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[SophophiliaStudios]

Man oh man! I have been wrestling with this lighting system for over a week now and I am not making much headway. I am contemplating switching from GM:S to Unity! But I just dont know how far it is gonna set me back. I dont know C# at all! Decisions, decision...

[Mark Mayers]

It's interesting to see games about personal experiences; from the the facetiousness of "how do you Do it" to the unrelenting anguish of "That Dragon, Cancer" (as others have mentioned).   

Keep doing what you're doing man, don't worry too much about other people's comfort zones.

Although keep in mind your game could be met with a spectrum ranging from curiosity/respect to repulsion/derision.

If you're creating something based off of a personal experience, it might be difficult for you if somebody doesn't 'get' your game.

---

*Random technical note: Unity is fantastic from a productivity standpoint.

There is also a ton of support on the Unity forums if you have any questions.
I picked up C# in a few hours, coming from a Computer Science background.
Anything I didn't know I could look up!

[SophophiliaStudios]

So I picked up Sprite Lamp in the GameDev Humble Bundle.
Wow, am I impressed! This was my first go at it. needs some cleaning up and tweaking, but damn, it looks good! I hope I can get this to work in GM:S if not I might just have to switch to Unity!




Thoughts?

[Taxis]

I like the first gif, but the second seems a bit weird (when the light is in front the character, it loses almost all the shadows). I think that isn't a good idea add 3D lighting in a 2D game or apply them like they were 2D.

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

looks really great.
Just curious how you're going to animate him. Looks like it's going to be a long and painful work .

[SophophiliaStudios]

It's interesting to see games about personal experiences; from the the facetiousness of "how do you Do it" to the unrelenting anguish of "That Dragon, Cancer" (as others have mentioned).   

Keep doing what you're doing man, don't worry too much about other people's comfort zones.

Although keep in mind your game could be met with a spectrum ranging from curiosity/respect to repulsion/derision.

If you're creating something based off of a personal experience, it might be difficult for you if somebody doesn't 'get' your game.

---

*Random technical note: Unity is fantastic from a productivity standpoint.

There is also a ton of support on the Unity forums if you have any questions.
I picked up C# in a few hours, coming from a Computer Science background.
Anything I didn't know I could look up!

Hey man, Thanks for all the info and input!
I love seeing peoples reactions to things. Especially tough subjects. When people are faced with tough topics we get to see a very deep, true, part of that person's self. So I will love to see the great range of curiosity/respect to repulsion/derision. (great word btw! I had to look that one up ) Its easy to please people, but it is far more interesting to rattle people (good or bad) I am coming more to terms with not trying to please people.

I was doing that more in the fear of monetary failure. I do at the end of the day have to pay my bills. I wish I did not have that looming overhead. I am not trying to get rich by any stretch of the imagination. So I think doing this project with being true to myself will be enough to find a niche large enough that I will make enough money to just continue making games. I think if I water it down it could hurt the project more than help it. But if watered down just in the right places it could open this game up to more people, and end up helping more. People that might have a reactionary guard up to a part of the game, but that could be really positively affected by the game if they opened up to it. Its a fine line that I have to walk just right!

As far as the personal nature and it being hard to hear criticism. I dont feel like that will be of much worry to me. I am a very open person and I do not take much personally. I am quite confident in myself, and would not put this out there into the world if I was worried about people being mean. The world (especially the anonymous internet) is full of people like that. I look at it as more interesting than hurtful. I may be wrong, and down the road it does hurt. But I highly doubt it. Time will tell

As far as Unity goes. Yeah it is looking like the right direction more and more. I am just scared about the development time. I wish I had hindsight right now! lol. Will it be longer to jump ship and start with a brand new engine, Or wrestle with an inferior one that I am more learned in. And also which will it turn out better in. The better tool or the more familiar...

[SophophiliaStudios]

I like the first gif, but the second seems a bit weird (when the light is in front the character, it loses almost all the shadows). I think that isn't a good idea add 3D lighting in a 2D game or apply them like they were 2D.

Yes! I agree, good eye. I can make it better for sure. I only drew lighting for top, right, bottom, and left. That's why it looks flat. I can draw how it would look from the front. I can also draw a depth map, and a few other things. I will do some more work to it and upload it. But I just need to think about is it worth it. The time this takes is immense. And I need to know if it's worth the time. Which connects me to this comment

looks really great.
Just curious how you're going to animate him. Looks like it's going to be a long and painful work .

I am planning on using Spine to do the animations. I was gonna do sprite sheets to have more control on subtle changes. But the character will be changing looks through the game so it would take far too much time to draw all animations for all it's different looks! And with the Free form deformation in Spine I think I can get close to the look I would get with sprite sheets.
 
But yeah regardless it will be lots of long work. Especially if I actually do this "3d" lighting. That means drawing each drawing 4-10 times.... Granted only once in high detail, but its still a hell of a lot of work for one man! I have to look at the pros and cons of all this and decide what features have the most bang for their buck. The game needs to be visually powerful. but the story and game mechanics has to be too!

[nathy after dark]

The art looks very beautiful, and I have to say that it (and the game's title) didn't make me as uncomfortable as it did others. Maybe because I haven't had many close experiences with cancer in my life.

To me the nudity doesn't seem like a big issue.

I do agree with the concerns about adequately conveying your message, though, so I'm interested to see where the project goes and how you work through these big questions of the design. Definitely, make the game that tells the story you want to tell.

[SophophiliaStudios]

The art looks very beautiful, and I have to say that it (and the game's title) didn't make me as uncomfortable as it did others. Maybe because I haven't had many close experiences with cancer in my life.

To me the nudity doesn't seem like a big issue.

I do agree with the concerns about adequately conveying your message, though, so I'm interested to see where the project goes and how you work through these big questions of the design. Definitely, make the game that tells the story you want to tell.

Thanks Natman, I greatly appreciate hearing your perspective. I am also quite psyched to see how I work through these design problems!

Cheers!

[Impmaster]

If this is your story about cancer, does this mean that us playing nude is basically watching your nude body? Like, climbing over rocks and stuff? Very personal, you might want to increase your dick size.

On a more serious matter, I think I don't quite get how you're going to tell a story with this game. You could go for a very literal approach such as what other people said, in which the game mechanics literally describe what you are doing. For example, you could literally fight cancer nodes and things like that. However, such a literal approach makes the game more of a mechanics based game than an emotional one. Can you imagine Journey having the same impact if you had to be very quick on your reflexes and had to restart each level multiple times?

On the other hand, a metaphorical storytelling style doesn't work particularly well in video games, simply because the player is used to the concept of needing something to do in games. Simply having the player walk through may lead to accusations of the game being a walking simulator. If you're interested in telling a story through a more abstract sense, then I'd highly recommend studying "Dear Esther" and "Braid" for the various ways in which they interpreted telling a story. It's generally done through text that appears on the screen once the player reaches a certain area. This proved to be very controversial for those games, however. Not saying that controversy isn't bad for telling stories.

Also I love the painterly style. I think the title is a little too direct, but that might be fine.

[SophophiliaStudios]

If this is your story about cancer, does this mean that us playing nude is basically watching your nude body? Like, climbing over rocks and stuff? Very personal, you might want to increase your dick size.

On a more serious matter, I think I don't quite get how you're going to tell a story with this game. You could go for a very literal approach such as what other people said, in which the game mechanics literally describe what you are doing. For example, you could literally fight cancer nodes and things like that. However, such a literal approach makes the game more of a mechanics based game than an emotional one. Can you imagine Journey having the same impact if you had to be very quick on your reflexes and had to restart each level multiple times?

On the other hand, a metaphorical storytelling style doesn't work particularly well in video games, simply because the player is used to the concept of needing something to do in games. Simply having the player walk through may lead to accusations of the game being a walking simulator. If you're interested in telling a story through a more abstract sense, then I'd highly recommend studying "Dear Esther" and "Braid" for the various ways in which they interpreted telling a story. It's generally done through text that appears on the screen once the player reaches a certain area. This proved to be very controversial for those games, however. Not saying that controversy isn't bad for telling stories.

Also I love the painterly style. I think the title is a little too direct, but that might be fine.

Hahahah Ill enlarge my penis so that it will double as a whip weapon. With a powerup Lasso Cock! 

As I am planing it now it will not be very literal. I want this to be a game first. There will be fun play mecanics. But over all it has to get the story/message across. I hope to achieve that more through Gameplay then Text. But there will be some of that too. Braid was a great example where the game mechanic (turning back time) was part of the reget story being told. I thought that was so beautifully done and that is what I am attempting to accomplish in my game. Another great example was Journey.

And I would disagree with your statement that games that don't have "stuff" to do will be labeled a walking simulator. I think if it tells a good story That's what matters. If you can mostly walk then whatever. I think Gone Home did this beautifully. While it met some resistance as not being a game, some claim. I think this is to be expected with a relatively new medium. I dont plan to go as far as Gone Home did. But this will be no MegaMan, thats for sure Yeah, Dear Ester was another good example. I am thinking of a game between Braid and Journey in terms of speed and storytelling.

I feel like my game is gonna have plenty of controversy around it. As you can tell already just in the comments So I am just gonna make the game I want to make like many have suggested and just embrace it! Thanks for your awesome post!

Thanks I am liking the look too And yeah, I am not totally set on the title. also MBJWC is quite long and not very sexy

[SophophiliaStudios]

Here is my Normal Mapped Character that I made in Sprite Lamp inside Unity. I just made the switch to unity yesterday, still trying to wrap my brain around this! But damn the lighting is so much easier then in GameMaker lol!

YouTube Link:
http://youtu.be/m5Z9RuN-Kr4

Ill make a gif soon

[SophophiliaStudios]

Oh man I just did some complicated thing in Unity something that I could not find a tut on and I fucking god it. I was pumped! I did a little fist pump and shouted "YES!"

It was a part of my Parallax system, which is now pretty close to being done! With lighting being so much easier in Unity, I would say by end of next week I will be right where I was with the GM version. I am still hella slow in C# but Whatever, its not like I was lightning fast in GML lol! Unity is a lot better!

[SophophiliaStudios]

Man oh man, It has been a long time since I posted! I am SO sorry. Lots has happened since I last posted.

I got married to my best friend! Yippee!

I than had to pick up a few contract gigs to make some money or I was gonna have to get a full time job, the savings were near extinguished!

After finishing the jobs I decided to switch to Unity! It was a big decision, but I felt like it was the right one. It meant me losing a few months of progress as I got up to speed with the new development environment. I took this fantastic Udemy class https://www.udemy.com/unitycourse/

And I finished that class a few days ago! I spent the last few days setting up for the start of my game in Unity, setting up a VCS for the first time along with configuring DropBox to work right with Unity projects.

Today, it starts. Oh man I am so pumped! But also intimidated. This project is so big and being at the start is terrifying. But like with all things I will just take one step at a time, and climb this HUGE mountain. I will also now be updating this dev log like I was back at the start. Sorry again. I think I have a clear path now. ONWARD I MARCH!

[SophophiliaStudios]

I am making lots of progress! Unity is da bomb diggity!
Here is the lighting system I got up and running yesterday (please excuse the standard asset Robot Boy , I am trying to build all my mechanics before I do any animating  )

[Superb Joe]

Shadow of the BRCA1

[SophophiliaStudios]

Shadow of the BRCA1

Ooooo 
I like that, very clever :D

[SophophiliaStudios]

I know I haven't updated this thread in a long time, (and I know I keep saying this) But I have not touched development of this game since the last update. Money has been uber tight, and I have had to pick up as many contract jobs as I could and do odd jobs with any free time. I also started creating Art assets to try to get some income flowing.

Unity Asset Store Link:
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/search/page=1/sortby=popularity/query=publisher:19248

Game Dev Market Link:
https://www.gamedevmarket.net/member/sophophilia/


I will actually be moving out of state for a job opportunity that will get my finances back in check and let me get back to working on this passion project of mine! So sit tight, updates will be coming by years end. I am not gonna let this project die!!!!!