Something I absolutely love about the way Factorio handles micromanagement |
- Something I absolutely love about the way Factorio handles micromanagement
- Health Bar on Shaders
- Learning to start your next game
- Bored of playing your own game ?
- Free LowPoly Posed Humans
- Unreal Engine 4 Tutorial - Physics Based Rope Using Bones (link below)
- Updating your games for modern Android
- Is it worth my time in 2018 to make a game using only C and SDL?
- What is the use of “ticks” in old and modern video games?
- Breaking into AAA as a game programmer / designer as a recent college grad?
- We made a new, clean, open-source and static re-implementation of presskit()
- Nice overview of xbox adaptive controller
- Zero to Hero Shaders
- Remember MAG for PS3? I want to make a game inspired by it!
- Do you prefer UE4's c++ based system or Unity's c# based component system?
- I want to learn about Game Development using C++, which engines should I use?
- WIP Wednesday #104 - Trouble
- Google play console not updating?
- How Teamwork, Leadership and Culture Drive Results
- How Nyamakop designed Semblance's spongy, deformable terrain
- Next steps for an already experienced programmer
- Generic Weapon Class Design?
- Good resources for learning game networking for beginners
- Reporting an Offsite Scammer to Steam?
| Something I absolutely love about the way Factorio handles micromanagement Posted: 25 Jul 2018 05:38 AM PDT
In games where you build structures, empires etc. micromanagement is always a potential pitfall. If you only have one city, you want to manage it in detail. But what if you have 59 cities? Is it fun to have to go into each one of them and worry about every detail? I think not. As a consequence, micromanagement can be a source of a lot of frustration. The genius behind Factorio's approach is that it takes this aspect of micromanagement and turns it into a way to reward the player. It is tightly coupled to its intense focus on automation. Here's how this works: In the beginning, you dig for resources by yourself. This is slow, and inefficient. Eventually you have enough resources to build something and feed it fuel. Micromanaging would result if you had to do this all the time even after building tons of structures. You'd have to feed all of them fuel etc. But in Factorio, you can increasingly automate processes. You can automate fuel deliveries. One of the earliest automations players typically do is a drill that extracts coal and feeds part of that coal to itself to keep digging, making it unnecessary for the player to have to put that coal inside the drill manually. Right there, potential micromanagement averted. Later on, you can automate more things, like the creation of modules, structures, or the delivery of components throughout the map etc. And even beyond that, with blueprints and construction bots, you can semi-automate the creation of large complex structures. You just select the blueprint, place it, and the bots assemble the structure. The result is that as you progress, the things that you already mastered become automated. This is one reason why Factorio is so good. Having to repeatedly do stuff manually that you already mastered ceases to be fun and becomes a chore. Here, this is completely avoided. I think this is an awesome twist: Because micromanagement is such a chore, gaining the ability to get rid of it makes for a very powerful reward. I am thinking about what lessons can be learned from this. I can think of one for RPGs for example. Suppose you are a level 1 character, and meed a band of low-level goblins. They will whoop your ass. They are a challenge. Challenges are fun. What about a level 80 character? The goblins get mowed down, sure, but they are still in the way, they waste your time. You have bigger goals now. The same goblins that used to be fun to beat are now a chore. So, instead, how about offering an option to threaten these goblins, making them run for their lives? I mean, if a character comes along who's clearly way too overpowered for these low level mooks, does it make sense for them to even try to attack? Alternative, a level 80 wizard could have some spell that just flattens them with one button press (but doesn't do much against tougher opponents). A more Factorio-esque approach would be to conjure minions who take care of lower level enemies. This could scale nicely; as your character grows more powerful, more powerful minions become possible to conjure. This way, a level 10 wizard can "automate" the elimination of level 4 goblins (by summing level 10 minions), but cannot do this with level 20 enemies. A level 80 wizard can, because he can summon more powerful minions etc. What do you think? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 25 Jul 2018 08:02 AM PDT During the development of my game I noticed that showing health as Unity UI is too expensive and sometimes crashes the game. For that reason I rewritten the system using shaders. I wanted to share the idea how you can move your UI or similar stuff to shaders: Health Bar on Shaders If you have any questions I'll be glad to answer them :D [link] [comments]  |
| Learning to start your next game Posted: 25 Jul 2018 09:10 AM PDT I've been poking around here more and more as I haven't had as much time to devote to development as I have to write. I see a similar question asked over and over again that I'd like to help answer, "How do I start development." If you think this doesn't involve you because your game is already in progress, it actually might. I'm a project manager and its my job to initiate, plan, execute, control, and monitor projects. I manage a wide variety of web and software projects as well as develop my own game and participate in game jams as both a pm and developer. The average website I launch is around $100,000 and the more complex ones have been well over $500,000. These techniques work for companies of all sizes from 1 person to 500, you just have to adapt certain parts. Bigger company or more risk, more detail needed. My goal here is to help explain how to start a game by providing a template to fill out for the start of every game you want to make. By the end of this post, you should have a very strong direction and know exactly where to go next, what you are missing, and what is most important. Before we start. This process can be as thorough, or not, as you want. If your game is simple keep this simple. If your game is complex make this complex. A simple game should take 1-3 hours to complete this process and a complex game can take up to a month or more to complete this process. If a particular part isn't important to you, keep it short and 1 sentence. This is a living document and should be changed as your game changes. Starting a new gameThe most common question I see asked is how do we start a game from scratch? Where do you begin? This one is a lot easier than most people might think and the answer isn't deciding what engine you want first or the genre you're going to get into. First thing you should do is open your favorite word editor and copy the following questions into it, then answer them. The title of the document should be "My Game Project Charter." Don't worry about naming your game yet unless you already know what you want. Any time you start thinking "Hey I want to make a game" this should be the first thing you do from now on. Why are you making a game? Do you want to learn? Make money? Have fun? This is critical before you can continue because each answer takes you in a new direction. What do you hope your game will achieve? Will it make people think? Will it challenge players? Will it set a new standard in the RPG genre? Will it make you filthy rich? This is critical because it helps you determine whether you're achieving your goal or not during development. What are the resources you have available and are willing to devote or lose completely? Game development is risky. You have to assume any resources spent are gone forever and not coming back. Are you spending money? Time? Friendship? Are you leaning on your network of friends to help? Etc. List every resource you're willing to spend, and possibly lose, here. Be extensive and creative. People count as resources like: Paul - Developer, Me - Game Design. Are there any timelines you could, should or must meet? This is our first question that helps to start determine scope. Are there any dates you must launch your game by? A convention that will boost sales? An advertising opportunity you don't want to lose? Friends coming over that you want to impress? A date a year from now because you don't know? Pick something because even a guess into the future is better than nothing. It'll help you refine what to include and don't include in the final game. Is there a financial budget? Will there be any money spent on the development of this game? Would you want there to be? Do you need to fundraise for it? If there is a financial budget, who has control over it and how should it be maintained? Do not overlook this one if you have a financial budget. This is really important. Make one person responsible for making sure the budget is adhered to and have them control the flow the best they can. The more people you have the more important this becomes. I suggest using accounting software or at the very least an excel workbook. Describing how to do this is outside the scope of this post. Who am I making this game for? Its okay to say yourself unless you're planning on selling the game. If you're planning on making money this should contain profiles of the people you're interested in selling to. "Frank, 24, loves to play board games and drink craft beers. On the weekends spends 4-7 hours playing his favorite rpgs." Make a few of these just like that and don't worry about being perfect. At least not now. Later on during development we will refine these profiles and use them in our advertising chain as well as help make style and difficulty choices in the game. This also helps decide the tone of the game tremendously. If your target is 18 year olds with extra money and your game is a sophisticated puzzle game, you might be in for a surprise. This is not a step to skip until later. How do you plan on organizing this game? This is mostly for larger games, but helps for all sizes more than you'd think. I highly suggest Trello as its both free and easy to use. I use it very frequently for very large projects with a lot of success, no need to go out and buy MS Project. This is an entire school to learn however and going into detail here is a bit beyond the scope of this article. I suggest researching "How to organize a project with Trello" and "Scrum for video games." What kind of game are you hoping to make? FINALLY! You've made it. You finally get to think about the actual game you're making. Let's keep this focused though. "Open world rpg" is okay but mostly useless. "A story driven rpg where the player can roam around and explore the world or focus on the main quest." Is better. "A story driven open world rpg with story forking like Skyrim. Inventory like Fallout 4. Gameplay mechanics like Dragon Age Inquisition." Is the best. Pack this full of details about the game. Pull from games directly, include links to youtube videos of things you like. This is where you're going to begin developing the feel you want for your game and if you plan on bringing someone on board this will act as a way to get them to see your vision. If someone can't read this and tell you about your game the way you imagine it, revise and make it more clear. What are the unique features of your game? Do you plan on making a RTS / FPS hybrid where one team is 50 human players and the other team is a single player controlling an army? Do you cater to a unique crowd like people with disabilities? Does the game just feel good and look cuter than most? Sometimes the answer is more straight forward than a game mechanic. To be honest, basing a game around a game mechanic can range from a great idea to a terrible one. Don't get caught in the trap of thinking your unique selling point has to be a unique mechanic. Sometimes doing something that has been done, but better, is the best feature. How would you describe the art style of your game? This is not a time for technical descriptions. Describe the art style not the way you implement it. Will it be cute and fluffy? Have lots of clouds and open skies? Scifi and futuristic? Make the player feel like they're home again? Etc. Actually describe the art. This can later be used to make a mood board / pinterest board / folder of photos you think feel the way you want the game to look. How would you describe the story of your game? Will it be a tale of hero and villain? Will it make the player want to cry in the end or laugh? The story should be described just like the art style. If you're talking about how you're going to do it like "multiple choice narratives that fork as you choose different options" you're most likely on the wrong path. What are the major milestones for your game? This is to help you figure out how far along you are later on in development. Completing this document and all other planning should be your first milestone. Then basic pass development, then finished product, then marketing, release. These are the most common but you can change it all you want! Maybe you think adding art is a big milestone. This is really up to you. What will the scope of your game be? This is probably the hardest question to answer because scope as a term can be confusing. Put simply, what will you include in this game and what will not be included in this game. Let's say you're working on a fps and a common expected feature is online multiplayer tournaments. At first, this might not be a realistic goal until you've launched and made money. Sure you want to have multiplayer but multiplayer tournaments will be out of your scope and not included at launch. Post launch you can make a new scope that does include this. A good scope lets you know exactly what you're getting into, and this is the first time you really should be thinking in terms of systems and mechanics. Good Scope Examples: Single player campaign Singe player story Inventory system Quests Standard RPG leveling system (1-100) Reactive enemy leveling (scales with player) Procedurally generated world About 30 hours of content No multiplayer No couch co-op These are all broad right now and will most likely change and be updated during the planning phase later. For now, we're throwing a dart at the board with our best estimates. What are your Constraints, Assumptions, Risks, and Dependencies This is pretty much for the pros only but is always helpful to have. Constraints - What factors will impact delivery of this? Do you only have one developer? Two months? Etc Assumptions - What are you relying on in order to achieve the completion of your game? Betting on frank coming by every day for free? Hoping that your audience likes the game? Risks and Dependencies - What are the biggest risks involved? What must happen before the project can be delivered? YOU'VE MADE IT. Take a break, step away for a moment then come back. That was a lot of work to complete this and you did the best you could right now. Refer back to this document constantly, change it, update it. Put it in your management software like Trello and keep it always in front of you. This is how you know if you're going to go out of scope, if your game looks and feels how you want, and if the decisions you've been making are on the right track. Drifting from the scope / feel of a game happens slowly and is very easy to miss. Its little things overlooked over a long period of time that add up so the less you refer to this document the more likely you are to go over scope. Your next steps are to begin planning your game. This project charter is the beginning and most commonly end of the initiation phase of project management. When you complete this you need to set a meeting / date / time to start planning your project now. This is where your game starts taking shape and looking like a game should. This is where you're going to plan out how the inventory system should work, how the story should play out, how long it'll take to develop specific features, etc. I highly suggest using something like Trello for this part, but teaching it is out of scope for this post today! I really hope this helps some of you out there struggling to find a starting point on your new game, or help some of you refine your current process on your current game. Feel free to ask any questions or add your own take in here. [link] [comments]  |
| Bored of playing your own game ? Posted: 24 Jul 2018 06:29 PM PDT Anyone ? I've been working on this for almost half a year now , and inching towards the release in a month or so and all of a sudden I feel -" is that it ? Will players want more ? Should I add more ?" How do you guys manage this kind of feeling ? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jul 2018 07:19 PM PDT Hey! As always, the packs are posted first on my twitter. Hope you like them and use them in any project! (If you use them send me screenshots! i love to see it) If you want all the packs in one file or specific models for your game i've made a Patreon!, and i would love if you could support me with a dollar there, it would mean a lot! I will always make free packs too. Here's my website if you want to check it out, all of the packs are there too. Includes: *24 Models + 8 different hairstyles (Blends, OBJ and FBX) (The male and female models both use materials, so you can easily randomize the colors!) Past Weeks: License: CC0: Public domain, completely free to use in both personal and commercial projects (no credit required but appreciated). If you have any questions or problems tell me, i also have my Twitter DMs open! I'll gladly help as soon as i can. If you want you can follow me on Twitter. [link] [comments]  |
| Unreal Engine 4 Tutorial - Physics Based Rope Using Bones (link below) Posted: 24 Jul 2018 10:51 PM PDT |
| Updating your games for modern Android Posted: 25 Jul 2018 11:39 AM PDT |
| Is it worth my time in 2018 to make a game using only C and SDL? Posted: 25 Jul 2018 11:03 AM PDT As stated in the title, I've had a concept for a 2D game for a while now that I would like to attempt to put into reality. While I'm decently experienced in C, I only have a cursory knowledge of SDL and game development is pretty new to me as well. I like using C for its speed but obviously it's going to be a lot less helpful for game development. And of course I'm not going to be jumping into this headfirst without trying some simpler projects with the platform first. But is it even worth it to go so minimal or should I just swallow my pride and use an actual engine instead? [link] [comments]  |
| What is the use of “ticks” in old and modern video games? Posted: 25 Jul 2018 08:38 AM PDT Hello, I've been looking into the source code of Rise of the Triad for Linux (Linux port of an old FPS from 1994), and a quick profiling with As far as I understand it, ticks are only used to measure the elapsed time between to markups. Removing the tick-related functions prevents the game from working correctly, so it's an essential part of the software. But so far, I cannot wrap my head around this concept. Does modern video games still use ticks? Was it a common practice in other video games in the 90's? Can someone explain more about the concept and use of ticks in video games in general? Best regards. [link] [comments]  |
| Breaking into AAA as a game programmer / designer as a recent college grad? Posted: 25 Jul 2018 07:19 AM PDT I will be graduating with a Computer Science degree with a Game Design concentration in the Spring, and I would like to have a game industry job lined up by then. Rather than going indie, I would prefer to go into AAA (for both job security and passion). I am wondering what the best practices are for breaking into the games industry through the AAA / non-indie route. My dream companies are Bethesda and Blizzard (long shots, I know), but I am confident in my abilities. Any tips would be greatly appreciated, I am sure there are others in this sub curious about AAA as well! [link] [comments]  |
| We made a new, clean, open-source and static re-implementation of presskit() Posted: 25 Jul 2018 12:18 PM PDT |
| Nice overview of xbox adaptive controller Posted: 25 Jul 2018 08:00 AM PDT |
| Posted: 25 Jul 2018 06:46 AM PDT |
| Remember MAG for PS3? I want to make a game inspired by it! Posted: 25 Jul 2018 11:31 AM PDT Hello Everyone! Long time lurker and first time poster. Since MAG servers abruptly shut down, I feel like a lot of people are looking for something to fill that FPS gap. Other games that are similar to MAG lack the same immersion and customization. There was a special look and feel to MAG and for a long time I've searched and waited for, essentially, a "clone" to come out that would rope me back into the FPS genre. Well, I'm tired of waiting and believe there are plenty of others like me who are not satisfied with the few alternatives we have. My goal is not to get rich off of making a game to replace the best AAA titles, but to create something enjoyable for myself and the gaming community. I want to design this with the community and make features/improvements based on their feedback, something I feel is quickly being disregarded in the game design world. This will be OUR vision not just my own. So now to my qualifications; I graduated university with my degree in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics where I took several game design courses. I've dabbled in Unity, Unreal, Game Maker, etc. for years but have always worked on small projects alone in my spare time. I currently work as a software engineer and have nothing to do in my free time/weekends. I have not chosen a platform to design with or made any commitments yet because I want to decide these things with whomever wants to help. If you are like me and are interested in working on the project with me or would even be interested in playing and being a part of this games community, leave a comment. Any feedback is appreciated(I'm very tough skinned). Thanks! TL;DR: I want to make a MAG inspired FPS and want to gauge interest/gather help. Any feedback helps! [link] [comments]  |
| Do you prefer UE4's c++ based system or Unity's c# based component system? Posted: 25 Jul 2018 09:09 AM PDT So I am interested to know whether you prefer unity's everything-is-a-component system or UE4's only-some-things-are-components system. And why? And another question, do you prefer Unity's coding api or UE4's coding api? For UE4 I mean c++ coding(not blueprints), and for unity I mean the c# api. I'm mainly interested in which system you prefer.(first question) Thx all! [link] [comments]  |
| I want to learn about Game Development using C++, which engines should I use? Posted: 25 Jul 2018 04:30 AM PDT Hi, I'm a beginner in learning C++, but I read game engines are used by programmers to create games. I'm looking for a basic-ish game engine that allows me to use most of what I learn of c++ to create functions / classes to train my skills to create a 2d game. Is there anything that can be recommended? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 25 Jul 2018 11:00 AM PDT What is WIP Wednesday? Share your work-in-progress (WIP) prototype, feature, art, model or work-in-progress game here and get early feedback from, and give early feedback to, other game developers. RULES
Remember to use #WIPWednesday on social media for additional feedback and exposure! Note: Using url shorteners is discouraged as it may get you caught by Reddit's spam filter. [link] [comments]  |
| Google play console not updating? Posted: 25 Jul 2018 04:55 AM PDT Usually my google play console updates after 24 hours. But now it has not been updated for 2 days.I am new to game development and it is my first game and I use to check for update every 5 minutes. So is it common or something went wrong with my game? [link] [comments]  |
| How Teamwork, Leadership and Culture Drive Results Posted: 25 Jul 2018 09:39 AM PDT |
| How Nyamakop designed Semblance's spongy, deformable terrain Posted: 25 Jul 2018 12:47 PM PDT |
| Next steps for an already experienced programmer Posted: 25 Jul 2018 12:33 PM PDT TL:DR: Programmer with a couple of years of experience in game development looking forward for next step in career advice. C++, Maths, OpenGL? Hi everyone, I'm looking forward to take my skills to a next level, aiming to get an opportunity in a company that can help with a relocation in a friendly visa country (e.g Canada, Germany, or Europe in general). And from my previous experience applying abroad I know that you have to excel to truly have a change of a company to start thinking in a relocation opportunity. I already have a couple of published games in which I have been credited and I'm working remotely for a relative big game company, but I truly want to relocate and start fresh in a new country with a more stable job in the near-mid future, so I want to take the following year to polish and learn skills required to accomplish this. I have a degree in Software Engineering, a good level of knowledge in Unity that helped me get into the industry a few years ago and professional experience in web game development, a little of C++ knowledge from a personal project, and even a little bit of console development, but I think is time for me to move to something more challenging and AAA demanding like truly learning C++ and get a more in depth maths understanding. I'm mainly interested in the area of gameplay programming in which I have most of my experience, but graphics programming is also a thing that it's interesting for me but I have never worked on. Also, I'm not a game designer, neither have the interest to build an specific game, I got and have stayed into the industry because I enjoy the challenges it provides, the work environment and the tech, so I'm totally ok in just jumping into some else idea of a game and make it real. So what I would like to kindly ask is, what next steps do you think I should follow? Should I learn C++, and how should I approach it? e.g jump to UE (but what to build?), grab OpenGL (what to build?), join a open-source project, maybe join a hobby team? How you usually like to learn math concepts? You just grab a book and ready it start to end or have a better approach? Do you disagree and have a better idea of what should I jump next or have been in a similar situation? Thanks a lot! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 25 Jul 2018 12:26 PM PDT I'm in the process of remaking my first game, and part of the reason was wanting to redesign the mess of spaghetti that the original was. One roadblock I'm running into is the Weapon class. I've managed to make it fairly general, but the problem is that each type of weapon requires its own class (sometimes two) to define its unique behavior, especially since not many of them are simple projectile weapons. Are there any good tutorials on how to design flexible, generic weapon systems that allow for a wide variety of behaviors? I've been considering finding a way to embed a Lua engine in my game so I can script the weapons outside the game's source code, but I want to know if there is a better way. A good example of what I'm looking for would be Enter the Gungeon or Terraria. These games have hundreds of weapons and items, each with unique behaviors. [link] [comments]  |
| Good resources for learning game networking for beginners Posted: 25 Jul 2018 12:23 PM PDT Hi, I apologize if this has already been answered well. I have made a few simple games and I would like to begin to dabble in having some form of multiplayer that works over the internet most likely in a peer to peer fashion where 1 player is also the host. I was wondering if anyone could point me in a good direction to start the process of learning networking/network programming for games. Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Reporting an Offsite Scammer to Steam? Posted: 25 Jul 2018 12:22 PM PDT Hey All, We recently got a Facebook message from a guy/company called Jump Game offering to let us by wish list requests and reviews. We are trying to find a way to report him to steam, but this seems hard to do since he reached out to us on Facebook not steam. He did send us their Steam Curator and Community Groups so I guess I can report those, but do anyone know of the right way to report this? Thanks for all your help. Here is his google sheet document (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f0WQ-FtoRAoCZ3ov6XAJrCQtEBQjGTGGKTZrL6K9cUU/edit) [link] [comments]  |
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