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Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor

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D

Diablohead

Member
4g ram limits are so annoying, the device has 256MB but the system still needs something like 60MB to keep comfortable, so with my game I have to make sure everything loads into about 180MB.

You might have to lower the quality of the colours as well as the overall image size to fit it in there.
 
N

Nillansan

Member
Here’s another development update.

My programmer buddies have been working on module destructibility, here is a video of a recent test (click the image):



I have been working on a smaller ship type. It feels quite intimidating to travel the high seas with such a small finicky thing.

edfIRzW.png
Click to expand...


I have also worked on some faction logos for the sails and banners. I am still honing my pixel pushing skills, but I think these turned out alright:

EjaQtR7.png
 
D

Dali

Member
Been in a development funk lately my last few posts probably indicate. Luckily today I got some inspirado today and I'm reinvigorated with a more concrete direction I want to go in.
 
F

fr3shme4t

Neo Member
Dali said:
Been in a development funk lately my last few posts probably indicate. Luckily today I got some inspirado today and I'm reinvigorated with a more concrete direction I want to go in.
Click to expand...

It's pretty easy to fed up out doing this stuff.

It's way too easy to focus on little details of development, focusing on all the issues and imperfections rather than the accomplishments.

I find taking a break from your game, even for only a day or two (which can be hard to do), every once and a while helps put everything in perspective.
 
D

Dynamite Shikoku

Congratulations, you really deserve it!
I'm not in a funk, but I'm pretty damn sick of the game I'm working on haha. I just want to get it done and be able to work on something new.
 
U

Uhyve

Member
Dali said:
Ugggh... I realized the behavior I had set for the character before a day of changing it is actually much much better. I don't know why I wanted to change it in the first place. So basically a day wasted. I didn't really even learn any new ways to accomplish other tasks or anything from it,
Click to expand...

It's so weird to see people going through such similar issues, I feel your pain. Seriously, the amount of time that I've wasted on stuff that I thought needed changing and then ending up worse after hours of work. I'm really loving this thread, makes me feel much better when I know other people are going through similar issues.

Diablohead said:
4g ram limits are so annoying, the device has 256MB but the system still needs something like 60MB to keep comfortable, so with my game I have to make sure everything loads into about 180MB.

You might have to lower the quality of the colours as well as the overall image size to fit it in there.
Click to expand...
I think I've been spoilt developing for PC.
 
B

BlazeHedgehog

Member
Dali said:
All those particles! I can feel my PC slowing down just watching the youtube video. Looks amazingly complete, but most importantly fun. Seems like you just started this a month ago. Why do I suck so bad at this, lol?
Click to expand...

Yep, I started the first week of February as I recall.

Don't feel entirely bad, though - if I wasn't working on a deadline I probably wouldn't have worked even half as hard on this game (I have Diablohead to thank for that). Maybe that's all you need.

Sometimes, all one needs to push themselves along is the ability to say "fuck it, whatever, I have a deadline to keep and this is good enough for the time I had to make it." Limitations often foster creativity more than freedom does.
 
F

FormallyMegadrive

Member
Sega1991 said:
Yep, I started the first week of February as I recall.

Don't feel entirely bad, though - if I wasn't working on a deadline I probably wouldn't have worked even half as hard on this game (I have Diablohead to thank for that). Maybe that's all you need.

Sometimes, all one needs to push themselves along is the ability to say "fuck it, whatever, I have a deadline to keep and this is good enough for the time I had to make it." Limitations often foster creativity more than freedom does.
Click to expand...

Huh. You're BlazeHedgehog? I used to follow your older fangame stuff back on SFGHQ. Are you using Click products still?
 
B

BlazeHedgehog

Member
Megadrive said:
Huh. You're BlazeHedgehog? I used to follow your older fangame stuff back on SFGHQ. Are you using Click products still?
Click to expand...

Yep! Own a legit copy of MMF2 now and everything. That's what this is being made in. It's pretty nice now that they've made MMF2 exporters so you can make like, iPhone games and whatnot.
 
D

Dali

Member
Sega1991 said:
Yep, I started the first week of February as I recall.

Don't feel entirely bad, though - if I wasn't working on a deadline I probably wouldn't have worked even half as hard on this game (I have Diablohead to thank for that). Maybe that's all you need.

Sometimes, all one needs to push themselves along is the ability to say "fuck it, whatever, I have a deadline to keep and this is good enough for the time I had to make it." Limitations often foster creativity more than freedom does.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good idea in practice, but I don't know when I'll have time to work on this so its hard to set deadlines. I'm really hyped about having direction now though. Even though its nothing ground-breaking or "indie creative" I'm actually having fun with this little prototype I got working.
 
R

razu

Member
Dali said:
Been in a development funk lately my last few posts probably indicate. Luckily today I got some inspirado today and I'm reinvigorated with a more concrete direction I want to go in.
Click to expand...

I always seemed to have things on my To Do List that I just never wanted to do. They'd weigh on me to the point I'd do anything but work on the game. The only way I found to get past it was to make a start on whatever it was, no matter how small - like, even just make the source files for the feature. Once *something* had been done it got incrementally easier to summon the energy to work on it.. The How To Play screens in Chopper had been on the To Do List since late last year for example... :D Once I had finished whatever was getting me down it was a massive relief!

tldr; just do something!

Also, try to keep a variety of things on your To Do List so there's always a rewarding little thing to work on when you need a "I did something new" fix. Development momentum is super important!

Double-also: I really dislike the iPhone 4. 4S is great, but you can't drop support for the 4 on its own.. Chopper Mike has passed submission though, so Apple are cool with not supporting the 3GS/iPad1, and the game running 30fps on iPhone4 and 60fps on 4S/5/iPad2 etc...

In other news: Chopper Mike has been approved and will be on sale on Friday! :D
 
D

Diablohead

Member
razu said:
I always seemed to have things on my To Do List that I just never wanted to do. They'd weigh on me to the point I'd do anything but work on the game. The only way I found to get past it was to make a start on whatever it was, no matter how small - like, even just make the source files for the feature. Once *something* had been done it got incrementally easier to summon the energy to work on it.. The How To Play screens in Chopper had been on the To Do List since late last year for example... :D Once I had finished whatever was getting me down it was a massive relief!

tldr; just do something!

Also, try to keep a variety of things on your To Do List so there's always a rewarding little thing to work on when you need a "I did something new" fix. Development momentum is super important!

Double-also: I really dislike the iPhone 4. 4S is great, but you can't drop support for the 4 on its own.. Chopper Mike has passed submission though, so Apple are cool with not supporting the 3GS/iPad1, and the game running 30fps on iPhone4 and 60fps on 4S/5/iPad2 etc...

In other news: Chopper Mike has been approved and will be on sale on Friday! :D
Click to expand...
Not aiming for thursday like a lot of big iOS releases? you would get cover from toucharcade and some other places if so.
 
R

razu

Member
Diablohead said:
Not aiming for thursday like a lot of big iOS releases? you would get cover from toucharcade and some other places if so.
Click to expand...

Nope. I looked into it and everyone says a different day! And, if a load of things come out on a Thursday, I'll steer clear of that! :D
 
A

Alastor3

Member
Now, I want to try myself at making some games but now there's just too much engine and I dont know which one to choose... I wanted to participate in the next Ludum Dare maybe with a game using Adventure Game Studio...
 
F

FormallyMegadrive

Member
razu said:
Not yet. Busy day today and just got the press kit page done. Will start mailing it out tomorrow, and starting such threads. This is going to be a busy week.
Click to expand...

I'm really looking forward to playing your game. Seeing it grow throughout the last few months has been really awesome.
 
D

Diablohead

Member
My screenshot saturday sucks but I will post it anyway, while working on some kind of ladders to use in areas (so you are not always wall kicking and double jumping everywhere) I went with a more basic vine style wall, they appear after the
space station crashes on an unknown planet
thus opening new routes early game before you get all your skills.

T4vg2KU.png


Related, a lot of stuff has been redone to keep the game at 60 frames and to run a lot better, my slopes no longer launch you randomly and you do not zip through walls when in a tunnel any longer, because of such things I am falling behind again without much new added in.

BONUS! wallpaper of the week using new artwork for the game, you may have noticed via my avatar but I had all the game character art redrawn by someone very awesome and she did a great job at it.

http://i.imgur.com/kjJQu2t.png
 
R

Rogue Agent

Banned
That wallpaper art is fantastic. Your character looks really good and I like her combat gear. Pretty cool. Hope she has good character development too!
 
M

missile

Member
Am still dealing with precision issues. My generated surfaces still wobble
around the screen, whereas I can generate stable ones from simple generating
formulas. Well, part of the problem lies in building proper local coordinate
systems. Due to this, I have derived some other ways and modifications for
tracking coordinate systems alone curves with respect to stability,
performance, and flexibility - which are mutually exclusive in a given sense.
It's quite interesting to see how multiplication and division eats precision
alive, which becomes very visible on low-precision systems. Anyhow. I've got
some pretty good insights by going deeper and am close to a solution
satisfying my game's needs.

After months have past, I still haven't done a single piece of content for the
game. It's like blind flying. You adjust all the elements to the best of your
knowledge in the hope that at the end of the flight you will see the runway.
Programming games is like a symphony, it only really sounds of everything fits
together.
 
T

Tash

Member
I'll be at the official Unity Booth showing the hands-on demo. So come by! (South Hall, Booth #1002, right at the main entrance, I was told).
 
T

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
R

razu

Member
Megadrive said:
I'm really looking forward to playing your game. Seeing it grow throughout the last few months has been really awesome.
Click to expand...

Thank you! :D Next step is to blog about how I've done things, will post links back in here. Also going to do an AMA this week, which will probably seed some articles too.

Feep said:
Today, we are all...Chopper Mike.
Click to expand...

Hilarious :D


Tash said:
ScreenshotSaturday from yesterday.
Kinda super stressed with getting everything ready for GDC.

firma_platform.png
Click to expand...

This looks so good.. Nice work!
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
Limanima said:
We have just released a new trailer from our game Snails.
Check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncBGsd4YKaQ

snails-grab4_sm.png


The game is (finally) almost done. We are currently editing the sound. A little more testing and we're done!

We are on Steam Greelight. Greenlit us, thanks!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93429051
Click to expand...
This looks polished. It's super reminiscent of the Scribblenauts Unlimited's art style (which is a good art style so that's not necessarily a bad thing).
 
L

Limanima

Member
Tash said:
I love how polished this looks, yet still a feel of its own :)
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Blizzard said:
This looks polished. It's super reminiscent of the Scribblenauts Unlimited's art style (which is a good art style so that's not necessarily a bad thing).
Click to expand...

Well, there's a funny thing about the art. We are only two guys in the team, and we are both programmers. That's the main reason why the art is not very original, it's just normal...
But we didn't copied it.
 
R

razu

Member
Limanima said:
I've greenlit it.
Nice job, the game looks fun.
It looks hard. Did someone else besides you tested the game?
Click to expand...

Yeah, had about 50 people on test flight. As soon as the music changes on the trailer that's all expert mode, which is supposed to be hard as possible! :D

And... massive thanks!! :D
 
F

fin

Member
I think I'm done all the gameplay programming now. Finished coding these teleporters with or without combination locks. Added the "Seed" option to spawn more than just clones. During the game you'll be unlocking the seeds as you progress through the levels. You'll start out with just the clone seed.

Haven't uploaded a video in a while. So here's a demo of my test level with all the new stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc_pSAPbW6o

Going to be pretty cool to make some levels with all the new seed options. It's actually been pretty hard to make sure everything works as it should. Spawning these things anywhere is a bitch.

Still have lots of work to do but it's getting there...also probably not called Archetype anymore.
 
S

SlipperySlope

Banned
Subscribed. Unfortunately, I'm hard pressed to move away from C++ and DirectX. I like getting low level with game development...

Edit - Oh, and great thread :)
 
R

Rafy

Member
razu said:
I have a Greenlight page almost ready to submit. I'm just me, so not already on Steam.

On PC, playing on a controller, Chopper Mike is wicked! If I don't get on to Steam you will still be able to buy from VAMflax.com for the same kind of price as iOS, (£1.49/$1.99), depending on how much BMT Micro and others charge...

I need to find a way to get updates to people for free. As I intend to do a bonus '16 level world plus new aircraft' update or two! :D
Click to expand...

You should add a GAF exclusive DLC if you post the Greenlight, that is going to motivate people from GAF to vote for it even more.The since you will have some nice momentum going maybe you get on the first page on Greenlight and get more visibility.

In case you find a painless way to deliver updates for free let me know, I am having the same issue.
 
D

Dynamite Shikoku

Congratulations, you really deserve it!
fin said:
I think I'm done all the gameplay programming now. Finished coding these teleporters with or without combination locks. Added the "Seed" option to spawn more than just clones. During the game you'll be unlocking the seeds as you progress through the levels. You'll start out with just the clone seed.

Haven't uploaded a video in a while. So here's a demo of my test level with all the new stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc_pSAPbW6o

Going to be pretty cool to make some levels with all the new seed options. It's actually been pretty hard to make sure everything works as it should. Spawning these things anywhere is a bitch.

Still have lots of work to do but it's getting there...also probably not called Archetype anymore.
Click to expand...

Looks pretty rad, man. Some nice ideas there.
 
J

Jarekx

Member
Looking at this thread always makes me smile. So many great projects with a lot of heart. Kudos to all of you and keep up the great work.

Hopefully I'll get myself off the sidelines one day and into the trenches with the rest of ya!
 
N

Noogy

Member
If any of you are going to be at PAX next Saturday and have nothing planned for 1PM, may I suggest checking out our Dust: Elysian Tail panel, where I and cowriter Alex Kain will be talking about the development of the game. We're doing something a little different with the presentation, and will have a couple surprises for the fans.

If you're there please say hello! I'll be the one guy there with glasses. And clothes.

http://east.paxsite.com/schedule/panel/the-making-of-dust-an-elysian-tail
 
P

Paz

Member
razu said:
In other news: Chopper Mike has been approved and will be on sale on Friday! :D
Click to expand...

Congratulations :) I'll probably pick it up for my nexus 7, looks like a lot of fun!



I've been a long time lurker in this thread but I'll start posting a lot more soon as I've quit my job, gone full indie, and convinced a friend to join me! Working hard on a trailer right now so I can share what we are working on :D

Looking forward to posting in screenshot Saturday and talking about a lot more stuff in here!
 
M

missile

Member
fin said:
I think I'm done all the gameplay programming now. Finished coding these teleporters with or without combination locks. Added the "Seed" option to spawn more than just clones. During the game you'll be unlocking the seeds as you progress through the levels. You'll start out with just the clone seed.

Haven't uploaded a video in a while. So here's a demo of my test level with all the new stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc_pSAPbW6o

Going to be pretty cool to make some levels with all the new seed options. It's actually been pretty hard to make sure everything works as it should. Spawning these things anywhere is a bitch.

Still have lots of work to do but it's getting there...also probably not called Archetype anymore.
Click to expand...
That's pretty cool. I think if you can make decent levels, the game can turn
out to be very, very interesting.


razu said:
In other news, Polygon have put a page up about Chopper Mike: http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/17/41...rammer-to-release-chopper-mike-for-mobile-ios

Amazing! :D
Click to expand...
"Former MotorStorm programmer ..." xD I like those phrases. If that would
mean anything at all. But if it drives sales, then I'm the former president
of the United States!! :) Ahh ... perhaps not a good idea. Well, I hope
everything goes fine for the initial release of your game! :+
 
shaowebb

shaowebb

Member
So after working with another indie team as a concept artist/designer/modeler I decided that if I was going to be doing all that I may as well just make my own products. I'm going to be using Construct 2 since its pretty user friendly to non coders and since it will handle just about anything I'll need for now.

I'm doing a Kamen Rider inspired design for a different kind of runner game than normal just to test my engine out. I posted some initial concept roughs and color tests for my character in the Skullgirls OT to talk to their team about sprite sizes and such to double check my intended work pipeline. All seems good. I'll post animations and assets as things come along but for now here is an incomplete super rough of the run cycle. Its of course missing frames still and I've yet to go and add the twist to the torso during the run cycle or any real cleanup or colors, but its coming along well.

For now this is just frames Im cycling through in photoshop as I test the flow of the animations. I'm making corrections as I go to the frames to clean up the movement and once it moves smoothly enough I'll clean up all the lines and color.

jb9kDGO.gif



Also after several color tests on my character rough here is the final color scheme I went with.

UsWJZh0.jpg


I'll post my concepts for the hazards, enemies and environments as they come along. Title is still being worked through, but the main character's name is "Kirin" and has a Unicorn theme. I'll be using him other titles later on as well along with other Toku characters. I'm leaning instead of calling them Kamen Riders towards calling them either Toku Henshin or Toku Dasher BTW.

Thats all for now.
 
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