sandboxgod
Neo Member
Looks very good I love the art style
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Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor
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Looks very good I love the art style
"We are not amused" (thx TurfLap)
Hehehe very nice, off to watch more Little Britain ^^
I know!
I really need to learn shaders and such. They add so much to a game but I know nothing and don't know where to start.
Though it's not really like I'm at a point in development where I need great art, it just would be nice to work on some other things.
Actually had a bug pop up in game recently that I squashed, and because of that bug, made me realize I need to implement something in my game to handle certain situations. Funny how bugs can be a vital process in making a smooth game.
Though it's not really like I'm at a point in development where I need great art, it just would be nice to work on some other things.
Actually had a bug pop up in game recently that I squashed, and because of that bug, made me realize I need to implement something in my game to handle certain situations. Funny how bugs can be a vital process in making a smooth game.
I recommend reading the Cg Tutorial. It's a very good starting point if you want to learn how to code shaders - it's a bit technical, but thorough, and imo it is really important to know how the graphics pipeline works under the hood in order to use shaders effectively.
Whoever did the art... Beautiful!
missile, this game made me think of your CRT effects: http://store.steampowered.com/app/270090/
I'm not sure I know what a 2.5D FPS is. Like, the original Doom, where the environments are 3D but the objects aren't? Doing any sort of 3D in GameMaker is going to be an uphill battle. It's not built for it. Like, maybe you should reconsider your goals. GameMaker is great for 2d stuff. If you insist, a stepping stone could be building a 2D game with some 3D assets for visual effect (I'm currently making a top-down shooter where the environment 'pops up' (so many triangle primitives, am cry)).
In general, I'd recommend HeartBeast's RPG tutorial. I can't remember if he ever finished the game, but he's a great teacher and I remember the series helping me a lot.
NoPiece
Member
That is a really great elevator pitch - good luck with the game!
Yeah, I wasn't sure if Game Maker would be a suitable tool for this. Maybe I should jump over to Unity.
Thanks for the tutorial link. I also started watching Shaun Spalding's stuff.
Hah, sick! But despite of the barrel distortion and some wired scanlines,
there isn't much CRT/video effects in there. Anyhow, their rough look fits
the game quite nicely. Well, I think they never indented to come close to a
CRT in any way.
Many devs just add barrel distortion and some scanline filters to make the
game look CRTish, which is okay if it really fits the game, but doesn't in
many cases. Many gamers don't like the scanlines done this way. Scanlines
need to be carefully adjusted. The video beam's point-spread function and
the resulting line spacing/resolution, etc. all need to be carefully adjusted.
Doing this rightfully one also has to take the observer's distance to the
screen into account. It's all interrelated. So adding them by just lowering
the luminance on every other scanline won't match many of the important
properties a TV was constructed from.
The only advices I can give for adding non-annoying scanlines to a game the
easy way (box-filtering the point-spread function to pixel width) is to tone
down the lines just slidly up until the player can see a slide difference to
the lines above and below while looking for them. This works as an
approximation to the real effect. Increasing the scanline effect beyond
this threshold shows the inappropriateness of box-filtering the point-spread
function. People will recognize the higher luminosity frequency between the
scanlines quite good while getting annoyed by them. To alleviate this problem
one has to approximate the effect in some better ways by for example using a
Gauss filter. Doing this, however, will diminish resolution and the problem
becomes much more difficult all of a sudden.
However, adding very pronounced scanlines for artistic reasons is a different
story. In this case there won't be any rules so to speak.
The reason why a standard old TV wasn't annoying to look at stems from the
fact that many of the variables like resolution/lines, scan rates, point-
spread function, the TV's diagonal, the viewing distance etc. were all
interrelated and tuned to make a TV viable to watch for hours. All these
quantities are interrelated. And this makes it difficult to produce a proper
video effect. And we haven't spoken about the oddities a TV may produce by
itself, nor about signal distortion etc. One can write a thesis about it! xD
what a determination - to work 5 years on a game. Wish you good luck with it, certainly looks interesting.
AusRoachman
Member
Ok, for the fun of it...
original
Dither code was still in. Despite this picture has only four colors it has a
somewhat smoothed look to it. I could make it crystal clear like the original,
but I decided to let some of the video filters in. This way it somehow
simulates the non-discontinuous response of some of the analog circuits
underneath.
Some first experiments in simulating an TV's deflecting yoke and its distortion:
TheHollowNight
Member
Thanks for all the feedback 
That would be the other half of this game, Sean, who co-created this with me! He handled all the main art & animations (I animated the cat!) & the point & click/camera functionality & hooked up the dialogue system. I blocked out the world, did the inventory system, made a mini-game & created all the sound and music. We split all the other tasks between us!
I think you misread that by an amusing amount. We made this in 5 days
I generally forget to post on GAF most of the time, so if you're interested in following us about proper updates, we're on twitter! @arranseaton @SeanWenham1. We'll be doing a post mortem/devblog next week & hopefully releasing the game. It will be free on PC, with the option to donate, & on iOS at the minimum app price (since we have to pay a charge to put it on the store).
That would be the other half of this game, Sean, who co-created this with me! He handled all the main art & animations (I animated the cat!) & the point & click/camera functionality & hooked up the dialogue system. I blocked out the world, did the inventory system, made a mini-game & created all the sound and music. We split all the other tasks between us!
I think you misread that by an amusing amount. We made this in 5 days
I generally forget to post on GAF most of the time, so if you're interested in following us about proper updates, we're on twitter! @arranseaton @SeanWenham1. We'll be doing a post mortem/devblog next week & hopefully releasing the game. It will be free on PC, with the option to donate, & on iOS at the minimum app price (since we have to pay a charge to put it on the store).
I think you misread that by an amusing amount. We made this in 5 days
I generally forget to post on GAF most of the time, so if you're interested in following us about proper updates, we're on twitter! @arranseaton @SeanWenham1. We'll be doing a post mortem/devblog next week & hopefully releasing the game. It will be free on PC, with the option to donate, & on iOS at the minimum app price (since we have to pay a charge to put it on the store).
ahaha I am blind. Well to compensate, let me introduce a game I made in half a week(some weeks ago, I will continue eventually). Plus another week or so where I was bored and drew some characters.
I guess it's waaaay to early to show any of it, since there is basically nothing to show, but what the hell. Find a playable prototype on the bottom of the post.
Scavenger's fate is a space shooter in which you are able to constantly scavenge parts and build your ship. It has semi-realistic physics, so you need to consider weight distribution and thruster placement etc.
It is an HTML5 game, so no WebGL or any plugin is required. Also I am more of a programmer so the art is rather bad. Also I have no real javascript experience so the code is bad as well.
Your journey will take you through the shard world. You will meet enemies and friends. And you will be able to have dialogue to progress through the story.
I do not want to spam GAF with endless info, but
if you want to see much more art and insight take a look at http://kosmonautblog.wordpress.com/
My twitter is @theJournalistix
Ok so that sounds like a lot of "will be able to" "eventually one can" "I plan to have".
Much of that is not in yet, but there is a playable prototype.
http://quickgame6.atwebpages.com/
What can you do here? Not much yet, but the main systems are in. There is a basic tutorial for the ship builder, but I guess it sucks. Of course this will not be final.
You can spawn new stuff for your inventory with buttons 1-6, 7 gives you fuel, 8 spawns new enemies. The standard configuration for your ship is WASD, but you can assign any buttons you want. You can fire lasers with SPACE and zoom in and out with the mousewheel.
Don't mind the random asteroid spawn, I am testing some procedural generation, but first I need to get the shape down.
Not in is - story, dialogue, any progression at all basically, enemies do not drop anything, there is no world, no map, very few items, no shields, no energy ... eh peanuts basically.
Apart from that I hope you have fun. And feedback would be very welcome.
Yeah this is so amateur I am not sure if this deserves a post...
I think that depends entirely on where your bottleneck is. Some devs are crazy about reducing draw calls, and believe that is the sole factor in performance gains. I honestly believe a balance is the best approach to optimizations. If your world is rather large, I would look into possible streaming tech as well. SECTR is a really nice tool (not just for streaming either!)
Other than that, another obvious drawcall gain is prefabs and instancing static/batching, this has helped us reduce our draw calls significantly in our test scenes. I havent looked into the Occlusion culling in unity yet, as we arnt at the optimization point, but Ive heard good/bad things about the tech.
Another gotcha with drawcalls is the shader side of things, even if you combine your meshes into one, they are still split per shader. Which is why texture atlasing is a common approach to reducing shader/draw calls.
Anyways, let us know how it goes with the optimizations! any tips,tricks you pick up along the way is always good to share
Holy crap, this looks fantastic. It's amazing how we can feel nostalgia for the byproducts of technology limitations.Ok, for the fun of it...
original
Dither code was still in. Despite this picture has only four colors it has a
somewhat smoothed look to it. I could make it crystal clear like the original,
but I decided to let some of the video filters in. This way it somehow
simulates the non-discontinuous response of some of the analog circuits
underneath.
Some first experiments in simulating an TV's deflecting yoke and its distortion:
If you think that screenshot may be useful for further experimenting your filters, feel free to (ab)use it in any way you see fit
P.S. the original pic is actually using a subtle bloom shader, slightly stronger for the background elements, so its colors aren't 100% uniform.
maniac-kun
Member
As i genre i settled at a first person exploration game. Still in a planning phase until UE4 has paypal support. Ill try to make it very atmospheric with lots of secrets and exploration.
Great work as well, no question about it! And the cat is lovely, mind you! :+Thanks for all the feedback
That would be the other half of this game, Sean, who co-created this with me! He handled all the main art & animations (I animated the cat!) & the point & click/camera functionality & hooked up the dialogue system. I blocked out the world, did the inventory system, made a mini-game & created all the sound and music. ...
You should see it in motion.... 8)
Roger that! xD Ehm ... will the game be rendered at 1080p, i.e. will the... If you think that screenshot may be useful for further experimenting your filters, feel free to (ab)use it in any way you see fit
pixels stay at 3x3? A beer for the one who has chosen an odd number here! :+
Will come in handy later on.
I noticed it. The bloom does smooth out the discontinuity a bit with the
result that the video signal carries less higher frequencies and as such
prevent luma/color bleeding to some extend. See the picture below. Keep in
mind that the effect is very pronounced on purpose (for development reasons).
Make a webm
TheHollowNight
Member
Thank you! Really appreciate it
I'll post some more stuff in here over the next few days, when I find time. We want to make a poster that has all the rooms in a big composition, so hopefully I can show that off too if we print a few
Better not. People will get nuts and will hate my work! xD The effect isMake a webm
rather strong and is pretty hurting on the eyes for now. I will do a video
once I tinker around with it much more, trimming down its movements and stuff.
I would love playing as the cat!Thank you! Really appreciate it
TheHollowNight
Member
It's a start! And well, you are further ahead as I am. You already have a... Yeah this is so amateur I am not sure if this deserves a post...
playable demo, something I can only dream off! Damn! xD
I would pay instant money if it would be possible.Haha! That would be great! Maybe as a lil' easter egg bonus we could put it in
I always wanted to playa well crafted game solely from the perspective of a cat doing cool stuff and
such.
Here you go.I would pay instant money if it would be possible.
a well crafted game solely from the perspective of a cat doing cool stuff and
such.
TheHollowNight
Member
Here's a shot of our sleazy bar!
That's amazingly atmospheric.
It's kinda missing something that categorically says "bar", though.
Without someone behind it or a tap on top of it, it almost looks like a sideboard with a speaker on it and a rack above it.
TheHollowNight
Member
It's probably hard to give context with just an image, but saying that, we have yet to add in all the little details to enhance the atmosphere!
The game is set in the Kowloon Walled City in the early 90's, so it's more of a makeshift hideout/dive-bar ran by an ex-Triad who controls this portion of the block
It's probably hard to give context with just an image, but saying that, we have yet to add in all the little details to enhance the atmosphere!
The game is set in the Kowloon Walled City in the early 90's, so it's more of a makeshift hideout/dive-bar ran by an ex-Triad who controls this portion of the block
Oh, I'm sure it stands up in context.
Was just commenting on the image as a standalone, really.
Don't mind me, I'm just jealous I can't art
Spent the last semester working in XNA, can't say I'm super proficient with it. But familiar enough with it that I can hold my own.
For a summer project I'm wondering if I should try my hand at Monogame or pick up something else entirely. Whatever I end up working on it's going to be strictly 2D. XNA has a wonderful content pipeline and of course the visual studio IDE environment. From what I've seen Unity is decently more janky with it's C#. However the ultimate goal is to move to a framework that I can carry forward unlike XNA. Monogame still seems to rely on a lot of XNA features like requiring VS2010 for installing content pipelines and whatnot.
For a summer project I'm wondering if I should try my hand at Monogame or pick up something else entirely. Whatever I end up working on it's going to be strictly 2D. XNA has a wonderful content pipeline and of course the visual studio IDE environment. From what I've seen Unity is decently more janky with it's C#. However the ultimate goal is to move to a framework that I can carry forward unlike XNA. Monogame still seems to rely on a lot of XNA features like requiring VS2010 for installing content pipelines and whatnot.
TheHollowNight
Member
Oh, I'm sure it stands up in context.
Was just commenting on the image as a standalone, really.
Don't mind me, I'm just jealous I can't art
Yeah I'm pretty envious of my co-creator's artistic abilities. I'm good at designing/scripting & proficient at music production, but nothing beats lovely looking art and animation!
I love what you managed to do with using pretty much "just" colored boxes as background. The non-exactness of it just oozes atmoshpere. Do you have a link back to the post that describes more what your game is about?
TheHollowNight
Member
Thanks! I'm glad you like it!
I didn't actually write up a proper description about the game on here yet, haha. Nor have we really got a page to promote it on. It was an idea we had bouncing about for a week or so, and this Easter weekend we managed to get the time to execute it. We conveniently both work at the same studio & live minutes away from each other, so we were able to crank out an insane amount of work in that timespan.
The core of the game took direct influence from documentaries and stories about the Kowloon Walled City. It's pretty dark & gritty, but mainly just telling a short story about a young girl living in such a dense, crazy location.
It operates in the classic point & click adventure style gameplay, so we're hoping to release to get it running on iOS/Android!
It will be free, since it's probably like a 20 minute experience if you blast through it, and also because it's our first ever game. We want to get something out there to gauge our work & the reaction to it. We'll probably have an optional 'pay $1 and get the music/digital art', but that's about it!
We will definitely make a page though to act as a proper devblog/about space since it's needed!
Introducing Capsule Force!
It is a competitive multiplayer action game inspired by retro space anime. We are finishing up work on it and just got it up onto Greenlight!
You fire bullets and beams at each other while trying to make it into your opponents base by taking one of two trams. You can do 1v1 or 2v2.
Big influences are old-school space animes animes like the original Dirty Pair and retro anime SNES and PC-Engine games. Let me know what you think!
More Info
Website
Greenlight
60FPS Trailer
Screens
60FPS webms
http://www.klobit.com/capsuleforce/CapsuleForce.webm
http://www.klobit.com/capsuleforce/CapsuleForceGameplay.webm
It is a competitive multiplayer action game inspired by retro space anime. We are finishing up work on it and just got it up onto Greenlight!
You fire bullets and beams at each other while trying to make it into your opponents base by taking one of two trams. You can do 1v1 or 2v2.
Big influences are old-school space animes animes like the original Dirty Pair and retro anime SNES and PC-Engine games. Let me know what you think!
More Info
Website
Greenlight
60FPS Trailer
Screens
60FPS webms
http://www.klobit.com/capsuleforce/CapsuleForce.webm
http://www.klobit.com/capsuleforce/CapsuleForceGameplay.webm
That sounds awesome! My girlfriend (who does the art for our game, btw) is a huge adventure game-fan, so if you have any need for a feedback on a prototype or something, just tell me
Also, I am looking forward to see the game as well, I am always going to be nostalgic for Kowloon since Shenmue II had a huge chunk of it set in there.
TheHollowNight
Member
That sounds awesome! My girlfriend (who does the art for our game, btw) is a huge adventure game-fan, so if you have any need for a feedback on a prototype or something, just tell me
Also, I am looking forward to see the game as well, I am always going to be nostalgic for Kowloon since Shenmue II had a huge chunk of it set in there.
Awesome man, thanks! I'll make sure we get some playtests with it and collect feedback before releasing it properly!
Axispowers
Member
Just voted on Greenlight. Looks like a lot of fun! I'm really loving these 4 player indie games!
Now I'm curious 8)
We have a base 640x360 resolution with integer multipliers (2x for 720p and 3x for 1080p). Glad an odd size can be helpfulRoger that! xD Ehm ... will the game be rendered at 1080p, i.e. will the
pixels stay at 3x3? A beer for the one who has chosen an odd number here! :+
Will come in handy later on.
I see. The softer look seems a bit more natural imho.I noticed it. The bloom does smooth out the discontinuity a bit with the
result that the video signal carries less higher frequencies and as such
prevent luma/color bleeding to some extend. See the picture below. Keep in
mind that the effect is very pronounced on purpose (for development reasons).
You spend a couple of days away and it all kicks off!!
Love, love, love!
Totally normal...
Same for me. First time I used Unity I couldn't figure out how it all fitted together.. Now, I love it. It's makes me so productive. In a few hours a week I can create a couple of brand new features in my game. It's super robust too. The runtime anyway. The editor is a little less stable than it has been, but acceptable.
Really nice. Looks ace!
Heh... yeah, s'nice ;D
Ok, last one of those dither/humming pix.
The hum bars are faked. Next time they will be simulated for real, meaning,
any defect or inconsistency of the simulated video circuit may produce a
humming effect.
Love, love, love!
Here is a quick look at my procedural generated bunny masks of the Easter event:
Careful, you could get hypnotized by the hypnobunnies!
Here is more about the Last Knight Easter event: http://steamcommunity.com/games/262210/announcements/detail/1280455199447015565
Totally normal...
Same for me. First time I used Unity I couldn't figure out how it all fitted together.. Now, I love it. It's makes me so productive. In a few hours a week I can create a couple of brand new features in my game. It's super robust too. The runtime anyway. The editor is a little less stable than it has been, but acceptable.
here's one more screenshot using the natural bloom + dirty lens image effect we're working on
Really nice. Looks ace!
Ok, for the fun of it...
original
Dither code was still in. Despite this picture has only four colors it has a
somewhat smoothed look to it. I could make it crystal clear like the original,
but I decided to let some of the video filters in. This way it somehow
simulates the non-discontinuous response of some of the analog circuits
underneath.
Some first experiments in simulating an TV's deflecting yoke and its distortion:
Heh... yeah, s'nice ;D
HEALTH WARNING
Some individuals are sensitive to flashing or flickering lights or geometric
shapes and patterns, may have an undetected epileptic condition and may
experience epileptic seizures when watching television or crazy stuff from the
web.
Consult your doctor before watching the next picture/video below if you have
an epileptic condition and immediately should you experience any of the
following symptoms whilst watching: altered vision, muscle twitching, other
involuntary movements, loss of awareness, confusion and/or convulsions.
Here is a picture, video is up next ...
... Since you made it that far. Have fun! 8)
I can watch it for hours. But my girlfriend won't even for a second.
Some individuals are sensitive to flashing or flickering lights or geometric
shapes and patterns, may have an undetected epileptic condition and may
experience epileptic seizures when watching television or crazy stuff from the
web.
Consult your doctor before watching the next picture/video below if you have
an epileptic condition and immediately should you experience any of the
following symptoms whilst watching: altered vision, muscle twitching, other
involuntary movements, loss of awareness, confusion and/or convulsions.
Here is a picture, video is up next ...
... Since you made it that far. Have fun! 8)
I can watch it for hours. But my girlfriend won't even for a second.
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