-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor
- Thread starter chubigans
- Start date
- Status
FormallyMegadrive
Member
xna is the library used. C# is indeed the language.
I've just pushed the latest update to my little experiment of a game, Match 3, to the Play Store.
It's a pretty basic game, though I kinda like it and it's oddly addictive
(screenshot is a little old; the grey bar has been removed and the icon set made to better fit the screen width in the latest version)
I wrote it as an exercise to try out the pygame subset for android (pgs4a) during development of a tutorial I'm giving at PyCon in the US in March (wanna learn Python game programming? come along! and was happy enough with the end result that I spent the $25 and pushed the game into the store for free download. Reviews have been positive
I've just finished rewriting it using another Python framework called Kivy which moves the hard work out of the CPU (where the SDL-based pygame was doing things) into OpenGL ES. Also Kivy has other nice features that the pygame subset doesn't.
I've got another Kivy-based game that I'm hoping to publish but I need a bunch of artwork first and I'm not very good at that side of things. It's maybe a couple of months away. I have a third project I'd like to migrate from its current pyglet/cocos2d implementation to kivy as well as I think it'd also suit multiplatform including mobile devices. That other project needs a lot more artwork though
I'm also about to set the date for the next Python Game Programming Challenge which will be probably the 7th-14th of April... I think that's a reasonable week for it...
It's a pretty basic game, though I kinda like it and it's oddly addictive
(screenshot is a little old; the grey bar has been removed and the icon set made to better fit the screen width in the latest version)
I wrote it as an exercise to try out the pygame subset for android (pgs4a) during development of a tutorial I'm giving at PyCon in the US in March (wanna learn Python game programming? come along!
and was happy enough with the end result that I spent the $25 and pushed the game into the store for free download. Reviews have been positive I've just finished rewriting it using another Python framework called Kivy which moves the hard work out of the CPU (where the SDL-based pygame was doing things) into OpenGL ES. Also Kivy has other nice features that the pygame subset doesn't.
I've got another Kivy-based game that I'm hoping to publish but I need a bunch of artwork first and I'm not very good at that side of things. It's maybe a couple of months away. I have a third project I'd like to migrate from its current pyglet/cocos2d implementation to kivy as well as I think it'd also suit multiplatform including mobile devices. That other project needs a lot more artwork though
I'm also about to set the date for the next Python Game Programming Challenge which will be probably the 7th-14th of April... I think that's a reasonable week for it...
Legato.Reborn-
Member
So guys about XNA
You can still build inside XNA and port against Monogame which allows you even more freedom than publishing with just XNA and you can still use XNA!
Taaaduh!
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bobfamiliar...ndows-8-xna-and-monogame-part-1-overview.aspx
You can still build inside XNA and port against Monogame which allows you even more freedom than publishing with just XNA and you can still use XNA!
Taaaduh!
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bobfamiliar...ndows-8-xna-and-monogame-part-1-overview.aspx
Not to depress everyone too much, but I saw this in the Greenlight thread and thought it might serve as an interesting and warning note about making a game:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=47091321&postcount=2581
If I understand correctly, it's a game that looks like it had a demo, high production values, and a lot of money put into it, but work ended up stopped. There is a blog post talking about it.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=47091321&postcount=2581
If I understand correctly, it's a game that looks like it had a demo, high production values, and a lot of money put into it, but work ended up stopped. There is a blog post talking about it.
That's indeed depressing; the game looks nice. Pretty much reinforces my opinion of the PC market, Steam Greenlight is awful and Desura is a miniscule market.
Mook, the developer, sells a lot of his in game tools on the Unity Store and they seem to be incredibly well done. I've thought about picking up his water asset several times.
As far as I know his Water and Fog of War assets are really popular, so perhaps the game isn't a total wash for him.
jetpacks was yes
Member
very cool, thanks.
ganbareneopokekun
Member
anyone here wants to make a game with me?
i'm good at pixelart / sprite work (kinda?)
i'm thinkn about a pixel / journey / minecraft / 2D / subtle.. like exploration game with some adventure elements...
if you're interested or want to see some of my work, just pm me ! ;D
i'm good at pixelart / sprite work (kinda?)
i'm thinkn about a pixel / journey / minecraft / 2D / subtle.. like exploration game with some adventure elements...
if you're interested or want to see some of my work, just pm me ! ;D
This is the course https://www.bignerdranch.com/classes/opengl_es
Glad to hear you recommend that book. I just bought it!
Hey guys.
Here's a bite-sized "flash game" (html5 actually) I made this week if you're interested.
Peanut Knight's Story
The goal of the game is just KO a respawning enemies... get a high score kind of thing. Enemies drop power ups and heals, and you can either be a Knight or Mage.
Here's a bite-sized "flash game" (html5 actually) I made this week if you're interested.
Peanut Knight's Story
The goal of the game is just KO a respawning enemies... get a high score kind of thing. Enemies drop power ups and heals, and you can either be a Knight or Mage.
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
I need a break from making levels for my game. I've got 47 out of 50 done, and these last stages are so difficult it takes me a long time to test them.
I'm making a platforming game for smartphones (iOS first). I've designed it specifically for touchscreens so it has one-touch controls. Your character moves automatically back and forth between the walls of the room, and everytime it touches the wall its speed increases. You just have to touch the screen to jump.
Each level has five stars that you have to collect to complete the stage. There are no enemies, but there are good and bad platforms. Blue ones are good to use, red ones destroy you. If your character is destroyed, you get a new one at your original speed and location, but the clock keeps ticking.
For casuals it doesn't really matter how many times you die - when you get the stars the stage is complete. But the real challenge of the game is to get the stars under a specified time, so it requires very precise timing and fast reflexes (especially on the later levels)
I just made a short test video of the first level. The video is a choppy 30fps, but the actual game is a solid 60 fps on all devices. Check it out if you have time. It's called Gleamer:
http://youtu.be/iv1oKXtNZwc
I'm making a platforming game for smartphones (iOS first). I've designed it specifically for touchscreens so it has one-touch controls. Your character moves automatically back and forth between the walls of the room, and everytime it touches the wall its speed increases. You just have to touch the screen to jump.
Each level has five stars that you have to collect to complete the stage. There are no enemies, but there are good and bad platforms. Blue ones are good to use, red ones destroy you. If your character is destroyed, you get a new one at your original speed and location, but the clock keeps ticking.
For casuals it doesn't really matter how many times you die - when you get the stars the stage is complete. But the real challenge of the game is to get the stars under a specified time, so it requires very precise timing and fast reflexes (especially on the later levels)
I just made a short test video of the first level. The video is a choppy 30fps, but the actual game is a solid 60 fps on all devices. Check it out if you have time. It's called Gleamer:
http://youtu.be/iv1oKXtNZwc
So, this guy is complaining cause he got no coverage for a game which is officially only in beta? Seriously? What did he expect? His game looks nice, but it doesn't strike me as something that is immediately attractive. Maybe as a free to play thing it could find a niche.
That blog post, to me, sounds a little bit like whining. Yes, getting coverage is a lottery. Yes, Greenlight is a popularity contest. Well, build an audience, release games and hope for the best, but don't expect that everyone will love your game and talk about it just because you sent a couple of emails to some sites. It takes years to develop a following. And in the case of a multiplayer game, it takes a lot of investments to keep an online community growing.
When we launched Derat we wrote to 160 sites and we got no answer. Did we think they were assholes because of that? No, we know they get one million requests every day, they have the right to ignore or highlight whatever they want. In the end our game got reviewed by some sites, but none of them because we contacted them. The game didn't get word of mouth and it didn't sell much. Some people loved it, the reviews were all very positive and we are happy for that. We think it deserved better and we will try to make less mistakes next time. But the point is: in any creative work, you have to expect failure. No one owes you anything.
Looks like a perfect cellphone time waster. Great idea and loving the sou nd effects.
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
Cheers. Almost all sound effects I made in Garageband on my iPad. I'm making all the music on various iPad synths as well.
any chance you could post some of your work in this thread?
MS seems to want developers to use either HTML5 or Win32 + Direct3D
They've actually implied that they won't be supporting .NET like they have in the past. There were some interviews with Herb Sutter (MS C++ team) mentioning that the .NET resources took away from the c++ teams resources and that was going to change in the future.
Nothing official though. Mono is great so it's no big loss if it turns out to be true.
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
Here are some screenshots showing some of the different levels from my above mentioned game.
I'd definitely recommend NGUI, which Mook also made, if anyone is having trouble with Unity's out of the box GUI.
You nailed it.
ganbareneopokekun
Member
sure, here some examples (everything was painted in paint.. some layer work was done in photoshop / graphicsgale)
..
Ha, same here! My game also heavily features red objects that kill you and runs at 60. Great minds think alike!
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
Ha, same here! My game also heavily features red objects that kill you and runs at 60. Great minds think alike!
Maybe I should make my guy a little helicopter...
A lot of people are saying this but check out Microsoft's page on the subject
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh452780.aspx
Edit: sorry for the shitty formatting but I'm on a nexus7 lol
I see only one path that will work for a proper 2D game
I dont think the other ones can support the same memory management and effects you can have in C#/XNA or the new way of C++/DirectX
In short MS tells indie developers to use what usually huge proffessional teams use or compromise their game (completly)
Which means they dont want indies anymore, at all
I dont think the other ones can support the same memory management and effects you can have in C#/XNA or the new way of C++/DirectX
In short MS tells indie developers to use what usually huge proffessional teams use or compromise their game (completly)
Which means they dont want indies anymore, at all
Have you tried monogame?
If i enable the same effects i use right now in my 2D XNA game in Javascript, i may get 2fps, besides the thousand other problems
For very simple games surly all paths may work, but not for games that max out in effects etc
Right now is one of me main options, when and if i will need to address xbox 720, Windows 8 or other platforms etc
That depends on how the game will go in 2013 and what platforms i will eventually target
If i manage to have a good demo for xbox 360, which is the major platform i started on, in 2013, i may never need to port
Otherwise Monogame seems like the ultimate solution, ANX framework is also an option, if it matures a bit further
The good news is that all my assets are scalable, since i pre-render backdrops in 3D and make menus etc in corel draw, plus some 3D, so at least wont have much asset work if i do a plaform change
JasoNsider
Member
I know it's a week late to be with my fellow devs on the GGJ posts, but we put up our game to play as well and it turned out remarkably well. Decided to make a GAF thread about it as I thought lots of people would love to go head to head in this game:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=511350
It's always fun to boot this thread up like my morning newspaper
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=511350
It's always fun to boot this thread up like my morning newspaper
This looks amazing.
So I'm planning to make an iOS game using Unity, but I noticed that I'll be paying $400 in order to do so. So instead of paying $400 straight up I'm looking for a free SDK that would let me create a rough prototypes of the game, and depending on the outcome I might then move on to create the game through Unity. So my question is, are there any free SDK that can be used to create rough prototypes in a short period of time ? Is Game Maker any good for iOS games ?
Teknopathetic
Member
"Really ? But how will the controls work since the controls rely on a touch screen ?"
Depending on whether you need multitouch or not, you can use the mouse to emulate touches.
Depending on whether you need multitouch or not, you can use the mouse to emulate touches.
So guys, I am in the process of converting my JS scripts into the uScript Visual Scripting Tool for Unity. I am more of a visual learner so it's been great doing this and I look forward to finishing my app with it. Here is a pic if people don't know what I am talking about.
You can check my small blog post too Here
Here is a pic if people don't know what I am talking about.
You can check my small blog post too Here
it really depends on what you're trying to make. it's possible to prototype the game using a mouse. i have mobile access right now but i'm not even bothering with touch until i get further down the line because i know that converting it won't be hard. if most of your workload is in creating the touch system rather than the actual game content - probably a big waste of time to do it with the mouse first.
RelentlessRolento
Member
So guys, I am in the process of converting my JS scripts into the uScript Visual Scripting Tool for Unity. I am more of a visual learner so it's been great doing this and I look forward to finishing my app with it.
You can check my small blog post too Here
How's Uscript? I've been using PlayMaker for the same reasons as you since I work better visually (Art Graduate Student here... straight text too boring for my eyes >_< )
hahaha nice!
It's got a bit of a Doutarou vibe to it. I love the style.
I'd be interested in the future because I'm planning to do some 2D procedural gen worlds but right now I'm working on 2 games and assisting on another.
If I can find a way to quit my job and still eat......
Now, this is some really good art work. Nice job man...
Thanks everyone for the reply. The game I have in mind relies heavily on touch controls, I think the biggest challenge will be nailing down how the touch controls feels, so it's impossible to emulate it using a mouse. Any suggestion for an SDK ? I don't want to pay $400 on Unity now because I'm broke, but still I want to get a feel of how the game will play.
killer rin
Member
Pretty much this. To my dismay everything has been going close to how I predicted with my classmates. They start targeting C++ for everything, they bring back and start pushing DirectX, they Kill Silverlight, they kill XNA, they will now bring in Managed Direct X again. It is annoying though. Why does Microsoft keep on burning platforms that work perfectly fine. All they are doing is forcing everyone to learn a new language/API set.
FunkeeFresh
Member
Does anyone know how many Android games ACTUALLY get coded in Java? I assume most games are created through things like GameMaker or Unity for cross-platform.
I'm a Java/C++ programmer. I have an idea for a small game for Android and possibly iOS to get started in game development. Still need to plan how I should make it.
I'm a Java/C++ programmer. I have an idea for a small game for Android and possibly iOS to get started in game development. Still need to plan how I should make it.
I'm guessing not a lot. It might be useful for apps where you can use a bunch of standard menues etc, but for games there's really not much point. I did a bit of java code for android before realising the NDK existed, and it was just horribly slow. Just go the C++/OpenGL route, that's the only real cross platform alternative.
Unity offered free basic licenses for Android and iOs on v.3.5 a few months back. Don't know if its still going on, but maybe someone that isn't using there's will pass it on or sell it for the cheap. I think the biggest most notable difference between 3.5 and 4.0 and higher is the introduction of mechanim (their character animation package) which I would imagine wouldn't really be necessary for a small indie iOs game.
RelentlessRolento
Member
It'd be nice if Microsoft, for the Next Box still had XBLIG but opened it up to Unity ... !
- Status