Well, got the whole GM thing sorted out. Sort of. But at least I can work -__-
Progress is going okay. If I can get in another good week like the first week of development, then the game will be finished before the month is up. However, I doubt that I'll meet that pace.
At the very least, I'm glad I started this game. Looking at the way things are going, the other game would have taken too long, and I'd have been in a bit of a tough spot eventually. I'll be much more confident to pick it up again once this is finished.
For now, to release the demo I need to put in the save function, place the savepoints, and place health.
The way I make games, I have unlimited health when I test them early on. Then, after the areas are put together, I do a run through and see where I tend lose health, and I make assumptions about where people are likely to have trouble. Then, I go through and add health where needed, try again, and get some people to play test. I also tend to make the difficulty I come up with for myself the hard difficulty, since I represent someone who is familiar with the game.
With checkpoints I used to think that I needed to have them before any area with new enemies. When some players see a new enemy they want to see what it's H-animation looks like, but if it's in the middle of a long section then they may not want to risk losing progress to see it. However, that sort of limits the level design, so I'm trying to work around it. One option is "unlocking" it for a gallery as soon as you see it or defeat it, but that assumes the player knows that the gallery/area even exists, so I need to make it clear early on.
Also, I may do one CG for the demo, but I don't know. I might just release it before then.
Anyhow, back to work. I may look into hiring a voice actor today, so I've gotta get that done.
Good to know it's working out.
ReplyDeleteOoh, and will that be the voice actor from Kurovadis?
Nope, because I'll do Kuro2 at some point, and I'll try and get the same voice actor for that. I don't want to overuse the same actor too much.
DeleteBut Will It Be High res?
DeleteHigher res than Kurovadis, but it would only be a little over Megaman X character sizes.
DeleteAwesome
DeleteI know you've mentioned this before, but what program do you use/recommend for people to start off with in game design?
ReplyDeleteI use GM. I can't really recommend it, though, if only because I haven't used everything else. All I know is that GM is easy to learn, and in terms of 2d games, can do pretty much everything you need it to do.
DeleteIf you want to make 2d and 3d games, than Unity is the way to go, but it's not quite as simple. Your other option is Flash, which is optimal for web based games, and works well with vector art. I haven't tried anything else.
MultiMedia Fusion is similar to GM, but I think less on the script, since they actually break that down in individual areas. To other anon, I recommend going with either GM or MMF.
DeleteIf you want a really stupid easy way to make a game get RPG maker. However using this may make your game look like a "lego" creation. I've seen some really pretty good games made with this IDE though. Just make sure that you make enough original content to put in it.
DeleteAs mentioned, Unity is a very versatile and flexible game engine and offers a really wide array of cross platform porting. They are still working on the native 2d solutions they recently integrated, but they have quite a bit to offer. The downside to Unity would be the learning gap, you pretty much have to learn basic scripting in either Unity script (aka java), C# or boo. It's a "little" more pricy if you want to get the pro version though. However the free version of unity can be used commercially as long as your not making $100.000.00 USD. The free version is just missing a few optimization features and really isn't necessary to make a good game.
There are always problems when working with a 'simpler' IDE or development platform to make your game, from what I've seen.
DeleteThe first and most obvious is that the easier it is to use, the less flexibility you likely have, the less powerful the program is. In this regard, I believe Game Maker has an excellent balance between ease-of-use and flexibility.
The second being this: The easier the platform is to use, *the more strain it puts on users' computers running it*, as there's a large overhead of pre-made code being run on the computer, which is far from optomized for your specific game. Stuff that wouldn't even be a part of the program if you were just programming it from scratch. That's the biggest gripe I have with MMF: the overhead is so intense, that my computer can't run a single MMF H-game without the framerate dropping at some point. Not to mention the memory use is off the charts!
I've never used MMF myself, but I can vouch for Game Maker. It's a platform that can carry you pretty far through your learning process, and as you grow and start to become confident in coding, you'll still be able to use that more advanced knowledge with Game Maker.
That's odd... the game I'm making in MMF doesn't seem to operate slowly or kill my computer. I'm even comparing it to Eroico right now. Mine only uses around 50MB and Eroico is topping 400MB.
DeleteThough that might change once the game is done. Huh. Remind me to look into it.
That's because my games load all the graphics at once, so you see a big jump when all the graphics are there, especially CGs. It would be far more optimized if it loaded graphics externally.
DeleteJust get voice changing software and do it yourself! ^_^ <(^_^<) ^(0_0)^ >(X_X)>
ReplyDeleteplsno
DeleteNo -__-
DeleteKnowing its a guy doing the voices...makes for a bad fap lol
DeleteSounds sexy.
DeleteCan't wait to see it.
ReplyDeleteHave beta testers to see how it works for people?
Hire Troy Baker for the voice acting!
ReplyDeleteI actually like the idea of just killing the enemy to unlock the gallery counterpart, cus your right, with these games I tend to lose on purpose to every enemy which can also make some levels tedious.
ReplyDeletecheckpoints have worked fine in the past, as pretty much all the enemies will be seen again, and their later appearances will be closer to check points rather than deep in the level since they've already been encountered.
DeleteIs the voice actor you want male or female? 'Cause if it's male then I'm up for the job; got a new mic today, and it sounds great. If you ever need male voice acting, e-mail me and we can talk about it.
ReplyDeleteFemale. There won't be any male voices in this particular game.
DeleteNext Gen X-ray!
ReplyDelete"However, I doubt that I'll meet that pace."
ReplyDeleteOh boy, I think we all know where this is going.
Demo this week?!:D
DeleteThe only reason there wouldn't be a demo this week is if I don't find a voice actor by then.
Deleteomg yes
DeleteSo it begins.
DeleteTechnically this week ended 12 minutes ago......
ReplyDeleteI meant this week as in this coming week.
DeleteRegardless, there will be a demo soon.
Lol I was joking no rush
DeleteI read your interview on medium difficulty about kuro. You're super pro, i can't help but feel that whoever interviewed you was salting the questions. You did good though.
ReplyDeleteI just read that interview also. And I agree he did a good job.
DeleteI think his questions where a little too salty lol. Seriously, its just a game.
People aren't looking for some morally/politically correct materiel. They are looking for entertainment to distract them from their day to day life in general.
Geh..I don't even want to go back and look at it..
DeleteI feel like I could have done better to get many of my points across. I'm sure I'd just be frustrated over what I could have said. -__-
Wow the dude that was doing the interview was just taunting you, trying to get something negative to bash ryona and h-games. Good job avoiding the trick questions!
DeleteJust read that interview as well. Yeah, it seemed like the questions were supposed to get controversial answers but at the same time you managed well enough to avoid that situation Kyrieru. At least from my point of view. People in the comment section in that article don't seem to agree, but you know, I guess that's just a different outlook on the whole h-game genre in general. So don't beat yourself up over it.
DeleteYeah, I thought you did very well. I wouldn't really call Kurovadis ryona at all though; it's Ryona-lite at best.
DeleteSomething like Girl vs Girl is what I would consider Ryona. I'm sure there are more iconic examples, but I'm not that into the genre.
From ULMF here, never saw that interview until now either. I thought Kyrieru handled it pretty well for all the shitty questions he was being asked (In my opinion). Seemed to me like the interviewer was pretty biased with their questioning.
ReplyDeleteI don't really get it. There's reality and there's fiction. You don't rape people in real life because A: You'd be hurting someone and/or B: You'd be arrested. Hopefully the former is enough for most people, but thankfully there's B as well.
In fiction nobody gets hurts, the characters don't exist. I never understood the problem...It's like people blaming video games every time somebody shoots up a school. If somebody can't tell reality apart from fiction, they're going to do terrible things to people regardless of what video games they play. You can't shield a psychopath from everything that could give them bad ideas.
Everybody watches horror movies, do they want to watch people in real life be torn apart by axe wielding murders, or do they want to BE axe wielding murders? Most do not~ and that's with real breathing actors that exist in reality, not just lines and shapes on a monitor. Oh well, people looking for something to blame for the reason behind violence other than shitty genes and terrible parenting, as usual.
I have the feeling most of these people that complain about entertainment content are either.
Delete-Just want attention. Attention whores love to say anything that will get them noticed in anyway possible. And what better way then to talk about "taboo" subjects.
-Just want to be part of the "in crowed", because its not bullying if everyone else is doing it.. They are usually the "ignorant" masses and believe anything that society throws at them.
--Part of a very conservative minded crowed, and generally bitch about anything that isn't part of their clique and usually have "indecent" thoughts or commit "indecent" actions themselves and go after the "villain" to make themselves feel better. see:blaming the devil.
What interview?
Deletehttp://www.mediumdifficulty.com/2012/12/15/interview-kyrie-ru-of-overture-interactive/
DeleteI hate that I gave that page a view, definitely a case of ambush "journalism."
Delete"DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A MISOGYNIST."
What's worse is that comes up as one of the biggest Google results anytime someone googles Kyrieru. When I came across that article, I couldn't help but wince. A perfect reminder of why all this stuff is semi-underground to begin with: There is a vast gulf of "Don't understand, don't want to even try understanding" between the norm, and these communities.
DeleteHowever, in this case, there's no such thing as bad publicity. Despite attempts to demonize or villify the works, the only people who will think negatively of it are those who would have done so already; it may even be possible some people viewing that article may actually take interest, and check it out. In which case it becomes a win. It's not like interviewers like that can actually do any harm to Kyrieru (other than maybe to his pride), no matter what things they say.
And at the same time, word of your works was spread. Thus anyone who viewed that page knows that your game exists.
It would take a much more well thought out article than that to hurt my pride. Instead, that article was like trying to convince someone that a reality TV show is staged, and being unable to convince them. It doesn't make me feel bad about myself, it just makes me feel bad for them.
DeleteDigital animation and Interactive Motion Graphics. Neither of which taught me anything. Pretty much a massive waste of time.
DeleteThat sucks..... :( I hope you didn't pay too much for the courses. I hate it when education turns into edumacation, especially when you have to pay for it.
DeleteHey Kyrieru, just wanted to thank you for your cool games. As a fellow content creator I also like your whole documentation of it, so like your analytical aspect to it as to why it's sometimes harder or easier to work on something.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, say did you ever think about creating like a project via offbeatr? (I personally don't know much about this site, but I'd like to have your opinion on that).
Offbeatr is viable for people who don't have the means to work on a project with their own finances. They take a fraction of the money you raise, so it's not really worth it if you already have the means to do it yourself. The only other reason would be if you wanted to make a game, and confirm that it would be worth it. (if the project was very niche, for instance)
DeleteThe only other advantage I can see is that in some cases, people who might have pirated the game will pay for it, because unlike a finished game, without the funding it might not even be made, or they might want to push it towards a stretch goal.
This is some-what unrelated, Kyrieru but, what do you think about the upcoming Shovel Knight launching sometime soon? Because I know your interest in researching the way games feel and control or look even.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to know if it's something that's caught your interest in whatever ways it should.
Well, it's a minor gripe of mine, but it annoys me when games are advertised as retro or throw out classic games as buzzwords, despite being nothing like them in terms of design. That sort of thing tends make me dismissive, so I never really took interest in it.
DeletePersonally, I wish people would just stop calling platformers with pixel art (even 8-bit) retro and just call them games. They shouldn't be judged any differently from other games. Shovel Knight is certainly more justified in calling itself retro than some other games, but I've seen too many games like "fist puncher", claim to be retro when they really just have bad graphics, so now I just roll my eyes everytime I see "retro".
You could also sum up my opinion with "I'm a cynical ass-hole when it comes to platformers that call themselves retro, but I might play shovel-knight because it looks decent."
DeleteI guess Violated heroine is finished before we see your new game^^
ReplyDeleteThis was soooo unnecessary. Comments like this can only increase the creator's frustration. You should try using the carrot instead of the stick sometime.
Delete