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Indie Game Dev Article – HanClinto

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
A friend sent me this link from Yahoo! that talks about indie game development. We all know that real game development is hard, and this article gives a realistic yet refreshing look at one of our favorite hobbies -- making games:
Independent Gaming Article

--clint

MastaLlama

Member

Posts: 671
From: Houston, TX USA
Registered: 08-10-2005
That was an interesting read.
Lazarus

Member

Posts: 1668
From: USA
Registered: 06-06-2006
And interesting videos. Some of those indie games are...
uh, extremely nice.

What a relief to know that games don't need 3D and super-textures to be fun to play... *cough*

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
quote:
Originally posted by Lazarus:
What a relief to know that games don't need 3D and super-textures to be fun to play... *cough*


I'm sorry Laz -- I'm actually having a hard time telling where your sarcasm here applies. Care to elaborate? Are you saying you liked Flow and Everyday Shooter, or are you saying something else?

Sorry, I'm just having a hard time telling what you're saying, but I'd honestly like to know your thoughts.

--clint

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited July 23, 2007).]

SSquared

Member

Posts: 654
From: Pacific Northwest
Registered: 03-22-2005
Good start for the article. The actual content was rather short. Nevertheless, I totally agree with the article.

I have been a proponent for Indie games since having played Star Wraith 3: Shadows of Orion three years ago. I was blown away by the game and what an Indie was capable of doing.

More recently, I have been focusing specifically on researching casual gaming. It's a field growing in popularity and I have found them to be quite enticing and enjoyable. In fact, I was going to bring this up a few weeks ago. I was wondering if anyone here is looking at doing a casual game. I know there are already some out there (like Walls of Jericho). But it seems like a more logical choice of gameplay if you are serious about completing a game with a small team or as a learning hobby.

I have always been an advocate for graphics not making the game. I don't care if it's 3D, 2D, or ASCII, if it's fun, who cares. I found it interesting the article even mentioned an ASCII game.

I, too, am curious to know what Laz meant.

Lazarus

Member

Posts: 1668
From: USA
Registered: 06-06-2006
quote:
Originally posted by HanClinto:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Lazarus:
What a relief to know that games don't need 3D and super-textures to be fun to play... *cough*


I'm sorry Laz -- I'm actually having a hard time telling where your sarcasm here applies. Care to elaborate? Are you saying you liked Flow and Everyday Shooter, or are you saying something else?

Sorry, I'm just having a hard time telling what you're saying, but I'd honestly like to know your thoughts.

--clint
[/QUOTE]

Yes, I did like those two. My sarcasm refers to the larger game companies that concentrate so much of the development time for their games on just the graphics.
Like Halo 3, an excellent example. Have they added anything to the gameplay?
"This water is soooo realistic - " - random dev
"Oooooh!" - fans.

I'm not sure why people are so obsessed with water these days...

Btw S^2, I got blown away by that game too. And all the others Vice created since then, actually.


[This message has been edited by Lazarus (edited July 24, 2007).]

[This message has been edited by Lazarus (edited July 24, 2007).]

SSquared

Member

Posts: 654
From: Pacific Northwest
Registered: 03-22-2005
Funny you mention water.... You are kinda making me eat my words. One of the reasons I refuse to get one of the Intel integrated chips when I get a new laptop is for that VERY reason. They don't have hardware Texture & Lighting and I really want to have some decent looking water when playing the water park expansion with Rollercoaster Tycoon 3. It doesn't take away from gameplay, but does take a bit off the entire experience. Well, and that card made it basically impossible to play the game when a scenario turns to nighttime.

This morning I actually had the thought, "Hmmm, doesn't Laz play the Star Wraith games?" That's the game where I finally saw a transition of Indie games being kinda cheezy to actually having quality. He also linked to several other cool games on his site which were also quite impressive.

dartsman

Member

Posts: 484
From: Queensland, Australia
Registered: 03-16-2006
S^2, I sent you a PM regarding casual games dev...

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jonwarner.net

samw3

Member

Posts: 542
From: Toccoa, GA, USA
Registered: 08-15-2006
I noticed that, in these, there is a LOT of emphasis on aesthetics, even if the graphic technology is not cutting-edge. I find that interesting.

I wonder if anyone has experience in color and lighting that could post an article. Maybe I'll google that later.

God Bless!

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Sam Washburn

ArchAngel

Member

Posts: 3450
From: SV, CA, USA
Registered: 01-29-2002
there should be! A game doesn't need advanced graphics, but it should have good graphics.
Humans are very visual and we want to see things that are visually pleasing.
A game with well done art is more attractive and more immersive than ones with shoddy art.

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"The generation of random numbers is too important to leave to chance."
Soterion Studios

Lazarus

Member

Posts: 1668
From: USA
Registered: 06-06-2006
True, Arch - my point is that alot of dev companies think graphics can "make up" for poor gameplay.

"Yeah, but look at the water! When you drop a gun in it there's this super-realistic splash - " -dev
"But the guns aren't balanced! Nobody ever uses the Katyusha because you can always own with a Sten!"
"And the trees have foliage that moves when you run into them..." -dev
"The collision problems make just walking through a forest a huge pain in the neck!"
"Just look at those clouds we created. It's almost like looking up at a real sky - " -dev
"Why are the controls so jerky, even on high-end machines?? And why the heck can't we even remap keys, for crying out loud!"
"If you shoot a box it realistically flies apart in millions of tiny pieces! We've harnessed the power of the Ageia - " - dev
"Boxes don't explode like that in real life! And you've put so many blasted objects in this game people shoot at them more than they do at the other team!"
"Well, uh - the reflections in your helmet visor?" - dev
"This is a first person shooter!! I can't see the front of my avatar's face!"

ArchAngel

Member

Posts: 3450
From: SV, CA, USA
Registered: 01-29-2002
never contended that.

If I wanted realistic graphics, I'd go for a walk outside.

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"The generation of random numbers is too important to leave to chance."
Soterion Studios

samw3

Member

Posts: 542
From: Toccoa, GA, USA
Registered: 08-15-2006
lol, I play that game everyday.

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Sam Washburn

steveth45

Member

Posts: 536
From: Eugene, OR, USA
Registered: 08-10-2005
quote:
Originally posted by ArchAngel:
If I wanted realistic graphics, I'd go for a walk outside.

Have you considered that the upward thrust of real-time rendering capabilities in video games is not for the purpose of depicting reality, but depicting fantasy? The realistic visual elements, like water, foliage, and textures, enhance the experience of the fantasy. Games don't need amazing graphics to be fun, but it certainly helps.

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|steveth45|
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