Can my dream become a reality? (maybe?)

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Spram
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Can my dream become a reality? (maybe?)

Postby Spram » Tue Nov 04, 2014 4:34 pm

So soon I will lose my job and It got me thinking...

I don't know how to code or make music, but I would like to make a game, you know.. maybe kickstart it or something, but I think no one would care. I guess if I had to do it, it would be a proper Blimpo Warrior. Yes, I am obsessed with it.

The thing is, I don't think it's possible. I only do art and maybe game design, but I don't know if I'm good at that. The guys at Zeboyd made it, but it was a different time. I guess there are too many indie games out there for me to do something.

So I would need a program I could use to make the game, cheap or free. I don't think Multimedia Fusion is good enough, what about the second one? I guess if I pay extra they can let me sell my game, but who will buy it? Maybe I can team up with a programmer, but I don't know anyone and I don't give out a lot of confidence so I can't attract someone.

Even if I get to make a complete and bug-free (haha) game, how can I get people to care about it? There are a lot of too many independent games out there. Is it too risky to try?

I guess I can try making it while I find a new job, but how? Anyone has any ideas or suggestions on how to make this? Would I be able to get it on Steam? Something else?

Am I stupid for even thinking about it?

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Classic
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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby Classic » Tue Nov 04, 2014 4:52 pm

So this is gonna sound like pablum, but...

The part that's "stupid" is the assumption that you'll fail.
Like, it's good to be critical of your skills, work well within your limits, and give yourself room for professional growth, but it's unproductive to feel defeated before you start.
Given the job market though, I'd recommend looking more broadly than just an indie-dev career to keep bread/rice on the table.

EDIT:
Like, follow your dreams and shit!
But also, I dunno if game dev is something you want to do professionally? Like... As a dumb analogy: I really like consuming pretentious beers. I know I don't have the discipline to do that professionally.

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby Mothra » Tue Nov 04, 2014 5:36 pm

A lot of people I know that started working in the game industry jumped ship to other, less draining/better paying programming jobs.

If you want to get into game creation, get good at a programming skill you can transfer to other work if need be.

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby zaratustra » Tue Nov 04, 2014 5:42 pm

Spram wrote:The thing is, I don't think it's possible. I only do art and maybe game design, but I don't know if I'm good at that. The guys at Zeboyd made it, but it was a different time. I guess there are too many indie games out there for me to do something.


There is still space for good indies to make it. The important thing is not that your game is well-crafted, but that it's attractive - it needs to have some quality that is missing from other games. If you make a Mario clone, for example, people will just play Mario instead.

Also, start with a small idea. Maybe a game in chapters?

Spram wrote:So I would need a program I could use to make the game, cheap or free. I don't think Multimedia Fusion is good enough, what about the second one?


Your options nowadays are:
  • Multimedia Fusion (you know how it works)
  • GameMaker Studio (pretty popular, I believe it's easy to use)
  • RpgMaker XP (also popular but for RPGs)
  • Unity (now it has some 2d support, but requires a lot of code skills)

Spram wrote: Maybe I can team up with a programmer, but I don't know anyone and I don't give out a lot of confidence so I can't attract someone.

You know several programmers, between finalfight, the Verge team, and Something Awful. Write up a design document, and we can shop it around.

Spram wrote:Anyone has any ideas or suggestions on how to make this? Would I be able to get it on Steam? Something else?

Steam now has the Greenlight thing, which means you have to get a rather large number of people to vote on your game - again, it needs to be attractive or viral. Optionally, if a person has a game on Steam already, you could put it under their company.

Optionally, you could get a game on the App Store. Much easier.

Spram wrote:Am I stupid for even thinking about it?

Not really.

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby Spram » Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:53 pm

Thanks everyone!

Anyway, my parents are looking for a new place to live and since I will have no job they were thinking of moving in with me (I have extra bedrooms, don't worry) and paying my house while I find a job. Living with my parents in also good in that it gives me more of a reason to sit in front of a computer all day long. I will have to talk to my parents about this experiment.

It also seems that the makers of Multimedia Fusion have a new program out that can make flash, iOS and Android games... which might be good. I will have to look into it. Night Sky and the Angry Nerd video game were made using it (I think) so there's that. http://www.clickteam.com/clickteam-fusion-2-5

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby IGNORE ME » Tue Nov 04, 2014 8:02 pm

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't you already make Blimpo Warrior? I'm not even trying to pep talk here, I'm honestly confused by the assertion that it's impossible for you to do something you've already successfully done.

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby Spram » Wed Nov 05, 2014 2:56 pm

Brentai wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't you already make Blimpo Warrior? I'm not even trying to pep talk here, I'm honestly confused by the assertion that it's impossible for you to do something you've already successfully done.


No no. Blimpo Warrior 2 was never finished. I was talking about making a new one that didn't suck as much.

I already talked to my mommy and she pretty much thinks I should do that while I look for a real job. Makes sense, but I really want to make games I like, I mean, I don't have a lot to live for, making games is one of the few things that makes me happy whether it's shitty Super Mario Bros levels or shitty zelda quests.

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby zaratustra » Wed Nov 05, 2014 3:26 pm

Hm. Would you be interested in making some levels for Eversion 2? I wouldn't be able to pay you immediately, but perhaps I could arrange you a share of the sales.

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby Spram » Wed Nov 05, 2014 3:57 pm

zaratustra wrote:Hm. Would you be interested in making some levels for Eversion 2? I wouldn't be able to pay you immediately, but perhaps I could arrange you a share of the sales.


Are you talking to me? Sure I would. I could use some info first. and don't worry about money yet.

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby zaratustra » Wed Nov 05, 2014 4:02 pm

I'll write something up after I'm done with work today.

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby Spram » Thu Nov 06, 2014 3:24 pm

So I can make a new Blimpo Warrior, maybe with a different name and main character. That name and character were made up by a friend I had back in school in 1989, maybe he can sue me? lol

To make it android compatible I should make it a mouse-only game (mouse click = touch), so a turn-based rpg sounds like a good idea. I should start working on a simple battle system.

another option is to make it a Zelda-style game, but that might be harder. Maybe a platformer.

Or I can make a "hidden object" game about finding cats. Cat Finder: Kitten Objects. This would be the easiest, but less fulfilling, route.

Once a game is mostly done, I can start a kickstarter to hire a musician or something.

EDIT: Here's an idea of what I think would make a good kickstarter for a game similar to mine: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/20 ... epy-castle

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby zaratustra » Thu Dec 04, 2014 12:58 pm

Spram this might be pretty useful for you

http://www.solarus-games.org/

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby Spram » Thu Feb 12, 2015 7:32 pm

zaratustra wrote:Spram this might be pretty useful for you

http://www.solarus-games.org/


Thanks. Might have to check it out later (I'm at work now).

Yes I still have work somehow. The boss got me a freelance job at the company he works at now and I've basically had two jobs in Dec and Jan. I literally did not have a single day off in January, working Saturdays and Sundays. But it's over now and I'm back to my "real" job for three weeks, then MAYBE I might start a game.. I still don't know what to do. I started looking at the new RPG Makers (some games are made with it and sold, but I haven't played a single one) but I don't know how customizable (and easy to customize) it can be.

Also, I like Blimpo Warrior, but most people won't care about a game about furry orange balls. I'll guess I might have to use humans, even though I don't understand those things.

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby Spram » Sat Mar 14, 2015 6:59 pm

This thread is dead a fuck but I'll put this here:

I was screwing with Unity and this and 3DSmax and made this horrible 3D game. I can make levels and use some of the "Platformer Kit" assets like grab-able crates, "coins" and other stuff to make simple 3D games but to truly make a good game I need to learn a lot of C# and I have enough trouble communicating with anyone much less a computer so I don't even want to begin programing so I guess I hit a brick wall.. Meanwhile here's a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSYlNFQWLRI

and here's the thing using Unity Player.. Just hit close on the bottom to remove the infinite error messages:

Click here to make your computer explode!

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François
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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby François » Sat Mar 14, 2015 7:07 pm

I love that walking animation. I don't know why but it's perfect.

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby Thad » Sat Mar 14, 2015 7:36 pm

I don't know much in the way of C#, but a programming language is probably a good idea if you want to make games. I'm sure there are lots of good resources to teach you how.

Communicating with a computer is probably easier than communicating with people. They don't know very many words and they can't possibly misunderstand you. (Obviously you can still misspeak. But then it's your mistake, not the computer's.)

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby IGNORE ME » Mon Mar 23, 2015 2:09 pm

If you keep going down the Unity path you can probably release your game on the Wii U. It won't get you much other than saying you have an actual published game on a major console, but that's something.

And you've probably done way more programming already than you realize, given that Blimpo Warrior is actually a thing. Unless you made an entire game in Verge without ever touching event flags or Lua... I guess that's possible?

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby Spram » Tue Mar 24, 2015 12:46 am

UPDATE!

http://guio.us/spram/BeachTestRun/BeachTestRun.html

WASD or arrow keys to move. Space or J to jump. Q and E to rotate camera (which still can pass through anything). NEW! Press B while walking to move real fast.
Don't forget to turn off the error message.

New stuff: Giant tree, Fort, Big empty (for now) plain. I plan to add details (plants, houses, whatever) once I get the overall geography of the island right. Once you fall down the tree you can't get up again.

Brentai: Verge was easy!
Thad: I guess you're right. I'm just afraid of programming.
François: It's because it's so horrible it looks cute.

Thinking about a story. I have no idea. Maybe she wants to gather pearls or shells to make a necklace to her grandma but when you collect them all she's already dead and The Living Years plays.

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby François » Tue Mar 24, 2015 6:35 pm

I am actually not getting any error messages whatsoever! I'm running Chrome on Windows XP if that's in any way relevant. Only kinda minor annoyance I found is that if you're right up to a step in one of those staircase-like formations (like directly in front of the fort), the "lip" of the edge above you sometimes prevents you from jumping forward to the next step unless you back away a little first. Errrrything else seems pretty smooth though.

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Re: Can my dream become a reality? (no)

Postby Spram » Mon Apr 13, 2015 11:24 pm

Here's a new video with bouncy flowers and dead trees with wind inside them:



I'm working on a few enemies right now but they're so-so. Also, I made the character throw tomatoes but I don't like it much and I can't make them splat.. I just copied a script from somewhere but I don't even understand anything in it.

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