Let's Push for Twitch to Give Game Development its Own Category |
- Let's Push for Twitch to Give Game Development its Own Category
- Obsidian uses AI voices for their production! What do you think about emotional and expressive TTS in both pre-and post-production?
- Don't worry about making a completely original game - worry about making a good game
- A conversation with Justin Ma, co-creator of Into the Breach and FTL, on game design
- How Nacon Cracked and Pirated The Sinking City - Frogwares
- That "holy **** I can actually make this game moment"
- We made a Twitch Extension SDK and are looking for feedback
- How to create a 2D Arcade Style Top Down Car Controller in Unity tutorial Part 1. Hope you enjoy it!
- Spent $30 on Reddit Ads. These are my results.
- New dev log about how I conceptualized and designed a new boss. Check it out!
- Am I too stupid to learn how to code?
- would this course (in description) be worth it for someone with no coding knowledge to start learning c# for 2d and 3d games?
- Intro to Marketing for Game Devs
- How To Make A Multiplayer Game In Unity - Matchmaking
- UE4 | Featured free Marketplace content - March 2021
- Looking for a game in development which I can test
- Unsure about which tooling
- 5MbG - code and share web games online (hobby project I made)
- Custom Video Overlays
- I may be having a small anxiety attack and analysis paralysis
- Which microphone should I get for sound effects
- Is unreal engine free to use or is it some you pay money to us every month?
- INDIE DEVLOG 02: Cosmic Horror and Voice Acting | �� Invited to a Podcast?
- 2d or 2.5d
| Let's Push for Twitch to Give Game Development its Own Category Posted: 01 Mar 2021 04:29 PM PST
 | ||
| Posted: 02 Mar 2021 09:40 AM PST
 | ||
| Don't worry about making a completely original game - worry about making a good game Posted: 02 Mar 2021 12:26 PM PST "Has this been done before?" People ask this as if they're scared for it to be true. Like they'll scrap their thing if it is true. Like it'll be unsalvageable. I want to reassure you - you're probably fine. It may even be a good thing that there's some similarities so long as you also do take care to also have differences. I'm just some guy. I should note I'm not some big game dev. I'm currently trying (really hard!) to ship a game for the first time. There's additional nuance to this that other people can add that I probably can't - don't put all your eggs in one basket. Listen to lots of different people. Anyway. The games you love aren't completely original either. Once you realize this, you'll quickly realize there's no reason for you to be shy about making a derivative work either. But lets keep talking about it for a minute anyway. Progress is driven by doing the same thing but better. Was the first version of much of anything much good? Generally, no. We've got to where we are as a society by collaborating with others and learning from those who came before us. If something is like your thing, that is great news. That means you can play that game and learn from it instead of starting from scratch and being the person who puts in a ton of effort to make something that isn't particularly good that other people will inevitably come along and refine into something that's a lot more successful. Look at the reviews, look at the feedback they got. If your game is similar, a lot of the feedback may apply to your work as well. Write down common sentiments, play the games (within reason - and mindfully) and see what people are talking about. Form your own opinions. Learn from the whole thing. Learn what the key things that make it good are, where it falls short, look for where it could have done more and figure out where you can succeed where they missed opportunities. People like things like the things they like. One Step From Eden is better off because of Mega Man Battle Network. They intentionally have a similar combat style, and it means that a customer like me gets excited - it's something I've been waiting for. I'd never bemoan that the combat is like MMBN, I celebrate it for that fact and celebrate that it mixed things up by mashing it together with roguelike trappings to focus the game more on the combat and explore it further. "It's MMBN meets the roguelike genre" isn't a failing - it's a pitch to people who like those things - and a really, really good one at that. If something has proven to people that it's fun, and you come along and bring some of the same things to the table - if you make something good and fun - people generally will be excited to say, "Oh, oh, it's like [this thing I love]! Awesome! I wanted more of that." It can be an issue. If you don't expand the concept or do something new, yeah - it could become an issue. "X, but worse. Just play X instead." Isn't a terribly uncommon criticism of games. In other words - don't take this post as, "Just make your game and 100% don't worry about what games are like yours!" Take this as, "Don't be afraid of being similar to other games - be afraid of looking like you've learned nothing from similar games." [link] [comments]  | ||
| A conversation with Justin Ma, co-creator of Into the Breach and FTL, on game design Posted: 02 Mar 2021 07:03 AM PST
 | ||
| How Nacon Cracked and Pirated The Sinking City - Frogwares Posted: 02 Mar 2021 10:34 AM PST
 | ||
| That "holy **** I can actually make this game moment" Posted: 01 Mar 2021 07:23 PM PST Story time. I just had it today, and the dophamine high had me shaking on the edge of my seat. Holy shit, this project can be done. Up until tonight, making my game felt like it was going to be impossible. I'm making a strategy roleplaying game inspired by fire emblem and the main concern was art and animation. I'm a programmer, not an artist, so when I first set out to start this project I assumed 2d would be my best shot at making this game. Makes sense, right? You either draw a bunch of sprites or hire someone to draw for you. Easy peasy, no need to learn a bunch of stuff. 1500 frames. That's no small number. It seems doable at first until you actually realize that number is closer to 5k because let's be real on average every frame is going to need at least one or two revisions. The back and forths with my artist were getting me nowhere. I just knew it in my gut that with the current direction my game would at best sit on the bottom of the steam pile unnoticed and at worst never finished in the first place. I put things aside for a while. I had to reassess, but depression was hitting me hard. This is something I always wanted to do but kept telling myself to just focus on my software dev career. This time it was no different. That is, until I saw a post on gamedev with the announcement of kenney's kenshape tool. The tool itself didn't matter, but my brain started firing off neurons faster than when I lost my virginity. Voxels, of course! That was last week. I searched for the best voxel editor I could find. Magicavoxel did the trick, and I started experimenting. While I have a terrible eye for perspective, even I could put cubes together into something mildly pleasing to look at. I did spend an inordinate number of hours in minecraft, after all! Iteration after iteration I finally settled on a prototype art style, but it didn't feel quite real just yet. After all, I've never animated anything, never rigged a 3d model, and this wasn't just a single character. I needed to rig bodies, heads, faceplates, weapons, armor, wings, tails, what have you. I got that feeling of despair again, but I kept on trucking. Today I have finally adressed the last piece of the puzzle, the last what-if-I-can't thing on my list. From here on out, everything is down to hard work and tooling. It's not much, but I have a fully rigged, animated 3d model with multiple meshes and a single skeleton and a pipeline that's as easy as dragging and dropping. Here it is for those curious. Her name is waifu 6.0, and she won't actually be in the game, at least not in her current state. She'll be a silly sculpture on my test scene that had sort of become a museum of failed prototypes. There's a lot to do from here on out. My 2d prototype was thankfully made with the assumption that I may end up going 3d at some point. But I decided to take on the challenge head on and make sure that everything that could put an end to my project was dealt with right away. And I think that's the message I have to share with you all. If you have a project you want to do but don't know where to start, then begin by assessing what's possible. Don't start making asset after asset or gampeplay system after gameplay system without first figuring out your production pipeline. What can you do that is scalable? How many models/animations/sprites/music/sound/levels do you need to make your game? Sort out those things first, because had I gone ahead and went on with my original plan. I'd be thousands of dollars in the red with nothing but a disappointment to show for it. TLDR: Voxels, man. [link] [comments]  | ||
| We made a Twitch Extension SDK and are looking for feedback Posted: 02 Mar 2021 08:07 AM PST tl;dr: We have released a small SDK for Twitch extensions, and are looking for feedback. Howdy /r/gamedev, we're a small, 4-person team and have worked in the gaming space for a while now. In the past years we've focused on making cool Twitch extensions. The thing I like about our extensions is that they interact with what's shown on screen - for example in CS:GO, we created an extension where you can open the map whenever you want, or in Dota we made one that shows you what the heroes and items actually do, hopefully making the game a little easier for new viewers. It's also a good reference even for experienced players. The SDK Since gaming is becoming more and more community-driven, there will be more and more interaction with a game that's outside of the game client. For example viewing on YouTube, Twitch streams, or people participating in Discord communities. They are already important for games, and I would be more than surprised if those becomes less rather than more important. And for Twitch streams, I think Extensions are an important way to make that interaction better. Besides setting up and maintaining the server infrastructure for the backend, the development of the HTML/CSS/JS frontend is a lot of coding and design work. And talking to a couple of developers, that seemed to be a hurdle even for AAA publishers. The idea for our MVP was simply a smart "wiki" that explains a bit what's on the screen - characters, matchups, maps, special moves, ... Our main goal was to be low-code, so after dropping our library into Unity, you only need like 3-4 lines of code to use it: Then you create the wiki entries in the SDK backend, you tell us where the buttons go, and then you have a working Twitch Extension. The Problem Since releasing our beta last month, only one game is actually using our SDK in production (Rushdown Revolt, a fun indie fighting game). When we try to reach out to other gamedevs cold, we mostly get radio silence, and no feedback - positive or negative. Essentially, I see two possible reasons:
So, I'd love to hear your opinion: Is our SDK just not exciting? Or are we just bad at reaching gamedevs? Is our documentation or website horrible? Does it feel too complicated to use, or is this just something (indie) gamedevs don't care about? Or do you think you want to use this for your next project? And, especially if you thought about making your own Twitch extension: what feature would you add to your Twitch extension, if you had essentially unlimited engineering time for it? So, tl:dr #2: it would be super helpful if you can check out our SDK and give feedback (and obviously use it, if you like it lol). [link] [comments]  | ||
| How to create a 2D Arcade Style Top Down Car Controller in Unity tutorial Part 1. Hope you enjoy it! Posted: 02 Mar 2021 12:23 PM PST
 | ||
| Spent $30 on Reddit Ads. These are my results. Posted: 02 Mar 2021 06:07 AM PST I have spent another $30 on Reddit ads to check how my game is performing. You can find the results here: https://imgur.com/gallery/M0PTWBn According to the interface the ad was seen 137k times and yielded 79 Clicks which corresponds to a CPC of $0.38 which seems pretty bad. The ad was visible on r/xcom and r/pcgaming The copy reads: Run for Cover is a turn-based strategy game with loot, tanks and explosions. Help your team of hired guns to stop Pablo Escobeer! This time around I added a gameplay video to the ad. It's the same video that you can find on my Steam page (http://schifty.de). I confirmed the traffic with Google Analytics. The ad did not yield a single sale or a spike in wishlist additions. I hope some of you guys can use this data to estimate the performance of your game, figure out what I did wrong and what you can do better. [link] [comments]  | ||
| New dev log about how I conceptualized and designed a new boss. Check it out! Posted: 02 Mar 2021 12:01 PM PST
 | ||
| Am I too stupid to learn how to code? Posted: 02 Mar 2021 01:37 AM PST So I'm doing a udemy game developer course, the "Complete C# Unity Game Developer" one, because it was one of the higher rated one, but I'm having a problem - the instructor gives you little tests/challenges every video. I'm at the point where I'm doing the block breaker one, and he frequently gives these challenges and I haven't been able to do more than a handful of these so far. Each and every time he gives one I go "huh" and then I wait for him to show me. It's getting really discouraging. Is this brain damage or what? I have 0 coding experience. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 02 Mar 2021 11:27 AM PST https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/ this is the link to the 2d course [link] [comments]  | ||
| Intro to Marketing for Game Devs Posted: 02 Mar 2021 04:36 AM PST | ||
| How To Make A Multiplayer Game In Unity - Matchmaking Posted: 02 Mar 2021 10:31 AM PST
 | ||
| UE4 | Featured free Marketplace content - March 2021 Posted: 02 Mar 2021 08:07 AM PST
 | ||
| Looking for a game in development which I can test Posted: 02 Mar 2021 10:15 AM PST Hi, as part of a school project in user research I shall test a game, which is still in development. Anyone willinng to share a beta-version of their game with me? Can also be an app. I would test it with class mates and can send you a report. Or do you guys know where I could find unfinished games to play? (Early access in steam is already too advanced and big scale). Also I should be able to share it remotely with my coursemates so they can test it too. Thanks. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 02 Mar 2021 12:48 PM PST He Everyone, So during the lockdown I have been playing a couple of virtual escape rooms with friends. After playing a couple of them I was thinking: "I think I can create something better (at least then the ones I played)". The escape rooms I played mainly offered a website with some documents and some offered a way of walking through a 'virtual tour style' room. Personally I found that it was lacking a way of actually creating the interaction between the people playing the escape room (the only connection was the video conference, but everyone was free to do what they wanted). As it stands now I have created a website where all players joining wait in a lobby until the game is started (so everyone actually starts at the same time :)). A short intro video / story is shown (which everyone watches at the same time), after which the players are presented with the main game screen. When one of the players finds an object / video / puzzle piece it is put in a shared inventory so everyone is able to use / inspect it. Now for the exploration part I would like to have a '3D' environment where the player is able to walk / teleport around in. In the room various objects / hints / puzzles are found. I want to also make puzzles which require 2 people to solve (turning valves in one room, opens gates in a second, this means 1 player needs to turn the valves and the other needs to give instruction in which ones to turn). The problem is I am not sure which approach to take: So I would love to get some tips / ideas /thoughts, Kind regards, ProtoThis [link] [comments]  | ||
| 5MbG - code and share web games online (hobby project I made) Posted: 02 Mar 2021 12:47 PM PST Hi all, Just wanted to share a fun project I made for gamedevs out there - a code-based online game engine that also let you host games up to 5Mb for free, so people can make cool little games and share them with each other and strangers. For example, check out this Fishy clone I made with it :) Its coders-oriented but I tried to keep it simple and friendly enough for all skill levels. Any feedback (or bug report) will be appreciated. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 02 Mar 2021 12:31 PM PST
 | ||
| I may be having a small anxiety attack and analysis paralysis Posted: 02 Mar 2021 12:09 PM PST I'm a newly minted game dev. I started working on a game in mid 2019 without any previous game development experience (other than my full time job as a designer for a non-gaming software company). As of today my game on Steam and is close to 10,000 wishlists. While I'm ecstatic about that number I'm also losing my mind a bit with choice paralysis and anxiety and I think I really need to talk this through with folks who may have been in similar situations. Here's the story: 2019 I picked up Gamemaker to have a real go at making a game. I really wanted to be able to dig into all the details of Game Dev to gain experience and figure out what I like and don't like doing. Fast forward about 5-6 months, I release a demo or earliest access to folks on Itch.io and Gamejolt. I really needed to get feedback on what I was working on. I got feedback, iterated, released a new version, repeated. At a certain point I realized I needed to make the jump to Steam. I was pretty happy with the demo version so I did all the leg work to get it on Steam. Released a demo version on Steam as well. As of November of last year I had around 1k wishlists after about 3-4 months of being on Steam. Not bad but not great either. One thing I'll add here is that I iterated on the demo a lot. Steam numbers show folks have spent 5-20 hours on the demo alone. It ended up being about 1/4th of the total planned content in the game (maybe closer to 1/3rd). Hindsight this seems like a mistake. It feels like folks are expecting a certain multiplier of content from the demo version. Which I'm just not going to be able to deliver on in a reasonable amount of time. Since November then it's been a whirlwind. A mid sized Youtuber picked up the demo which pushed the game to over 2k wishlists in a few days. Then I did the Steam Festival and it blew up. Went to nearly 7k off of that and has pushed closed to 10k now. Incredible! I follow a lot of indie devs, whom I respect immensely, who say that even getting to 4k wishlists before launch is a lofty goal. There's plenty of blogs/posts from those folks that show even fraction of the number of wishlists can provide enough income to become a full time income. This is where the real decision paralysis kicks in. My current job, which is a good job, I don't hate it, I don't even dislike it. It's fine. It provides reliable income, health care and other perks. The problem is it's still 40ish hours a week that I'm not working on my game to get it out. I end up doing about 10-20 hours a week of work on my game (including general business related items not strictly game development). I'm lucky that my job isn't incredibly draining and I actually have stamina to work on my game after I'm done. Then there's the current state of my game. Like I said before the demo content was all I had for a while, I only started truly expanding the content around the beginning of the year. I've made a lot of progress but it still needs a true ending. I've always saying I wanted to launch into Early Access first, as I think the feedback loop I had with folks during the demo process was invaluable but what I have now is *not* ready for even Early Access (IMO). I'm envisioning about 2-3 months more work to get it ready for Early Access, that's with viciously cutting scope of what I wanted to include. Without the 40 hours going to my job I could see it taking half the time, plus I'd have more time to dedicate to additional marketing efforts. So at this point I have a lot of questions running through my head. The main question isn't really "Should I quit my job" but more *when*. It feels almost inevitable at this point. Should I wait until a month or so after EA launch to verify that sales will go the way I'm predicting they will? I'm very nervous about leaving the job before launch because it leaves me without reliable income (though savings could take care of things for a while). At the same time I know wishlists do decay as time goes on, the iron feels very hot right now so to speak. I'm also very nervous about the reaction to the amount of content that will be in the EA release vs the demo. For those folks that played the demo the comparison will probably feel a bit pale at first but I don't think I can delay getting into EA at this point. How can I reliably set expectations here? Any insights into how you all have managed transitions like this would be hugely appreciated. Thank you for reading this. (Used a throwaway account here because I don't want this to feel promotional in anyway and I don't really want this to be connected back to the game) [link] [comments]  | ||
| Which microphone should I get for sound effects Posted: 02 Mar 2021 11:47 AM PST Hello everybody, So as you can see in title, I am looking to buy a microphone for sound effects. Since I have low budget for this (25$+-), I would like to hear you opinions. It will be used for inside and outside sounds, voices and etc. Thank you in advance! PS. If you suggest me something, I would like to be able to find it on Amazon [link] [comments]  | ||
| Is unreal engine free to use or is it some you pay money to us every month? Posted: 02 Mar 2021 11:25 AM PST I'm asking this because I really want to get into game development. But I really need to know if unreal engine is a subscription or not. [link] [comments]  | ||
| INDIE DEVLOG 02: Cosmic Horror and Voice Acting | �� Invited to a Podcast? Posted: 02 Mar 2021 11:18 AM PST
 | ||
| Posted: 02 Mar 2021 10:47 AM PST I've been thinking a lot about the dream game I want to create when I obtain experience in programming and game development. My question is should my game be in 2d or 2.5d? The game will be inspired by Hollow knight, so 2d seemed the correct choice. But thinking about it, wouldn't a 2.5d game be cheaper and "easier", but sacrifice some of the style and fluidity (which could be covered up a bit by smooth lighting). Basically, my question is are such fluid animations more difficult to create, and if yes, by how much? If it isn't that considerable of a difference I'd obviously go for 2d. Probably too soon to be thinking about it but it has been a project I have thought about since I was a kid so I'd like to have a great idea of how exactly it could play out so I could also start practicing more into that direction of game when I start next year and hopefully can bring it to reality down the line. [link] [comments]  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from gamedev - game development, programming, design, writing, math, art, jams, postmortems, marketing. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment