After 3.5 years in development, today we are going to release our first game on Steam, AUA and wish us luck! |
- After 3.5 years in development, today we are going to release our first game on Steam, AUA and wish us luck!
- My experience making an Indie Game
- The cost of games
- So You Want To Compete With Steam
- Wrote up my process for my new breed of match-3 game: Six Match
- Need help getting started with a new game concept
- Maya for Beginners: Introduction to Modelling for Games Part 1
- Using NASA's Process Communication Model to write interesting characters
- Interest in C++/OpenGL Tutorials?
- I am an aspiring game developer
- Minimalist vs Adorable Cartoon Graphics
- Atlas Sentry - Released :D
- Literary guides and plot writing advice for game designers?
- Anyone here who is good at c# I can email (sparingly) if I am stuck?
- A tabletop RPG that inspired Darkest Dungeon
- Utilising another companies RPG rules in a game?
- Game running at 0.1fps!!
- “Thinking About Hitstop” – Sakurai’s Famitsu Column, Vol. 490-1
- Is it viable for me to quit University and learn Animation on my own and get a Job in Animation?
- Just put out our first gameplay trailer (first-person puzzler). What do you think?
- Multi-Threaded Asset Loading with LWJGL/Slick2D?
- Paid start boost in a runner game
- Game design student, needs help with location exclusive AR game
- Large Asset library for aspiring game-devs by Renafox
| Posted: 18 Jan 2018 05:22 AM PST Here is our baby, he's called Nantucket: http://store.steampowered.com/app/621220/Nantucket/ Nantucket is a seafaring strategy game based on Moby Dick, for more info on the game head over our website. Here is a little tease of our development story We are Picaresque Studio, a team of 3 guys working remotely:
Nantucket has been made with Unity 3D, the project grew immensely last 3 years, right now the lines count sits just over 100k. Here is a list of interesting facts:
Edit: We are live on twitch for a pre-release livestream, come join us https://www.twitch.tv/picaresquestudio [link] [comments] |
| My experience making an Indie Game Posted: 18 Jan 2018 04:03 AM PST Before my game was released, I found that some of the most important information I ever read was from other developers thoughts/comments on what happened after release and their experiences while in development. So here's my payback for anyone else who can find some of this information useful, and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. There's probably some stuff I've missed, so I'll try edit it in when I can. - Introduction A month ago my first ever game was released on Steam. Marble Skies, a 3D marble platformer. Nothing especially original, or groundbreaking, but It's my first game and looking back I think I made the right choice developing something simple rather than trying to do something too complex. Without giving away any sales numbers and breaking Steams NDA, I can say I made more than expected to. In the last 3-4 weeks I started getting really nervous about even making back the $100 Steam fee, which affected actual development of the game as I became demotivated to even continue working on it. I pushed myself to do it obviously, but my point is that you should make your first game a hobby before anything else. Getting paid for your work should be a bonus, and not something you are going to rely on. - Push yourself to do better I know, I literally just said I made the right choice in creating something simple, but you should still push yourself to do better.
- Marketing Ok this is probably one of the most important things to be on top of. You will probably read about it everywhere, that marketing is something you need to read up on, and god damn there is nothing more true than that. Without marketing I was getting a few dozen wishlists a day prior to release. I managed to get 2 very successful posts on Reddit, and this increased it 100-fold. Reddit is personally for me the most important place for indie marketing. But make sure you follow subreddit rules, I had a post with 7,000+ upvotes removed after it only being up for an hour or so simply because I had 1 less Reddit thread than required. I probably missed out on ~200,000 views. - GIVE AWAY KEYS It seems counter intuitive to just give people keys for your game, but it will really help. You don't have to give every single person on Steam your game for free, but if 100 people on Steam play your game, they might all have 10 friends, and every one of them will see "X is now playing.." pop up, and just like that 1,000 more people have seen your game. I gave away a significant amount a few hours before release, and have made back much more than I gave away. You're not losing anything giving keys away. - Influencer sites Honestly I have not had much luck with this. I paid Keymailers $200 fee to send keys to 2325 influencers, and out of them only 340 accepted keys, and out of that only 33 videos got made about my game prior to release, with the highest views getting about ~2,000 from a channel that seemed really sketchy. I would not pay for Keymailer again. Woovit was free and seemed pretty good, besides the time it decided to let everyone with 0 subscribers get keys for a day or two. These keys were viewable so I managed to revoke them all. I actually got some really good feedback from 2 small Twitch streamers on there. Again; you might as well put some keys up on there, you're not losing anything. - Social Media Post in as many places as you feel comfortable, but don't spam it. I didn't find anywhere more valuable than Reddit, but perhaps I just didn't do enough as I should have. I get quite lazy with social media, as I actually don't use Facebook/Instagram etc in real life at all, but it will boost your searches and that's the important part. It's all good getting a front page post on Reddit, but if someone searches for your game and nothing comes up, then its wasted potential. - Don't forget you have a life to live Some times I would just non-stop work, work, work. 16-18 hours a day, everyday for weeks stuck on a problem. Give yourself a break and stop thinking about the game completely. I found that if I had a problem, I couldn't think clearly because I was so stressed about getting it fixed, and it would never get fixed. A days break and a fix for the issue would just pop into my mind and it would be done. - Workflow I'm a pretty bad procrastinator, so managing good workflow was pretty important when trying to meet deadlines. Before you go to sleep at night, plan how much you want to get done on the next day, and when you wake up and start work, go through the exact same thing. Days I would say to myself "Ok today I'm going to create 2 new levels", I would actually do what I said, whereas on days where I would say "Ok I have to work today" didn't mean much and I'd either not do anything at all, or only half complete something. Set a goal, and even if you don't complete everything you wanted to do that day, you can still continue your goal on the next. Plan out what you want your game to be, and focus on one feature at a time. When you want to start creating a game you have all these big ideas, and you want to get it all in at the same time. Just take baby steps. - Community involvement Steam provides a community hub. USE IT. So many times I'll see a game popup on Steam, and the developer has posted nothing at all in their community forums. No Q&A, no future update information, community suggestion threads, etc. Your players are the most valuable part of your game, let them know that you made the game for them, and that you are there to support their ideas and issues. I can't tell you how many people I have had in messages say "Thanks, I'm going to tell my friend about this game!". - Conclusion TL;DR: Make a game because you want to create something, and not because you want to get paid. Marketing is important. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 17 Jan 2018 10:10 PM PST |
| So You Want To Compete With Steam Posted: 17 Jan 2018 11:35 PM PST |
| Wrote up my process for my new breed of match-3 game: Six Match Posted: 18 Jan 2018 10:58 AM PST Hullo, In the spirit of sharing knowledge I wrote up my experience creating my latest game. I share some PuzzleScript code and techniques that many match-3 games are overlooking. Hopefully it should give you some ideas or things to experiment with: [link] [comments] |
| Need help getting started with a new game concept Posted: 18 Jan 2018 11:28 AM PST I'm still fairly new to game dev but I prefer to learn by being chucked into the deep end, I've had an idea for a game and one feature I'd like to have is a cool lighting + FOV Kind of thing. I drew up an explanation of the idea in PS (imgur link below) I want to know if Unity can do this fairly easily, and if not, which engine may be better suited to it, what I'd need to do this, and maybe a small pointer on how. Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Maya for Beginners: Introduction to Modelling for Games Part 1 Posted: 17 Jan 2018 06:55 PM PST |
| Using NASA's Process Communication Model to write interesting characters Posted: 18 Jan 2018 01:40 AM PST Jennifer Scheurle just started an interesting twitter thread, that I'm just going to transcribe here for your (and my) reading leisure: Oh, oh, so... today in my research I came across some interesting stuff in NASA psychology tests for astronauts and it's a framework called Process Communication Model. And I read about how to use it to write characters, so here is a starter thread for #gamedev for this! Alright so, quick background... the PCM has been used by the writers behind the movie "Brave" and I thought this was such a great approach and maybe you find it useful as well! Ok, so PCM is essentially a psychological concept that describes personalities to consist of a variation in intensity of 6 types, all living within each of us to different degrees. NASA uses this framework in their evaluation of astronauts to look into how candidates would react to distress and how they function in social situations. I think it's a wonderful system to help you with building complex, deep and very human characters. Let me start by giving you the 6 types that make up the PCM... THINKERS This type refers to a personality type that prefers viewing their surroundings through a lense of logic. They internalise thought, are internally motivated and can become obsessive around issues of fairness, time, money and efficiency. PERSISTERS This type filters the world around them through existing ideologies and belief systems they have internalised. They prefer democratic conflict resolution, are dedicated and observant. They also tend to become unrealistic in their expectations of others during conflict. HARMONIZERS This type is heavily focused on emotions and filter their perception through those lenses. They are warm and compassionate characters, but can lose assertiveness easily and try to please others in conflict situations, losing self-confidence in the process. REBELS This type is quite something because they love bouncing off the world around them, are very reactive and not afraid of conflict. They are externally motivated and distress makes them complain a lot, become negative and blame others. IMAGINERS Perceive the world through a lense of reflections, are very calm and very good observers. They prefer communication that is direct and purposeful. They draw motivation from external solitude and distress makes them want to be isolated and lose initiative. PROMOTERS This type perceives the world predominantly through actions, being very reactive to the things they experience and act on emotions quickly. Adaptable, charming and persuasive, this type is also very competitive, which makes them withdraw support in conflict. Alright, those are the 6 types. Now, as said before, every single person has all of these 6 types within themselves but to varying degrees. When trying to build believable characters, this is a fantastic framework to work with, especially when building counter-characters too. Think of them as sliders that help you define how a character would react in certain situations and what defines their dominant social strategy. For "Brave", this model was used to build compelling characters that meet where they are at in their development. It's like a recipe that helps you define motivations better and how characters perceive the world around them, allow you to cut corners when you need to in your writing and still drive a complex and versatile character home. Frameworks rooted in reality = exceptional for games. PS: I desperately want to write an article about this somewhere.... PPS: This is not only useful for building characters but also to help analyse things such as: Customer service (how to counter specific distress types more easily), workplace navigation and conflict resolution in general. [link] [comments] |
| Interest in C++/OpenGL Tutorials? Posted: 17 Jan 2018 03:14 PM PST Hello! I'm posting this in order to see if there would be any interest in a C++/OpenGL tutorial on how to build a graphics engine, starting with the math behind it up to a working implementation. It would be helpful if you replied with what type of content would you like to see (focus more on implementation stuff, focus more on theoretical stuff). It would be done using Modern OpenGL (3.30+) EDIT1: Been reading all the replies and thank you all for taking the time to reply! Its currently 5:15am here so I might not answer but i will take time to answer tomorrow so keep posting! Info about me: Im a computer science student taking my masters with specialization in game design and distributed systems and im on my 4th year out of 5! [link] [comments] |
| I am an aspiring game developer Posted: 18 Jan 2018 10:19 AM PST Hello all, I am Computer Science student that is set to graduate from university with a BS this May, and I'm not sure if this is the right place to be asking this, but how do I get into the game developer industry? As of now, I have no work experience and no side projects that I have worked on outside of class. Obviously, I currently don't make a very strong candidate for any game dev position, but I am hoping to get some advice for how to work towards becoming a good candidate. Gaming is basically the entire reason that I got into CS in the first place, and after applying to a couple of developers I realize that I probably have some resume building to do before I get a job in the industry. Do any of you have any advice as to how I can set myself up for success in the future, in terms of work experience or otherwise? Other than gaming, I really have no clue what I'd like to do with my degree, so I am basically willing to steer myself in any direction necessary in order to build my resume to achieve my goal. Thanks for your time! [link] [comments] |
| Minimalist vs Adorable Cartoon Graphics Posted: 18 Jan 2018 07:54 AM PST I'm in the process of developing a new puzzle game, hoping it will be simple enough for casual players yet deep enough for gamers who like a challenge. For initial testing of it I just have minimalist graphics but the look is kind of growing on me. I had originally planned to have cartoony characters with a lot of personality and fun animations. I guess my question is as gamers do super cartoony graphics, like angry birds, turn you away from games? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Jan 2018 10:00 AM PST |
| Literary guides and plot writing advice for game designers? Posted: 17 Jan 2018 10:53 PM PST Hi, does anyone know if there are resources available for game developers on subject of creating a compelling story for their game? By this I mean like a book on the subject or website with common techniques and tricks. I'm by no means an expert on the subject, but it seems that the process of writing a plot for video game is quite similar to writing a script for a movie or a play. The biggest difference that I can think of between the two is the interactive aspect of games and the consequence of the choices you make. Examples such as saving or killing the little girls in Bioshock come to mind. I'm sure there's other common tropes that games have used, e.g. returning to the starting area at the end of the game, your "ally" betraying you at some point or if it turns out you've been following the bad guys orders all along. So yeah, does anyone know any good links on the topic? Also feel free to share any personal experience or things you've picked up over during the years if you wish to do so. Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Anyone here who is good at c# I can email (sparingly) if I am stuck? Posted: 18 Jan 2018 12:15 PM PST I'm not asking you to write or do the work for me. I just need someone I can go to to get beyond hurtles. For example I just learned about method parameters and don't understand how they are useful. In tutorials it makes sense in simple math problems but not beyond that. If I have enum how could a parameter be useful? Like below, 3 enemies, a weak, medium, strong. I'm not asking what is an en. Rather how does passing EnemyType help? Could someone use this code and and make an example of using parameters? using UnityEngine; public class Enemy : MonoBehaviour { public enum EnemyType { weak, medium, strong, }; public EnemyType enemyType = EnemyType.weak; } [link] [comments] |
| A tabletop RPG that inspired Darkest Dungeon Posted: 18 Jan 2018 12:13 PM PST |
| Utilising another companies RPG rules in a game? Posted: 17 Jan 2018 09:25 PM PST SO I had an idea to convert a 'pen and paper' style rpg into a computer game, however reading through this sub has made me realise I really shouldn't make a fan version of a game. The rpg itself includes the IP of a company that is well known for being brutally protective. If i took the rules and perks system of a pen and paper RPG and reflavoured it all, would there be an issue? For example converting a Sci-fi rpg about space adventuring, and turning it into a steampunk exploration game involving airships. If this is potentially rocky ground to tread upon, is there a set of generic rpg rules i could use without worrying about lawyers kicking my door down? The main reason I want to use an existing rpg ruleset, is it will take out most of the work in balancing mechanics and abilities, as most rulesets have had extensive testing to ensure an even playing field. From digging about it seems my best option is either create my own mechanics, or utilise an existing Open Gaming Licence system. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Jan 2018 11:40 AM PST |
| “Thinking About Hitstop” – Sakurai’s Famitsu Column, Vol. 490-1 Posted: 18 Jan 2018 06:38 AM PST |
| Is it viable for me to quit University and learn Animation on my own and get a Job in Animation? Posted: 18 Jan 2018 10:18 AM PST I've been doing a lot of thinking about dropping University and focusing on learning Animation on my own. I've personally lost all Interest in doing a degree in Software Engineering and my heart really urges me to do Animation. But before making a huge decision like this, I would love your invaluable input so I can make an informed decision. Is it really viable for me to quit university, learn animation on my own and then get a good enough job as an Animator? And if it is viable, then how long will it take me to learn good enough animation to land a job in the industry? (Assuming I sit down everyday for 8+ hours learning animation in Maya) A little bit of background on my animation skills: I have done some animation in Blender before. I've done animation for a couple of months. Hope this info helps. Sorry if I am not clear or if these are stupid questions. Please educate me as you see fit. EDIT: Added details and removed grammar errors. [link] [comments] |
| Just put out our first gameplay trailer (first-person puzzler). What do you think? Posted: 18 Jan 2018 10:09 AM PST |
| Multi-Threaded Asset Loading with LWJGL/Slick2D? Posted: 18 Jan 2018 10:06 AM PST I figured I would post this here since Slick2D is a wrapper for LWJGL and their community is all but dead. I'm trying to rewrite my asset loader to multi-thread the process of loading assets by spawning a separate thread for each call to my addImage(), addSound(), and addMusic() methods. However, I get exceptions due to the fact that these threads do not have access to the GLContext. Is there a way to get around this? Most of the reason I need to do this is because the music takes a really long time to load (15+ seconds). Or is there a better way to do this? You can find the code I'm using to do this here in the addImage() method: I'd appreciate any help or a nudge in the right direction. [link] [comments] |
| Paid start boost in a runner game Posted: 18 Jan 2018 09:39 AM PST Would you consider a paid start boost in a runner game a pay-to-win element? I'm talking about a boost you can only purchase at the start of a run, which would only skip the slow and somewhat unchallenging segment at the start. A lot of mobile runners have paid resurrection these days. I'm not willing go that far in terms of pay-to-win mechanics, but a start boost is something I haven't ruled out. My current system allows the user to either buy a boost at the start of a run for a small amount of gold or watch a video ad if the player is out of gold. [link] [comments] |
| Game design student, needs help with location exclusive AR game Posted: 18 Jan 2018 09:06 AM PST As mentioned in the title I plan to create an AR game for my Digital Playground course at University of Edinburgh..an AR game that you only play in specific location and not any where else..any suggestion how can I achieve this? [link] [comments] |
| Large Asset library for aspiring game-devs by Renafox Posted: 18 Jan 2018 08:32 AM PST Do you need 3d models for you game or animated short? Well do I have the guy for you! Some of the assets are even free to download. If you cannot find what you want for sale in his already extensive library than he is more than happy to do custom commisions. Here are some examples: https://sketchfab.com/models/5c46a630c81443ccb2b8c3e3a5c8e3d9 https://sketchfab.com/models/4982efe9a03e42e6a867c33afd863ca5 https://sketchfab.com/models/66d91151affc4048bb5030542f352d98 https://sketchfab.com/models/7188344d09614f55a14f359cca9caa48 https://sketchfab.com/models/171f893652de400d9120418b9d331bb2 If you are interested you can buy off sketchfab, or tweet for custom orders at: https://twitter.com/Renakryik [link] [comments] |
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