The look of this is quite interesting! I'm a huge Roman history buff, so I'm thrilled to see games set in this time period and using this aesthetic. Minor details like the design of the lead sling balls are really impressive - so many others would just overlook stuff like that.

I also think you're making the right call with the bloodlust mechanic. Too many games have a problem where the most fun way to play is NOT the most strategically sound way to play, which always feels...disappointing. I think this is a good fix, that should prevent players from grabbing the bow and just strafing backwards all day long.

Hey folks!

I'm happy to say that my 2D puzzle game - Circuit Scramble - is finally out in the wild, having been released on the Google Play Store a short time ago.

Circuit Scramble is a puzzle game centered around circuit based logic like ANDs, ORs, XORs and NOTs. It tasks you with finding the correct set of inputs which will produce the desired output through a field of gates.

It's accessible to those who already have a familiarity with boolean logic, and those who are not, and it can be a cool way to pick up a few things about logic gates in the process!

If you feel like checking it out, you can find it on Google Play here :
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Suborbital.CircuitScramble&hl=en

The things that scare me the most are long, drawn out ways of dying. Things like drowning, being caught in a fire and being buried alive freak my out way more than, say, being shot.

I think it's the idea of powerlessness. Of knowing exactly what is happening and what the result is, but feeling powerless to do anything about it.

How one works that effectively into a game...I haven't the slightest idea.

More and more lately I've been hearing that VR is the 'future' of gaming, that it may be primed to overtake traditional gaming in the next arbitrary number of years. Now, a lot of times this is used to be an attention grabbing article, rather than legitimate speculation, but I've heard it around enough to wonder if there is any truth to it.

So I've been wondering what your thoughts are on the whole future of VR? And it's effect on "traditional" gaming mediums like PC and consoles.

Personally, I don't think its the game changer that some are touting it to be. I think some awesome stuff comes out of it, and I'm excited to see what they do with it in the future, but I don't think it is going to overtake 30-35ish years of traditional gaming in one fell swoop.

Or maybe I think that because I like making small, 2D games that have no place in a VR world, and so I'm just hoping it doesn't win out

Pushing forward with a game you no longer believe in is a great way to ruin your motivation and love of development.

If you really love the core concept, but find that the game you're making with it is just too much, try and find a way to scope it wayyy down. Take the core concept and use it, re-use whatever assets you can, and recreate those you can't.

But if you'd just rather work on something new, then go for it! Pick something smaller, and start prototyping.

I think Moth basically nailed it - you want your game to be notable above all else. It doesn't necessarily have to be the cheap, exploitative stuff that you've been referring to, but you need a hook or a draw at some point.

So yes, gaining attention by going for pure awfulness like Hatred, or the shock and awe factor of nudity or explosions or explosive nudity is certainly one way to get that attention and notability. But it's not the only way, and its almost provably not the best way. I'd almost say notoriety is a better term for those games.

I think for every 'successful' game you see that makes it on the back of one of these concepts, there are a hundred other successful games that are notable for much better reasons.

Tie everyone's success to everyone else's success. You need to make a system where there is a mutual benefit to player's success, so that instead of someone's loss being your gain(like DayZ) someone else's gain can provide some kind of gain or benefit to you and the community as a whole.

There was a recently funded kickstarter for Eco which I think captured this really well. I'm excited to see what they do with that.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1037798999/eco-global-survival-game

I think source control in general is a finicky pain in the cloaca, but Git is probably the lesser evil out of the bunch.

I absolutely agree with everything in that post. I've noticed the same trends in game postmortems and thoughts on marketing. There is a ton of people who say they emailed hundreds of press outlets, and no one was interested. Or that the press outlets wouldn't cover their game.

I think the better question is why would they?

Too many developers forget that the press doesn't exist to serve them. They aren't an entity that is responsible for promoting your game. You need them a reason, a story, something that would distinguish their article from just one more "Another game released on <platform>, it is about <subject>" post.

Figuring out your story or angle is no easy task, and something I think every developer will struggle with, but it's completely necessary with the way the market is.

I think a space sim doesn't necessary need to be bounded, so to speak. It's easy enough to keep infinite - pretty easy to generate an awful lot of empty space - but the player will simply naturally bound themselves, by staying where the interesting stuff is.

If I remember correctly, Freelancer had a system like this. You could basically cruise in one direction forever, but you would simply get nowhere slowly. There were clusters of planets/stations that were interesting, and hyperspace lanes in between them to facilitate easy travel. I often didn't venture out of the interesting parts very much.

I'm finding it interesting that the general opinion is the menus need to be sped up, I never even considered that. Yay for playtesting!

As for crashes...that is a little more concerning. I don't suppose there is anything in particular that is giving you a crash condition? It may be just a quirk of the web build, I've seen very few issues on my Android device. I really hope that's the issue...

Anyone else willing to take this for a spin?

This sounds extremely cool, I'm definitely interested, if only for the experience of it all.

I do have a question, however. Does the game need to be in completed, releasable form? Or is this similar to the IGF competition where functional prototypes/betas(Minecraft, Nidhogg, Fez) could be considered as well?

It's my understanding that you can reference a band's name, album or songs in another work such as a novel or videogame without running in to copyright or trademark trouble - it's only when you use the lyrics that this becomes an issue(that being the content of the song, more or less).

I did a bit of looking around to see if I could find something to support this. This blog post by a book/magazine publisher seems to give a fairly comprehensive look at the use of references in your own work, and it does state that you can reference the title or author of any work freely.

http://janefriedman.com/2012/01/23/permissions/

Thanks!

Ya, the lack of feedback on the win state is something I'm very much aware of - has come up in just about every playtest I've done. I plan to add something more concrete before I release.

The fact that the fades seem slow is interesting to me, I hadn't really considered that before. I'll have to experiment with speeding up those fade times.

The first ten levels are definitely easy, more of a ramp up/intro to the mechanics, and it's easy enough to solve them with brute force if necessary. The later levels get much harder, and some of the ones that I'm still refining above the included 30 should be much more difficult. Though I do worry a little bit that I've done something predictable, through whatever tendencies I had while designing them.

Hey all!

I'm hoping to get some feedback on my upcoming game, Circuit Scramble, a Android/iOS puzzler that is centered on Circuit-based logic. The point is to power up the final display by changing the inputs at the bottom, and getting the current through a series of logic gates.

I'd love to hear people's input and feedback on any aspect of the game. Whether or not the challenges are interesting, the art style, flow, concept, mechanics - anything. I'm all ears!

I put together a web playable(Unity) version of the first 30 levels of the game, to make it easier for people to test.

THE GAME: goo.gl/SglqXA

Note that only Classic Mode is working from the main menu. All the other features are still forthcoming

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A combination of both, really.

Prototypes are essential for testing the viability of your games. Whether your planned mechanics/style are actually going to be be fun, and whether anything needs changing. When you have a large project, prototype the smallest possible subset of that larger idea, and play it. Then have someone else play it and get feedback. It's going to give you a lot of insight into what parts of your ideas need to be refined, before you get too far into it.

You can even prototype several ideas in a short time, and decide which one you want to carry into a larger project.

But also be wary of prototyping new games while you're already engaged in a larger project. It can be extremely tempting to jump ship and start something 'new' and 'fun'.

I'd say don't be afraid to push forward with larger products, but prototype them first, always.

For most game concepts, I'd say you won't find yourself buying too many add ons at all. You can avoid it entirely if you wanted to, as most things could be done well enough by yourself. However, sometimes you'll see someone with a cool technique or an asset that does some of the grunt work for you, and you may find it worth it to drop the $10 on it. But the cost is never significant.

I'd say the time that Unity will save you will more than make up for it.

I agree with most of the above - the portfolio would be hugely important. It would go a long way to demonstrating proven results, and showing that you have contacts in the industry/gaming press. The idea of doing early projects for free/cheap is probably the right way to go - it allows you to build up your contacts and develop your skills, and gives you a solid foundation for future business.

Maintain good relations with your indies - if they are successful, they're very likely to recommend you to others!

On the whole, I think this is a great idea, and something I would quite possibly take advantage of. I've got a game nearing completion, and I won't lie, the marketing aspects are stressing me out a bit

Hi all!

So recently, I've gotten myself neck-deep in developing a puzzle game for Android/iOS platforms, which I find is a great place for small, snack-sized puzzles.

So far, it's going well, but it got me thinking: What do others find appealing about puzzle games? And what do you look for when trying to find one to download?

For me, I love these mobile puzzlers because it's something easy to do on the go, and it gives a huge number of "AHA!" moments when you get on the right train of logic. I find that intensely satisfying. When I look for a new game, I generally try and find something with an interesting/new premise(no more Match-3 games, please...) that I can basically replay ad infinitum.

So now I'd like to see other peoples thoughts, and see what other things people might be looking for.

I couldn't agree with Raptor85 more. That instant failure is infinitely frustrating, and passes over a great opportunity for stealth games. I find the best moments in stealth games, the moments that provide the best stories for players, is when the stealth goes wrong. Trying to beat the odds to recover from a mistake can often be more satisfying than doing it right the first time.

Another thing I'd say is let the player be proactive in the stealth mechanics. I find too many stealth games are excessively passive in nature. Constantly waiting for a guard to walk down a certain path, dealing with complex timings etc. Some of that can still exist, but allow the user some influence over it. The ability to distract guards, influence their behavior, and other methods to alter the circumstances go a long way to making the player feel involved and immersed.