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GAF Indie Game Development Thread 2: High Res Work for Low Res Pay

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In this dark area we use these little conduit globes to charge up the "glow level" of the various glowing objects in the room, which subsequently dissipates. In this case, it reveals where a path is.

http://www.gfycat.com/BabyishBoldGlowworm

And a random gif.

http://www.gfycat.com/ImpracticalFatalAmethystinepython

This whole section is particularly dark, which is fine since it's balanced against other areas which are much less dark -- But for various reasons I've been stuck on it for a long time in terms of working on it, and I'm really really so ready to move on out of this whole region.

This is a small adjacent but mcuh less dark area I'll be working on soon. Interestingly, most of the graphics (other than the "trees" in the back) are the same as the above environments, just different colors.

http://www.gfycat.com/ScaredWarmEchidna

I really like the look of the trees one. The larger than life trees are sort of awe inspiring.

I think one or two of the platforms in the second GIF might be too dark to pick out, but maybe it's a lot more obvious after you've spent a good while in the area.
 

tomisqi

Neo Member
Looks good already. Maybe the areas could be even more dark, because I see no point in the flashlight watching those. Also a few more colors, or maybe mute the other colors more?

Thanks for the advice! Yes, we could darken the areas to make the flashlight more useful.
 

Blizzard

Banned
Hey guys, just wanted to post some more stuff I've been working on this week. Check it out:

tumblr_ntsitrey8l1upp7pzo1_1280.png

tumblr_ntsitrey8l1upp7pzo3_1280.png

tumblr_ntsitrey8l1upp7pzo6_1280.png

tumblr_ntsitrey8l1upp7pzo8_1280.png
If I may say so, your modeling and texturing looks great, but the selection of post-process filters is killing your lovely art a bit. The colors and detail look a bit muted and blurred, in my opinion.
 

Ito

Member
A small milestone/status update!

That sprite sheet would make one hell of a poster!


This is a small adjacent but mcuh less dark area I'll be working on soon. Interestingly, most of the graphics (other than the "trees" in the back) are the same as the above environments, just different colors.

http://www.gfycat.com/ScaredWarmEchidna

I love how the wood area is looking so far. It's visually relieving after all those caves :)


--

Regarding the banner, I'm glad you like it so far. I hope I'll be able to give it another boost this weekend.

Pehesse, I'll let you and anyone involved in the banner to choose which characters to ink & flat color, then I'll take care of the rest. Once the banner looks clean I'd like to shade it personally.

--


That aside, these last weeks I've made zero progress with my game. All because of my animations and the topic we discussed here... I take very seriously your opinion, and I have decided that the animations are not good enough, so I'm going to remake most of them. I'll try to make them look more expressive, I'll outline them better before going into detail, and I'll study references harder.

I'm saying it like if it was easy to take the decision, but the truth is that I've put a lot of thought into it. I almost lose all motivation to work. I tried to keep moving with what I have, but there was no way, my mind was already changed.

Realising how much time I've lost making these animations, and how much more I'll have to spend to get them right was very hard. The whole idea got me near depressive and definitely idle for almost three weeks.

But anyway, I have to do it. This will be the last time, that's for sure. Whatever comes out from this effort will have to do.

That being said, this is the last chance I'll have to implement changes in the character design. The current design is OK, but there are two specific changes I've been wanting to do for a while...


1.- Adding shoulder armor.

2.- Getting rid of those ninja sandals (that look like flip-flops with socks) in favor of a more "kung-fu style" shoe (it's an open shoe, less protective, but it looks so much elegant).


I dont' have any animation to show yet, but here is a sprite comparison (old to the left, new to the right):

KoQxGWs.png


It would be interesting hearing feedback over these small changes, altough I believe pretty much everyone would agree that she looks better (damn, flip-flops and socks, what in the world was I thinking?)
 

Kalentan

Member
That almost sounds more like a design issue than a coding one XD
What will happen if two of these characters are in a space next to each other, won't they overlap? :3

Well as they're, their sprites wouldn't overlap side to side only if one was behind and another in front. Otherwise they would be this small:

Ip4b.png


I was hoping to have it like this:

qn4b.png
 
Way too much great stuff I'd want to comment on, but my post would be way too long. So I'm just gonna say everything is awesome. :)


So it turns out Unity's internal animation tools are more powerful than I gave them credit for. I'm actually able to use the animation tools to place and resize friggn' hitboxes. Really useful for arranging stuff in sprite animations.

I've yet to test them on something that can actually take damage (trying to figure out how to actually do that without relying on SendMessage() or using GetComponent()), but I've got the animations and a basic combo implemented in a sorta hacky way, at least. I've got shooting animations working as well. As I said before, the animations look sorta janky due to hotspots being somewhat off, and that part isn't a priority right now (again, tedious and not worth the effort for a prototype character). There's a few nasty bugs that I really want to nip in the bud, though.

http://gfycat.com/FakePrestigiousBillygoat
 

Kalentan

Member
Rp4b.png


I updated it so the sprites can fit. Sadly now all of my ground (the blue spots), now have issues with the out of boundries again. xD Going to have to keep changing the numbers until I figure it out. Before the grid was 45 by 40 but now it's 58 by 77.

Edit: I fixed the issue. In fact numbers weren't the problem at all. I forgot to change what grid the Out of Boundries were set on.

Last Gif for a while, as I want to come back with major additions rather than these smalls one's I keep posting. :)

Vp4b.gif
 
Well as they're, their sprites wouldn't overlap side to side only if one was behind and another in front. Otherwise they would be this small:

Ip4b.png


I was hoping to have it like this:

qn4b.png
Ah, gotcha, it doesn't look larger than the tiles horizontally there but with the dimensions you had there'd have been intrusion from the sides by 3.25 units if it was perfectly centered.
Seeing as you're able to check by object, checking for stuff would be the same as you do with the tiles but with a modifier at the end to make sure it clears anything that would poke up from the tile below (basically add 31 assuming nothing is taller than the 69 height you mentioned and that the image starts at the very bottom of the tile they're on)

Again, you could get around this issue by simply storing the grid space states in a 2D array and checking against those instead :3
When I made my 7 day roguelike a while back in game maker I basically created the maps by populating a ds_grid (a kind of 2D array) first then constructing and updating everything based on those XD
So, without opening the project and checking it was something like -1 meant there was a wall there, 0 for open ground, 1 for the player, 2 for enemy 1, etc.

Way too much great stuff I'd want to comment on, but my post would be way too long. So I'm just gonna say everything is awesome. :)


So it turns out Unity's internal animation tools are more powerful than I gave them credit for. I'm actually able to use the animation tools to place and resize friggn' hitboxes. Really useful for arranging stuff in sprite animations.

I've yet to test them on something that can actually take damage (trying to figure out how to actually do that without relying on SendMessage() or using GetComponent()), but I've got the animations and a basic combo implemented in a sorta hacky way, at least. I've got shooting animations working as well. As I said before, the animations look sorta janky due to hotspots being somewhat off, and that part isn't a priority right now (again, tedious and not worth the effort for a prototype character). There's a few nasty bugs that I really want to nip in the bud, though.

http://gfycat.com/FakePrestigiousBillygoat
Yeah, it's nice that you can trigger events on certain frames and whatnot too. I've not dabbled with it too much outside of a prototype of a 'flappy bird fighting game' but what I saw was incredibly promising even if the collision system makes me cry sometimes :p
 

KevinCow

Banned
What do you guys think about these possible titles?

Firenzi: Blaze Warrior
Firenzi: Blaze Knight
Firenzi vs. the Hyper Knight Army
 
What do you guys think about these possible titles?

Firenzi: Blaze Warrior
Firenzi: Blaze Knight
Firenzi vs. the Hyper Knight Army

I like Blaze Knight the best. "Warrior" is less specific than knight, and Hyper Knight Army... well i guess it's okay. Seems a bit long though.

I don't know what your game is about, but if they have some "knighthood" background, here are some other titles:

Firenzi: Order of the Torch
Firenzi: Burning Oath
Firenzi: Champion of Flame
Firenzi: The Kindler
 
Firenzi makes me think of the city of Florence, and more specifically Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Not sure if that's wanted or not.

Of the subtitles, Hyper Knight Army appeals most to me.
 

KevinCow

Banned
I like Blaze Knight the best. "Warrior" is less specific than knight, and Hyper Knight Army... well i guess it's okay. Seems a bit long though.

I don't know what your game is about, but if they have some "knighthood" background, here are some other titles:

Firenzi: Order of the Torch
Firenzi: Burning Oath
Firenzi: Champion of Flame
Firenzi: The Kindler

Those are all good. But I seem to have a fundamental disagreement with my artist: He thinks that having a fire reference in the subtitle would be redundant, what with Fire being in the main title. But I feel the exact opposite; I want a fire reference in the subtitle. Supposing the unlikely circumstance that this game becomes successful enough for a sequel, I think it would be a nice running theme for every game to have something about fire in the subtitle.

Firenzi makes me think of the city of Florence, and more specifically Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Not sure if that's wanted or not.

Of the subtitles, Hyper Knight Army appeals most to me.

Hmm, I didn't realize that was part of Ezio's name. I'll keep that in mind. Might have to go with something else, then.
 
Hmm, I didn't realize that was part of Ezio's name. I'll keep that in mind. Might have to go with something else, then.

Firenze is the Italian name for Florence. His name basically means Eagle Auditor of Florence. Eagle being the first name, auditor being the family role that turned into a surname (like Smith or Baker in England), and Florence being the location the family lives in. But yeah, that's his full name.
 
Firenze is the Italian name for Florence. His name basically means Eagle Auditor of Florence. Eagle being the first name, auditor being the family role that turned into a surname (like Smith or Baker in England), and Florence being the location the family lives in. But yeah, that's his full name.

oh shit this is actually really cool. literally one of those things I didn't even think about other than the fact that Ezio was a cool name.
 

Jobbs

Banned
Firenze is the Italian name for Florence. His name basically means Eagle Auditor of Florence. Eagle being the first name, auditor being the family role that turned into a surname (like Smith or Baker in England), and Florence being the location the family lives in. But yeah, that's his full name.

Why do you know this

I love how the wood area is looking so far. It's visually relieving after all those caves :)

I really like the look of the trees one. The larger than life trees are sort of awe inspiring.

I think one or two of the platforms in the second GIF might be too dark to pick out, but maybe it's a lot more obvious after you've spent a good while in the area.

Thank you :) Agreed, I'll fix the dark platforms. Usually I try to direct attention to standable places with glows/lights (unless it's a secret or otherwise intended to not be obvious).

Names and name meanings fascinate me, so I've studied them casually in my free time. I also played an awful lot of Assassin's Creed II when it came out (though I've barely touched the series since).

I wish I studied ANYTHING on my free time.
 

KevinCow

Banned
Alright, so if Firenzi is out, how about just Firen? Does that sound decent?

Shit, names are hard to come up with.

Or maybe Flaren. That sounds kinda like a name and looks decent.
 

SystemBug

Member
oh shit this is actually really cool. literally one of those things I didn't even think about other than the fact that Ezio was a cool name.

similarity, Altair (protag of first assassin's creed) also means Eagle in arabic :)

finally got started on a little game with my friend. it's a mix between tower defense games and dungeon crawlers with some rogue like elements thrown in as well.

not to much detail about the gameplay stuff so far as we are still working on that bit ourselves

my friend made some concepts for the robot

20955637122_6b3ae09a24_c.jpg


and I have began modeling them. Just doing the head for one of them right now just to figure out the style and what not. Finished the low poly and now I have moved on to the high poly and then I'll bake it. I really want to try out Quixel's DDO so I'll probably texture it using that.

20344282193_165170537f_o.jpg
 
Alright, so if Firenzi is out, how about just Firen? Does that sound decent?

Shit, names are hard to come up with.

I don't have a problem with Firenzi, it just reminds me of something other than fire. Though I like Firen better, if that matters.


finally got started on a little game with my friend. it's a mix between tower defense games and dungeon crawlers with some rogue like elements thrown in as well.

not to much detail about the gameplay stuff so far as we are still working on that bit ourselves

my friend made some concepts for the robot

20955637122_6b3ae09a24_c.jpg


and I have began modeling them. Just doing the head for one of them right now just to figure out the style and what not. Finished the low poly and now I have moved on to the high poly and then I'll bake it. I really want to try out Quixel's DDO so I'll probably texture it using that.

20344282193_165170537f_o.jpg

Well, IcyFlamez wasn't kidding about scarves! Those are each really cool. ♥
 
b69f96b8c8e6384adc5a38547ed13ec0.gif


i did physics!

edit:

2bc1cb2a039559256127a192262b8fb1.gif


!!!!!!! it orbits!

gonna figure out if i want these to orbit on a set track or keep the nbody simulation in. Still trying to flesh out my idea.
 

KevinCow

Banned
Made a quick gif of my latest build.

Edit: linked instead http://i.imgur.com/juAjCVx.gifv

Two things I want to point out:

1) The scenery looks a lot better when it was designed by an artist. No trees sticking out of cobblestones!

2) Look at the beautiful 3D effect on the cart I created!

I'd love to make this game for the 3DS. I bet it would look awesome.
 
Story Time:

Our game got "leaked" yesterday. I was posting some information in a Visual Novel forum, and I forgot to removed the part where the game was going to be released on WiiU. Well, one Nintendo site got the info from said forum and instantly dozen of other website started writing about the game.

It makes me happy and sad at the same time. Happy because I see a lot of people liking the game so far (and the artstyle), and saying that they will keep an eye close to the game. Makes me sad because I wanted to announce the game with a gameplay video and a nice trailer.

I have found people saying that the game reminds them of Hotel Dusk, Another Code and other Visual Novels and they hope the game turns out good. Hopefully I can fulfill those wishes and I'll do my best to do so.

It's also funny to see people already assuming that the game will be ported to NX lol.

As usual "Progress":


I think I'll mangafied the cutscenes of the game, instead of opting for a realistic style. I'm really liking how it looks now.

Seconding what the other person said. The top one of those two images looks pretty great.
 

KevinCow

Banned
Speaking of quick, your 24MB GIF is taking me 30+ seconds to download. :p What are you using to make the GIFs? I think some people link a site called giphy so it doesn't embed them like that.

Sorry. I've been using imgur's video to gif conversion. Didn't realize the gifs were that big.
 

Jobbs

Banned
My producer Tucker played Ghost Song @pax on the twitch show earlier.

http://www.twitch.tv/twitch/v/13350194

I couldn't be there this time (really far away + really busy -- I'll be at Pax East almost assuredly though) but he did a pretty good job showing the game. It was funny listening to him try to answer the story questions. :)

He did let a little story detail rip by using a certain pronoun when describing the main character, but I don't mind. XD
 
It's close enough to Saturday over here

Spent the last couple days fixing up an older game of mine with fancy new sprites. I was in kind of a rush originally when I made it a couple years ago, so I ended up getting kind of sloppy

QKTXhVc.png


t5HkDUC.png


I don't really like the new rock texture I made, and the general consensus on Twitter yesterday was that it didn't really fit (too repetitious). I'm awful at rock/dirt textures, so I guess I'll just revert to the old ones and keep the new trees/etc.
 

Jumplion

Member
Thanks for all the encouragement and critiques, really gets me pumped.

Did a quick crouch walk animation. I think the legs transition way too fast, so I'll try to adjust that, but I'm more interested in how you all like the effect I've put. I'm trying to make the perspective a bit more clear, so I put the back upper limbs to be a bit more gray. Is it weird, too subtle, not subtle at all? Are there any other tricks that might help give more depth to this?

(The effect is far more visible in front of a dark background, I'll link to some; here you go)

7JWNkep.gif
XgNko0y.gif
ENkLRf1.gif
1K3LbEH.gif


Ignore the strange protrusion coming out of #2's groin. He's getting that checked by the doctor tomorrow. (Spriter weirded out for me)
 

Five

Banned
Anyone have ideas on what's the best way to try and solicit a publisher, or group of publishers? Full disclosure: I emailed a recruiter at Adult Swim on Monday afternoon about them potentially picking up Nether Mind. This was after redoing the website and cutting a couple of new videos for the game (a one-minute trailer and a twelve-minute walkthrough) in addition to sending out a playable demo of the game. But I haven't heard back all week.

I intend to be patient, especially as my day job has me swamped, but I'm curious what the protocol for going forward is. How long should I wait for a response? Was now a bad time because of all the PAX stuff? Is it in bad taste to solicit multiple publishers at the same time?



My producer Tucker played Ghost Song @pax on the twitch show earlier.

http://www.twitch.tv/twitch/v/13350194

I couldn't be there this time (really far away + really busy -- I'll be at Pax East almost assuredly though) but he did a pretty good job showing the game. It was funny listening to him try to answer the story questions. :)

He did let a little story detail rip by using a certain pronoun when describing the main character, but I don't mind. XD

Maybe I've just been following the game for long enough, but I thought her gender was already known. In any case, this has to feel pretty good. I liked at the end where the male host commended you for taking as much time as you need. From what I've read, I know you're feeling like this is dragging out forever, but I'm glad you're sticking to it and not just ham-handing the rest of the project.
 

Jobbs

Banned
Anyone have ideas on what's the best way to try and solicit a publisher, or group of publishers? Full disclosure: I emailed a recruiter at Adult Swim on Monday afternoon about them potentially picking up Nether Mind. This was after redoing the website and cutting a couple of new videos for the game (a one-minute trailer and a twelve-minute walkthrough) in addition to sending out a playable demo of the game. But I haven't heard back all week.

I intend to be patient, especially as my day job has me swamped, but I'm curious what the protocol for going forward is. How long should I wait for a response? Was now a bad time because of all the PAX stuff? Is it in bad taste to solicit multiple publishers at the same time?





Maybe I've just been following the game for long enough, but I thought her gender was already known. In any case, this has to feel pretty good. I liked at the end where the male host commended you for taking as much time as you need. From what I've read, I know you're feeling like this is dragging out forever, but I'm glad you're sticking to it and not just ham-handing the rest of the project.

I must just be a crazy and tortured person, but nothing feels good, honestly. :) Not until it's finished. I swim in a swamp of worry and anxiety around this game.

BTW, regarding your first question, I deal with Adult Swim regularly (obviously) and check your PMs.
 

ZServ

Member
Finished a newer, ALMOST ready to call alpha build of the first ~4 hours of my game. Couple tweaks to puzzles and some item variations and it'll be done. Pumped. Testing tomorrow with friends, hopefully they don't crush my soul too much :)
 

Five

Banned
I must just be a crazy and tortured person, but nothing feels good, honestly. :) Not until it's finished. I swim in a swamp of worry and anxiety around this game.

BTW, regarding your first question, I deal with Adult Swim regularly (obviously) and check your PMs.

I think anxiety is normal for big projects like this, or at least common. That was basically the byline of Indie Game: The Movie. Phil, Edmund and Tommy were sketched out tremendously. What usually helps me out when I'm swamped and anxious is finding time to kick back with some friends. It's a bit counter-intuitive, but cutting out some time can save in the long run since a more relaxed, focused mind will usually perform better.
 

Pehesse

Member
Anyone have ideas on what's the best way to try and solicit a publisher, or group of publishers? Full disclosure: I emailed a recruiter at Adult Swim on Monday afternoon about them potentially picking up Nether Mind. This was after redoing the website and cutting a couple of new videos for the game (a one-minute trailer and a twelve-minute walkthrough) in addition to sending out a playable demo of the game. But I haven't heard back all week.

I intend to be patient, especially as my day job has me swamped, but I'm curious what the protocol for going forward is. How long should I wait for a response? Was now a bad time because of all the PAX stuff? Is it in bad taste to solicit multiple publishers at the same time?





Maybe I've just been following the game for long enough, but I thought her gender was already known. In any case, this has to feel pretty good. I liked at the end where the male host commended you for taking as much time as you need. From what I've read, I know you're feeling like this is dragging out forever, but I'm glad you're sticking to it and not just ham-handing the rest of the project.

Haven't emailed yet as I'd like to have a trailer handy first, but that's definitely something I'm considering as well, so any information on that matter will help a lot! I saw some of the adult swim team are now following me on twitter... Not sure if that's enough already (as in, they know what to look at and will contact me if they have anything to say), or if I should take the next step in that "conversation", and how soon I should do it if so.
 

Jobbs

Banned
I think anxiety is normal for big projects like this, or at least common. That was basically the byline of Indie Game: The Movie. Phil, Edmund and Tommy were sketched out tremendously. What usually helps me out when I'm swamped and anxious is finding time to kick back with some friends. It's a bit counter-intuitive, but cutting out some time can save in the long run since a more relaxed, focused mind will usually perform better.

I've definitely been trying to examine my own mental health. Just as a matter of making a better game, I find it harder to be creative and produce good work compared to early in the process, and I think that's because of the anxiety I feel about the game and the timeline.

I couldn't possibly explain my mental state in a forum post, but it's safe to say my thoughts and feelings around all of this are very complex. I've mused before, jokingly, that I'll need to be re-acclimated to life after the game is done with, but that's perhaps not entirely a joke. I don't really enjoy anything because of all the space this thing takes up in my head.
 
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