Thread: Games that made you cry the most!
Definitely for me too. I can't listen to the ending theme without tearing up. It's not so much out of sadness, more about the magnitude and completion of such an epic story. One of the most influential and best-loved games of mine. The soundtrack is incredible. The ending theme always makes me cry, for similar reasons to the Xenogears ending. Heh. I didn't cry to that, but it's always been a poignant memory from that game. I love IoG. It's got a totally unique atmosphere to any other game.
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Thread: Games that made you cry the most!
I'm tearing up! I love this game so much. I own two copies of it, one near-mint. I remember trying to contact Quintet as a kid after completing the game to tell them how much I loved it, but I couldn't get hold of them.
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Thread: Games that made you cry the most!
I love how I found the game in the first place: I was browsing through a second-hand game section of a newspaper (called 'Loot'), and someone was selling a load of games. I read the name 'Terranigma', and without even knowing a thing about the game, something just clicked in my head and said 'you have to buy this'. I literally discovered one of my favourite ever games just because the name sounded good to me.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
OK, well here's some feedback/suggestions in no particular order: TIG Source seems to have a load. I have a thread for my game there, and I get several emails a week, or more, from musicians wanting to work on our game.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
I've run one of these for about 4 years. We started off monthly, then after a few years went down to quarterly, and now 'whenever', with one big one a year regardless. It wasn't due to attendance that we changed; it was mostly down to my work schedule, though event frequency does impact many behavioural patterns from attendees (numbers per event, time people leave, what they bring, etc.) I can give you more detailed feedback if you'd like? They've not, but that's a great idea. I'll give it some thought.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Congratulations! Good luck with it. Let us know how it goes :)
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
We've been doing this already for a while now. We get a very modest number of people watching, but it's still good. We then turn them into YouTube videos, and get a modest number of hits on those too. So I would recommend this to others also. This is a great suggestion. I'll definitely consider this, cheers. Some really nice high-level concept ideas in this. Good luck with the project. We fell into doing The Siege and the Sandfox, as the artists had just been making the assets as a hobby project, so we shelved our 3D project, adopted them, and started work on the game. Part of why we all went indie (we're all from AAA backgrounds with around 10-15 years' experience each) was so we weren't beholden to market trends and pushy business departments. However, after we started the project, I've certainly been doing market research. I have a database of all titles similar to ours in some way or another - already out and in development - with details about their Metacritic score, release date, platforms, launch price, players, owners (taken before Steamspy went down), and more. There is a freedom and joy to making what you want, and as trends are so rapid to change, and games so long to make, it's very hard to research pre pre-production and get any data that will be reliable come completion of the game.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Well thanks for joining! Be sure to say hi when you're online. We can talk Xenogears in Off-Topic. I've just ordered the Fei figure! Chucklefish are our publishing partner. So they've funded part of development and are assisting us with publishing. We (Cardboard Sword) are doing all of the development. As I've commented before much earlier in the thread: time is a horrible comparison metric. A team of 4 people working for 1 year is the same as 1 person working for 4 years. And then what about hours per day? Someone could have a full-time job, but a short commute home and live alone and get 5 hours per day work done on their hobby project, or someone could have a full-time job and an hour's commute each way, and two kids and a partner and only work 1 hour per day on a hobby project. Then there is mentality; some people are just workaholics, some need to swap activities every hour or so. That's not necessarily discipline, that can be hormones, innate traits, all sorts. If we judge ourselves based on sweeping assumptions of others, we'll never come out on top. Go easy on yourself. It doesn't matter if you take a year, 5 years, 30 years or whatever. Just making a game is pretty damn cool. This looks great. Everyone loves an air combo! Keep up the good work. It's gonna be interesting to see what happens... or completely uninteresting and just disappointing. I get why they did it, but there will be ramifications. I'm glad I completed my competitor analysis a couple of weeks ago.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Marketing: I was considering Discord for a while, but had written it off earlier in development as it better suits a more community-driven game, or a game with persistence of some kind (e.g. Descenders for community, Stardew Valley for persistence). Our game is a single-player story-driven Metroidvania... However, I have seen more and more people talking about Discord, and figured it may make a good tool as another form of delivery platform for what we were essentially doing with Facebook and Twitter: sharing updates and screenshots. I figured it doesn't really matter if those that join are chatting every day or not. If we can grab a few extra people, simply because it's their preferred channel for engagement, then it's been worth it, right? So I set one up, (shameless plug incoming) which you can access . It would be cool if any of you joined. Has anyone here set-up/ran a Discord server, or is part of one, that may be able to offer suggestions and feedback to help me keep it alive or improve it? Any thoughts on using Discord in this way? Looking swell. Another impressive-looking project from a solo dev. I'll give you a follow.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Nice idea. Followed. Thanks very much! We'll have a new newsletter coming out soon, with some exclusive screenshots, if you wanted to or anything... Really great start. Some shading would improve it I reckon, but then the more detailed you get, the greater the risk of drifting ( ;) ) too far from the intended style. Still, I think there's a middle ground that can be met and would improve this. What scenario are you pitching in? (Face-to-face presentation, sending in a deck, Skype meeting, phone call, etc.) Regardless, I would suggest that you make it quick and exciting, highlight a Switch-specific feature for huge bonus points, and be sure to show pretty pictures. Looks swell! I'm looking forward to seeing those gifs.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Any UK (or others) devs here going to be at EGX Rezzed? If so, I'll be exhibiting The Siege and the Sandfox there. Would be cool to say hi and come see your games too. This looks great, and for only one person over two years! Keep up the good work.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Fair dos. I think the colour change for function type is a great idea, and will better keep you free from Claptrapian comparison :) Thanks very much. Those are some damn pretty pixels in that portfolio too!
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
There are several things indie studios commonly need (in my experience), that a publisher can provide to earn their percentage:
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Thanks, and thanks for the feedback. This is something we're already discussing actually, both from a technical standpoint, and artistic. Thanks guys! Neither, it's an issue with the material actually. Please ignore it as it will be fixed soon. I forgot that was in there! Imagine all the teams out there with more than one person. For example, if a team has 5 people, working on a game for 2 years, that's 10 man years' work. 1 person working for 1 year is 1 man year's work. A lone programmer after a year's work is going to have FAR less to show than 10 years of cross-discipline work. If you're going to be comparing yourself, make sure you're comparing something similar. 1 artist's 1 year of art will look better than 1 programmer's 1 year of code, but that programmer's 1 year of code will be much more functional than 1 year of art. Also, Xenogears name reference? *nod of respect for Xenogears love*
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Aww, well thanks. We do have two artists and an animator though, and those two artists in particular started our game as a hobby project several years ago, so the art's had a lot more time on it than the rest of the game (and they're bloody talented too, but don't tell them I said that!) Well take that one in, absorb it. It's so easy for people to shrug off praise, but then allow themselves to languish in self-doubt. Many people do this to themselves, including us with our art that you like so much. This, in my opinion, is the correct approach. Our game looked so good off the bat due to there being so much art done before we even started the project as a team. But art assets can be updated on top of a functional game. I spent around 6-7 years working in AAA, and trust me, many games look like ass until a large way through development. 'Make a good game first, then make it a pretty good game.' is the phrase I'd use if I were to invent one on the spot which kinda sums up my sentiment but also has some slightly amusing word play in it....
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
I'd suggest not straying too close to Claptrap. With the mono-wheel, yellow colour, and the [X] panels looking like it's been pranged a few times so a bit worse-for-wear, you may find criticism for originality. The TV screen probably isn't enough on its own to break past that. Is the cube shape a requirement for design mechanics? Is there another colour or shape or feature you could use to better uniquely identify it? This is the most important point I'd suggest. As you learn more and more, it is easy to get overly ambitious and end up scaling too far, to the point where you don't finish things. I'd suggest writing a list of what you want to achieve, then strictly make that. Then, as you're making the current thing, take notes about what teased your ambition, and then try those for the next project. That's damn cute.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
So, I mentioned before that we've added . I just wanted to share our first-released screenshot showing the actual results of all that effort, and welcome any feedback: And here's a comparison shot: It's not just that these are excellently animated, or that they're extremely charming, or very creatively invented ways of character movement for the situation, it's also that they seem to give you greater freedom in design, offering additional player positioning not often seen. Things like squishing up against the wall, and a little extra time off a ledge before fatal descent. I could be wrong, but that's how it seems. Are your inventive animations leading design, or is design leading a requirement for inventive animations? This is such a cool application that this modelling method enables. Just make sure you allow bandaging of the knee. I hear it's oft an adventurer's downfall when victim to bow-flung projectiles... I think you're gonna need more than just a cross, mate... This looks awesome and terrifying.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Our Lead Designer Chris did a short talk recently on AI in our game, but it's (hopefully) generally useful for AI and 2D game AI considerations. . These animations look great! I love that you can kick the spike back, and that the enemies are pacified and cute after being defeated. What a clever idea.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Sweet. Glad it helped.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
I'm no coder, so don't take just my advice, but I would offer the following: If you want to develop skills that might have wider reach in development, and create a skillset that will better benefit you for potential employment, then I would suggest Unreal or Unity. If you have the liberty to take that extra time (e.g. part time job, living at parent's, etc.) then it is probably worth it. However, if you're just planning on boshing out some prototypes, then use whatever's quickest.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Hey all. If anyone's intending to do normals in their 2D game, we did an interview with Gamasutra about our process for it. It may be of use to some of you. .
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Each game has a different style, and normal mapping won't suit all styles, but when it does, it really does add a lot. Cheers. Yeah, we do have a team so it made it more feasible. Our artists started the assets for our game as a hobby project years ago, so they are ahead of the project schedule, which has allowed them the liberty of time to undertake the mammoth task of doing this process. Thanks :) Thanks. Definitely a lot of work, but yeah, we think the results are worth it. Your stuff is looking great too, judging by what you've recently shared.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Looks great. Lovely art style. Might I suggest, if possible, that the following tower erects much faster, to make gameplay more continuous? The delay, to me, looks ever-so-slightly uncomfortably long. I think people like quicker flowing gameplay on mobile. I may be wrong.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
I concur with the above for engine choice, and portfolios being the best route in. Regarding jamming with a team at uni, I think it's a great idea. I'd make the following suggestions, though these are simply my suggestions, I'd love to hear if people disagree: - Make a small-scale game - Re-make that same game from scratch - Make a new completely different game - Make Version 2 of the re-make of the first game This way you can slowly increase the features of game 1, implement what you learnt from each production process, apply new skills from game 2 to game 1, start adding in refinements and optimisation. Also, working on adapting an existing game by returning to it with more experience, is a skill often used in the games industry, for porting or making sequels. Be sure to avoid being too ambitious. Having unreachable goals leads to things fizzling out. It's far better to start and finish something small and easy, then iterate, than it is to begin with a MOBA or online FPS etc.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Yeah, this looks really good. Good luck with the launch.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
A fellow Paper2D dev! How're you getting on with it? We're making a side-on Metroidvania. I'd be open to others' feedback on their experiences with these two platforms too please. I've recently created accounts on both, but have no prior experience with either.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Oh, well thanks for giving it a watch, and for the compliments. I hope it helped you in some way. We plan to do some more Paper2D live stream tutorials in the future too. Paper2D has been mostly great. We've had a few problems, and made a few changes to dramatically increase productivity (copy&paste across tilemap layers for example), but otherwise we're getting on with it just fine. We have purchased the plugin too, which has saved us a load of time and is very cheap. Worth taking a look at, certainly. We tried normal mapping our sprites early on but didn't get satisfactory results. One of our artists then decided he wanted to try hand-painting normals to get similar effects to what you've posted above. It took him a lot of time, but the results turned out great: I do appreciate your position, making this difficult for just you though. Unfortunately we're not aware of any tool that might achieve what you're after ourselves, hence having to spend so many man hours doing this. Good luck with the rest of the project though.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
We've been contacting universities, especially games courses, to arrange play testing sessions. They seem really up for it, as the students get some cool experience, feel part of the game, and get to ask you questions about actual game dev. We're doing 2D AI for our game. Ours is a stealth game, so the main considerations revolve around that. I'm not involved directly with the AI code, so can't help you myself, but of Impromptu is doing our AI, and he has . Also, our designer Chris has done a few on our AI, so hopefully these might help, or corroborate your own conclusions: , , , I hope some of that may help in some way.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
I agree with Blizzard. Also, one always learns something when prototyping. Be it better knowledge of a tool or engine, or a greater understanding of design, or more. It's worth pursuing. Just make the exercise cost as little time as you can, in case it does fail. So yeah, use shit assets you make yourself, or buy a dirt cheap asset pack from one of the engine stores.
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Thread: Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
Hi all. I'm working on a game called , partnered with Chucklefish. It's a 2D 'stealthvania' built in Unreal Engine 4. We've been doing a bunch of dev blogs, dev streams, and conference talks. If you would like to see any of these, you can find them on the . We did a stream with Epic for their community led training series on ''. So if you are thinking of starting a 2D game, do consider Unreal, and hopefully this will help some of you getting started:
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