• 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

Status
Not open for further replies.

Dali

Member
Trying to think up a name for my Dungeon Themed Platformer with lots of coin collecting (think new super mario bros 2 in dungeons)

Which one is best ?

1) Pixel Plunderers
2) Dungeon Bludgeon
3) Dungeon Plungeon
4) Loot legends
5) Kill Loot Plunder
6) Lots of Loot

I like Dungeon Bludgeon. "Pixel" in a title seems too trendy and just makes me think, "cheap mobile game".
 

V_Arnold

Member
So many awesome stuff in the past page or two....keep it up, everyone!

I will jump in with my stuff exactly in...two months :p
Until then, back to coding :D
 

razu

Member
Making skill games with levels that are near impossible is awesome. I remember my hover bike game and trying to make them as difficult as possible. It was alot of fun. I'd try it over and over again and if a level took me longer than 20 minutes, dial down the difficulty :p.

You'll enjoy this level then... :D

 

phantomsnake

Neo Member
qb0RStb.gif


Working on a fun little spawn animation for my chasers.

Whoa, awesome! Reminds me of Wind Waker.

Trying to think up a name for my Dungeon Themed Platformer with lots of coin collecting (think new super mario bros 2 in dungeons)

Which one is best ?

1) Pixel Plunderers
2) Dungeon Bludgeon
3) Dungeon Plungeon
4) Loot legends
5) Kill Loot Plunder
6) Lots of Loot

I like Loot Legends.
 
Dungeon Bludgeon sounds rather cool and different.

Thanks for the tips guys , dungeon bludgeon just doesn't quiet roll off the tongue but I do love it.

Loot legends is the front runner,although there is a game already called legends of loot.

Little looters is another one I came up with. I basically want to convey there is dungeons and LOTS of collecting.
 

Uhyve

Member
Whoa, awesome! Reminds me of Wind Waker.
I think he's actually using Wind Waker eyes as placeholders, I'd recognise that turquoise iris tint anywhere, I love Wind Waker eyes.

@Kamaki: Nice animation, looks kind of cartoony, which lends itself well to the model.
 
I like 120fps.

Having a fast game, where the rate of change of position is large, i.e. the
velocity, one needs a higher resolution in time. It's unclear to me why
Wipeout 2048 clocks at 30fps. The graphics can nowhere near compensate for the
lag of frames. It is cumbersome if you want to run and trigger the buttons at
a competitive level, i.e. when each hit of a button counts. However.

Well, I've a question; Is any of those modern mobile devices like some android
phones from Samsung etc. or one of those Apple's gadgets, i.e. iPhone and iPad,
able to refresh the display at a rate > 60Hz? Say I want to output graphics at
75Hz, 90Hz, or 120Hz. Is it possible? Perhaps one needs to switch to a certain
video mode. Anyone ever tried it?

iOS is locked at 60fps. Which sucks. I would love for Apple to push refresh rate the the same way they pushed high DPI. They can call it "smooth screen" or something. Combine that with ultra low latency inputs and I would be in hog heaven.
 

razu

Member
iOS is locked at 60fps. Which sucks. I would love for Apple to push refresh rate the the same way they pushed high DPI. They can call it "smooth screen" or something. Combine that with ultra low latency inputs and I would be in hog heaven.

Next up would be high precision analog sticks, (not for iPhone, obvs..), but anyway.. As my RC enthusiast friend mentioned. The controllers they use are ridiculously accurate. His controller had a screen that output the stick positions. When he had his thumbs on the sticks, but not moving, he could see his heartbeat in the read out.. I want *that*.
 
60fps on a 4" screen seems plenty for the time being, anything above that will be noticeable but not as different as 30 to 60 frames on that size screen.
 

razu

Member
60fps on a 4" screen seems plenty for the time being, anything above that will be noticeable but not as different as 30 to 60 frames on that size screen.

Dunno man, you only focus on a tiny point at any one time, so I'm guessing screen size is not that important. But yeah, 30 to 60 is the big one. But I do appreciate that I'm a child of the arcades, and the world isn't like that now.

The beauty of 60fps is in the eye of the beholder!
 

Dali

Member
I feel so lost right now. I'm working in all sorts of basic mechanics that I'm sure I'll use regardless of where I end up going with game play but I still haven't nailed down exactly what the game will be. I've got 2 directions I want to go but both seem a bit daunting to do in a way I'd be totally satisfied.
 

Ventron

Member
I feel so lost right now. I'm working in all sorts of basic mechanics that I'm sure I'll use regardless of where I end up going with game play but I still haven't nailed down exactly what the game will be. I've got 2 directions I want to go but both seem a bit daunting to do in a way I'd be totally satisfied.

You shouldn't toss in basic mechanics unless it adds to the main mechanic you want to use in-game. I've done that, and I ended up as lost as you're feeling now.
If you find the one mechanic that defines your game, then you can build everything (other mechanics, story, theme) out of that.
 

Dali

Member
You shouldn't toss in basic mechanics unless it adds to the main mechanic you want to use in-game. I've done that, and I ended up as lost as you're feeling now.
If you find the one mechanic that defines your game, then you can build everything (other mechanics, story, theme) out of that.
I figure I can't go wrong with running, walking, and jumping. I'm probably getting a little too specific and possibly wasting my time with the wall jump, enemy grab and throw, and attack though. I'm gonna take a step back and figure out what I want to do. Thanks for the advice.
 
Small update with my game, right now the game runs at 60fps on all devices but I do have little to no effects in play, my next task is to get those working well, so right now I am running around testing the game in a green block test zone.

gCIFRhj.png


I also changed the old virtual stick to a more traditional Dpad style, so far it works but it will need fine tuning for all those detection zones.

The menu system is being revamped to be in-game like a pause screen instead of every screen transition, also doing this is allowing me to make things much more simple then before, which was in a way getting out of hand for me to manage.

b4V9OUx.png


Nakiti's visuals change a little bit when skills are found such as her electric
screw attack
and when the SMG is upgraded that changes too, need an excuse to throw some artwork in there somewhere :p

Just in case no one knows, this game is not retina for a few reasons, on the PC the game will resize to a nice sized window and work with a pad using 4 buttons, but that stuff is still far from being implanted correctly.

I want to sell this game for as cheap as possible, there is no way an indie game like this would sell well otherwise.
 
traded in a bunch of games at gamestop and picked up steam credit to get RPG Maker... might experiment with it a bit... anyone have some tips for a new RPG Maker user? this is someone who likes to visual code in Unity and GamMaker.
 

Kamaki

Member
Whoa, awesome! Reminds me of Wind Waker.
That's because I pretty much outright stole proportions of link from windwaker. In fact his eyes ar-

I think he's actually using Wind Waker eyes as placeholders, I'd recognise that turquoise iris tint anywhere, I love Wind Waker eyes.

@Kamaki: Nice animation, looks kind of cartoony, which lends itself well to the model.
...Wow I'm surprised someone would notice the colour as well! Yep basically the least creative character design but I was trying to keep to schedule so it'll have to do. Oh and thanks! I like my anims floppy.

I like the floppy hand :D

@Kamaki - I bought a cool book on animation. It's called The Animator's Survival Kit. Worth a read. Not that I'm saying you need to! I just preach reading and learning any chance I get :D

Floppy hands are my favourite thing, literally every character I animate has them. Thanks for the suggestion btw, I actually have a copy myself. It really is a great book.
 

Dynamite Shikoku

Congratulations, you really deserve it!
When I first started making my game I was really excited to be doing it and was working 5-6 hours a night after coming home from my day job. That went on for a month or so until my body just shut down from exhaustion and I was really sick for about 2 weeks. I feel like I'm on the verge of that again working on these menus. For the past week I've been doing menu stuff, mostly graphics. It's very tedious, and I'm making things, checking them on the device, adjusting colours, testing, checking, adjusting. I was thinking about it today and realised that after the menus are done I really don't have that much left to do, so I decided that I'm not going to torture myself so much and slow it down a bit.
 

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
When I first started making my game I was really excited to be doing it and was working 5-6 hours a night after coming home from my day job. That went on for a month or so until my body just shut down from exhaustion and I was really sick for about 2 weeks. I feel like I'm on the verge of that again working on these menus. For the past week I've been doing menu stuff, mostly graphics. It's very tedious, and I'm making things, checking them on the device, adjusting colours, testing, checking, adjusting. I was thinking about it today and realised that after the menus are done I really don't have that much left to do, so I decided that I'm not going to torture myself so much and slow it down a bit.

Ah man that sucks to hear. Just take it a bit easier and enjoy a break or two between coding sessions. I always like to take an hour break just to game it up and relax a bit.

---

So if anyone's interested, I've posted my full sales data and strategies in selling my latest game, "Cook, Serve, Delicious!" You can read it here: http://gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidGal...uch_do_indie_PC_devs_make_anyways_Part_IV.php
 

Ranger X

Member

Noogy

Member
So if anyone's interested, I've posted my full sales data and strategies in selling my latest game, "Cook, Serve, Delicious!" You can read it here: http://gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidGal...uch_do_indie_PC_devs_make_anyways_Part_IV.php

This is great, thanks for sharing :) I know that feeling of having Giant Bomb doing a quicklook of your game, you are CONSTANTLY praying that it doesn't freeze up while they are playing.

My game DID lock up quite a bit during PAX East demo last year, and every time it was this super draining moment followed by non-stop apologies. Thankfully nearly everyone at the show was super cool and understanding. Definitely not the crowd to be leaving iTunes user reviews.
 

razu

Member
When I first started making my game I was really excited to be doing it and was working 5-6 hours a night after coming home from my day job. That went on for a month or so until my body just shut down from exhaustion and I was really sick for about 2 weeks. I feel like I'm on the verge of that again working on these menus. For the past week I've been doing menu stuff, mostly graphics. It's very tedious, and I'm making things, checking them on the device, adjusting colours, testing, checking, adjusting. I was thinking about it today and realised that after the menus are done I really don't have that much left to do, so I decided that I'm not going to torture myself so much and slow it down a bit.

Yeah, I clocked it back a bit a few months ago. You can only work day-night-weekends for so long. And a complete break is really good for inspiration and getting ideas straight in your head, be they design ideas, or implementation ideas.

Take it easy!
 

missile

Member
iOS is locked at 60fps. Which sucks. I would love for Apple to push refresh rate the the same way they pushed high DPI. They can call it "smooth screen" or something. Combine that with ultra low latency inputs and I would be in hog heaven.
Being locked at 60fps doesn't tell anything about the refresh rate of the
display/video chip. Sure, it should be at least 60Hz for 60fps. But the
question is whether the video chip inside an i{Phone, Pad}, Samsung etc. is
able to refresh the display at > 60Hz independent of whether a software is
locked at whatever frame rate and, if possible, whether such a mode can be
attained. Perhaps going fullscreen may allow for a different video mode. I don't
know. Btw; Count me in on that 1ms display!


Next up would be high precision analog sticks, (not for iPhone, obvs..), but anyway.. As my RC enthusiast friend mentioned. The controllers they use are ridiculously accurate. His controller had a screen that output the stick positions. When he had his thumbs on the sticks, but not moving, he could see his heartbeat in the read out.. I want *that*.
Where? Me, too! Hopefully Sony doesn't screw up the DS4 and that all the
new features of the PS4 don't adversely affect controller latency.


60fps on a 4" screen seems plenty for the time being, anything above that will be noticeable but not as different as 30 to 60 frames on that size screen.
Contra.


@chubigans: Thanks for taking the time!

@Dynamite Shikoku: Have a break, have a KitKat! :)
 
Think I'll buy RPG Maker. Does it still have a 'stigma' attached to it? Always got the impression that people looked down on the games made with it.
 

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
Trying to think up a name for my Dungeon Themed Platformer with lots of coin collecting (think new super mario bros 2 in dungeons)

Which one is best ?

1) Pixel Plunderers
2) Dungeon Bludgeon
3) Dungeon Plungeon
4) Loot legends
5) Kill Loot Plunder
6) Lots of Loot


I'd think about taking Pixel Plunderers and shortening to Pixel Plunder. 2 syllables + 2 syllables has a nicer flow vs 2+3.

Dungeon Bludgeon I sort of like, but is a bit of a tongue twister in my head.
 

Dali

Member
Ah man that sucks to hear. Just take it a bit easier and enjoy a break or two between coding sessions. I always like to take an hour break just to game it up and relax a bit.

---

So if anyone's interested, I've posted my full sales data and strategies in selling my latest game, "Cook, Serve, Delicious!" You can read it here: http://gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidGal...uch_do_indie_PC_devs_make_anyways_Part_IV.php
An interesting read and very informative to boot. Thanks for the soul crushing news turdigans. :mad:
 

oktarb

Member
Got through a "significant" portion of the book Unity Essentials 3X. Been a fun road. i can drop in terrain, or third party assets, get a guy running around in first or third person perspectives. I can get pre-coded animated assets to work, simple sounds and lighting up and running.

I like that fact the Unity gets you into the game quickly and the coding is handled in a very modular way. still a long way to go but I've made more progress in the last 2 weeks then I've made in years dabbling in other systems.
 

razu

Member
Got through a "significant" portion of the book Unity Essentials 3X. Been a fun road. i can drop in terrain, or third party assets, get a guy running around in first or third person perspectives. I can get pre-coded animated assets to work, simple sounds and lighting up and running.

I like that fact the Unity gets you into the game quickly and the coding is handled in a very modular way. still a long way to go but I've made more progress in the last 2 weeks then I've made in years dabbling in other systems.

Wicked! :D
 

embalm

Member
Ah man that sucks to hear. Just take it a bit easier and enjoy a break or two between coding sessions. I always like to take an hour break just to game it up and relax a bit.

---

So if anyone's interested, I've posted my full sales data and strategies in selling my latest game, "Cook, Serve, Delicious!" You can read it here: http://gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidGal...uch_do_indie_PC_devs_make_anyways_Part_IV.php

I always love profit/sales write ups. It's like my form of addictive reality TV, where I read and in my head I think, "Other people are really doing it!"
 

udivision

Member
Hey guys, I think I have something that doesn't completely suck to present to you all.
It's called Circuit Spark and it's a platformer I've developed over the past week.


The gimmick is that ranter than having buttons to directly control your Spark, you use buttons to send out the "actions" on the path in front of the Spark. These actions are called Spark Powers. If you want to tell your Spark to run and jump, you'd activate the "Speed Up" and "Jump" powers respectively. The number in the corner let's you know how many you can activate a time.

You can play it here: Circuit Spark
 
Got through a "significant" portion of the book Unity Essentials 3X. Been a fun road. i can drop in terrain, or third party assets, get a guy running around in first or third person perspectives. I can get pre-coded animated assets to work, simple sounds and lighting up and running.

I like that fact the Unity gets you into the game quickly and the coding is handled in a very modular way. still a long way to go but I've made more progress in the last 2 weeks then I've made in years dabbling in other systems.

If you like modular stuff, look into playmaker on the unity asset store. I hate text coding but work fast visually and playmaker has me doing stuff I never thought I'd be able to do
 

oktarb

Member
If you like modular stuff, look into playmaker on the unity asset store. I hate text coding but work fast visually and playmaker has me doing stuff I never thought I'd be able to do

Was actually reading up on that today. I'm trying to stay focused on the tutorials and the book I bought. Its so easy to get distracted trying to find the better way to do things. A trap I've fallen into on more than one occasion. I figure I get through Unity Essentials and then take a look at PlayMaker. I like the concept but as a one man army I have to be careful.
 

Dali

Member
Hey guys, I think I have something that doesn't completely suck to present to you all.
It's called Circuit Spark and it's a platformer I've developed over the past week.



The gimmick is that ranter than having buttons to directly control your Spark, you use buttons to send out the "actions" on the path in front of the Spark. These actions are called Spark Powers. If you want to tell your Spark to run and jump, you'd activate the "Speed Up" and "Jump" powers respectively. The number in the corner let's you know how many you can activate a time.

You can play it here: Circuit Spark

One week?! Geez I'm doing this wrong. Looks amazingly polished. Will give it a go when I get the chance.
 
Dear everyone, I'm sorry for my last, selfish request. Had a bit of a breakdown from overwork at my day job plus a friend quitting my last project. But, I've got something new lined up and I'll hopefully have something to show for it 3/17. Yes, 3/17. I will show something OR ELSE.

My programmer friend and I realized we really need to stick to smaller stuff. I think I have something smaller..

I just finished the second series of my PSM/Vita/OpenGL ES2 tutorials. If you are advanced I wouldn't bother reading. It's meant for beginners :)

http://levelism.com/tutorials/
I'm a rookie starting out on codeacademy.com so thank you!

My apps in the App Store as of today! You can check it out here: http://appstore.com/pipsqueaks
Congratulations, making it to market is a huge achievement. One I lack. :(

Some sprites samples from Space Crawler (WIP)...
iwCIRgsdnSwuJ.png

Anyone got a PCEngine/TurboGrafx vibe? :)
Yeah, especially for the lasers. Did you play Sapphire? One of my favorite games ever, it feels like you did too. That and Gunhed!

I can finally announce that Dungeon Hearts is coming to Steam and iPads on March 28!
I'm also still giving out the soundtrack for free, get it here!
iPAD? Not phone? :(
My iPad fund just got destroyed by the fact I need new glasses.

I just had to share this little GIF with you guys ;) Actual in game shot from "The Other Brothers"....
SHORYUKEN.gif
Your animation is awesome. I am in envy.

Trying to think up a name for my Dungeon Themed Platformer with lots of coin collecting (think new super mario bros 2 in dungeons)

Which one is best ?
1) Pixel Plunderers
2) Dungeon Bludgeon
3) Dungeon Plungeon
4) Loot legends
5) Kill Loot Plunder
6) Lots of Loot
Another vote for Dungeon Bludgeon. Though I like MDK so Kill Loot Plunder resonates with me too. :)

And Diablohead, are you taking preorders? I want your game ASAP!
 

razu

Member
I have finished all the gameplay parts of Chopper Mike. Tomorrow I will finish the credits list, make a couple of icons for GameCenter leaderboards, make some screen shots for the stores... and probably upload!

HighFive™! :D
 

hoverX

Member
My programmer friend and I realized we really need to stick to smaller stuff. I think I have something smaller..

My business partners are saying the same thing to me. They want to knock off another simple game but I want to build something more complex.

I've got 2 projects on the go now, another educational game and a shmup. Maybe doing something small is a good idea...




Congratulations, making it to market is a huge achievement. One I lack. :(

You'll get there eventually. It took us forever to get this first one out!
 
Not sure if this is the right place for this, but I've got an interview about enrollment in an MFA in game design program at NYU tomorrow. I know there's always a lot of debate about how valuable game design degrees are, but I'm still excited about this fact :).

Also, my RTS/Sports game continues, albeit slowly. Rudimentary physics for the disc are in place, and people are moving around to catch it.

NExt up, Defensive AI, offensive AI when not given a direct command. I should have something that resembles a game, and not just a bunch of random shapes responding to mouse clicks soon.
 

udivision

Member
One week?! Geez I'm doing this wrong. Looks amazingly polished. Will give it a go when I get the chance.

Every single graphic in the entire game is either a Photoshop effect or a Photoshop Shape, or a combination of the two. So the graphics didn't take much time to do. I did make an effort to make it look/feel a lot more polished, especially compared to my last foray into "flash" games.

Hopefully you find it enjoyable. I'm kind of burnt out on working on it for now as one might guess, heh.
 

bumpkin

Member
I have finished all the gameplay parts of Chopper Mike. Tomorrow I will finish the credits list, make a couple of icons for GameCenter leaderboards, make some screen shots for the stores... and probably upload!

HighFive™! :D
I was playing the latest TestFlight build on my iPhone earlier tonight. It's looking and playing great, man! I'm quite envious. :)
 

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
Thanks everyone!

This is great, thanks for sharing :) I know that feeling of having Giant Bomb doing a quicklook of your game, you are CONSTANTLY praying that it doesn't freeze up while they are playing.

My game DID lock up quite a bit during PAX East demo last year, and every time it was this super draining moment followed by non-stop apologies. Thankfully nearly everyone at the show was super cool and understanding. Definitely not the crowd to be leaving iTunes user reviews.

Yeah, I really couldn't enjoy watching until the second time around after I knew the game didn't make their computer go up in flames, haha.
 

Bamihap

Good at being the bigger man
Can't wait to show off our new game. :D

Also, new art for Castaway Paradise.

Medieval-Set-1024x842.png


Our 2d artist make these sets for our 3d artist. We have a lot of sets. And we will add more sets after release.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom