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Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor

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nicoga3000

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
I need some Game Maker (Studio) tips. I'm working on a Harvest Moon like game, but I feel like I need to learn and understand scripts to make some of this work. The problem is, I've never actually taken the time to understand what scripts do in GM. Anyone got any good tips/tutorials/articles worth reading? Or better, anyone work in GM enough to get in touch with me and give me the skinny?
 
R

razu

Member
ConvenientBox said:
I rendered this quickly last night as one of the enemies that shoots back at you, the rest just kind come at you ala geometry wars.

iObwh3HJqIjp.gif
Click to expand...

Well this looks cool!! :D


I just made a new flipper block for Chopper Mike: http://youtu.be/aXZPqusJoeo

Productivity in Unity can be SKY HIGH!! I'll write up how I structured my game, etc.. It's by far the most productive environment I've ever worked in!
 
F

fin

Member
Anyone going to Unite 2013? It's in Vancouver this year. Thinking I'll probably go. Pretty expensive though and its right before PAX.
 
P

prodystopian

Member
fin said:
Anyone going to Unite 2013? It's in Vancouver this year. Thinking I'll probably go. Pretty expensive though and its right before PAX.
Click to expand...

Too far away to say for sure, but I'm hoping to. I've been the last 3 years and it seems to improve each year in the quality of talks. Better than that though is the accessibility of the devs and networking with Unity specific people which I find more difficult at GDC (which is great for other reasons).
 
D

Dali

Member
jetpacks was yes said:
Has anyone here used the playmaker plugin for Unity? If so, how does it compare to say, game maker in terms of non-programmer friendliness?
Click to expand...

IIRC someone here was really singing its praises saying they had little to no programming ability and it helped them achieve exactly what they were trying to do.
 
T

Teknopathetic

Member
"Has anyone here used the playmaker plugin for Unity? If so, how does it compare to say, game maker in terms of non-programmer friendliness?"


I have it and use it a bit. You can definitely do a lot with it and it's very easy for non-programmers to grasp, but I feel like if you don't know unityscript, you should learn it even if you plan on using playmaker primarily as there's not actions for everything you might want to do, so you might need to script up something custom or have playmaker access a custom script.
 
D

Diablohead

Member
I really need to limit myself on the abilities you can unlock in my game, I am drawing the line at the current 14 I have space for, I keep getting an inch to add in new skills and it's not helping me any! What is nice is that they will all work interdependently from each other so you can unlock them in any order you find them, apart from one skill which relies on another to trigger.
 
O

OccamsBlender

Member
Ihateyouchris said:
I just updated Another Castle to version 0.06. This update adds in a freeze ray, summon shark, space suit, pillars, and hover enemies. I've also added in the redesigned Andy I was asking you guys about a while back. You can play it at http://AnotherCastleTheGame.com and here's a video showing it off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLBPldKRHwo
Click to expand...
Cool!!!! Are you using 2D Toolkit for Unity? Any recommendations for resources?

Feep said:
Kickstarter video shoot on Tuesday. Exciting!
Click to expand...

Good luck <3
 
R

Ranger X

Member
Ihateyouchris said:
I just updated Another Castle to version 0.06. This update adds in a freeze ray, summon shark, space suit, pillars, and hover enemies. I've also added in the redesigned Andy I was asking you guys about a while back. You can play it at http://AnotherCastleTheGame.com and here's a video showing it off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLBPldKRHwo
Click to expand...


Your game really is charming. I love the layered trees, I don't remember them from before. Continue your good work
 
I

Ihateyouchris

Member
SanaeAkatsuki said:
Cool!!!! Are you using 2D Toolkit for Unity? Any recommendations for resources?
Click to expand...
I'm using ex2d for the sprites in the game. It has it's quirks but has worked well for me so far.

Ranger X said:
Your game really is charming. I love the layered trees, I don't remember them from before. Continue your good work
Click to expand...

Thanks! I added in the layered trees in the last update. This one did add in bushes though.
 
C

Cmagus

Member
So I started working on something new today. Although this is more of an educational app I still thought I would post something. I am aiming for iOS and Android tablet with this one.

I have been learning java (still am) but I decided to work in Construct 2 for this project as it is really interesting. I know down the road I am gonna have to do some programming but for now I thought I would post a title mock up. The art is still not final as it needs some more tweaks. I'll post more as I go although it may not be as exciting as some of the awesome games in this thread.

jtx7nt5C1UZ7J.png
Click to expand...
 
C

cbox

Member
Looks like the start to a fun app magus,

I rendered out some more footage tonight - I really can't wait to get our game out for people to play :)

(I apologize for gifs)

Some action,

iDxURTRMHlJQI.gif


Cross section of the detail on the title screen.

ibk3ULyRQ4OmnF.gif


And a sneak at the logo animation i've been working on.

ibj0KSuCJErOui.gif
 
R

rohlfinator

Member
nicoga3000 said:
I need some Game Maker (Studio) tips. I'm working on a Harvest Moon like game, but I feel like I need to learn and understand scripts to make some of this work. The problem is, I've never actually taken the time to understand what scripts do in GM. Anyone got any good tips/tutorials/articles worth reading? Or better, anyone work in GM enough to get in touch with me and give me the skinny?
Click to expand...

They're basically just like functions/methods in any other language.
 
J

jkanownik

Member
My Kickstarter campaign for an iOS only game isn't going well so far. I am completely self taught on xCode/Objective-C and wanted to keep the budget as low as possible, so I kept it to a single platform. I was planning to save a PC version for a stretch goal and pay someone else to port it to PC. Now it looks like I'll need all the help I can get just to get funded.

The code will be relatively simple on iOS as the game is all full motion video, but I have no idea how complex it will be on PC or which program to use. Is there something similar to Xcode for PC? Microsoft is telling me that Visual Studio is pretty similar, but it looks pretty daunting for someone that is self-taught.

Anyone have experience with the switch between iOS and PC or have any ideas on how to get started learning how to port from iOS to PC? Any chance I can spend roughly 50 hours learning enough Visual Studio to be comfortable promising a port?
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Feep said:
Kickstarter video shoot on Tuesday. Exciting!
Click to expand...
Looking forward to it. Enjoy your massive amount of money and lack of accountability!
ConvenientBox said:
Looks like the start to a fun app magus,

I rendered out some more footage tonight - I really can't wait to get our game out for people to play :)
Click to expand...
Looks real slick. I love the idea of JAMHAMMER.

I made two revisions since the movement bothered me and I didn't like the side movement back. A more 'impact' heavy version and a quick lift one:
Heavy
yoKWWbW.gif






Quick
zMSIRts.gif
 
L

Limanima

Member
rottame said:
Wait until you have a family. Working nights is OK for a while, but at some point you realize that making games is a very hard hobby to keep when you have a full time job and a family.
Click to expand...

Hehehe. That's me you're talking about.
-Fulltime job - check
-Family - check (4 and 6 year old sons and a wife)

I don't work late at night, usually at midnight I stop. I only manage to work 1-2 hours a day, more at weekends. That's why my game (it' not completely mine, because I'm working with a friend) is taking ages to complete...
(you can check it here http://www.snailsvideogame.net, there's a demo to try out). It's a lemminguish kind of game.

The hardest thing is to keep the motivation...
 
R

rottame

Member
Limanima said:
Hehehe. That's me you're talking about.
-Fulltime job - check
-Family - check (4 and 6 year old sons and a wife)

I don't work late at night, usually at midnight I stop. I only manage to work 1-2 hours a day, more at weekends. That's why my game (it' not completely mine, because I'm working with a friend) is taking ages to complete...
(you can check it here http://www.snailsvideogame.net, there's a demo to try out). It's a lemminguish kind of game.

The hardest thing is to keep the motivation...
Click to expand...

Oh. Wow. Pretty much the same. Younger children, but the rest is the same.
To me the most frustrating thing is that we are forced to keep the scope of our games so small and we end up being less flexible than we would like. Any change from initial plans means working on the game for several additional weeks (considering I can work a maximum of 15 hours a week), and that makes the last part of development frustrating and demotivating. Which is a pity, as that is the part where the game starts to really improve.
Anyway, I remember your game; you partecipated to DreamBuildPlay as well (we submitted an early version of Derat Inc.)
 
L

Limanima

Member
rottame said:
Oh. Wow. Pretty much the same. Younger children, but the rest is the same.
To me the most frustrating thing is that we are forced to keep the scope of our games so small and we end up being less flexible than we would like. Any change from initial plans means working on the game for several additional weeks (considering I can work a maximum of 15 hours a week), and that makes the last part of development frustrating and demotivating. Which is a pity, as that is the part where the game starts to really improve.
Click to expand...
We felt on the mistake of over-designing, and that's why the project is taking so long (more then 2 years now). But we are finally near completion. We estimate 2 or 3 months more.

rottame said:
Anyway, I remember your game; you partecipated to DreamBuildPlay as well (we submitted an early version of Derat Inc.)
Click to expand...
Yes we did, and we actually did well. We were in the 20 finalists on XBox and Windows Phone. Considering the game was far from completion, it was a excelent result. The build that is available on our webpage is almost 1 year old and is the same that was submitted.
We add a ton of new features since that.
 
E

EDarkness

Member
Hey guys. I'm working on a new project using Unity, and I'm wondering if some would be available to take this landmass I've made and make it into six distinct areas so that I can add terrain, textures, and all that. I'm trying to get a streamed environment for my game (or as close as I can get), but getting a modeling program to take my bitmap and make a real island out of it has been difficult at best.

I can provide the bitmap of the landmass and the scale. I'll do the rest (texturing, adding trees, rocks, cities, etc.). Let me know.
 
B

BlueMagic

Member
ConvenientBox said:
Looks like the start to a fun app magus,

I rendered out some more footage tonight - I really can't wait to get our game out for people to play :)

(I apologize for gifs)

Some action,

iDxURTRMHlJQI.gif


Cross section of the detail on the title screen.

ibk3ULyRQ4OmnF.gif


And a sneak at the logo animation i've been working on.

ibj0KSuCJErOui.gif
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, was this being made in Unity?
 
S

Secret Fawful

Member
YZy7bOu.gif


I'm getting a lot better at animating my adventure game.

Now if only I could get better at writing comedy in a video game. It really is the hardest thing to write.

Or stop second-guessing myself.
 
S

Secret Fawful

Member
GMM said:
Are you using WinAGI for this?
Click to expand...

I'm using The GIMP, and I've become really fast in it. Occasionally Graphics Gale. WinAGI....I can't remember if I ever tried it or not. I used to use Deluxe Paint 4 for animations and backgrounds, what the old Lucasarts devs used for art in the Secret/LOOM days, but it took too long to work in.
 
G

GMM

Banned
Secret Fawful said:
I'm using The GIMP, and I've become really fast in it. Occasionally Graphics Gale. WinAGI....I can't remember if I ever tried it or not. I used to use Deluxe Paint 4 for animations and backgrounds, what the old Lucasarts devs used for art in the Secret/LOOM days, but it took too long to work in.
Click to expand...

Not how you made the animation, the engine you use for your game :)
 
M

MikeHaggar

Member
any talented pixel artists out there looking to team-up with a programmer on something? i'm only interested in working with someone who is serious, devoted, willing to see the project to the end, and willing to put in the pre-production time to thoroughly design the game. i also want to make sure that scope is kept under control.

shoot me a pm if interested and let's get a discussion going!
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
MikeHaggar said:
any talented pixel artists out there looking to team-up with a programmer on something? i'm only interested in working with someone who is serious, devoted, willing to see the project to the end, and willing to put in the pre-production time to thoroughly design the game. i also want to make sure that scope is kept under control.

shoot me a pm if interested and let's get a discussion going!
Click to expand...
Same goes for me, except I'm totally more handsome and entertaining of a programmer than MikeHaggar, so all the pixel artists should contact ME instead.

(actually I don't have my engine ready yet so I can't haggle for artists :'()
 
G

GMM

Banned
Secret Fawful said:
Woops. I was confusing WinAGI with SCI, and was thinking both had built in graphics software.

I'm using Adventure Game Studio.
Click to expand...

I always wanted to get into AGS, seems really cool for making classic adventure games. I do dislike it for only being able to run on Windows, so i never really bothered with learning it.
 
S

Secret Fawful

Member
GMM said:
I always wanted to get into AGS, seems really cool for making classic adventure games. I do dislike it for only being able to run on Windows, so i never really bothered with learning it.
Click to expand...

From what I know, which is little in that area of things, work is being done to port the engine to Mac, Android, iOS, etc. I don't know how far along that is, though.
 
M

MikeHaggar

Member
Blizzard said:
Same goes for me, except I'm totally more handsome and entertaining of a programmer than MikeHaggar, so all the pixel artists should contact ME instead.

(actually I don't have my engine ready yet so I can't haggle for artists :'()
Click to expand...

blizzard is neither more handsome nor more entertaining than me. and my tech is ready now hahaha!
 
C

cbox

Member
Hazaro said:
Quick
Click to expand...

I feel the exact same way after seeing it loop a few times, it totally makes more sense and that's exactly what my friends said too, gonna make the change!

BlueMagic said:
Out of curiosity, was this being made in Unity?
Click to expand...

We're doing this in XNA, hopefully put it up on the 360 indie channel and release it for pc.

And thanks for the kind words guys, really means a lot!

EDIT: Holy carp , I apologize to chrome users, my gifs made this page tank.
 
B

Bit-Bit

Member
I'm currently writing a script for a point and click adventure game that I want to make. I'm not a programmer so I've been looking at Adventure Game Studio as the engine to make the game. Can anyone tell me if there's any other alternative Engines that's for point and click games?

Also, anyone used Adventure Game Studio? Any pros and cons I should know about?
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Feep said:
My career is basically over if I fail to deliver, so there's that.

But thank you?
Click to expand...
So you are fine then! :D
ConvenientBox said:
I feel the exact same way after seeing it loop a few times, it totally makes more sense and that's exactly what my friends said too, gonna make the change!
Click to expand...
I just a thing I have for intro screens that are slightly longer than they need to be :p
embalm said:
Can you guys give a few songs from our RTS a listen? Let me know what you think. I think it's great, but I'm obviously biased.

We have 3 songs up:
https://soundcloud.com/music-vortex/sets/cairn-song-of-sorrow
Click to expand...
Tracks themselves are great. Took a glimpse at the game setting, seems fine, but I'm no musical expert.
 
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