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[Onza40]

This is an excellent thread, and I'd love to have a group of start-up/intermediate members that I could chat to about game design issues, it is always useful to have multiple opinions on things and I feel I could bring a lot of useful info to people.

I've been using game maker since version 5 so have a bit of experience with it, my main issue tends to be starting too many/too ambitious projects then never finishing them.

For example, I recently chose to take up playing with torque 3D, something I am definately not ready for, and am likely to abandon before I put too much time into it.
I mean, I'd like to make a 3D game, and my design specs would probablt produce something good, but not in a reasonable timescale, and not with my current skills.

I've kinda decided it would be beter to do more in gm and build more skills, to apply them to a project like that later down the line.

Anyways, if you want to start a group, get some advice, send me a pm.

I'll be posting details of my new project on here soon anyway, so I'd appreciate feedback on that when it shows up.

[baconman]

Kickin' thread. It's good to have a nice place to get accquainted with more indie adventurers.  

I started dabbling with freeware engines in 1994, in Junior High school, generally scripting actions and reactions for the most part. Engines I've dabbled with include fighting engines like M.U.G.E.N. and an arguable predecessors to it, Street Fighter Remake and SFLIM; the Legend Of Zelda engine Zelda Classic, DDR simulators Diet Diet Revolution, Delight Delight Reduplication (originally a IIDX sim as well) and StepMania.

Design and layout/GUI suggestions I've made or produced so far have tended to coincide greatly within the fighting and musical game industries, and it shows in real products' design. For instance, SFLIM coded P2 sprites as "seperate characters" than P1's, and thus were scripted seperately as well - this shows in the presence "P2-only" glitches on Street Fighter II (P1's were bugchecked more, where P2's weren't). Well, one of my first projects (around 1996-97 at the time) was to mesh Fatal Fury 2 characters into the engine/cast, and code alternate movesets in the P2 characters, often KoF or Super Turbo-inspired. Fast-forward to 2000, where Capcom vs. SNK is produced, with - get this - a high focus on Fatal Fury 2/Street Fighter 2 characters and "EX movesets." So I know I'm "on the industry level" when it comes to design... but the overall execution in a couple of recent projects is a bit above my head.

More recently, I've dabbled a bit with GameMaker 7 as well, and I'm beginning to start learning Java via NetBeans. I had begun attempting to make a MegaMan engine recently too, but several other upstarts have already begun beating me to the punch, and better than I had done.

Like many developers, I've began a good half-dozen or so concepts, and without the full skillset needed to execute them. It's kinda hard to explain the point where I'm at skillwise. I'm no rookie, but there's stuff I just suck at doing (programming for one, artwork is weird - I can draw and animate, I can software-engineer somewhat, and I can use most programs quickly and deeply - but I still suck at computer-based illustration.

I guess the best way to describe it, is that I'm at about a "sophmore level of each aspect." But my more recent and ambitious projects give me the feeling that I'm probably not going to pull it all off alone. See "Procedural Game About Gaming" in DevLogs for some details on that (it may be incomplete for a bit...).

EDIT: Forgot to mention that recent gaming/development (and playing) of mine has skewed in favor of including more platforming and Roguelike/PGC games that have been more recently developed, and the ever-growing indie scene here. It also makes me more nostalgic for great platforming action/elements found in later NES and SNES times.

[baconman]

Sorry about the double-post, but this box "jumping up" on me is driving me nuts.

Projects/Status:

-Procedural Game About Gaming (Untitled): Conceptualizing/Flowcharting
-(Sub-project thereof) Dynamic Music Creator: Conceptualized
-Rockman Supreme/Unlimited (Think MM9/10 Endless Attack, but will most of series' levels and many of the bosses): Concieved, awaiting engine creation/finalization
-DDR PwrMix (Power Mode for entire DDR series: Completed
-Zmix Project (25 custom "Xmix" DDR stages, themed): Audio mixing completed, GFX/stepcharts incomplete, victim of procrastinations mainly - and I suck at DDRish graphics!
-Street Fighter 3 xx Garou: MotW (Untitled/M.U.G.E.N. project): On back burner, data currently lost
-DDRMania/DDR Hero (Stepmania screenpack with alternative "modes"/song selects to resemble different modes from DDR/GH/RB games): Conceptualized - doable perhaps, but I'm still working on a way to make "multiple arcade modes," and collecting the necessary sets of graphical resources to do it.

[oahda]

I'm not new, and I don't use GM, but sent you a PM anyway.
Conversations can still be fun and educational.

[Yshaana]

Great thread! Not exactly new to the gaming biz, but definitely new to the Indie side of the spectrum.

Used to work at Nintendo as a QA coordinator, then moved to Ubisoft after that, as an Associate Producer, but decided to start a company with 2 of my best friends.

We had a very tough first year, building a prototype, working on a business plan and game designs, finding fundings and getting depressed when being denied loans. But luck struck our path and we are now 5 people working our asses off to bring our dream to you. I have no idea where this is heading or if you guys will enjoy what we will create, but I hope that you find our ideas and designs as kick ass as we do. I can give this advice though:

Always think about what you are doing and always try to make things a bit better, polish goes a long way. And as long as you have a thread of hope, never, ever abandon your dreams.

Good luck to all in their endeavors, and long live the new generation !

[baconman]

It is amazing how underestimated the value of a business plan and funding are in the GameDev community; especially seeing as most of us are on $0-budgets, or on what we can earn from other jobs. The financing aspect is something a lot of people in the indie scene isn't quite up-to-speed with; somewhat including myself!

 

[InfiniteStateMachine]

nice to meet you guys

I've worked as a 3d artist in the past but never for videogame projects. I've always had a passion for games and have been involved in modding, mostly as an environment artist/level designer at first but I branched out into everything from rigging to coding to HUD design (whatever it takes to get the mod done). A mod on the source engine I worked on for 4 years is about to come out (http://www.firearms-source.com) but I've always wanted to be more involved in game design and programming, plus I always noticed understanding programming helped me be more self sufficient as an artist. As a result I'm going to college to get my degree in programming.

I've been working mostly in XNA and Flixel on the coding side, just about finished my first flixel game and am working with another artist on a XNA game.

I'm really looking forward to this summer because I pretty much have no real responsibility until september, I plan to hopefully enter some of the TIG 48 hour jams and just get some real quality game development.

Glad to meet other newbies like myself to walk the path

[Solidplasma]

It's so nice to find that I'm not alone. I've known for a while that I want to get into indie game dev, but I am the least organized person I know, and I never finish anyth-

But bad jokes aside, I can't stop the flow of ideas, so I often sketch them up. I only know how to use GM7 and GM8, but I'm trying to learn XNA & Flash CS3. My Game maker community profile can be found at http://www.yoyogames.com/users/Solidplasma , but my latest game isn't up yet.

My name is Evan. Nice to meet you.

[snowyowl]

I'm not exactly a newbie to game design, but I want to offer my support for this thread anyway.
I've been using Game Maker for 5 years now. I'm trying to find a new platform that offers more possibilities, but I haven't decided which one yet (Flash? Unity? C++?), and I see myself still using Game Maker for a long time, especially in game jams and the like.

If anyone wants help with anything Game Maker-related, message me on YoYo Games at www.yoyogames.com/users/snowyowl and I'll try and give you some pointers. And I mean anything.

[Matt Thorson]

This thread is full of love. I wish the entire indie community had this vibe.

[Mr.Flibble]

I've been trying to make games since I was a kid.  Started in the late 80's typing in games from magazines on my Amstrad CPC.

Unfortunately I'm a code-retard.  There's something about coding that just doesn't stick, I don't know why, I'm a pretty intelligent guy in most areas but coding languages is a no-no.

Thankfully I found Construct and everything so far has stuck and I've created 2 completed games and a few experiments.

If anyone wants to talk Construct or anything else PM me I'd love to talk newbie game design to fellow newbies.

[Destral]

I'll post on here too, seeing as I fall in the newbie category too. I'm using GM to work on several different projects, and I suddenly have large amounts of free time (read: recently unemployed), so I'd be all up for discussing GM, game development in general, and maybe collaborate with folks on smaller projects. I can usually be found idling on the IRC channel, or you can PM me or IM me.

[1982]

Just found Scirra Construct and it gave me a new boost to try to make games that I really want to do. I don't have any programming experience, and my game making experience is from RPG Maker XP. I have few game projects for that, and one is actually really good (puzzle/maze/action/adventure set in prison) and hopefully some day finished.

With Scirra I think I am able to start working with shoot'em'up project that really inspires me.

My artistic skills cover everything needed, graphics, storytelling(if needed) sounds and music. But my problem is that I always get tired with my own projects. Once I've thought them through they doesn't inspire me anymore. Hopefully I can change that in myself. 

[baconman]

Hey, a design program/engine is as good a place to start as any. In fact, I think a lot of us start with some premade engine at some point. Program-writing is very different, admittedly; but learning to identify and work with variables clears that road up A FREAKING LOT.

Hopefully I can change that in myself. 

MAKE A DEVLOG. Really, it makes a WORLD of difference when you (and others) can track your tangible progress like that. Also, I opened Construct and got lost within 5 minutes. Where's the starting point, really? ^.^

Destral: How's your GML? I'm trying to translate some coding logic into GML/Scripting and... uh... it's not going too smoothly, so far!

[Mr.Flibble]

MAKE A DEVLOG. Really, it makes a WORLD of difference when you (and others) can track your tangible progress like that. Also, I opened Construct and got lost within 5 minutes. Where's the starting point, really? ^.^

Best starting point for Construct is the Ghost shooter tutorial.  It's included with Construct under File>New>New Template/Example.

Also check out Deadeye's Platform School

UberLou's Fighting Game Tutorial

abhilash2863's Vertical Shooter Tutorial

Scidave's Mikey's Adventure.  Also check out Scidave's Python tutorials for adding Python libaries into Construct.

All good places to start with Construct

[ASnogarD]

I am definetly in the newbie bracket, hell even pre-newbie I would say.

I used to try coding quiet a bit in the ZX Spectrum , MSX 728 , C64 era ... even made a reaction based cowboy quick draw game, tried to make a Ghost Busters maze n' shooter (but ran out of memory  ).

I tried going the java route but personally found it hard to get going, but recently I got into C++ and finding that much easier to progress as there is a more defined path that I can follow.

I dont know if this is much help but I found Moosaders game programming tutorials very encouraging, she doesnt actually hand you the code... more like pass you titbits of code that deal with the hard parts and leaves you to work out the rest, and she gives you a basic game to try complete ... pickin' sticks.
I found it usefull as I was near the end of a very dry (and dull as [expletive]) C++ primer and realised that despite all going through all these pages I wouldnt be able to do nothing but stuff that outputs to a console... very discouraging.
Moosaders Pickin' Sticks tutorial lead me to SDL, to Lazy Foo's tutorials and progress... and more importantly, motivation to continue.

http://www.moosader.com/
http://lazyfoo.net/index.php

I dont think I'll ever be a programmer, I see myself more as a designer/creator but as its said many times, ideas are cheap and as such I'll make use of what tools I have and try let my creativity shine as much as it can.

[Eiffer]

I am loving this thread. It's great to see so many people that are just starting out like me.


Ok, so I'm not exactly just starting out. I did a lot of programming in highschool but then took almost 10 years off, thinking that I would never be able to make games for a living. With rise of downloadable games and things like the Xbox Live Indie Games channel it's looking like we're back to the days when a couple guys in a basement can actually make a go at it, so I'm teaching myself to program again.

I've been working with C# and XNA, which is pretty good as far as I can see. It's certainly a lot easier then having to work with DirectX natively. However it can be a struggle to write your own engine, especially since all my previous programming experience was with C and Basic and other non-OO languages. Learning how to structure a program so that all the different components can talk to eachother and get the info they need has brought me close to quitting a few times, but I keep coming back, even if I have to start from scratch and write a better organized engine.

Right now I'm working on a simple Hockey game. I'll post about that elsewhere sometime soon.

So... this got rambley. Anyhow great to have this thread and other newbies to talk to while we all figure this out.

[baconman]

Thank you for the links, Mr. Flibble!

[1982]

MAKE A DEVLOG. Really, it makes a WORLD of difference when you (and others) can track your tangible progress like that.

That sounds good, I might consider it after I get little bit further with my project. Then again, It would make me sad to read my own devlog from a project that never got finished... 

[Hamletz]

im from hamletz make games for a year now its really not such as difficult as soon as you learn how easy it is... escpecially platformer games and shooting games you you just have to do what a main character and then heaps of enemies and active objects... actually making the screen scroll id hard at first but dont freak out ok?

thanks its great to see so many people filling up d ages band wheels.