Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!

2+2=5 · Mar 30, 2018

Weltall Zero said:
Wow, that looks great in both of them. Now you're talking!

Mind if I share a tip that I took an embarrassingly long time to figure out? (it might be obvious to you but you just haven't gotten around to it; if so, disregard). Strategically placed darker pixels help make diagonal surfaces that are in contact with a hard / black edge look a lot smoother. Like this:

There's nothing embarrassing, making sprites is hard that takes a long time to learn, i'm super slow and very far from being even decent, especially at animation...
About the sprite, yes i will do something like that, that's not a final sprite(i'll even change the design a little), actually my plan since the beginning is to have colored outlines and if it's not too much(but it will probably be) even one or two more shades of colors to make sprites look as close as possible to 90s arcades and 16bit games' sprites.

Conkersbadfurday · Mar 30, 2018

Weltall Zero said:
It's such a catch-22 when games only become visible when curators recommend them, but curators can't even get to review games if they aren't visible to them. :( Also it sucks that being greenlit doesn't spare you from the $100 fee, I didn't know it worked that way.

I'm assuming you won't want to share specific numbers, but in case you have nothing against it, how many copies did you need to sell to break even, and how many have you sold thus far? Nobody ever discloses these numbers and it'd be great to know what ballpark to expect and plan for.

The thing with Greenlight is that if you got in that way, you had to do the next step which involved paperwork. You weren't actually "in" until you were had the paperwork and bank accounts. At the time we got greenlit, we were in no position to make an LLC or bother with the paperwork involved. Since the system was in limbo, we figured we could wait. When Greenlight went away, we were still in limbo for some time, and were able to start the paperwork process, but by the time everything was done, the option to finish via greenlight was gone. Our game was set to "not successfully greenlit" and we had to pay another hundred.

I'm less angry about the money and more about the people who had the game on their wishlist or whatever.

As to the numbers, we only need to sell a few thousand to break even. The game hasn't really cost us any money save time, and while we've made some sacrifices these last two years job-wise (I'm working reduced hours, bro quit to work on this full time), we live in such a low cost-of-living area that we can make all of that back pretty quickly. They're small numbers that should be doable, but so far we're a long ways away from hitting them.

I've been in contact with a marketing guy and he's told us not to worry. Most indie games don't have the luxury of big press on release. We have to go fishing now, because it's a new IP and people don't care unless they can buy it. Or get free codes. So these last two weeks have been a lot of that with no real success yet.

Aki-at · Mar 30, 2018

Forgot to post this here yesterday, what I got ready for indiedevhour on Wednesday. The funny thing was I wanted to put up some concept up instead but happy to see this got a decet reception!

Weltall Zero · Mar 30, 2018

Slixshot said:
Ok! I thought that it needed a little more work and now I am super happy with the outcome. BTW, Hyper Light Drifter is one of my fave games and I'm going for that art style for my own game.

Really happy with how this turned out. Day 1 of pixel art a success!

Really cool! Seemed like something out of Hyper Light Drifter indeed. If I had to make a little criticism, is that the lower part / corners of the cape seem to flutter wildly in a somewhat unnatural way. The cape falls straight down which gives an impression of weight, so the end of the cape should "sweep" the floor, rather than flutter around.

2+2=5 said:
There's nothing embarrassing, making sprites is hard that takes a long time to learn, i'm super slow and very far from being even decent, especially at animation...
About the sprite, yes i will do something like that, that's not a final sprite(i'll even change the design a little), actually my plan since the beginning is to have colored outlines and if it's not too much(but it will probably be) even one or two more shades of colors to make sprites look as close as possible to 90s arcades and 16bit games' sprites.

Could I interest you in the DB32 palette? I've used it for my game and the results have been amazing.
http://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=16247

Conkersbadfurday said:
The thing with Greenlight is that if you got in that way, you had to do the next step which involved paperwork. You weren't actually "in" until you were had the paperwork and bank accounts. At the time we got greenlit, we were in no position to make an LLC or bother with the paperwork involved. Since the system was in limbo, we figured we could wait. When Greenlight went away, we were still in limbo for some time, and were able to start the paperwork process, but by the time everything was done, the option to finish via greenlight was gone. Our game was set to "not successfully greenlit" and we had to pay another hundred.

I'm less angry about the money and more about the people who had the game on their wishlist or whatever.

Oooh, I see. Yeah, that sucks if you had a fanbase already. Hopefully they'll find their way back to you.

Conkersbadfurday said:
As to the numbers, we only need to sell a few thousand to break even. The game hasn't really cost us any money save time, and while we've made some sacrifices these last two years job-wise (I'm working reduced hours, bro quit to work on this full time), we live in such a low cost-of-living area that we can make all of that back pretty quickly. They're small numbers that should be doable, but so far we're a long ways away from hitting them.

I guess it's a marathon rather than a sprint as they say. When/if I release my game I anticipate sleepless nights watching sales numbers and hitting reload buttons. :D I'm preparing for the worst and trying to assume I won't break even / be able to support myself making games and have to go back to "normal" work... but it's hard.

I've been in contact with a marketing guy and he's told us not to worry. Most indie games don't have the luxury of big press on release. We have to go fishing now, because it's a new IP and people don't care unless they can buy it. Or get free codes. So these last two weeks have been a lot of that with no real success yet.

Really hoping you get the traction you deserve, I guess it's a matter of patience now. You mention a marketing guy, you're doing the marketing yourselves or hiring someone else?

Slixshot · Mar 30, 2018

Weltall Zero said:
Really cool! Seemed like something out of Hyper Light Drifter indeed. If I had to make a little criticism, is that the lower part / corners of the cape seem to flutter wildly in a somewhat unnatural way. The cape falls straight down which gives an impression of weight, so the end of the cape should "sweep" the floor, rather than flutter around.

Thanks!!

So like, how would I go about fixing that? I know absolutely nothing about making things look natural. This was literally the first time drawing anything in close to 6 years.

DNAbro · Mar 30, 2018

I spent a ton of my day fixing up and finishing my tileset for the first area in my game and creating some art assets. The first room in the game is pretty much done barring the starting cutscene which I might work on tomorrow. So happy to see progress.

edit: also can I get an opinion on the sound effect I'm using for standard text? I like it but I want to know if anyone dislikes it or finds it annoying.

Rolento · Mar 31, 2018

I love seeing all the progress! Been lurking more than posting but now I have better reasons to post.

Meant to post this yesterday, but got my logo made not long ago.

Been knocking out interface and gameplay fundamentals working before I can really figure out how everything will work together well. Ran into a few bugs in GMS2 that were not my fault at all, which I am a little surprised by. I'd show it but it's so early, that the placeholder art makes it look like a preschooler having a bad dream about a Simpsons episode -_-

Camille_ · Mar 31, 2018

I don't post in here half as much as I used to, but everyone's been posting very cool stuff lately, so keep on trucking, and welcome to all new posters with your very impressive projects!

On my end, animation cleaning is the same as ever, so kind of old news by now. Just finished cleaning the new Acrobat moveset, now moving onto the Warrior's, before coloring all of it. Hopefully I'll have some more exciting stuff to show after that's done (schedule says July... we'll see if that holds) :-D

Slixshot · Mar 31, 2018

Pehesse said:
I don't post in here half as much as I used to, but everyone's been posting very cool stuff lately, so keep on trucking, and welcome to all new posters with your very impressive projects!

On my end, animation cleaning is the same as ever, so kind of old news by now. Just finished cleaning the new Acrobat moveset, now moving onto the Warrior's, before coloring all of it. Hopefully I'll have some more exciting stuff to show after that's done (schedule says July... we'll see if that holds) :-D

Holy moly!!!!! Teach me your ways!!!

Aki-at · Mar 31, 2018

Pehesse said:
I don't post in here half as much as I used to, but everyone's been posting very cool stuff lately, so keep on trucking, and welcome to all new posters with your very impressive projects!

On my end, animation cleaning is the same as ever, so kind of old news by now. Just finished cleaning the new Acrobat moveset, now moving onto the Warrior's, before coloring all of it. Hopefully I'll have some more exciting stuff to show after that's done (schedule says July... we'll see if that holds) :-D

The way this animation ends speaks to me because that's how I crawl into bed!

On my end, finished off the second shop owner. Probably could combine both shop keepers to make some amusing situations!

Camille_ · Mar 31, 2018

Slixshot said:
Holy moly!!!!! Teach me your ways!!!

Haha, there really isn't much to it apart from

(and be prepared to spend months/years on them if you do!)

But if you're looking for a more serious answer:

41y%2BvpBqzJL._SX355_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

and a demo of what's involved in my case:
https://youtu.be/40QQDL5KqCM
https://youtu.be/UJxZdN05-L0

Aki-at said:
The way this animation ends speaks to me because that's how I crawl into bed!

On my end, finished off the second shop owner. Probably could combine both shop keepers to make some amusing situations!

You fall asleep on your workchair too? :-D

I really like those close up characters you've been doing/posting recently, they have lots of character and emotion. Could work as cut-ins for a VN!

Conkersbadfurday · Mar 31, 2018

Weltall Zero said:
Really hoping you get the traction you deserve, I guess it's a matter of patience now. You mention a marketing guy, you're doing the marketing yourselves or hiring someone else?

We're doing it ourselves, but I was put into a games media marketing consultant via nepotism, and he gave us some advice and told us how to approach games press.

By the way, no one prepares you for the wild west of fucking bullshit that is fake gaming websites trying to scam codes out of you. I'm making me a list.

_Rob_ · Mar 31, 2018

I've been hard at work on a couple things over the last week. Firstly a transitional cutscene that plays when going from a level to the hub world:

Secondly, an update the Baroness Samedice's boss battle with a new phase and some tweaking to the amount of screenshake:

Slixshot · Mar 31, 2018

Pehesse said:
Haha, there really isn't much to it apart from

(and be prepared to spend months/years on them if you do!)

But if you're looking for a more serious answer:

and a demo of what's involved in my case:
https://youtu.be/40QQDL5KqCM
https://youtu.be/UJxZdN05-L0

Amazing. Thanks for the point in the right direction. Have you been animating for a long time?

Camille_ · Mar 31, 2018

Slixshot said:
Amazing. Thanks for the point in the right direction. Have you been animating for a long time?

Not really - I began with Honey, my previous project (I even went a bit over how it originally looked earlier in the thread), so about 4.5 years ago now? Not all of that time was spent animating, either, though admittedly a good chunk, probably a good 3 years in all. I do marathons of it, then pause for a while to recover - I couldn't imagine doing it as a regular job, I don't have the stamina/knowledge for it!

The only book or tutorial I've ever really followed is the animator's survival kit, rest comes from just trying things out and drawing over and over. After drawing a character tens of thousands of time, it's more surprising if they *don't* move yet :-D

Slixshot · Mar 31, 2018

Pehesse said:
Not really - I began with Honey, my previous project (I even went a bit over how it originally looked earlier in the thread), so about 4.5 years ago now? Not all of that time was spent animating, either, though admittedly a good chunk, probably a good 3 years in all. I do marathons of it, then pause for a while to recover - I couldn't imagine doing it as a regular job, I don't have the stamina/knowledge for it!

Well damn! You've got mad skill! Do you program too?

Do you think I could use that book for something like the game I'm trying to make? Mine is all pixel based. Here is the first animation I made the other day (first one ever)
Could that book teach me to animate this kind of stuff better?

Camille_ · Mar 31, 2018

Slixshot said:
Well damn! You've got mad skill! Do you program too?

Do you think I could use that book for something like the game I'm trying to make? Mine is all pixel based. Here is the first animation I made the other day (first one ever)
Could that book teach me to animate this kind of stuff better?

Of course! No matter the medium, animation is animation. It's got its set of rules and principles you should learn, and once you have, you're free to toy/bend them as you wish - it's just like learning any other technique, really. Being in pixel art just means you draw the end result differently, as far as I see it, but the underlying motion principles still apply! You don't even have to get the book to start, sole excerpts of it are available online, like the ones about walk cycles, like this:

- I recommend you check them out to get a sense of whether it might help you?

In your example, the high/low motion for instance would add a lot of weight to the character, even if you decide not to add any bounce to its step and keep it fairly rigid. A walk is a calculated loss of balance followed by a recovery, and the motion should reflect that! But keep in mind walk cycles are commonly referred to as some of the hardest anims to get right... and in my experience, it's been rather true :-D So maybe experiment with a few others to get a feel for your character's overall motion/stances/rythms and your own approach to conveying weight (as far as I'l concerned, that's basically the core concern when animating), and come back to it sometime later? You can hack away at the same motion for weeks, but I often have better results making a lot of different moves before iterating on each using what I've learned in the process. Your mileage may vary!

Also, yes, I "program", at least as far as programming logic is involved. I use Construct 2, because it doesn't need syntax to work, it's all visual scripting, and I made both my previous game and my current one using it - though I'm now working with a programmer to go faster and have a cleaner code. I'm also learning C# in parallel to keep Unity as an option should the need arise, but the latest rumblings regarding Chowdren have me hopeful regarding C2's longevity and viability in regards to porting, its main problem right now!

Weltall Zero · Mar 31, 2018

Slixshot said:
Thanks!!

So like, how would I go about fixing that? I know absolutely nothing about making things look natural. This was literally the first time drawing anything in close to 6 years.

I'm definitely not the person to ask about art, hahah. I'm more or less a pure programmer that fell into the rabbit hole of game dev and cobbles together semi-functional sprites as he goes. I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag; you're almost certainly a better artist than I am.

The only tips I have are technical: 1) Use a good, dedicated sprite making program (I personally love Aseprite), and 2) Choose a palette and stick to it (I keep pimping the DB32 palette).

Edit: OK, I opened your animation on Aseprite and I do have a couple more comments. It seems like you're somehow using different pixel sizes in the sprite itself, which leads me to think you might have been using square brushes more than a pixel wide? You should draw every sprite so that pixels are 1:1, and edges are as smooth as possible. I would start by "cleaning up" all the edges in the animation to make them smooth. This is hard to explain so here's a gif comparison of an area I "cleaned up" in your sprite (cropped and zoomed 4x to better see the difference).

Rolento said:
Ran into a few bugs in GMS2 that were not my fault at all, which I am a little surprised by.

Yeah, I can relate, there are times I could have killed the entire Unity team :P. I don't know what's worse, spending an hour to work out why a bug happens and finding it's a bug with Unity itself, or figuring out how to work around the latter (not easy when Unity obviously doesn't expect you to need to do something like that).

Slixshot said:
Holy moly!!!!! Teach me your ways!!!

Yup, Pehesse's work has that effect. :)

Aki-at said:
On my end, finished off the second shop owner. Probably could combine both shop keepers to make some amusing situations!

Lo-ve it. Seems straight out of a Wonder Boy game, and even that's a disservice; it's really much more advanced and better animated than anything in any of the actual classic WB games. I keep getting floored by the talent in this thread.

Conkersbadfurday said:
We're doing it ourselves, but I was put into a games media marketing consultant via nepotism, and he gave us some advice and told us how to approach games press.

I'll have to ask you for advice when the time comes, even if it's third-hand! :)

Conkersbadfurday said:
By the way, no one prepares you for the wild west of fucking bullshit that is fake gaming websites trying to scam codes out of you. I'm making me a list.

How does that work? The entire gaming site is fake, or it's just people pretending to work for actual legit sites?

Slixshot · Mar 31, 2018

Weltall Zero said:
I'm definitely not the person to ask about art, hahah. I'm more or less a pure programmer that fell into the rabbit hole of game dev and cobbles together semi-functional sprites as he goes. I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag; you're almost certainly a better artist than I am.

The only tips I have are technical: 1) Use a good, dedicated sprite making program (I personally love Aseprite), and 2) Choose a palette and stick to it (I keep pimping the DB32 palette).

Edit: OK, I opened your animation on Aseprite and I do have a couple more comments. It seems like you're somehow using different pixel sizes in the sprite itself, which leads me to think you might have been using square brushes more than a pixel wide? You should draw every sprite so that pixels are 1:1, and edges are as smooth as possible. I would start by "cleaning up" all the edges in the animation to make them smooth. This is hard to explain so here's a gif comparison of an area I "cleaned up" in your sprite (cropped and zoomed 4x to better see the difference).

Yeah, I can relate, there are times I could have killed the entire Unity team :P. I don't know what's worse, spending an hour to work out why a bug happens and finding it's a bug with Unity itself, or figuring out how to work around the latter (not easy when Unity obviously doesn't expect you to need to do something like that).

Yup, Pehesse's work has that effect. :)

Lo-ve it. Seems straight out of a Wonder Boy game, and even that's a disservice; it's really much more advanced and better animated than anything in any of the actual classic WB games. I keep getting floored by the talent in this thread.

I'll have to ask you for advice when the time comes, even if it's third-hand! :)

How does that work? The entire gaming site is fake, or it's just people pretending to work for actual legit sites?

Amazing advice! Curious. Is there a fast way to go about cleaning all of these up? Or does it really come down to zooming in and painting in new pixels/erasing in every square necessary?

Slixshot · Mar 31, 2018

Pehesse said:
Of course! No matter the medium, animation is animation. It's got its set of rules and principles you should learn, and once you have, you're free to toy/bend them as you wish - it's just like learning any other technique, really. Being in pixel art just means you draw the end result differently, as far as I see it, but the underlying motion principles still apply! You don't even have to get the book to start, sole excerpts of it are available online, like the ones about walk cycles, like this:

- I recommend you check them out to get a sense of whether it might help you?

In your example, the high/low motion for instance would add a lot of weight to the character, even if you decide not to add any bounce to its step and keep it fairly rigid. A walk is a calculated loss of balance followed by a recovery, and the motion should reflect that! But keep in mind walk cycles are commonly referred to as some of the hardest anims to get right... and in my experience, it's been rather true :-D So maybe experiment with a few others to get a feel for your character's overall motion/stances/rythms and your own approach to conveying weight (as far as I'l concerned, that's basically the core concern when animating), and come back to it sometime later? You can hack away at the same motion for weeks, but I often have better results making a lot of different moves before iterating on each using what I've learned in the process. Your mileage may vary!

Also, yes, I "program", at least as far as programming logic is involved. I use Construct 2, because it doesn't need syntax to work, it's all visual scripting, and I made both my previous game and my current one using it - though I'm now working with a programmer to go faster and have a cleaner code. I'm also learning C# in parallel to keep Unity as an option should the need arise, but the latest rumblings regarding Chowdren have me hopeful regarding C2's longevity and viability in regards to porting, its main problem right now!

Pictures like that make a lot of sense! I just don't know how to effectively contour a body naturally. It might be worth getting the book to get some explanations on common sense things for regular artists

Conkersbadfurday · Mar 31, 2018

Weltall Zero said:
I'll have to ask you for advice when the time comes, even if it's third-hand! :)
How does that work? The entire gaming site is fake, or it's just people pretending to work for actual legit sites?

Both. Some sites will look legit and even have a proper contact email address (like [email protected]), but if you check the articles, they're copy-pasted from bigger sites. Others are people claiming to be [email protected] and if you check the site, you'll find that Mark either doesn't work there, or his contact email doesn't end with "gmail.com."

It means that every request we get I have to vet in some way, which is goddamned time consuming.

The same carries over to Twitch streamers and youtubers. Fake gmail address pretending to be people they aren't.

DNAbro · Mar 31, 2018

Ayyy first screenshot saturday where I actually have something. Spent all day fixing up some camera issues and creating my whole cutscene system.

I feel like I have to apologize for my art every time.

Weltall Zero · Mar 31, 2018

Slixshot said:
Amazing advice! Curious. Is there a fast way to go about cleaning all of these up? Or does it really come down to zooming in and painting in new pixels/erasing in every square necessary?

With a dedicated pixel program you'd draw everything at pixel-level anyway, so this animation-wide cleanup is not something you'd do regularly. But yes, it's all pixel by pixel. Again, with a dedicated program and some experience using it it's pretty quick (the actual cleanup there took me seconds). I have my left hand hovering over the tool keys like I (eyedropper) B (pixel pen) and G (fill) so I can change colors super quick; my right mouse button color is always bound to "transparent.

Conkersbadfurday said:
Both. Some sites will look legit and even have a proper contact email address (like [email protected]), but if you check the articles, they're copy-pasted from bigger sites. Others are people claiming to be [email protected] and if you check the site, you'll find that Mark either doesn't work there, or his contact email doesn't end with "gmail.com."

It means that every request we get I have to vet in some way, which is goddamned time consuming.

The same carries over to Twitch streamers and youtubers. Fake gmail address pretending to be people they aren't.

That freaking sucks, I had no idea there's a community dedicated to do this kind of stuff. I want to say these people probably wouldn't have bought the game legitimately anyway so getting some of them wrong isn't that big of an issue, but of course they can also resell the key which would indeed mean a lost sale. :/

I just googled a bit about this problem and possible solutions because I'm sure it must affect pretty much every indie dev. I came across this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/5cy0jt/heres_what_a_steam_key_scam_looks_like/

Specifically, this:

Never send keys via email unless you're absolutely sure you know the person (like, your friends). Instead, use services like Keymailer or distribute(). I used Keymailer to create a request link for the game, and whenever someone contacts me via email, I kindly ask them to use the request link. If they're a legit reviewer, they should have no problem doing this, because they're aware of these scams as well. Then, in Keymailer, a reviewer has to verify their social channels (YT, Twitch, Twitter, etc) so that as a developer, you can know with relative certainty that you're talking to the owner of those accounts.

Did you know about these services? I'm very curious to know if they work as advertised.

Conkersbadfurday · Mar 31, 2018

Weltall Zero said:
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/5cy0jt/heres_what_a_steam_key_scam_looks_like/

Specifically, this:

Did you know about these services? I'm very curious to know if they work as advertised.

Keymailer we're using. It's nice but the better features are behind a paywall. Distribute is new and I'm going to look into that tonight.

Weltall Zero · Apr 1, 2018

Conkersbadfurday said:
Keymailer we're using. It's nice but the better features are behind a paywall. Distribute is new and I'm going to look into that tonight.

Awesome, let us hear how it goes. Really hoping it relieves some of the pressure off you guys at least.

Edit: there's a comparative of similar services here, it might be useful as well.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/6llny9/woovit_vs_keymailer_vs_terminalsio_vs/
The OP indeed mentions that many of Keymailer's features are locked behind a high monthly fee. They however gush like crazy about one called Woovit, so unless they're a shill working for it :D, it might be worth giving it a look!

Edit 2: The entire thread seems to gush about Woovit as well, it seems legit. Really hoping it helps you guys!

Aki-at · Apr 1, 2018

_Rob_ said:
Secondly, an update the Baroness Samedice's boss battle with a new phase and some tweaking to the amount of screenshake:

I'm not sure I've mentioned it but I really do like the boss music here, her shouting seems to go well with song too haha.

Pehesse said:
You fall asleep on your workchair too? :-D

I really like those close up characters you've been doing/posting recently, they have lots of character and emotion. Could work as cut-ins for a VN!

Funny we actually joked about that when making both shops, worst case at least I know we can go down the visual novel route next game with all the experience we're gaining here haha!

Weltall Zero said:
Lo-ve it. Seems straight out of a Wonder Boy game, and even that's a disservice; it's really much more advanced and better animated than anything in any of the actual classic WB games. I keep getting floored by the talent in this thread.

Monster World IV is a big inspiration too so I'm glad it takes you back there, has been one of my favourite platformers for the longest time and it's such an underrated gem... of course the rest of the series is also good! (Mind you the final boss in 3 is way harder than it should be!)

Ahem, however I am excited to announce an even better project inspired by your favourite big budget AAA games like Call of Duty and Battlefield, introducing the gritty remastered reboot Brock the Human. Plz be excited.

SweetSark · Apr 1, 2018

This remind me, I need to but the game BROCK CROCODILE in my Thread. And many other games from here as well.
If you are interested, the Thread in question is here:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/upcoming-under-the-radar-indie-videogames-or-not-ot.28092/

2+2=5 · Apr 1, 2018

Weltall Zero said:
Could I interest you in the DB32 palette? I've used it for my game and the results have been amazing.
http://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=16247

Thanks i'll take it into account. :)

Pehesse said:
I don't post in here half as much as I used to, but everyone's been posting very cool stuff lately, so keep on trucking, and welcome to all new posters with your very impressive projects!

On my end, animation cleaning is the same as ever, so kind of old news by now. Just finished cleaning the new Acrobat moveset, now moving onto the Warrior's, before coloring all of it. Hopefully I'll have some more exciting stuff to show after that's done (schedule says July... we'll see if that holds) :-D

As always your art amazes me and makes me wonder how talented people like you can achieve those results... as much as i try for some reason i'm not even able to keep constant proportions between a frame and the other(in a frame a leg is longer, an arm is more robust and so on) :\

Camille_ · Apr 1, 2018

SweetSark said:
This remind me, I need to but the game BROCK CROCODILE in my Thread. And many other games from here as well.
If you are interested, the Thread in question is here:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/upcoming-under-the-radar-indie-videogames-or-not-ot.28092/

I keep secretly hoping to see Pacha in the thread, but your selection so far has been extremely interesting and inspiring! You're doing excellent work giving all of these games visibility, and hopefully players once they release!

2+2=5 said:
Thanks i'll take it into account. :)

As always your art amazes me and makes me wonder how talented people like you can achieve those results... as much as i try for some reason i'm not even able to keep constant proportions between a frame and the other(in a frame a leg is longer, an arm is more robust and so on) :\

Thanks :-) If that helps any, I don't always keep proportions exact either, sometimes volontarily for added effect, and sometimes because I just can't get them right in a timely fashion... but in the end, any individual frame's not meant to stay on screen, if the motion works, it's what matters most! (and sometimes, imperfections will even help you sell a motion more!)... so my general thought on the matter would be: don't sweat the individual detail too much and keep your eye on the whole motion!

SweetSark · Apr 1, 2018

Pehesse said:
I keep secretly hoping to see Pacha in the thread, but your selection so far has been extremely interesting and inspiring! You're doing excellent work giving all of these games visibility, and hopefully players once they release!

Thank you. This mean a lot to me.
I love searching for a lot of unknown games as a hobby and share them with the others as well.
Let me tell you: It is very time consuming, but is worth it.

Dusk Golem · Apr 1, 2018

I lack the talent of many, but working on this crazy idea to release 13 things in 18 months. I released the first thing in February, released the second this in March, and right now working on my April project:

Feast Your Eyes: Little Marshmallow

It's a little 2.5D horror game (though with some 3D elements and parts using fixed camera angles) using a simple little style mixing some original assets (which I am limited in) with some royalty free stuff, and it's been very fun to work on. Soundtrack is 90% original and done with that, have done most of the modelling I need to do, there's more that needs to be done but I'll try to post my progress here more. I always want to be part of the indie dev threads, but I am so limited in some ways and feel I should get better in certain areas before I post, but I know I need to overcome this. I've released several well received games, just should embrace my limitations in person like I do in games already.

Weltall Zero · Apr 1, 2018

Dusk Golem said:
I lack the talent of many, but working on this crazy idea to release 13 things in 18 months. I released the first thing in February, released the second this in March, and right now working on my April project:

Feast Your Eyes: Little Marshmallow

It's a little 2.5D horror game (though with some 3D elements and parts using fixed camera angles) using a simple little style mixing some original assets (which I am limited in) with some royalty free stuff, and it's been very fun to work on. Soundtrack is 90% original and done with that, have done most of the modelling I need to do, there's more that needs to be done but I'll try to post my progress here more. I always want to be part of the indie dev threads, but I am so limited in some ways and feel I should get better in certain areas before I post, but I know I need to overcome this. I've released several well received games, just should embrace my limitations in person like I do in games already.

I for one am *shocked* that you would choose to make a horror game. :D
Frankly your lack of confidence seems entirely unfounded, it looks very cute and it's crazy someone could make something like this in a couple months. Many of us in this thread have yet to release a game so you're way ahead of us already!
When you say soundtrack is 90% original, you mean you also compose? Thats (even more) incredible if so, man. I know nothing about music, all my tracks are royalty free / CC0 stuff.

Aki-at · Apr 1, 2018

SweetSark said:
This remind me, I need to but the game BROCK CROCODILE in my Thread. And many other games from here as well.
If you are interested, the Thread in question is here:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/upcoming-under-the-radar-indie-videogames-or-not-ot.28092/

Oh I'd definitely be honoured to be adde. Unfortunately Brock Crocodile has been cancelled for Brock the Human, please make such adjustments too!

I'm sorry I can't give this up until 12am or else I'll be cursed for all eternity :(

SaberVS7 · Apr 1, 2018

Well, due to a variety of development difficulties for a first-time indie dev, I've made the decision to scale down Azure Jaegers, Red Foxes and reduce its scope to something more manageable along with a rebranding. It'll be returning to the Visual Novel format it started development as, and will be firmly back where it belongs in the Otome genre after a long year of being sidetracked as an Immersive-Sim.

"Azure Jaegers, Red Foxes" is now Moshi-Moshi! Intelligence Agency! Here's a sneak peak of what the game looks like now. Please be excited for Kickstarter!

Kickmaster Kim · Apr 1, 2018

I'm struggling trying to make this song. I feel like maybe I should just find someone who's willing to make one for me or give one to me. I had one offer a song before, but all of us agreed that it doesn't fit with our game.

RHANITAN · Apr 1, 2018

Dusk Golem said:
I lack the talent of many, but working on this crazy idea to release 13 things in 18 months. I released the first thing in February, released the second this in March, and right now working on my April project:

Feast Your Eyes: Little Marshmallow

It's a little 2.5D horror game (though with some 3D elements and parts using fixed camera angles) using a simple little style mixing some original assets (which I am limited in) with some royalty free stuff, and it's been very fun to work on. Soundtrack is 90% original and done with that, have done most of the modelling I need to do, there's more that needs to be done but I'll try to post my progress here more. I always want to be part of the indie dev threads, but I am so limited in some ways and feel I should get better in certain areas before I post, but I know I need to overcome this. I've released several well received games, just should embrace my limitations in person like I do in games already.

I am digging the look. Post More!

I recently completely redid how i handle animations and hit/hurtboxes in my game. Now its very easy to tweak the frame data of each animation frame and i can have multiple hit boxes for attacks that come out on specific frames and stuff like that. I also made all the collision boxes that trigger ai events visible for easier debugging.

Conkersbadfurday · Apr 1, 2018

Hey guys,

I'm writing a pitch for the Nintendo Switch. Any tips on what might go into one of those? I'm leaning towards formal, but I don't know how extensive I need to be with details. I'm told to not write a design document.

K Monkey · Apr 2, 2018

Dusk Golem said:
I lack the talent of many, but working on this crazy idea to release 13 things in 18 months. I released the first thing in February, released the second this in March, and right now working on my April project:

Feast Your Eyes: Little Marshmallow

It's a little 2.5D horror game (though with some 3D elements and parts using fixed camera angles) using a simple little style mixing some original assets (which I am limited in) with some royalty free stuff, and it's been very fun to work on. Soundtrack is 90% original and done with that, have done most of the modelling I need to do, there's more that needs to be done but I'll try to post my progress here more. I always want to be part of the indie dev threads, but I am so limited in some ways and feel I should get better in certain areas before I post, but I know I need to overcome this. I've released several well received games, just should embrace my limitations in person like I do in games already.

its good to see you post something! I like the look of it but I just love anything horror really :P

Landford · Apr 2, 2018

How do you guys deal with having this full idea of the game in your head and realizing you just started learning how to do stuff hahaha "Goddam collision boxes, I should be already writting the branching paths and the companions!"

(I learned so much about coding this past week my head is just reeling. Had a programming test today at college, basic stuff with strings and ifs and elses, finished in 20 minutes and got home to code more)

Dynamite Shikoku · Apr 3, 2018

I deal with it like a boss

sabrina · Apr 3, 2018

That's just game dev. You're going to have somewhere between ten and a hundred times as many ideas as you're able to actually work on.

HP_Wuvcraft · Apr 3, 2018

Anyone have any leads on Python code that works with Twitch?

Landford said:
How do you guys deal with having this full idea of the game in your head and realizing you just started learning how to do stuff hahaha "Goddam collision boxes, I should be already writting the branching paths and the companions!"

(I learned so much about coding this past week my head is just reeling. Had a programming test today at college, basic stuff with strings and ifs and elses, finished in 20 minutes and got home to code more)

The silver lining to this is you're actually working on or towards the thing.

Wulfric · Apr 3, 2018

Negative Nancys: The Thread - https://www.resetera.com/threads/do-any-of-you-want-to-work-in-the-games-industry.33602/

A lot more "No"s than I expected. I don't blame people for choosing a more predictable industry though.

SweetSark · Apr 3, 2018

I manage to put so far 3-4 videogames which are from developers who contribute in this Thread, but it seems I issing a lot of the...
Can someone help e search for all games in here?
Thank you.

Weltall Zero · Apr 3, 2018

Landford said:
How do you guys deal with having this full idea of the game in your head and realizing you just started learning how to do stuff hahaha "Goddam collision boxes, I should be already writting the branching paths and the companions!"

(I learned so much about coding this past week my head is just reeling. Had a programming test today at college, basic stuff with strings and ifs and elses, finished in 20 minutes and got home to code more)

When the slowdown is specifically that I'm learning to do stuff, I find it easy to assume as "I'm learning, which is the most valuable thing in all of this". You're levelling up, you can't go straight to the final dungeon and beat the boss. :)
It helps a ton to scope down, which I think is time to say again:

Scope. The. Hell. Down.

Focus on getting a playable slice of your game working. Eschew complex systems like branching and so on. Just make a prototype for your game with as few systems as possible for it to still work. Then build from there to see where it takes you. Having an entire game in your head before starting works well with large studios that are more experienced and less resource-bound than we are; for us, it can doom the game from the very start.

Wulfric said:
Negative Nancys: The Thread - https://www.resetera.com/threads/do-any-of-you-want-to-work-in-the-games-industry.33602/

A lot more "No"s than I expected. I don't blame people for choosing a more predictable industry though.

Frankly that just means that people are wiser in this forum / wising up in general. Choosing to work in this industry is a very bad career choice for most of us. It's the new "I want to be a rock star, dad!".

Assuming I can complete my game I can fully well see it selling less than 500 copies; less than 5000€ for what is going to be at least 2-3 years of work. That doesn't pay for even the cheapest rent. Contrast and compare the 30-50k+ a year I could make working as a regular software engineer even here in Spain. I'm doing this because it's what I've wanted to do all my life, not because I feel it's the logical thing to do.

Sorry, this is probably a bit demoralizing. But it sure is cathartic to put into written word what often keeps me up at night. :D

Whitebison · Apr 3, 2018

Glad to be back! I was a lurker for years of this thread on the old forum.

I've been working on my first game and I'm planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign before summer with a playable demo.

I'ts a social simulator based in Japan, you can learn some basic japanese, meet people, visit famous places of Japan and even play at the arcades !

I have to make some gifs to post here :) meanwhile that's the start screen!

Weltall Zero · Apr 3, 2018

Whitebison said:
Glad to be back! I was a lurker for years of this thread on the old forum.

I've been working on my first game and I'm planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign before summer with a playable demo.

I'ts a social simulator based in Japan, you can learn some basic japanese, meet people, visit famous places of Japan and even play at the arcades !

I have to make some gifs to post here :) meanwhile that's the start screen!

Holy shit that's beautiful. Really looking forward to the rest of the game if it looks like that!

Aztechnology · Apr 3, 2018

Whoo, going to be making a 2D, maybe Isometric in title for my Unity course. Want to do a tile based/Turn based tactics game. Time to start digging into asset pages XD. Our first assignment is to link 2D asset pages and their licenses for a wiki, of course we just got out of class and all the good ones are already listed XD.

Minamu · Apr 3, 2018

Is anyone in here well-versed in Unity's Profiler tool? I'm trying to learn it and am currently running it through my main menu for starters. On the rendering tab, it says I have 52 draw calls, 2000 tris and 3500 verts. I also have 9 batched draw calls and for some reason, it logs additional tris (726) and verts (1.5k) on another line. I don't understand these numbers, unless the 2D UI and/or particles are somehow also calculated with tris and verts. As some of you may know, our game is based on cubes, supposedly very efficient cubes no less. My main menu have 6 cubes, a plane for the floor, a slightly more detailed sword and a sheep. The cubes are 4 verts each, so 24, and the tri count should be 72. What makes Unity believe my try count is 10x to more than 20x that number? Sure, the sword and sheep are more detailed but they should be below 100 verts combined, rough estimate.

Dynamite Shikoku · Apr 3, 2018

Are you accounting for lighting?

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