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

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
I'm quite excited to bring you this week's update because it's targeted at bringing the opportunity for more active gameplay in Quests Unlimited. But before we get there, let's start off with another related feature implemented in this update.

9w0xycQ.png


You may notice in this picture that there are 2 new buttons located next to the inventory window. The Trials button I will get back to in a moment, but the green town button allows players the option to force their party to go back into town. While in town a party will turn in completed quests and do business with the merchant as usual. It's a great idea to restock on potions and clear out your inventory before attempting the "Trials".

The Trials is a new challenge mode that pits your party against waves of enemies one after another. The waves steadily come in 10 second intervals and every 10th wave consists of 2 bosses for you to overcome. If successful, your party is given a breif respite to regroup by the campfire (and restock in town if needed) before returning for the next barrage of enemies. Oh, did I mention that your party will no longer automatically be using thier skills or using potions in this mode? That's right, this mode relies on the player to make those decisions and make the very most of their party's potential. Your highest scores will be put on display for all to bare witness on our new Leaderboards!

Yu2cGw9.png


You can access the leaderboards from the titlescreen. I hope to see many more entries there soon, can anyone beat my score? The Trials are more challenging than you might expect, give it a try.

Patch Notes:
  • New parties will no longer receive 200 free gold when starting a new game.
  • There's a new "Town" button allowing players to initiate trips back to town
  • There's a new "Trials" button that will initiate the new Trials challenge
  • Added tooltips to help explain what the new buttons do
  • New leaderboard (available from titlescreen) implemented to accompany the new Trials challenge
  • The Trials challenge (survive wave after wave of enemies)
  • Skills and potions will NOT be autocast during the Trials challenge


That's a rather shameless paste of the Steam announcement I made for my game a little while ago. Sorry it took so long to make this update, that's mostly because it took so long to complete this new build. It took longer than normal for me to have a clear vision of what exactly this new challenge mode would be. I went through several different possibilities before settling in on this one. I also needed a little time off from the grind of development. It doesn't take me long to start itching to be working on something again though, so here I am back with another update. If you're interested in my game Quests Unlimited you can find it on Steam. If you have any questions/comments, just leave them below and I'll see them. I'm keeping track of this thread to see what everyone's up to.
 

Sorne

Member
Hey guys, thought I'd join in on this thread :)

I just started working on a small prototype yesterday. Not sure where I'm going with it, but I kinda already like the idea. You can see some simple gameplay of it here:


The core gist of it is that you control this "thing" in the middle and you're trying to protect the center core from waves of enemies. I'm thinking about making it endless wave-based, with time between each wave to buy upgrades etc.
If I'm continuing to develop this, I'll probably throw it on the Xbox Creators marketplace for free at some point. Any feedback/comments would be appreciated :)
 

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
Hey guys, thought I'd join in on this thread :)

I just started working on a small prototype yesterday. Not sure where I'm going with it, but I kinda already like the idea. You can see some simple gameplay of it here:


The core gist of it is that you control this "thing" in the middle and you're trying to protect the center core from waves of enemies. I'm thinking about making it endless wave-based, with time between each wave to buy upgrades etc.
If I'm continuing to develop this, I'll probably throw it on the Xbox Creators marketplace for free at some point. Any feedback/comments would be appreciated :)


It's pretty barebones atm so it's hard to comment on much. I will say that I like that you depict the health of the core with it's size instead of a healthbar or something similar. I always feel like the less UI the better on space shooter type games.
 

Sorne

Member
It's pretty barebones atm so it's hard to comment on much. I will say that I like that you depict the health of the core with it's size instead of a healthbar or something similar. I always feel like the less UI the better on space shooter type games.

Yea, as I said i only started working on it. It was more if people had some cool ideas to try out.

And thanks! I thought that was a pretty nice way of showing it as well.
But not sure it's gonna end up as a space shooter with the graphics. I'm thinking about something more abstract.
 

Minamu

Member
Yea, as I said i only started working on it. It was more if people had some cool ideas to try out.

And thanks! I thought that was a pretty nice way of showing it as well.
But not sure it's gonna end up as a space shooter with the graphics. I'm thinking about something more abstract.
A friend and I did something very similar for Android a couple of years ago. Same basic premise but with just 1hp so if you get hit, it's over. We gave it a "zombie" theme so black squares were regular zombies and bigger orange ones were mini bosses that if tapped would drop weapon upgrades. Killstreaks also granted smartbombs, and we implemented a day/night cycle that changed enemy movement speeds. For roughly a weekend's worth and another work week or so, it turned out fairly good. We implemented an achievement system and video ads that could grant additional smartbombs. The difficulty balancing is a bit wack though, I wish I could go back to it all and tune it some more. It kinda looks like garbage too ;) Yours is already a looker in comparison.
 

neko.works

Member
Hey guys!

We've just completed the production of the 2 minutes theme-song Anime of Light Fairytale. The song is called Someday to the Blue Sky and features Japanese vocals.

567.png


Here's a few finalized cuts from the Anime:

RvcNQSy.gif


JGsjGih.gif


HRXUva0.gif


Any thoughts?
 

caffeware

Banned
Seems like a very solid product overall.

Edit: Wow. Your on Square Enix collective. Best of luck to you and your team.
 
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Sorne

Member
A friend and I did something very similar for Android a couple of years ago. Same basic premise but with just 1hp so if you get hit, it's over. We gave it a "zombie" theme so black squares were regular zombies and bigger orange ones were mini bosses that if tapped would drop weapon upgrades. Killstreaks also granted smartbombs, and we implemented a day/night cycle that changed enemy movement speeds. For roughly a weekend's worth and another work week or so, it turned out fairly good. We implemented an achievement system and video ads that could grant additional smartbombs. The difficulty balancing is a bit wack though, I wish I could go back to it all and tune it some more. It kinda looks like garbage too ;) Yours is already a looker in comparison.


Thanks!
The 1HP mechanic actually sounds like it fits well in these sorts of games. Very cool!
Yes, I don't look forward to tweaking the difficulty balance, as that seems like one of the harder things to get right.
 

CidadeAP

Neo Member
29745044_1846128182124332_5600837167347789439_o.png


Proud to present our new tank sprite! Our artist @Natal on Twitter added more depth, higher resolution, color, and a couple adjustments. There is one or two more additions but we'll keep that a secret for now..


437fe1_9df023ea78ae4e039e24c01fe9ec2514~mv2.png
 
Does anyone know what are rules for using unity store assets for game co-developed by several people?

I worked alone on my student project and bough several packs of assets. Now I wanted to start working with a friend on a game and I wonder if it's possible to use those assets for this project ?
 

Sorne

Member
Does anyone know what are rules for using unity store assets for game co-developed by several people?

I worked alone on my student project and bough several packs of assets. Now I wanted to start working with a friend on a game and I wonder if it's possible to use those assets for this project ?

I'm pretty sure each asset on the store has license written in the description. Most likely, it's "pr. seat" or something along those lines. But I'm not exactly sure what that means when you are cooperating on a project. Maybe it depends on the asset type. What kind of assets are you talking about?
 

Minamu

Member
Does anyone know what are rules for using unity store assets for game co-developed by several people?

I worked alone on my student project and bough several packs of assets. Now I wanted to start working with a friend on a game and I wonder if it's possible to use those assets for this project ?
You'll need to check each asset to verify but they're usually available to be used as you see fit, either with or without crediting. I haven't seen or heard about any assets that can't be used commercially, or that require you to pay them extra after the fact. Maybe they do exist but they're very rare if so. You should have a list of both downloaded and purchased somewhere on your store account for easier verification.
 

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
It's been too long since I've been vocal about Quests Unlimited's development, so I thought now would be a good opportunity to talk some about what's been keeping me busy. This picture should offer some insight:

zYNOTSH.gif


You'll notice that all classes in the picture have an additional 3 skills at their disposal. The fighter's "Whirlwind Strike" is just 1 of the 12 new skills being worked on right now. Unlike a class's primary skill, these new skills will be user cast only. I'm hoping that these new abilities will make gameplay feel even more rewarding than it does currently.

Although not shown in the picture (it's not implemented as of yet), these skills will be unlocked by the party conquering the trials. Completing level 10 will unlock the second skill for all party members, 20 will unlock the third, etc. This will actively reward parties for making progress in the trials enriching the sense of progression.
 
I used to program learning Fortran from mother in 80s early 90s. Switched to Basic to program games at school in Jr high.
Switched to visual basic by 7th grade to make punters/p.s. crackers/spammers that sorta crap for AOL/AIM(my profs are still on those old school sites to download.)

Learned a little Delphi one and only project was to hide the Ad for NetZero, and was updated regularly with each fix they made to stop these programs from working. For a while mine was the only one that would work and be updated.

Switched to C/C++ for nodding HL worked on Destiny Mod, original PVK until monkey boy took over full time.

Eventually got a remote job at corncrow games worked on Battlefield bad company1/2, battlefield heroes, mirrors edge.

I did some years in prison for narcotics and have not programmed since. I'm sort of black listed from industry

If anyone has a laptop I could buy for cheap for installments so I can get back to programming I would be grateful. I've been living on welfare and I feel like a loser as peers of mine are wildly successful

Pm with offer for computer you would sell, give, something. I will love you long time big boy
 

CraftshopArts

Neo Member
Been throwing this around trying to get some audience. Its a project I call Mean Streets. PunchOut meets Day Management, with Art inspired by Team Fortress 2. Been a very tough development with only 2 of us. Hits hard on the family side trying to go indie. Its pretty much been on and off for the last 2 years. Hope to do some sort of crowdfunding, but not really sure how to pick up steam beforehand. Feel like its next to impossible to get exposure in such a crowded market. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Check out our video on Youtube or Twitter. The game itself has you take jobs around town, as a beat em up for hire service. Using that money to reinvest in yourself by training, eating etc.. but also paying back some debts with some dud that comes collecting every few days.

Ny0En6z.jpg

z07L9c2.jpg


Sh4mCYW.gif


UO7cxb9.gif




https://twitter.com/CraftShopArts
https://www.facebook.com/CraftShopArts/
 

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
I used to program learning Fortran from mother in 80s early 90s. Switched to Basic to program games at school in Jr high.
Switched to visual basic by 7th grade to make punters/p.s. crackers/spammers that sorta crap for AOL/AIM(my profs are still on those old school sites to download.)

Learned a little Delphi one and only project was to hide the Ad for NetZero, and was updated regularly with each fix they made to stop these programs from working. For a while mine was the only one that would work and be updated.

Switched to C/C++ for nodding HL worked on Destiny Mod, original PVK until monkey boy took over full time.

Eventually got a remote job at corncrow games worked on Battlefield bad company1/2, battlefield heroes, mirrors edge.

I did some years in prison for narcotics and have not programmed since. I'm sort of black listed from industry

If anyone has a laptop I could buy for cheap for installments so I can get back to programming I would be grateful. I've been living on welfare and I feel like a loser as peers of mine are wildly successful

Pm with offer for computer you would sell, give, something. I will love you long time big boy
I honestly can't tell if you're serious or not. That said, go pickup the cheapest laptop you can find on craigslist and get yourself started making mobile games at least.

Been throwing this around trying to get some audience. Its a project I call Mean Streets. PunchOut meets Day Management, with Art inspired by Team Fortress 2. Been a very tough development with only 2 of us. Hits hard on the family side trying to go indie. Its pretty much been on and off for the last 2 years. Hope to do some sort of crowdfunding, but not really sure how to pick up steam beforehand. Feel like its next to impossible to get exposure in such a crowded market. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Check out our video on Youtube or Twitter. The game itself has you take jobs around town, as a beat em up for hire service. Using that money to reinvest in yourself by training, eating etc.. but also paying back some debts with some dud that comes collecting every few days.

Ny0En6z.jpg

z07L9c2.jpg


Sh4mCYW.gif


UO7cxb9.gif




https://twitter.com/CraftShopArts
https://www.facebook.com/CraftShopArts/

I feel like everyone always says social media but I think that's a lot of work for very little results. I suggest posting updates here and on similar websites. I'd also search for a subreddit closely related to your game genre and talk about your game there.
 

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
I'm back with Quests Unlimited updates, zomg! I know, I know, simmer down people ;p

I said last week that I was focusing on new class skills, well here they are:

0oMVV45.gif


New Fighter Skills
  • Whirlwind Strike - a large AOE(area of effect) attack
  • Steadfast Defense- a temporary bonus to damage mitigation
  • Intimidating Gaze- an AOE temporary debuff reducing enemy attack power

New Cleric Skills
  • Defender's Boon - a temporary boost to all party member's max hitpoints.
  • Heavenly Blessing - a HOT(heal over time) cast on all party members.
  • Holy Wrath- A devestating attack dealing 50% of the target's max hitpoints as unmitigated damage.

New Archer Skills
  • Power Shot - An attack with significantly increased damage.
  • Ensnare - This skill nets an enemy in place while the Archer leaps away from danger.
  • Barrage- A significant attack speed bonus while active.

New Wizard Skills
  • Mana Fountain - A group mana heal.
  • Split Embers- Shoots a fireball for every enemy in combat.
  • Wind barrier- A protective wind shield that prevents all damage to the wizard while active.

I feel like all these new options really add a lot to the game, so I feel pretty happy about finally pushing these changes live on Steam. Been a while since I pushed an update so hopefully the players will be happy.
 

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
It's been a while but I finally pushed the latest update out and made it live on Steam. Here's copy-paste of the announcement with all the details:

H2QGBCK.png

Happy patch day everybody! I know it's been a while but I hope you're all as happy as I am to be seeing these changes finally go live. Let's get right into it

First off, due to popular demand there is now a free camera mode! You can easily toggle between smart cam and free cam by pushing the appropriate icon button next to the party panel. By default you can use the wasd keys + mouse input to maneuver the camera but you can change the keybindings in settings. While in freecam mode you can toggle "mouselook" by pressing "L" by default which will allow you to click objects on the screen without moving the camera around. This new mode will be receiving some tweaking in the future to improve it's feel, but it's functional for now and will come in handy for our next new item.

Clickable drops! That's right, monsters now drop clickable buffs with several different effects. There's health regen, mana regen, goldcoins and party wide movement speed boost! Just click the bonus item on the screen before they disapear to gain the effects.

INaZA1j.gif

This next improvement is another one influenced by community input. People were upset that thier party members didn't stick to the roads properly and would just cut across fields at will. Well not anymore! As you watch you will see that the party's members won't be wandering too far from the road any longer.

Patch Notes
  • New free camera mode
  • New health regen clickable item
  • New mana regen clickable item
  • New movement speed clickable item
  • New gold coins clickable item
  • More realistic navigation

There's much more going on behind the scenes that's not quite ready to be showcased as of yet. I'll be releasing another announcement in the upcoming weeks to let you all know what's on the horizon. Until then, I'm always happy to hear from the community. Head to the steam forums and let me know what you guys think about the new update. Is there something in particular you're waiting for? Stop by and let me know!
 

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
Anyone other devs still alive out there?



I've decided to start working on smaller projects because larger ones have a tendency of bogging me down. So with that new goal in mind, I started on a new mobile game which is now called Hyperspace Jumper. It's available for free on the google play store as of this morning and I thought i'd share it here. Hyperspace Jumper

KrGGma8.jpg


It's a really simple and straight forward game but I find myself playing it fairly often. I normally don't play my own games for leisure because I simply know them inside and out, but this one I still find to be fun. Maybe because I haven't been grinding away on it for a year like some of my other projects. Anyhow, I hope you all try it and get some enjoyment out of it.
 
There's much more going on behind the scenes that's not quite ready to be showcased as of yet. I'll be releasing another announcement in the upcoming weeks to let you all know what's on the horizon. Until then, I'm always happy to hear from the community. Head to the steam forums and let me know what you guys think about the new update. Is there something in particular you're waiting for? Stop by and let me know!


just curious - are you willing to share your numbers of quests unlimited. sounds really great that youre getting enough community feedback to put out patches for them.
 
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oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
just curious - are you willing to share your numbers of quests unlimited. sounds really great that youre getting enough community feedback to put out patches for them.
To be frank, my sales and community engagement for QU are non existent. My original vision for QU was complete long ago, I kept extending the scope to include things people were asking for but to no avail. I simply can't afford to invest any more time into it as things stand.
 
I wasn't the biggest fan of the old site redesign but this new one looks a lot better, specifically on mobile. Maybe I'll be able to be more active now.


To recap since it's been a while since my last post, my main game right now is VizionEck Cube Royale.

vcrdev9.png

vcrdev11.png


It's a multiplayer cube fighting game. These screenshots don't show it but mastering movement is crucial to winning matches. I'm targeting a 2019 release right now.
 

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
I wasn't the biggest fan of the old site redesign but this new one looks a lot better, specifically on mobile. Maybe I'll be able to be more active now.


To recap since it's been a while since my last post, my main game right now is VizionEck Cube Royale.




It's a multiplayer cube fighting game. These screenshots don't show it but mastering movement is crucial to winning matches. I'm targeting a 2019 release right now.
You should include some animated gifs or a short video, hard to tell what the game play is like without any motion. Definitely has a nice Tron like look going on.

Ludum Dare!!!!

Ludum Dare is starting 11/30 @ 9pm EST everybody! I've unfortunately missed the passed 2 simply because I forgot it was coming. So Just trying to give everyone a reminder to stock up on coffee and creativity. :messenger_alien_monster:
 
You should include some animated gifs or a short video, hard to tell what the game play is like without any motion. Definitely has a nice Tron like look going on.

I haven't released any gameplay footage yet. The plan is to have a big relaunch trailer early next year. The game was originally announced about 4 years ago and got a lot of mixed reactions so I'm just focusing on finishing it instead of marketing it at the moment. Thank you for liking the look.



Also I have a new game being announced tomorrow! Nothing has gone smoothly these past few weeks so we'll see how tomorrow goes :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
I am still working on my N64-style 3D collectathon platformer for Wii U. A friend of mine is making the finishing touches on the overworld and will make the last main level, while I am currently polishing what is already there and making the bonus final level (which is a pure skill test, no exploration aspect) for it. I am very much looking forward to finishing this game and finally releasing it. Of course, due to the platform, it will be sent to die, but I am pretty proud to have managed pretty consistent 57-60 fps (with dips to 57 being pretty rare occurances) in Unity on Wii U and think that we did some good work in terms of level design :).
 

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!


Woohoo my first game has launched!!!

Congrats on getting your first game out. I was actually thinking about making something quite similar myself recently but ended up going another direction. I don't think I would be able solve those puzzles if I was given 100 years, rofl. I never actually owned a rubix cube though, maybe it gets a lot easier with practice. There doesn't seem to be much happening atmosphere wise in the trailer. Does the whole game just have you solving puzzles within a blue/grey void? I think it'd be cool to have more going on around you. Maybe the player is solving these in a crowded competition and you can compare times with others. Try to complete it while people are walking around talking, there's flashing lights, people lining up at concessions stands, whatever. Having an immersive environment adds some nice feels to a game. Anyhow, I hope this title works out for you and you'll be able to continue down this path.
 

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
I am still working on my N64-style 3D collectathon platformer for Wii U. A friend of mine is making the finishing touches on the overworld and will make the last main level, while I am currently polishing what is already there and making the bonus final level (which is a pure skill test, no exploration aspect) for it. I am very much looking forward to finishing this game and finally releasing it. Of course, due to the platform, it will be sent to die, but I am pretty proud to have managed pretty consistent 57-60 fps (with dips to 57 being pretty rare occurances) in Unity on Wii U and think that we did some good work in terms of level design :).
If you're making your game in unity, it should be easily exportable to just about any platform. Why only the Wii U?
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
If you're making your game in unity, it should be easily exportable to just about any platform. Why only the Wii U?
Nintendo is not answering my pitch for Switch and Microsoft first requires a demo that is indicative of the level of presentation at release. Since I am only now working on texturing and receiving music, I have not been able to give them a demo that meets their criteria yet. I will try again, though. No Sony because they require a static IP and no PC because I only want to release on platforms where I can guarantee performance.
 
Thank you for the responses!

Congrats on getting your first game out. I was actually thinking about making something quite similar myself recently but ended up going another direction. I don't think I would be able solve those puzzles if I was given 100 years, rofl. I never actually owned a rubix cube though, maybe it gets a lot easier with practice. There doesn't seem to be much happening atmosphere wise in the trailer. Does the whole game just have you solving puzzles within a blue/grey void? I think it'd be cool to have more going on around you. Maybe the player is solving these in a crowded competition and you can compare times with others. Try to complete it while people are walking around talking, there's flashing lights, people lining up at concessions stands, whatever. Having an immersive environment adds some nice feels to a game. Anyhow, I hope this title works out for you and you'll be able to continue down this path.

Thank you too!

I decided against environments because the puzzles are the focus. I've been a twisty puzzle designer for about a decade so I really wanted to make a game that appealed to cubers first and foremost.
 

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
Ludum Dare starts in less than an hour people!

Edit:
Theme is "Sacrifices must be made"
 
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kevm3

Member
I'm finally getting cracking on my own game using Phaser. Feels great. This is something I've wanted to do my whole life.
 

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
Just hoping I can wrap it all up in time for the deadline. Never been great at estimating accurately how long a project will take.
 

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
1GEzc22.png


My Ludum Dare compo entry is finally complete! I'm so glad that's done now so that I can end this marathon development session I've been doing. This silly cover image is obviously shopped from other resources but the game itself and it's contents were all me, for better or for worse. There's a lot more information on the Ludum Dare page but in short, it's a turn based strategy game set in a zombie apocalypse. Here's the link to my game's page: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/z-trail

Have a pic showcasing my world renown programmer art! ;p

uTtgmZy.png


I'm gonna go crash, but I hope to see more entries posted here when I wake up so I can check them out. Strut your stuff people! And let me know if you enjoyed playing Z-Trail :messenger_beaming:
 

Domisto

Member
I'm gonna go crash, but I hope to see more entries posted here when I wake up so I can check them out. Strut your stuff people! And let me know if you enjoyed playing Z-Trail :messenger_beaming:
Got one dude over the line. He was the muscle, good combat but rubbish at scavenging and maintenance so only went on guard duty while everyone else did the work and then they died. Eaten and starved. So he sang every morning while limping to Alaska in a wreck with no food. Made it just in time. Nice.
 

oxrock

Gravity is a myth, the Earth SUCKS!
Got one dude over the line. He was the muscle, good combat but rubbish at scavenging and maintenance so only went on guard duty while everyone else did the work and then they died. Eaten and starved. So he sang every morning while limping to Alaska in a wreck with no food. Made it just in time. Nice.
I wish I'd had time to incorporate more event variants, I think it would go a long way towards making the stories created like yours more unique to each play through. Congrats on reaching the finish line btw, I don't think many people manage it.
 
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