Once again, I compose a long and detailed post about a problem that I cannot for the life of me solve, that is causing me a crazy amount of headache, and that I've been working on for like an hour, and that's only after I changed everything to stop another giant problem I was having that took me all morning to solve.
Only to, as I preview the post, to go "Oh MOTHERFUCKER" and figure it out.
Once again the "Make a post for help only to solve the problem exactly once the post is written" bug-fixing method proves itself.
As always, it totally depends. I don't do much VFX stuff at all, but in general a complex, comprehensive effect can take up to a day or more to create from scratch. Simpler stuff is obviously faster. Multiply by reasonable hourly or daily rates...
Once again, I compose a long and detailed post about a problem that I cannot for the life of me solve, that is causing me a crazy amount of headache, and that I've been working on for like an hour, and that's only after I changed everything to stop another giant problem I was having that took me all morning to solve.
Only to, as I preview the post, to go "Oh MOTHERFUCKER" and figure it out.
Once again the "Make a post for help only to solve the problem exactly once the post is written" bug-fixing method proves itself.
Happens all the time at work. Just telling someone what the problem is is usually enough to get your brain to sort it out.
When I was working contract, I charged hourly such that I was making ~$4,800 a month. I never considered equity or profit sharing to be part of that (and never got profit sharing--which, uh, maybe that was a mistake on ARK but uhh WHATEVER MAN I paid my bills)
As far as a realistic time frame: as @Kashaar said, good effects take time. Simple abstract effects can be done quickly, but things like realistic explosions or anything that requires heavy texture work is at least a day's affair. This doesn't include time for revisions. Physics or fluid sims are an even bigger undertaking.
Additionally, I haven't worked with Unity's particle system (which I say in my resume! I'm like 100% an Unreal guy), so there'd be time to ramp up and get familiar with the tools.
Best part: the dude was like "here's examples of what we want" and attached friggin' clips of Harry Potter and Rise of the Guardians. Yes let me just give you a hundred film-quality effects for a grand and a half, sir
Once again, I compose a long and detailed post about a problem that I cannot for the life of me solve, that is causing me a crazy amount of headache, and that I've been working on for like an hour, and that's only after I changed everything to stop another giant problem I was having that took me all morning to solve.
Only to, as I preview the post, to go "Oh MOTHERFUCKER" and figure it out.
Once again the "Make a post for help only to solve the problem exactly once the post is written" bug-fixing method proves itself.
Happens all the time at work. Just telling someone what the problem is is usually enough to get your brain to sort it out.
That's one of the reasons I started streaming my development, so that I could just take a break and talk to the camera about my problem in the hope that explaining it to an audience(even if that audience is like, one person, or even no people).
Though of course today I found the big giant problem immediately after closing my stream saying something like "Ok I'm just going to have to pour through some documentation or something to understand why this isn't working right, because I can't explain it", explaining the problem, saying that me pouring through the docs probably wouldn't be an entertaining stream, and then stopping streaming...
..only to immediately go "Oh shit I've got it now".
And the second problem that the post fixed? Turns out I just didn't clean up after myself enough during that big fix, and was doing something unnecessary with the new method. That of course I realized as soon as I deeply explained what I had changed and why.
Khavall on
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KoopahTroopahThe koopas, the troopas.Philadelphia, PARegistered Userregular
edited January 2016
If you want to laugh, there's a Star Wars kickstarter going for an open RPG slating for December 2017 release, that hasn't started development yet, doesn't have a story, doesn't have a gameplay concept, but boasts rivaling Battlefront's stellar graphics and Witcher 3 gameplay. People just don't understand how long making games takes.
Started working on some audio tests. I don't know how to embed mp4 here, so I am going to just link my Tweet, I think it should show up...and it does! Neato. Don't mind the framerate drop, I'm still looking for the right encoding to work with Twitter.
If you want to laugh, there's a Star Wars kickstarter going for an open RPG slating for December 2017 release, that hasn't started development yet, doesn't have a story, doesn't have a gameplay concept, but boasts rivaling Battlefront's stellar graphics and Witcher 3 gameplay. People just don't understand how long making games makes.
...or licensing. It's some random 20-year old kid with an "idea".
There was another kickstarter by John Videogames once where he thought he could kickstart some Marvel stuff, because "he had bought the comics". 8->
It's not bad! The resolution on this thing is so damn high for the screen, I like it. GM:S has lots of padding in the UI that I don't like. In fact, I really dislike GM:S UI. Shrinking it down is great.
we must be looking at different GM:S configurations because to me the UI is incredibly tiny
The UI has a lot of extra padding that I don't care for. No proper tabbing for scripts (what they have doesn't count.) GM:S 2.0 is a total rewrite of the UI (since this once is currently Delphi) so I am looking forward it
Early this year it was hinted at the end of '15. Not a word since, save for last week when I hit up Mike Dailly on Twitter (Head of Dev) and he confirmed it's still very much a thing.
Still some little things I need to fix for the way they're working, but hey... they work!
Next step, starting next week, is that the big charging laser tower can effectively "steal" targets from other towers, since currently the towers don't hit the same target, and their target is assigned before they're ready to fire. This can result in other towers not firing at stuff that they could easily have hit and destroyed, if the charging laser isn't ready to fire anytime soon.
Also I want to change the missiles so they have splash damage, so that they're more differentiated from the charging laser.
Edit: I also just realized that the gun tower fires directly behind it at one point in that video, despite the fact that they're not even supposed to be able to acquire targets that aren't within their 270-degree arcs facing outwards. Hm.
A philosophical conundrum: should screenshake shake UI elements?
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible." - T.E. Lawrence
A philosophical conundrum: should screenshake shake UI elements?
Are the UI elements in-character or just game bits?
Also, are there important things in the UI that might disrupt gameplay if they shake?
because, let's say, for instance, I as a player were to die, or even take extra damage because my UI shook when there was screenshake. I would be angry, regardless of anything else.
A philosophical conundrum: should screenshake shake UI elements?
Are the UI elements in-character or just game bits?
Also, are there important things in the UI that might disrupt gameplay if they shake?
because, let's say, for instance, I as a player were to die because my UI shook when there was screenshake. I would be angry, regardless of anything else.
The (still largely theoretical) game is turn-based. I suppose you could make a misplay if you clicked really quickly while the screen is shaking.
Grey Paladin on
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible." - T.E. Lawrence
I'm writing a Twitch chat bot in Unity (because I'm crazy) and want to be able to control it without the controls showing up on stream. (also PLUG I'm streaming the bot dev usually saturday mornings US East time)
The problem is that it appears that Unity doesn't seem to have the ability for an application to create multiple independent windows.
I have an idea for a solution that is a bit cumbersome.
Create a separate application (either in Unity or with another language/ide) and have it communicate with the bot via text files.
So my application would write a command to a text file and wait. The bot would read it, do its thing, and send the output to another file. The "controller" application that wouldn't be seen in the stream would read the output file and display the results.
A more "streamlined" solution would be to create a Unity application and have it communicate with the bot via Unity networking but that would be more work since I've never done it before.
I think that if the ui is part of the game world like the HUD in Metroid Prime, go for it, but maybe include the option to dampen or disable the effect.
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surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
screen shake should not just shake the ui but the player in real life
Our game got sort of approved by Apple. We submitted two versions, one with everything unlocked and one without. The fully unlocked one got approved but the other rejected. Hoping it gets sorted out over the weekend.
Once both are approved, I'll throw out a few promo codes if anyone is interested. So hype!
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
Our game got sort of approved by Apple. We submitted two versions, one with everything unlocked and one without. The fully unlocked one got approved but the other rejected. Hoping it gets sorted out over the weekend.
Once both are approved, I'll throw out a few promo codes if anyone is interested. So hype!
That is awesome! Publication is always a great feeling, and as someone who pulls their spouse in close during development it's a great feeling isn't it?
Heh, the "fun" of trying remember how your own scripts work when you've not worked on a project for months.
I was just in the very same situation this weekend. Finally picked up work again on my 3D menu system, after I got a handful of emails asking about when I'm going to release it. My blueprints were a bit messy, to say the least... so I've gone and rebuilt it from scratch. It's much cleaner and more usable now, and one of the parts that were a real pain in the ass I've rebuilt to be much more efficient.
I've also integrated support for VR (menu interaction without camera), as well as the first iteration of touch controls for mobile. And also some handles for manually moving/rotating menu items when you need it. Shit's awesome, guys! I hope I'll be able to finish this off within the week, work permitting, because it's way overdue!
Heh, the "fun" of trying remember how your own scripts work when you've not worked on a project for months.
Totally. I comment well enough I think but there is always a hidden flow of logic that you have to tap into to understand where you were when writing it. As a designer I am constantly changing my workflow patterns as well in an attempt to be more efficient/logical. Coupled with that, sometimes going back to old code looks like someone else wrote it entirely.
I'm writing a Twitch chat bot in Unity (because I'm crazy) and want to be able to control it without the controls showing up on stream. (also PLUG I'm streaming the bot dev usually saturday mornings US East time)
The problem is that it appears that Unity doesn't seem to have the ability for an application to create multiple independent windows.
I have an idea for a solution that is a bit cumbersome.
Create a separate application (either in Unity or with another language/ide) and have it communicate with the bot via text files.
So my application would write a command to a text file and wait. The bot would read it, do its thing, and send the output to another file. The "controller" application that wouldn't be seen in the stream would read the output file and display the results.
A more "streamlined" solution would be to create a Unity application and have it communicate with the bot via Unity networking but that would be more work since I've never done it before.
Does anyone have any other ideas?
So ideally you want the controller and the visualization to be on the same machine or it being networked one of the requirements? Why do the controls require visibility at all?
Maybe Unity isn't the best tool for the job? I know LibGDX just added multi window support.
Rampant speculation on my part without knowing more details.
Posts
"60-100 spell, scene, and menu effects", half due by march, for a whopping $1,600 in payment ("plus 2% of revenue" lololol)
it's a good thing this was e-mail and not in-person because my response would have been less "thanks for the offer but no" and more "HHHEHEEHEHEHHH"
Aww, you totally passed up the opportunity to educate someone on how much such art really costs...
Unreal Engine 4 Developers Community.
I'm working on a cute little video game! Here's a link for you.
That's insane. That wouldn't even cover taking two weeks off work and to try to get it all done.
Once again, I compose a long and detailed post about a problem that I cannot for the life of me solve, that is causing me a crazy amount of headache, and that I've been working on for like an hour, and that's only after I changed everything to stop another giant problem I was having that took me all morning to solve.
Only to, as I preview the post, to go "Oh MOTHERFUCKER" and figure it out.
Once again the "Make a post for help only to solve the problem exactly once the post is written" bug-fixing method proves itself.
As always, it totally depends. I don't do much VFX stuff at all, but in general a complex, comprehensive effect can take up to a day or more to create from scratch. Simpler stuff is obviously faster. Multiply by reasonable hourly or daily rates...
Unreal Engine 4 Developers Community.
I'm working on a cute little video game! Here's a link for you.
Happens all the time at work. Just telling someone what the problem is is usually enough to get your brain to sort it out.
When I was working contract, I charged hourly such that I was making ~$4,800 a month. I never considered equity or profit sharing to be part of that (and never got profit sharing--which, uh, maybe that was a mistake on ARK but uhh WHATEVER MAN I paid my bills)
As far as a realistic time frame: as @Kashaar said, good effects take time. Simple abstract effects can be done quickly, but things like realistic explosions or anything that requires heavy texture work is at least a day's affair. This doesn't include time for revisions. Physics or fluid sims are an even bigger undertaking.
Additionally, I haven't worked with Unity's particle system (which I say in my resume! I'm like 100% an Unreal guy), so there'd be time to ramp up and get familiar with the tools.
Best part: the dude was like "here's examples of what we want" and attached friggin' clips of Harry Potter and Rise of the Guardians. Yes let me just give you a hundred film-quality effects for a grand and a half, sir
Though of course today I found the big giant problem immediately after closing my stream saying something like "Ok I'm just going to have to pour through some documentation or something to understand why this isn't working right, because I can't explain it", explaining the problem, saying that me pouring through the docs probably wouldn't be an entertaining stream, and then stopping streaming...
..only to immediately go "Oh shit I've got it now".
And the second problem that the post fixed? Turns out I just didn't clean up after myself enough during that big fix, and was doing something unnecessary with the new method. That of course I realized as soon as I deeply explained what I had changed and why.
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
...or licensing. It's some random 20-year old kid with an "idea".
There was another kickstarter by John Videogames once where he thought he could kickstart some Marvel stuff, because "he had bought the comics". 8->
and... i dont hate it!?
its surprisingly compatible with the pen
It's not bad! The resolution on this thing is so damn high for the screen, I like it. GM:S has lots of padding in the UI that I don't like. In fact, I really dislike GM:S UI. Shrinking it down is great.
The UI has a lot of extra padding that I don't care for. No proper tabbing for scripts (what they have doesn't count.) GM:S 2.0 is a total rewrite of the UI (since this once is currently Delphi) so I am looking forward it
Just playing the waiting game.
Still some little things I need to fix for the way they're working, but hey... they work!
Next step, starting next week, is that the big charging laser tower can effectively "steal" targets from other towers, since currently the towers don't hit the same target, and their target is assigned before they're ready to fire. This can result in other towers not firing at stuff that they could easily have hit and destroyed, if the charging laser isn't ready to fire anytime soon.
Also I want to change the missiles so they have splash damage, so that they're more differentiated from the charging laser.
Edit: I also just realized that the gun tower fires directly behind it at one point in that video, despite the fact that they're not even supposed to be able to acquire targets that aren't within their 270-degree arcs facing outwards. Hm.
Are the UI elements in-character or just game bits?
Also, are there important things in the UI that might disrupt gameplay if they shake?
because, let's say, for instance, I as a player were to die, or even take extra damage because my UI shook when there was screenshake. I would be angry, regardless of anything else.
The (still largely theoretical) game is turn-based. I suppose you could make a misplay if you clicked really quickly while the screen is shaking.
I'm writing a Twitch chat bot in Unity (because I'm crazy) and want to be able to control it without the controls showing up on stream. (also PLUG I'm streaming the bot dev usually saturday mornings US East time)
The problem is that it appears that Unity doesn't seem to have the ability for an application to create multiple independent windows.
I have an idea for a solution that is a bit cumbersome.
Create a separate application (either in Unity or with another language/ide) and have it communicate with the bot via text files.
So my application would write a command to a text file and wait. The bot would read it, do its thing, and send the output to another file. The "controller" application that wouldn't be seen in the stream would read the output file and display the results.
A more "streamlined" solution would be to create a Unity application and have it communicate with the bot via Unity networking but that would be more work since I've never done it before.
Does anyone have any other ideas?
if at all, i'd say it should be less intense than the camera shake
Once both are approved, I'll throw out a few promo codes if anyone is interested. So hype!
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
That is awesome! Publication is always a great feeling, and as someone who pulls their spouse in close during development it's a great feeling isn't it?
Here is a video of what I have so far
I was just in the very same situation this weekend. Finally picked up work again on my 3D menu system, after I got a handful of emails asking about when I'm going to release it. My blueprints were a bit messy, to say the least... so I've gone and rebuilt it from scratch. It's much cleaner and more usable now, and one of the parts that were a real pain in the ass I've rebuilt to be much more efficient.
I've also integrated support for VR (menu interaction without camera), as well as the first iteration of touch controls for mobile. And also some handles for manually moving/rotating menu items when you need it. Shit's awesome, guys! I hope I'll be able to finish this off within the week, work permitting, because it's way overdue!
Unreal Engine 4 Developers Community.
I'm working on a cute little video game! Here's a link for you.
Totally. I comment well enough I think but there is always a hidden flow of logic that you have to tap into to understand where you were when writing it. As a designer I am constantly changing my workflow patterns as well in an attempt to be more efficient/logical. Coupled with that, sometimes going back to old code looks like someone else wrote it entirely.
So ideally you want the controller and the visualization to be on the same machine or it being networked one of the requirements? Why do the controls require visibility at all?
Maybe Unity isn't the best tool for the job? I know LibGDX just added multi window support.
Rampant speculation on my part without knowing more details.
Going to share this with my wife and go "See! I am not crazy!"
Either you're not crazy or all developers are crazy. Either way you have company.
Indeed he does - Monsieur Le Quack says hello.