I've been posting updates there, and well, I've not had much response. It does feel a bit like a semi-private forum..
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Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor
- Thread starter chubigans
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I've been posting updates there, and well, I've not had much response. It does feel a bit like a semi-private forum..
Yes, a metroidvania platform shooter. It started out as a challenge I made to myself. I was going to try to make it in 1 week. The final product was not even close to what I wanted, so I said screw it and decided to take my time and make it to completion.
Game Maker 8.1
I used to post there. Overall, the people are nice, but like others have said, it feels very cliquey sometimes.
Yeah I hear that about TIG. There are both really great people and really condescending people. That's mainly why I stopped posting in design. A few posters ruined it. Unfortuantely it drove off a few of the really good developers.
Anyways my username on there is infinitestatemachine.
Razu that's looking great. I'm always skeptical of touch controls for something I feel would traditionally work better on a tactile controller but from that video it looks remarkably smooth.
So to test on android you have to buy the unity addon right?
Anyways my username on there is infinitestatemachine.
Razu that's looking great. I'm always skeptical of touch controls for something I feel would traditionally work better on a tactile controller but from that video it looks remarkably smooth.
So to test on android you have to buy the unity addon right?
Ecto311
Member
Looking for a little guidance here. I am looking to start a side scroller and cant decide on a method for it all. I have a notebook of things drawn and ideas but no idea whats the best way to stream line this and make it into something. Anyone have any advice as to what they do daily for a regime on making a game? If its your job or hobby anything is good.
Also I did read some of the posts here and the first post but I am still in the dark on a few things. I am trying to have this playable on PC, xbox and maybe android tablets if its easy to port around. I was looking at construct, unity, gamemaker but not sure if I should just buckle down and learn XNA for this. I know nothing of programming and a little of graphic design software.
Thanks for any advice or help. Being a new year I want to stop reading about games and get this one that I have had in my notebook finally done after 10+ years of inactivity.
Also I did read some of the posts here and the first post but I am still in the dark on a few things. I am trying to have this playable on PC, xbox and maybe android tablets if its easy to port around. I was looking at construct, unity, gamemaker but not sure if I should just buckle down and learn XNA for this. I know nothing of programming and a little of graphic design software.
Thanks for any advice or help. Being a new year I want to stop reading about games and get this one that I have had in my notebook finally done after 10+ years of inactivity.
There's a whole lot of variables.
First if you dont have programming experience I would say scale back your platform dreams. Development goes so much smoother when you are focused on one platform. You shouldn't try to do too much your first time through.
Next is do you want to program the game or are you ok using game making software? Is your side scroller 2D? If so then maybe GameMaker or MMF2 is good for you.They export to quite a few formats so that's even a bonus.
Considering you have no programming experience I would recommend avoiding doing something too programming heavy. Maybe ease into the programming waters slowly with a very simple game concept. Something like re-creating space invaders or the like.
First if you dont have programming experience I would say scale back your platform dreams. Development goes so much smoother when you are focused on one platform. You shouldn't try to do too much your first time through.
Next is do you want to program the game or are you ok using game making software? Is your side scroller 2D? If so then maybe GameMaker or MMF2 is good for you.They export to quite a few formats so that's even a bonus.
Considering you have no programming experience I would recommend avoiding doing something too programming heavy. Maybe ease into the programming waters slowly with a very simple game concept. Something like re-creating space invaders or the like.
Thanks!
I come from the days of 60 frames per second arcade games, and have worked on the controls of some mainstream console racing games. Chopper Mike started as an experiment in getting a touch screen to control as well as a traditional controller. Takes a few goes then people get it.
Yeah, there are two stages to Android in Unity, normal and pro. I went for pro as I do Unity dev by day for money, plus, for my game I don't want the Unity splash screen! With pro you also get access to GL, which is handy.
I finally finished syncing up my code from the minor work I did over Christmas, so it's all back on my desktop machine. Here is the first part of 128-point "Hello World", and this should be using normal Windows Arial TTF with FreeType 2:I actually just fixed a font rendering problem in my own engine so I have it all in my head at the moment.
Top is incorrect gamma, bottom is corrected. Both use the same PNG file output from BMFont.
Here is the same thing but with opposite colors:
Notice the jaggy edges, even though if I understand correctly anti-aliasing of some sort is being used. Any suggestions about improving it are welcome, though I'm not sure I've seen anyone here mention FreeType specifically.
I finally finished syncing up my code from the minor work I did over Christmas, so it's all back on my desktop machine. Here is the first part of 128-point "Hello World", and this should be using normal Windows Arial TTF with FreeType 2:
Here is the same thing but with opposite colors:
Notice the jaggy edges, even though if I understand correctly anti-aliasing of some sort is being used. Any suggestions about improving it are welcome, though I'm not sure I've seen anyone here mention FreeType specifically.
I used to render each 'glyph' at 2 or 4 times the target size, with zero AA, then super-sampled it down to the final texture. Looked nice, and since it was my code I had complete control over the quality. I'd suggest doing this!
Ecto311
Member
The thing I am trying to avoid is spending all my time on one platform or method and it not work for my goal. Goal is a PC/360 game that uses the controller. Seems like that would be the easiest also since most WYSIWYG editors work on the PC. I just don't want to make something in game-maker and realize half way thru that its stuck there and moving on is not possible without learning everything again.
Nice! My game (also made with GM8.1) is a Metroidvania but it's focusing much on platforming, there's no shooting. I also have another mode of play which is quick precision levels ala Super Meat Boy. I would really like to follow the progress of your game, its quite interesting. Double interesting because we use the same soft. Feel free to PM me and we could talk about our projects in more detail, exchanges little GM8 tricks we might find, stuff like that. I am already curious to know if you go "multiple rooms" or "one huge room".
Booter
Member
what you learn about game logic and how to make games will not be "lost" even if you switch tools. it's all valuable experience.
Interesting, I might see if loading performance is too bad doing this (and worst case I guess I could pre-generate some font textures). Any particular recommendations or tips regarding supersampling algorithms?
Oh yes, you should do this offline! Do as much as possible offline, always!
I just averaged the grid of source pixels, but I'm sure there are a million papers on supersampling. The simple method produced super smooth edges though.
Item_Screen
Member
I made a short teaser video for my game which should be on the AppStore Wednesday night/Thursday. My first game!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWEO4TaMSf8
Edit: I only disabled embedding because for some reason it was defaulting to 240p and it looked like poo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWEO4TaMSf8
Edit: I only disabled embedding because for some reason it was defaulting to 240p and it looked like poo.
Ah so you have lots of input refinement experience.
Arcade era developer. I am so envious
OccamsBlender
Member
Happy New Year everyone!
I hope to get some new game screens up soon. I haven't had the time to devote to art that I'd like so alas, nothing to show. -_- Yet!
I hope to get some new game screens up soon. I haven't had the time to devote to art that I'd like so alas, nothing to show. -_- Yet!
Played the game, simple and fun. Thanks!
That looking boss. I agree that not overly bouncy works in your favor.Sometime soon, I want to have more then the test area and half finished skills before I show off the game any more, first impressions are important I think.
This is the kind of animation I have in the game:
I go multiple rooms. I came up with some pretty cool tricks for my transition system. For example my system uses views in addition to multiple rooms, so whenever the player moves to a new room, the screen "flickers" weirdly as the view snaps to the player. To fix this, I developed a transition script that applies a 1 millisecond black screen to hide the flicker and the final transition looks seamless.
I also never use two sprites for left and right. I use 1 sprite and then flip it using image_xscale=-1, then whatever speed that object uses, it gets multiplied by the image_xscale, so that when it moves to the left, the speed is negative and vice versa.
Lots of other cool tricks
pettersson
Member
Hi Guys,
today is the release of my first indie game which i helped create. Do you think it's ok to start a new thread for it? Or should i just post it here?
regards,
pettersson
today is the release of my first indie game which i helped create. Do you think it's ok to start a new thread for it? Or should i just post it here?
regards,
pettersson
Best to post it here. Don't think you can make a topic about a game you were involved in.
Unless you PM a mod, I think it's safer to just post it here, so it doesn't look like you're creating a thread as an advertisement. At least, that's my understanding -- if any mods are reading this, please correct me if I am mistaken.
Post it here .. since the OT rules are
If it looks good someone can make an OT for it =3
Interesting. I placed my bet on another way of doing things. I have one huuuuuge room but I have an instance deactivation system so anything that isn't on screen doesn't take speed. So far so good. I also do the image scale thing, no way I would double my sprite sets only for left and right facing
Ah so you have lots of input refinement experience.
Arcade era developer. I am so envious
I was an arcade era player, but didn't start making games for a living in 1997. I did however work on Sega Rally 3, console and Arcade versions. I worked on the handling and wrote the code for the motorised seat and force feedback wheel
Hopefully that won't be the high point of my 'career', but you never know..
Man, just thinking of the arcades is a bit depressing. When I was a kid I could walk into town and play wicked videogames, against people I didn't know. Now, there are just shops.. boring!!
Oh man I hear you. When the arcade in North America died I died a little too. I spent most of my younger and teenage years playing street fighter, lightgun games, shmups, racing games... Hell anything.
I'm living in Japan now and am trying to take advantage of the game center scene here as much as possible. Been playing a ton of SF4 and they have retro centers so that's good. Too many damn UFO catchers though!
Sorry for the OT. Reminiscing
I'm living in Japan now and am trying to take advantage of the game center scene here as much as possible. Been playing a ton of SF4 and they have retro centers so that's good. Too many damn UFO catchers though!
Sorry for the OT. Reminiscing
Diablohead
Member
damnit! the person who drew me art work in the past now can't get time to draw more so I need to go find another artist, sucks total balls and I only needed 3 more poses :/
My game style will not change but i'm going to have to go commission hunting again to get new character portraits and go blow more money, sigh.
My game style will not change but i'm going to have to go commission hunting again to get new character portraits and go blow more money, sigh.
RelentlessRolento
Member
AusRoachman
Member
Hey guys, i need some fellow indie dev advise for a ios platformer i am currently making.
I want to make a game that has high replay-ability / unlockables and thus my eyes turned to roguelike games. Ive spent ALOT of time looking at previous roguelike games (especially platformers like spelunky), and since im not a huge roguelike player i need some advice on how to turn a fairly ho hum platformer into something more randomized.
As it stands the game plays as follows
Select from a series of levels, each one earning 1-3 stars and highscores (much like angry birds), when you complete one , the next one is unlocked.
Standard platforming, left/right/jump and shoot, 1 life per level, you die your restart the level. Health pickups , traps such as spikes/bombs e.t.c
However as i am playing it i realize other then trying to strive for a 3 gold star there is next to no replay-ability.
What i want to do is apply a bit more randomization and more incentive for players to play over and over again.
So what i am thinking is, much like new super mario bros 2 you have a global coin (or experience counter) and rather then picking levels when you start it randomly picks 4-5 premade levels which you must complete without losing any life (similar to coin rush mode only with permadeath).
Your global coins/experience would only update if you complete all 5 levels. Thus another set of levels (different theme/harder e.t.c) is unlocked (similar to spelunky and its shortcuts to worlds),
To add to the randomness you would also have lootdrops which range from spells (health e.t.c)
Just curious for those familiar with roguelike games what other elements can i add for a platformer , i have found most platformers on ios have no replay-ability beyond the first play-through which is something i want .
I am also thinking of having prizes or unlockables at certain milestones (such as new super mario bros 1 million coin incentive, only more rewarding), my hope is this would encourage players to keep returning and building up there global counter.
Any tips would be much appreciated.
I want to make a game that has high replay-ability / unlockables and thus my eyes turned to roguelike games. Ive spent ALOT of time looking at previous roguelike games (especially platformers like spelunky), and since im not a huge roguelike player i need some advice on how to turn a fairly ho hum platformer into something more randomized.
As it stands the game plays as follows
Select from a series of levels, each one earning 1-3 stars and highscores (much like angry birds), when you complete one , the next one is unlocked.
Standard platforming, left/right/jump and shoot, 1 life per level, you die your restart the level. Health pickups , traps such as spikes/bombs e.t.c
However as i am playing it i realize other then trying to strive for a 3 gold star there is next to no replay-ability.
What i want to do is apply a bit more randomization and more incentive for players to play over and over again.
So what i am thinking is, much like new super mario bros 2 you have a global coin (or experience counter) and rather then picking levels when you start it randomly picks 4-5 premade levels which you must complete without losing any life (similar to coin rush mode only with permadeath).
Your global coins/experience would only update if you complete all 5 levels. Thus another set of levels (different theme/harder e.t.c) is unlocked (similar to spelunky and its shortcuts to worlds),
To add to the randomness you would also have lootdrops which range from spells (health e.t.c)
Just curious for those familiar with roguelike games what other elements can i add for a platformer , i have found most platformers on ios have no replay-ability beyond the first play-through which is something i want .
I am also thinking of having prizes or unlockables at certain milestones (such as new super mario bros 1 million coin incentive, only more rewarding), my hope is this would encourage players to keep returning and building up there global counter.
Any tips would be much appreciated.
An idea that immediately came to mind after reading your post was that you could maybe lean more toward a metroidvania approach. Nifflas' Nytt Stories came to mind. I can imagine completing a series of levels or attaining an achievement then gaining a new ability that you can use to access previously unreachable locations in earlier levels. Keep up the good work-- your critical thinking is inspiring.
pettersson
Member
Hi there,
after over a year of hard work, "Primal Fears", an indie action game I worked on (not alone but as part of a team), has been released on Steam. It features a single player as well as a coop campaign with up to four players, steam achievements, leaderboards, controller support, etc.
Here's the Steam page for it
I did work on this in my spare time besides working a normal job =)
A few technical infos:
* we use a modified Ogre3d Engine (with our own generic decal system for blood splats etc.)
* RakNet for networking
* OpenAL for sound
* Bullet for physics
* we wrote the level editor and the game engine from scratch
regards
pettersson
after over a year of hard work, "Primal Fears", an indie action game I worked on (not alone but as part of a team), has been released on Steam. It features a single player as well as a coop campaign with up to four players, steam achievements, leaderboards, controller support, etc.
Here's the Steam page for it
I did work on this in my spare time besides working a normal job =)
A few technical infos:
* we use a modified Ogre3d Engine (with our own generic decal system for blood splats etc.)
* RakNet for networking
* OpenAL for sound
* Bullet for physics
* we wrote the level editor and the game engine from scratch
regards
pettersson
Try this game. It might help you come up with ideas.
http://redrogue.net/
Looks really cool man
Do you have any screenshots of the editor you can show?
So, question. Where do y'all find people to test you games? Friends/Family/Forums? Specifically relating to myself, does anyone have advice on getting people to test multiplayer games?
I started making, because I have no idea what a "scope" is, a simple multiuser game in unity. Development's going fine, if a bit slow, as game dev is really only a hobby at the moment. Due to the nature of a multiuser game, at various points I need to go out and gather friends/family/etc to download a new build, join my game running as a server, and keep their attention for long enough to be able to both look at specific technicalities, and to get impressions from the players themselves.
It'd be nice to hear how indie dev gaf handles getting people to test stuff, multiplayer or otherwise.
Cheers!
I started making, because I have no idea what a "scope" is, a simple multiuser game in unity. Development's going fine, if a bit slow, as game dev is really only a hobby at the moment. Due to the nature of a multiuser game, at various points I need to go out and gather friends/family/etc to download a new build, join my game running as a server, and keep their attention for long enough to be able to both look at specific technicalities, and to get impressions from the players themselves.
It'd be nice to hear how indie dev gaf handles getting people to test stuff, multiplayer or otherwise.
Cheers!
Congrats on the release
I was just looking at the trailer yesterday, looked nice and moody. I'll check it out when I get a chance.I haven't got enough time, and you can't enter things you've already been working on, so nope. I'd have liked to though!
We entered a game Jam here in Norway called NM i Gameplay.
The theme "Size Matters" was announced on the 27th of December and we had until the 5th of January where we had to present the game in Oslo to Jury and audience.
We made everything (except three O&S assets used in the background) from scratch in 5 days (since some of us were on vacation between Christmas and New Years), including the animations and assets, Design, Gameplay, Level Design and Programming.
Done in Unity but we have a) a lot of experience with Unity and b) we were 8 people working on it.
Shiftlings can be played both in single-player or co-op mode
Click image for Prototype Gameplay Teaser.
The theme "Size Matters" was announced on the 27th of December and we had until the 5th of January where we had to present the game in Oslo to Jury and audience.
We made everything (except three O&S assets used in the background) from scratch in 5 days (since some of us were on vacation between Christmas and New Years), including the animations and assets, Design, Gameplay, Level Design and Programming.
Done in Unity but we have a) a lot of experience with Unity and b) we were 8 people working on it.
Shiftlings can be played both in single-player or co-op mode
Click image for Prototype Gameplay Teaser.
That looks ace - really cool trailer too!
Family and Friends for smaller games yes. For bigger games actual testers who sign an NDA (make sure you trust those people though and they are actually testing/giving feedback and know they are Alpha testers
)Ludum Dare 25 — December 14th-17rd, 2012 — Theme: You are the Villain
I got #51 in humor, so I almost made it to a list
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Speedrun - jmk - Heroes are so Annoying! - Knighty
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Rainbow - ix
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the BRINK - radmars
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I got #51 in humor, so I almost made it to a list
I have a(stupid?) question, i'm making an app for psm, i'm alone and this is my first attempt to make something commercial, other than the app itself and the psm procedures there's something else i need to do? I mean, do i need to "found" a software house, register it somewhere, pay bills or other things?
pettersson
Member
Looks really cool man
Do you have any screenshots of the editor you can show?
Hi,
i quickly made two screenshots of the editor for you to look at:
The editor is used to build the complete level: setting objects, enemy spawnpoints etc. It is also used for "scripting" the game logic on a very simple level using triggers and actions. Navmesh creation is also done using the editor, we are using Recast/Detour for our game.
Since we are using the same scenes and renderer it looks exactly as it will look in-game, but you cannot switch between editor and gameplay at runtime (yet).
Regards,
pettersson
Congrats for making it onto Steam!
Chopper Mike is running on the OUYA!! Pics/videos to follow!!!
How does it run?
Nice making it onto steam pet.
Pretty much the same as the Nexus 7.
Not got the controller hooked up yet, so haven't played as such. But seen a level, and the titles..! Exciting!
Sometimes I remember I have very little talent, comparatively.We entered a game Jam here in Norway called NM i Gameplay.
The theme "Size Matters" was announced on the 27th of December and we had until the 5th of January where we had to present the game in Oslo to Jury and audience.
We made everything (except three O&S assets used in the background) from scratch in 5 days (since some of us were on vacation between Christmas and New Years), including the animations and assets, Design, Gameplay, Level Design and Programming.
Done in Unity but we have a) a lot of experience with Unity and b) we were 8 people working on it.
Shiftlings can be played both in single-player or co-op mode
Click image for Prototype Gameplay Teaser.
a quick list:
A bank account that you link to the account so that they can pay you
100$ fee for the year
Test on vita and android device
IIRC you also have to fill out the PEGI form on their site
Do you consider it worth it? Did it take a lot of time to implement?
In the past I've always used an open source editor with a plugin interface or written an exporter for something but I always find that there is some issue like it not looking the same or the interface doesn't easily allow me to add specialized entities etc. I"m seriously considering doing my own editor for an upcoming game I'm working on.
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