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[stewiepixels]

thanks guys.  

AnomalousUnderdog -  yep, going through it right now. In terms of visuals, I like it much more than the movie.  
Also checked Gantz.  Good suggestion too. Thank you.

I was experimenting with the UI style,  the initial idea was to have it all white and clean, minimalistic, but now I'm moving towards of a pale yellow. Think it's juicer like this haha.

[absolute8]

It definitely adds to the industrial vibe. I like it 

[io3 creations]

ooh can't believe how could I miss Blame :|   Just watched it yesterday. It has some great design elements. Definitely a good source for inspiration.  

I'm guessing you are referring to the full length movie.
Trailer:


Actually, that movie came out this year, while the manga about 20 years ago!  It's been a long wait to finally see a movie.  Personally, I liked it but I know there were some fans who didn't like it because it focussed more on humans than Killy.  Also, I liked that they went with a 3d style that is similar to a comic book.  Sure, it's 3d but the outlines helped a lot.  I had plans to create a few scenes and was going to do something similar.  Unlike this fan made one:



Actually, in 2005 there were a few Logs were released as Original Web Animations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHoXnfpz-rk&list=PLfeRHcuYazFQkmza_Kor78CMYj_kKqlsb

Tsutomu Nihei, Blame!'s creator also has a few other serieses.  I found Biomega before coming across Blame!.  There's also Knights of Sidonia.  Those are also sci-fi, though more "organic" then machine based.

About the motivation, glad to hear you're sticking to it. I'd be bummed if this never saw the light of day. I think there just isn't enough of the kind of dark sci-fi game like you're making here.

As I was thinking of similar works, I also was going to mention that actually isn't a lot of dark sci-fi out there.  That could also improve your chances.

I would also recommend two movies that fit this genre:
Pandorum (2009)
Eden Log (2007)

As for the motivation- I know it should not matter, the only thing you should do is to be disciplined, but it was kind of hard in the beginning since I wouldn't know people would like what I was working on or not. In fact,  I'm not worried about anymore. Not because I found out. It's just, as you said, knowing that a couple of people here like it is already enough for me. Someone said '' make the game you want to play and then you know for sure there's at least one person who would play it - you''. In my case, that's already more people than just me so I'm ok with it. Don't need a huge audience anyway.

Ah, I see.  The *inner critic* (worry whether other like what you create or when they say negative things about it, etc) is another factor that can affect motivation.  At least you're over that worry now.


If you don't mind me answering, what did you mean by risk exactly:

While I'd like to continue with it no matter if there's an audience for it, I can't afford to take this risk right now, even if I fully understand the importance of creating something different.

-fame
-$$$
-Inner critic
What did you mean by "no risk"

I did, however, have a target audience in mind - the people who love Alien and Metroid series. But my visual design changed a lot along the way. Let's see where it gets.  

Yeah, that colorful, cartoony one looks quite different.  It still looks very good though.  Do you have more of that or other works posted somewhere since you only posted Nanioheian links?
 Maybe PM?


One more question: what does the title mean? I'm guessing it has to do with nano.

[stewiepixels]

If you don't mind me answering, what did you mean by risk exactly:

Yeah, that colorful, cartoony one looks quite different.  It still looks very good though.  Do you have more of that or other works posted somewhere since you only posted Nanioheian links?
 
One more question: what does the title mean? I'm guessing it has to do with nano.

Hey, nice suggestions.
 I do understand why fans don't like the movie too much. I,however looked at it only from visual design perspective. Now cheking manga too.  Gonna check the others too when I have some more time.

About risk - what I meant is that while I understood the importance of being unique, I was also worried that there could not be a market for what I was doing and therefore couldn't afford to spend 1-2 years working on something that has a high chance to fail.

About that colorful concept - I actually got rid of it. At first I wanted a brighter  and colorful area to contrast with the rest of the world While it was interesting, after looking through my story and world in general I decided to change it.
Here's a wip of it.



going to post some more in the coming weeks on twitter and fb 

And yep - nanoheia - it has to do with nano, think of it as some sort of elemnt, substance, material- it is important to the  story of the game. However the title is not 100% sure to remain this way.

cheers

[RadicalBradical]

If you don't mind me answering, what did you mean by risk exactly:

Yeah, that colorful, cartoony one looks quite different.  It still looks very good though.  Do you have more of that or other works posted somewhere since you only posted Nanioheian links?
 
One more question: what does the title mean? I'm guessing it has to do with nano.

Hey, nice suggestions.
 I do understand why fans don't like the movie too much. I,however looked at it only from visual design perspective. Now cheking manga too.  Gonna check the others too when I have some more time.

About risk - what I meant is that while I understood the importance of being unique, I was also worried that there could not be a market for what I was doing and therefore couldn't afford to spend 1-2 years working on something that has a high chance to fail.

About that colorful concept - I actually got rid of it. At first I wanted a brighter  and colorful area to contrast with the rest of the world While it was interesting, after looking through my story and world in general I decided to change it.
Here's a wip of it.



going to post some more in the coming weeks on twitter and fb 

And yep - nanoheia - it has to do with nano, think of it as some sort of elemnt, substance, material- it is important to the  story of the game. However the title is not 100% sure to remain this way.

cheers

I really like the use of dark colors for the game's world! :D

[io3 creations]

About that colorful concept - I actually got rid of it. At first I wanted a brighter  and colorful area to contrast with the rest of the world While it was interesting, after looking through my story and world in general I decided to change it.

Looks like a "lucky" change.  That wip looks very good.

going to post some more in the coming weeks on twitter and fb 

Cool!  Be sure to add those links to your forum signature.

And yep - nanoheia - it has to do with nano, think of it as some sort of elemnt, substance, material- it is important to the  story of the game. However the title is not 100% sure to remain this way.

I see.

[stewiepixels]

long time no update. heh.

so I had to take a big decision - wich is to get rid of that big gun.  No matter how much I liked it, I had to change it. It was not working because of the 8 direction aiming. The animations and poses were looking bad. ( except for the horizontal ones) so yeah.  Getting rid of it automatically solved much more problems I had. Like  air spinning is now easier to do (it was looking ridiculous with that big gun) as well as  ledge grabing (and aiming) and the  dodge/ roll mechanic too.

If you know it doesn't work, don't force it.   Unfortunately I tried to make it work too much and wasted time on it, but at least I learned stuff) 
 
Here's a snap of my work process. Making key poses that later will be animated. 

[stewiepixels]

finally decided to rent an office (with a friend)  and separate work from home. Movin in on monday and then will work full time on this.   
 meanwhile here's some mess.  As usual,  0 interactions on social medias. Don't know what to think at this point but whatever.

[Pixel.ABCD]

These statue-like machineries, are great.  I saw it over facebook few time,  wish u smooth development.

[Palm]

Normally I'm a bit tired of the dark colour-palettes, but there's something very refreshing about this look. Totally love it! Hope everything goes great!

[illugion]

I really like everything I see in this devlog. 

You shouldn't worry about social media interactions that much. You're still in early stages of development and this is your first game. Getting a following is a grind. Each and every like is already a big victory at this point.

Your art is really great but, from my experience, people on social media tend to like moving stuff, gameplay, gifs etc. They tend not to give much attention to still images or works in progress. You will certainly develop a bigger following later on.

[io3 creations]

Good luck with working at the office!

Regarding the lack of social response, as mentioned before, focus on finishing a short demo and then chances are you'll have more responses and feedback.

[stewiepixels]

thank you.

yeap,  agree on all of that. Must stay on track especially when you feel a deep urge to change everything altogether.

[HiddenNatureDsn]

For the most part I am enjoying the style and color palette, though I do worry it will get messy and/or hard to see with any sort of enemies on screen, if they are as dark as everything else.  I look forward to seeing more though.

[SuperRetroMaker]

Your game looks fantastic, I think you'll gain social media traction as you put more out there (especially gameplay videos).  Keep at it!

[sidbarnhoorn]

Love the dark atmosphere! Looking forward to playing this someday.

[Starlink]

Dude this game looks so good. I like the decision to make the games world darker but I think you should keep the bright colors on the player character to be the main contrast and make the character pop.

You said you were sort of losing motivation to work on the game and for that I'd say maybe find someone to do all of the coding for you so that you can just stick to the art and take some workload off your hands. I know plenty of talented programmers would love to work with an artist like you for free.

And while I'm at it, feel free to pm me if you want some sfx/music or even code for the game. I just got back to this forum so ill be staying active and posting up my devlog for my game later tonight.

Definitely a very unique style and very attractive.
Cheers and good luck!

[joey4track]

If you want more interaction on social media you might want to be a lot more active. I have been following this game on Twitter for months now and you barely ever post anything. I'll be more than happy to give you some RT's but you gotta put in the energy to get it rolling. Keep your head up!

EDIT: better yet, as it seems like social media gets you down, just get/hire someone else to do PR for you. You can't post something every 2 months and expect it to garner you much attention

[adamF]

I just read your post about motivation. Don't quit!! Your game looks amazing so far.

[Garlicguy]

I think your game will be fantastic if you put in the work! You clearly have skill.

It seems like a lot of developers here care more about HYPE and building a fan base on social media ...over just making a fun game for you and you players to enjoy. That's really what indie games are about...expressing yourself...making games you find fun...

If the project burns you out...scrap it...make a new one that you're excited to work on just for the sake of working on it. I myself think you should finish this one.