StarTopic Famiboards GameDevs |ST| Fami’s thread for all things game development (Godot tutorials up! See threadmark)

[Irene]

Whether you’re game developer, indie or professional, a programmer, a 3D Artist, a concept artist, or just someone curious about game development, feel free to come here and discuss and talk about all things game development. Whether it be discussion about certain areas of game development, tips and tricks, exchanging ideas or just general chitchat about the hobby and profession, everything goes here! In here, we can all come together and support one another as we strive for our individual goals, whether they’re about releasing your first game, landing a big project or just being curious and learn more. With this thread, I want to provide a place for everyone, regardless of area or expertise. I hope we can all come here and have a good time discussing game development!

Game development is a multi-faceted and complex process that involves a wide variety of areas and professions. It’s gonna take an eternity and a half to list everyone and everything, so I’ll stick to listing some of the most common ones in both big and small-scale productions.

Programming
What can be considered the meat and bone of games is programming, the lines of code that ties a game together. Programming dictates when, how and why things happen in games. There are several common programming languages, some of the most prominent being C++, C# (C-sharp), java and Python. Programmers on PC often uses Microsoft Visual Studio to write codes. Programming dictates the mechanics of the game, as well as how a game controls.

Artistry
Artistry is an umbrella term for several things - 3D modeling, 2D sprite-work, texture painting, concept art, shading, lighting and more. Some common software used to render artistic elements in a game is 3D modeling software like Blender, ZBrush and Maya, Adobe products like Lightroom and Photoshop, and, for pixel art, apps like Pixie, PiskelApp and maybe even Microsoft Paint. Most games also have an Art Director that helps the artists strive for a singular goal in regards to a game’s environment, look and feel. Artists usually specializes in various areas within their own field - for example, a team of 3D modelers can have one prop artist, one environmental artist and one character artist. The concept artist works outside the game, drawing art that serves as reference points for a game's artistic direction.

Marketing
Marketing is, especially for larger-scale production, essential to the game to make sure the work gets out there. A publisher handles most of the marketing for a game that has one. For people unable or unsuccessful to pitch their project to a publisher, there exists marketing companies whose sole purpose is to market games. Crowdfunding your game is another good example to get word about your game out there. Otherwise, developers often uses Twitter to get word of their game out there, using hashtags #gamedev and #indiedev among others. A culture has developed around the hashtag #screenshotsaturday, where developers, as the name suggests, posts screenshots of their game every Saturday.

Writing and scripting
If your game has a narrative as part of the experience, (or even if it doesn't, in some cases) it's always good to have a dedicated writer, or writing staff, on board. Writing for games is different, and has similarities to screenwriting, and it can include everything from writing dialogue to setting up character arcs. What's unique to game writing is that it often has to go hand in hand with the gameplay, and reinforce it rather than hinder it. When a game's narrative goes against its gameplay elements, it's called "ludonarrative dissonance", something that is generally looked down upon. Writers in games with spoken dialogue also has to work closely with voice actors to ensure that the dialogue gets brought to the game in a natural fashion.

UI and UX design
UX stands for "user experience" and UI stands for "user interface". The user interface is important information the player needs to know, and a designer has to make sure that that information is communicated to the player in a clear and concise fashion, often via the game's hud, ("heads-up display") and other peripheral methods. The UX designer is tasked with designing the game with the player's psychology in mind, and acts in the team as the "bridge" between player and game design. That means that UX designers often works with the team in areas such as challenge, reward mechanics and customization options.

Animation
Animators are in charge of the way the things in games behave and move. Mostly, animation in 3D is possible because of the "rigging" of 3D objects - using "bones" that determines which polygons responds to which movement the bones make, which the animator then uses to make the animation. For 2D games, animators use transitions between various states, or positions, of the pixel sprite in question. There is also a similar method that can be used for 3D models, where the animators uses "shape keys". Then there is motion capture for more complex animations, where real-life actors has dots connected to their bodies that dictates the movement of the character model.

https://www.unrealengine.com

Nah

https://godotengine.org

https://www.cryengine.com

https://www.rpgmakerweb.com

Now that we have a good grasp on areas of game development and game engines, it's time to arm ourselves with resources. Below are some awesome resources for game development.

The GDC vault
GDC (game developer's conference) is an annual conference where developers come together to hold talks and seminars, as well as make contacts. The GDC vault is very rich with talks about all things game development. The GDC vault also has a YouTube channel.

https://www.gdcvault.com/free/

Gamedeveloper.com
Previously known as Gamasutra, gamedeveloper.com is a great website with in-depth articles about game development and help and tips.

https://www.gamedeveloper.com

Feel free to add more!

This is not a thread for self-promotion. You're welcome to show off your work, but this is not a place for you to peek in, drop a link to your Steam page, and then leave.
___

Now, let's talk all things game development!

 

[Irene]

I'm in a little bit of a shift myself. I tried to get a job in the games industry for roughly half a year as an environmental artist. But it was soul-draining, mainly because of the competition and of my portfolio and past experience being admittedly somewhat lackluster, so I felt like I was banging my head against a wall, trying to keep up. And people keep saying it's a very saturated market, with a lot of competition, and it's very difficult.

So, I've decided to start to work on my programming chops instead (which many will tell you is in higher demand at companies) and hopefully I will start study C# next year. I've been using java since 2013, and I've kept using it on an old version of unity to this day, the newer versions only support C#, (IIRC) but I've refused to try to adapt to the new unity interface because I hate change I guess.

I know very little C#, so I hope it will go well. I still find it fun, want to improve and if it's easier on the job front, that's a plus.

I'm also interested in learning C++ and make home-brew apps for Wii just for kicks. But one can only learn so much, I guess.

 

[Dopply]

I have been experimenting with game dev since I was a child; particularly messing around with GameMaker. I've made little one-off games over the years but never really buckled down and created something that could be described as a "whole experience". Five years ago or so, some friends and I were talking on a long-dead forum about how funny it'd be if the accursed Zelda games for CD-i were remastered like the forthcoming Twilight Princess would be on Wii U. I ran with the idea, and if you know me, I like to surprise people.

So, four years later, I finished the Faces of Evil & Wand of Gamelon Remastered project, a complete remake of the games using the original assets, behavior, designs, all in GameMaker. During the course of the development I taught myself basically everything it takes to make a game. It was not easy! I fully intended for it to be nothing more than an exercise for me to learn how to develop games (and actually finish something) and a fun goof for friends/my ten followers on Twitter. That is not what happened! Perhaps it was a little naive of me, but it blew up. I quickly took the games down because I didn't want any trouble. Some kind folks did collaborate with me to polish the game into a fully-finished, localized state, which you can find on the Internet Archive if you're curious (version 1.3.2).

I decided to parlay that energy into making my next game project the spiritual successor to those games - a theoretical "third game" in the Zelda CD-i series (no I do not count Zelda's Adventure in any way, nor should anyone), but without the Zelda brand, of course. Development has been going extremely well but it's going to take some time, since it's a game I develop in my spare time (and other reasons). I have lots of exciting details regarding the game, but I can't reveal anything about it yet. I can't wait! I am a very lucky person.

 

[Irene]

I have been experimenting with game dev since I was a child; particularly messing around with GameMaker. I've made little one-off games over the years but never really buckled down and created something that could be described as a "whole experience". Five years ago or so, some friends and I were talking on a long-dead forum about how funny it'd be if the accursed Zelda games for CD-i were remastered like the forthcoming Twilight Princess would be on Wii U. I ran with the idea, and if you know me, I like to surprise people.

So, four years later, I finished the Faces of Evil & Wand of Gamelon Remastered project, a complete remake of the games using the original assets, behavior, designs, all in GameMaker. During the course of the development I taught myself basically everything it takes to make a game. It was not easy! I fully intended for it to be nothing more than an exercise for me to learn how to develop games (and actually finish something) and a fun goof for friends/my ten followers on Twitter. That is not what happened! Perhaps it was a little naive of me, but it blew up. I quickly took the games down because I didn't want any trouble. Some kind folks did collaborate with me to polish the game into a fully-finished, localized state, which you can find on the Internet Archive if you're curious (version 1.3.2).

I decided to parlay that energy into making my next game project the spiritual successor to those games - a theoretical "third game" in the Zelda CD-i series (no I do not count Zelda's Adventure in any way, nor should anyone), but without the Zelda brand, of course. Development has been going extremely well but it's going to take some time, since it's a game I develop in my spare time (and other reasons). I have lots of exciting details regarding the game, but I can't reveal anything about it yet. I can't wait! I am a very lucky person.

The CD-i games are a kind of treasure of sorts, I can see why that would blow it up. (But I can understand also that you took it down. I've taken down a fan game myself before for the same reason.)

It's awesome you're making a spiritual successor though, very inspiring!

 

[Dopply]

The CD-i games are a kind of treasure of sorts, I can see why that would blow it up. (But I can understand also that you took it down. I've taken down a fan game myself before for the same reason.)

It's awesome you're making a spiritual successor though, very inspiring!

I guess in my mind I never really considered the project a fan game until it was too late. Thankfully there haven't been any issues and I am not expecting any at this point.

Yes, it's been a lot of work, but I think it's coming together. I am still using GameMaker, with its GML language (which I can best compare to an extremely stripped down and basic C#). I've improved a ton...the remasters are full of terrible spaghetti code, you can literally see them improve in real time as I learned best practices and more methods...but I'm still constantly learning. It's great.

I don't think I could ever work for a game company. I'm pretty comfortable with how things are at the moment, haha.

 

[Phil32]

Ooh, fun! I did some game design and development in college. For one of my projects I made a Sokoban-style puzzle game, which was my first and currently only published game. I make it in GameMaker Studio and published it to itch.io in 2015.

However, now I'm working with RPG Maker MV, and making an RPG (of course ha). I started that as soon as I was finished with my puzzle game, and it's going somewhat smoothly (knock on wood). I have about 12 hours of gameplay/story done so far, which isn't ideal, but I've been working on my project off and on (more off than on).

I have screens I could share of both. I just don't know what site to share them to for easy access. I do have an Imgur account if that works, and if anyone would be interested in seeing some of what I have so far.

At any rate, looking forward to talking game dev with folks and seeing what projects the Fami family is working on!

 

[Dopply]

Ooh, fun! I did some game design and development in college. For one of my projects I made a Sokoban-style puzzle game, which was my first and currently only published game. I make it in GameMaker Studio and published it to itch.io in 2015.

However, now I'm working with RPG Maker MV, and making an RPG (of course ha). I started that as soon as I was finished with my puzzle game, and it's going somewhat smoothly (knock on wood). I have about 12 hours of gameplay/story done so far, which isn't ideal, but I've been working on my project off and on (more off than on).

I have screens I could share of both. I just don't know what site to share them to for easy access. I do have an Imgur account if that works, and if anyone would be interested in seeing some of what I have so far.

At any rate, looking forward to talking game dev with folks and seeing what projects the Fami family is working on!

Imgur would work. I always love watching folks' progress, please share!

 

[Yavga]

I'm tinkering around in Gamemaker Studio 2 for about 2 years and during that time I have penned down a lot of ideas and things that I liked and disliked about other games. I've came to the point where things seem to be shaping up now that there is a plan. The only constraint I'm having now is time, I can't work for more than 4 hours on it a week.

I once thought about taking a more hand-off approach and try to find more people who want to tinker on a game together but then my own ideas might suffer.

Choices choices...

Thanks for the thread and I'll be sure to watch it! Maybe I'll learn a few tricks from other tinkerers here and there.

 

[JazzPotatoes]

This will be an interesting thread, indeed.

I've been working on a long term project in my own time for a number of years now. The skeletal chap in my avatar is actually one of the enemies I've animated for the game. It's a Construct 2 project (which may give some users an idea on how long I've been chipping away at it).

The elevator pitch for the game is that it's essentially Donkey Kong Country platforming combined with the combat of Ninja Gaiden or Streets of Rage, with an aesthetic inspired by Eastern watercolours and prints.

It's been interesting working on the same project for so long; rather than starting smaller with tutorials on how to make a simple puzzle game and potentially losing interest, I set myself the goal of trying to stick with a project that really interests me, and learning everything I can to solve every problem that appears. Instance variables, event triggers, animation priorities... it's all been incredibly challenging, but also immensely rewarding and satisfying. I'm at the stage where the alpha is almost done, and I'll be going back through the levels, implementing the missing scripts, adding the remaining enemies, and hopefully getting it to Beta stage.

I'll stop waffling, and leave a screenshot so people can take a look at what I've been working on. Thoughts and feedback always welcome

 

[JazzPotatoes]

I have screens I could share of both. I just don't know what site to share them to for easy access. I do have an Imgur account if that works, and if anyone would be interested in seeing some of what I have so far.

I just used my Google account, and uploaded a screenshot to the Google Photos drive linked to my account. Photos are kept private, but if you open them in a new tab, you can use the link to then post in this thread. That's what I did with the screenshot of my game, at least

 

[palemire]

Hi y'all. Longtime lurker from the previous place here. I don't have any experience in game making (although it's been a lifelong dream of mine), but I am currently trying to make it as a freelance music composer, and video games would be my most highly wanted field of work (it's where my passion for music started). So in that sense, I guess I'm tangentially relevant to this thread, what with me desperate to work on indie game projects as a composer

Although to be honest it's not the easiest industry to break in to.

 

[Phil32]

Okie dokie. I am putting these behind a spoiler tag as there are a fair number of screenshots, but I didn't want to overdo it. This is my RPG WIP, Legends of Adrigal. It's about a group of high school students who get transported into a video game, and of course have to eventually find their way out. Lots of lampshading about being in a video game and such, and hopefully fun dialogue and an interesting story, too. I also have it where the protagonist Casey can investigate various objects and such and give some thoughts on them as a means to add to his personality and (hopefully) charm. I've gotten about 10-15 hours of play time in my game ready. I've been having some friends online and off playtest for me as I go along.

Spoiler

 

[Irene]

Hi y'all. Longtime lurker from the previous place here. I don't have any experience in game making (although it's been a lifelong dream of mine), but I am currently trying to make it as a freelance music composer, and video games would be my most highly wanted field of work (it's where my passion for music started). So in that sense, I guess I'm tangentially relevant to this thread, what with me desperate to work on indie game projects as a composer

Although to be honest it's not the easiest industry to break in to.

I feel you so much here, it's a very hard industry to break into. Even though my time I spent trying was horrendous, I made some great friends and contacts along the way, they're the best. Most of them are steadily employed, but some are freelance as well. Hang in there! There's always a place for every freelancer, the trick is to look in the right places, which is perhaps easier said and done.

@Phil32 Looking good! I'm getting Final Fantasy Tactics Advance vibes from the story setup, which I think is very cool. Very clean looking screes too, I can see a lot effort and craft in them.

 

[Irene]

Well, my shift isn't going too well. I took deep breaths and installed unity 2019.4.39 for the measly price of 11GB of hard drive space. I was so ready to take the next step as a game developer. Well, I lasted two hours. I can't do C#, I just can't. It's too steep, too hard for me. And I was so sad to see the image effect package deprecated, not to mention that it crashed my ancient laptop several times over.

Such a bummer. I really hoped that this would reignite myself a bit, and get out of this creative void I've been in lately. Not to mention using much more assets from the asset store that I was eyeing.

So I'll stick to java and unity 2017.1.2 forever I guess. Goes to prove that the latest and hottest isn't always the way to go - it's what you're comfortable with that counts!

 

[Raccoon]

Slowly and painfully realizing that I am kind of shit at art. Or at least, some art. I've gotten pretty good at modeling vehicles and other inorganic objects, but organic models and buildings are just not where my head is. Maybe I'll get there eventually, maybe I'll make some artist friends.

I can't do C#, I just can't. It's too steep, too hard for me.

I promise that you can do it. If you're a proficient Java writer, C# isn't that big a leap. I believe in C# learners more than I believe in myself

 

[Dopply]

I can't do C#, I just can't. It's too steep, too hard for me.

It is hard, but if I can grasp it somewhat, I know you can, especially if you're proficient at Java. I am absolutely terrible, a complete thoughtless goon, but I can force my way through it.

I need to go back to messing with Unity... I guess once I ever start working on a 3D game.

 

[uncleoptimus]

I can't do C#, I just can't. It's too steep, too hard for me.

Ok I was gonna lurk and this is unsolicited so my bad if you heard it all before but

Yea you absolutely can do it

But you got to give yourself more patience and more runway.

And if you are like me, i.e. not great at self-guidance, a roadmap in the form of a good course that breaks down concepts into smaller lessons and tasks is tremendously helpful.

All Big Things can be chunked! This approach worked for me when I transitioned to web development, following a project-based course and really giving myself time to digest each section and task.

You might have already seen some of these resources, but I just found a few that Im adding to my "interest list" (I am also intrigued w Unity and Godot as well):

Best Free C# Courses

Also saw some really good-lookin courses on Udemy here, particularly "Complete C# Unity Game Dev 2D" . (Hm, looks like some pretty deep discounts are available w Udemy, now Im seriously tempted )

But the high-order bit is granting yourself that leeway to be methodical and even to be rip-roaring frustrated sometimes.

Theres been plenty of incidents where I gotta throw my hands up at a bug and walk away from the computer for a while, only to come back later w a refreshed mind and maybe an idea or two to try. It happens to the best of us (and also me )

 

[Pokemaniac]

Well, my shift isn't going too well. I took deep breaths and installed unity 2019.4.39 for the measly price of 11GB of hard drive space. I was so ready to take the next step as a game developer. Well, I lasted two hours. I can't do C#, I just can't. It's too steep, too hard for me. And I was so sad to see the image effect package deprecated, not to mention that it crashed my ancient laptop several times over.

Such a bummer. I really hoped that this would reignite myself a bit, and get out of this creative void I've been in lately. Not to mention using much more assets from the asset store that I was eyeing.

So I'll stick to java and unity 2017.1.2 forever I guess. Goes to prove that the latest and hottest isn't always the way to go - it's what you're comfortable with that counts!

C# and Java are pretty similar languages, if you can learn one, you can probably learn the other.

Also, this is a nifty little thing I found back when I was dabbling with Unity a few years ago (I should really get back to that, would really like to make a game, but not sure what to make) that might help a little bit coming from Java:

GitHub - sestoft/C5: C5 generic collection library for C#/.NET

C5 generic collection library for C#/.NET. Contribute to sestoft/C5 development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Seik]

So reading this thread I assume C# would be the most 'mainstream' language to learn if I ever want to learn some programming, right? I'd like to learn something on the side and don't see much else that would trigger my interest more than programming.

 

[Timefire]

Well, my shift isn't going too well. I took deep breaths and installed unity 2019.4.39 for the measly price of 11GB of hard drive space. I was so ready to take the next step as a game developer. Well, I lasted two hours. I can't do C#, I just can't. It's too steep, too hard for me. And I was so sad to see the image effect package deprecated, not to mention that it crashed my ancient laptop several times over.

Such a bummer. I really hoped that this would reignite myself a bit, and get out of this creative void I've been in lately. Not to mention using much more assets from the asset store that I was eyeing.

So I'll stick to java and unity 2017.1.2 forever I guess. Goes to prove that the latest and hottest isn't always the way to go - it's what you're comfortable with that counts!

You can do it!! I too suffered a bit (and am still suffering I'd say lol) with C# but it is doable! People already linked some good C# resources but here comes another one your way: https://scottlilly.com/learn-c-by-building-a-simple-rpg-index/

As for my adventures in Game Dev, I'm currently anguishing trying to get Unity to behave deterministically for an online-based project. It's hell, but I'm learning a lot so I hope it's good for something lol. When I get further in I hope to share some screenshots with you guys.

 

[Deleted member 1869]

...

 

[Pokemaniac]

So reading this thread I assume C# would be the most 'mainstream' language to learn if I ever want to learn some programming, right? I'd like to learn something on the side and don't see much else that would trigger my interest more than programming.

Depends on what you mean by "mainstream". C# is what's used by Unity, so it's pretty overrepresented in game dev, but overall it's probably a somewhat niche language. Which language you want to learn is going to depend a lot on what you want to do and the tools you intend to use for it.

 

[Timefire]

So reading this thread I assume C# would be the most 'mainstream' language to learn if I ever want to learn some programming, right? I'd like to learn something on the side and don't see much else that would trigger my interest more than programming.

C# is pretty good as a "learn to code" language. It's pretty well documented and maintained; and has loads of game-focused tutorials if you only want to learn to program for games.

Although, when you learn the basics and get good enough at the fundamentals, switching languages to suit your needs is pretty straightforward. So don't worry about getting "stuck" to a language or something like that.

I'd even argue that learning the basics outside of a gamedev enviroment is better for education purposes. But if you're only looking at gamedev/programming as a hobby, don't worry about that

 

[Seik]

C# is pretty good as a "learn to code" language. It's pretty well documented and maintained; and has loads of game-focused tutorials if you only want to learn to program for games.

Although, when you learn the basics and get good enough at the fundamentals, switching languages to suit your needs is pretty straightforward. So don't worry about getting "stuck" to a language or something like that.

I'd even argue that learning the basics outside of a gamedev enviroment is better for education purposes. But if you're only looking at gamedev/programming as a hobby, don't worry about that

Thank you and all the others for your answers. Yeah, that would be a language I would use for gaming purposes pretty much.

 

[Phil32]

Continuing from my screenshots from my RPG Maker game I shared earlier in the thread, I worked out an Ocarina of Time Spirit Temple-esque sunlight beam puzzle with mirrors this past week. This is the simplest one, but as you can imagine, there are more complicated ones later in the dungeon. I think I should remove the "Do you want to use the Frog Boots" question messages, as that slows the pacing down considerably and could easily be considered annoying to some players. Here is some footage:

Spoiler

 

[Irene]

(I realize that this is one heck of a bump, but I feel kind of responsible as OP to keep the thread going.)

Also, I have an open question to the thread. I'm currently working on my latest project, and it's going well! But I'm definitely aiming at having options and accessibility at the forefront of the design process.

What are some essential options and accessibility features that a game just has to have? I'm having a bit of a brain freeze.

So far I've come up with

• Invert X and (or) Y axis
• Difficulty (Easy (no permadeath), Normal (no permadeath), Hard (permadeath))
• Hint mode toggle (Waypoints and objective, only objective, none)
• Invert button prompts (left-handed, right-handed)
• Story context
• Combat manual

 

[merp]

Am I in heaven?

 

[manfromthedam]

Yay screenshots of people smarter than myself doing magic!

I'm getting a tiny bit of traction as a game music composer. Portfolio plug:

Spoiler: Game Music Portfolio

Hi y'all. Longtime lurker from the previous place here. I don't have any experience in game making (although it's been a lifelong dream of mine), but I am currently trying to make it as a freelance music composer, and video games would be my most highly wanted field of work (it's where my passion for music started). So in that sense, I guess I'm tangentially relevant to this thread, what with me desperate to work on indie game projects as a composer

Although to be honest it's not the easiest industry to break in to.

It's crazy competitive in a way, but game audio folks are generally really nice to one another. The vibe is much more positive compared to other fields of the music profession I've found!

I'm having lots of fun learning FMOD for music and audio implementation. It's free and can be easily integrated into Unity, Unreal and Gamemaker, so take a look if you haven't already!

 

[Phil32]

(I realize that this is one heck of a bump, but I feel kind of responsible as OP to keep the thread going.)

Also, I have an open question to the thread. I'm currently working on my latest project, and it's going well! But I'm definitely aiming at having options and accessibility at the forefront of the design process.

What are some essential options and accessibility features that a game just has to have? I'm having a bit of a brain freeze.

So far I've come up with

• Invert X and (or) Y axis
• Difficulty (Easy (no permadeath), Normal (no permadeath), Hard (permadeath))
• Hint mode toggle (Waypoints and objective, only objective, none)
• Invert button prompts (left-handed, right-handed)
• Story context
• Combat manual

I appreciate the bump, as I've been relaxed on development of my game due to life and other responsibilities, and I was thinking, "Maybe I should return to it soon". Like a sign from the heavens, this topic got bumped today!

But to answer your question, how about a color blind mode for various types of colorblindness? Don't know if text size or font are also considerations to... well... consider! Heh

 

[Irene]

I appreciate the bump, as I've been relaxed on development of my game due to life and other responsibilities, and I was thinking, "Maybe I should return to it soon". Like a sign from the heavens, this topic got bumped today!

But to answer your question, how about a color blind mode for various types of colorblindness? Don't know if text size or font are also considerations to... well... consider! Heh

Both very good suggestions!

Funny thing is, though, that I'm colorblind myself. So is the game already customized to colorblindness by default, since I'm making it with colors I can see? So I'd have to make a non-colorblind option?

 

[KraftVenture]

I'm curious if anyone has any good resources, classes (free or paid) or anything of the like they could point me to in regards to learning code as well as 3D modeling? There's ton of things out there but it's overwhelming trying to see what would actually be good for someone with zero experience in both fields.

 

[Costa]

What are some essential options and accessibility features that a game just has to have? I'm having a bit of a brain freeze.

A deep look into accessibility options in video game that I always found useful is Game Maker Tool Kit's Video Game Accessibility series. Tons of useful information there, it's even been used by professional companies to up the accessibility of their games.

One thing I've personally wanted to dev up is an extremely customizable controller configuration with instant feedback (i.e., letting you change settings on the fly in a test room so that you can customize to your hearts content and figure out what works best for you). I think not enough games have customizable controls, or worse yet, have you choose from a list of like, 3 different options.

 

[Irene]

I'm curious if anyone has any good resources, classes (free or paid) or anything of the like they could point me to in regards to learning code as well as 3D modeling? There's ton of things out there but it's overwhelming trying to see what would actually be good for someone with zero experience in both fields.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOKHwx1VCdgnxwbjyb9Iu1g

As far as online tutorials go, I think Blender Guru is very good at making tutorials, very easy to digest and informative.

As far as coding goes, maybe check with your local library? In my previous one, they had some very good and basic coding books.

If I knew some classes, I would point them to you as well, but sadly I don't know much in that field.

 

[Skittzo]

This thread doesn't get a lot of action it seems.

Anyway, does anyone know of any good resources that are written, not videos, for UE4 development in general? I'm trying to really buckle down this time and make a first person dungeon crawler RPG, but a lot of things like pathfinding and even saving are way above my head.

 

[Irene]

This thread doesn't get a lot of action it seems.

Anyway, does anyone know of any good resources that are written, not videos, for UE4 development in general? I'm trying to really buckle down this time and make a first person dungeon crawler RPG, but a lot of things like pathfinding and even saving are way above my head.

Beginner's Guide To Game Development With Unreal Engine - GameDev Academy

Are you ready to start developing FPS games, RPGs, retro-style games, and more with the amazing Unreal Engine? You're in for quite a treat, then!

gamedevacademy.org

Did some digging and found this, I skimmed through it and it seems very concise, might be worth looking at. It's first and foremost a platformer tutorial, but skills learned in a development process regarding one genre can come handy in another.

I don't know how proficient you are in unreal, maybe beginner level tutorials are something that you're already excelling at.

(The images won't load for me in Safari. Try Chrome.)

 

[Skittzo]

Beginner's Guide To Game Development With Unreal Engine - GameDev Academy

Are you ready to start developing FPS games, RPGs, retro-style games, and more with the amazing Unreal Engine? You're in for quite a treat, then!

gamedevacademy.org

Did some digging and found this, I skimmed through it and it seems very concise, might be worth looking at. It's first and foremost a platformer tutorial, but skills learned in a development process regarding one genre can come handy in another.

I don't know how proficient you are in unreal, maybe beginner level tutorials are something that you're already excelling at.

(The images won't load for me in Safari. Try Chrome.)

Thank you for that. I'm sure I'm not great at UE4, though mainly I just really need a refresher. I did manage to get the hang of blueprints a few years back, I just need to remember exactly how all that works since my old projects died with my old computer.

 

[Deleted member 2484]

I'm not really in a place where I can learn new skills at the moment, so traditional PC based stuff is off the menu for now, but this thread has inspired me to pick up Game Builder Garage ^_^

 

[JazzPotatoes]

I've just reminded myself that I need to share some updates in this thread in the near future. I'm on my phone ATM, so will have to wait until later, but some key things I'm proud of:

1) The soundtrack is largely complete. Over become pretty adept at using FL Studio to put together tunes, and I've managed to compose songs for each of the different world settings, the main title screen and the ending, which is all I really needed. The vibe is eastern sounding zithers combined with old school ethereal sounds like mellotrons and flutes.

2) Enemies are mostly done. The plan is to have three varieties of a "main" enemy in each world setting that the player has to fight using the combat system, but to also have a floating enemy in each world that acts as more of an environmental hazard to go with the platforming.

3) All 20 levels are now laid out. The main thing with some of them is to tidy up some of the event triggers, and add more background art to the later ones. Also, working out the snow physics for the last world is an interesting challenge: The snow flakes are running on a particle generation system that starts at 0 as each level loads, bit ideally I want these levels to load with the snow already falling. Some research online suggests this is possible, but I'll need to get creative with some plugins.

4) I'm debating whether to include bosses. The original plan was for each world to have three levels and then a boss level, but as I've been putting the game together, it's already kicking my ass way more than I thought it would. Having boss levels may take the game from being pretty difficult to actually frustrating. However, they'd also make a good end point for each world. And I need to make sure there's enough challenge that players don't blow through everything in half an hour.

 

[Phil32]

Ooh, awesome @JazzPotatoes! Would love to hear some of your compositions, if that were possible! Moreover, that's really exciting progress all around!

And hi all! I'm back to work on my RPG Maker MV game: Legends of Adrigal. Really excited to share a new area from the game, though in battle screen form!

 

[Skittzo]

How do you best handle temporary stat boosts, generally speaking? Conceptually it feels really tough to add an individual number and timer for each individual stat boost for each character, and then apply it to their current stats while making sure the boost is removed when the timer ends and all of this carries over from map to map.

 

[Raccoon]

How do you best handle temporary stat boosts, generally speaking? Conceptually it feels really tough to add an individual number and timer for each individual stat boost for each character, and then apply it to their current stats while making sure the boost is removed when the timer ends and all of this carries over from map to map.

Have you looked into modifying tick()?

edit: this is probably not the best approach, actually

 

[Skittzo]

Have you looked into modifying tick()?

edit: this is probably not the best approach, actually

Yeah I'm planning on having a global timer based on the tick rate but that doesn't exactly solve the issue I'm having. Like, say I want to give a temporary boost to strength for 8 hours of in game time, I'd apply a temporary stat indicator to the character and have it check whether the timer has hit zero at each stat check.

The problem is, what if I then get a second strength boost for another 8 hours 6 hours into the first one? Do I now need two separate timer checks?

 

[Raccoon]

Yeah I'm planning on having a global timer based on the tick rate but that doesn't exactly solve the issue I'm having. Like, say I want to give a temporary boost to strength for 8 hours of in game time, I'd apply a temporary stat indicator to the character and have it check whether the timer has hit zero at each stat check.

The problem is, what if I then get a second strength boost for another 8 hours 6 hours into the first one? Do I now need two separate timer checks?

I might be misunderstanding, but shouldn't your stat timers be ints that decrement based on your tick? then you just add to the int when you get a new one

 

[Skittzo]

I might be misunderstanding, but shouldn't your stat timers be ints that decrement based on your tick? then you just add to the int when you get a new one

Say you get a boost of 5 strength for 5 hours. Then 2 hours later you have a boost of 6 strength for 9 hours. Your total strength boost will be 11 for the next three hours but after that it'll only be 6 for the next 6 hours. One single incremental timer would not be able to differentiate between the two different boost levels.

I'm having trouble figuring out how to enable that without having to add a separate timer check for each individual boost.

 

[Raccoon]

Say you get a boost of 5 strength for 5 hours. Then 2 hours later you have a boost of 6 strength for 9 hours. Your total strength boost will be 11 for the next three hours but after that it'll only be 6 for the next 6 hours. One single incremental timer would not be able to differentiate between the two different boost levels.

I'm having trouble figuring out how to enable that without having to add a separate timer check for each individual boost.

okay so if they compound you would have to have them separate (edit: at least, I think)

it might be useful if the boosts were objects. maybe components in ue4? each with time remaining that decrements with your timer and effect. then your player stats refer to each boost

 

[Skittzo]

okay so if they compound you would have to have them separate (edit: at least, I think)

it might be useful if the boosts were objects. maybe components in ue4? each with time remaining that decrements with your timer and effect. then your player stats refer to each boost

Yeah I was actually thinking about that but then carrying them across levels can get pretty messy. Plus my character objects are already components and I haven't been able to find a way to add a component to another component.

Something else that just occurred to me is setting up an array of structs, where a single for each loop can look at that one array to get every current boost and timer, then just remove it from the array when the timer is done.


Edit: I'm extremely fortunate that I found a few JRPG template on the ue4 marketplace that heavily used structs and enums so that I had to learn how to use them. For my previous projects I had stats in the form of int arrays with a little notepad on the side telling me which array entry corresponded to which stat. Using an enum int map is soooo much better

 

[Crusters]

Yeah I was actually thinking about that but then carrying them across levels can get pretty messy. Plus my character objects are already components and I haven't been able to find a way to add a component to another component.

Something else that just occurred to me is setting up an array of structs, where a single for each loop can look at that one array to get every current boost and timer, then just remove it from the array when the timer is done.


Edit: I'm extremely fortunate that I found a few JRPG template on the ue4 marketplace that heavily used structs and enums so that I had to learn how to use them. For my previous projects I had stats in the form of int arrays with a little notepad on the side telling me which array entry corresponded to which stat. Using an enum int map is soooo much better

Reminds me of a way more complicated version of trying to remember bitwise logic positions for stuffing all power up on/off switches into a single byte on old nes projects I used to fart around with.

 

[Phil32]

Oh goodness. I feel like Kel Mitchell in Good Burger reading the posts above: "I know some of these words."

At any rate, is it considered self-promotion to post a video from my game's newly created YouTube channel? I didn't want to break any topic/forum rules on self-promotion. Regardless, it'd be the first 15 minutes of my game--essentially the intro/opening. :O

 

[Irene]

Oh goodness. I feel like Kel Mitchell in Good Burger reading the posts above: "I know some of these words."

At any rate, is it considered self-promotion to post a video from my game's newly created YouTube channel? I didn't want to break any topic/forum rules on self-promotion. Regardless, it'd be the first 15 minutes of my game--essentially the intro/opening. :O

Posting a video is okay!
I draw the line where money is involved, and you post a link to a storefront page.

However, maybe a video of that kind is better suited for the Creative Endeavors thread.

Creative Endeavors |ST| Flex your art muscles

So, what’s this thread for? Sharing the cool things you make! Discussing the cool things you want to make! Be it visual arts, writing, composing, game dev, sculpture, collage, embroidery, other arts and crafts, you name it! Maybe not a cool carrot you grew in your yard, though, unless you carve...

famiboards.com

 

[Phil32]

Posting a video is okay!
I draw the line where money is involved, and you post a link to a storefront page.

However, maybe a video of that kind is better suited for the Creative Endeavors thread.

Creative Endeavors |ST| Flex your art muscles

So, what’s this thread for? Sharing the cool things you make! Discussing the cool things you want to make! Be it visual arts, writing, composing, game dev, sculpture, collage, embroidery, other arts and crafts, you name it! Maybe not a cool carrot you grew in your yard, though, unless you carve...

famiboards.com

Ooh! Thank you so much! I didn't realize we had a topic for that on Fami yet!