Finding the developers who worked with my dad on a game before he passed away |
- Finding the developers who worked with my dad on a game before he passed away
- Someone just offered to artificially pledge $33k to my Kickstarter.
- I added in-game scripting so players can automate resource gathering
- A year of working on my first game - short dev vlog
- 5 Things They Don't Tell You Before Starting an Indie Studio
- Should indie developers outside the USA price their games higher than their counterparts in the states?
- Something about yodo1 games
- Trial Concept
- Question About Game Engines
- Tips on how to avoid getting increasingly tired while coding?
- Tag bombing - players find a new way to affect games on Steam
- How to make trees?
- Chess Project Help
- How to work with saving
- "Xen-style" Alien Environment workflow (timelapse & explanation)
- How I designed and animated my first character from scratch
- [Metafunder.gg] First Quarter 2021 Games Crowdfunding Report
- How do big productions handle file storage?
- A question to all indie game devs
- Here's a quick video about Unity's mouse pointer handling and how to use it to interact with the world. Tutorial in the comments!
- Help.
- Tophat engine, an open-source game engine has just released v0.2
- To Indie or not to Indie
- Mailchimp Vs Mailjet
| Finding the developers who worked with my dad on a game before he passed away Posted: 28 Apr 2021 06:55 AM PDT So I came today on reddit to ask you for help finding someone. So in 2018 my dad passed away. But 6-4 mounths prior that he told me that he started working on a game with other 2-3 colleagues. I want to talk to these people and find out a way to help with the development. All I know about it is that it was taking place on a cruise or something like that. His name was Irinel and was from Romania. If you worked with him on a game or know someone who did please contact me. Thank you in advance! [link] [comments]  | ||
| Someone just offered to artificially pledge $33k to my Kickstarter. Posted: 28 Apr 2021 08:51 AM PDT I have been running my Kickstarter campaign for 8 days now, with nearly 50% of my goal raised. I'm happy with this and I'm on target to (hopefully) get funded. It will be tight as the middle of the campaign is always the slowest. And momentum has started to die down a bit. Today I received the following email:
The idea here is that projects that get funded early on in the campaign usually snowball to get way over-funded (Although not always). What this person is offering is to make $33k worth of pledges, pushing the kickstarter way over the funded mark. With the intention of bringing more legit backers to the project when they see that it is "overfunded" They then want to remove these pledges on the final day, and charge me $$ for their "service". This would end up being no cost to them, as canceling your pledge is free (I think?) . For the record, I'm not replying to this email, or accepting the offer in any way. I just wanted to post this as kind of a PSA to let backers and developers know that this kind of shady stuff goes on.I am so happy with my campaign so far, and I am super thankful towards my legit backers who believe in me and the project. I would never do something like this to hurt that trust. If you see a project that is way over-funded it doesn't necessarily mean that the project is trustworthy or has a lot of social backing. They could simply be using this shady method to try to attract new pledges.So please take a look at the projects before backing with a fresh mind, ignoring their current ammount raised.
I'm not posting this to make you unwilling to pledge to kickstarter campaigns. Actually the opposite. I want you to pledge to campaigns that have passionate developers and real people trying to make real games. I love crowdfunding as a platform, but just wary out there folks. [link] [comments]  | ||
| I added in-game scripting so players can automate resource gathering Posted: 27 Apr 2021 02:05 PM PDT
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| A year of working on my first game - short dev vlog Posted: 28 Apr 2021 07:59 AM PDT
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| 5 Things They Don't Tell You Before Starting an Indie Studio Posted: 28 Apr 2021 12:29 AM PDT Sorry for the click bait title! Well, sorry-not-sorry, because it got you this far - and hopefully now you'll continue reading and throw me an upvote! This post is a modified version of a presentation I made at the Nordic Games Conference several years ago - a reflection on my learnings and, dare I say, wisdom accumulated from leadership experience at indie studios Poppermost and Hatrabbit Entertainment. I thought maybe, just maybe, some of my reflections will help other entrepreneurs at various stages of starting or running their own studios. This was originally posted on my blog, but I was encouraged by a friend to share the text here too... so here we are! BackgroundMy five points are obviously from my perspective of co-founder, CEO, and COO. But even if you're not one of those, keep reading - this might offer some insight into what's going on in the mind of your boss, colleague, or anyone else you know trying to brave the ups and downs of the game industry! Why listen to me? There's clearly no shortage of people claiming they've bottled the secret to success, but I'm here to share my honest take on the ups and downs as I experienced them. So perhaps you'd like a little background on what my experience actually is... In 2012 I started Poppermost Productions with two co-founders and was CEO for our entire 7 year journey. Over the life of Poppermost, we grew from 3 founders to a team of 13 at our largest, all based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company was formed around the development of SNOW, a free-to-play, open world, winter sports game. This meant that there was never a question of 'what to make' but instead 'how to make it'. We (partially) answered that question by raising over $1.5MM from angel investors and venture capitalists to add to the nearly $1.5MM we made in revenue from selling the game as early access on PC and PlayStation 4. Even though we saw some degree of success, in the end SNOW wasn't a sustainable game… meaning I've gone through the rougher side of seeing a studio all-but close down. After Poppermost I was COO at Hatrabbit Entertainment, where I worked closely with the co-founders to finance and grow the studio. Even though we had an incredibly talented team and some exciting projects in the works, we ended up selling the company to King pretty early on. Regardless, my 13 months at Hatrabbit was both exciting and extremely valuable as I got to experience running a totally different indie studio in a completely different position (as an executive but not a CEO or founder) - and this time with a successful and happy ending! So, without further ado… my '5 Things They Don't Tell You Before Starting an Indie Studio'... 1. Co-FoundersCo-founders are very important. In the startup world it is recommended to have at least one co-founder, if not two. Having co-founders has been shown to help when raising money, not to mention the benefit of having people aligned with your goals who you can rely on emotionally and practically. Your co-founders should be more than a couple of friends who share the same dream as you. They will be your support when you've burnt out, and help you through making the hardest decisions. Together you will - intentionally or not - dictate your company culture.My two takeaways regarding co-founders: CommunicationCommunication is critical among co-founders. From the start, you need to assume that you'll be working together for the next 3, 5, maybe 10 years and therefore need to constantly make sure your goals are aligned. Needs and goals naturally change over time, so it's good to get in the habit of solid communication from the get-go..In short, talk before you start, as you start, after you start… just talk! PaperworkMake sure you have formal agreements between you and your co-founders. While it might feel unnecessary or even uncomfortable to have legal-esque discussions with your co-founders in early stages, it is extremely important. The most common agreement is a Shareholders' Agreement which lays out the structure for what rights the shareholders of the company have in various circumstances. Most importantly, the Shareholders' Agreement outlines what happens if a founder does something to hurt the company (intentionally or unintentionally), or leaves the company at an early stage. Again, this might initially seem unnecessary amidst the excitement of starting a company together - but you never know what's around the corner. Everyone needs to protect the company, and the Shareholders' Agreement does just that. Even though it's an unpleasant thought, try to imagine yourself in a situation where you no longer like or trust your co-founders and this document is all that remains to protect what you've built. And remember, this is an agreement between all shareholders for when things go wrong and no one can agree on a course of action, but it's always possible to do things differently if there is unanimous consent. 2. FinancingJust as there are many ways to skin a cat, there are many ways to finance your company and game development. No matter what route you take, you will at some point experience 'grass is greener' syndrome and figure another studio who financed themselves differently has it easy - most likely, they don't! Each of the below paths has pros and cons, so pick one (or a combo!) and try to stick with your decision. Self-FundingPRO: You're your own boss. You work on your own schedule and have full control and ownership over everything. CON: Unless you've got very deep pockets, you'll have finite resources that will eventually confine your vision. CrowdfundingPRO: Crowdfunding is soft money with no strings attached, allowing you to keep full ownership of your company. A successful campaign can be a huge PR boost and builds a community around your game. CON: Crowdfunding campaigns are a full time job and all your backers will need rewards fulfilled and expectations met. They might not own part of your company, but they will want to be heard and will expect some degree of responsiveness in turn for their early belief in your product. VC / Angel InvestmentPRO: Smart money that often comes with guidance and support. Investors are usually very well connected and can open up doors to future investors. CON: These people are investing their own money or someone else's money into your company with the hope that you will be hugely successful. If your growth is not as large as planned, you should be prepared to deal with the sting of the moment when investors become less help and responsive because they see their investment as a write-off. Believe me, it can hurt! Publishing DealPRO: Publishers shoulder most of the risk and provide support with everything you might dread (QA, marketing, publishing, etc) so you can focus on making a great game. If you can, you'll work a margin into your development cost, giving your company some padding if things don't go as planned. CON: Depending on the deal, you might lose ownership of your game IP or not see much revenue until after the publisher has earned back everything they've spent. Publishers may also have the right to pull the plug on your project whenever they want, leaving you high and dry. Ultimately, the most important element when making a decision regarding financing is to know as much as possible about where the money is coming from and are realistic about your costs and promises. 3. Team SizeAssuming you are not a solo developer, you will eventually need to hire employees to build your game. As a CEO, hiring and managing people will become part of your day-to-day life whether you like it or not. Hiring the right people is not a simple task, so extending an offer to someone to join your team should be done very carefully. There is no perfect hiring process, and something I continue to struggle with! But once you do start hiring, it's good to understand how your company will change as your team grows. From my experience, here's how different team sizes will affect daily life at work: 1-3 PeopleSmooth sailing! You can work autonomously without much structure since information flows freely. A simple Trello board and Slack channel make it simple to know what everyone is up to at all times. 4-8 PeopleSome structure is needed. Information still flows and employee's personal needs won't take up too much time. Maybe at this point you've just gotten an office - make sure it's a clean, comfortable space to work in. 8-12 PeopleThings are getting serious so internal structure is a must. Those in leadership positions need to own tasks and clearly delegate. It's inevitable that as CEO, you'll spend more time attending to important employee needs, and also the mundane tasks of stocking the office with toilet paper, coffee and other miscellany. 12+ PeopleYou're over the hump now as each new employee is a smaller percentage of new blood in the company. If you haven't invested in proper structure and culture, cracks will begin to show and you might lose talent because of it. Perhaps this is the time to offload some of your HR and people management to a contractor, advisor, colleague, or co-founder. Remember: 1 in every 10 people you hire will be a personality 'wild card' and will cause some type of internal conflict. It will be your job to spot this as early as possible and act accordingly. This doesn't mean the wild card is a bad hire, it just means that the culture of the company might have to adjust a little bit - and hopefully for the better! 4. Your RoleOddly enough, I don't think the CEO needs to be particularly talented in many elements of game development, either on the artistic or technical side. Instead, a qualified CEO is one who can listen, understand, and process information to make a decision. Assuming you're working alongside co-founders, advisors and employees, you'll have to be constantly absorbing information and opinions and have the confidence to choose a course of action - and take responsibility if your choice was wrong. You also need to be prepared to get comfortable with aspects of running a business that are less fun and totally out of your comfort zone. Here are roles that I've filled as CEO of Poppermost and COO of Hatrabbit:
5. Path to SuccessWe've all seen this motivational graphic before. Perhaps not so motivational… more a rude reality check! No matter what everyone tells you, your path to success will be unclear and nothing you can predict, imagine, or plan for. What you think will work probably won't. What people tell you won't work, will work - but in ways no one imagined. That off-chance conversation you have with a friend of your aunt will be a pivotal moment. Unfortunately, the only way to prepare is to accept the inevitable, be patient, stay optimistic, and take opportunities as they present themselves. In ConclusionEverything I've mentioned in this post is from my personal experiences running Poppermost for seven years and Hatrabbit for 13 months. Obviously there's a lot more to building a business, but these are just my top five takeaways that could be useful to future founders. And hopefully this doesn't read as a cautionary tale against starting your own company - building something from the ground up is such an exciting journey! It's jumping off a cliff and assembling the airplane on the way down. Doesn't that sound like fun? [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:08 AM PDT As there are additional taxes to be paid which are considerably higher for developers outside the US which when combined with the store cuts nets a meagre profit for these developers. To compensate for this one can price a game higher perhaps? What you guys think? [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 28 Apr 2021 12:43 PM PDT I got a email from yodo1 games 5 days ago. They were telling me to schedule a zoom meeting with one of their members in the team regarding my monetization in a game which has 1k+ downloads. I attended the meeting today and it went pretty well. They told me that they help young developers grow. They told me to work with them. They will guide me on my game monetizations. So I just want to know, is it safe to work with them? They said that they worked with popular games like Crossy roads. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 28 Apr 2021 12:11 PM PDT Hello everyone. I am from Russia and am currently studying to be a game designer. And now I have a task - to publish the concept. There will be no arts and other things in it, only an idea on paper. I ask you to take a little time and watch it. I am open to your feedback and comments. P.S. I don't know English very well, so I will use Google translator. The project is called Lonely Grounds: Age of Evil (Do not forget to re-name (c)). While writing this concept, I was inspired by games like Darkest Dungeon and Majesty 2 and the films Helsing, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. Therefore, the graphic style of the game will be guided by them. I would like to make a game in 3D, but this will increase the cost. Therefore, I am leaning towards 2D. Genre: Side-scrolling, roguelike, action and a bit of city-building. The idea is this. You, the landowner in whose lands evil began to awaken, people began to disappear. You decide to do something about it and use your last money to open a guild of adventurers in your city. The first part of the gameplay will be based on the development of the city (not in real time), the second is already on missions (side-scrolling). And now in more detail. You will need to rebuild the city to attract new adventurers. Build entertainment buildings to keep them content. Satisfaction will also be wasted if you poorly control your hero on missions, receive a lot of damage, injuries, etc. (If contentment drops to 0, then the "hero" will simply leave your city). Each building will have a cell under the NPC that will increase the efficiency of the building.These NPCs will also have different characteristics and skills. You can find them on missions or attract them to the city by other means. Another interesting building straight from World of Warcraft aka quest table. Here you can send your adventurers on missions in which you will not participate, the success will depend on certain factors - the level of the "hero", countering the threat, etc. On such missions, you will receive experience, resources, exploration of the territory, and sometimes equipment. The city will have a rating - it will be calculated on the basis of the number of improved buildings, the number of heroes killed on missions, successful or unsuccessful missions. The higher the rating, the greater the chance to attract an adventurer of a unique class or simply with a high level and good equipment. You will be able to take control of adventurers and go out on missions. But one "adventurer" cannot complete the whole game, each will have their own skills, bonuses against a certain type of creatures, etc. There will also be a streak of fatigue, if it ends, then he will simply refuse to go on the assignment. In order to restore the scale, he will need to stay in the city, the speed of replenishment depends on the level of the profile buildings. And so that the game is not too simple, I plan to make difficult fights, as well as introduce a system of injuries and illnesses. They will degrade the characteristics of heroes, impose negative effects that worsen control on the hero. It will be possible to treat them during assignments, but not all, but only mild, serious injuries and illnesses can be cured only in the city. Here I will smoothly move on to inventory and equipment.Each adventurer can be armed with the latest fashion, but each of them will prefer a specific type of weapon and armor and receive bonuses from this. The inventory will be small, before the mission, you will need to put supplies, potions, ammunition in it and leave space for the items found on the level. To complete the game, you will need to defeat all the bosses, clear the lands of evil spirits and complete the assigned tasks. It will be possible to lose in several ways - to lose all heroes and not have a rating to attract new ones. Do not meet the time (until evil completely invades your lands) At the first stage, two difficulties are planned. Standard and Hardcore. On hardcore difficulty, there will be a reduced timer for passing the game, the city rating will decrease every week, buildings will break more often, there is less chance of good things being dropped, and enemies at the level will have more health and damage. Initially, there will be three locations - the Witch's Forest (inhabited by witches and animals), Fields of endless battles (various types of undead) and Cold Mountains (giants, werewolves, beasts). Each location will have its own creatures, interactive objects and other events. So far I have 6 available adventurers, but I plan to increase this number. (Skills are still being worked out) The witch hunter. Passive bonus to damage against witches 15% and 2% crit. Of weapons, he prefers a crossbow and a short sword. The armor is leather. Enchantress. Passive bonus to damage by skills 10% and increased replenishment of resources. Of weapons, only a staff is worn. Armor is cloth. Weapon master. It can carry any weapon and the passive bonus depends on it. Maces - Damage to bone creatures increased by 15%. Axes - Increased critical strike chance by 5%. Swords - Attack speed increased by 10%. Of armor, he prefers chain mail. Tamer. The passive bonus to damage to animals is 15% and sometimes, when attacking, it can take control of an animal. Prefers bow, dagger and leather armor. Berserk. Additional resistance to injuries 20% and a proportional increase in damage to lost health. Prefers plate armor and two one-handed weapons. Warrior of light. Passive bonus to damage against undead 15%, additional resistance to diseases 10%. Prefers armor and a two-handed sword. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 28 Apr 2021 01:15 PM PDT Hi guys. I want to make 2D games. I don't know how to code but i am learning. My question is should i use Godot or Unity. I am not willing to spend money. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Tips on how to avoid getting increasingly tired while coding? Posted: 28 Apr 2021 12:57 PM PDT I've been struggling with this the past week. Maybe its because I just completed college finals but I can't spend more then 30 mins of learning c# without getting mind numbing tired. Does anyone else feel like this? I just had a coffee 25 mins ago yet I still feel shitty. It's not that I don't like what I'm doing, I honestly do; maybe this is poor discipline? Tips are much appreciated. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Tag bombing - players find a new way to affect games on Steam Posted: 28 Apr 2021 03:27 AM PDT
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| Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:33 AM PDT Am I able to make just a static mesh in blender with armature then import into Unity and do all the animating for wind and all that stuff in there? Or do I have to do all that stuff in blender? I'm really lost when it comes to this stuff and unfortunately all the tutorials I've found don't really cover this topic, only the creation part of the tree that's it... [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:24 AM PDT Hello, I have to get started on an upcoming project and i have decided to create a chess application with AI which includes a number of other add-on features but im not quite sure where to start. Im new to game development in general but i am willing to learn as long as it doesnt take me too long to actually get started. Is there a particular framework that i can use for my needs? I would like to stick with anything C# related aswell. I heard unity is a place to visit but im just wondering if there are any other options before i dive into learning unity Here are a few main goals that I would like to reach:
Is this project too unrealistic for a beginner to complete within a deadline of a year from now? I realise that this is probably alot for a beginner but im willing to put in the time and effort. If anyone can guide me on getting started that would be greatly appreciated as well as any help/tools for the above goals. Thanks in advance [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:17 AM PDT Hey, Im working on a (Unity Android) game and whenever I want to save information such as number of levels complete, number of coins, which skins the player has, etc, im saving them on playerprefs. I recently thought that this is probably not the optimal way to do this. If I update the app or the user reinstalls all their data will be lost. How do developers usually go around saving data? Should there be an external file all the data is stored too? Do people usually use cloud saving? if so, what methods do they use? Any help is appreciated. Thanks [link] [comments]  | ||
| "Xen-style" Alien Environment workflow (timelapse & explanation) Posted: 28 Apr 2021 07:40 AM PDT
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| How I designed and animated my first character from scratch Posted: 28 Apr 2021 03:48 AM PDT
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| [Metafunder.gg] First Quarter 2021 Games Crowdfunding Report Posted: 28 Apr 2021 01:20 PM PDT
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| How do big productions handle file storage? Posted: 28 Apr 2021 07:13 AM PDT I am currently taking a project into production and I have some questions about how big studios handle file storage. First of all, ofc. the "main" game/code is backed up with some sort of git/source control variant. What I am unsure about is what asset versioning and other file storage solution to use, we currently have about 150 GB of assets that are currently back up on a nextcloud server. What is the prefered way of doing this? [link] [comments]  | ||
| A question to all indie game devs Posted: 28 Apr 2021 01:11 PM PDT Hope this is the right subreddit for this question, if not I am sorry. I am currently 21 and my passion for creating software has always been strong. I love programming a lot and it's the one thing I never get tired of doing, so naturally I eventually decided to get into game development. I have been trying to learn to make games since 2017 and I have tried a lot of game engines and Unreal has always been the one engine I came back to as I just know the engine much better compared to others like Unity, Cry engine etc. The problem I keep facing is that I am only good with the programming aspect, the thing I struggle the most with is 3D modeling. I have bought various courses that showed me how to model game assets in 3DS MAX and I have learnt a lot about the software but throw me in the deep end and tell me to model that object from the reference picture then I don't have a damn clue how to start. When I see other people modeling objects just by looking at a reference is astonishing to me. I just cant seem to learn that skill. Now sure I understand these things take practice and believe me I tried a lot but I really just cant get into the whole modeling thing I just suck at it. Now this is a big problem that prevents me from making a game. The art is the first thing potential buyers see when they look at a game. Art literally makes or break your game in a way. Yes graphics isn't everything but it kind of is if you think about it. Now there is the asset store but I am all to familiar with the problems it causes when you make games using premade assets. People immediately freak out and rip your game apart and call it an asset flip. So that's not really an option as that will just make my game get downvoted into oblivion. What do I do now? I cant make art myself, cant buy it thanks to how people react to premade assets so WTF do I do now? Give up seems like the easy option. Yes I can go the 2D route but I can't draw either, seems like pixel art might be the easiest option but that's not the kind of game I envision myself making. If there is no other options I guess its the only thing I can really do and even that might look shit as I am just shit with anything art related. Should I maybe just stick to my Java programming and forget about making games because I honestly feel like this game fantasy I have in my head is beyond my ability to make. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 28 Apr 2021 09:18 AM PDT
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| Posted: 28 Apr 2021 12:46 PM PDT I installed XNA Framework just to test out some stuff as a few games i play (Celeste, Terraria) use XNA, i decided to try it out. However, when i install it, I cant find it. Is there any solution? Also, yes, I DID check program files, its there, however i cant find the way to run it. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Tophat engine, an open-source game engine has just released v0.2 Posted: 28 Apr 2021 12:41 PM PDT
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| Posted: 28 Apr 2021 08:30 AM PDT
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| Posted: 28 Apr 2021 11:56 AM PDT What's the best option for Indie Developers? Mailchimp or Mailjet? Please join in our discussion !! [link] [comments]  |
![[Metafunder.gg] First Quarter 2021 Games Crowdfunding Report](https://external-preview.redd.it/I-LjOEi7Yiy4SWElfvcnAmQMcZT6uo-3OWIFiDx7Sss.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=63387418b1cecda97a099f9f79b525bc490dd544 "[Metafunder.gg] First Quarter 2021 Games Crowdfunding Report")
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