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    How I animate a character (with limited art skills!) - Breakdown in comments!

    September 24, 2020

    How I animate a character (with limited art skills!) - Breakdown in comments!

    How I animate a character (with limited art skills!) - Breakdown in comments!

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 06:33 AM PDT

    Creating a Lens Flare Effect (link to resources in description)

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 01:19 AM PDT

    Valve developers explain how to get your game on the front page of Steam - Youtube

    Posted: 23 Sep 2020 03:01 PM PDT

    Blender 2.91 Stylized Axe Sculpting Tutorial

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 04:05 AM PDT

    Steam Curators wanting me to send keys because sending via curation is limited? I'm going to assume bogus and better to send via Steam Curators, but anyone in the know?

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 05:34 AM PDT

    To the above, but with a bit more detail, I received an email asking for several keys for curator group. They have two, one written in English the other in their first language.

    They have an option to send to the group's our via email. They prefer emailed keys as the curator system is limiting?

    I'm not going to be emailing the keys to this random curator group but can anyone please enlighten me on the system?

    submitted by /u/centaurianmudpig
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    Do you worry that people won't play your game and it flops?

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 10:47 AM PDT

    I know its worst case scenario but do you guys ever worry about that? as in, you put so much love, effort, time and money into your project and no one even bothers to check it out? This is what is holding me back from being serious about developing my own project, right now it is kind of a side gig that I use to help me focus on something productive. I'm just wondering if anyone else has the same fear that you could put so much effort into your project only for no one else to even care or talk about it, which I find quite scary. How do you feel about it? am I right in thinking that that kind of reaction is to be expected, and you shouldn't be doing it for the attention of others anyway?

    submitted by /u/TransportationNo8275
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    Have you ever tried to design the UI of a business simulation game? Here are the challenges we faced.

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 09:31 AM PDT

    Have you ever tried to design the UI of a business simulation game? Here are the challenges we faced.

    So, my team and I have been working on a business simulation game and I thought to share with the community, some of the challenges we've faced in developing a User Interface that works for the game, and how we tackled them.

    To give you a little perspective, The game is a single & multiplayer, turn-based food truck simulation game. The goal is for players to fulfill their entrepreneurial dreams by building a successful food truck company that sells burgers and drinks. Players begin by choosing a capital city to play in. Then, armed with a single food cart, they pick a location where they intend to start their business. To succeed, players must grow their business by making smart decisions based on weather and economic conditions, customer preference, unexpected occurrences, and stock cost/availability.

    Developing a User Interface that would fit the game was tough. As we brainstormed, it quickly became evident to me that this was going to take longer than we anticipated.

    The game is part of a series, and due to the goal of the series, we wanted players to focus on the game's management and business decision-making side. So, we decided to go for a 2D environment within the game. Players can change locations and can only move in pre-selected locations within the game. Their customers, however, enjoy much more mobility.

    We sacrificed the typical tycoon style building and extensive 3D navigation for the ability to provide players with an expansive view of the data they would require to strategize and make more business-related decisions.

    ​

    Implementation of 2D Environment

    This sacrifice quickly produced two new and significant UI design challenges.

    The first was to ensure that the players don't get lost or confused with several different decision-making popups showing up on their screens. Although we are aware that our players would probably appreciate a level of complexity in the UI, because games like Stellaris, Oxygen Not Included, and Europa 4 have very complex UI systems, I still thought we should tread carefully.

    We eventually decided to streamline it to a very functional UI designed in a way that allows players easily navigate through all the decision-making processes. A pointer in this direction was that we came across repeated requests, during the game's pre-development research, for a single location where players can see all the data and make all the top-level decisions. We implemented this by creating a stand-alone interface called the Dashboard UI. Here, players can see all the top-level data they require to make quick decisions when the business day closes.

    We separated the Dashboard UI from the core gameplay area, where the real action is. In the core gameplay area, players create their recipes, make inventory purchases, buy stands, change locations, upgrade their staff skills, etc. I made sure we balanced the design so that the overall cursor movement is as minimal as possible. I think we managed to crack it because, currently, with just one look, players know where everything is.

    ​

    Preview of the Dashboard UI

    Also, because it's a business game, we wanted to have the accounts section always present. This way, players always know where they stand financially. However, I wanted it to be contextual so that, depending on the view you were looking at, you'd see the relevant financial information for that view. For instance, if you were looking at the City view, you'd see accounting information for your whole City. But if you were looking at a locality, you'd have accounting information for that locality.

    Successfully implementing this financial contextualization in the UI is still a work in progress. I am sure sometimes the team wants to shoot me for being so particular about this.

    The second significant UI design challenge was how to make the interface more intuitive. The game has so many interactive elements; hence, players need to identify what's clickable or not quickly. This consideration ultimately ruled out a flat UI for us. Instead, we went for a design style called Neuomorphism. Because Neuomorphism is still a trending design style as at the time of this writing, I am anxious to see how our players react to our implementation of the concept in a business simulation game.

    ​

    Our Implementation of Neuomorphism

    Finally, Icon design is also proving to be a tough nut to crack. We currently have over 120 icons in the game, with more to come. Because it is symbolism, we have to make sure everyone in different countries and cultures can interpret them. The icons are going to be easier to interpret on PC because of the hover detail. But I can already tell it is going to be a challenge in the mobile version. We are hoping to get more feedback about this during the testing phase, though.

    I'd love to know what you think and what other approaches we may have tried out. Please share your thoughts in the comments. Thanks!

    submitted by /u/We_Visionaries
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    Beginner's Guide to Easily Model & Texture Handpainted Props

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 06:03 AM PDT

    Where do developers get inspiration from mainly?

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 11:37 AM PDT

    Is it shows, books or movies that game devs get inspiration from for a game?

    submitted by /u/DALLAVID
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    Minecraft building with chivalry combat

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 11:37 AM PDT

    Hi there,

    I'm currently working on the combat demo for a game in which the building is resource based like minecraft and very intricate, but with the delicate combat system and graphics that are heavily polygons based. A nice medium between minecraft and chivalry.

    The terrain is divided into hexes about 20m across.

    The difference between this and rust is that to take someone else's land (hexes) you declares war.

    The defender sets a price to pay each mercenary and a minimum guard cap. This price is then dickered to the server and a pitched battle ensues over said territory. If this can't be met by living players it will replaced by npcs with a difficulty dependent upon the gold put forward by the lord.

    Customisable clan system similar to gulf wars dictates who can build in what hex etc.

    And build rights are dictated by the ruler of said hex, unless it is taken over.

    There you go lads.

    Dan

    submitted by /u/NorthOfNoSouth
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    Bringing a Game to Japan: the Biggest Do’s and Don’ts

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 07:43 AM PDT

    Bringing a Game to Japan: the Biggest Do's and Don'ts

    If a game development company wants to succeed in the Japanese market, it is important to understand the trends that have emerged in recent years. So, what exactly changed and what do Japanese players crave now?

    This article highlights the state of the game industry in Japan:

    https://medium.com/@Alconost/video-game-japan-dcd3f8295c3

    ​

    https://preview.redd.it/evzdxtc514p51.png?width=602&format=png&auto=webp&s=9c8797c21252ada6c74143136c5b89eb481772a5

    Some most important things to keep in mind:

    • choosing the right genre
    • the right tone of voice and other rules
    • sensitive topics
    • tools and references
    • English wording

    Bw, guys, what other considerations did you keep in mind when targetting the Japanese game market?

    submitted by /u/alconost
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    The Golden Guide to Landing a Developer Position

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 11:07 AM PDT

    For anyone that's looking for software engineering role, this guide will come in handy.

    The Golden Guide to Landing a Developer Position

    submitted by /u/Noonow
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    Making Assets with Forward Thinking (more details in the comments)

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 11:03 AM PDT

    Dipped my toes into the ocean but it was cold - The Beginner's Postmortem

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 08:17 AM PDT

    The full text can be found here: https://steventus.itch.io/chronoguyandthefabledtimecup/devlog/180271/dipped-my-toes-into-the-ocean-but-it-was-cold-postmortem-of-my-first-ever-polished-game

    ​

    I'll just keep the shortened version here for those short on time:

    This is a postmortem of my first ever polished game - so it's not even a commercial-status game. Nevertheless, I seek to learn from every single experience. This post-mortem documents the few things I begin to internalise.

    They may sound obvious, and they will, but this is mostly for myself to really let the things I learn sink in.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    What went right?

    • Game Design

    I went into this game with a central ruleset I designed around: Everything that moves, can be moved back. As it is a puzzle game, I made it my mission to also design every single interactable to correlate with this ruleset.

    In choosing a new object in V2, I made sure to add something that always contribute to this ruleset. This gives the player a sense of learning new things, even when they are exposed to the same mechanic.

    • Code Architecture and Programming

    Inheritance is good. Make sure to build good parent-child code relationships.

    • The Perfect Execution of an Idea

    You can have very similar ideas, but more often that not, a good game really just requires good execution - and that lies in the game design (balancing, game feel/juice, etc.), marketing (generating good hook/ good trailers), and fun factor.

    Could be more, but this is what I learned for now.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    What went wrong?

    • Audio/Graphics

    It can be argued that the jam version was just programmer-art territory, but it doesn't change the fact that my game had very little plays during the jam. Any game can only shine well with good art (or at least, a good cohesive art style)

    • QA

    I had no playtesting - from jam version and post-jam version. During submission, there was a game breaking bug - bad!

    I need to work on being less afraid.

    • Marketing

    Marketing is hard - but essential. I started posting around reddit, imgur, twitter, itch.io community forums a bit too late during V2 development.

    • Scheduling

    More prevalent issue in post-jam production, I introduced scope creep and prioritised the wrong things to work on. I need to be more careful.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    What I learned?

    • Visuals-First Development (Marketing)

    I think this will be good for indie game development, it leaves room for organic community growth throughout the game development phase. This is something the creator of the First Tree did.

    There are numerous problems with this form of development (issues with software architecture for instance, or risk of unused assets) but cons outweigh the pros in my head.

    • Scheduling with Context

    We always must learn to estimate, no matter how difficult. Building this game gives me some more context to my capabilities of work per week, and hence, I feel I can better estimate projects.

    I will work on more smaller scale projects and measure how close I am in estimation etc.

    • Making good impressions

    Art and trailers are the two most crucial thing to get players to play your game. Make a good first impression! These can be concepts like: "First 5 seconds of a trailer must be a good hook", "Create good game hook" etc.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I'm a beginner game dev and this will document the first of potentially many post mortems I plan to write about the games I made. I hope at least one of you can take away something from this, even if it seems obvious.

    Have a good day!

    submitted by /u/Glissile
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    I made an article about how my first game ever failed.

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 09:47 AM PDT

    How hyper casual games are winning the mobile market

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 12:23 AM PDT

    A new genre of games, dubbed hyper casual games because of their super simple gameplay, has taken the mobile game industry by storm. Games of this category are dominating charts, successfully beating other, more complicated games.

    • The latest stats of top hyper casual game companies

    The success of these game formats is evident in the numbers. The highest number of mobile game downloads last year was bagged by a Paris based startup called Voodoo. You've probably already heard about them, especially if you're a mobile gaming enthusiast. They're the company behind highly addictive games like Helix Jump, Aquapark.io and Paper.io. Founded in 2013, the company has to date amassed more than 3.7 billion downloads by more than 1 billion players — no mean feat, considering how saturated the mobile gaming industry already is.

    Make no mistake though, hyper casual games aren't just a fad that will fade over time. These games are here to stay — a fact made all the more evident by Zynga's $168 million acquisition of Istanbul based Rollic Games, a fast-growing, hyper casual mobile game company whose games have garnered more than 250 million downloads.

    • Short and quick creation process

    The key behind the success of hyper casual games lies not in their quality, but rather their quantity — the sheer volume with which these games are pumped out onto the market every week. Rather than having their games undergo the costly and lengthy processes of testing, improving and refining, companies build these games cheaply, assigning only two or three people to each app. Since such games don't use complex graphics or gameplay, they're ready within a couple of weeks.

    Speaking on the short and quick creation process of these hyper casual games, industry specialist Stephane Kurgan, the former chief operating officer at Candy Crush makers King, said, "They have done to Candy Crush what Candy Crush did to traditional PC games." He further added, "The barrier to entry is very low, and it's highly capital-efficient." This, combined with the saturation of the market, makes the competition in the mobile gaming industry massively fierce.

    Paul Murphy, a partner at venture firm Northzone and the CEO of mobile games company Dots, told Tim Bradshaw, Global Tech Correspondent at the Financial Times in a recent article, "The cost of building games is dropping and therefore people can put out games really quickly and cheaply."

    He further added, "Because you can get something out there for little to no effort, in hyper casual, there is a lot of crap, and a lot of clones, and a lot of clones of crap."

    • Quantity and quality override life cycle

    One important thing to note here is that developers do not create these games with the hopes that users will still be playing them in the years to come. No, gamers are bound to get tired of such games and uninstall them once the initial charm and novelty of the concept wears off — and developers do realize that. That's why they don't exhaust all their resources, trying to maximize the quality of one game. Instead, they aim to put out one title after another in order to achieve profits through download volumes.

    ​

    Ads characteristics

    I analyzed a number of casual game ads using SocialPeta, I have summarized the following common hyper casual games ad characteristics that were observed in nearly all of them:

    1) True to the nature and format of these games, the ads used to market hyper casual games are also highly simple and straightforward — yet effective. They reflect the simplicity and ease of the game itself.

    2) The best way to market and attract players is by giving them a glimpse of what these games have to offer, and successful hyper casual game ads do just that — — by using a screen recording of the gameplay as a video creative.

    3) Instead of making use of elaborate and fancy visual tactics to help grab the viewer's attention, the ad videos for hyper casual games directly show how the game is played. They highlight a quick gameplay video and very subtly (yet effectively) incorporate the best visuals and features of the game to capture the attention of the viewer.

    4) The advertisements for hyper casual games make it a point to show the players going through the game smoothly and almost effortlessly, thus making the ad audience think that the game is easy to play and would make them feel satisfied. This inspires the user to download the games.

    ​

    I hope that this article has helped you in understanding the fact that why hyper casual games are getting popular day by day. If you've any queries, please don't hesitate to ask in the comments section.

    submitted by /u/FionaLooong
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    Added Classic RTS Base Building Mechanics!

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 12:00 PM PDT

    Need some piece of advice.

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 11:58 AM PDT

    Hello guys. So today i decided to make my first game in unity, i don't know anything about programming or making games or stuff, so i'm just following a tutorial in youtube step by step. So, please guys can you give me some pieces of advice to carry on. Oh also i'm student so i'm afraid of not having time to create.

    So please tell me all what i need to know ! Also feel free to dm me if you want to give me some advice.

    submitted by /u/Indiedev59
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    Hey y’all, have you ever taken inspiration from a story-oriented game and wanted to make your own? We've got another week-long game jam coming up next month for you! Mark your calendars and register now ��✨ Join link is in the comments! ✍️

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 11:58 AM PDT

    Represent many (many !) units in a Risk-like game

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 11:50 AM PDT

    Hi ! I'm developing a turn based game in many aspects similar Risk (but obviously much better).

    Players can mass troops one tiles. In the early stages of the game, it would somewhere between 1 and around 10, but later on it could be much more (maybe 10000 or so).

    One obvious way to represent these troops is using numbers. But that doesn't convey that great feeling of power that a big army gives. Icons also doesn't work well, as when you zoom out, it gets messy, unless you fall back to numbers...

    Do you guys&gals have some ideas on ways to do this ? Either from other games, or from other media ?

    Thanks !!

    submitted by /u/redlegoreng
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    Tessellation snow prototype using unity built-in shader in Cg programming language.

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 11:49 AM PDT

    i just finished a test beta thing for my multiplayer fps i recently added wallrunning and baked lighting(sorry for bad quality my computer is bad)

    Posted: 24 Sep 2020 11:40 AM PDT
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