The Quest to Create Games

[heroesofumbra]

Really brutal!! I did some things with libgdx but ... java isn't my deal. This is a huge project, Why are you doing this for free? I think that putting heroes of umbra in the play store could be a VERY VERY serious business. What about translations? I speak Spanish, Italian and German but I am really good with Spanish and I can help you. Cheers from Spain.

I don’t consider myself an indie developer.

The game franchise is shifting towards small teams that can give AAA studios a run for their money. Given crowdfunding platforms like kickstarter, getting thousands of dollars in funding for a reasonably decent-looking game is easy. Indie developers have resources, business plans, and ultimately a lot of power to successfully develop games full-time. With platforms like greenlight, humble bundles, indiedb, and so on, there are clearly many outlets for independent developers to share their products and opinions.

However, I feel these outlets tend to inflate independent developers’ sense of entitlement and the success of the independent game industry is gradually shifting developers’ focus from passion to monetization.

Depending on whom you ask this may not be a bad thing. It’s just a thing. It’s just different than what I’m used to. It’s wonderful that people can make a living creating games; however I prefer to make games in my spare time. No huge Kickstarter campaigns, no large teams, no frills, and no fuss – it’s simply something that I’m interested in. When I started Starless Umbra, the term indie didn’t even exist in the context of game development. We were all just amateur or hobbyist developers with a strong sense of ownership over our projects which I feel some developers have lost sight of.

Admittedly, developing full-time for-profit is enticing. As Christopher Nolan’s Joker says, “If you’re good at something, never do it for free.” I’m thankful enough to have a job that isn’t overly-demanding and enables me to at least squeeze in a few hours here and there during the week, so I can provide Heroes of Umbra for free at the expense of a social life.

 If people want to support the game, the best way to do so is by sharing it with their friends. I have plans for a very basic donation model, but my first priority is completion of the game.

Regarding OUYA specifically, I was going to talk about the Gridiron Thunder fiasco, but it doesn’t really matter too much to me. If anything, it just serves as an example of monetization outweighing passion. The OUYA is platform effortlessly to host my game, so I support it. Providing a networked multiplayer gameplay experience that is as device-agnostic as possible is one of my goals, and from what I’ve heard most people are having fun playing the alpha on any device they can get their hands on.

Java works for me and I know it’s a bit old-fashioned and not as quick as its contemporaries but for my purposes it’s just the right level of depth for a programming language. It’s not quite as quick as C++, but I don’t like memory management all that much. Also it comes with less bloat than Unity, but I don’t know if that’s saying much. No offense to Unity or C++ developers – I just think the whole “industry-standard” argument is rubbish. I prefer to use what I find most comfortable and efficient for my workflow.

I’ll keep in contact with you regarding some translation work, if my jumbled reply/rant hasn’t scared you off. Thanks for the question.

[questtocreate]

I would argue that you are in fact the best kind of indie developer.  Your not in it for the money.  As you know I have been around and familiar with your work for quite some time and one thing I can say about all your projects is that you are passionate.  You make and design games that you would love to play.  To me that is what being a great indie developer is all about.  I am actively pursuing a career as a indie dev, but even if it is not the career for you, to me you are a indie dev great :)

[questtocreate]

I have completed my first game, Don't Rain on Me!  Special thanks goes out to my artist Marc-Ross Michaud.  Together we created this simple game about a chubby boy dodging rain drops!  It was fun to make and has only made my appetite for creating games all the greater!  I hope many of you will play it and I hope you will let me know what you think!

[starlessumbra]

I’ve recently discovered an older version of Starless Umbra. It’s definitely a nostalgic playthrough, considering some eight years has passed since its initial release. Perhaps I’ll record some comparison footage; it’s extremely interesting and satisfying to see how this project has evolved.

[questtocreate]

I can still recall playing what I believe was the original demo.  It was fun then, but by far has come a long long way.

[dimension20official]

Gaming, Then & Now (Part 2)

[questtocreate]

I have updated the current version of Don't Rain on Me, there is still much work to complete before it will be finished.  In this version there are several more animations (but some are not finished or perfected as of yet).  Music has been added as well as sounds (but the sounds are more of placeholders until I can find something much better).  

It is still a work in progress, but the key to me is I am making progress.  I hope to have it "completed" within a week or two.  Major things left to do is get a real Title Screen, and advance the algorithm used to create the rain drops.

I hope those of you interested will check it out, and feel free to leave comments and advice.

[questtocreate]

After much tweaking and prepping and some great art by Marc-Ross Michaud I have launched a playable version of the game.  Go check it out and let me know what you think!

[manchestergamemaker]

It’s doing pretty good. My only gripe is that, once you’ve got the umbrella, it’s only visible when you’re walking around, thereby making him ‘jump’ when you stop. Also, it doesn’t tell you your score before you go back to the main screen so that’s kind’ve a bummber. Otherwise, it’s pretty decent fun.

[questtocreate]

Thanks for checking it out.  I noticed the issue with jumping as well.  It was a result of not having all the animations yet, as well as bad sizing of the animations when put into the engine.  I am about to post an update that includes many more animations ,a few are still missing and a few are still not perfectly sized but will be fixed hopefully soon. It also now shows your score before starting back (seemed we were on same thought pages as you noticed things I decided must be solved).  Thanks again for checking it out.

[questtocreate]

After much tweaking and prepping and some great art by Marc-Ross Michaud I have launched a playable version of the game.  Go check it out and let me know what you think!

[questtocreate]

The Rain Comes!

My quest to create games has come a long way recently.  I am currently working with an artist/friend to bring the rain drop game to completion.  The game is coming along very nicely and may be finished within the next week or two.  The majority of the mechanics are complete (and some mechanics of my next game have been completed as well).

 The game involves our chubby protagonist running left and right to avoid the falling rain.  Make it long enough and it may even start raining cats and dogs out there.  Our protagonist hates getting wet so one raindrop and you are done, but thank the heavens because raincoats and umbrellas are coming down too!  Pick one up and you not only get a point boost but also can use it to stop from getting wet even if hit by a drop.

Look to play the game soon on flash portals (suggestions as to which are welcome) and hopefully on phones a little while later.

[questtocreate]

This is once again for a class, but this is one I am proud of!  We had to make a game using Perlenspeil.  There were various different concepts we could choose from and certain features we had to have.  Beyond that it was up to us.  One of the concepts was close to a game I am working on.  So with this I present to you my first completed game.  I also present to you the prototype and announcement of the game... Rain Drops (Title is a work in progress).  I will be hopefully releasing the game on several platforms such as iPhones, Android phones, internet, Kindle, and whatever else.  I have an artist on board and everything!

So go play, and keep looking here for updates in the future! (Feel free to let me know your high scores!)

[questtocreate]

Here is another minigame I created.  In this one you click to create waypoints that the character on the screen will travel between.  Pressing the R key will delete one.  It is more of a toy or a step into the world of AI than a game, but it is still something I made.

[questtocreate]

Here is a little minigame I made for a class.  You simply collect the items, endlessly...

[questtocreate]

 Try my completed game! In my class we have been using a simple game engine called Perlenspiel which uses simple graphics and grids to make game/programs in a version of JavaScript.  My first completed project I consider a game is a simple treasure hunt game I made.  You click on a tile and it will show an arrow.  Follow the arrows to find the treasure.  There are likely other people who have made essentially the same thing since it was a class assignment, but I was not following a tutorial only instructions.  So I count this is baby step 1 and a completed game!  Try it out and let me know what you think.

[questtocreate]

Codecademy Javascript area almost done.

I have almost completed everything in the JavaScript section after restarting twice.  First time was because they changed/updated all the lessons and second time was because I felt I need more work in the basics.  I am researching now where to go from here and sadly I am clueless.  I would love to keep using JavaScript and accomplish some type of game in it.  If anyone has any advice and/or suggestions please let me know.

Hoping to have major game progress by end of 2013!

[questtocreate]

[questtocreate]

Codecademy.com is pretty nifty

I feel like for the first time I am truly learning how to code thanks to  codecademy.com.  The site is pretty easy and tutorial based, but I truly actually feel like I am grasping it.  For now it is just Java.  I hope to be able to do something game related with it before long and did in fact learn how to code a die roll which has so many gaming applications.  Anyways, I feel the first of many important steps is going well.

On the school side, I have hope since my next few classes are game mechanics and level design I and level design II.  They sound like fun classes that I will actually use in the future. 

So Happy Thanksgiving time, and cheers to hopefully me making games soon.

[questtocreate]

Update oh yeah

My quest continues and still my ideas overwhelm me at times. I am currently in pursuit of my goals in 2 ways. I have begun working on a table top board game (well into the game design document) and I am learning the very basics of coding thanks to codecademy.com Hopefully I will have stuff to show off before long. Later questers!

[questtocreate]

Long ways to go

I have been sorting out the ideas in my head and trying to find time to simply start creating them.  Work though seems to have that very limited.  However, I have started trying to make some pixel art.  I have little skill in art, but hope that through practice I can fix that.

My plan is to make my own art (likely in 8bit or SNES style) since I can't really afford an artist.  The problem is that is one more thing I gotta learn to do and take care of.  I stand optimistic that it will all work out though.  I may post some of it soon so the (no viewers at all) can look at it.  Until next time, take care.