So... what sort of game is it? (Beyond being a platformer, as the screenshot show.) You haven't really introduced your game! ^^;

The graphics look pretty, though! You have some rather nice art in your backgrounds in particular, I feel. ^_^

Hi without any particular insight (I'm not a game audio worker or adjacent) yeah fiver represents a global economy race to the bottom where workers have to undercut each other to a point where the hourly pay is just barely justifiable for a skilled artist (or what have you) to pay the cheapest rent.

Having now looked around there, it seems common enough to find offers along the lines of $15 for 5 sound effects (with 1 revision). However, I've also seen high-rated sellers offering 10 sound effects for $100.

Not know what might be a "good" price--is there somewhere that I might look that up?--how does that sound to you?

(I don't know how much time goes into a single sound effect, or what the cost of living might be where a given seller is--especially once exchange rates come into things. As a result I don't have much basis for comparison.

And being myself situated outside of the US, values in dollars mean little to me beyond what they convert to in my own currency (South African Rands).)

As it stands, the former price (~15$ per sound) is... pretty much within my budget, although it gets expensive as the number of sounds to be made increases.

[Blog post (3rd of April, 2023)A Meeting and a Game-Jam]

Blog post (3rd of April, 2023)
A Meeting and a Game-Jam

Summary: In which a meeting is set with a lawyer; submission from the contracted audio-engineer is awaited; and NaNoRenO concludes, and my associated jam-game is done!

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot is... not actually a screenshot of Moons in Crystal! Instead, it's a screenshot of my NaNoRenO project, a short, branching, narrative-poem visual novel called "Into the Aether"!



The reason for there being no Moons in Crystal screenshot this week is simple: it was a very slow week for that project:

Amusingly, the situation with the lawyer and the audio-engineer is now reversed: I have a meeting set up with the former, and am simply waiting for the latter to get back to me!

(To be clear, there is no complaint above regarding said audio-engineer: there's little to be done there until next they submit audio.)

And... That's about it for Moons in Crystal in the week just past, I believe! ^^;

Not that I haven't been busy: life-matters and NaNoRenO have given me plenty to do!

As to NaNoRenO, that jam is now over, and my project... did not make the deadline, alas!

Still, it is done, and I'm fairly happy with it! It can now be had on from my itch profile:
https://thaumaturge-art.itch.io/into-the-aether

And I had a lot of fun taking part in the jam! I can very much see myself entering again! ^_^

That, then, is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

If you haven't already done so, I'd suggest additionally reaching out on social media (e.g. Twitter or Mastodon)--there are communities of indie-devs there who might be willing to assist you. (For one, I'd suggest reaching out to Rami Ismail, who may be able to put your request in front of a larger audience of devs.)

Regarding the UI, fair enough! If your playtesters are picking it up quickly, and you have tools and a plan in place to address the issue, then you may indeed not require icons!

I would recommend caution in relying on colour, however: it may not work well for those who are colourblind. If feasible, I'd suggest having some other visual difference by which to differentiate things.

As to the button-flipping, that's a neat little animation, and a nice touch, I feel! ^_^

Regarding the fox, I think that I like it as it is: at so low a resolution I feel that I somewhat expect scale to be a little off, simply in order that things remain visible. And as noted by another poster above, it seems to me that it would be a pity to lose that cute fox sprite! ^_^

[Blog post (27th of March, 2023)A Softer Grab]

Blog post (27th of March, 2023)
A Softer Grab

Summary: In which audio matters move forward; the matter of a lawyer sees further discussion; a "metroidvania upgrade" is further revised; and NaNoRenO continues.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot is an animated gif, showing a further revision to the "grab" "metroidvania upgrade":



The week just past was a fairly light one, I think:

To start with, things are, I believe, moving forward in the matter of contracting those certain pieces of audio that I previously mentioned, as the first audio-files came in today! That said, I have requested revisions there, and am currently awaiting the audio-engineer's response.

As to the matter of the lawyer, talks continue--right now we're trying to arrange a meeting between us.

As to the game itself, I believe that I made just one change in the week just past: I once again revised the "grab" "metroidvania upgrade"--as shown in the animated gif above.

I think that I mentioned in last week's blog-post that I had previously been dissatisfied with the way in which objects would at times push the player around when dragged. But conversely, my initial solution of allowing the player to pass through such objects was likewise dissatisfying, as I felt that it trivialised draggable obstructions.

So, what I did in the week just past was to undo that initial solution, and then rework the way in which dragged objects moved.

Specifically, they now move not towards a point behind the player, but towards the player's location--up to a certain distance. Beyond that distance, they instead move away from the player.

This means that objects so dragged tend to stop at roughly that certain distance--and when the player approaches, move back.

And this, I find, feels a lot better to play with than did either of the previous approaches! ^_^

As to NaNoRenO, progress was made there, I do feel! Indeed, I believe that most of the currently-intended art is in place; ambient audio has been selected for the extant scenes; audio has been added to the UI; some work has been done on the implementation side of things; and perhaps more besides!



That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

I love this, it looks so charming reminded me of Paradroid a little because of the sphere like player.

Thank you very much! ^_^

One thing I found odd in the trailer at 0:20, the border on the right when the player reaches the portal, it looks like a hard cut in space, is there a reason for that?

There is a reason!

In short, the cosmology of Moons in Crystal is a variation on the "Crystal Spheres" approach: each solar system is bounded by a huge, well, sphere made of crystal! What you're seeing there is the surface of that sphere, marking the "end" of that region of "space".

PS: Sorry that it took me so long to respond--I don't seem to be getting notification emails regarding this thread any more... o_0

I had lost the code for this due to my hard drive RIPing on me.

Oof, ow!

I'm glad that you did manage to recover your code, at least! (And that you are I gather now backing up more often!)

Regarding icons, indeed, UI can be tricky--perhaps especially with so limited a resolution!

If I may offer a suggestion, perhaps "header icons" for the different UI sections might help, providing some indication of the purpose of each section.

It's not a problem, and I'm glad to see some visuals in the first post now! ^_^

[Blog post (20th of March, 2023)Bugs and Not-Bugs]

Blog post (20th of March, 2023)
Bugs and Not-Bugs

Summary: In which talks continue with the lawyer and the audio-engineer; a quote is accepted; bugs are found, and (hopefully) fixed; a "metroidvania upgrade" sees tweaks; and NaNoRenO continues.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows the player half-clipped through a large rock--and believe it or not, this is a feature, not a bug! (Albeit one that I currently intend to roll back...)



The week just past was another odd one, with some bug-fixing, some mechanic-tweaking, some interacting with third-parties--and more NaNoRenO work:

To start with, communication continued with both my lawyer and my audio-engineer.

And indeed, I have just today accepted a quote from the latter, and I'm excited to see what said audio-person comes up with! ^_^

Now, as part of discussing that audio-making job, I recorded some gameplay for the purpose of making a short gameplay video to show the sound-scape that I currently have. And in doing so, I came upon yet more bugs!

Specifically, these were related to saving and loading, as I recall--elements not restoring, or being multiplied on restoration.

So I set about fixing those bugs--and indeed, I believe that I have done so! ^_^

(Okay, slightly hackily in one case: rather than spend time fixing the restoration of the race minigame properly, I opted to just disallow the player from saving during the race.)

On the game-mechanical side of things, and and as shown above, in the week just past I decided to make a tweak to the "grab" "metroidvania upgrade".

In short, it's bothered me on-and-off for a while that objects grabbed via this upgrade have a tendency to push the player around, making the mechanic feel a bit unwieldy at times.

So in the week just past I decided to make a change: I altered the relevant collision elements such that grabbed objects don't affect the player.

And this works! Indeed, the mechanic feels a lot better when it doesn't interfere so with the player's movement.

But alas, it may work too well: blockages now present little obstacle to the player. So, I currently intend that I revert the change, and then try another idea that came to me...

And once again there may be things done in the week just past that I'm forgetting!

And between all of this, I continued building my NaNoRenO project. There a number of changes have been made: implementation of new transitions, the making of art (both in-game and UI), seeking out of music and a font, and more besides!



That, then, is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

Ah, I see that you have indeed added some screenshots--and indeed, I do think that they add a bit of interest to the first post! ^_^

I just want to pop in to suggest the inclusion in the thread (and especially the first post) of some screenshots and/or videos of the game--such can really help to catch the attention of those who might be interested, I think!

[Blog post (13th of March, 2023)Sound Additions]

Blog post (13th of March, 2023)
Sound Additions

Summary: In which progress in legal stuff is made; a sound-designer is contacted; an over-long list is addressed; some new audio is self-made; audio-less elements are discovered and given audio; "interactions" are given sounds; and NaNoRenO continues.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot is once again a wave-form, this time from an effect made for the "Dragon Heart" artefact:



The week just past was a week of--amongst other things--a flurry of audio-activity:

To start with however, let me report that I have at last made contact with a lawyer! And indeed, we have begun making some headway on the relevant legal matters, I do think. ^_^

As to matters of audio, perhaps the biggest news is that I have started talking with a freelance audio-engineer about getting some professionally-wrought sound-effects! Specifically, I'm looking to get a few particular pieces of audio made, such that most of the elements that are especially salient to the player sound good.

Now, this will only cover a few pieces of audio (about twenty). And when in preparation for this I looked through my list of sounds, I found that I had earmarked... about twice that. ^^;

So, I embarked on some unplanned audio-work of my own! Going through the list, certain pieces of audio I decided to be acceptable. Others, however, I then made. (And I will say that I'm not entirely unhappy with the sounds that I came up with for the "Dragon's Heart" artefact.)

Furthermore, I discovered a few elements in the game that had no audio at all, and that I felt could use some--those now have sound effects, too! (One of which sounds is taken from A Door to the Mists.)

And indeed, in doing so I realised that "interactions" could use associated audio, and which could be specified in level-editing. I thus implemented that--thankfully a process that wasn't too difficult!

And of course, there may be things done in the week just past that I'm forgetting!

As to NaNoRenO, that jam continued in the week just past! Specifically, my time working on it was primarily spent at writing, I believe, and I think that I've made solid progress there. (And I will say that I have been having fun!) ^_^

That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

Hi, thank you for the kind words and I wish you success and luck with your projects too!

Thank you in turn! ^_^

Yes of course I agree with that, a metroidvania doesn't have to be necessarily hardcore, but since most of the metroidvania fans mostly love those kind of games in the genre, I didn't want to put mine into the category, to not to disappoint anyone.

I mean, that may just lead to those who don't want hardcore metroidvanias being disappointed at the (apparent) lack of such.

But more than that, I'd advocate for simply categorising the game as what it is, whatever that may be.

In the current design of the game ...

Aaah, I see! By that description I'd (personally) say that it's not a metroidvania--not because it's not hardcore, but because it lacks what I see as the defining trait of the genre. (That being, broadly-speaking, upgrades that unlock new areas to explore, expanding the player's access to the map.)

Forgive my English but I must confirm if I understand it correctly; you mean that you want to share some screenshots or art images of my game in some other platform? If so, may I ask where would that be?

Ah, no, that's not quite what I mean--sorry!

What I mean is to encourage you to include more visuals in your thread here. For you to add screenshots to the first post; include some animated gifs of gameplay, perhaps; and so on.

That way people coming into this thread can see some of what the game includes, and what it looks like, and so on. As well as that, visual things tend to "catch the eye"--tend to draw attention--more than text.

I don't categorize it under the "Metroidvania" genre, because my game is more of a casual, story-based adventurous journey, with basic platforming, puzzle solving, and action aspects, rather than being a hardcore game.

Eh, metroidvanias don't have to be hardcore. Look, for example, at the old metroidvania Seiklus (TV-Tropes page here)--a metroidvania that has no combat and no death.

The main question, I would say, is that of whether the game essentially "gates" areas behind upgrades of some sort--in which there are certain upgrades that essentially open up previously-inaccessible regions of the map.

In any case, that aside, good luck with your project! ^_^

PS: If I may, it might help to share visuals from your game--screenshots, concept art, that sort of thing. Visuals can help in "hooking" those who might be interested in the game. (Or simply help people to determine whether they might indeed be interested in it.)

Game-audio artists: If I may ask, how do you feel about people contracting on Fiverr...?

Do the prices there undervalue audio-artists? Or are reasonable prices asked?

And are there other concerns?

[Blog post (6th of March, 2023)Pitching, Fixing, and Writing]

Blog post (6th of March, 2023)
Pitching, Fixing, and Writing

Summary: In which the pitch-deck is finalised and uploaded; the pitch-message is updated; a template for pitch-emails is made; a touch-up is made to the demo's itch-page; some new bugs are discovered and (I believe) fixed; and a new side-project is begun.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows an excerpt from my template for pitch-emails:



The week just past was a bit of an odd one for me--not entirely in a bad way!

The start of the week was fairly straightforward: I finalised and uploaded my pitch-deck, updated my pitch-message, and at last put together a template for pitch-emails--that last complete with images both static and animated! What's more, I reworked the buttons that I have on the demo's itch-page.

I also, alas, discovered some new bugs in the game. (The Aethereal  "metroidvania upgrade" has been such a font of them! ^^; ) These I attended to, and I believe that I have them fixed!

During the later part of the week, however, I was called away on a family matter, and thus no significant work towards the pitch was done.

However, it did allow opportunity to work on a certain side-project...

You see, on the first of this month "NaNoRenO" began--a month-long game-jam in which visual novels are made. And this year I intend to enter! Specifically, I intend to make a branching narrative poem.

And I thus used some of that time away to write and concept for this project.

Conversely, during time back home I then worked on the (simple) framework of this visual novel (implementing it in Panda3D, as per usual), and I believe that I have that largely done.

Here below you should then see a short gif--albeit with only stand-in art--showing the game's structure and a bit of (since-revised) text:



And there may be things done in the week just past that I'm forgetting!

That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

Hey Thaumaturge! I keep following your progress, solid work, keep it up! I just wanted to throw in my two cents regarding some legal stuff:

Greetings! And my apologies at the lateness of my response--I either missed or forgot about your message until I came back to post my next entry! ^^;

I just wanted to say that selling your IP is of course possible.

Ah, I should clarify: I'm not talking about selling my IP. Rather, it's a matter of transferring my IP from myself-as-an-individual to "my company".

Believe me, I very much intend to keep my IP! ^^;

You should not need a lawyer to do work on contracts with freelancers, this is pretty common stuff and you should be able to find great pre-made templates. Same with employment contracts.

Perhaps, but being somewhat new to this and not versed in Legalese, I'd rather have one and not want them than want one and not have them... At the least it seems worth asking a lawyer to give an employment contract a once-over, especially if there are any changes requested!

And, well, I want a lawyer anyway for the above-mentioned IP-transfer and (if all goes well) for publisher-negotiation.

I am totally on board with having a lawyer check your license agreement with publishers. 200-300 EUR / USD an hour is common from my experience, so you can imagine that if you pay them for aiding you in negotiations, you will spend quite a bit. Negotiations until you have an agreement everyone can live with can take months. What I'd suggest is to let a lawyer check the agreement right before signing, when you and your publisher are happy and done with the business review. Then, your lawyer only will have to do a last legal review, which they should be able to do in 3-10 hours (highly depends on the individual agreement and your issues with it though).

Of course, this is just what I suggest and you will find your own way. I just wanted to quickly post this so you don't end up spending a lot of money unnecessarily.

EDIT: I realized I am kind of saying: get a lawyer later. But really, you need to be on the safe side and you should get consultation at the stage you feel is right. I know I don't need to say it, but you need to feel comfortable and secure during negotiations and the whole process and if that means for you to get consultation early on, that is the right way to go!

I hear you! And I would like to keep my costs down!

But conversely, I'm not experienced in negotiation, nor (as I said above) in Legalese. Thus I'd prefer to have a lawyer on-hand earlier than later, if feasible.

But, well, it doesn't hurt to approach a lawyer early and find out what their rates might be. Then I can make an informed decision!

Yea it said upload a image link but when i did it wouldnt upload, so im kinda stuck lol

Ah, I see! In that case, perhaps post in this thread (if you haven't already done so)--someone there might be able to figure out where the problem lies! (Presuming that you don't find a solution just by reading the thread, of course!)

[Blog post (27th of February, 2023)Page-Making]

Blog post (27th of February, 2023)
Page-Making

Summary: In which a pitch-deck is updated--and near-completed; press-kits are attended to; a hidden page is added to itch.io; and steps towards legal support are taken.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows a new page from my pitch-deck!



The week just past was another week of pitch-preparation--and one in which a few salient steps were made, or so it feels to me:

To start with, and as partially shown above, more work was done on the pitch-deck in the week just past!

As I recall, a guestimated timeline was added; the above-screenshotted page was inserted; a link to the demo was included; and various other things were changed, added, or deleted.

And indeed, barring one minor uncertainty (that being whether I should in fact keep that guestimated timeline, or leave it out as overly vague...) I believe that the pitch-deck is now done! ^_^

Furthermore, in the week just past I dealt with the game's "press-kit", and updated my "overall" press-kit. If you're interested in seeing the former, you should it at the link below (and the latter from a link thereon):

http://thaumaturge-art.com/press/sheet.php?p=moons_in_crystal

And if I recall correctly, I thence added the above link to both my pitch-deck and my pitch-message.

On a similar note, I updated my page for the game on my website, in all of text, screenshot, and inclusion of the trailer.

Near the start of this blog-post, you may have noted my mention of a link to the game's demo. Now, I should note that the demo hasn't yet been built! I have a few more things to do there, I do feel!

However, what I did get done was the making of a page for the demo on Itch.io. It's "restricted", as I don't intend for the demo to be public, but it should provide both hosting for and a nice setting in which to encounter the demo.

Here's a glimpse at what I have there (with some of itch's UI at the top):



With that page done, I then added its URL as the demo-link both in my pitch-deck and in my pitch-message.

And finally, I took some (shaky ^^; ) first steps towards a matter that has, I will confess, been daunting me a little: the seeking of a lawyer(/legal firm).

In short, there are various matters on which I could potentially use legal advice. Most proximally, I intend, a matter of IP transferral, and perhaps some contract examination for the audio-work that I still mean to get done. But if pitching goes well, in the future I may further want someone to aid me in contract negotiation, and beyond that, in handling contracts for taking on new team members...

But the thing is, I have had little experience with lawyers, and was rather anxious about how to choose well.

To this end, in the week just past I asked some advice on the matter from a game-dev forum. There, I was more-or-less told, if I have it correctly, to simply contact some firms and see how I feel about them and whether they seem to know what they're talking about--albeit with the caveat of looking for firms that specialise in game-dev!

And I have found two local firms that seem to include game-dev law amongst their services!

So, I have it in mind to this week reach out to one or both of those firms. I am a bit nervous--wish me luck! ^^;

(And there may be other things done in the week just past that I'm forgetting! ^^; )

That, then, is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^