I've got a game coming out and I've started working on my next one. Continuing from an idea that I had.
I've put up a small pre-alpha web demo to get some general feedback on 12 different various difficulties of the 'easier' sort. I would love some feedback on difficulty and any thoughts that may pop up!
Menus are a god damn pain in the ass. Mostly because they eat cycles you'd rather be spending on the game itself.
Yeah, the first tutorial from Shaun Spalding went...."Here is how you pause everything, and here is why it won't work if you've been using alarms and don't parent every last thing.
I suppose I should make a master bullet type. And move all the bits that are in the create event to step event.
I've got a game coming out and I've started working on my next one. Continuing from an idea that I had.
I've put up a small pre-alpha web demo to get some general feedback on 12 different various difficulties of the 'easier' sort. I would love some feedback on difficulty and any thoughts that may pop up!
Seems pretty solid so far. The double circle halves spinning level was way too hard though. Took me 40+ tries to get it right. That would have probably made me uninstall it after 15 attempts in the actual game. I'm not sure if it was just because it's a browser game, but the rapid taps required to move the ball around seemed a bit unresponsive at times.
Sound and art are nice. Good start.
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
I've got a game coming out and I've started working on my next one. Continuing from an idea that I had.
I've put up a small pre-alpha web demo to get some general feedback on 12 different various difficulties of the 'easier' sort. I would love some feedback on difficulty and any thoughts that may pop up!
Seems pretty solid so far. The double circle halves spinning level was way too hard though. Took me 40+ tries to get it right. That would have probably made me uninstall it after 15 attempts in the actual game. I'm not sure if it was just because it's a browser game, but the rapid taps required to move the ball around seemed a bit unresponsive at times.
Sound and art are nice. Good start.
I laughed at your spinning circles and weep at the dancing pyramids.
I've got a game coming out and I've started working on my next one. Continuing from an idea that I had.
I've put up a small pre-alpha web demo to get some general feedback on 12 different various difficulties of the 'easier' sort. I would love some feedback on difficulty and any thoughts that may pop up!
Didn't have a lot of time to play it but I can give you a few quick impressions:
The game gets too difficult too fast, trying introducing a more gradual curve.
Presentation is really solid already, you seem to have a real handle on that.
Once I figured out that I didn't need to tap on the dot itself, the game became a lot more doable. You probably want to highlight that more, because the way you are presenting the information right now makes it look like you need to tap on the dot itself to drop.
That "mock up" website is amazing. Care to share some of technical details of how you put it together? For example, what Javascript library are you using for the game itself, is the phone frame and surrounding website all custom or are you using a template, etc?
1) It is 100% a proof of concept. I have 100 levels or so designed, 50 working. LOTS of varied challenges. I'm releasing them in testing groups to get a feel. (There are analytics rigged into the game for play data)
2) The intent was to be confusing and minimal. I wanted to see what people did without their hands being held.
3) Challenging for sure, some of them are stupid hard. Wife spent 70 drops on a level and almost threw the phone! lol.
4) The website (I suck at coding, so THANK YOU!) is coded with Bootstrap and CSS/HTML.
Nope. Just using some simple grid layouts that bootstrap has. It's pretty easy to use, just setup divs with classes and style accordingly. I did the design in Photoshop and then opened up notepad++ and got to work.
100 levels of what you just played WOULD get boring, but I have a few mechanics that really change things up.
1) Small ball, larger maze. Ball moves automatically, gotta hit at certain points to remove barriers to pass, etc.
2) Ball shrinks and grows with taps, dodging things/etc.
3) Invisible blocks with a 'pulse' type mode to reveal them.
4) Special rush mode where you do as many challenges as fast as you can (faster loading/switching of puzzles).
5) Party mode to challenge people with one phone in the group.
6) MAYBE MAYBE in the later later future, the level editor that I made is pretty good... people making their own levels?
In combination I believe I have several hundreds of levels worth of gameplay that you won't sit down and do all at once, but great for various things. Parties, standing in line at the store, the toilet, etc. Quick and easy.
I've also got some neat visuals coming, where the player unlocks special cosmetics. Avatars that change the ball up, as well as special particle trails that leave the swiftball. (Think of Fruit Ninja cosmetics).
This is all happening very rapidly because I'm sinking about 15 hours a day into, I want the game out in Jan '17.
Might I also suggest, if you don't already have it, a side-screen mechanic. On level 9, I thought for sure that I could let the ball go through one side of the board to have it appear on the other side, especially since there wasn't a visible kill wall.
Another fun mechanic might be a time freezer circle with a number on it (say 3 or whatever). When the circle touches it, it stops in place until the timer clicks down to 0. Or how about a teleporter to move the circle around? Perhaps a splitting spot that splits the circle into two while holding the splitter.
Sorry, but I love designing mechanics.
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
Might I also suggest, if you don't already have it, a side-screen mechanic. On level 9, I thought for sure that I could let the ball go through one side of the board to have it appear on the other side, especially since there wasn't a visible kill wall.
Another fun mechanic might be a time freezer circle with a number on it (say 3 or whatever). When the circle touches it, it stops in place until the timer clicks down to 0. Or how about a teleporter to move the circle around? Perhaps a splitting spot that splits the circle into two while holding the splitter.
Sorry, but I love designing mechanics.
That's actually pretty clever! The pac-man screen style change. I like it!
I'm all for suggestions, don't apologize! The simple mechanics and low barrier entry of this game is VERY refreshing for designing things. I am have a blast!
I'm already using teleporters in a way with 'time zones' haha, so you're very clever! Keep 'em coming!
Edit: In fact, that's fucking genius. The room transitions. Holy crap. That's 100% going in tonight.
Might I also suggest, if you don't already have it, a side-screen mechanic. On level 9, I thought for sure that I could let the ball go through one side of the board to have it appear on the other side, especially since there wasn't a visible kill wall.
Another fun mechanic might be a time freezer circle with a number on it (say 3 or whatever). When the circle touches it, it stops in place until the timer clicks down to 0. Or how about a teleporter to move the circle around? Perhaps a splitting spot that splits the circle into two while holding the splitter.
Sorry, but I love designing mechanics.
That's actually pretty clever! The pac-man screen style change. I like it!
I'm all for suggestions, don't apologize! The simple mechanics and low barrier entry of this game is VERY refreshing for designing things. I am have a blast!
I'm already using teleporters in a way with 'time zones' haha, so you're very clever! Keep 'em coming!
Edit: In fact, that's fucking genius. The room transitions. Holy crap. That's 100% going in tonight.
It better be genius for all the money I spent on that game design degree.
I'll keep whipping up ideas for ya and see what I can come up with.
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
First hiccup has been running out of disk space after adding extra version of the android sdk to be able to also use Google VR. I think I am going to delete most of the system images, they are taking 60GB and as far as I know they are only used for emulation.
Other than that just tested the first person template and it runs really well.
Ok my wife got a new phone and I got her old Note 3, time to try my hand at mobile UE4.
Anybody has any tips for mobile virgins?
Scope down! Scope down!
But seriously, mobile's biggest issues are really resolution and particle/object/draw calls and count. The fragmentation of all the various hardware types, more specifically: Android.
It's not hard to dev for mobile but when something goes wrong it can be nasty to fix depending on the issue, so keeping scope and effects down and then working up to a point you're comfy with is my best suggestion for first time. Will save a lot of headache.
Mobile games are the most buggiest stuff I've worked with in all the various platforms. But it's a beast that can be tamed! XD
It's an experiment right now, but basically I need something that is going to work for the web (aka some that compiles down to Javascript). I could use Javascript, but I like learning new things, and Clojure was a language 1) that came up a bunch when I was interviewing 2) is functional and functional languages are something I'm trying to learn more about.
I may end up ditching it if I don't think it's working for me. Biggest thing that worries me so far is the lack of typing. I am an idiot so I like the compiler double checking my code.
Welp, stumbled over a hugely discounted Unity/C# course on Udemy which I got the other day, shortly before it went from "95% discount" back to "full price."
This is interesting so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing how far down the rabbithole I can end up following it over the coming months..
I just learned that yoyo games has developed a game maker 2, and that it just got released this month.
This kind of explains why game maker was so cheap and the Humble Bundle recently, they're building up a larger user base.
Yeah. It's been in beta for a while and some of us couldn't say anything. XD It's pretty awesome! I'll be picking up my full license in Jan/Feb or whenever they make them available.
GM:S 2.0 is fabulous, for anyone interested in it.
I'm still working my way through the differences between the free version and the full paid version of game maker. Mind throwing out one single thing that is Leaps and Bounds better than what I'm working with?
I just learned that yoyo games has developed a game maker 2, and that it just got released this month.
This kind of explains why game maker was so cheap and the Humble Bundle recently, they're building up a larger user base.
Yeah. It's been in beta for a while and some of us couldn't say anything. XD It's pretty awesome! I'll be picking up my full license in Jan/Feb or whenever they make them available.
GM:S 2.0 is fabulous, for anyone interested in it.
I assume both the games you've shown are in GM 2.0?
I just learned that yoyo games has developed a game maker 2, and that it just got released this month.
This kind of explains why game maker was so cheap and the Humble Bundle recently, they're building up a larger user base.
Yeah. It's been in beta for a while and some of us couldn't say anything. XD It's pretty awesome! I'll be picking up my full license in Jan/Feb or whenever they make them available.
GM:S 2.0 is fabulous, for anyone interested in it.
I assume both the games you've shown are in GM 2.0?
Nope, 1.x. The 2.0 NDA prevents all that stuff. Come Jan/Feb I'll be switching over when they have the Master Collection license up.
Spoke wrong, apparently they are doing the MC licensing different this time. MC owners simply get 50% off all future 2.x modules. NEAT!
So I've managed to construct a full schump level and menu from scratch and tutorials, now I just need to
make the end of level transition
Make the boss death explosions happen in the right range of the screen
Decide on a health system
Mske the level not impossible to beat.
I started a new personal side-project last week. The idea is nothing original: you're a mech and you blow up all the things from a third person/topdown perspective. But that keeps the scope manageable, and means I can focus on the fun parts of execution instead!
So far I spent a good amount of time in world machine to generate a terrain that I think fits the theme I have in mind, along with appropriate splat maps, then set it up in UE4 with landscape layers and detail normals on those. Then I started modeling a spider mech, which I just finished rigging yesterday. Animations are on today's docket... I posted a wip thread on Polycount for it if you want the full wippyness, but here's a few highlights:
Posts
I've put up a small pre-alpha web demo to get some general feedback on 12 different various difficulties of the 'easier' sort. I would love some feedback on difficulty and any thoughts that may pop up!
It can be played in your browser right now:
http://dropswift.com
Yeah, the first tutorial from Shaun Spalding went...."Here is how you pause everything, and here is why it won't work if you've been using alarms and don't parent every last thing.
I suppose I should make a master bullet type. And move all the bits that are in the create event to step event.
But still, so many Alarms.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Seems pretty solid so far. The double circle halves spinning level was way too hard though. Took me 40+ tries to get it right. That would have probably made me uninstall it after 15 attempts in the actual game. I'm not sure if it was just because it's a browser game, but the rapid taps required to move the ball around seemed a bit unresponsive at times.
Sound and art are nice. Good start.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
I laughed at your spinning circles and weep at the dancing pyramids.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
I really should get my easy main menus package polished up and released on the UE4 marketplace...
Unreal Engine 4 Developers Community.
I'm working on a cute little video game! Here's a link for you.
Klingon Font doesn't work, going to try something else.
Still happy I made it this far.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Didn't have a lot of time to play it but I can give you a few quick impressions:
That "mock up" website is amazing. Care to share some of technical details of how you put it together? For example, what Javascript library are you using for the game itself, is the phone frame and surrounding website all custom or are you using a template, etc?
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
1) It is 100% a proof of concept. I have 100 levels or so designed, 50 working. LOTS of varied challenges. I'm releasing them in testing groups to get a feel. (There are analytics rigged into the game for play data)
2) The intent was to be confusing and minimal. I wanted to see what people did without their hands being held.
3) Challenging for sure, some of them are stupid hard. Wife spent 70 drops on a level and almost threw the phone! lol.
4) The website (I suck at coding, so THANK YOU!) is coded with Bootstrap and CSS/HTML.
What are you using for analytics?
Cool concept, I like how minimal it is, but it might get repetitive over 100 levels.
Nope. Just using some simple grid layouts that bootstrap has. It's pretty easy to use, just setup divs with classes and style accordingly. I did the design in Photoshop and then opened up notepad++ and got to work.
100 levels of what you just played WOULD get boring, but I have a few mechanics that really change things up.
1) Small ball, larger maze. Ball moves automatically, gotta hit at certain points to remove barriers to pass, etc.
2) Ball shrinks and grows with taps, dodging things/etc.
3) Invisible blocks with a 'pulse' type mode to reveal them.
4) Special rush mode where you do as many challenges as fast as you can (faster loading/switching of puzzles).
5) Party mode to challenge people with one phone in the group.
6) MAYBE MAYBE in the later later future, the level editor that I made is pretty good... people making their own levels?
In combination I believe I have several hundreds of levels worth of gameplay that you won't sit down and do all at once, but great for various things. Parties, standing in line at the store, the toilet, etc. Quick and easy.
I've also got some neat visuals coming, where the player unlocks special cosmetics. Avatars that change the ball up, as well as special particle trails that leave the swiftball. (Think of Fruit Ninja cosmetics).
This is all happening very rapidly because I'm sinking about 15 hours a day into, I want the game out in Jan '17.
Another fun mechanic might be a time freezer circle with a number on it (say 3 or whatever). When the circle touches it, it stops in place until the timer clicks down to 0. Or how about a teleporter to move the circle around? Perhaps a splitting spot that splits the circle into two while holding the splitter.
Sorry, but I love designing mechanics.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
That's actually pretty clever! The pac-man screen style change. I like it!
I'm all for suggestions, don't apologize! The simple mechanics and low barrier entry of this game is VERY refreshing for designing things. I am have a blast!
I'm already using teleporters in a way with 'time zones' haha, so you're very clever! Keep 'em coming!
Edit: In fact, that's fucking genius. The room transitions. Holy crap. That's 100% going in tonight.
It better be genius for all the money I spent on that game design degree.
I'll keep whipping up ideas for ya and see what I can come up with.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
edit: It was me,
mouse_check_button_pressed != mouse_check_button
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Anybody has any tips for mobile virgins?
Shaders are fucking expensive, especially on older Android devices.
Other than that just tested the first person template and it runs really well.
Show me what you guys are working on!
Scope down! Scope down!
But seriously, mobile's biggest issues are really resolution and particle/object/draw calls and count. The fragmentation of all the various hardware types, more specifically: Android.
It's not hard to dev for mobile but when something goes wrong it can be nasty to fix depending on the issue, so keeping scope and effects down and then working up to a point you're comfy with is my best suggestion for first time. Will save a lot of headache.
Mobile games are the most buggiest stuff I've worked with in all the various platforms. But it's a beast that can be tamed! XD
I'm trying to learn Clojure to prepare to dive into some experimentations with interactive fiction. Stay tuned.
Going is be a lot slower now that I am not going to be working at it full time.
What motivated you to choose Clojure?
It's an experiment right now, but basically I need something that is going to work for the web (aka some that compiles down to Javascript). I could use Javascript, but I like learning new things, and Clojure was a language 1) that came up a bunch when I was interviewing 2) is functional and functional languages are something I'm trying to learn more about.
I may end up ditching it if I don't think it's working for me. Biggest thing that worries me so far is the lack of typing. I am an idiot so I like the compiler double checking my code.
This kind of explains why game maker was so cheap and the Humble Bundle recently, they're building up a larger user base.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
This is interesting so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing how far down the rabbithole I can end up following it over the coming months..
Yeah. It's been in beta for a while and some of us couldn't say anything. XD It's pretty awesome! I'll be picking up my full license in Jan/Feb or whenever they make them available.
GM:S 2.0 is fabulous, for anyone interested in it.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Pro version is 100% all of GameMaker with a Windows Export. Then all the modules to export to (Android, iOS, etc) are extra modules you pay for.
The one I direct most devs to who are hobbyist, unsure, or don't want to spend a lot is the 99.99 pro version of GM:S 2.0
The list of reasons of 2.0 over 1 goes on forever. It's everything great about GM:S 1 and expanded with a beautiful workspace UI and toolset.
I assume both the games you've shown are in GM 2.0?
Nope, 1.x. The 2.0 NDA prevents all that stuff. Come Jan/Feb I'll be switching over when they have the Master Collection license up.
Spoke wrong, apparently they are doing the MC licensing different this time. MC owners simply get 50% off all future 2.x modules. NEAT!
Unreal Engine 4 Developers Community.
I'm working on a cute little video game! Here's a link for you.
make the end of level transition
Make the boss death explosions happen in the right range of the screen
Decide on a health system
Mske the level not impossible to beat.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
So far I spent a good amount of time in world machine to generate a terrain that I think fits the theme I have in mind, along with appropriate splat maps, then set it up in UE4 with landscape layers and detail normals on those. Then I started modeling a spider mech, which I just finished rigging yesterday. Animations are on today's docket... I posted a wip thread on Polycount for it if you want the full wippyness, but here's a few highlights:
(roughly the planned camera perspective)
Unreal Engine 4 Developers Community.
I'm working on a cute little video game! Here's a link for you.