Thought Reactor Feed

The freshest in news and editorials from the minds at Thought Reactor, an indie game studio based out of Palm Harbor, FL.

[thoughtreactor]

Must be time for Ludum Dare...

Because that seems to be the only time I actually get posts up on this thing!

The last Ludum Dare was meant to be a springboard for Thought Reactor - it really motivated me to start pushing the company along to release a game. I started on an actual production release of Light Drifter shortly thereafter, but my work life had also begun to ramp up in January (and honestly, has not relented).

Also, in that time, our co-founder went through some life changes as well and our 'studio time' has been on hiatus for three months (Tyler facilitates our studio in his own home). So, to say the least, game development has been few and far between in 2016.

However, Ludum Dare is here to breathe some life back into my game dev sails! Nothing beats a good creative challenge to help boost motivation and inspiration.

This will be our seventh attempt at Ludum Dare, and we'll be going in as a team for the 72 hour jam. Our goal is to get it done in the 48 hour timespan, but as a team we must submit to the 72 hour contest.

It's hard to say how working as a team will go. Our first LD was done in a team, but the other members primarily worked on music while I was responsible for the art and programming. This time around, it will be just Ian and I. In our last attempts at a team LD, we failed - largely because our workflow sucked and we couldn't come up with any workable ideas. It will be really important for us to leverage our strengths and weakenesses to get this one done.

I've never submitted a 3D game to Ludum Dare, so I'm making it a tentative goal to try and submit one this time around. If the theme is flexible enough, I'd like to do a first-person game (to cut down on art and animations, hehe). We'll just have to wait and see!

I'll close things up by mentioning that I am working on a neat little prototype app called Idealizr for helping log and categorize, well, ideas. Once I get it polished enough for public consumption, I'll share the link here and on Ludum Dare's website.

Only one more day! Let's get hyped!

Michael DeLally

[thoughtreactor]

Those Post-Ludum Feels

So I managed to pull through. I attempted streaming and posting at the start, but in all honestly, focusing on that stuff was really distracting so I ended up turning it off and going dark.

This LD was rough, ladies and gentlemen. I can say that I was successful in sticking to my plan - if I couldn't get the idea working in a short time, I ditched it. The problem was there was just too many of these bad ideas by the time I had resolved on Light Drifter 34.

I had less than 24 hours to get the game done and frankly, it wasn’t enough. I had to settle for quickly scrapped together levels that are poorly designed and lend for some frustrating experiences.

On the other hand it illuminated how damn fun the game could be if the levels were far more refined. I think the potential for some more “puzzley” levels can make a rather simple mechanic like this really shine.

Usually after Ludum Dare I just abandon these projects and get back into whatever I was working on before. This time around, I don’t really have anything to go back to so I think I may continue to develop this game further.

I want to add some light customization mechanics to allow users to tailor their play style for different “styles” of levels. In addition to addressing some of the pacing issues commenters have made, I want to add a level selection system with rankings and so on. That, coupled with loads of really well tuned levels could make for a really fun game!

I don’t think I would sell it, but who knows - maybe after everything is said and done it will be worth it. While I struggled with this LD, it really was an epiphany for me. It allowed to recognize my strengths and see where I was trying to make up for my weaknesses. I’m glad I was able to get this baby done and I’m proud of the result.

It sucks that the finished product could have been better had I come to this idea sooner - but that’s the way it goes. It was a stressful and fun ride. Can’t wait to go at it again in April - maybe with the team this time!

If you want to play the Ludum Dare version of Light Drifter 34, head on over to http://thoughtreactor.itch.io/light-drifter-34.

Michael

[thoughtreactor]

Well, damn...one last go at this.

So, in sticking with my initial plan to scratch any idea that couldn't get implemented in under 2 or so hours, I'm now down to idea #3.

This idea will use the Two Button Control theme instead of growing. I'm going for a 3D snake or runner game, perhaps with some obstacles thrown in. I'm super pressed for time, so it has to be a pretty small game. Third time's a charm!

[thoughtreactor]

Let’s kick it into high gear!

So the first idea that I came up with after last night's announcement was a tree-growing tower-defense game of sorts. The player would grow a tree from sapling to mature while plotting seed pods on various branches to bomb the invading gnomes who want to turn your tree into lumber.

I really liked the idea and sat down to see if I could execute on it. Truth be told - it's definitely something I can make, but I had a feeling like I wouldn't have gotten it done in time and I would have had to brush up on a little trigonometry (not something I want to spend time on during LD - but needs to happen).

With that, I did some quick planning on a really simple city simulator game where you build structures to grow resources, population, and cash. The player can win by either Infrastructure, Economic, or Population victories.

There is under 36 hours left - this is going to be a mad race to the finish! Come watch us stream live at http://twitch.tv/thoughtreactorlive, we have funk, soul, and all kinds of great music playing.

Wish me luck!

Michael

[thoughtreactor]

Two Button Controls OR Growth?

So we had a tie for the theme and get to chose between Two Button Controls and/org Growth. This is the first time I have witnessed such an occurrence.

Time to get crackin' on some ideas and jump into our editors and GO!

Good luck everyone!

Michael

[thoughtreactor]

To Unity or not to Unity?

So as I think of what engine I want to use this weekend the thought occurred to me that I always have this same debate with myself before each and every Ludum Dare. Sadly, the debate is usually chocked up to whether or not it's going to be a 2D or 3D project.

So what is the right approach to this question? Is there a "right" approach or are we just looking for the "better" approach? Regardless of whether your toolset includes Unity or not, this is a question that almost every LDer will face. You just hope you can solve it sooner rather than later(as in before tomorrow's announcement).

What I can tell you is there is most certainly a "right" approach. That approach is one that balances comfort and desire. Too much comfort means you're likely not putting your all into it - whereas too little comfort means you'll be wasting time learning instead of doing. Likewise, desire can make for a more rewarding and enjoyable experience - but too much can really screw up your expectations and keep you from getting the game done.

This is where my dilemma is occurring. I usually decide between Construct 2 or Unity3D after the theme is announced and I have some ideas - which is generally the better way to do it.

If you find yourself having a similar mental snafu, here are some things to consider:

If your fear is timing, air on the side of comfort - if time management is something you're still working on, you're not going to want to use tools you have little to no knowledge of, period; we all want to try something new sometimes but Ludum Dare is not the best place to do it

Builds that work vs. builds that are accessible - some people prefer toolsets due to the reliability of its builds - others prefer the accessibility of their builds; go with what you know here; when it comes time to publish your game do you want it to be accessible? What good is accessibility if your builds crash or only work in certain browsers? This is an issue that often can arise too late to correct, so it's good to know of any issues or concerns with your tools before publishing time

Do I update? Should I update? - the beauty of digital software nowadays is the constant maintenance and patches that developers can provide; as some of us have painfully experienced, these updates sometimes bring bugs, breaks, and slow downs that are just not good for LD; unless you're certain there are no breaking changes to your workflow don't bother upgrading (although with improved WebGL support, it might be wise to upgrade Unity to 5.3)

Teamwork and tools - some of you who decide to compete in the jam can work as a team, and depending on the level of coherence in your workflows there's always the potential that you and your teammates tools run into some issues; most software saves things into common file formats, so this will likely be a really simple issue to solve should it arise during development - but it's good to consider nonetheless

Do I want to use this? - this ties in to the concept of balancing desire; you're going to want to use certain tools, for one reason or another - I would suggest that if they don't pass any of the previous questions you should really consider something else; for example: I use Construct 2 at work developing learning simulations for adult education - part of me says, "I'm really proficient in C2 and can get a lot done fast, know its pipeline forwards and backwards, and have completed projects with it." The other part of me says, "Dammit, I use C2 all the time and it's idiosyncrasies piss me off to no end - I want to use Unity!"

So you see where that takes you?

Right back to the top of list, trying to vet whether or not we should now use another tool. And to be honest, I haven't decided - for me, personally, this is a tough decision.

I move quite fast in C2 and will likely generate the most polished results by using it. Given this, however, I generally dislike the Construct 2 "way" of doing things, mostly because there is no code and the editor really fails at making iteration and repetitive tasks (debugging, mostly) a CHORE. Couple that with boredom and you have a lack of desire that can really hamper development this weekend.

But what about Unity? I move a little bit slower, which is a red flag. I'm more proficient of a 3D developer than a 2D developer in Unity (strange, I know, I've just spent more time with 3D projects than I have 2D). Now for the contrast - I love Unity's editor. It's more nimble, more tuned for the repetitive tweaks and the batch editing that game development often entails. That, put together with the fact that I can use a code editor like Sublime Text, it becomes arguable that I can actually move faster in Unity when everything is said and done.

The last nail in the coffin, is debugging and building.

For most of you, this isn't much of a thing. You code gods, who will essentially be in your IDEs for 48 hours straight, are often at the behest of your software's tools. For me, I have to consider what my tools bring to the table for debugging and building.

Construct 2 has a great 'Debug preview' which allows me to view all loaded game objects, variables, and system info (like FPS and CPU speed). Also, I can go in and add breakpoints to my events to keep track of things - which can cumbersome and still requires me to map my events out specifically how I'd like them to run. This is great for large projects where I spend a lot of time designing my events to work like Classes, Objects, and Functions - but could cost me lots of time in a LD compo. In application, Construct 2 bugs have sometimes taking me hours to find and only seconds to fix - that's a problem.

In Unity, standard code debugging rules apply. Couple that with some of the new debugging tools in UnityVS and MonoDevelop and you can really quickly and easily find and start working on issues. For me, as well, I'll be doing most of the writing in Sublime Text 3 because I'm incredibly fast and know how to leverage shortcuts and snippets to make coding quicker. I also have my Sublime instance set up with the OmniSharp plugin which gives me Intellisense and other awesome C# tools. Unless I run into some really scary bugs, I'll likely not have to open VisualStudio or MonoDevelop. This is what is really attracting me to Unity right now. I feel like I will be speedier - but will I be successful?

These are all the questions I will be losing sleep over tonight - and hopefully can find brain time to settle on tomorrow evening...

I really want to run 3D this time. Want. Depending on the theme, we'll have to wait and see. Good luck and hopefully you can use these tips to smooth out any kinks in your workflow.

Let me know what you think!

Michael

[thoughtreactor]

Preparing for Ludum Dare

One of the things I think many Ludum Dare participants (including myself) don't recognize is there is an insane amount of prep you can do before the theme announcement.

I often forget to do so as I'm rushing around tying up loose ends all week, helping to ensure the weekend goes off without any hiccups. This week, however, I'm generally not stressed and am winding a project down at work (and the holiday season usually helps calm the office down). This is honestly a perfect weekend for Ludum Dare - so let's get the prep right!

What can you prep? What should you prep?

These are all good questions. As far as prepping goes:

Make a generic 'LD34' project in Unity3D and Construct 2

Load them up with any useful libraries or snippets

Make sure any environment/global settings are properly set

Run test builds; make sure WebGL and what not works

Start thinking about mechanics you know you can execute on or perhaps ones you think will be a slight challenge - but nothing that would scare you on any given day

Jot some ideas down, when that theme drops your head starts swarming and it's really easy to get lost in the muck and mire

If you have any concerns or questions about your tools, address them ASAP - no seriously, you can't jump into an LD without a good set of functioning tools that you can competently use (or atleast, are aware of your shortfalls or bugs so you can work around them)

Perhaps the least considered - mental preparation

Get hyped; if you're not excited leading up to LD you're going to be a cynical bastard when the theme drops and you're not going to be of a sound mind to come up with that executable idea

Don't get too hyped; too much excitement can yield excess expectations that can fade real quick should a problem arise; remember to stay positive but flexible

Try not to sweat the small stuff - both leading into and during the jam

Food, beverages, and sleep scheduling

You'd think this would come naturally, but some people push their natural limits during LD and go without vital food, drink, and sleep - DON'T do this

Make sure you get proteins in you; LDers tend to load up on carbs and starchy fibers which is going to tire you out and give you indigestion (cut the Doritios, get up and make a damn sandwich)

Drink water; I mean, you should be doing this anyway, but staying hydrated is the easiest way to ensure your brain is functioning at full capacity

Limit caffeine; this will be my hard point to follow, but it's important to remember that pushing yourself beyond your natural waking hours is going to seriously hamper your ability to wake up and feel refreshed; the more effective and alert you are during the day, the less midnight oil and coffee beans you need to roast

To back up the caffeine bit, GET SLEEP; you may get more time if you limit your sleep, but every hour you lose is killing your ability to stay focused, stay on task, and stay efficient

Social obligations

It's a good idea to try and eliminate as many of these as possible - anti-social behaviour is almost as powerful as a good game engine

But, we have lives, and shit comes up - when it does, you need to be able to snap back to reality and be a socialable person; don't snap at your significant others and don't treat their "interuptions" with hostility; if you have to, inform your S.O. or parents a couple days in advance that you really need space and privacy to be successful this weekend

Now, that leaves the question - how much of this should I really be prepping? As much as you can. The more of this you have squared away come Friday, the less of it will sneak up on you at some point on Saturday or Sunday.

As long as it doesn't involve creating core content for your original game idea (which is hard without theme), you can do it now. You'll alleviate stressors that can and will come during the weekend and you can ease your mind a bit so that it can really dig into the task at hand - completing your game.

Good luck everyone!

Michael

[thoughtreactor]

Another Ludum Dare...another failure?

One of my favorite times of the year is when Ludum Dare rolls around and I get the excuse to hunker down in my room and build a game in 48 hours.

The past two jams have gone quite horribly. Both times we set out to make a game with as simplest a concept as possible - and both times we and/or I failed to do it. It's ultimately what will be the undoing of many developers this weekend.

Ludum Dare is a test many of us take for granted. How was it that I successfully submitted in my first LD, but failed two in a row after that? How was I able to rebound for LD31 last year and get a solo game done when I had never done it before? What was different now than just a year or two ago?

The difference was my approach. When your attempting LDs for the first time there is a sense of wanderlust and chaos that seems to beautifully manifest itself into a game. I was able to complete my first 72-hour compo and my first 48-hour jam but never was I able to do it again. Had my experiences jaded me and perhaps disrupted that subtle chaotic experience of not knowing what to expect?

I think in some ways more than others, it has. I'm not saying it's easier your first time - that couldn't be further from the truth. What I am saying is that success often brings a mood of confidence and assuredness that what we did to acheive said success is going to work again and again.

I usually go into the jams with loads of confidence in my abilities, my toolset, and my time management. This hasn't changed much in all my attempts. What I think has tripped me up, however, is the assuredness that that was all I needed. There's something that I've missed, something that confidence can enable but can also disable.

That something is my unforgiving perfectionism and the unrelenting stress that it causes. A lot of the successful devs who stream during Ludum Dare have a quality that I envy. They simply don't give a damn about certain things. There are just too many quality points to consider in a game and TOO few minutes to address them in a 48-hour game jam.

This whole time, even in my success, I have been limited not by my psyche, not totally by my skill, but by scope. The bane of projects. The silent assassin of all that is timely. What these LD veterans suggest - the one thing I've never made a valiant effort to accomplish - is that you dive right in to the code. That you start expressing your ideas in a tangible way instead of sitting back and ruminating on the myriad thoughts that flood your brain after the theme announcement.

So this is my one goal for Ludum Dare this weekend(besides getting it done, which this will ensure):

No "ideas". Pick the first mechanic that comes to mind and EXECUTE IT. If the crux of that mechanic cannot be coded in less than 2 hours the mechanic and idea is TOO LARGE. Repeat this process until a solid mechanic emerges.

The purpose of this is to ensure that I come up with an idea/mechanic that I can:

actually make

lightly expand without increasing scope

have more time to spend on level building, art, and music

spend less time thinking about how and starting doing

I'm not 100% sure on what tools I'll be levaraging this time around, but it is essentially irrelevant. If I stick to my goal above, any toolset will see me to the finish.

Wish me luck!

Michael

[thoughtreactor]

Desperate times call for...well, quickness!

So I mentioned laaaaaate last night (with less than 24 hours to spare in the compo) that the “Shade”/sneaking game idea had hit a demoralizing roadblock. Even though I was certain of failure - I wanted to press on! 

I thought about a little base defense game but realized the technical challenges and opted for a game I knew would be mostly straight forward. 

So I drank a midnight Red Bull and settled on a really cheesy idea of playing a laser shooting giant-lizard named Lazard. Basically it’s a on-rails shooter with infinite waves. Here’s a screenshot of it in action with some placeholder art.

The next steps are to create some more enemy planes and commercial planes. All the planes will spawn bodies for the player to catch in his mouth! I have the beginning workings of a neat stat and score system that I would love to work into a leaderboard if I can find the time to spin up a quick Laravel/Lumen project.

I have some cleaning to do today so I’m not sure it will get done before 9PM tonight. If I can find some time to wrap it up between now and tomorrow night then I’ll be submitting it for the 72 hour jam.

Seriously, though, wish me luck - I’m gunna’ need it!

[thoughtreactor]

Probably done for

Well I ran into one of the strangest bugs in Construct 2 that brought development to a screeching halt for about 2 to 3 solid hours. The detriment of time this has caused has basically ruled out any possibility of me getting this game done.

But I don’t want to stop! I’m going to abandon the idea and abandon Construct for Unity 5. While I’m not counting on getting anything done - I just want to use the rest of this opportunity to make a game. I have a basic idea for a defense game where you play as goblins and you build various rooms to thwart invading adventurers.

Wish me luck!

[thoughtreactor]

Making Progress on Shade

by Michael DeLally, Founder of Thought Reactor

So after deciding to roll with the “sneaking” game idea I’ve begun to make good progress on the gameplay. Our character can move and “sneak”, slowing his pace and he dies when entering the brighter section of the lights. In addition, I am putting some final tweaks on my super-basic node-based path system. I’ve yet to test it out with multiple enemies and it needs a function to help it loop.

Here is a look at that in action (the red diamonds will be hidden in the final version):

Once I have pathing fine tuned we can start to attach lights to our enemies! Let’s keep up the pace and I might actually get this one done!

All the games people are making look fantastic - really excited for some of the Donald Trump themed ones. ;-D

[thoughtreactor]

Slow start...

by Michael DeLally, Founder of Thought Reactor

You are the Monster is the theme.

The theme is...well...it’s okay.

So, like most of my previous LDs, I always get bogged down in the idea phase. Worrying too much about how adherent to the theme I should be or not is often what gets me.

Went to bed last night with a couple idea’s jotted down that I figured I would “sleep” on. None of them really resonated with me but I think I’m on to something new.

Taking from my blog post on Thursday about balance, I figured I should first find a gameplay mechanic that I would enjoy creating and then find an interesting art and story to go with it. What I have is a very basic idea for a 3/4 view sneaking game called Shade.

The game is centered around a demon from the Darkwold named, well, Shade. In the game, humans have found a way to reach the Darkworld and have disrupted Shades slumber by turning on a bunch of lights. In the Darkworld lights are essentially poison, slowly eating away at the demons and ghouls that inhabit this strange otherworld. 

So the goal as Shade is to avoid the lights of the wandering “Astronauts” while destroying their sources of light. I’m thinking a very short narrative romp through a couple “puzzley” levels. We’ll be streaming at http://twitch.tv/thoughtreactorlive very soon, so be sure to drop in and check out the last stages of finalizing this idea. We should (finally) be getting to building this puppy within the hour!

Wish me luck! Less than 34 hours to go! 

[thoughtreactor]

Ludum Dare. The best part of August.

by Michael DeLally, Founder of Thought Reactor

So it’s that time of year again. The joyful summer is drawing to an end and all of the vacationers are somberly heading back for the fourth quarter, the dreaded holiday slump that is September through December.

But I won’t let that get me down. As the normalcy of school traffic sinks back into my morning routine I am faced with the sudden realization that Ludum Dare is upon me! For those unaware, Ludum Dare is a 48 to 72 hour game jam that is held roughly every 4 months.

People from all around the world (nearly 3000 this time) all sign on to vote for a theme through the contest’s website. Come Friday at 9pm EST, I will know what that theme is and will begin to make the 48 hour sprint to the finish line.

Thought Reactor has participated in the last five Ludum Dares, only managing to submit for two of those, LD28 and LD31. Our first entry, was a team effort submitted for the 72 hour “jam”. The second, completed entirely by myself, was built in 48 hours for the “compo”.

This time around I will be soloing the 48 hour compo once again. I will be blunt and say this - Ludum Dare is the most stressful and yet wildly fun thing I’ve ever done. Having never completed a game outside of this competition, LD is a great excuse for me to keep it simple and get some shit done.

This time around I am going to depart from my comfort zone. Not in my toolset - as that would be dangerous - but in my creativity. I will use the following mantra:

Mechanics and story are one. Art and story are one. Form follows function.

In my opinion, the biggest challenge in Ludum Dare fighting the feeling like you’re making a game that is “incomplete”. We have all these preconceived notions about what a “complete” game should contain and represent. Those notions MUST be thrown out for Ludum Dare if you want to succeed in submitting your game.

What I mean by the mantra above is that a successful Ludum Dare game has that balance of action and aesthetic, a mesh of narrative and appeal. If any one of these outshines the other, it is impossible to miss it. We often mistake this balance for polish. 

Ludum Dare games that appear polished are usually far from that. These games are balanced. The developer(s) spent an equal amount of effort on all the components of the finished product. The games that stick out to me are the ones that can use art to tell a story or have minimal art but a mechanic that tells an equally strong story.

So that is the notion I will be entering LD with this time around. I will certainly not have the time to make a game that has great mechanic(s), great art, great sound, and great story. But if I can find a mechanic that empowers simplistic art and tells a story then I’ll be more than satisfied.

My last LD entry was an asteroids clone with “RPG”-like classes of ships and power-ups. It lacked a real coherent story. The art didn’t relay that message any more than the mechanics did. It was a game that just was. It was missing that balance. I heavily refined the mechanics but in all that time I failed to address aesthetics in the slightest.

Time management is the ultimate skill being tested in Ludum Dare. You can make any game you want - but how effectively will you use the limited time given to you to do it? I can imagine there are LD veterans still trying to get that balance just right.

That right there is the pursuit. The pursuit is NOT perfection. The pursuit is balance.

Good luck to all the developers participating in the compo and jam. Stay vigilant. Keep it simple. Get the function done ASAP so you can refine the aesthetic and make a balanced game.

Keep tuned in, I will be posting progress and screenshots here and on Instagram/Twitter as the weekend commences. I also plan to stream throughout the weekend over @ http://twitch.tv/thoughtreactorlive

[thoughtreactor]

Seems like we’ve been here before...

If I recall correctly, this is the third or fourth “first” post for the Thought Reactor blog. Things have been rather laissez faire for our studio since it’s inception more than three years ago.

We’ve never released a game. We’ve never made a dime - but we haven’t really tried either. The first three years of our unofficial business has been a time of discovery. In the pursuit of happiness, we often set our goals extraordinarily high so as to seemingly assure the best outcome.

It’s taken a lot of feeling like failures for us to realize that we are at the best point in our young careers - now, more than ever. 

Since 2012, when we started on the journey of becoming a small, independent media studio, a lot has changed. Our personal and professional lives outside of the studio have grown ever more demanding. But with that, the yearning to do something great with Thought Reactor has built from a spark to a tumultuous fire. As we come closer to realizing the perfect balance between the life we need and the life we want, we are coming ever that much closer to realizing what it is that Thought Reactor stands for.

For us, this studio is not a business, per se. We are not formally recognized by any state as a business, for that matter. Thought Reactor has always been a platform. Something that separates us from our worldly bodies and propels us into this great new medium called the internet.

We’ve competed in three of the last 6 Ludum Dare game jams, either collectively or independently. Since January, we’ve released over 20 new songs on Soundcloud. We’re still barely known, but the goal is remaining alive and intact. We have a platform. We are using that platform.

Having said all this, we want to make a purposeful attempt at utilizing this blog to continue to build that platform. Opinion. Perspective. News. Details on what we’re working on - you name it. It is now our priority to make this blog as visceral as it can be.

Come join us on our journey!