Having trouble coming up with that one perfect game idea? You should make 100 ideas instead. |
- Having trouble coming up with that one perfect game idea? You should make 100 ideas instead.
- We all start somewhere: Todd Howard in 2000 looking for Morrowind devs, with no replies.
- Unity has done it again. One of our artists left Unity idling over night and got this very personal email from Unity. He did NOT have editor analytics disabled. PSA: disable them ASAP under preferences.
- Interested in multiplayer ? It's friday, go ahead and AMA !
- Why Play store is removing ratings and reviews on my game?
- Which techniques do you consider every AI Dev should know?
- How to Promote Your Game with Twitch Streamers
- Is there a resource of game publishers and the kinds of games they typically publish?
- When do you think is too late for your game?
- Starting from scratch my space game again
- Amplify Impostors: New Solution for Assets Optimization
- Where are some good places to get custom ordered 2D art for your game?
- Looking For Projects to Build My Resume/Portfolio
- Is my game idea too big?
- Blind Mind Studio open-sources the game Star Ruler 2 (4X) from 2015
- Would Love to Meet Other Game Devs in Tokyo
- So what do you guys think?
- Feedback Friday #299 - Fresh Concepts
- Question regarding music
- Modular environments (ME).
- Where should I promote my web game?
- Need tips on how to learn more about game making. Any advice is appreciated
- Book: "Crushing Hyper Casual Games"
| Having trouble coming up with that one perfect game idea? You should make 100 ideas instead. Posted: 27 Jul 2018 07:36 AM PDT So I teach game development and the one thing my students always get stuck with is coming up with that one perfect idea for a game. The problem with this mission is that you will reject every idea you come up with before you even voice it, when they may well could have amazing potential, because you're waiting for that bell to ring in your head that says "Eureka". So instead what I recommend is to list out 100 game ideas on paper or in a doc, write down everything that pops into your head that sounds even remotely feasible. Then go through them and don't ask yourself, "which is the best one?", but instead, ask yourself, which are the best 25. Out of those 25, whittle them down to your best five, and instead of saying, which is the best of the 5, ask yourself, "which one of these do I want to make first?" Hope this helps you on your quest. [link] [comments]  |
| We all start somewhere: Todd Howard in 2000 looking for Morrowind devs, with no replies. Posted: 27 Jul 2018 09:08 AM PDT |
| Posted: 26 Jul 2018 11:58 AM PDT |
| Interested in multiplayer ? It's friday, go ahead and AMA ! Posted: 27 Jul 2018 06:41 AM PDT Hello people from /r/gamedev I have been working for now more than 3 years in the AAA space, and I'm terribly passionate about multiplayer games and online services. I have shipped one game as a hobby (a puzzle multiplayer game) and I'm in the process of shipping an other one soon on steam. I do have quite an experience for online. From local-coop, replication, online services, P2P, dedicated server, I have seen quite a lot. If you have any question do not hesistate. Have a great friday ! [link] [comments]  |
| Why Play store is removing ratings and reviews on my game? Posted: 27 Jul 2018 02:58 AM PDT I have total 26 ratings on my google play console but in playstore it shows only 8 and then keep on decreasing day by day. I even contacted google support and sent them screenshots but they couldn't help me. I know ratings and reviews have huge impact on ASO so can anyone help me out of this situation? [link] [comments]  |
| Which techniques do you consider every AI Dev should know? Posted: 27 Jul 2018 08:53 AM PDT I am planning the Syllabus for a Game AI course in a Game Dev Career. In the future we will have 2 courses for this topic but right now i must choose which topics i pick for only one course, because theres lots for just 16 classes. In the topics list i have BlackBoard, Sensors, FSM, HFSM, Decision Trees, Behaviour Trees, GOAP, Utility, Neural Nets, Genetic Algorithms, Pathfinding (BFS, Dijkstra, A*, Lazy Theta, NavMesh), Spatial Reasoning, Steering Behaviours and Randomness. For this course i would pick BB, Sensors, BTs, Utility, Pathfinding, Steering Behaviours and Randomness, but im not sure if replace some of them with FSM, HFSM and DTs, that techniques are basic but i feel they are outdated (also they have already seen some FSM in previous courses). The rest (GOAP, NNs, Spatial Reasoning, etc.) i think are advanced enough for an intro to AI so i think i will put them in a second course (when the Faculty approves it). Would you do this different? Am i missing some topics? Would you pick other techniques as basic ones? Thanks and sorry for my english, my native language is spanish. [link] [comments]  |
| How to Promote Your Game with Twitch Streamers Posted: 27 Jul 2018 10:04 AM PDT Hey everyone, Recently I've noticed many developers gaining interest in using live streaming/Twitch influencers to promote their games, but they don't know how to find the right streamers, reach out, set up deals, etc. Having worked as a Twitch influencer marketing campaign manager in the past, I thought I'd write up this guide you can use to properly sponsor streamers. Hopefully you find it useful! Let's start from the top: 1) You must formulate detailed goals.To succeed on Twitch, you have to know why you want to work with influencers in the first place. Are you trying to…
Set your goals early. They'll provide a framework for the rest of the campaign you'll build shortly. 2) Next, set a budget.How much money can you realistically spend promoting your game? Your budget should reflect your goals — if you want to maximize awareness around your launch, you'll have to hire more influencers than someone looking to drive a few beta users (which means you'll have to spend more). We'll talk more about promotion strategies and pricing shortly. But for now, go ahead and map your available funds. Note: Twitch influencer marketing is flexible. While I do recommend you pay your streamers, sometimes sending a game key is enough -- and the best way to know is to ask. Talk with the streamers you contact to work out a mutually beneficial deal. 3) Now brainstorm promotion ideas and their requirements.Many game devs think there's only one way to work with Twitch influencers:
Like I said before— that strategy will work occasionally. But if you want to run long-lasting campaigns that help you reach your specific goals, you'll have to go deeper. There are many ways to promote your game on Twitch — too many to list. But here are a few to jog your creativity:
On top of promotion ideas, you'll also need to plan the smaller aspects of your promotions. For instance, do you want your streamer(s) to:
This is your time to get creative. The more engaging and entertaining your promotion ideas, the faster you'll reach your goals. (Just be careful when planning your promotion requirements — the more you add, the higher you'll have to pay a streamer to complete them.) 4) Gather a list of streamers.After you've set your goals, defined a budget, and planned a promotion strategy, it's time to find the streamers who will spearhead your campaign. But before you start searching, it's important you understand some key Twitch influencer marketing metrics:
ACV is the main determinant for how much money you have to pay a streamer for sponsored content — as their ACV increases, so must your budget (generally). Your budget and your goals will determine which metrics you pay the most attention to when finding streamers. If you're trying to develop your game's community, engagement rates will be your most important metric. If you're looking to generate brand awareness, however, ACV will be your most important metric. (As a general rule, you should always sponsor streamers who play games similar to yours. This will make both the viewers and the streamer more comfortable while playing it.) There are a few ways you can discover new streamers and measure their analytics: 1) Do it manually.Head to Twitch, click on a game and start watching streamers that pique your interest. Measure how many viewers they receive on a daily basis and how many followers they gain. Observe how active and positive their chat rooms are. Determine whether you like their personalities. If everything matches up with your goals and your budget, you'll know the streamer is a good fit to promote your game. This method is pretty monotonous, but it can work if you're just starting out. 2) Use a tool.Twinge.tv is great for discovering new streamers and viewing their metrics. Or, if you're looking for something more powerful, PowerSpike is a good option. It has all the metric measurement features of Twinge and more. The platform also allows you to post a "campaign" to a marketplace where streamers can apply (like a job board) — this is great if you don't feel like manually searching for streamers. Full transparency: I work with PowerSpike so I'm biased towards our platform, but any tool will work for your needs. Once you have a list of potential streamers… 5) Find their contact information.If you manually searched for your list of streamers, you'll have to manually find each of their points of contact. There are a few common places you can look for contact info: 1) The info section.This is where most streamers link to their emails or Discord servers. If a streamer's info section is crowded, just Control + F and search for "@," "Gmail," or "email." If nothing comes up, you'll have to look elsewhere. 2) Twitter descriptions.If the contact info isn't in their info section, there's a good chance they've linked it in their Twitter bio. You can usually find a streamer's Twitter account from their info section. If it's not there, however, you can Google "[streamer name] + Twitter" and (if they have an account) it will appear. In my experience, the best way to contact a streamer is through Discord DMs. Most streamers have links to join their Discord servers in their info sections, and they're almost always open to the public. 6) Send a sponsorship proposal.We're finally getting to the good stuff. A "proposal" is an email that introduces you to a streamer and informs them of your sponsorship offer. It usually acts as your first impression, so it's important to get right. Here's the process I use to write proposals for custom-managed campaigns at PowerSpike: 1) Greet the streamer and tell them a bit about yourself and your game. Briefly mention how you discovered their stream. Make it personal. 2) Next, tell them you want to send them a free copy of your game and let them know you want to sponsor them. Give a brief description of your promotion idea. 3) Then, provide an offer for how much you'd pay them for completing the sponsorship. Let them know when you're looking to start the deal. 4) Lastly, encourage ongoing communication by inviting them to a short voice call to further discuss the deal. 5) Once your proposal is completed, send it to the streamer on Discord, Twitter, or email. Then wait. If the streamer accepts your proposal, great! You can move on to the next step. If they want to negotiate your price or requirements, that's fine too. Talk it out with them. Be honest about what you're able to offer and how far you can go in terms of pricing. If the offer goes out of your range or they decline to accept, it's no big deal — thank them for taking the time and move on. 7) Send the necessary deal and promotion materials.Once a streamer accepts your proposal, there are only a few things left to do: 1) If money is involved, send a contract. You can skip this step if you're using PowerSpike. 2) Set a time and date for them to complete the sponsorship. It's best to let them choose this time, but don't hesitate to propose your own time frame if it's important. 3) Send the necessary resources (e.g. game keys, branded info section graphics, tracking links, documents that restate your requirements, etc.). 4) Lastly, ensure the streamer knows to include #ad or #sponsored in their stream titles or social media posts during sponsored content. If you're unsure whether this FTC rule applies to your sponsorship, more info can be found here. Almost done! 8) Watch the sponsorship.There are several reasons why you'd want to watch your sponsored content live: 1) Viewers like to interact with devs. You'll make them feel like they're a part of your project by talking with them in the chat, and that's cool. 2) You can collect feedback and answer questions. Just be sure you aren't micromanaging from the chat. Let your streamers do their thing and you can interact with their communities. 9) Record results, pay the streamer, and restart.It's done. And now it's time to measure the results. How many clicks did your website get? How many game copies did you sell? How much feedback did you receive? Did the streamer provide high-quality content? Were they professional? Did you set the grounds for an ongoing relationship? And most importantly: Did you achieve the goals you set in step one?I hope so. But if not, you can always learn from your mistakes and try again later. Once all your requirements have been fulfilled, you can pay your streamers and restart the process! By now, you should have a great understanding of how you can sponsor Twitch streamers to achieve your marketing goals as a game developer. By no means, however, is Twitch influencer marketing an "end-all-be-all" marketing strategy. It's important you continue your efforts elsewhere to ensure long-term success. (If you're interested in learning more about marketing your game, the PowerSpike team and I created a newsletter where we're sharing practical game dev marketing advice every Monday -- you can join that here.) Thanks again for reading. If you have any questions at all, throw them in the chat. I'll be responding! [link] [comments]  |
| Is there a resource of game publishers and the kinds of games they typically publish? Posted: 27 Jul 2018 09:44 AM PDT I'm on the search for a publisher, and I have a list of some but has anyone put together a resource for the type of games they generally green light? For example I would say Devolver Digital generally goes for mature games with violence/blood and adult themes, so someone trying to pitch a educational game would be 99.999% wasting their time even clicking on their site. It feels like there should be something like this out but I just don't know about it! [link] [comments]  |
| When do you think is too late for your game? Posted: 27 Jul 2018 10:50 AM PDT Hi everyone, so I've been reall busy finishing the last portion of my game , it has been on the google play store and IOS for about three months and it really hasn't gone anywhere,100 downloads in total , to be honest I'm not very good at marketing, never know what to post, and when I post pretty much it flies under the radar, I'm working on the final trailer of the game but I 'm starting to think that maybe I should't waste so much time on this game and just move on release the update and that's it, have you had a situation like that? the thing is I hatethe feeling of thinking I could still do something more so any hindsight from my fellow devs would be nice. [link] [comments]  |
| Starting from scratch my space game again Posted: 27 Jul 2018 09:48 AM PDT |
| Amplify Impostors: New Solution for Assets Optimization Posted: 26 Jul 2018 11:02 PM PDT |
| Where are some good places to get custom ordered 2D art for your game? Posted: 27 Jul 2018 11:47 AM PDT I'm looking to get some sketches drawn of characters but my skilled aren't up for the result I'm looking for. Where are some good palces, where do you go for. Thanks much! I'm looking to get some sketches drawn of characters but my skilled aren't up for the result I'm looking for. Where are some good palces, where do you go for. Thanks much! I'm looking to get some sketches drawn of characters but my skilled aren't up for the result I'm looking for. Where are some good palces, where do you go for. Thanks much! [link] [comments]  |
| Looking For Projects to Build My Resume/Portfolio Posted: 27 Jul 2018 10:48 AM PDT Hi! I'm MegaGenesys I've been self taught devolping for a few years and I'm ready for some real work. I don't have the time currently to make a whole game from scratch, so i'm looking to help any lewd developers that might want it. I'm willing to give some time for FREE in order to gain more experience and build a portfolio/resume. Although payment will garentee that work gets done in a good tome and high priority. Skills I can provide; TESTING/DEBUGGING I can test your game on all modern platforms. ART 2D Art and animation, not great for stills and cutscenes but I can draw well enough for ingame content. I have Nintendo like art style but am confortable trying other styles. Check my art here; https://megagenesys.newgrounds.com PROGRAMMING AND DEVELOPMENT I am quite skilled with Flash and AS3. I am currently teaching myself Unity and C#. I know a bit of java amd html, enough to help. Let me know if anyone is interested :3 [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2018 10:46 AM PDT Hello, I just left high school, and I've been planning a video game idea, in which the story is to raise enough money to impress your crush on her birthday. Here's the list:
I have familiarity with Adventure Game Studio, and have actually made my first game with it, which started out as a high school project, and eventually got released on itch.io (to zero fanfare though). I've actually started working on some of the sprites, they are similar to the previous game. However, since that game was a school project originally, it had to be done in a way that was less time consuming. However, I like the art style enough, that I will keep it, but will update it more in the future to look more presentable. This is what it looks like for now: With all this in mind, I think I could do a game of this scope, and considering the engine, I think I have become accustomed to how it works. However, I've read it's best to keep things small, which I agree with. I do think it depends on what you're working with too. Although every game engine is hard to learn, some have a much more higher learning curve than others, and you may learn faster from others as well. However, I think that with how the artwork looks, and the engine it uses, along with the coding, I think I can do a game of this scope. Thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
| Blind Mind Studio open-sources the game Star Ruler 2 (4X) from 2015 Posted: 27 Jul 2018 10:31 AM PDT |
| Would Love to Meet Other Game Devs in Tokyo Posted: 27 Jul 2018 12:15 AM PDT I am looking to meet other active game developers in Tokyo. Would love to swap war stories and experiences. I have one active indie game running and previously worked at a large Japanese game studio for years but don't have too many people to grab beers with in the industry. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2018 08:59 AM PDT Ok so I'm a newer broadcaster and content creator. I broadcast on Twitch and YouTube Gaming. I'm just so bored with fortnite, pubg and and all of those over saturated games. I have also recently started working on designing and creating my own old school rpg. I thought about Doing retro replays and build a game days. Basically retro replays will be a fan or viewer could donate $1 to pick an old school game from sega, snes, or nes that I play for an hour. Build a game days will be days where when I work on my game on my broadcast and donations could get people's ideas, characters, or shops, and side stories into my game. I want to build a broadcast/stream that involves my viewers, not just have them watch, but actually involves them. I want to be a show for the people not for myself. I enjoy making people laugh and smile, I want to make them think, and I want to get people to appreciate video games again. What do you all think? What would you like to see in a broadcast? [link] [comments]  |
| Feedback Friday #299 - Fresh Concepts Posted: 26 Jul 2018 07:27 PM PDT FEEDBACK FRIDAY #299 Well it's Friday here so lets play each others games, be nice and constructive and have fun! keep up with devs on twitter and get involved! Post your games/demos/builds and give each other feedback! Feedback Friday Rules: Suggestion: As a generally courtesy, you should try to check out a person's game if they have left feedback on your game. If you are leaving feedback on another person's game, it may be helpful to leave a link to your post (if you have posted your game for feedback) at the end of your comment so they can easily find your game. -Post a link to a playable version of your game or demo -Do NOT link to screenshots or videos! The emphasis of FF is on testing and feedback, not on graphics! Screenshot Saturday is the better choice for your awesome screenshots and videos! -Promote good feedback! Try to avoid posting one line responses like "I liked it!" because that is NOT feedback! -Upvote those who provide good feedback! -Comments using URL shorteners may get auto-removed by reddit, so we recommend not using them. Previous Weeks: All Testing services: Roast My Game (Web and Computer Games, feedback from developers and players) iBetaTest (iOS) and Indie Insights (livestream feedback) Promotional services: Alpha Beta Gamer (All platforms) [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2018 07:24 AM PDT Hello gamedevs. I'm a music producer and have been for about 7 years now, have some label releases to my name in Electronic Dance Music and I've always kept floating around different genres from orchestral to metal to stay subtle. My goal is to make music for games since that's what I wanted to do when I started, and to this day, still wanna do. Any tips for getting myself out there? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2018 07:21 AM PDT Say, I have a question from a n00b about Modular environments (ME). I think the concept is great, it can change my life for a long time. It simplifies UV unfolding, texturing, level construction...In short, I see only advantages. But I'm not sure I understand the concept. Does that mean I can create a 2x2 piece of floor, a 2x1 piece of wall, another 2x2 piece of wall and create a whole environment with that (that would be very cubic but let's pass)? I'll go more: Let's say I want a brick wall. Either I take a texture of brick that I apply to a smooth wall or then.. Or I create a brick, I duplicate this brick to have a piece of wall, and with this piece of wall I can have my wall 10 meters long. It's great but isn't it taking up too many resources? I still have a hard time seeing why this is not a problem. A unified and square floor of 40 m² is 4 vertices. In ME, it's 40 vertices. So, isn't this a technique to be used sparingly? Sincerely, Molina [link] [comments]  |
| Where should I promote my web game? Posted: 27 Jul 2018 07:10 AM PDT Hi! I've developed a simple website where people can guess movies from the emojis, but when I've tried to promote it, some people alerted me that's actually a web game. To be honest, I didn't thought this way at the beginning, but I agree now, even though it's not the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about web games. So anybody here has sugestions about places where I can promote this kind of "game"? Thank you in advance! P.S.: Sorry if this post doesn't belong here. [link] [comments]  |
| Need tips on how to learn more about game making. Any advice is appreciated Posted: 27 Jul 2018 06:16 AM PDT I just wanted some tips to begin really investing some hours in learning basic game development. I've spent some hours making a little experimental game with MonoGame framework on Visual Studio 2017, since it's the environment that I'm most familiar with, and it's going great! I've had a lot of fun (and a bit of frustration with the math side of things) making a little spaceship fly around with the press of some keyboard keys. But I feel like the MonoGame framework won't really be enough for me to learn anything more than just the framework itself. I'm just having fun building some mechanics for my project, and thinking of future mechanics I want to implement and making notes of how to implement them, and feel they are easily accomplished with MonoGame, since it's just a framework for C#, and I'm already really familiar with the language. I'd like to step up the complexity, skip these beginner, really basic, steps. I know the syntax, and I'm starting to understand the logic of game dev (frames updates, draw events, input handling). Should I make the (big) step to Unity? Or just keep building nice mechanics and fun little games in MonoGame? Is there a step in the middle of these 2 options that I should consider? Right now I'm sticking with 2D, kind of black and white games, since the design part isn't really a focus to me, I want to learn to make game mechanics, and only then invest time in making it look good. So keep in mind 3D is not really a goal in this case. Any opinions, tips or advice? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Book: "Crushing Hyper Casual Games" Posted: 27 Jul 2018 07:34 AM PDT Hi guys anyone bought this book recently ? https://go.buildbox.com/hyper-casual/?utm_source=Facebook2&utm_term=PopCountries-M27-FamousEntre-All Is it worth reading or just cross promotion for Buildbox software ? Thanks [link] [comments]  |
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