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    May 22, 2019

    Location-based Occlusion Masking

    Location-based Occlusion Masking

    Posted: 22 May 2019 06:18 AM PDT

    Advice: How to gamedev when you don't have the time.

    Posted: 22 May 2019 04:20 AM PDT

    A common complaint we see is people complaining that they don't have time to gamedev because of work and social responsibilities which is fair, it is important to not put your life into danger when you're starting out into a new career. However, it is quite possible, and potentially even advisable, to learn and develop a game with only a few hours dedicated to sitting in front of your home computer per week.

    ​

    Personally, I can only fit about an average of 2 days a week and 4-8 hours each day dedicated to sitting in front of my computer for coding and designing. As such I make sure that the moment I sit down I know exactly what I intend to do. I do this by making use of the time between sessions in the following steps:

    ​

    I use Onenote saved to my Onedrive so that on my work computer I can add notes for everything that my game needs and I can then open them when I get home later, these start simple like "music" and "animation" but then I slowly add to them more specific details like "Animations: run, idle, jumping" or "need a check in the code for mechanic X"

    ​

    Then I start writing snippets of code in notepad. This saves SIGNIFICANT time when I sit down and open Unity as hours of simple but necessary code have already been written through the week. It also shows me where I need to research more coding when I struggle with certain code snippets which means that the next time I have a few minutes spare I can google or youtube the topic and learn what I need.

    ​

    And then if the problem STILL can't be solved I can mull it over as I commute, shower, cook etc and a day or two later I will have come up with a new approach and start the process over again.

    ​

    Sometimes I just open up paint or just get a pen and paper and start doodling some map designs.

    ​

    Basically, I do all my thinking BEFORE I even open Unity. If you are thinking when Unity is open then you are not using your precious time to it's full potential which is fine if you can gamedev 24/7 but for those like myself that have limited time the first lesson you need to learn is making those hours efficient.

    ​

    More than happy to answer any questions to the best of my abilities in the comments.

    submitted by /u/xavierwest888
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    NVJOB Water Shader - simple and fast. V1.4.1. Available on GitHub.

    Posted: 22 May 2019 07:06 AM PDT

    Why is there a negative stigma around using prebuilt assets?

    Posted: 21 May 2019 10:48 PM PDT

    So here's the deal, Im a married man with a 2 y/o son and another baby on the way. Time isbshort and I dont have the time that I had in college to build a game from scratch (including coding, art, music, etc). I have done this in the past, but more recently Ive discovered Unity and the asset store.

    To save time, I started using pre built templates and modified them heavily to fit my idea. Im a software engineer by trade so manipulating and extending code is second nature. My art skills however arent great. To compensate, Ive purchased most of the 3d assets used in my games. I can turn around a half descent game in maybe 300-400 hours as opposed to thousands of hours if I built from scratch. Being a family man with a day job, I can still build a game every year or so depending on scope.

    Reviews on what Ive built in the app store have been very good, but every now and then I get someone who has an eye for unity assets stop by and give a scathing review based solely on the fact that my art was purchased from the asset store. I can only assume these players are other game devs unless they are really well informed consumers.

    My question is this, why is there such a negative stigma around using prebuilt assets? As a hobby game developer with very little free time, I think they're incredible

    submitted by /u/XKSoftwareDev
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    I wrote an autopilot in Unity that flies a drone around my house

    Posted: 22 May 2019 08:19 AM PDT

    One year of full-time solo development - Lessons to be learned

    Posted: 22 May 2019 06:20 AM PDT

    Hey everyone, my name is Roee :)

    A year ago today is when I started working on my first commercial title - LonelyBond. I've learned a lot in that time, and while I still have a long way ahead of me (since this is planned as a three years project) I'd love to celebrate this occasion by sharing some of the things that I've learned along the way.

    ​

    Buckle up, it's a long one.

    First - Context About Me

    This is not my first game, I've been developing small games for myself and friends ever since I was in the 4th grade (so... 15 years ago I guess).

    Also, I have 5 years of professional software development experience. Since I've been developing games for so long, you can say that I knew I wanted it to be my job for quite a while.

    There are not a lot of job opportunities in gamedev where I come from, therefore I decided quite early on (in the 10th grade) that I will one day create one of my own. I majored in programming and after a few years of work, I saved up enough for me to quit my job and develop games full time.

    ​

    Do know this: I am lucky enough to have supportive parents that let me stay with them. Without them, my burn rate would have been WAYYY higher (and therefore, this opportunity would've been impossible).

    How Did You Decide What Game To Develop?

    As I've said, I've created a lot of small games. One such game is a puzzle game where if 2 objects looked the same you could connect them, and then once you moved one the other would have moved too.

    I left that game and moved on to other stuff, but one year ago when I needed to decide what game should I develop - I found this one to be the one I most gravitate towards.

    But I could not make it just a puzzle platformer. Puzzle platformers are doing terribly in the market right now (at least, when you look at the average/mean of games by genre), therefore I decided to make the game narrative based as well.

    I took a stroll in the evening, trying to come up with something that felt right for the game mechanic, and (after a lot of iterations) it became the story of a group of children that trades puzzles between them and trying to uncover a big mystery in their school, all through the lens of comedy.

    ​

    For me, this is cool because my self proclaimed strengths are programming, game design, and writing.

    Was This A Mistake?

    I want to make one thing clear - I love and believe in my game. I think that it's turning out great, and I am sure that the people that play it will enjoy it.

    That being said - marketing narrative puzzle games is hard.

    Remember when I mentioned my strengths? Visuals and marketing were not listed. Now, if you make a narrative puzzle platformer with a super stunning look (I'm looking at you Gris) - I'm pretty sure you'll do fine for yourself.

    If you are a master marketeer, and know how to push peoples buttons - that's shady and stuff but sure, you have a lot of chance to sell the game in this saturated market.

    But for me? I had a lot of theory that I've picked up through the years (I mean, seriously, if you want to develop a game one day - do yourself a favor and learn everything you can at every opportunity. oh, and subscribe to GDC). That being said, the theory and practice are two different things.

    ​

    Yet here I am, a year later, still working on the project. Is it stupid? Well, time will tell, but I think I picked up some valuable experience throughout this year that keeps the flame of hope alive.

    Focusing On The Strengths

    Do you know why everyone gives this advice? It's because it is true.

    If I'm saying that I know how to program and how to write and design - I need these to be top notch.

    If you are a solo developer (and even if you are not, and are a team of people), you won't be able to focus on everything. Be outstanding at the things that you are good at. That one thing you are outstanding at is the thing that will pull the people toward your game, even if the other parts will be weaker for it.

    ​

    That being said...

    Improve Your Weaknesses

    So the sentence 'focus on your strengths' implies that you can ignore your flaws in other areas, and that is wrong.

    I'm not Picasso and am definitely not Jen Zee (Nor do I intend to be), but still, in this single year I was able to improve my art significantly:

    Current art-style

    ​

    Old art-style

    It's not huge, but I think it is significantly more marketable now.

    Did it take a lot of time to learn? Sure. But you need to decide what is the minimum you are willing to deliver with, even on the things you are bad at (and to be fair, I think now I've improved enough that I pass that minimum for myself).

    ​

    Also, one thing that I cannot stretch enough is - don't let your weakness be marketing. Practice how you talk about your game. Learn the channels you market your game through. PRACTICE YOUR MARKETING UP UNTIL RELEASE AND THAN KEEP ON PRACTICING.

    In this year I've been developing LonelyBond, I've learned how to present this game as more than a "puzzle platformer". I don't even truly use that phrase EVER, because that is not the game! It's a Comedy Puzzle game where you solve the Mysteries of your school with your New Friends.

    It just happens to be in platforming form because that's the way the puzzle mechanic works the best :P

    ​

    So yeah. Market your games. No excuses - git gud.

    How To Manage Everything (and not die trying)

    So yeah, by now you probably realized that this game is no small feat for me. There is a lot to do, a lot to learn, and a lot to redo because of what you've learned.

    Managing to do everything alone is crazy, but possible.

    I've gone through multiple methods through this project for managing my time and expectations, and the things that work best are:

    1. Create short term milestones ("Prototype Iteration V2 until the 2nd of next month")
    2. Breakdown the milestones to the smallest tasks possible, maximum of 2 days work, preferably to ones you can finish in a few hours (Not: "write dialogue system", Yes: "Input system file parsing")
    3. Put deadlines on all the tasks in the current milestone.

    You will hear the first two everywhere, but the third one is the one that did the trick for me. You will get better at evaluating your time for tasks, and you will be motivated to finish and not delay anything (because shit piles up FAST).

    ​

    Also (and this is specific for solo developers), I found it useful to mark certain times of the week to certain tasks (such as marketing). That way no matter how harsh of a deadline you have that causes you to program *all of the time* you will have to do some other tasks as well that are lower priorities.

    The change of pace helps, and it also makes sure you always advance in all areas of your game.

    ​

    I'm still working on perfecting my methods, but if I had done all of this from the start I would've been way ahead of where I am now.

    Also - It's Hard

    If you've read this far, this won't come as a surprise to you - but game development is hard, and solo development is even harder.

    Combine that with missing experience in certain fields, and you have a tough road ahead of you.

    There were a lot of times where I didn't know what to do. "Should I add this feature?" "Is this game even right for me?" "How do I market this thing?", These are all part of the course.

    One day at a time is a thing that is hard to actually grasp. Seeing other developers do amazing stuff can get you down sometimes - and that's normal. I got lucky enough to talk with some fellow developers I met through GDC, and everyone goes through this self-doubt phases, even if they won't admit it to the public.

    ​

    Do your best, and with time you will get to the point where your game comes together. When you are down, talk with friends, see how far you've come. It helps.

    Don't Do This Alone

    Solo dev doesn't mean you should sit with yourself in a room for eternity and do everything by yourself.

    You should learn how to mix with fellow developers (either through events or online, preferably both), help them out and they will help you out.

    ​

    Hopefully, you also have some friends. Use their perspective on things! Brainstorm your ideas with them. Use them to test your game (use people you don't know as well, but true friends need to be brutally honest with you).

    Oh, and actually spend time with your friends every once in a while. It's tempting to always work on your game, but having times off is important for your mental health (which is important if you want to keep working on the game - I've burned out myself once or twice already).

    So In Conclusion /TL;DR

    Solo development is not an easy ride, but it becomes better with time and effort.

    You can do this if you are willing to jump through the hoops and learn.

    ​

    ... Or maybe time will prove me wrong :D

    Either way, thank you for reading all of this, I'm really excited on where me and my game will be by this time next year.

    In the meantime, please subscribe to LonelyBond's mailing list! (I have yet to send out a single email so don't worry about spam).

    ​

    You can also follow me on Twitter, which has some other cool analytical stuff coming to it soon.

    And now if you excuse me, I'm going to continue celebrating this one year of development :)

    ​

    PS: if you have any questions please don't be shy and comment / DM me!

    submitted by /u/kingbladeIL
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    WIP Wednesday #117 - what have you been working on?

    Posted: 22 May 2019 07:53 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

    • Do promote good feedback and interesting posts, and upvote those who posted it! Also, don't forget to thank the people who took some of their time to write some feedback or encouraging words for you, even if you don't agree with what they said.
    • Do state what kind of feedback you want. We realise this may be hard, but please be as specific as possible so we can help each other best.
    • Do leave feedback to at least 2 other posts. It should be common courtesy, but just for the record: If you post your work and want feedback, give feedback to other people as well.
    • Do NOT post your completed work. This is for work-in-progress only, we want to support each other in early phases (It doesn't have to be pretty!).
    • Do NOT try to promote your game to game devs here, we are not your audience. You may include links to your game's website, social media or devblog for those who are interested, but don't push it; this is not for marketing purposes.

    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.

    All Previous WIP Wednesdays

    submitted by /u/purebotg
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    Making Games That Stand Out and Survive - Slime Rancher Dev GDC Talk

    Posted: 21 May 2019 07:11 PM PDT

    Kotlin Game Development with LibGDX

    Posted: 22 May 2019 05:26 AM PDT

    Hi all, I just wanted to say "Java Game Development with LibGDX" by Lee Stemkoski is a great book.

    I've created my own repository on Github where I post the code (converted from Java to Kotlin) and study notes. Maybe check it out and also give me a few constructive pointers on how to improve.

    sincerely,

    submitted by /u/smo776
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    What mobile/web-based games are popular nowadays that get the most attention?

    Posted: 22 May 2019 11:34 AM PDT

    By attention I mean addiction..

    submitted by /u/jamesftf
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    Are Random Event Systems just hundreds of If statements, or is there a better way to implement them?

    Posted: 22 May 2019 11:30 AM PDT

    Im working on a random event system for prices in a store, but in planning for it, the only way I know how to implement it is hundreds of if statements. Things like:

    • IF its raining, demand for umbrellas go up

    • IF the king declared umbrellas illegal AND its raining, raincoat demand goes up

    • IF the festival has come to town, food demand goes way up

    It seems tedious and messy to just use all if or case statements for hundreds of events, some of which may have precursor events required to trigger in the first place.

    Are most event systems put together like this, or what can be done differently to make it cleaner and more digestable in Unity.

    submitted by /u/XxNerdAtHeartxX
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    The Making of Sonic Adventure - How the game was made, the people that made it, and it's place in gaming history.

    Posted: 21 May 2019 11:33 PM PDT

    Post your Discord Servers for GameDev please.

    Posted: 22 May 2019 11:02 AM PDT

    The more active and technical, the better.

    Amplify Shader Editors Discord has been good for me - https://discord.gg/VkpmYgq

    submitted by /u/sloopfacedspiritbear
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    Looking for a good Intro to Computer Graphics textbook

    Posted: 22 May 2019 07:10 AM PDT

    I am running an Intro to Computer Graphics course next year and am struggling to find a decent textbook for students to get into graphics, and was hoping some here might have good suggestions.

    Right now I'm eyeballing a WebGL book to use as most of my students are familiar with JavaScript (language of course at my university is Java but I'd prefer to avoid it if I can).

    I'd honestly love to have a book go over basic graphics concepts in Unity given its current predominance, however everything I've found has been mainly on getting a game up and running, not graphics programming.

    Blender would be a close second for a framework for teaching graphics as well, but all I've really found there is the dense wikibook.

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

    submitted by /u/mrdoktorprofessor
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    Blender 2.8 Modeling Tutorial : Excavator Foot

    Posted: 22 May 2019 10:23 AM PDT

    How does "Oxygen not Included"s tileset work?

    Posted: 22 May 2019 12:46 AM PDT

    Oxygen not Included has tiles that go over the border of the grid and the background image does not seem to repeat. How do they do it?

    submitted by /u/Kaikas
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    Our mid map objectives for The Otterman Empire our current UE4 title and a third person, fast-paced, arena shooter are now fully integrated. A small glimpse of our bombardment objective.

    Posted: 22 May 2019 07:14 AM PDT

    Some footage of my game, feel free to ask questions :)

    Posted: 22 May 2019 06:57 AM PDT

    Good jobs to work while making games on the side

    Posted: 22 May 2019 06:40 AM PDT

    What jobs are good to do while you are working on your games?

    I have heard that doing a programming day job while working on your game is tough as you are essentially spending your entire day on the desk programming. There is a decline in your programming ability by the end of the day and is generally bad for your health.

    What other jobs allow for flexible hours/have some kind of unintuitive benefit whilst developing your side projects?

    submitted by /u/anedevmek
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    What is something you learned recently from another game that you hope to apply to a game you make in the future?

    Posted: 21 May 2019 10:48 PM PDT

    Title says it all really. I play a lot of games looking to see how people make different decisions in the game dev process, and seeing how they work together. I am sure most of the people reading this do the same. It doesnt have to be the most amazing feature or idea ever, it can be something small or just something that stood out that you thought was creative or a fresh approach to a problem.

    submitted by /u/oldaccount29
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    Hey, try this free 2d arcade style game I made!

    Posted: 22 May 2019 11:37 AM PDT

    Please try it, you can download it on my website, its the first download link. You just have to extract the files and click the jar file to run. I programmed this game in Java and did the graphics in Photoshop. It took me about 6 months to complete. You can look at the code and resources here on GitHub.

    submitted by /u/BurntPoptart
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    Music for gaming

    Posted: 22 May 2019 11:04 AM PDT

    Good day, I am a producer and I make custom royalty free music for project and would like to be on your. I work with all budgets and will make high quality royalty free music for your project. Please PM for my contact info and I will get to work on your next project.

    submitted by /u/JuggaKnotBeatz
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    Just a noob asking for help

    Posted: 22 May 2019 06:54 AM PDT

    I really want to make games, i would be lucky if i do it as a job. I'm studying a computer related degree but i'm a long way in doing professional things as all i had for my first year are general courses.

    I just wanna ask where can i start which can help me create my first game(no idea as of what kind of game yet lol) , anything that could help a beginner like me (apps, books, ideas, etc.) Thanks!

    submitted by /u/clareeenceee
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