Thanks for the feedback!  I turned the music down and updated the link.  I'll definitely continue posting them.

If anyone else has any thoughts, positive or negative, please share.

Hello TIGSource!  I've been a professional game designer for quite some time now, and had the idea to start posting some core lessons via video format.  This first one is about 5 minutes, and gives an overview of how to build layers on top of your game to increase the length of time it can be enjoyably played.

I wanted to get feedback from you guys.  What do you think?  Is this a good format?  A bad format?  Does it seem useful?  Useless?  Whatever you think, let me know!  I can learn from praise as well as criticism. 

Click here to check it out on Youtube:

[Edit: Turned the music down]

Thanks in advance! 

--Brice

A lot of products do specials.  For example, "$20 for the first 50 purchasers, then it goes up to $40".  Valve also does lots of weekend specials on Steam for games, and that helps them test prices.

I agree with Snakey's post:  Small companies need to pick their core purpose and dominate it.  Don't let "we can do it all!" ego force you to do the manufacturing, marketing, and development (and not be profitable).  Decide if you're going to be a publisher or a developer, and then partner with other companies to make it happen.  That doesn't sound attractive right away, but it's the safer route in a world where you want to be as safe as possible.

I definitely think this is doable, it would just require a TON of testing and tuning.

Building in consequences that go out of a single "match" and into the next definitely changes the scope of the game.  In that way I don't even really think of it as a fighting game anymore (quick unrelated arcade matches).  I would think of it more like a strategy match (think long term)

*sigh* 

I think that discussions like this are important because they build a body of discourse around games, which needs to happen just like it has to other media.  Albeit, so long as they are conducted by the right people (mostly academics).

Shadow of the Colossus is, in my mind, THE poster child for memorable and breathtaking landscapes.  Not just because the world is absolutely gorgeous, but also because of how the gameplay itself backs up the beauty of the landscape.

If you haven't played the game, then it's made up of boss fights + travelling.  It must have taken a massive amount of discipline to create that game, because it would have been easy to put at least a couple of enemies, obstacles, ANYTHING in between the boss fights, but they didn't.  You fight a boss in a huge battle, and then you spend the next 30 minutes riding your horse through the wilderness.

Check out the horse riding section:



They didn't have to do it like this; it could have been like Banana Nababa where you go directly to the next fight.  But they choose to force you to spend oodles of time, dare I say almost 50% of the game, running around with nothing to do other than look at the landscape and think.

The result of this is that you focus intently on the landscape and remember it as a large part of the game.

I would spend it on a hypothetical car, villa, and night on the town. 

I'm sure other people on the forum have heard of this game, but I only recently discovered Out Of This World, for the SNES.

Youtube link:



I am absolutely certain that if this game had come out today, it would have been a finalist at numerous independent games festivals.  The purposeful lack of UI, the contextual controls, and the INCREDIBLE immersion that the game has that makes it feel like you're in a real environment or a movie - all of those signal indie game to me.  Puzzles, breaking rules (like having action occurring in the foreground, when NOTHING has happened in the foreground before that), communication using game mechanics instead of text/speech, and mystery are all incredible components of this title that have only become popular in recent years.

Also, it is largely the work of one man, Eric Chahi - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_World_(video_game)

As I mentioned, though, I had never heard of it until recently, which to me signals that it was not a commercial success...

An indie game born in the wrong time.  Thoughts anyone?

I agree with the comments.  While I'm not artist, I am a game developer, and I don't think anyone would take this offer.

Image if you were applying to a part time job at McDonald's, and they said, "We don't pay you for the first three months.   You'll still work 15 hours a week, but until McDonald's makes a profit, we don't give you anything.  Once we're rolling in dough though, then we pay you."

Would do it?  No!  Of course not!  You want to get paid for work you're doing, regardless of how the game does.

Sorry, but if you want an artist, and unless you know them personally or can work out some other mutual benefit, you're going to have to pay them.  That's not just for indie development, that's also for the major game industry and most jobs in general.  Big game companies still pay their developers as they're working on games.  And even if they leave the project early, they still worked for it, so of course they still got paid for when they were there.

If you're trying to encourage people to stay on for the duration of the project, you'll need good leadership and commitment.

Best of luck. 

I've always been a fan of trance and techno - it gets the blood pumpin' and doesn't distract you with smart lyrics!

Cascada, Groove Coverage, DJ Encore.

This is the epitome of a fun, quick, flash game.  Great job and have great success in the app store!  I had no idea it started as a EGP game.

I think you made the right choice legally. 

Maybe next time try to make your own awesome tunes and IP?

As far as atmosphere, you'll probably want to make choices about how you want it to feel.  Should it feel like a cockpit?  Like the character is using the UI (deadspace)?  Like there is no UI?  This will drive a lot of your decisions.

Best of luck!  We look forward to hearing back!

Most of what everyone else has said is correct.  I like to think of it as research.  If I am working on a game, then I need to know what else is going on in the genre.  There was a really good article on Gamasutra a while back about how to go about doing this kind of research, pick up some different games and notice exactly how they work.

So for example, if you're doing a platforming shooter and you want to do a charge-up, then you'll want to check out games like Megaman, Contra, and indie games with similar mechanics.  How long does it take to charge?  Do they limit how long you can do it?  How powerful is it?  Once you establish what has been done, you can decide what YOU want to do.

A lot of big game companies actually have free game libraries for employees to use exactly for this purpose.

And you don't need to finish the game, but you should be able to pick apart exactly what's going on and hone in on what you're looking for.  If you want to learn about a combat system you probably don't need to play more than an hour or two.  But if you want to learn story progression then you'll want to play through most of it.  AAA Games are made up of many things; if 80% of another game has nothing to do with the one you're making, then you probably don't need to play it.

To me, shmups are all about blowing tons of enemies away.  I experience intense joy when I see dozens, HUNDREDS of enemies being decimated by my powered up laser beams.  I think that feeling drives a lot of the designs, and is why we haven't seen things like limited ammo.  I view the indie game Caster as a kind of 3D shmup, and it has similar tendancies (infinite ammo, way overpowered, makes you feel powerful).

One of the best shmups I've played recently that answers your original point of story is Impetuth Trial (a japanese game, I have no idea what the name means  ).  I definitely recommend downloading the trial.  Instead of classic spaceships, you played as a knight.  And instead of gaining extra ships that follow you, you pick up villagers and a princess as you go through the stage to save them.  It has some great things too like finding hidden rooms/caves to go into.  Definitely a great adventure/zelda game and shmup mash up.

A lot of what Nintendo talks about is their "Blue Ocean Strategy", based on the Harvard Business Review book of the same name.  If they're planning on following that plan (which I think they are) then Nintendo, at least, will be making a more hardcore gaming interface that will satisfy both:
1) New gamers who have only played Wii Sports + Fit, and nothing else ever.
2) Hardcore gamers who hate the Wii.

What is that exactly?  More accurate pointer?  More accurate motion controls?  More immersion?  Who knows.

But I can tell you those two groups are the target demographics.

For those interested in lots of reading and crystal clear explainations of what's coming, I HIGHLY recommend the book itself.

Kickstarter is such a great site!  A lot of the stuff on there is downright inspirational.  I knew it was only a matter of time before the indie games community found it.

Make sure all of you guys are giving away good swag for early donators!

I think this thread actually needs to be pulled to.  Either that or we need to replace it with Mobigame's **** pulled because of the word ****

This sounds great!  I'm consistently impressed by this community.  Best of luck! 

A conversation/social game that uses RPG battles as the core action (talking to Cindy over dinner is represented by using "attacks", "magic", etc that is reskinned).

Great thread.