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Indie Game Development Thread 3: Indie Jones and the Template of Doom

T

Timedog

good credit (by proxy)
What would I need to program to make a game engine? What actually constitutes a game engine? Is SFML kind of sort of a game engine?

I want to program a bunch of classes and functions in SFML that make it easier to create a game. While learning SFML I keep making things and going "I should just make this a class/function to make it easier for stuff in the future" but I'm not sure when a collection of classes and functions can be considered a "game engine", especially when based off an already existing library that does some of the dirty work for you.
 
oxrock

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
Dynamite Shikoku said:
New thread? How do I program realistic bouncing boobs? Asking for a friend
Click to expand...

I honestly have never really thought about this, but I would think in Unity at least (this is largely guesswork on my part) you could create additional skeletal bones attached to the rig's chest with rigidbodies and colliders and set it up with some rag doll physics to have them bouncing about as the character moves. You can set limits on how far the joints are allowed to bend and whatnot, modify the rigidbody weight/drag, etc. Not sure how realistic it could look quite honestly because I've never tried it but it could potentially work out.
 
M

missile

Member
Ok, page two ... some new stuff right here! You will all now witness my new
volume rendering technique...

Pixelized Volume Rendering

7vSnNNl.gif


I was able to extend my pixelizing technique to 3d and bombed the volume
rendering equation with it and have approximation it with the lowest possible
order (piece-wise constant) which still yields dynamic volume shadows and
varying densities resp. scattering effects. This is optimal in the above sense
and also requires minimum amount of computation. Yes, it's fast, like utterly
fast! :D I will modify the method to make it possible to incrementally compute
the volume effects by repeatedly applying the same methods. This may allow to
compute volume effects with different qualities (adaptively) based on some
given metric. It my open up the way to compute some global volume lighting
(leading to volumetric color bleeding) where lit or emissive objects will
light up the volume (smoke, dust, etc.) in their surrounding.

The animation above is just the first version of the effect. You've seen it
here first! ;)
 
T

TheLegendaryN

Member
oxrock said:
A lot of people don't want to hear this, but I suggest making simple games that you can actually complete within a week or two and move onto the next. Games you've actually completed mean a lot more than big projects that'll never see the light of day. That will also help give you a sense of how long it takes you to do certain things so that you can better plan out future projects.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your feedback! I'll try it. :)
 
LordRaptor

LordRaptor

Member
More_Badass said:
Hey, guys, wanted to update the community here regarding the thread placement. I talked with the other mods, and the general idea is that usually threads such as this (ongoing, focused on a singular topic/hobby/etc., a group of regulars mainly posting, etc.) are placed in Community to keep the Gaming side from getting too cluttered and to stay focused on current new news/releases/whatnot.
Click to expand...

I see your point, but this is always felt more of a generalist thread than a 'community' thread - like the "Want to build a PC?" or "Buying a new Gaming TV?" threads stay in Gaming rather than community because they're more general advice / help than discussion of a specific topic.

If this was a "GAF Unity users OT" or something, and was a community of people who specifically use Unity, with code snippets and news solely relating to Unity and maybe some stealth self-promotion, I could see that as a "community" thread more than a general Gaming thread - but I'm not a mod, so eh.

oxrock said:
A lot of people don't want to hear this, but I suggest making simple games that you can actually complete within a week or two and move onto the next. Games you've actually completed mean a lot more than big projects that'll never see the light of day. That will also help give you a sense of how long it takes you to do certain things so that you can better plan out future projects.
Click to expand...

This is always the best advice for this question, and your first games are probably going to be things GAF-consensus would label as rip off trash, so you probably want to move past them sooner rather than later... ever wonder what the game immediately before Hotline Miami looked like?

Dynamite Shikoku said:
New thread? How do I program realistic bouncing boobs? Asking for a friend
Click to expand...

Jigglebones is what they're usually called - its basically a rod / bone with a spring on the end in most physics engines... unless you really want to go into softbody physics simulation territory...
 
C

CertifiedFP

Member
Razorback PT said:
Subscribed!

Hopefully in the not too distant future I'll be able to share what I've been working on.
Click to expand...

Don't be ashamed if visually it's all just programmer-art. Don't think anyone here will judge that.
Because I've clearly absorbed any and all shame on that front these past few weeks.

Anyway, a GIF of recent progress on REDFOXES with pistol-type firing animations finally in place for Kaufman, as well as the first signs of the AI having a global Alert mode (as well as calling for backup.)

Also I should probably set that Noise Hitbox to invisible in the future... The time for debugging that is long over with by now (for now.)

8de0941183.gif
Click to expand...

Keys!:
add7d97097.png
Click to expand...

Anyway, next on the art agenda is putting Sir Debug Cube (Third of his Line) to rest once the sprite-sheet for the basic enemy is complete, and then making proper UI assets. Probably going to take a hiatus from posting more screenshots until me and the artist I'm working with have finally excised all instances of Programmer Art in anything I intend to demo.

That goes to say - I'm almost finally at a point where REDFOXES is basically "gameplay complete" and I'll be 100% focused purely on polish and creating actual content within the frameworks I've spent the past few months setting up. Feels good man.
I bet everyone who's actually shipped something had their eyes roll to the backs of their heads reading that.
 
N

Nista

Member
Nice to see a new thread up! I'd hope it can stay out of community as well, since I like lurking here. Not sure I like the more code-centric OT, but that's because I'm more personally focused on broadening my art and production knowledge now that I'm working as part of a much smaller team than I'm used to.

Hopefully once we get out of prototyping I can show some on the game I'm working on as well. And maybe get some advice on how to deal with Steam and early access and promotion these days.
 
nillapuddin

nillapuddin

Member
Costia said:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/porting/desktop-to-uwp-root#convert

Looks like its only a converter for the installer.
Click to expand...

I actually did it over the weekend to a small desktop application
(just for personal use and to try and learn a new skill)
, you put your exe into and it makes the "installer" into a "windows app" so it can be distributed via the store (not a one click solution mind you, there is some elbow grease involved, but possible)

my question is whether or not this is an avenue they can use for games or do they have to still go through ID@Xbox
 
R

_Rob_

Member
Dynamite Shikoku said:
New thread? How do I program realistic bouncing boobs? Asking for a friend
Click to expand...

Ah, this should be of use to you: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/16743

I use this for the ears of Clive (rabbit), the tail of Wrench (monkey) as well as heavily on one of the boss characters for both his beard and the feather in his cape. There's a good amount of customisation to make things feel more or less elastic. Oh and there's also colliders so you can stop the bones clipping through things should you need it.
 
W

Wolf Akela

Member
What's the closest thing to animating sprites ala Flash in Unity? You know, like drawing separate body parts, tweening them, then saving those animations separately like a walking animation, running animation, etc?
 
J

Jacksinthe

Banned
This thread definitely needs to stay out of Community.

It would help if the OT wasn't anemic and provided clear info for everyone, particularly newcomers and drive-bys. That would go a long way to making sure it sticks in general gaming.

These OTs have always been about everyone interested in any level of game development and not just aimed at a select group.
 
C

Costia

Member
Jacksinthe said:
This thread definitely needs to stay out of Community.

It would help if the OT wasn't anemic and provided clear info for everyone, particularly newcomers and drive-bys. That would go a long way to making sure it sticks in general gaming.

These OTs have always been about everyone interested in any level of game development and not just aimed at a select group.
Click to expand...
What kind of clear info?

Could be nice if OP had a list of ongoing gaf dev projects, but cant think of anything else.
 
M

MikeHaggar

Member
Jacksinthe said:
This thread definitely needs to stay out of Community.

It would help if the OT wasn't anemic and provided clear info for everyone, particularly newcomers and drive-bys. That would go a long way to making sure it sticks in general gaming.

These OTs have always been about everyone interested in any level of game development and not just aimed at a select group.
Click to expand...

I agree with the bolded. The more people that participate the better!

Costia said:
What kind of clear info?

Could be nice if OP had a list of ongoing gaf dev projects, but cant think of anything else.
Click to expand...

I think the OP has some good info and links. This is also an interesting idea as well. Perhaps at the end of the OP?
 
LordRaptor

LordRaptor

Member
I'm going to take a leaf out of Popstars book and change my complaints suggestions post on page 1 to be some recommended links instead

e:
Or Popstar, would you like some suggestions for links so your post is a helpful single link reference?


Wolf Akela said:
What's the closest thing to animating sprites ala Flash in Unity? You know, like drawing separate body parts, tweening them, then saving those animations separately like a walking animation, running animation, etc?
Click to expand...

The Unity Mecanim animator window works a lot like Flashs timeline anyway, but Unity have recently bought out Anima2D so you have an even better option for that sort of animation free and with full unity integration.

Stuff like Spriter or Spine are almost certainly better choices for not wedding yourself and your animations permanently to Unity though, naturally.
 
J

Jacksinthe

Banned
Costia said:
Could be nice if OP had a list of ongoing gaf dev projects, but cant think of anything else.
Click to expand...
It's the very first link posted in OT2

-

Also, who wants control of DevGAF Twitter PM me. I didn't have time to curate last thread and have less time now.
 
oxrock

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
Brawly Likes to Brawl said:
Could somebody show me examples of games that were coded in Python?
Click to expand...

I can tell you that both pygame and panda3d are game engines that use python, and I believe the mmo toontown was made with panda3d. I'm not aware of anything major being made with pygame honestly.
 
oxrock

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
c0Zm1c said:
GDScript (Godot) is based heavily on Python I think.
Click to expand...

GDScript is made to have very python like syntax but is not actually python based. It's a homebrew scripting language made from c++. Sadly when I ran comparisons back when I was working in Godot it seemed to actually run a fair bit slower. I could understand someone making that mistake though, the main reason I went to that engine (coming from python/pygame) was that the language was so similar to python that I felt right at home.
 
B

bearbytes

Member
Hey everyone. Been a while since my last posts in here, we've been hard at work and just recently announced the new game we've been working on:

bwwhmoW.png]


Check out the trailer!
DevLog
Twitter
Instagram

Rogue Hero is basically an action RPG/roguelike. Players will explore a hand crafted overworld full of secrets and dungeons, we want to have tons of stuff to find. The game's main dungeons are randomly generated, and will be different for every run. Players will use the gems they find in the dungeons to upgrade their character's skills, weapons, etc in between runs.

We've got a ways to go, but we're pretty excited about it so far.


The Knight class character fighting a Tendron near the swamp area of the overworld:
MzjxVI5.gif

An idea of how the village can be upgraded/expanded, and how upgrading your equipment in the shops currently looks:
yJh6Tvq.gif
 
E

embalm

Member
bearbytes said:
Hey everyone. Been a while since my last posts in here, we've been hard at work and just recently announced the new game we've been working on:

bwwhmoW.png]
Click to expand...

That looks really great. The dynamic dungeons look really cool. You seem to have some specific puzzles and rooms tied together, how do you stop those more unique rooms from being over used?
 
B

bearbytes

Member
embalm said:
That looks really great. The dynamic dungeons look really cool. You seem to have some specific puzzles and rooms tied together, how do you stop those more unique rooms from being over used?
Click to expand...

Thanks!

So that's a good question... We use a combination of rarity tables, spawn restrictions, and spawn limits. Some rooms are more rare than others but once they're used in the dungeon they become even more rare to spawn again. Also room types are given hard limits so once that many are placed in a dungeon they aren't used again. Another thing we do is have certain rooms only designated for certain floors so the dungeon changes in difficulty and aesthetic depending on how deep you've gotten.

As far as the individual rooms, we use multiple spawn groups to decide number/type of enemies, locations of traps, layouts of puzzles and solutions, things like that.
 
P

Pehesse

Member
Popstar said:
If you have suggestions I can edit them into my post. I've been slowly fleshing it out. I only have the single post, however. Once I add some descriptions I'm not sure how much room there will be before hitting the post length limit. That's why it's mostly simple name and link currently.

I was planning on skimming the previous thread for questions that come up a lot. That's one of the reasons there's a half-dozen screen recording apps mentioned for instance.
Click to expand...

Got no suggestions, just wanted to say a big thanks for that list, and especially that last part about screen recorders :-D
 
T

TheHollowNight

Member
It's been so long since I've shared anything a third thread happened! Don't worry, the game is still going, and has kind of transformed into something really quite tangible now.

We have massively improved the level design for starters, each area is densely filled with mutli-layered verticality, vantage points and secrets. Everything is much more open for traversal as we expanded on some movement mutations that let you dash around and jump between points. We stripped back all the previous edge collisions and now have a system in place that plonks you back if you fall off (takes off 20 damage each time).

We have weapon switching now, you can carry two at once meaning you can synergise certain weapon combos or experiment depending on the enemies you're facing without being stuck with just one primary!

Most of our UI is implemented and in working form now, including the 'Index', which catalogs every item you discover or memento you find.

We are introducing more thematically strong areas for each level, the second is now set mostly in a swamp, with new vegetation, ponds, unique enemies and traps.
Lots of new enemies as mentioned, enemies that snipe from afar, big mining droids, enemies that mimic the vegetation...and a whole host of really weird new ones that don't adhere to a specific faction.

Fully in-game loading screens with stats/tooltips that seamlessly transition to gameplay!
Lots more destruction!

And some working prototypes for Act 2 which is a completely new set of art assets (it's all sleek sci-fi interiors)
Oh god, lots of things basically.

Here's some recent gifs!

IdleLinedChuckwalla.gif

UnitedPhonyFieldmouse.gif

FelineUnkemptGlowworm.gif

WelllitIllegalAfricanfisheagle.gif

HandsomeAnyGemsbok.gif
Click to expand...
 
LordRaptor

LordRaptor

Member
Popstar said:
If you have suggestions I can edit them into my post. I've been slowly fleshing it out. I only have the single post, however. Once I add some descriptions I'm not sure how much room there will be before hitting the post length limit. That's why it's mostly simple name and link currently.

I was planning on skimming the previous thread for questions that come up a lot. That's one of the reasons there's a half-dozen screen recording apps mentioned for instance.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've noticed it being fleshed out to be extremely helpful - better to light a candle than blame the darkness, huh?
I'm happy to donate my post for additional space if needed, or perhaps Pehesse might as he has the immediate followup post?

Most of my suggestions are for free software and free content generators, but these tend to be 'single purpose tools' that are extremely useful but only in specific circumstances;

MagickaVoxel - https://ephtracy.github.io/index.html - free 3D voxel modeller
Tilemancer - https://led.itch.io/tilemancer - free procedural pixelart tile generator
Bosca Ceoil - http://boscaceoil.net/ - free chiptune style music maker
Spacescape - http://alexcpeterson.com/spacescape/ - free procedural space skybox generator (HDR enabled)
Shoebox - https://renderhjs.net/shoebox/ - free collection of useful 'one off' image utilities
FlowMap Painter - http://teckartist.com/?page_id=107 - free, well, flow map painter
Normal Map generator - http://www.smart-page.net/smartnormal/ - free normal map maker
Normal Map Online - http://cpetry.github.io/NormalMap-Online/ - another free normal map builder
Texture Generato Online - http://cpetry.github.io/TextureGenerator-Online/ - free procedural texture generator
IcoMoon - https://icomoon.io/#home - free icon library / icon generator and exporter
Easing generator - http://www.timotheegroleau.com/Flash/experiments/easing_function_generator.htm - useful for making / testing your own Tweening functions

also some love for the non-coder friendly specific type of game engines;
PuzzleScript - make sokoban style puzzle games
Twine - make Interactive Fiction / Visual Novels
Adventure Game Studio - make point and clicks
 
oxrock

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
My first post is rather useless, so I'd be willing to do some good with it if there was info to post. I'm rather disappointed that Makai laid a stinker and just totally abandoned ship, especially after all the extra delay. So I think it's cool that Popstar is trying to salvage something together.


As far as my project goes (Quests Unlimited: DevLog) I hit a pretty major milestone yesterday. My game is officially fully automated currently! That's kind of a big deal for a game that's an afk rpg grinder I'd think. Quest tracking, completion and generation is working as intended finally. Oh, and I also got rid of that horribly ugly display over everyone's head and replaced it with a healthbar. I'm hoping to setup a toggle for the ui soon to disable it for a more cinematic experience. I of course recorded some video to showcase this milestone, feel free to take a look. Quests Unlimited automation reveal
 
Blam

Blam

Member
oxrock said:
I honestly have never really thought about this, but I would think in Unity at least (this is largely guesswork on my part) you could create additional skeletal bones attached to the rig's chest with rigidbodies and colliders and set it up with some rag doll physics to have them bouncing about as the character moves. You can set limits on how far the joints are allowed to bend and whatnot, modify the rigidbody weight/drag, etc. Not sure how realistic it could look quite honestly because I've never tried it but it could potentially work out.
Click to expand...

Usually how they are done with a lock on the bone to a certain angle and some rubbery physics usually does the trick. Most times when it's done they have breast bones added, and they do all the physics to those, but I'd assume you'd need to change a few things around so it's not effected liked the rest of the physics in your game.
 
P

Pehesse

Member
LordRaptor said:
I'm happy to donate my post for additional space if needed, or perhaps Pehesse might as he has the immediate followup post?
Click to expand...

Yup, if it helps, I'll be happy to edit in that post anything that doesn't fit higher in the thread! Feel free to PM me about it if you need to.
 
M

MikeHaggar

Member
TheHollowNight said:
It's been so long since I've shared anything a third thread happened! Don't worry, the game is still going, and has kind of transformed into something really quite tangible now.

We have massively improved the level design for starters, each area is densely filled with mutli-layered verticality, vantage points and secrets. Everything is much more open for traversal as we expanded on some movement mutations that let you dash around and jump between points. We stripped back all the previous edge collisions and now have a system in place that plonks you back if you fall off (takes off 20 damage each time).

We have weapon switching now, you can carry two at once meaning you can synergise certain weapon combos or experiment depending on the enemies you're facing without being stuck with just one primary!

Most of our UI is implemented and in working form now, including the 'Index', which catalogs every item you discover or memento you find.

We are introducing more thematically strong areas for each level, the second is now set mostly in a swamp, with new vegetation, ponds, unique enemies and traps.
Lots of new enemies as mentioned, enemies that snipe from afar, big mining droids, enemies that mimic the vegetation...and a whole host of really weird new ones that don't adhere to a specific faction.

Fully in-game loading screens with stats/tooltips that seamlessly transition to gameplay!
Lots more destruction!

And some working prototypes for Act 2 which is a completely new set of art assets (it's all sleek sci-fi interiors)
Oh god, lots of things basically.

Here's some recent gifs!
Click to expand...

Wow, this looks great! Keep up the good work :)

I have a question for those of you have successfully funded a game through Kickstarter and then launched on platforms like Steam, Xbox Live, PSN, etc... Obviously, you give backers codes to download the game from the service. Do you have to cover the platform holder's percentage of the sale? Meaning, do you have to pay them the 30% or whatever percent they take for the kickstarter "purchase"?
 
LordRaptor

LordRaptor

Member
MikeHaggar said:
Wow, this looks great! Keep up the good work :)

I have a question for those of you have successfully funded a game through Kickstarter and then launched on platforms like Steam, Xbox Live, PSN, etc... Obviously, you give backers codes to download the game from the service. Do you have to cover the platform holder's percentage of the sale? Meaning, do you have to pay them the 30% or whatever percent they take for the kickstarter "purchase"?
Click to expand...

Steam currently allows you to generate as many keys as you want for whatever purpose you want (including to sell via your own storefront) and the percentage they take is only for sales made via the steam storefront - if and how this will change under their upcoming changes to greenlight is unclear.
If you are a registered console developer, you probably have an account manager you would need to contact for that kind of information on the console side of things.
 
M

Minamu

Member
We're getting some nice progress on our tutorial. Got a unique level going, WIP, and you can load into it with a specific class from the info menu. Each class have a toggleable info box with a much shorter text explaining the class, with icons and short info on how each ability works. HUD elements are gonna get explained soon as well.

Since each class have its own home arena with lighting based in the class, I decided to try to make unique buildings/obstacle courses for each class with the lights indicating what area is meant for which class. Looks good so far.
 
M

MimiMe

Member
How do you guys determine sizes for streets, buildings, windows, etc?
I am currently blocking out my city and restarting as I want to define a few standards.
 
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