quote:

Well that kinda begs the question of what's "too big". I mean obviously there's some stuff that's ridiculous like "We're a five-man team making an MMO to rival World of Warcraft," but everyone involved is just kidding themselves at that point. A tiny crew making an RPG about the size you saw in the middle of the SNES era? That looks big and insurmountable from the outside, but it's not really unreasonable and it's been empirically-proven in the industry that this can easily be completed on schedule with a smaller crew than you can count on your two hands.

quote:

That's why I said "core gameplay elements." It's like the seven or ten or whatever number of stories theory: you can make a bunch of interesting games with unique elements, but are they really new or are they very clever and fun remixes of things we already know? Ehh, maybe that's just because the way I regard my own work. It's not new, it's just a mix of things I'm familiar with and think could be fun if they were put together in a certain way.

StickFigs posted:

- When/how do you come up with your best ideas? What are your best inspirational activities?

- Do your ideas start off as an idea for a game mechanic or do you think of a story or plot first and build the game mechanics around that? Or does the whole picture come to you at once?

- How do you think small in terms of scope? When you have an idea that's too big do you cut it down to size or put it aside for a future project?

mutata posted:

Also, genres may be familiar to us, but we're FAR FAR from knowing every possible combination of mechanics and control schemes and that exploration is a big part of why the indie scene is as exciting as it is nowadays.

The White Dragon posted:

The best you can hope for is to follow Roald Dahl's advice and write down any good ones you catch. You can work with them when you have time or when you think you've got a clever way to spin 'em.

korusan posted:

You know it's the first level when you're in a tank...fighting snakes.

Shalinor posted:

This is what I do. Keep a giant folder of all the game ideas that won't leave me alone until I write them down. Some of those documents naturally grow or become favorites, and when I need a new project, I troll the list and see what pops up.

I think I'm going to start using the idea bucket to seed my gamejams, too. Instead of randomly picking a game/genre that fits, just pop through the list and see if anything likely appears.

korusan posted:

Thanks friends. I hope the Player 2 vehicle winds up being just as cool.

It's a station wagon.

ceebee posted:

Also, if anybody here is interested in getting into an indie dev chatroom I was thinking of starting up a skype chatroom, add me on skype as "curtbinder" if you want to get involved.

Unormal posted:

TomR posted:

Also I made a thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um8sgsaKN34

StickFigs posted:

Read the blurb but I didn't see anything about this: Is it true that UE4 has moved away from UnrealScript and totally towards Kismet + native code? This new pricing model makes more sense if it's true.

The Kins posted:

From GDC: Unreal Engine 4 comes out today and has a subscription model for licensing, costing $19 a month + 5% gross from any commercial release, with engine source made available to subscribers via GitHub.

Shalinor posted:

That's... a hell of a deal. If I weren't already embedded in Unity, I'd be preparing to jump ship because, drat.

dupersaurus posted:

They're ditching the free UDK, though, which kinda sucks.

StickFigs posted:

Unity still has quite a few advantages over UE4 in my book, namely C#, MonoDevelop, FREE entry-level price.

EDIT: Although only taking 5% of gross revenue is nice.

Monster w21 Faces posted:

On the plus side, it's $20 friggin dollars and you don't need an active sub to develop.

dupersaurus posted:

I missed that part. I assumed it was like Creative Cloud: stop paying and lose all access.

quote:

Aras Pranckevičius(Unity's graphics/shader bloke) has put up his GDC talk on his website. Slides/notes.

StickFigs posted:

I'm assuming if you pay $20 once, grab the source, then quit then you'll have the source but it will be stagnant where if you keep your subscription up to date you will have access to the newest revision.

I think they would have been better off giving the source code out free to everyone since there's no way to protect it from being distributed by users illegally without the super-high paywall it used to have. Then the subscription could grant you commercial release rights and 24/7 tech support or something.

EDIT: Come to think of it, does that mean you have to pay the subscription fee as long as your game is on sale? Even if you don't do any further development?

Ars Technica posted:

That fee can be cancelled any time, with the developer retaining access to the existing code. But users will have to resubscribe to make use of the latest updates to the engine's codebase (and will still obviously be on the hook for the royalties regardless of subscription status)

StickFigs posted:

I'm assuming if you pay $20 once, grab the source, then quit then you'll have the source but it will be stagnant where if you keep your subscription up to date you will have access to the newest revision.

I think they would have been better off giving the source code out free to everyone since there's no way to protect it from being distributed by users illegally without the super-high paywall it used to have. Then the subscription could grant you commercial release rights and 24/7 tech support or something.

EDIT: Come to think of it, does that mean you have to pay the subscription fee as long as your game is on sale? Even if you don't do any further development?

quote:

•Do I have to worry about a billing contract or penalties for cancelling my subscription?


Your subscription payment automatically recurs, but you’re free to cancel at any time. There’s no penalty for cancellation.

When you cancel your subscription, you won’t receive access to future releases of Unreal Engine 4, however your login will remain active, and you are free to continue using the versions of Unreal Engine 4 which you obtained as a subscriber under the terms of the EULA.


•What modifications can I make to the source code?


You can extend it, modify it, fork it, or integrate it with other software or libraries, with one exception: You can’t combine the Unreal Engine code with code covered by a “Copyleft” license agreement which would directly or indirectly require the Unreal Engine to be governed by terms other than the EULA. For example:
•Software licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), Lesser GPL (LGPL) (unless you are merely dynamically linking a shared library), or Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License is Copyleft Code.
•Software licensed under the BSD License, MIT License, Microsoft Public License, or Apache License is not Copyleft Code.


•Can I share the Unreal Engine source code or tools with others?


You can share the source code or tools, along with any modifications you’ve made, with anyone who is an Unreal Engine licensee who is authorized to access the same version of the engine as yours, e.g. the 4.x.x version number of your installed build.


•Can I copy and paste the Unreal Engine code into my own project or engine?


If you use any Unreal Engine code in your product (even just a little), then your entire product is governed by the EULA, and royalties are due.


•Can I study and learn from the Unreal Engine code, and then utilize that knowledge in writing my own game or competing engine?


Yes, as long as you don’t copy any of the code. Code is copyrighted, but knowledge is free!


•The Unreal Engine ships with a lot of content, and more is available in the Marketplace. Can I use this freely in my products?


Yes, you can ship our content in your products using the Unreal Engine. However, you can’t sell or sublicense our content to other developers for use in their products, e.g. via web site or e-commerce mechanism built into a 3D development tool.