I have developed a hight performance volumetric particle system that can handle up to 55K units, inside my own C++ engine |
- I have developed a hight performance volumetric particle system that can handle up to 55K units, inside my own C++ engine
- PSA: Construct 2 secretly embeds a unique code in your game that can be used to identify you
- Free legal AMA, with your pal, VGA - and my new partner, Allison Rothman! Come ask any legal questions burning a hole in your mind.
- We're making an MMO out of a user interface! 80 Level just published my article about it.
- A new way to think about the "1 Man Indie Dev"
- Game development in 1990s
- I'm thinking about going to GDC job fair
- How To Create A Simple Pause Menu In Unity - Beginner Friendly Tutorial
- Processes and tools we used to manage and release a commissioned game
- Gumgem: story of a cute platformer game with procedural generation
- Custom Editors Tutorial | Unity 2018
- Quadspinner Vue (a tool to create realistic environment) becomes open source
- Any Black Friday gems everyone here should know about?
- A collection of free public domain artwork that can be downloaded in high quality
- Blender 2.8 Simplify Sculpting Brush
- How does one go about hiring the right 3D modeler?
- Server for turn based game.
- Portfolio that got you the job
- What are some pointers for a teen wanting to start developing as a passtime?
- Making a dynamic radial menu
- Beta-testers wanted to play 7 minute long mobile game today! Create a free personalised art work!!
- Stop Trying To Create A "Successful" Game.
- Quickest way to make an idea become real?
| Posted: 13 Nov 2018 03:12 AM PST |
| PSA: Construct 2 secretly embeds a unique code in your game that can be used to identify you Posted: 13 Nov 2018 07:23 AM PST I was experimenting with Construct 2 when I came across a variable in c2runtime.js (the runtime that every Construct 2 game uses) that didn't seem to be referenced by anything else: window["_c2hh_"] followed by a 40 character long hexadecimal string, which I worked out is your license key, SHA-1 hashed. This is embedded in every game you export, meaning Scirra, the developers behind Construct 2, can uniquely identify whoever exported a game by cross-checking their database of names and license keys and the hash embedded in your game. This also means if you publish multiple games under two different names, for example, then the unique code in them would be the same, allowing both identities to be linked. You can see of this for yourself pretty easily: export your game, open c2runtime.js, CTRL+F find "c2hh", note the 40 char string next to it. Then find your c2license.txt, and copy the long string of numbers and letters after "Hash: " and paste them into a SHA-1 hash generator such as this one https://passwordsgenerator.net/sha1-hash-generator/ and you'll notice both the code in c2runtime.js and the SHA-1 are the same. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 13 Nov 2018 10:17 AM PST Very excited to be back here with the community that helped kickstart my solo law firm, and that I've been honored to be part of these past five years. Now I'm even more excited to announce my new partnership with /u/adrothman (Allison Rothman) and we look forward to continuing to help the indie community and be more present here for these AMAs. For those not familiar with these posts, feel free to ask us anything about the legal side of the gaming industry. We've seen just about everything that can occur in this industry, and if we're stumped we're always happy to look into it a bit more and get back to you. Keep things general, as we're ethically not allowed to give specific answers to your specific problems! For issues too specific to answer here, we always offer free consults and are always happy to help. Check us out at www.morrisonrothman.com ! Now that said, let's get rolling! DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this post creates an attorney/client relationship. The only advice I can and will give in this post is GENERAL legal guidance. Your specific facts will almost always change the outcome, and you should always seek an attorney before moving forward. We are American attorneys and therefore will be discussing American law. THIS IS ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. Prior results do not guarantee similar future outcomes My Twitter Proof: https://twitter.com/MrRyanMorrison [link] [comments]  |
| We're making an MMO out of a user interface! 80 Level just published my article about it. Posted: 13 Nov 2018 05:11 AM PST |
| A new way to think about the "1 Man Indie Dev" Posted: 12 Nov 2018 05:03 PM PST A question we all have is "what game can I make that will be successful?". Generally we ask this with the assumption it will be completely made by ourselves or with a very limited team. The issue with this is that looking at the statistical data, there is almost no single person successful developers. They exist, but the percentage of solo Devs who ever become successful or even make their money back is less than 0.1% (based off 2017 Indie Dev steam sales). When looking at the data most of the successful "indie Devs" are full time teams of 5-30 people with significant funding. Stop thinking of your solo project as a million dollar break or bust gamble. It's the project that will lead to your first investment, that will grow to a team of 5+ people, that will eventually look like one of those untouchable, successful indie games. You spent 2 years on a game that sold 100 copies? That's good! It shows people are willing to pay for your product. What's the user retention? What are those 100 users saying about your product. Take that data, and those testimonials to an investor. Completing the game is just the first step of a long journey to financial Success. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 13 Nov 2018 11:36 AM PST I'm looking for any articles + books on game development in this era. I'm also interested in the era that transitioned from writing your own tools to commercial / available development tools (engines, direct X). Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| I'm thinking about going to GDC job fair Posted: 13 Nov 2018 11:24 AM PST Hello, I am a college student majoring in Game Design, I was recently told you can get into a career fair and into GDC with a college ID I was just wondering if anyone could verify that but also give me advice on going to GDC and how I should present myself and if I should bring some resumes and a portfolio as well as anything I should try to get out GDC to help me out. Thank you [link] [comments]  |
| How To Create A Simple Pause Menu In Unity - Beginner Friendly Tutorial Posted: 13 Nov 2018 09:52 AM PST |
| Processes and tools we used to manage and release a commissioned game Posted: 13 Nov 2018 07:10 AM PST This is a lengthy post describing the processes and tools a team of six used in managing and releasing a commissioned game, so putting the TL;DR summary at the top:
BackgroundMy name is Joe and I'm the lead developer at 8-Bit Ape. We are a team of six:
In November 2017 we were approached by N-Dream to pitch a game for their AirConsole platform. For those who aren't aware, AirConsole is a browser based gaming platform that that uses mobile devices as controllers. It's a service that provides easy access to local multiplayer games by removing the need for any special hardware. We pitched a multiplayer dungeon crawler that was inspired by Dungeons & Dragons and nineties board games. Players explore dungeons room by room, working together to defeat monsters and managing their inventory and skills on their mobile phone. I thought it might be interesting to share the processes and tools we used to manage and release this game! Building a prototypeN-Dream seemed excited by the pitch and commissioned a prototype. We were busy finishing another project so asked for a month or so to get the prototype finished. It was a very basic demonstration of the core technologies used in the game: the browser screen was a Unity WebGL game and the controller was a simple HTML website. You could connect to the game as a hero and explore a simple dungeon: opening doors, fighting monsters and looting chests on the way. The prototype reused assets from a previous game to help sell the idea. You can see a short video here. N-Dream were happy with the prototype and requested a design document for the full game. Creating a design document with Google DocsCreating the design document after the prototype made sense, as by this point you have a basic understanding of the technologies being used and the feasibility of implementing certain mechanics. We use Google Drive for our documentation to allow easy collaboration. The main sections of the design document included:
Using Google Docs meant that N-Dream could leave comments and we could address in the design document. As an example, N-Dream requested more monster variations. I replied that we could reskin the existing monsters (e.g. Orc, Armoured Orc, Zombie Orc) and easily change their attributes. N-Dream were happy with this approach and it also meant that we didn't dramatically increase the number of unique assets needed for game. Using Google Docs really helped this two way conversation until the design document was signed off. Designing complex features using a GitHub wikiFollowing the completion of the design document and knowing that the project was definitely going ahead, myself and Craig used a GitHub wiki to design more complicated code features. We were using GitHub to store code so just leveraged one of the additional features on the website. This was used to design the controller screens and identify the data that would be sent between controller and screen. The GitHub wiki has nice Markdown so you can add code blocks etc. This was really cool as it meant we could develop the controller and screen separately as we already knew the data we were receiving / sending. Managing tasks in TrelloFor day-to-day project management we used Trello. At the beginning of the project we added cards for each feature to a 'backlog' list with a brief description and link to design doc / wiki as appropriate. As the project went on some of these cards were broken into smaller tasks (we often use checklists on Trello cards which have a nice 'convert to card' option). Everybody was assigned to their cards and we had a basic understanding of everything that needed to be completed. Each sprint we would identify tasks we wanted to complete and add to our 'doing' list. Once completed they would move to the 'done' list. At the end of the sprint the done list showed everything that had been completed and made it easy to communicate this to N-Dream. At the beginning of a new sprint we archived everything in the done list. Tracking milestones with N-DreamN-Dream have created a tool for managing project milestones and we used this throughout the project. I'm not sure if it's built from an existing API or it it's bespoke but it worked really well. Milestones were added for each sprint and other deliverables such as first playable and release. The tool gives a good overview of the project as well as individual milestones. Following the completion of a sprint, we would upload the latest build to to the tool for N-Dream to review and give feedback. Sometimes the feedback would be as simple as 'Awesome progress! Looking forward to the next build' other times there would be a huge list of deliverables added to the milestone. Most of the time the feedback was 100% fair and we would go ahead and add extra tasks to Trello so it would be implemented. A lot of the feedback helped polish the game or identified small issues with the core gameplay loop that were easily fixed. A few times we stuck to what we delivered, for example N-Dream initially weren't happy with the 2D art in the promo images and requested 3D renders. I was really happy with the 2D art as the level of detail was far greater than the 3D models. I explained this (with an illustration) and N-Dream seemed happy with this. Some of the feedback resulted in an additional design document that explained some changes to the inventory system. The intended audience for the game is quite casual so N-Dream were worried that the inventory was too complex or not intuitive enough. It required a redesign but we first created an extra design document that outlined the new inventory and how it would work. We used Google Docs again to allow collaboration and after some back and forth we arrived at a design that everybody was happy with (except Craig who had to redesign the controller layout). Testing with HipTest and GitHub issuesAt the end of each sprint we would run some tests on the game. We created our scenarios in HipTest which is a nifty online tool that allows you to create manual tests with reusable steps and actions. The tests were written so they could be understood by anybody running tests, for example:
We had tests for functionality, compatibility, usability and playability and we ran as many as possible at the end of each sprint. If issues were encountered then they were added to GitHub issues and the bug would be managed there. Once all the bugs were fixed we uploaded the new build so N-Dream could review. A few times we uploaded with outstanding bugs as they would take too long to fix and extend sprint. This was always clearly communicated to N-Dream so that if they encountered the issue they wouldn't waste time recording an issue we were already aware of. Once the game was feature complete then we sent the game to a trusted selection of people for playtesting. This caught a few bugs but the main aim was to ensure that the game felt balanced from start to finish. It takes about 8 hours to playthrough the full game and as you can imagine, we spent a lot of time testing! We must have done a fair few builds with minor changes to room layouts and enemy placement. This was probably the most exhausting (but also most exhilarating) part of the project. Every small change took the project one step closer to being ready for release! Releasing the gameWith the game finally ready for release we just had to upload the latest build and make it live! This is always terrifying but launch went smoothly and only one bug was found alongside a couple of minor JavaScript issues. AirConsole traps JavaScript errors and reports on them so you can see how many users are affected. This is really useful and you can prioritise issues to fix. After a week of being released the game hit the front page of Reddit following a post to r/gaming. The post was created by Alice from N-Dream and featured a really nice offscreen video showing how cool it is to use mobile phones as controllers. The game is currently one of the top ranked games on AirConsole based on retention, player numbers, session length and user rating which is awesome! ConclusionsThe game has been out for a month and we've had a chance to reflect on the project as a whole and how we managed it. Overall we think we did pretty well and N-Dream told us they were very happy with the project. I'd like to mention that working with N-Dream was really great. The AirConsole API is very well documented and they have a tonne of resources available on their developer website. Additionally they spent a lot of time playing through different builds, providing very clear and detailed feedback. I don't think the game would have turned out as well without their feedback. They're also a friendly bunch! If anybody is interested in pitching them some ideas then take a look at their game funding page. So what have we learned and how are we going to apply this to the next project? Overall we're happy with the approach we took, but there are a couple changes we're testing with new projects. The first is to abandon Trello for task management and try using GitHub project boards. This keeps tasks and issues in one localised place and means you only need to search in one place. The GitHub project boards seem a little more feature rich now so interested to see how this goes. The second is to implement some automated testing to save time later in project. We need to write something that will spew up a level, add some AI controlled entities and let them interact with things. I'm interested to see how the NUnit Unity Test Runner works, so looking forward to trying this out. I'm aware that not everything can be automated, but if even a few features could be covered by automated testing it will save time on the project and increase overall quality. I think that's about it! If you got all this way, thanks for reading and I hope it was interesting and helpful to you. I haven't really talked much about the tools we used to actually create the game (AirConsole, Unity, UniRx, UniRx) but maybe that's for another post if there's interest. In case you are wondering about the game itself, it's called 'Dungeon Crawl' (yes, it's a super generic name) and you can play it for free in your browser! [link] [comments]  |
| Gumgem: story of a cute platformer game with procedural generation Posted: 13 Nov 2018 06:41 AM PST Hi everyone, in the last days I released my new game, Gumgem, on itch.io. I'm here to talk about the making of the game and to get feedback from other developers. So, it all started with the A Game By Its Cover 2018 game jam, I decided to make a game for it and chose this cover. The idea of a gummy kingdom and the presence of gummy bears as enemies was already there since the first days of development, together with the concept of a procedurally generated castle each time the player starts a run to save the prince. This was the first mockup: First mockup of the game. Temporary graphics and UI based on the first design idea. Later I started creating several sizes of the gummy girl to see which one I liked the best: There were 9 versions, I ended up choosing the 6th one starting from the left. What was not yet very consolidated was the primary mechanic of the player character. Absorbing items, the weight would have made you heavier and and able to stomp certain objects. Then I started testing other mechanics, such as melee attacks against mannequins and temporary enemies: Melee attacks, grounded jab and air attack. In the Meantime I created some Halloween themed assets (when I was still hoping to make the game in time for Halloween), then passed through a prototype of a grappling hook thanks to the stretching of the player's arms: After those prototypes, I worked on outside graphics and gummy bears, and implemented a final mechanic, the classic dash: Dash attack, backwards jump and hit feedback. This was the mechanic I liked the most, and for this project I sticked with it. First tests of the castle areas system. Physics to spiders, particles, doors and other effects. One of the first versions of the intro cutscene. Boss development, first stage, with bugs. Debugging of the pathfinding system for bats. Overall, making Gumgem has been a fantastic adventure, I tried to give the characters a bit of personality and a nice dose of cuteness and vivacity to the protagonist, and I like how it came out. Hope you enjoy Gumgem and that you find this article interesting even if it doesn't elaborate on the technical side! The evil gummy bear and his minions. I leave here some gameplay footage and a challenge to complete the game in less than 5:25! Beat the game in less than 5:25! Will not be an easy challenge. [link] [comments]  |
| Custom Editors Tutorial | Unity 2018 Posted: 13 Nov 2018 10:26 AM PST |
| Quadspinner Vue (a tool to create realistic environment) becomes open source Posted: 13 Nov 2018 11:45 AM PST |
| Any Black Friday gems everyone here should know about? Posted: 13 Nov 2018 11:39 AM PST It goes without saying a lot of folks here are indie developers or work with small budgets. That being said, has anyone come across any good Black Friday or cyber Monday sales that might help some of us acquire tools that we otherwise wouldn't be able to afford? [link] [comments]  |
| A collection of free public domain artwork that can be downloaded in high quality Posted: 13 Nov 2018 07:44 AM PST |
| Blender 2.8 Simplify Sculpting Brush Posted: 13 Nov 2018 10:47 AM PST |
| How does one go about hiring the right 3D modeler? Posted: 13 Nov 2018 06:59 AM PST Say as an indie dev I came onto some initial funding to hire a guy to make me ~12 character models. If I were in the market for getting some Dark Souls like 3D characters what should I look for and what would be the expected price for each?
Should I expect to pay much more to have it so that the models are made like they are in DOTA 2 where they are in pieces so that modders can make cosmetics for slots easily?
Any ballpark on how long it would take to make such a model and if you are a modeler what would make your life the easiest in terms of concept art? I was thinking sending a back and font of a character drawn by an artist and then a Photoshop of references of what each texture should look like.
Thank you for any responses. I and I am sure many others would be interested in learning what you have to share. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 12 Nov 2018 07:10 PM PST Hey there, I'm trying to develop a card game with a small group(of friends) and I'm the one working on the backend. I have no clue how to work with game backend as I'm originally a backend web developer(node.js or .NET), so I have some questions:
Thanks. Edit: The game will be made as a desktop/mobile app, not a web app, if that changes anything. [link] [comments]  |
| Portfolio that got you the job Posted: 13 Nov 2018 10:21 AM PST I'm learning lighting and i'd like to become lighting artist in the future. But everytime I look at portfolios online of people that are in the industry, it seems that everyone removes their old work and adds something they've done after they've got the job. Can anybody please post something they've had in their portfolio or reel that they've done before applying for the job? It can be everything from models, animation, lighting, FX... Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| What are some pointers for a teen wanting to start developing as a passtime? Posted: 13 Nov 2018 10:08 AM PST To keep things simple, im a teen who wishes to go on doing software development as an adult. I'm currently doing whats known as the "doss year" (Doing nothing, lots of free time) and decided i should start being a bit more productive with my spare time. The only code I know is a smudge of HTML5 and python, and I have a fairly beefy PC so I dont see myself needing any hardware. But where exactly should I start? I'd imagine basic coding would be best, but should I learn something like C++ or learn another language first? and are there any free online courses to teach them, as well as other things such as pixel art and sound design? Ive a lot of free time and not a lot of money (currently under legal working age in my country), thanks for any help ye give :) [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 13 Nov 2018 06:18 AM PST |
| Beta-testers wanted to play 7 minute long mobile game today! Create a free personalised art work!! Posted: 13 Nov 2018 09:55 AM PST I have created an online digital art-making workshop that collects psychological visual data for psychology institutions whilst also rewarding the players with their very own personalised artworks they can download and keep. Your identity/GDPR is protected as we don't take any info from you, only the artwork choices you selected then break this down as a group into social data. The game harnesses word association, archetypal symbolism, mind-mapping, colour psychology through a process called memetic evolution to create a symbolic artwork that represents a certain abstract concept. Testing must be synced as we are testing to see if around 20 people can play it at once! Time the game will commence is 8pm GMT England time. If you are interested in donating 7 minutes of your time in exchange for a free artwork then please comment on this post or PM me and I will take your number then add you to the WhatsApp group. I will then post the link at exactly 8pm. Happy to answer any questions!! [link] [comments]  |
| Stop Trying To Create A "Successful" Game. Posted: 13 Nov 2018 09:46 AM PST All too often I see people continually sharing and creating things just so they can have a big break, They tend to forget that the reason why the most successful games are successful. Its because they came from somewhere personal; Not in the regard of some type of anecdotal story, but something that makes you feel like the first time YOU played video games. Do you think that notch went into making Minecraft knowing he was going to be successful? Do you think the developers of Mario knew they would create a character as memorable as mickey mouse? No. They all created games and worlds because they loved not the success that video games very rarely bring, but how fun the actual game is. stop trying to make the ultimate video game and just focus on one mechanic that feels amazing. Then move to the next. Don't worry about world building or what the game will finally play like, just add features, mechanics, and each piece one at a time. When the World of Warcraft came out in 2004 it wasn't the first MMORPG. It was the first GOOD MMORPG. why? BECAUSE IT CAME FROM THE HEART. It came from this development team that barely had the resources to create a game at that scale, it came from a place of authenticity. You are not some sort of deviation of skill, you are not the next Markus Pearson. or blizzard. You are you. stop making games other people have made and stop trying to make something successful. If its fun to you most likely its going to be fun to a lot of other people, and if you so happen to make something as monumental as Minecraft or world of Warcraft, congratulations. But I can promise you it wasn't because you were thinking of creating something successful. [link] [comments]  |
| Quickest way to make an idea become real? Posted: 13 Nov 2018 09:41 AM PST I have come up with an idea of a 2-D platformer game with vertical scroll I would like to make. It would be a mobile game for Android & iOS. I have experience with unity and UE4, but I feel them to be too overkill for this purpose, so I was thinking in something like a web framework for making cross-platform games. I think that the only requirement is for the framework/engine/library to handle vector graphics (and some transformations on them) and include some physics features. The 'quickest' in the title is because I have no time after my daily job so I would just spend like 1 hour or less every day. I'm really sorry but I'm too off from the current state of the art in mobile gamedev, so I would be very glad if you could help me. Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
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