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Indie Game Development Discussion Thread | Of Being Professionally Poor

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hellocld

Member
I think that's a great idea. It could definitively help other people to organize stuff like this. I would love to do something like that one day.

And I'll check out the game then!

Thanks! Yeah, if you've got any questions about starting your own group/space or anything just shoot me a PM and I'll do what I can to help.
 

12obin

Neo Member
I'm busy updating my Unity asset, but I'm running into an annoying problem. The asset I'm updating helps you with creating a 2D physics-based platformer in Unity. I'm stuck on 'jump through' platforms. Platforms you can jump through from below, but stand on when you're above them (and jump through them by pressing down+jump). That functionality is working great (by disabling the collider when hitting it from below and enabling it again after that). However, when you jump through it, there is a fraction of a second where the player's animation will change from jump to idle, because the ground checker sees there is 'ground' while jumping through the platform. So it looks a bit silly.

My character is grounded when the ground checker (an object at the feet of the character) overlaps with an object on the 'Ground' layer (it uses OverlapCircle). I tried checking if the player is having a vertical speed and only making him grounded when it's 0, but that messes up slopes and moving platforms. That's because those change the character's vertical speed as well, so the player isn't considered grounded when standing on those kind of platforms. And I can't ignore these types of platforms, because I also want jump-through moving platforms and slopes. ;)

Anyone here who has a solution or can push me into the right direction? It would be greatly appreciated! :)
 
However, when you jump through it, there is a fraction of a second where the player's animation will change from jump to idle, because the ground checker sees there is 'ground' while jumping through the platform. So it looks a bit silly.

The hack fix for this would be to manually explictly set and override the animation when the 'drop down' player input is made and valid, then default back to your standard animation handling after the player moves
 
I'm busy updating my Unity asset, but I'm running into an annoying problem. The asset I'm updating helps you with creating a 2D physics-based platformer in Unity. I'm stuck on 'jump through' platforms. Platforms you can jump through from below, but stand on when you're above them (and jump through them by pressing down+jump). That functionality is working great (by disabling the collider when hitting it from below and enabling it again after that). However, when you jump through it, there is a fraction of a second where the player's animation will change from jump to idle, because the ground checker sees there is 'ground' while jumping through the platform. So it looks a bit silly.

My character is grounded when the ground checker (an object at the feet of the character) overlaps with an object on the 'Ground' layer (it uses OverlapCircle). I tried checking if the player is having a vertical speed and only making him grounded when it's 0, but that messes up slopes and moving platforms. That's because those change the character's vertical speed as well, so the player isn't considered grounded when standing on those kind of platforms. And I can't ignore these types of platforms, because I also want jump-through moving platforms and slopes. ;)

Anyone here who has a solution or can push me into the right direction? It would be greatly appreciated! :)
Check vertical speed only when colliding with those platforms, not "ground".

You might also consider local transform on moving platforms. Unless you are applying physics to the player for moving platforms, childing the player to the moving platform will return a constant Y in localSpace. If you check via transform.position, it is world space. If there is no local space (not a child) it will return world space.
 
For my game I don't use the actual Unity Physics system, so I don't have to counteract gravity on floating platforms. I keep a variable that sets whether the hero is currently "locked" to the ground, and I only apply gravity to her vertical velocity if she isn't locked to the ground - she gets unlocked from the ground if she hits jump or doesn't detect ground within a certain distance from her feet. This way moving platforms can work because she gets locked to the ground on them, and won't fall off unless they moved farther than that minimum fall distance in one update or unless she walked/got knocked off the edge thus removing ground from below her feet.

So I can tell my character as she's jumping up through a platform, if her vertical velocity < 0 && she's touching ground and not locked to the ground, to land (and lock to the ground), otherwise no state change, which allows her to jump up through it without trying to land on it at the wrong time.
 

anthn

Member
For Turnover, I've been experimenting with NPC's vision cones. I always wanted them to have a "low res" look, and I think have come up with something I like.

Before:

1ROJ2HP.gif


After, with low-res look:

F2fvval.gif
 

12obin

Neo Member
The hack fix for this would be to manually explictly set and override the animation when the 'drop down' player input is made and valid, then default back to your standard animation handling after the player moves

Check vertical speed only when colliding with those platforms, not "ground".

You might also consider local transform on moving platforms. Unless you are applying physics to the player for moving platforms, childing the player to the moving platform will return a constant Y in localSpace. If you check via transform.position, it is world space. If there is no local space (not a child) it will return world space.

For my game I don't use the actual Unity Physics system, so I don't have to counteract gravity on floating platforms. I keep a variable that sets whether the hero is currently "locked" to the ground, and I only apply gravity to her vertical velocity if she isn't locked to the ground - she gets unlocked from the ground if she hits jump or doesn't detect ground within a certain distance from her feet. This way moving platforms can work because she gets locked to the ground on them, and won't fall off unless they moved farther than that minimum fall distance in one update or unless she walked/got knocked off the edge thus removing ground from below her feet.

So I can tell my character as she's jumping up through a platform, if her vertical velocity < 0 && she's touching ground and not locked to the ground, to land (and lock to the ground), otherwise no state change, which allows her to jump up through it without trying to land on it at the wrong time.

Thank you for the tips! I'll work on it tonight. :)
 

Ashodin

Member
One of the things I think the reason why Mega Man transitions are kind of slow is to "show" the next screen before a player gets to interact with it. If it's too fast, a player has to react faster, and thus, I think a slower transition makes assessing what's ahead easier.

It's worth noting I'm intending a wide age range to play the game, and wanting to make it not as punishing as it could be.
 

Five

Banned
One of the things I think the reason why Mega Man transitions are kind of slow is to "show" the next screen before a player gets to interact with it. If it's too fast, a player has to react faster, and thus, I think a slower transition makes assessing what's ahead easier.

It's worth noting I'm intending a wide age range to play the game, and wanting to make it not as punishing as it could be.

I see what you're going for. However, at least in the grabs you've shown, I don't think it will be necessary. Megaman was thoroughly laden with traps and enemies, but your game doesn't appear to be. It's really quite serene in comparison. Also, a lot of this can be done with clever level design instead. Dropping the player in a safe place, or a place that starts out safe for the first five seconds, is as effective but doesn't feel like you're wasting the player's time.

I can definitely appreciate making a more approachable game (although my own is more on the hardcore, no handholding side), but perhaps consider that this may have the opposite effect as intended. People might be put off by the wasted time rather than appreciating the breather it offers. If they aren't narrowly escaping death when entering the scrolling and about to immediately face danger when entering, the extended time serves little purpose.
 
Ash, I think the transitions r fine. Maybe a touch faster, just a touch, but it looks fine here, IMO.

SHMUPdate:
Hot damn I love coding for procedural generation. For our SHMUP we adjust the game's speed and difficulty based on a number of factors including: total kills, current killstreak, highest killstreak, score, score multiplier and current health. We have a few variables reset on damage to adjust the speed at which the difficulty and movement speed increases. The better you do, the faster the speed and difficulty ramp up, the more points you get, the higher the chance for a power up drop. Get hit, difficulty and speed won't change but the rate of progression does by a % to knock your momentum down a bit.

Then there's laying out the enemies, singles, clusters, counting them all, bonuses for complete clusters, increasing their health, damage, etc.

I'm tempted to make my ship invincible and play for an hour or two just to see how crazy it gets since I literally have no clue (I can venture a guess) as to what will happen that far in since I haven't set my breakpoints yet haha!

I just want to watch things blows up at 88mph (which is some serious shit)!
 

Jobbs

Banned
Hi Guys!

Can you please give me some feedback from our first released videogame? Here is the link on Google Play. We're fixing some issue on the iOS version, so it will be released later.
Just because, my email is mauricio.castro@mail.udp.cl


Greetings!

I think better form is to participate in the discussion, introduce and talk about your game, show images, rather than just signing up and making your only post in forum history a plug'n'run. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's kinda how this looks.
 

Burt

Member
Ha, once this article about us went up, I thought about this thread. :)

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/09/19/three-devs-one-house-a-corgi-and-a-dream/

Nice article, interesting stuff. Keep on trucking along!

Roof color impressions needed!


Wood palette and texture are still coming along and subject to change, so if you think one or the other is preferable but doesn't match well with the wood, no worries there. Also, if anyone has any tips on how to get some decent texture into the walls without it looking like a big ass smudge, I'd be glad to hear it.
 

Ashodin

Member
OK so I added a skip for the murals because some people might be impatient yo.

(and also so I can skip it to get to the test-y parts!)
 

Micho

Neo Member
I think better form is to participate in the discussion, introduce and talk about your game, show images, rather than just signing up and making your only post in forum history a plug'n'run. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's kinda how this looks.

Yeah, you're absolutely right, sorry about that xD

Well, the game is kinda simple, is a vertical runner about a Jellyfish that must eat all the plankton that the Jellyfish can find.

dEhzWSSyxqQVwz6MqxCYhFdFdovZBbf4MzCrFeAt6l36Lb8l4qOd5e7azjHmZgwAaQpm=h900-rw


The objective was create a simple videogame that people can enjoy and relax with the art and the music. Also create a challenging gameplay where players try over a over again to overpass their best score.

The game was developed by Quantum Vacuum team. A new team from Santiago, Chile (we're not a company, just a group of friends that really enjoy videogames). It is our first try on the videogame's field. All of us are developers with experience and we're looking for join on the industry (creating our company or joining one).

Thanks before hand!

Regards!!!
 
OK so I added a skip for the murals because some people might be impatient yo.

(and also so I can skip it to get to the test-y parts!)

Skip button sounds like a great solution. Plus that way if a person skips the transition and dies from landing on something bad, they'd blame themselves for being impatient instead of blaming the game design.

I kind of want to make an FPS as my next project, but that's far off.

Edit: thanks Ab!


I'm really shocked at how few non traditional FPS games are being made. The only ones I know of are VizionEck, super hot, heavy bullets, and this time trial one I'm spacing on the name of. If you have a cool FPS idea, I say go for it!
 

Ashodin

Member
Most likely I'd make the next Heretic or something. I love fantasy FPS, but in the twitch style like Doom.

And Michael you've got it mixed up, there's a skip button for the story at the beginning haha
 
Failing cert because your rendition of a controller didn't clearly display manufacturer logo. Videogames!
I looked up into the night sky and gave a sigh of relief. Armageddon was but a stone's throw away. Thank you, certification.

Edit: Dammit. A long time late on that one.
 

missile

Member
Ash, I think the transitions r fine. Maybe a touch faster, just a touch, but it looks fine here, IMO.

SHMUPdate:
Hot damn I love coding for procedural generation. For our SHMUP we adjust the game's speed and difficulty based on a number of factors including: total kills, current killstreak, highest killstreak, score, score multiplier and current health. We have a few variables reset on damage to adjust the speed at which the difficulty and movement speed increases. The better you do, the faster the speed and difficulty ramp up, the more points you get, the higher the chance for a power up drop. Get hit, difficulty and speed won't change but the rate of progression does by a % to knock your momentum down a bit. ...
Nice. Would also be cool to adjust the music with the speed. I remember Chaos
Engine on Amiga where the music got more and more intense as you come closer
to the end of each level. Way cool.
 
Wonderful interface design, TheHollowNight. Good use of colors and icons, really dig it. :)

Really digging your interface Hollow, give your artist props!

Thank ye fellers :)
I swoon enough as it is over Tay's UI design, every bloody time we work on a project! Don't need everyone else telling him he's doing a good job :p
No, in all seriousness, thank you, your kind words are appreciated! We'll be tweaking things around a bit (Unity's UI tools are amaziinnnggg), but very soon I actually think we can show this all off working for the first time :O

In other news, we've slapped up a new devblog post on our site, all about the transition from 2D to 3D. I plan to accompany this initial piece with a much more in-depth technical look at all the underlining reasons for the switch. I'm sure some people will find it interesting!

Anyways here's this weekend's blog!

http://devblog.monothetic.com/post/97957609155/a-whole-new-dimension

And a few hi-res version of those pics!


Images look a little sparse right now compared to the original 2D versions since we haven't quite ported over everything yet - notable things like the fog lining the chasms is missing. We'll be sure to spruce it up as we go along!

Enjoy!
 

Noogy

Member
is this dust ps4 or some secret noogy project?

This be Dust. Super secret Noogy project #2 is still a little ways off. Being a Unity game (vs Dust's XNA/Mono) should make life much easier though.

And thank to everyone sharing their awesome progress in this thread. It's always so refreshing to come in here and see everyone's amazing gifs.
 

Noogy

Member
that's very interesting... lucky that on PC I don't have to worry about the controller logo but will keep that in mind if I move to consoles :)

Yeah, it's sort of amazing the sorts of things publishers and console holders look at when you release on console. Branding and word usage needs to be spot on, and you have to have proper error text for all the things that can go wrong (online connections, storage errors, signed out users, etc). Ratings alone is a huge ordeal in itself. It's a FAR cry from the wild west that is Early Access on Steam where apparently anything is allowed.
 

Pehesse

Member
It's amazing to see your progress over the last weeks/months. Looks awesome!

Thanks a lot :-D Keeping busy :-D

As for today, crossposting from the Screenshot Saturday thread, but still, I like those little buggers, so I'll post them here too.

GroundedScarceAfricangoldencat.gif


Tried fixing the hue and contrast values as well to separate the foreground as discussed before, not sure if the .gif still destroys this or if it's more legible than before?
 
it's #screenshotsaturday right? :D
Some "dramatic situation" using the game assets and some portrait for the main character and a secondary one,
all for the nest update on our Square-Enix collective page, drop by and leave a comment with questions or suggestions if you feel like.
It's a SRPG nostalgic of the FFt & Tactics Ogre era, but with some quirks here and there in the battle system.

 

ludde.andersson

Neo Member
Hi!
My name is Ludde Andersson and I live in the southern part of Sweden.
I'm developing a game called Scaupa, its a sandbox game played in first-person view.
The game is developed using my own game engine.

Scaupa is based on the joy of creating sceneries and adventures and to be able to share these with others.
You move around in your world with some type of robot with different skills and creating environments in a playful way.
The builder robot also has communication skills by displaying a webcam screen on the head of the robot, see images below.

You define simple adventures in the world by placing and defining simple gameplay components.
You can play yourself or together in a multiplayer mode.
You can also expand your world by connecting them with other players worlds.

When you're done building and designing your world and adventure, you have a "Scaupia".
You may then make your Scaupia "public" and by that letting other visit and enjoy your work.

This is not going to be a complex game, my goal is to keep it simple but yet entertaining to play.
So in Scaupa it´s your quest, your journey, to create and design your own little gameworld.

I also plan to try my luck at Kickstarter soon :).

Webpage:
www.scaupa.net

/Ludde

scaupa_neogaf_1.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_2.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_3.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_4.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_5.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_6.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_7.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_8.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_9.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_10.jpg
 

udivision

Member
So i've been doing work on both SPEE and Nax. Im actually starting to find that working on 2 games at once to be theraputic in that when I get bored of one, i switch over. Helps me from burning out.

for Super Pokemon Eevee Edition; added a minigame to the Cut/Rocksmash mechanics, to make them a little more deeper. I'm thinking of reusing this mechanic for lots of stuff (fishing, grinding berries, etc)

Also realised my last beta (0.73) has gotten over 30k downloads! which is awesome. The growth SPEE has had is awesome, and really inspires me to not quit! I'm definitely on track to getting the next beta(0.74) out before november.

You're the guy behind SPEE? I feel like I've been aware of this game for years but I've yet to tray it out. Maybe I should get on that soon...
 

Moosichu

Member
Hi!
My name is Ludde Andersson and I live in the southern part of Sweden.
I'm developing a game called Scaupa, its a sandbox game played in first-person view.
The game is developed using my own game engine.

Scaupa is based on the joy of creating sceneries and adventures and to be able to share these with others.
You move around in your world with some type of robot with different skills and creating environments in a playful way.
The builder robot also has communication skills by displaying a webcam screen on the head of the robot, see images below.

You define simple adventures in the world by placing and defining simple gameplay components.
You can play yourself or together in a multiplayer mode.
You can also expand your world by connecting them with other players worlds.

When you're done building and designing your world and adventure, you have a "Scaupia".
You may then make your Scaupia "public" and by that letting other visit and enjoy your work.

This is not going to be a complex game, my goal is to keep it simple but yet entertaining to play.
So in Scaupa it´s your quest, your journey, to create and design your own little gameworld.

I also plan to try my luck at Kickstarter soon :).

Webpage:
www.scaupa.net

/Ludde

scaupa_neogaf_1.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_2.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_3.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_4.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_5.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_6.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_7.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_8.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_9.jpg


scaupa_neogaf_10.jpg

Looks beautiful :)
 
Just fighting a few rogue robots inside my ship, got the captain of the ship injured during the fight

FightingSomeRobots.png


still lots of things to add but getting into good shape now...
 
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