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Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor

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razu

Member
Supe Indie Gaf,

I am new to this thread, but it seems pretty cool.

I recently left my job to do indie game development full-time. In fact, we are almost done with our first game, and we need help beta testing it before putting it out on the app store.

Anyone interested?

The game is called 2Bix, and it's a 2d puzzle game inspired by the Rubix Cube.

All you need is an ipad, and to get set up with testflightapp.com, which you can do by applying at the following link:

http://tflig.ht/XfzkuW

The beta test is free to play, all we are looking for is feedback and scores. If your interested to know more, go ahead and sign up, and we’ll fill you in on the rest.

Here are a couple of screen shots (art still in progress):


If your interested in more news, you can follow us on twitter: @AyloGames
or my blog: http://jillianogle.tumblr.com/



Looks good, I like the blurry backgrounds especially. One thing that stood out immediately was that the unlit icons blend into the shapes as the gradients goes from light to dark. The lit icons are great, I think it the unlit icons should be just as distinct.

But yeah, rad! :D
 

razu

Member
I'm nearly done now, giving myself a week to finish.

Just made these very Expert levels, (remember that touching red blocks disquailies you, and you have to start the level again).

"Machine" - the two 'vertical sandwiches' rotate, LOL


Video...


"Hyperion Screw EX" - both of these spindles rotate, double-LOL



I have three end-of-mode levels to make. The odd How-To-Play screen, GameCenter cheevos, and I'm pretty much done! Gonna feel so good to go from 'Unpublished Indie Dev Wannabe', to 'Published Indie Dev'. One Life Goal complete! :D
 

Dynamite Shikoku

Congratulations, you really deserve it!
I'm nearly done now, giving myself a week to finish.

Just made these very Expert levels, (remember that touching red blocks disquailies you, and you have to start the level again).

"Machine" - the two 'vertical sandwiches' rotate, LOL


Video...


"Hyperion Screw EX" - both of these spindles rotate, double-LOL



I have three end-of-mode levels to make. The odd How-To-Play screen, GameCenter cheevos, and I'm pretty much done! Gonna feel so good to go from 'Unpublished Indie Dev Wannabe', to 'Published Indie Dev'. One Life Goal complete! :D

Looks awesome, dude (from what I could see - Youtube just loads like shit for me these days).
I like that purple background.
 

Fitz

Member
Check out ConceptArt.org and CGHub.com. They both have job boards that people check regularly. You can also go to game development boards like Gamedev.net and look for artists there.

Thanks for those links, looks like a good starting point.
 

Hinomura

Member
Some sprites samples from Space Crawler (WIP)...

iwCIRgsdnSwuJ.png


Anyone got a PCEngine/TurboGrafx vibe? :)
 

Dali

Member
Totally, the beam on the left gave me great Blazing Lazers flashbacks. I miss shooters from the era, back before the concept of bullet-hell.
Me too. I dropped like $90 on Axelay back when it was released. Loved that game.
 
Sup guys, my game has reached a playable state, heres a little demo, this is a old build, but its the most stable one we have, and the newer ones have alot of placeholder art.

Anomalous

Works best in chrome!

I'm on programming, a friend of mine is doing art.

0Pr83y4.jpg
 
hey guys quick question - as an entry level new game dev would you recc. cocos2d or kobold2d?
How much do you know about coding/want to deal with code? I think I can say that I've now worked extensively with cocos2d, and there's a lot of base level stuff that kobold2d seems to suggest they can take care of.

If your goal is to make a game quick and deal with just the game, then I'd say try out kobold2d, and if you really feel like learning how the internal guts, then move on to cocos2d.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Hey guys, this is semi-related, but we now have an Indie Games OT on GAF:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=517647

I figured some here might be interested in what other games have been released recently and if you got a game to show, make sure to drop a line there as well!
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Subscribed!

I mentioned it in that thread as well, but please do not only subscribe, but also try and comment on games so the thread stays afloat :) I cant have a full page of discussing with myself.
 

missile

Member
- Towards fast real-time surface generation -

I'm on my way working out how to generated sophisticated surfaces from simple
descriptions that allow for very fast execution, since my game, Ex Nihilo,
will make use of said surfaces. The game is still being worked on, on a very
limited system, i.e. the DCPU-16, for a reason, i.e. to pinpoint those
algorithms which do have scaling potential to run utterly fast on larger
systems, since speed will be of utmost importance within the game. It's a
key factor.

And it seems I've made good progress towards a solution. Over the last three
weeks I've broken down surface theory to its bones and have fitted it
altogether again but in a very different way and with an emphasis towards
real-time surface generation. The focus was on gaining a simple set of
operations, which can be computed fast, such that combining them together
would generate some complex yet flexible and pleasing surfaces. Further, it
seems like B-Splines, NURBS, or Coon's patches etc. will fit into the concept
as well, whereas no attempt is being made to integrate them at this moment,
since it appears to me that they can be formulated as simple extension.
However, they will be integrated further down the road as well.

Am in the process of coding this all up. Time to leave the cube behind, I
guess. On a technical note, I'm very proud of having derived a way of
computing a local continuous coordinate system along a curve that aligns
with the tangent without reverting to a Frenet frame or even an approximated
Frenet frame, which aren't defined for curves which do have a vanishing second
derivative (curvature), for example a line segments. Hence, if your curve
straightens out then the Frenet frame starts to explode while approaching the
line segment, making it impossible to define a local geometry in its
neighborhood that moves continuously from point to point. A real disadvantage.
With the help of a differential system and a quaternion I'm now able to pull a
coordinate system along any curve, smoothly. This seem quite expensive, but
as it turns out the contrary is true. I've spend considerable time thinking
about it. It's fast!

I think I will thinker around with all of this for some days, generating some
known surfaces like a sphere, a torus whatever and some random ones, before
going to create some experimental game assets, finally.
 

Maedhros

Member
I want to help someone from my country who's making an indie game based on Yume Nikki/Metroid/Castlevania.

http://catarse.me/pt/dreamingsarah#about

Since he didn't wrote the project overview in English, I'll do it here:

-------

DREAMING SARAH!

http://catarse.me/pt/dreamingsarah

http://vimeo.com/60792874

What is's Dreaming Sarah?

Dreaming Sarah (known before as Project Sarah) is an 2D adventure platformer game. The game consists in exploring Sarah's dreams, a girl who is in coma, and discover some way to make her wake up.

How's the game?

The game is an adventure, in other words, you talk to other characters, collect itens and use them in other places and, mainly, explores. It's based on games like Metroid, Castlevania and Yume Nikki (being the last one the main inspiration).

Just like on the cited games, Sarah has different abilities which help her to explore better the world she's in, from a magnifying glass which makes her shrink to a pogo stick who makes her jump higher. These abilities are found in the game and you can only get the best ending by finding all them.

How's the game is being developed?

It's being made on Construct 2, made by Scirra.

Which platforms will the game be released?

Initially, just Windows. In the case of the crowding-funding goes well, possibilities of being released on Linux and Mac exists. The game will be released on English and Portuguese!.

Who's making the game?

I'm Andre Chagas, and I'm a designer. I make games by hobby since I can remember, using programs like Multimedia Fusion, Construct Classic and Flash. I'm trying to create this game since 2009, but only in 2012 I got the resolve to continue the game and to create a "mark", which I named Asteristic. Since the, I created a developer's blog and had the help of many friends to conclude this project.
Asteristic counts with the freelancer musician called Anthony de Oliveira, and he will be doing the musical part of the game.

Why to use the crowd-funding?

While developing the game, obstacles keep appearing, and the biggest of them is money. Making indie games isn't not only hard, but expensive too. In the case of the Crowd-Funding goes well, I'll be focusing on the development of the game and on the rewards shown here. I'll be using the money to hire helpers (artists, programmers, etc) and upgrade my working hardware.

Where can I learn more about the game?

On my Blog, I'm constantly updating it with what I'm doing. You can hear more about the development of the game here (in English).

You can vote on Dreaming Sarah for it to enter Steam here.

IMPORTANT - In the case of the game being released on Steam, all the backers will receive keys to download the game directly from there, on the date of release, with the DRM-free version included.

----


Habilities!

Each week we will be revealing different abilities of Sarah. These are just some of the habilities that she will use in the game, the main game have more than 10 of them.

sarah_catarse_habilidades0000.png


NOTICE: Shipping for other countries is not included. In this case, it must be paid by the backer. Thank you!
 

bumpkin

Member
Man, it feels good to be back on task and working on my game engine again. The only thing that sucks is I haven't the foggiest idea what I was last working on. Not only that, but the project I was building it in no longer compiles in my IDE (Xcode). On the bright side, the engine was still very much in a prototype state. Since I wouldn't be losing a lot of work -- yay for copy and paste -- I started fresh. This time however I'm making damn sure I map out the class hierarchy in UML so that I have a concrete reference of what's coming from where.

That leads me to a quandary that I'm currently pondering... Friend functions and friend classes... What is the consensus on 'em?

In the prior iteration of the code, I was sticking to a very strict OOP design. This time, I'm debating switching to a component based design or using friend functions/classes to bridge the gaps between classes in different scopes. The specific situation I'm thinking of has to do with my Input class existing as a data member of my Game class, but wanting to do something with the read input during the current Scene (which is in a data member of the Game class, too).
 

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
I tried submitting my game to Humble Bundle but no one ever got back to me. :(

It was a long shot anyways, ah well. Anyone else tried to submit to them?
 

Feep

Banned
I tried submitting my game to Humble Bundle but no one ever got back to me. :(

It was a long shot anyways, ah well. Anyone else tried to submit to them?
I did, no dice. Sequence wasn't on Mac or Linux, though.

I made it into Indie Royale, though! Netted me around 6k.
 
I did, no dice. Sequence wasn't on Mac or Linux, though.

I made it into Indie Royale, though! Netted me around 6k.

Chubigans also made it to the Indie Royale if, I remember correctly, with The Oil Blue. I'd be great to have some more figures disclosed from another developer. I've always wondered how much you can make on those bundles.
 

Noogy

Member
I tried submitting my game to Humble Bundle but no one ever got back to me. :(

It was a long shot anyways, ah well. Anyone else tried to submit to them?

They actually came to me last year with an offer, but at the time I hadn't launched and wouldn't have been able to anyway (existing publisher.) So I'm not sure if that's the norm.
 
Man, I'm all about 60fps. It's like 30fps, but you get it twice!

I have to say that replaying dust lately made me want to hit 60 where I can, you are inspiration, noogy, however I won't have awesome backgrounds like you :(

It was good to take a few days break from my pc and my game while I worked elsewhere, coming back with fresh eyes has helped me a bit in a now restarted development, only a few months left to crack this thing out.

I have added in a "reaction level" which fills over about a minute, if you get hit you will lose a chunk of it based on math with damages but it also dampens the hit taken, keep getting hit in a short time and your reaction level will be 0, so you take full damage. With a full reaction level you take about 60% of the hit. I should note this only effects hits which will knock you down/over
 
So, my partner and I have been working on an iPad game for a a while. I do the art, he does the code and the music, and we yell at each other about the design.

Its called Ephemerid and it is either an Adventure Game with heavy musical elements or a Music Game with adventure elements. It changes from day to day really.

screenshot1.png


The game follows the life in a day of a Mayfly trying to make its way in this crazy world.

screenshot2.png


The idea is that is a game with no UI, tutorial or even text other than the title. The idea is that the music tells you what to do. Some levels are more rhythm based, while others are simple little puzzles with interactive music.

screenshot3.png




Almost all of the art is actual photos of cut paper. Which is what I have spent the last year of my life doing more or less.

We have a little teaser trailer that gives a good flavor of the music and look of the thing.

I have lurked Neogaf for years and this thread has been an inspiration to me for a while. Any feed back would, of course, be welcome
 

Dali

Member
Going crazy trying to figure out a seemingly simple little thing. Think I've finally got it figured out.. In the process of looking for some clue in the documentation or on the internet I did find something else that seems pretty neat though so I guess its not a total loss.


So, my partner and I have been working on an iPad game for a a while. I do the art, he does the code and the music, and we yell at each other about the design.

Its called Ephemerid and it is either an Adventure Game with heavy musical elements or a Music Game with adventure elements. It changes from day to day really.

screenshot1.png


The game follows the life in a day of a Mayfly trying to make its way in this crazy world.

screenshot2.png


The idea is that is a game with no UI, tutorial or even text other than the title. The idea is that the music tells you what to do. Some levels are more rhythm based, while others are simple little puzzles with interactive music.

screenshot3.png




Almost all of the art is actual photos of cut paper. Which is what I have spent the last year of my life doing more or less.

We have a little teaser trailer that gives a good flavor of the music and look of the thing.

I have lurked Neogaf for years and this thread has been an inspiration to me for a while. Any feed back would, of course, be welcome

Looks nice. Not a fan of the title though but I guess it says a lot about the game.
 
Looks nice. Not a fan of the title though but I guess it says a lot about the game.

Yeah the title might be a challenge. I really like it because it is the Latinate for a Mayfly and the concept of the ephemeral nature of things is a theme of the game. But people have trouble with it so it might have to go.
 

IndianElephant

Neo Member
Ephemerid looks really, really cool. Is the trailer music reflective of in-game music? Because that guitar seems really out of place.

EDIT: NM you stated in the post that the trailer gives a taste of the music. That said, the guitar seems really out of place.:p
 

fin

Member
I'm nearly done now, giving myself a week to finish.

Just made these very Expert levels, (remember that touching red blocks disquailies you, and you have to start the level again).

Making skill games with levels that are near impossible is awesome. I remember my hover bike game and trying to make them as difficult as possible. It was alot of fun. I'd try it over and over again and if a level took me longer than 20 minutes, dial down the difficulty :p.
 
Trying to think up a name for my Dungeon Themed Platformer with lots of coin collecting (think new super mario bros 2 in dungeons)

Which one is best ?

1) Pixel Plunderers
2) Dungeon Bludgeon
3) Dungeon Plungeon
4) Loot legends
5) Kill Loot Plunder
6) Lots of Loot
 
Trying to think up a name for my Dungeon Themed Platformer with lots of coin collecting (think new super mario bros 2 in dungeons)

Which one is best ?

1) Pixel Plunderers
2) Dungeon Bludgeon
3) Dungeon Plungeon
4) Loot legends
5) Kill Loot Plunder
6) Lots of Loot

I think "Pixel Plunder" sounds better than "Pixel Plunderers". Pixel Plunder sounds pretty cool.

Ephemerid looks really, really cool. Is the trailer music reflective of in-game music? Because that guitar seems really out of place.

EDIT: NM you stated in the post that the trailer gives a taste of the music. That said, the guitar seems really out of place.:p


That song is from the game but it is not from any of those particular scenes, if that makes sense. The music ranges from ambiant synth to 80's ballad guitar to electro-baroque. It depends on the scene. Generally we write the song first, and sit and listen to it over and over again until we think of gameplay that fits it.
 

missile

Member
guys, do you like 60fps? because I now do :)
I like 120fps.

Having a fast game, where the rate of change of position is large, i.e. the
velocity, one needs a higher resolution in time. It's unclear to me why
Wipeout 2048 clocks at 30fps. The graphics can nowhere near compensate for the
lag of frames. It is cumbersome if you want to run and trigger the buttons at
a competitive level, i.e. when each hit of a button counts. However.

Well, I've a question; Is any of those modern mobile devices like some android
phones from Samsung etc. or one of those Apple's gadgets, i.e. iPhone and iPad,
able to refresh the display at a rate > 60Hz? Say I want to output graphics at
75Hz, 90Hz, or 120Hz. Is it possible? Perhaps one needs to switch to a certain
video mode. Anyone ever tried it?
 

Tiu Neo

Member
Trying to think up a name for my Dungeon Themed Platformer with lots of coin collecting (think new super mario bros 2 in dungeons)

Which one is best ?

1) Pixel Plunderers
2) Dungeon Bludgeon
3) Dungeon Plungeon
4) Loot legends
5) Kill Loot Plunder
6) Lots of Loot

I really like Lots of Loot, but Pixel Plunder sounds cool too.
 
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