avoid any sort of buzz words.

I've compiled a list of press that have either shown interest in the game or have covered similar titles, so I have a good place to start. Anybody with good experiences here with advice would be appreciated.

Being on the receiving end of it, path of least resistance:

one gif or screenshot embed that captures what your game is about
Five W's Who/what(use analogues if you are drawing a blank)/when/where/why. Be concise.
List anything truly notable. Don't list that your game has 12 levels, etc. Save that for the presskit.
code included/build linked (up to you, I've seen valid arguments from both)

Edit: Sorry missed that you were looking for a title. I wouldn't over think it. "GunWorld, homage to 8-bit games and 80's action movies, set to launch on blah {time}"
 
Thanks. It is interesting how something like DoF blur tricks the eye and brain into thinking a scene is more realistic and detailed when it is actually lessening the detail everywhere but the focal point. I honestly didn't think I would like it but instantly fell in love w the look and feel of it.
I agree. Goes such a long way of presenting depth and does create a focal point the eyes snap to. I am experimenting with ways to implement this with STRAFE if the game ever comes back on the table but the minimalist style is difficult to work with making it look like proper DoF and not just a "glow" or blurred sprite. Such is my minimalist style I chose tho, some restrictions.

You are doing an amazing job so far. You're slamming all those details right out of the park and makes for a stunning presentation.
 

_machine

Member
Hope it's okay to post about it here, but I posted the new r/gamedev Quarterly Showcase thread. If anyone's interested, just come by and post about your game. It's an informal 24 hour thing, no invites required, just post whenever you get a chance
http://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/2mar5l/the_rgamedev_quarterly_showcase_2_111414/
Thanks, that's a great link, too bad I suck at using reddit and only lurk every now and then, but hopefully posting our game is still ok there.
I've created a press kit with videos and images, which I'll be sending alongside a short description and a key to download the game.
I'm not sure if I have any tips on writing for the press, but I'd be happy to take a look at the presskit and I can share the places I tried to contact if you want to trade.
 

Pehesse

Member
Hope it's okay to post about it here, but I posted the new r/gamedev Quarterly Showcase thread. If anyone's interested, just come by and post about your game. It's an informal 24 hour thing, no invites required, just post whenever you get a chance
http://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/2mar5l/the_rgamedev_quarterly_showcase_2_111414/

That looks great! I have no idea how to use Reddit however... but I'll keep an eye on what appears there. If I figure out how to post, I may even post stuff about Honey, if that'd be okay!

In other news, it's been a hectic last few days - I've been building a demo prototype featuring both the VN and fight segment, along with the two current animated characters to fight - and then when I tried to upload the demo to test it, I ended up erasing the game's site by mistake... thankfully there was some stuff left to recover and I could rebuild it in a short timeframe, but that's still a nasty mistake I hope not to redo in the future...
So if there's a takeaway here: if you have a site or anything to backup you haven't backed-up yet and keep delaying because you have stuff to do, take this opportunity to back it up now :-D
 
Good looking game and Greenlight, voted.


------
In an effort to make what looks good look better, I worked out our planet shaders yesterday. We now have atmospheric scattering and a much better edge glow than before. I wasn't using it before because I couldn't sort out how to get color, specular color, and shininess added to the shader which was really needed for the look/feel we were after. I finally figured it out and pretty happy w the results. Also, we are playing around with some depth of field fx that I'm digging.

new / old shader:
j6KM2AOmThXw7.JPG



Depth of field and new shaders: Opinions?

WeeklyPleasantGraysquirrel.gif

youtube

MelodicCornyClingfish.gif

youtube

nice eyecandy! my eyes are watering now...
 

friken

Member
in practical terms though, what's the scattering shader stuff he put in actually do in the game?

In a practical,game terms, It enhances the edge of a planet to look like an atmosphere. There are two components that are useful in a space game. First is a shader that adds a gradient color to the lit edge of the planet. The other is a outer gradient/glow beyond the edge of the planet. Here is a pic with the effect turned way up:

jtkjHMsOVXZla.JPG


same planet it turned off:
jdUw2g2Wi7Yw0.JPG


In StarDiver, it will be used for planets w/ atmosphere and not for moons or other atmosphere-less worlds.
 

bkw

Member
Unity folks. Do you prefer to store your game config/data stuff in external files and load/parse them? Or do you make use of Unity's ScriptableObject serialization?

ScriptableObject seems to be the quick and easy way of doing things, and you can edit stuff within the Editor, but locking that data within Unity worries me. With external files (XML, Json, YAML, etc), I can edit them in a text editor, copy & paste, (maybe) handle versioning better, etc, but I'd have to deal with parsing and I don't get the nice inspector to do simple edits.

If only Unity had something like Excel built into it. =)
 
Being on the receiving end of it, path of least resistance:

one gif or screenshot embed that captures what your game is about
Five W's Who/what(use analogues if you are drawing a blank)/when/where/why. Be concise.
List anything truly notable. Don't list that your game has 12 levels, etc. Save that for the presskit.
code included/build linked (up to you, I've seen valid arguments from both)

Edit: Sorry missed that you were looking for a title. I wouldn't over think it. "GunWorld, homage to 8-bit games and 80's action movies, set to launch on blah {time}"

Thanks for the tips. One of my biggest concerns has been whether I should include a code for a download or not. I've had some people tell me it's too presumptuous, while others tell me that press find it bothersome to have to contact me back to get a code. Or rather, the extra step could sometimes mean the difference between them bothering to check it out or not.

During my nearly 3 years as small-time press I've developed my own habits and expectations regarding emails like this, but I like to ask for outside opinions because my habits are mine and not everyone else's.

EDIT: Another question on the matter. Is embedding screenshots and a trailer a good idea? I currently have all of that included in the press kit. When I used to get emails I hated getting attachments from strangers but never was bothered by things embedded in the email itself. What's the popular opinion on this?
 

Phawx

Member
Thanks for the tips. One of my biggest concerns has been whether I should include a code for a download or not. I've had some people tell me it's too presumptuous, while others tell me that press find it bothersome to have to contact me back to get a code. Or rather, the extra step could sometimes mean the difference between them bothering to check it out or not.

During my nearly 3 years as small-time press I've developed my own habits and expectations regarding emails like this, but I like to ask for outside opinions because my habits are mine and not everyone else's.

EDIT: Another question on the matter. Is embedding screenshots and a trailer a good idea? I currently have all of that included in the press kit. When I used to get emails I hated getting attachments from strangers but never was bothered by things embedded in the email itself. What's the popular opinion on this?

I prefer things to be embedded (just one or two), if you are going to attach, just put it in the presskit. The presskit is there for resources and longform. Rami's presskit() is truly excellent.
 

Vark

Member
So I was joking with some friends and that lead to a quick little idea for a Christmas themed game. Only real problem is getting it submitted in time on iOS but it's coming together rather quickly. It's just a short adventure game so it's mostly about cramming in all the dialog. Of course dialog is the most tedious thing without the right tools.


game_screen.png
Day%20Screen.png
 

Blizzard

Banned
So I was joking with some friends and that lead to a quick little idea for a Christmas themed game. Only real problem is getting it submitted in time on iOS but it's coming together rather quickly. It's just a short adventure game so it's mostly about cramming in all the dialog. Of course dialog is the most tedious thing without the right tools.

If you just pixel art'd all that from scratch on a whim, that's super impressive. Best of luck finishing in time!
 

Vark

Member
If you just pixel art'd all that from scratch on a whim, that's super impressive. Best of luck finishing in time!

Thanks! I'm not sure 'whim' is quite the right term lol. Took about a day, though how much of that was 'ohhh look the internet' time I'm not quite sure. Hopefully I'll have time to animate some parts of it.
 

fuzzy_slippers

Neo Member
Unity folks. Do you prefer to store your game config/data stuff in external files and load/parse them? Or do you make use of Unity's ScriptableObject serialization?

ScriptableObject seems to be the quick and easy way of doing things, and you can edit stuff within the Editor, but locking that data within Unity worries me. With external files (XML, Json, YAML, etc), I can edit them in a text editor, copy & paste, (maybe) handle versioning better, etc, but I'd have to deal with parsing and I don't get the nice inspector to do simple edits.

You got the plus and minuses down. I use ScriptableObjects for quick stuff and eventually turn everything into XML files, but a way you can do both is make a ScriptableObject but add an editor button to it to serialize dump the data to an XML and another one to replace the content from an XML. That way I can fiddle with it in the editor while I'm in Unity and if I want to do a batch change job better suited to excel I can dump the file make the changes and then import it back

I've also had Unity corrupt its own serialized data so I feel better having everything also in an XML file.
 

Ito

Member
And I have a landing/teaser website.

Not too much but web design has never been my thing.

I'm trying to fix the width, so you might have to scroll to the right if you're not using a 1920p monitor

www.spirithuntress.com


No idea if this might be considered spam :S
 
so when the required, 100% critical, non-optional path looks like this:

HeMaGeF.jpg


it's clearly marked so you don't have to probe around cluelessly? there's even an elevator in the room, leading the user's attention only to the elevator, deliberately trolling them. Just because you may have already memorized the game doesn't mean that this isn't very easy to miss if you're a new player.

what the designers wanted was for you to examine map and come up with a plan for where to probe around for a secret. Maybe I should try that tactic.

There are many -- yes, many -- examples of Super Metroid putting critical path behind walls that have no visual clues whatsoever, and require probing to find. This is just how the game works, and indeed, that same probing approach to gameplay is what I'm trying to incorporate.

If you're just referring to one isolated example where a doorway doesn't look enough like a doorway, okay, I'll grant you that. I have hundreds of art assets to draw and maybe sometimes they're not always perfect. I never intended for the doorway to NOT look like a doorway, the fact that it doesn't is a mistake, not a design choice. I'm one man doing a game. Can we move on now?
I like it when a game hints to you that there is a room near you but does not show an obvious entrance, like seeing a place behind a wall on the screen but the entrance is actually around the other side.

This is good because there can only be a few possible entrance points unless you include teleportation stuff.

It's something I keep thinking about with my game, I don't want to hide pathways in walls which look solid but I also don't want to have obvious cracks and gaps in geometry to hint at hidden areas, it's tough.

And I have a landing/teaser website.

Not too much but web design has never been my thing.

I'm trying to fix the width, so you might have to scroll to the right if you're not using a 1920p monitor

www.spirithuntress.com


No idea if this might be considered spam :S

I want to play this already!
 

donut

Neo Member
wow man, thats a lot of polish. Ive seen you posting over on the TIGforums. Did you add in cell shading recently? Been a while since I checked it out. AWESOME music in your trailer btw, great trailer in general. Are you going to greenlight soon?

Thanks! The cell shading has been there quite some time, since september? I'm not sure. I haven't been thinking about greenlight really, I might do it.
 
In a practical,game terms, It enhances the edge of a planet to look like an atmosphere. There are two components that are useful in a space game. First is a shader that adds a gradient color to the lit edge of the planet. The other is a outer gradient/glow beyond the edge of the planet. Here is a pic with the effect turned way up:

jtkjHMsOVXZla.JPG


same planet it turned off:
jdUw2g2Wi7Yw0.JPG


In StarDiver, it will be used for planets w/ atmosphere and not for moons or other atmosphere-less worlds.

I am wondering one thing , about your planet's texture is it a big one or you made a procedural texture that is generated on the fly to not get blocky pixels?
 

bkw

Member
You got the plus and minuses down. I use ScriptableObjects for quick stuff and eventually turn everything into XML files, but a way you can do both is make a ScriptableObject but add an editor button to it to serialize dump the data to an XML and another one to replace the content from an XML. That way I can fiddle with it in the editor while I'm in Unity and if I want to do a batch change job better suited to excel I can dump the file make the changes and then import it back

I've also had Unity corrupt its own serialized data so I feel better having everything also in an XML file.
Huh. That's pretty clever. =) I'll have to look into that. Thanks!
 

Ranger X

Member
Screenshot Saturday?

The village is slowly getting there. Villagers are in, I started making the breakables I will have in all levels, background is mostly final. Its starting to look like something! :)

SCsaturday01_zps591ca34f.jpg
 
Not much to show up since I spent most of the week doing AI and interconnecting all sub systems in ship, but I had some time today to work on the sickbay , crew members will need treatment to get healed faster or for limbs/organs replacements, even for 3d bio printing. This is still a work in progress sickbay module.

SickbayTest.png
 

_machine

Member
So after 40hrs in Greenlight we are now sitting at 11% on the way to top 50. I can't say if it's good or not, but looking at the curves there I think it's pretty decent, but it might take a while. I'll keep you update so you can have a reference point, which we do not have and also to write down the numbers down myself as well since I'm too lazy right now to make a dedicated document for that.

For some reason one of our articles on IndieDB keeps gathering views like crazy and even five days after it's launch it's still always in the top news daily. We couldn't find a reason for it either, but I'm not complaining :)
 

Paz

Member
Hello, I made a trailer for my platformer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48mHQczoA3c

it's pretty cool maybe you should watch it idk

This is awesome, some of it reminds me of what we did with the Castle of Illusion remake (Though that got neutered a fair bit mid development ><) and I love the mix of 2D and 3D gameplay elements. A lot of people will do a 3D perspective side scroller just for the spectacle you get, but if you sacrifice the precision of 2D gameplay just for visuals it's a terrible design trade off, so using the 3D space in interesting ways like this is great.

Best of luck!

We've been updating Cactus and working towards completion, the most recent update included a 3D overworld that replaced the old debug stage select menu and I'm super proud of it, especially the work Tim did to add full mouse point & click support so it works great for all PC players.

B2S_o5kCAAAXPKv.jpg:large


aac_stageselect.gif


We even have some background visuals pulsing and phasing based on the music :D

Next up is going to be unlockable bonus elements and the final two stages, it's amazing how much more 'complete' the stage select world makes the game feel and I'm pretty confident in how the game will be finishing up now.
 

scaffa

Member
Started working on a couple of new stages this week, last few weeks I rewrote a lot of code and it was time to do something else again.

Pretty happy with the results so far. The first one is supposed to be a moving stage, the idea is that the platforms are trains of some sort of vehicle. One of the things that I want to build are stage events and with this stage stuff will be flying around that you have to dodge. But you can turn those events on or off.

jxtGU5F.png


Here is a vine where you can see it a little bit in action:
https://vine.co/v/OilUrKDqETY

And I started working on this concept for a stage yesterday:
JgpUUiv.png
 
Hello, I made a trailer for my platformer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48mHQczoA3c

it's pretty cool maybe you should watch it idk
Looks pretty cool, simple, but it looks fun.

This is awesome, some of it reminds me of what we did with the Castle of Illusion remake (Though that got neutered a fair bit mid development ><) and I love the mix of 2D and 3D gameplay elements. A lot of people will do a 3D perspective side scroller just for the spectacle you get, but if you sacrifice the precision of 2D gameplay just for visuals it's a terrible design trade off, so using the 3D space in interesting ways like this is great.

Best of luck!

We've been updating Cactus and working towards completion, the most recent update included a 3D overworld that replaced the old debug stage select menu and I'm super proud of it, especially the work Tim did to add full mouse point & click support so it works great for all PC players.

B2S_o5kCAAAXPKv.jpg:large


aac_stageselect.gif


We even have some background visuals pulsing and phasing based on the music :D

Next up is going to be unlockable bonus elements and the final two stages, it's amazing how much more 'complete' the stage select world makes the game feel and I'm pretty confident in how the game will be finishing up now.

Bloody hell, that looks fantastic. Keep up the good work, hopefully the full game turns out great.
 

AriEX2

Member
After following all the amazing projects here, I thought I'd share my own. It's called Hollow Knight, a 2D action adventure in a surreal bug-infested world. I've been developing it with two other friends. Our inspiration for the game is Zelda 2, Faxanadu and Metroid.

I know people say there are a tonne of Metroidvania style games out there, but we just really love them! I don't think there can be too many, as long as they're good!

We're pretty early on in development, so this is really the first time we're showing it to anyone. I'm really interested to hear other people's impressions.

I've been providing the art and animation for the game, but I should say that William, our coder, has done an awesome job giving the player really tight control over the character. Combat is still early but is starting to feel really good.

Short Teaser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euYnen9cBOs

We're expecting to have a longer trailer ready in the next week or so. I'll make sure to post it once it's done!

atmospheric_example_01_zpsdeh8fwzr.gif


01_v02_zps2e367aa0.jpg


magic_zpsbl8zpt5v.gif


06_v02_zps76dcd402.jpg


05_zpsb10a8f87.jpg


A few more details about the game here if anyone's interested: www.teamcherry.com.au
 

kingPenguin

Neo Member
There's some truly amazing looking stuff on this page! (AriEX2, Paz, Zotty, Vark, well everyone: really good stuff you all!)

I should spend more time in this thread, it's seems to move so fast recently!

Anyway:

wspFSNl.gif


I've been working on finishing up Super Sec Soccer (it comes out this Thursday), little tings in the code and stuff like dust on ball bounces. Also been trying to get it some attention through the press (lots of emailing). And I've just launched the Greenlight page, because you gotta have one of those. Curious to see how that goes.

So if you like the game, please vote and tell your friends and stuff :)

 

Roquentin

Member
After following all the amazing projects here, I thought I'd share my own. It's called Hollow Knight, a 2D action adventure in a surreal bug-infested world. I've been developing it with two other friends. Our inspiration for the game is Zelda 2, Faxanadu and Metroid.

I know people say there are a tonne of Metroidvania style games out there, but we just really love them! I don't think there can be too many, as long as they're good!

We're pretty early on in development, so this is really the first time we're showing it to anyone. I'm really interested to hear other people's impressions.

I've been providing the art and animation for the game, but I should say that William, our coder, has done an awesome job giving the player really tight control over the character. Combat is still early but is starting to feel really good.

Short Teaser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euYnen9cBOs

We're expecting to have a longer trailer ready in the next week or so. I'll make sure to post it once it's done!

[/IMG]http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a535/zeldritch1/atmospheric_example_01_zpsdeh8fwzr.gif[/IMG]

[/IMG]http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a535/zeldritch1/01_v02_zps2e367aa0.jpg[/IMG]

[/IMG]http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a535/zeldritch1/magic_zpsbl8zpt5v.gif[/IMG]

[/IMG]http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a535/zeldritch1/06_v02_zps76dcd402.jpg[/IMG]

[/IMG]http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a535/zeldritch1/05_zpsb10a8f87.jpg[/IMG]

A few more details about the game here if anyone's interested: www.teamcherry.com.au
That looks great! What engine are you using?
 

Pehesse

Member
After following all the amazing projects here, I thought I'd share my own. It's called Hollow Knight, a 2D action adventure in a surreal bug-infested world. I've been developing it with two other friends. Our inspiration for the game is Zelda 2, Faxanadu and Metroid.

I know people say there are a tonne of Metroidvania style games out there, but we just really love them! I don't think there can be too many, as long as they're good!

We're pretty early on in development, so this is really the first time we're showing it to anyone. I'm really interested to hear other people's impressions.

I've been providing the art and animation for the game, but I should say that William, our coder, has done an awesome job giving the player really tight control over the character. Combat is still early but is starting to feel really good.

Short Teaser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euYnen9cBOs

We're expecting to have a longer trailer ready in the next week or so. I'll make sure to post it once it's done!

atmospheric_example_01_zpsdeh8fwzr.gif


01_v02_zps2e367aa0.jpg


magic_zpsbl8zpt5v.gif


06_v02_zps76dcd402.jpg


05_zpsb10a8f87.jpg


A few more details about the game here if anyone's interested: www.teamcherry.com.au

I really like how this looks!
 

AriEX2

Member
That looks great! What engine are you using?

Thanks Roquentin!

We've been using Stencyl to make the game, and we're really trying to push it to its limits. Its the same engine used for Jobbs's Ghost Song, which I've helped out a bit on (And keen to do more!).

Everything's been coming together pretty smoothly so far, running well and feeling nice and responsive, so fingers crossed it continues.
 

scaffa

Member
I've been working on finishing up Super Sec Soccer (it comes out this Thursday), little tings in the code and stuff like dust on ball bounces. Also been trying to get it some attention through the press (lots of emailing). And I've just launched the Greenlight page, because you gotta have one of those. Curious to see how that goes.

So if you like the game, please vote and tell your friends and stuff :)


Voted! Hope Greenlight goes well for you. How is the response from the press so far?
 

Jobbs

Banned
Thanks Roquentin!

We've been using Stencyl to make the game, and we're really trying to push it to its limits. Its the same engine used for Jobbs's Ghost Song, which I've helped out a bit on (And keen to do more!).

Everything's been coming together pretty smoothly so far, running well and feeling nice and responsive, so fingers crossed it continues.

AGHHH IT LOOKS SO GOOD!

Glad to see something coming of this! Stop stealing all my secrets! (jk)
 
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