Hey TIGSource. I know many of you are 2d artists but this thread is for the 3d artists of you out there. I wrote this tool called SMAK, it's a multi-purpose 3d modeling utility. It can:

* Bake hi-res models down to lo-res with diffuse, AO and normal maps
* Bake AO maps for standalone meshes
* Load and save multiple file formats

among other things. The advantage of SMAK is that it's very fast and easy to use, and lets you preview the model as the map generates. The price is $30 and you can get it on the website:

http://getsmak.net/

This video demonstrates exactly how easy it is to generate maps with SMAK:



I'd love to hear what you guys think about the tool, any feedback gets "fed back" into the development of the tool. Thanks!

New Triangle indie game devs meetup:

http://www.meetup.com/Triangle-Indie-Game-Developers/calendar/15346462/

Here's the info:

Thursday, Dec 2, 7:00 pm
@ Rally Point Sports Grill
1837 N. Harrison Avenue
Cary, NC 27513

For this meetup we're focusing on giving feedback to games that you bring. How to improve them, how to make them better. If you want some good playtesting feedback for your game, bring it with you. We'll also have some beer and talk about video games.

[Description:]

Yup, it's out. Digitanks.

Description:

Digitanks is the first artillery-based strategy game. Think of artillery games like Scorched Earth or Worms. Now also think about turn-based strategy games. Digitanks is the unholy union of these two.

Trailer:





Screenshots:

http://www.digitanks.com/images/screenshots/artillery-attack.png
http://www.digitanks.com/images/screenshots/artillery-mode.png
http://www.digitanks.com/images/screenshots/infantry-fortified.png

Gameplay:

You control some tanks and you go to conquer the enemy tanks.

* Artillery mode: In this game mode all you have is a couple tanks and you lob your artillery over to the other tanks, it's similar to the old artillery games.
* Strategy mode: Here you have a base where you can build more structures and download new tank types and produce a fleet and go conquer the enemy base.

There's four types of tanks.

* Rogue: It's like a scout. It has a torpedo attack that can bomb enemy supply lines. If an enemy structure's supply line is disconnected completely then the enemy will lose that structure, and then you can move in and take it from him.
* Mechanized Infantry: They have a fortify ability that makes them really tough to beat. They also have real good forward shields, so they're great defensive and support units.
* Main Battle Tank: The core of your fleet. You pretty much need these guys if you're going to take any ground. They have the big guns that can crush enemy structures.
* Artillery: Very long range, but very poor defenses. They do double damage against shields so you can use them to soften up those fortified infantry. They do crap damage against structures though, so you need your tanks to move in eventually.

Price:

The demo is free and can be downloaded from the website. The registered version of the game costs $10.

cliffski, you're essentially doing what everybody else does with coupons and redeem codes, but cutting out all the bullshit in actually having to go get coupons and type in redeem codes.

How else are they going to know?

I think that more than just a demo reel you should have a website with information about yourself. What games you've worked on is one of the most important things you can relate, shipped-title experience is pretty essential to getting work so doing free work for any indie games or mods that you think have a good chance of shipping is a good call.

It's good that you have a nice mix of different songs in your reel. As an employer I would want to see someone who can do a large variety of music. I like your music by the way. What tools are you using?

It might help you to do sound design as well, because composers are some of the poorest people in game development and sound designers are slightly less poor.

Conferences, while expensive, are a great way to network and hand out your card.

Good luck!

How do I write a press release?

Find other press releases and copy them.

Who do I send it to?

You need to develop a press list. That's a list of emails and websites that you send information to when you want to tell the world something. When you meet and befriend a new press person you add them to your list. Or, you can go around to every press site you can find and send it to them manually.

New trailer has just been released.





Enjoy!

Enjoy!





PS - It'd be nice if I could embed the thing, but I can't quite figure that one out.

Mipe, can you log into the website?

Sure can.

Sorry bro I'm out of ideas. Maybe it's your capslock key.

Mipe, can you log into the website?

What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

What I mean to say is, I would worry about more important things for the time being. You won't have to worry about someone taking your name until you're actually making enough money to be a target. Work on your game design and your business plan first and then worry about not having your cool company name stolen.

Also, if you're asking this question it means that you should be contacting a lawyer.

I'd like to get some feedback on the trailer I've designed for Digitanks.





Lots of game developers hang around here so I figure I can get some useful feedback. Does it say enough about the game? Is it informative enough? Is it cool looking enough?

What's the error it gives you?

If you have BMT Micro or Plimus (BMT is better) as your processing then you can contact other websites called "affiliates" and have them sell your game for you. They typically have a lot of traffic and can possibly drive sales of your game. You need to find some affiliates that sell games similar to yours.

I wouldn't count on Steam. If your game is crazy fun and innovative and you have a bit of luck then you might get on there but it's not something that you should rely on.

The last option is to go crazy all out marketing your game, which you either need to find or become an expert for.

For quite a few days I've been unable to login through Minecraft. What gives?

Try re-downloading from the website.

That video looks interesting. I think the sound effects are not just loud but inappropriate. They're 8-bit era when the rest of the game looks much more modern.

Ooooh. Reading comprehension fail. Well consider that my (lame) contribution to the discussion then.

The tanks need to collide with the bullets when they move, but you just need to use some kind of scene management so it only needs to check against nearby bullets.

You do have some kind of scene management, right?

Firefox and Minecraft are both memory hogs which precludes me from having more than one of those two open at the same time.

So no.