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Hobby and Indie Game Dev |OT 2019| Designing, Drawing, Coding, Composing, Everythinging
- Thread starter Popstar
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I'll throw this in here as well :) Maybe some remember how I planned a Point'n'click back a few years ago and promptly gave up on it after having like two animations and one unfinished scene. Well, I'm trying again, with a bit more planning and working on ideas and stuff beforehand and forcing myself to keep at it as best as I can. Also finally bought Visionaire to have more of a reason to continue and to be able to share builds with friends n stuff.
Lifted from the PnC-Thread
Conceptually I'm trying to at least somewhat combine a storydriven PnC with something akin to an Escape Room setting, but that's really just a very rough explanation. I do have some ideas, but I wanna see if everything works out before throwing them out there :D
Lifted from the PnC-Thread
I'm trying to make one of these now and I'm curious if I'll ever finish it lol. I'm not exactly known for sticking to hobbies I started, but this has been a fun experience so far. I just have to stop thinking about how much there's still to do, be it scenes, puzzles, graphics, animations or sound and music.
At least I've got concept, general idea and story and most of the potential rooms somewhat solidified. It's really difficult to figure out what part to continue every day when home lol.
Conceptually I'm trying to at least somewhat combine a storydriven PnC with something akin to an Escape Room setting, but that's really just a very rough explanation. I do have some ideas, but I wanna see if everything works out before throwing them out there :D
I like the main character's design a lot. Is the hatless version a younger version?
Escape the Room point and click sounds great, I'm guessing a bit like the Zero Escape trilogy? Often the problem with point and click games is wandering around trying to figure out in what room to use items to progress, and this alleviates it a lot.
Yeah, it's from a playable flashback scene (the game will have a few of those). I'm really hoping I'll be able to implement the whole "Escape" theme as well as I've planned, I started pretty standard on the puzzles but I want to implement quite a few out-of-the-box ones that would complement that theme. I'm really motivated still and I hope it stays that way :D
not having a math brain is a major detriment for debugging things, though at least I know now to surface more and more vars until you figure out at least where the issue is. Frame by framing OBS captures is also super useful!
/edit i've been debugging this tile slopes system all day and i want to die. this sucks ass
/edit i've been debugging this tile slopes system all day and i want to die. this sucks ass
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Don't give up! What is happening there is that when your character moves to the left, they become ungrounded for a split second, then the gravity pulls them back to the ground, then on the next frame they move to the left again, etc. This keeps resetting your walk animation cycle.
There are several alternative solutions you can use:
- When your character is on a left slope, "move left" also moves them down; likewise for right. If there are multiple slope inclinations in your game, you need to detect which one they're in and move down accordingly.
- When your character is on a slope, gravity is perpendicular to that slope (this is a bit more complicated to do than the above, but if you also have problems with characters sliding down slopes when idle, this should fix that as well).
- Make your character ungrounded only after X frames have passed since it stopped touching the ground. This also works well to allow players to jump a bit after running off a platform (Wily E. Coyote effect), but getting the amount of frames right may be tricky, it will still make the character follow a somewhat uneven path when they walk down a slope, and you also need to manually unground them immediately when they jump.
It's good to hear that's normal lol. For sure it was a learning experience though. I hadn't really thought about how the setting would influence people's attention so much, but that does make sense.
Honestly, the people that skipped the tutorial and gave up I'm not worried about. We're aiming for a more casual crowd, and the people I'd like to cater to are the boyfriends/girlfriends/families of the gamers who are trying to enjoy this weird game even though they aren't familiar with a controller too much. Generally I've found that their gamer friends would try their best to get them up to speed, so we're trying to just give the best aid to that as we possibly can.
I didn't quite realize it myself either; it only became obvious when comparing these reactions to people I showed the game in a different environment.
Not everyone skipped the tutorials in the conventions, mind, just as not everyone who tried the game outside conventions read through them all. But it's a pretty noticeable correlation, and it makes a lot of sense. Hell, I myself found it hard to focus on other devs' games when playing them.
Im so excited to join this indie dev community!
I've been working on my card game for the last year and a half. I just announced it and I will have the trailer up soon, I was meant to finish it over the weekend but had a run in with liquid damage on my computer so Im a day or two behind.
I've been working on my card game for the last year and a half. I just announced it and I will have the trailer up soon, I was meant to finish it over the weekend but had a run in with liquid damage on my computer so Im a day or two behind.
Hey! Thanks!
Also here's song I started that I'd like to share. Going for a small town vibe.
thanks for the encouragement. As it turns out it wasn't gravity because I made a 'stick to ground' effect and disabled gravity and it still happened. It's something to do with the way I snap to the grid or the way the stick to ground effect applies. I think I just about have it...
Anyone recommend a good pixel artist?
Looking for something like the HeartGold/SoulSilver cute Character sprites.
I'm going to be realistic: I'm not going to learn pixel art while learning everything else. I can only do so much with school, work, and learning to code.
Looking for something like the HeartGold/SoulSilver cute Character sprites.
I'm going to be realistic: I'm not going to learn pixel art while learning everything else. I can only do so much with school, work, and learning to code.
I found all my artists via twitter art share threads, I'd recommend you look there.
I think I'm finally happy with the compromise between quality and performance of my terrain material, using some tesselation and bump mapping on top and pre baked noise to break the tiling.
It's not free but a lot more performant than what I started with.
Looking to create a 2D Action Platformer with the Nez library in Monogame. I want to have a GUI that would include scene editing to speed up workflow. What would be the best place to look or start?
I missed screenshot saturday but I'm really happy with how the first level of my 90s shooter game is turning out :D
Does anyone have experience with the Quixel tools like Mixer? Now that it's free with UE4 I was trying it out.
My problem is, I can make some good looking flat planes, but how do I actually texture a model with the maps I export? As far as I can tell there is no way to import a model in Mixer, so how do I texture anything more complex than a box? I know they used to have the quixel suite for painting the materials on the models, but apparently you can't even buy it anymore, so what gives? Do i actually need Substance Painter to make decent use of this or...?
My problem is, I can make some good looking flat planes, but how do I actually texture a model with the maps I export? As far as I can tell there is no way to import a model in Mixer, so how do I texture anything more complex than a box? I know they used to have the quixel suite for painting the materials on the models, but apparently you can't even buy it anymore, so what gives? Do i actually need Substance Painter to make decent use of this or...?
Model painting is not available yet, they said is coming in Mixer 2020 whenever that drops, aside from substance there's ArmorPaint, you could also use blender for a more traditional setup.
Yeah my first thought was to just use Blender to paint the texture with the materials... I just wish I could skip that setup step. Hopefully the update will come soon.
Edit: Can I even use Blender with the UE4 quixel license though? I mean I can export the maps, and load them into Blender just fine. That's kinda confusing.
Sometimes it is really frustrating to manage work and adult life stuff with gamedev as a hobby, but it is satisfying to feel you are accomplishing something, even if it is just a little bit time from time.
posting a little something I did today. I am working on this project for a couple of months now, re-started from scrach in order to work with a smaller resolution instead of HD, so I can produce assests faster. (create tilesets in HD is a pain in the ass)
Today I finally managed to reach a milestone in creating the main pattern for an enemy, I still need to make the projectiles hurt the player tho...
posting a little something I did today. I am working on this project for a couple of months now, re-started from scrach in order to work with a smaller resolution instead of HD, so I can produce assests faster. (create tilesets in HD is a pain in the ass)
Today I finally managed to reach a milestone in creating the main pattern for an enemy, I still need to make the projectiles hurt the player tho...
Also I have the same problem that when trying to play games, I tweak every little graphic setting when I should programming the gameplay aspects.
Hey all. I've always wanted to make my own Megaman styled 2D platformer. I have the programming skills but basically zero art skills, so I decided to try and make some basic characters using simple pixel art. This is a WIP sample I made a while ago.
Still a long way to go, but it's good to start!
Still a long way to go, but it's good to start!
That was me three years ago!
...
... who am I kidding, that's me right now too. :D
Here's the two tips that would have saved me so much work if someone told me about them when I started pixelarting:
Don't pick your own colors, use an estabilished palette. Specifically, use the Endesga64 palette because frankly it's the absolute best out there :D. Just by using it, it will make anyone's pixel art 5x more beautiful, colorful and vibrant.
Take a look at this pixel art tutorial by Derek Yu. It covers pretty much every single important pixel art technique in an concise and entertaining way.
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Hey all. I've always wanted to make my own Megaman styled 2D platformer. I have the programming skills but basically zero art skills, so I decided to try and make some basic characters using simple pixel art. This is a WIP sample I made a while ago.
Still a long way to go, but it's good to start!
I've never worked on pixel art so I'm not one to give advice but I really like how you did the transformation!
I love how varied your characters are. I really like Usuru and Koei. Kinda showing my ass here (i.e. I haven't kept up or caught up with the thread) but are you going with your 2D art for use in your project? I also really like the track you shared a couple days ago
10/10, good boys
TY! Yeah going with 2D art because it's easier for me to produce.
It looks really good! I really like the main Usuru model you have but your 2D art looks so good that I don't miss it at all in the context of your project. You're doing great work and I like it a lot
Updated the trailer to my game since the first trailer was pretty terrible. Hope you guys enjoy.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1108250/All_Systems_Operational/
Anyone have any experience with MODO Indie? Any reaseon I should avoid it? Seems to me like the Indie version is treated like a "second class citizen" or something.
I will probably still use Blender for the most part, I'm already pretty familiar with it and my addon workflow it's pretty fast, but I'm specially interested in better UV tools and the Unreal Bridge.
I will probably still use Blender for the most part, I'm already pretty familiar with it and my addon workflow it's pretty fast, but I'm specially interested in better UV tools and the Unreal Bridge.
Interesting, thanks! Though I'm not sure if that particular palette can work with my example, there aren't any 2 shades of blue that are close like that...
Thanks! Idk if you remember me but I know you from Vizioneck and VGC haha.
The idea I'm going for is that all 8 bosses and the player start off as basic squares of different colors with simple abilities, but the more you progress the more the bosses get stronger as well, and the bosses can be challenged out of order Megaman style. Here's what the above boss would look like if he's encountered earlier:
I find that's actually an advantage of having a fixed palette; in general, having colors that are too close together makes the difference between them not that noticeable, which means you're doing extra work (coloring things in different colors) for little return (the player doesn't really notice it). It also ends up leaving your game with a ton of shades of the same color, which makes it look inconsistent, as if you pulled sprites from different games at random.
Think of the palette restrictions as you would of pixel definition restrictions. Sure, sometimes you would want to give a certain area of a character more detail, but the point of restricting yourself to a pixel size is consistency. A limited, predefined palette, pretty much like a fixed (and bigger) pixel size, ends up saving you a ton of work, while also making it look more "authentic" in a sense.
Here's a quick edit of your robot in EDG64. It will certainly look super weird and off to you, but please keep looking at it for a bit without thinking of the other version, and it might grow on you. At least, that's what usually ends up happening to me whenever I switch a sprite to a new palette :D. You can also step up colors in the palette's ramps, making it darker or lighter if you prefer.
And ultimately, if you find you need a color that isn't in the palette (and this may be just be such a case), you can just cheat and add it for that specific sprite. But I didn't tell you that, and I definitely didn't do just that for a few sprites where I needed a more subtle gradation, like the sky. Nope. ;)
Thanks! Idk if you remember me but I know you from Vizioneck and VGC haha.
The idea I'm going for is that all 8 bosses and the player start off as basic squares of different colors with simple abilities, but the more you progress the more the bosses get stronger as well, and the bosses can be challenged out of order Megaman style. Here's what the above boss would look like if he's encountered earlier:
That is really, really cool! How many possible forms does each boss have? This setup feels like it would work great for a roguelite.
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Initially I thought I'd give each one 8, but maybe that's too much work, so I may restrict the level structure to Megaman 8 style where you have to beat the first 4 bosses before fighting the next 4, that way each bot would have 4 forms.
That's still 32 boss forms, wow! My mind reels at the amount of design and sprite work, but it would make the game so very replayable. Hats off!
What program are you using to edit sprites? I use and love Aseprite, pretty much the only one of my tools that does exactly what I want all the time while being very lightweight. If you know Starbound, they apparently made all their sprites with it. Aseprite is just 15$ on Steam, and probably the best 15$ I've ever spent in development. It also has an older version for free on their website.
32 actually in the second option.
I use an app on my iPad called Pixaki. It's very overpriced, and lacks a lot of features, but it's worth being able to work on stuff anywhere I am and with the Apple Pencil.
I made the mistake of buying a gaming laptop when I started Uni and it weighs a ton, so I pretty much never take it out of my dorm.
Yeah, my mistake, I fixed it immediately but not before you quoted it hahah.
Doing pixel art on a tablet must be pretty nice, especially to avoid repetitive motion injuries from all the clicking. I considered it for a while but I only have an Android one and it seemed like a lot of back and forth to get them into the game later.
The app I'm using is specifically for sprites, and allows exporting sprite sheets and stuff. I wish it had more features like Aseprite though.
Hey all. I've always wanted to make my own Megaman styled 2D platformer. I have the programming skills but basically zero art skills, so I decided to try and make some basic characters using simple pixel art. This is a WIP sample I made a while ago.
Still a long way to go, but it's good to start!
I think that looks pretty good! I'd probably choose more contrasting colors for the stripes, but nice job.
Art is hard for me. Most of my projects still have very prototype art I did quick and dirty in Inkscape. I've tried my hand at creating pixel art and it sure is an art form which takes quite a bit of skill and effort.
Still working on this - had a couple of weeks (months) off though, so finding my footing once more.
Hey all, there are some really cool projects in this thread. I used to make some small Java and XNA projects a few years ago (with a fairly basic knowledge of C#, C++, etc.) but sadly have been out of the loop for a long time. I'm really feeling the itch to try and workshop some projects I've had in mind for a while, and I honestly have no clue where to start, or even what platform to develop with. They would all be 2D, for the most part, including a platformer, an action game, and a side-scrolling co-op beat-em-up (with plane-shifting, similar to Guardian Heroes or Fatal Fury). Research seems to point me to Unity being ideal for this, though it seems Game Maker is pretty capable these days as well (I used it briefly years ago and had a decent time with it). Any recommendations for essentially a beginner?
Hi!
My top recommendation for anyone starting would be to join a game jam. Maybe call some friends to join in. (or make it alone, that's cool too)
Also, choose an engine: Godot, Unity or UE4 are the top picks with loads of documentation.
Don't rule out an engine because you are not familiar with the language it uses. They are really similar, really.
All in all, I'd pick Unity because you can find almost any game logic just by searching: "the thing you want to do" + "Unity" :))
But seriously, join a game jam. :)
Go to Itch.io to find the ones happening now.
This is awesome advice, thank you. I really enjoy what I've seen of itch.io as well, so I will check it out.
I wish I had art skills, I would love to program a 2d fighter but the art part would be insane
I'm going to get banned for spamming this any day now, but check out these courses:
Indie Game Development |OT 2018| Come, help, learn, show and tell!
I 200% recommend this set of online courses by the University of Michigan (particularly courses 1 and 4): the teacher is amazing and they are ridiculously complete, easy to follow, and comprehensive; they also start from one hundred percent entry level...
www.resetera.com
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