Making a Video Game...
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- mantrakid1
@proph
Actually I developed cosmochoria fully on a mac - just using parallels to run windows 7 in and then ran Construct 2 there. I would say that absolutely yes Construct 2 (and im assuming 3) was fun to use and had a very low barrier of entry. I messed with it a couple years before finally sitting down to do a 'serious' game with it (cosmochoria) but i could have reduced those couple years to a solid couple months if i just sat down and spent a few hours a day learning / building / experimenting with it.
The biggest down side i think is that once you have a game, your options are much more limited with Construct (HTML) than they would be if you used something like Unity or Unreal engines. basically, performance is shit on anything other than an decent powered computer, unless you're making tiny simple games. As soon as you start scaling into something with more graphics, or requiring more stuff going on, i feel like that's where construct 2 starts to break down when porting to, say, mobile or consoles. If you ever just want to experiment / learn / do stuff for PC/Mac/Linux then i think you're good.
THAT BEING SAID. Personally, I wish i spent those few years experimenting with Unity instead of Construct 2. If i had that legup with unity and had started / built cosmochoria in unity instead of C2, the business opportunities would have been much much much better overall. I had to turn down some dope stuff simply because going from Construct 2 to, say, console or mobile was just too much of a pain in the ass and would cost simply too much to make it worth it.
Unity, Construct 2, GameMaker... whatever you decide on, you CAN do something dope, just gotta get the daily practice in like anything and it will come together, especially if you already have an eye for the visual stuff, and even better if you're a gamer yourself with an appreciation for the subtleties / mechanics / etc.
- Thanks for the heads up on this. I have been messing around with several tools like Tiled and Spritebuilder but have been admiring the speed of C2 and Buildboxprophetone
- I am primarily looking at building out 2D retro arcade style games at first, using the classic gameplay style and mechanics, good starting point to learn imoprophetone
- I think I am going to spend the next few months building out artwork components to have a few small titles ready to go, perhaps C3 will be ready by thenprophetone
- Unity looks awesome but it's one of those things where I have to decide if it's the way to go first and invest the time and $150 per mo (!)prophetone
- I think I need to start small, feel things out. I also don't want to get cornered if I do end up building something super dope and performance issues are a probprophetone
- Something to chew on...prophetone
- Hit me up on email if you wanna chat bout this shit there too, nate@3030.camantrakid
- I would say yeah start small. Even just messing with C2 for now until C3 comes out is a great idea to keep your feet wet / learning going.mantrakid
- I would say if you feel like you're at a point where you want to go commercial with it, take a serious moment to analyze whether its worth it to continue in ..mantrakid
- Your current environment, or to port over to something more versatile before it gets too heavy. I wish i spent a few months porting Cosmo to Unity before...mantrakid
- I spent another year and a half finishing it in Construct 2. Just would have made life so much easier for that small sacrifice at the start.mantrakid
- Thanks man! As a start I think if C2 pops up on sale again (just missed a 30% off thing!) I might get a license, upgrade to C3 when outprophetone
- I will also probs hit you up via email when my ass gets more in gear with things and I start getting chatty! I appreciate it.prophetone
- mantrakid1
Yo Dudes, been lurking for too long, but wanted to show off the new game ive been working on with an amazing posse. I figured this thread was a good place to post it! I'm doing the Art direction and music/sound design.
Check out www.slayawaycamp.com
Or just watch this! :)
Hugs!
- mantrakid0
Was thinking iPad eventually but touch controls are a pain in the testicles, so i donno... it sucks having bigass buttons and virtual joysticks all over the screen. if the iOS gamepad shit gets their shit together, I can definitely port it with Touch as an option, but it truly is a subpar experience to touch the screen and play, it's just truly not as fun so I probably wont go that route any time soon.
- lodef0
I really like where its going, its a very strong concept. I made progress, upgraded my gun, populated some planets and some dragon boss thing appeared. I would suggest offering more variety of possibilities right from the start. Is it actually possible to make the planets look like that graphic ^ ? Because that would be cool. I just wish you could advance faster. Also I wish the planet progress was saved between games, right now its just the guns and extra stuff but you have to start over with the planets.
- detritus0
Just in relation to this, which I effectively agree with..
"Its good to have some exploration/ discovery but its not clear at all what the ultimate goal is. You need a way of gauging progress "
..one of the best gaming experiences I've had in recent years was:
http://adarkroom.doublespeakgame…
, a large part of which was that there was ZERO idea of what the path or indeed the reward or purpose is.
Not sure what my point here is, but there's something in being left in the dark.
- Yeh man! Great game. Most surprising gaming experience I've had! Spent a while on that bad boyHombre_Lobo
- this was a huge inspiration for me - this and that candy box game, also a game called "starseed pilgrim"mantrakid
- im also going for this 'tossed into space' feel and you gotta essentially learn what to do.. so glad you brought this up.mantrakid
- that being said, i do feel i need a couple more obvious prods at the beginning because too many peeps are 'too' lostmantrakid
- i feel like once i get people latched on to the basic concept the rest will start falling into placemantrakid
- mantrakid0
Hey ZOOP, thanks for checking man! I have been thinking about mobile from day one. Unfortunately i donno how realistic its gonna be - im relying heavily on CocoonJS and my recent build has it running at like 10 FPS on average... Im not really sure why exactly since there isnt a lot of crazy stuff going on and Im getting 60 FPS on desktop easily. I go through days where literally all i do all day is try to get it running smooth on my ipad haha. :) I'll keep you posted.
Thanks for checking this out guys. If anyone is on steam I have a greenlight page for it up at: http://steamcommunity.com/shared…
- mantrakid0
@lodef, yeah that's the new graphics in the latest version: http://www.3030.ca/Sprout_069
The planet progress is actually misleading.. i want people to 'feel' like it's a high score game right off the bat.. like ... not that they can complete it, but its more like a game of tetris - just get in the zone for a bit and kill some dudes (new / more variety of enemies coming in the next version). The whole 'get all planets' thing will become apparent only once players actually get the map and see that there is, in fact, a finite world to play in.
Also, though upgrades are purchased 'between' games, I have started to put some bonuses in the game that will help like 'find-able' bases, and there will be some sort of treasure 'chest' with larger quantities of coins scattered throughout the playfield.
Basically i want it to be like a game of Donkey Kong or Tetris, where you play until you die, but the goal is to see how far you can get before you actually die. Progress will be ranked at the end. The whole 'keep your coins' and 'upgrade your shit' is sort of meant to be a bonus for those people who actually get into it and continue playing the game in multiple sessions.
thanks for playing it man, your input shaped the recent changes. :)
- nice! glad my input is of use. I will try these new things out. its fun.lodef
- ernexbcn0
Dope.
- fadein110
randomly came across this which was quite bizarre:
http://corpsmoderne.itch.io/flap…
- mantrakid0
wicked, thanks - making changes now
- cruddlebub0
cannot find page!!!!
- mantrakid0
$500 away from the goal - 25 days to go... My mind esploded
- cruddlebub0
Amazing!!! What were you expecting when you were designing the game? It's cool to have followed this from the beginning and strange watching those guys playing it on a YouTube vid, going mad for it! You must be feeling exceedingly proud?
Well done dude and congratulations
You porting it to iPhone/android?
- monNom0
as I understand it, performance limitations are the ultimate challenge with any game... the Sonic the hedghog wasn't just a great game, it broke ground in performance as well.
Before you switch platforms, you should start removing things from your Construct 2 version to see if you can make it acceptably fast on your target machine. If you can remove the dazzle, but keep the gameplay, then it still might be a great game. If you have a little performance budget left over, see what you can add back in that gives you the biggest bang for your performance buck.
Best of luck.
- coldarchon0
at www.futurelearn.com they have a free online course to make computer games that starts in 10 days, anyone in?
- mantrakid0
Latest update explains the various versions, but here are some bullet points:
- Wii U version will be selectable at any tier.
- Additional copies for Wii U or Steam/Humble Bundle/DRM-Free can be added for $5.
- $25 Dev tier includes choice of version (Wii U / Steam / etc) but also Early Access to Mac/PC/Linux while it's in development.
- $100 Collectors Edition includes Early Access + USB Key with Mac/PC/Linux version loaded on it. Collectors Ed. Also includes choice of 2 additional keys (Wii U / Steam / Etc).Let me know if you have any questions.
Full update info here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/proj…Love
- _niko0
mantrakid great job, you're a fucking inspiration, hopefully more of us get off our asses and start creating cool shit like this.
exactly what i've been looking for.
