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I don't have PMing but here's my game design "company" or whatever you want to call it! Right now I'm in the planning phase of my second platformer, Tim the Flazo. I've got a public beta up if anyone's interested - basically I'm taking the initial thoughts from people and using that to continue forward. If you want to try it out please be as brutally honest as you can because I'm not far at all into it and will change anything if it means it'll improve the game. The game is supposed to be a homage to old games with all the promotional art and bright colours and whatnot you don't see as much nowadays. I even did a mock-up box back with a bunch of screenshots and stock art! Glad to see the new incarnation of the thread up so soon too by the way.
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Sep 14, 2012 14:58
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My music guy always does a great job. We trade off jobs onto each other for our projects - he does my music and cutscenes, I do his spriting and help out with gameplay. It's really awesome to have an equal who's so intimately involved with your projects that you can say "I want it to be like this" and they will produce something that compliments that thought beautifully. This is my favourite track from my game, and it came when I said "I want it to be like Flash Man from Mega Man 2". It ended up sounding only vaguely like it drew inspiration from FM but when you look at the level it's for it works so much better than a straight rip off of Flash Man (or even the original Flash Man theme which I used as placeholder music). So yeah, my best advice is to find someone that can really get down and dirty with your projects in more ways than just music - chances are everything they do for your game will be brought up a notch or two because they're so involved and really understand your vision. I've found as a novice game designer who pretty much took care of everything that when you're ready to get other people signed onto the project it's good to make sure they absolutely understand it the way you do - that way they can tell you if you're being clear when giving direction to your other recruits (or even when you're trying to pitch your game to an audience!).
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Sep 15, 2012 15:06
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quote:Thunder Breath, too, I'm not sure how I'm gonna differentiate it in-game aside from the standard "does more damage to certain enemies." +1 damage over Fire Breath seems to favor it overmuch. It has little arcs of yellow thunder to break up the purple and teal bits.
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Sep 16, 2012 18:00
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Still can't seem to get into the groove of committing myself to a project. For now all I seem to be able to conjure up is the odd promotional art for my titles. This time I decided to do a retro-style 'ad' for my next retro platformer: The stock art is supposed to be reminiscent of old Pokemon artwork (the kind with the watercolours), and the fonts are taken directly from period magazine ads. I'm happy with how this one turned out, despite me barely having started the actual game. Part of me thinks immersing myself in making this kind of art will spur something, and part of me thinks I should just wait and let the desire to do the project come to me. It's almost been two months since Tita Gasman was released and I really do want to get started on a new project but everything I come up with I lose interest in really quickly. Perhaps the timing isn't right for a new game and I'm just overthinking the creative process. I'm not sure. Oh, and for the record of the OP my Twitter handle is @cifaloe.
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Oct 2, 2012 03:30
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A lot of my ideas are based on things I drew when I was 9 years old. My game Larry Goose's Tank and Warfare was an exception; I originally was going to make it a spin off in the Tita Gasman series (before the current Tita Gasman was even started) called Tita Tanks 64. Then once I decided I didn't need to make everything an extension of one series I jotted down some other ideas and made it new. That's the only time I can think of where all the programming came first and the characters et cetera came second. Maybe that's what I need to do for a new game! I guess I'll go tweet some words now.
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Oct 2, 2012 16:33
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The Cheshire Cat posted:(note: this is assuming that the game, once finished, is actually finished. Don't hack together an engine for an ongoing project or you will hate yourself later). Agree with this. My first two projects were so terribly disorganized. The mentality was 'as long as I know my way around it that's okay'. Unfortunately when you take one or two month long breaks during projects you forget what sprite501 is! Don't do this; organize and simplify.
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Oct 2, 2012 17:04
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Toastline posted:Also, it still says "made in Game Maker" whenever you open an executable made in the not-pro version. edit; i am an idiot who lacks reading comprehension skills
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Oct 3, 2012 02:53
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Svampson posted:You aren't truly bad at drawing unless you go low-resolution 2D sprites for humans (since they are hard to model) and make the world 3D (because you can't grasp perspective) Haha, the art style kind of reminds me of the current generation of Pokemon games. I like it.
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Oct 4, 2012 06:48
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So I've started churning out a design document for my next platformer. Y'know, the 90s homage one. Yesterday I came up with an idea - because I wanted to do the level select in the style of Mega Man (pick any order for the levels) but not have it be a complete rip off, I needed to come up with something to differentiate it. What came next was nature - adaptive difficulty! Let's say you pick the grass level first - it will be the easiest, with fewer of the challenging puzzles and more health/checkpoints to help you out. And if you pick the fire level last, it'll be the most gruesome, with advanced enemies, complex puzzles, etc. However, if you do the fire level first and grass level last, the reverse will take place - the fire level enemies might not shoot as far as they would have if you took it last, and you might find three peaches to restore your lives count instead of one. Conversely, the grass level will have more chances for you to get poisoned by your enemies and more vine puzzles or whatever I decide to do. Oh and also I decided one of the power-up transformations is a bowling ball. You turn into a bowling ball.
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Nov 8, 2012 16:22
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Did some enemy stock art today to test out a new scanner: Another one for my 90s homage platformer, again in the faux-watercolour style I've been attempting with all the media for the game. I think this one's the best yet; I'm particularly satisfied with the wings!
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Nov 14, 2012 05:29
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DeepQantas posted:Hey guys. Since I managed to actually do something for a change, I figure I might as well post about it everywhere I can. I'm digging the artwork and concept, man. Turn based medieval setting sports is truly something unique. Now that you've gotten this wrapped up are you going to attempt another game in the series, maybe with a different sport?
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Dec 4, 2012 05:24
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So I finished the 'official' logo for my '90s homage platformer today. Took three days of experimentation but I think I've gotten the style down, and with the help of the nice folks over in the CC fonts thread I got a pretty baller '90s-looking font for below. The colours were a tough choice. Originally I didn't do the orange insides, but the blue on its own looked dull and uninspired. Blue and orange though were pretty consistently used though in all of the '90s movie or game logos I found, so I went with a gradient (which everyone thought was cool after Photoshop made them easy in 1989) on both the inside and outside of the lettering. You can never go wrong with drop shadows either so those are there too. All in all I'm happy with how it turned out...kind of reminds me of Back to the Future but I guess that's kind of the idea. Now I can start working out the rigorous advertising campaign I'm planning on the off time when I don't feel like programming!
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Jan 4, 2013 16:23
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Thanks for the advice. I originally drew the logo by hand then coloured it in so I might have to redraw it to test out a tucked-in I. As for the marketing, it's more of an ARG - that is, I'm trying to get something done where all the surrounding media of the game suggests it was actually made and released in the '90s. I think it's a core part of selling the game as a real '90s deal. What I guess I mean for example is I'm going to be making fake Geocities pages with cheat codes, fake magazine articles, etc. It's going to be a lot of work but all of it will have something to do with the gameplay itself in some way or another. I'll play around with the logo though, thanks for the tips.
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Jan 4, 2013 19:38
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It is pretty daunting, but I'm eager to work on something challenging like this after I understood how my first game was kinda mediocre. I've spent a lot of time writing out notes of new ideas that'll make it different and I've got a lot I want to try with this game. Good gameplay is definitely the biggest.
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Jan 5, 2013 03:02
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Mug posted:How long have you been working on this game? Seems like a few months now, yeah? Have you been prototyping anything? A few months ago I had about 3/5 of the levels done plus graphics and sound effects. I'm finding now though that the platforming engine I used is too restrictive (it runs off the engine I used for Tita Gasman) so I want to program a new one from scratch while at the same time improving the design of the levels I already finished. Since then I've also come up with a few new ideas that I'm really keen on that basically necessitate a restart anyways. I'll admit I was pretty lazy in terms of actual progress on the game in December. One of my goals for 2013 is to get this (re)started and finished by summer, so let's see if I can do that. Before I start programming I'd like to finish the design document I'm working on, or at least 70% of it - I'll probably come up with even more ideas once I start programming but I don't want to jump into the technical side of things with no substance to back up my game. The Golden Gael fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Jan 5, 2013 |
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Jan 5, 2013 15:59
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Decided it might be against my best interest to dive into another traditional platformer right away, so Tim the Flazo is gonna be on hold for a bit. Instead I'm trying out a genre I don't know a whole lot about (yet) and have never experimented in - a beat 'em up! I've sprited the main character and am pretty happy with the general shape of it but I don't know about the shading. What does everyone think?  (you can't really tell because of the transparency/forum colour but he has a diamond stud in his ear)
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Jan 7, 2013 22:10
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Shaped the hair/ear better and cut the jaw a little more. Also added a coy smirk to add more character. Here it is with the transparency left off (so you can see the stud a little more):
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Jan 7, 2013 22:37
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Loving dem cats, Shalinor. Also, congrats on getting the exposure on those sites. I saw your tweets earlier about it. Looking forward to the game!
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Jan 8, 2013 23:49
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This Screenshot Saturday I find myself bouncing back to Tim the Flazo briefly to share two of the tracks my friend just composed for it (just for the hell of it). Here's the title theme and the sky level music. I'm tempted to work on the game again but I dunno should I really be bouncing between two projects?
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Jan 12, 2013 15:28
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Polo-Rican posted:Timm has gotten better, this is already better than anything from Tita. At least 2 years have passed since he wrote that music, right? You can tell. The Tita soundtrack development was spread out over a long period of time. A few of the tracks (most of them World 2, actually, like the graveyard) were made way back in 2008 when I was working on the original incarnation of the game, then updated later as we progressed. So those were four years. The bulk of them, as you said, were made two years ago. Some of them though, like the UV lab, were made just six months ago. One of the cutscene songs actually was finished like four days before I made the game because I was compiling the music and noticed we forgot that particular track. The second song I just linked really shows bridges the gap I think between the rest of the Tita soundtrack and what's been done on the Flazo soundtrack. I'll pass on the compliments to him though, thanks! Anyway, about doing the fighting game/platformer cocurrently, I should maybe point out I'm not intending on doing the fighting game as a 'retro' type anything. I do tend to have an older look to my games but I suppose that's just my style. I'm better with sprites anyways. I think you're right about the burnout factor though - maybe it's high time I make another Larry Goose tank game, seeing as how the first one kind of sucked and I'd like to try something else that isn't platforming out. I could try an RPG but I always hear people say "don't do those because they never get done/offer anything new". I had a concept for an RPG taking place in a retail-type setting but I'd have to think that one out. I should probably actually go make games now for a change instead of talking about making them! The Golden Gael fucked around with this message at 04:15 on Jan 13, 2013 |
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Jan 12, 2013 23:24
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Redid the Tim the Flazo engine over the last two nights after studying a Mega Man engine I found. I've basically sharpened up the jumping/shooting and made my code much more streamline. Honestly I think I just needed an excuse to sit down and program the thing from the ground up - returning to months old code is hardly as engaging as starting fresh with something and getting to the point where you remember why everything is the way it is. I started up on the tutorial since a common complaint of Tita Gasman was that you were basically thrown into it (even though there was a guide attached to the game I've given up on allowing people the benefit of the doubt in reading the bloody thing). It's pretty hard to show, not tell, how controls and objects work to people! I came up with an interesting new way to explain that enemies have multiple health though:    The first enemy in the game is a seed monster. When you shoot him, his shell flies off, exposing his weak innards. Shoot him again and he's dead. I think that makes it obvious he's affected by the attack without resorting to a health bar or needing to read anything. If people need to there are "!" blocks above you can hit to have it explained. Onward I go now, adding new things to this tutorial. I have an idea to explain the game's "adaptive difficulty". There are two paths near the end of the tutorial. You can go through either one first, but you have to finish both. The one you pick second will be more difficult than it would have been if you picked it first. This'll help people when they get to the level select and see they can pick any level first - the others will become more difficult depending on the order the player chooses them. I'm hoping this'll add some replay value to the game and help set it apart from the platformers it's a homage of. We'll see. The development cycle is only beginning...
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Jan 21, 2013 02:29
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Having a tough time building a tutorial level for my platformer. I get that you need to introduce your physics, rules, and collectibles fairly early one, with some simple tests to boot, but I can't seem to strike a balance. I'm finding myself asking "is this too easy?" or "is this too hard?" to the point where I can't settle on anything. The only thing I've come up with that I like is basically a rip off of Mega Man X's opening (fairly weak enemy coming at you at a fast speed to establish pacing + jumping/attacking). Can anyone who's been in this boat and gotten out of it offer some advice?
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Jan 23, 2013 06:15
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GetWellGamers posted:One of the big things is to avoid trying to teach or test the player too much at once. Something that might sound obvious and reflexive to you and I- say, a running jump over a gap- needs to be taught to the player in steps like, "Jump", "Jump a gap", "Make a running jump", "make a running jump over a gap". Thanks, I just scanned through that and it was extremely helpful. What are everyone's opinions on info blocks? That is to say, blocks you hit from below that make a message pop up explaining certain things. How late in a level is too late to introduce one of these? I'm thinking of the kind from Yoshi's Island. I know show not tell is a big thing but some games use them fantastically so I figured I'd ask.
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Jan 23, 2013 14:31
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Alcoholism posted:How wordy is your game in general? I think if there's fairly regular dialogue and text-based menus, it's less jarring. An info block in an earlier Mario game, on the other hand, would be jarring because of the game's very text-light nature. Just my two cents. The game opens with a bit of story before the title, like Megaman 2, but there's a bit of story after hitting new game, like Yoshi's Island. Maybe just one block at the very beginning (this can serve the purpose of introducing the variable jumping) will suffice. I was thinking about Ape Escape's mailboxes too last night and how they never seemed to drag on because of how they were worded. They also had a nice sound effect when you opened them, which might have helped. I'll experiment. Oh and by the way Mug I changed my username on Twitter if you can update it in the OP thanks!
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Jan 24, 2013 00:47
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Tim the Flazo is still much too early in development to have anything pretty enough in game to show for this Saturday, so here's some enemy concept art I finished: This is a Twistere. These mighty genies inhabit the cloud level and have to be hit from above to take damage. Their attack pattern is "bounce up, hit ground, create shock wave". If you play the cloud level first they only have three hit points, but if you choose it last they become a more fearsome six, with stronger shock waves to boot.
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Jan 27, 2013 04:13
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That's pretty much what it is, but with a neat flashy yellow animation instead. Whenever I did puffs of smoke or dust or whatever it didn't convey danger enough to me (came off more as a harmless particle), so I added that with a charming crash sound.
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Jan 27, 2013 04:36
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Hey while we're at it discussing game making goon meets, is anyone here from Toronto? I'm moving there in the spring; would be awesome to find a group of devs to trade notes over coffee with! Today I decided to tackle a miniboss sprite. The seed enemy in one of my past screenshots gets dropped into soil by a butterfly enemy and turns into this devious tree. How does he look? 
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Jan 28, 2013 20:31
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Thanks! I'll get in touch with them. I wasn't sure how big of a scene Toronto had (to be honest I never gave it any thought).
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Jan 28, 2013 21:10
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Starting on some tiles for the tutorial level of Tim the Flazo. I decided to go with a carnival-esque theme. Comparing the placeholder to the new (unfinished, mind) tiles is real motivation. It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do: Course I still things to do, like break up the underground part of the ground tiles to make it more interesting. The background isn't in yet either (all of them are going to be handpainted watercolours) but it's nice to finally have something from the game to show!
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Mar 4, 2013 02:49
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Question - I want to insert the "WINNERS DON'T USE DRUGS" graphic at the beginning of my game on boot, what is the legal status of using the FBI emblem graphic? Like if I'm selling the game I don't want to get in poo poo or have to worry about royalties. Should I make my own or is it okay to use it?
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Mar 13, 2013 02:38
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Wolfgang Pauli posted:IANAL, but, Thanks! Where can I find the appropriate email address to write? I'm in Canada so I'm not really familiar with where to send who what.
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Mar 13, 2013 02:59
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Wolfgang Pauli posted:Poke around fbi.gov and maybe you can find something. I looked around for a bit but couldn't find anything. The FBI antipiracy warning is free to use by anything protected under US copyright law (with restrictions, but the anti-drug campaign is probably not covered by anything like that anymore. I might just try a parody, mainly because I don't see anything about an email (just phone numbers and addresses) and because it's not something I feel like winging and hoping for the best.
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Mar 13, 2013 05:03
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Orzo posted:Just out of curiosity, does the character in your game do a lot of drugs? No but the bad guys do. That's why they won't win. Sorry for the spoiler!
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Mar 13, 2013 06:11
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Jesus Mug, you've really gone and done us proud! Almost as interesting as the trailer is seeing all the other gamedevs/indie gaming contacts I have retweet and repost your game over the past few days. Keep it up man!
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Apr 6, 2013 14:17
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 So I have a new healthbar which also includes the number of lives you have (up to a max of 9, which coincidentally fits in with the idea that my character is some kinda cat). There's the text box as well if I haven't shown it, along with my custom made font for the game. Still no background yet however. They're being hand-drawn.
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Apr 11, 2013 23:10
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So my friend made a brand new song for the fire level in my next game Tim the Flazo. It's my favourite so far, but I'm curious to know what other people think? I definitely think his skill has jumped since Tita Gasman!
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Jul 19, 2013 01:24
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Okay, my composer just did the forest level theme for my game and I think it's my new favourite. Dark forests are already terrifying, but this one has spiky poisonous animals and ghosts, so that theme really captures it! Here's a static shot showing off the tiles for that level so far, no background though:  Feedback highly appreciated for both!
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Jul 26, 2013 14:03
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So here we go starting the week with a new game! Tim the Flazo is my next step in platforming, and I've got a lot of crazy ideas I want to try out with it. I couldn't even begin to scratch the surface of them in the trailer, so I've decided I'm going to break up the best feature unveilings into separate videos. But for now, there's an introduction. I definitely think it's a step up from my last game, but what does everyone else think?
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Oct 7, 2013 17:58
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Nition posted:Yeah, the text is really hard to read, but the game... Thanks, I've put a lot into coming up with the distinct graphical style for the game! As for what's new with the game, I'll c/p a write up I did explaining it. The first trailer was more generalised to introduce people to the game as a whole - the next on will delve deeper into other aspects of it. But, to answer in writing, the game has an 'adaptive difficulty' mechanic, where if a level is picked first it's easy, but if chosen last it slopes up in difficulty. This means no matter what level you pick first it will always provide enough time to get a hang of the level curve, whereas the other levels don't suffer being too easy. As well, there are other upgrades and powers you can choose from later in the story. Some of these can only be obtained once per run, but are balanced enough than none have a significant advantage over the other choices - they all do equally useful things. You can even "level up" and receive a henshin if you figure out the secrets. Finally, there are several ally characters and enemy characters who help and hinder you. Interactions with them vary from in-game story dialogue to boss battles - one boss appears at the end of whatever level you choose to play first, going back to the adaptive difficulty mechanic. Some other characters might even be playable. There's going to be some more trailers exploring all of this and much more in greater detail, sooner than later!
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Oct 8, 2013 02:23
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Cool, Tim the Flazo has its first article up! I'm curious to know; what have you guys done in the past to promote your projects? Making a good game is fine and all but I've learnt that even if you work your rear end off, people don't check your stuff out without a bit of publicity. And I don't see much point in putting a game online no one will play!
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Oct 11, 2013 04:59
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