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Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor
- Thread starter chubigans
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Not a whole lot to learn. Just think of what you want to do. Download it (Unity). Use google to find tutorials and tips. Unless you are working on something with some sort of amazing new gameplay elements, there's a 99% chance someone has already explained how to do whatever it is you want to do and putting "Unity3d" in front of your question in google will yield an answer. Do a Unity tutorial or two if you need to get acclimated to the environment. I didn't go that route, but I can see how it may be daunting at first. Seriously though, its so easy to use its ridiculous. I've said it once before here, but the biggest obstacle you'll come across is art assets and their creation. Hands down this'll be your biggest time sink, unless you go with something rudimentary.
eot
Banned
I've been trying to make progress again on my 2D game engine stuff, while also looking into learning and relearning some 3D stuff with Blender, the UDK, and/or Torque3D.
For 2D OpenGL progress, I wrote a little more code toward having shader postprocessing implemented. This is a very helpful OpenGL resource: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/OpenGL_Programming
For 3D progress, I animated the modeled, textured, and rigged Blender model I made a few days ago. This animation is still inside Blender, so the next step will be to try to export it to the UDK.
I didn't save the frames so I didn't have an easy way to make a GIF. The correct aspect ratio is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw_X4-6obSo
The ultimate in high tech animationology!
For 2D OpenGL progress, I wrote a little more code toward having shader postprocessing implemented. This is a very helpful OpenGL resource: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/OpenGL_Programming
For 3D progress, I animated the modeled, textured, and rigged Blender model I made a few days ago. This animation is still inside Blender, so the next step will be to try to export it to the UDK.
I didn't save the frames so I didn't have an easy way to make a GIF. The correct aspect ratio is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw_X4-6obSo
The ultimate in high tech animationology!
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
Someone linked http://www.melonjs.org/ in another thread. Anyone know anything about this?
I'm still in doubt what I will do next after I finish my current game (I'm using the dead XNA, and using Monogame to port).
Initially I was thinking about moving to C++, but now I'm way more inclined to go with Unity.
I want to do stuff as fast as possible. I'm working on my game for almost 3 years now, and that is not acceptable next time.
It's a very accessible and lightweight Canvas/Javascript engine.
The main advantage is the perfect Tiled Mapeditor support.
I'm using it since 4-5 months and the developers cracked out a
ton of new features in the meanwhile. E.g. the upcoming version
will support texture atlases and JSON.
As with all HTML5 engines, you've got support for many platforms
but also a huge lack of perfomance on mobile devices.
Maybe CocoonJS from Ludei or another wrapper (Cordovas Pender etc...)
will improve this situation in the near future.
Does anyone have any links to a good sprite based graphics tutorial? I'm hard at work on my first project but I'm really confused about how to use sprites with really high resolutions. Do I just take some crazy detailed image and shrink it down to fit the screen?
I've been lurking in this thread for a few months now and want to say thanks to everyone here, you've totally inspired me to give it a go.
I've been lurking in this thread for a few months now and want to say thanks to everyone here, you've totally inspired me to give it a go.
This is from a single-level prototype of Koboshi, a 2.5d platformer we've been working on lately. What started out as a simple test has evolved into a fairly large, functional level. There's still lots of stuff that needs to be added (like sound, gameplay twists, enemies and levels etc).
We're using the Unity engine, with the iPad 2 as our current target platform (phone support to follow). Our ambition is to have the game running at a steady 60 fps.
Any feedback is welcome at this point (graphics, mechanics, bugs etc). If you are interested in trying it out on an actual iPad, pm me and I'll send the demo through TestFlight.
Or you can play it in a browser: http://dev.blackbeardgames.com/koboshi/
Wicked. Really nicely made.
I did find it hard to gauge whether I could make it to a cloud or not, and the dude stops rather quickly, so I'd like a bit more inertia on him. But great job.
I like the gems, but then I would, they look like Chopper Mike ones almost
Brand new here and I'm primarily interested in making 2D games. I'll start learning how to program in the next few weeks (likely Python or C++) but I would like to simultaneously be making simple games using one of the programs listed in the OT that require no knowledge of programming.
I'm eyeing Gamemaker and RPG Maker. I'm also curious about Adventure Game Studio and if anyone here has had experience with it. The first few projects I make will likely be similar to traditional adventure games, or Myst/Scratches, or RPGs like Lands of Lore 1.
Any thoughts on which of these programs would be the best fit? I appreciate it.
I'm eyeing Gamemaker and RPG Maker. I'm also curious about Adventure Game Studio and if anyone here has had experience with it. The first few projects I make will likely be similar to traditional adventure games, or Myst/Scratches, or RPGs like Lands of Lore 1.
Any thoughts on which of these programs would be the best fit? I appreciate it.
Well Unity is super fast. If I think of something I want to do I can just type a quick bit of code, save it and drop it on whatever object I want that behavior to apply to. Of course I haven't much even bothered with best practices and stuff like loop effeciency (or efficiency in general, lol), obfuscation, reusability, yadda yadda yadda. Still I'm not going to be bringing any computers to their knees so as long as its working I'm happy. That's the beauty of Unity; You get something working easily and quickly.
Dead Prince
Banned
bought a laptop sunday. figure i focus on this more. desktop wasn't working for me. all those distractions and gaf lol.
Making from scratch would typically be a lot of work. There are a ton of SFX options available online, both free and paid. I recommend: http://www.soundrangers.com/
I heartily recommend GameMaker Studio if you're interested in making 2D games. The programming concepts you learn in your Python or C++ classes can be applied to GML (GameMaker's built-in programming language) as you gain experience. However, unlike Adventure Game Studio or RPG Maker, GameMaker is not a specialized tool for those particular genres so it'll take extra time and effort to do exactly what you want.
I haven't tried Adventure Game Studio, but between Game Maker and RPG Maker, neither one will be especially easy for those kinds of games.
RPG Maker is basically for Dragon Quest-likes by default, so a first-person dungeon crawler would require some heavy scripting (in RGSS3 for the newest version, VX Ace). An adventure game may or may not be simple to handle with just eventing, depending on how different from the default you want to make things.
Game Maker's eventing system is basically not worth bothering with; all of the commands in it correspond directly to GML code anyway. For a Pac-Man or Pong you could get away with it, but for an adventure game, you'd be better off learning the language.
So basically, in either engine, those genres will require some work. You can still produce great things if you try, though, and if you've never learned any programming language before, I actually think GML and Ruby are great places to start, since a lot of the more complex things (like graphics and music handling) are done for you. I learned GML before moving on to C++, and it was a very smooth transition.
I'm convinced.
IndianElephant
Neo Member
MikeHaggar
Member
just popping in to say i'm still looking for a talented pixel artist/animator to work with. i'm interested in building fun, innovative 2d games that can be released on as many platforms as possible. i have a bachelors in computer science and experience with xna and monogame. i'm willing to learn new technology if necessary. i'm looking for someone who is determined and motivated to see a project through to release. pm me if interested. thanks!
I'd love to apply for that programming internship, but sadly I'm no where near you!
Good luck in your search though.Does GM's website and community offer sufficient documentation and tutorials for me to use that to learn GML as someone with zero programming experience? Is there a particular website or book that could be a good supplement/companion piece?
BlazeHedgehog
Member
Took some video of the two games I am working on right now (Space King and Orbit Revolved).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xfCALPMYKU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xfCALPMYKU
Heart of Black
Member
I'd say check out Game Maker or even Unity, as there are a lot of tutorials on it.
I'm eventually going to experiment on a new game with Unity, seems a popular choice.
If I went with Unity would I be able to do much with no programming experience? And which language should i learn alongside it? C#?
As long as you can search for tutorials and copy paste code you can get off to a good start.
If you're going to use Unity use C#. It will save you possible heartache later.
Gotcha. Anyone have a recommended book or site on C#?
Zenaku
Member
I've been using JavaScript, mostly knowledge I gained years ago, and haven't had any real trouble relating to it. What makes C# a better option?
C# is more widely used and more flexible, but within Unity I'd say javascript is just as good if not a better alternative as most all examples and tutorials are predominantly written in javascript.
Unity is written on top of Mono so C# is its native language. Javascript with Unity is prone to difficult to find bugs when your projects get larger.
It's s Unity specific recommendation, not anything about one language being better than the other on its own.
FormallyMegadrive
Member
Perhaps in Orbit Revolved, rather than using buttons, use a touch as the point the barrier rotates towards? As it is, buttons aren't too quick and make the game seem slow. (Good to see you're still making games with Click products by the way.)
C# is also much more strongly typed and easier to find compile-time bugs with.
I used GarageBand. It's surprisingly good!
In other news.. I can't even give Chopper Mike away! Demand for free Desura keys has been.. muted.
And in other news, I've just had Unity open, working on new things. I probably will get round to the Ouya version of CM, but not super psyched to do so right now. Rather be tinkering around with fun new stuff!
I'm waiting for the Steam or Ouya release! My one critique of Chopper Mike is the camera. Some of the levels seem they would be so much easier for me if the camera view was behind the chopper. Like the second or third level in the normal difficulty is killing me! Did you do any experimentation of the camera angles? Did it break some of the levels? I was thinking it might make it harder to see where the next gem was. Although I've only played about a half hour or so of it. It's be cool if the PC version could change camera angles. Kinda like a Pilotwings camera would be great imo, but maybe then too easy??
That a bigger war then the console war.
Most people in academia will agree that for beginner, a strongly typed language is better to learn first.
Zenaku
Member
I can understand C# seems to be the better choice for people with no knowledge of either, but would there be anything I could gain from switching?
I'm building my systems one piece at a time to make sure everything works, and already have ideas on how to code things to work the way I want, currently working on a script to place vegetation; I wouldn't know where to start in C#.
Graphics and the lack of shadows are giving me more trouble than coding errors.
EDIT: Took a little while, but I've finished the script I needed. It takes vegetation gameobjects and creates clones on the tile the script is placed. It also factors in distance, only creating when I'm close enough, and destroying them when I get further away. Now to have it randomize from a selection of models so I can have a few flowers strewn about. =]
I'm building my systems one piece at a time to make sure everything works, and already have ideas on how to code things to work the way I want, currently working on a script to place vegetation; I wouldn't know where to start in C#.
Graphics and the lack of shadows are giving me more trouble than coding errors.
EDIT: Took a little while, but I've finished the script I needed. It takes vegetation gameobjects and creates clones on the tile the script is placed. It also factors in distance, only creating when I'm close enough, and destroying them when I get further away. Now to have it randomize from a selection of models so I can have a few flowers strewn about. =]
twingloxx2
Member
Thanks for the feedback!
@razu Valid points! Really like Chopper Mike btw, downloaded it yesterday. Very polished and playable.
@razu Valid points! Really like Chopper Mike btw, downloaded it yesterday. Very polished and playable.
Hey guys, me and some mates just released a polished up version of a game we made at a 48 hour game jam for uni! It's been described as an "existentialist Pacman", but if nothing else we think it's some silly fun.
You play as a guy who's heading out to the city to complete a bunch of depressing tasks after his wife hit him over the head with a TV.
Any and all feedback is appreciated!
http://www.kongregate.com/games/TheSamuraiPunks/frowntown
You play as a guy who's heading out to the city to complete a bunch of depressing tasks after his wife hit him over the head with a TV.
Any and all feedback is appreciated!
http://www.kongregate.com/games/TheSamuraiPunks/frowntown
People usually capture video one of three ways I believe:
- Using the simulator and an OS X screen capture app.
- Using Airplay
- Writing out frames/video directly from the app.
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
I use the Reflector software to AirPlay mirror to computer and record. Works pretty well. I recorded this from my game recently: http://youtu.be/bWXlEUaDQbo
I did lots of experimentation with the camera. I settled on the fixed angle as it gives the game a distinct look, and doesn't introduce any feedback into the controls. As soon as the camera moves, so does your 'control space', which makes for a much bigger problem to solve. Also, the fixed camera makes it easier to prevent the camera from going through objects, another pain I didn't need! It's a can of worms!!
Thanks! I look forward to seeing your progress
You can use a program called Reflection on a mac and record an iPad, it works okay. I ended up using a dedicated video capture box though, (the Black magic intensity extreme - a beast!).
IndianElephant
Neo Member
Or if you're making your iOS game in something like Unity that can build to Mac/PC, just do that and record with fraps or bandicam.
IndianElephant
Neo Member
Hey guys, me and some mates just released a polished up version of a game we made at a 48 hour game jam for uni! It's been described as an "existentialist Pacman", but if nothing else we think it's some silly fun.
You play as a guy who's heading out to the city to complete a bunch of depressing tasks after his wife hit him over the head with a TV.
Any and all feedback is appreciated!
http://www.kongregate.com/games/TheSamuraiPunks/frowntown
This is basically Shenmue 3.
thanks for all those tips.
seems promising.. i will take a look
yeah i saw your tweet about this a while back and since have this on my "consider to buy" list
seems promising.. i will take a look
yeah i saw your tweet about this a while back and since have this on my "consider to buy" list
Haha, I'll take that as a compliment.
Hey again guys! Just wanted to share that we just released our game "The Other Brothers" on iOS store!
LINK: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-other-brothers/id618605145?mt=8
Thanks for checking it out!!
Hey again guys! Just wanted to share that we just released our game "The Other Brothers" on iOS store!
LINK: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-other-brothers/id618605145?mt=8
Thanks for checking it out!!
So cool. Nice work!
I shall tweet without delay!- Status