Interesting idea, but to be honest it sounds a bit too close to my real life to be something I'd be drawn to play for fun. Are you going for realism? Or will it have humorous/exaggerated/action elements to spice up gameplay? Like, if there were some baddies to evade, or something.

I think using real life as inspiration for a game doesn't mean killing the fun, the only important thing is the gameplay.
We're definitely not going for a simulation or any kind of realism, The Undergrounder will be a (quick) action game based on a daily life "game"

I'm starting to use wxWidgets. Is there something I should know, aside from it being vaguely annoying to use?

I don't like several of their design choices and sometime I feel like if the API lacks of coherence, anyway it's free and OS, so probably nobody should complain too much, but I'm a coder, so I'm always swearing for something

So is this like a route-finding game? Do you play one entity or many? Are you controlling the system or travelling through it?

At last a non-wxWidgets question

More than a route-finding is a route-planning game, so probably it's more an action/strategy than an action/puzzle game.

Anyway the basic concept is you are a worker (so a single entity) and have to travel around a city (level) for your duties.
It's a route-planning game because the game it's not just going from the point A to the point B, it's more finding the best way to your destination according to the dynamic state of the level (lines closed, stations packed at rush hours, train delays, etc...), the power-ups placed on the several lines and other factors.

I guess using wxWidgets so long is the main reason why I decided to create my own library, but please, don't say anything to Richie

Not using wxWidgets for the editor then?

hahahah, NEVER EVER NEVER  :D

after "only" 7 weeks it's time for the first "important" update!

Yesterday I finished a first version of the level editor, this is a screenshot:



The graphics used in the editor won't be used for the game, but they can give you an idea about what the game's graphic style is going to be.

The editor is totally based on a OpenGL GUI framework I started to develop when I announced the project.
For now most of the development has been focused on the GUI, but starting from next week the focus will be moved on the game, so I hope to show you something new soon.

is this a serious question? it's really kind of a silly formulation. that's like asking

what's the KEY part of a meal?

No, it's not, I just enjoy wasting my time and other people's one

Talking seriously, I think your comparison is totally pointless.
A gamer can judge different aspect of a game and usually game reviews have different votes for the different aspects, while, well... when you eat something you can't judge the food properties (and most of the people can't judge the single ingredients as well, but that's another thing...), so...

I don't mean to be a douche, but I don't think the question can be answered. Any of these things could be the focus of any particular indie game. If there are any you prefer then that's just, well, preference.

Indeed a poll is something supposed to be based on personal opinion

Regarding the "indie is not a genre"/"What sets indie games apart from commercial and other games?" point, I think that even if indie is not a genre, indie games follow different paths/rules (regarding every aspect of the production) respect "mainstream" games.
For example indie games are more focused on genres that are less considered by AAA titles or tend to exploit more the gameplay and the originality than the graphics and other things like that.

Anyway, this is not a way to find the Holy Grail for games, it's just a poll and like Farbs wrote: "fun stuff to think about"

Hey guys,

I've been running this poll for a while: What's the key point for an indie game?
And even this is not a serious study, It would be interesting having more votes, especially from "pure" gamers, so I'd be very grateful if you could take few seconds and cast a vote

[The undergrounder]

Hi guys, at the moment I'm working on this game:

The undergrounder is an action/puzzle game based on the hard life of millions of workers that every day have to use the underground to commute to work.

The player plays the role of a worker that needs to travel around a city using the underground for his/her duties.
Even if this could seem a simple and boring activity, there are a lot of hazards making things hard and challenging every day: underground faults and congestions, strikes, work rivals... Everything makes regular duties become challenges against the passing time.

The game is currently under development for Windows, Mac and Linux and a first beta release is planned for 2010 Q2, so more it's going to be shown soon in our dev-blog and announced on Twitter.
For any game related discussion, users can use the dedicated folder in our forum or join our IRC chat to discuss in real-time with the developers.

As I wrote, I'm going to cover most of the development in our dev-blog, but I'm also going to post here the main updates (first game screenshot, first beta, first release, etc...).

LATEST SCREENSHOTS

UPDATES

• level editor in BETA (15 Oct 2009)
• new Lowpoly Studios website (27 Oct 2009)
• Level editor BETA3 + video (13 Jan 2010)
• A new graphic style... (11 May 2010)
• First game screenshots! (31 May 2010)
• private Beta with new screenshots and new graphics! (13 Jul 2010)
• The Undergrounder - debut trailer (03 Aug 2010)
• New game and editor screenshots (06 Sep 2010)
• edit and play preview video (06 Oct 2010)

www.the-undergrounder.com

I'm going to release a new game soon, guess the subject and win a personalized version.
All the details about the contest here.

Sorry if I'm not giving away money, but I need them for energy drinks (and beer)...

I really suggest to change the controls... Using the keyboard is fine, but having the fire keys just under the direction ones is awful.

I actually read that devlog post and I really hope you can pull it off. But even with an AI in place it will be a huge challenge to get things to evolve properly and make sure the player can relate to what's going on. But, hey, I'm rooting for you!

We really hope the same, well, we'll see
I've just read your "Conway’s Game of Bigotry" thread, now I know why you're interested in EW, basically it's like a game of life with angry bots

I really don't think it's "wrong" to post here. Just that you'll have a better chance at getting some real feedback elsewhere. But it all depends on what you are looking for by posting here

Now I see your point, but my idea is that when posting a "mere" announce like this, people can't give you a real feedback, they can only be interested or not, and it's not their fault of course, it's just they don't have enough "data" to make a feedback.
But I'm definitely going to post next important updates in the other sections you suggested.

BTW, thanks for the support

Sounds very interesting, indeed. But also very ambitious. Are you sure it's not insanely overambitious?

It's ambitious indeed
But we spent several months working on the base technology before to be sure the game can become reality, as I wrote in my last dev-log post.

I'm not sure Announcements is the best place for this, seeing how far into the future the completed game is. Perhaps you would benefit from more interesting feedback by writing in the Devlog forum or perhaps in the Feedback forum? (But I have no idea what Announcements is supposed to be for to begin with, so never mind me )

I'm not sure too, the Rules thread didn't help me, so I went for this section cause it looked the more appropriate, but if I'm wrong could some mod move the thread?

Thanks J.G. Martins,

The player keeps the full control on his bots during the game, the GA evolves just the CPU-controlled bots.

Anyway, more will come soon

[turn based strategy]

Hi folks,
this is my current indie project, I'm working on it with 2 friends and I'm proud to announce you:



Evolution War is a turn based strategy game with strong RPG overtones. The game is set in a virtual universe in which AI bots have evolved to become independent beings in cyberspace. The bots fight for dominance in their environment to conquer their own cyber arenas and struggle to survive.

You can create your own bots, make them grow and evolve by adding new components and by upgrading and enhancing existing traits allowing for deep customization in true RPG style. Once your bot is strong enough it is ready to take on the universe in a campaign to conquer every planet in cyberspace!

The main feature of Evolution War is the evolution of the AI bots controlled by the CPU. They are procedurally generated and constantly changing, improving and evolving to continuously provide a new and exciting challenge for players as the game progresses.
The evolution of the bots will be controlled by genetic programming and other advanced AI techniques to provide a unique and individual gaming experience for each player.

Evolution War is a free game and initially will be released for Linux and Windows. If interest is shown from other OS communities then other porting options may be taken into consideration.

For more news and updates check out the website, follow us on Twitter or sign up to the forum.

ugh, twitter is a great idea but it's being ruined by spam; they should really use capchas or something

i once heard that twitter doubles its number of users *monthly* -- that sounded unbelievable until you realize that bots reproduce faster than humans

The best thing about twitter is bots following other bots...

The graphics is nice and original and Advance Wars is one of the best TBS games ever, so... a good mix for a successful game
If I had an iPhone, probably I would buy it.

Good luck with the sale!

I noticed this article in a tweet last night, and this morning it was in one of my Google Alerts.
I've not read it yet, but I guess it comes with some useful info:

Zero Budget Indie Marketing Guide

I'm trying to find all the developers in London, anybody here?

I like the graphics

Actually, Windows doesn't install any OpenGL header/lib.

Assuming he's using Visual Studio, that will come with OpenGL headers and libs.

A programmer should never make assumptions...
Anyway, I don't remember any VS installed within the vanilla version of win