ArchieChokes Game Creation Hobby

ArchieChoke

ArchieChoke

New member
Hey Guys
Thought I come here to chat and display a little hobby that has become an addiction.
So I got interested in the idea of creating a game, no real vision on where I want to go or what type I wanted to make. But more get the skills and understand how much it really does take to make a game.
NB. By no means am I a professional Game developer or programmer.
So there might be game developers giggling at this thread.

So after a month of making content for my little map/game, I can fully say, game developers really are skilled at what they do and I am a less of a complain bag when I see a bug or an issue within a game as I know fixing an Issue is not like "Hmmm....Unplug this then plug this in and presto."

First thing I thought, let me make a game engine.(What a bad idea)
This route was a terrible Idea (you can ask if you wanna know why not going to talk as this will turn into TL DR)

So after some researching I made my Home Cryengine (UDK 4 has not been released).
Cryengine is fun, easy to use and has alot of information available.
There are some things that annoy me about but you find ways to work around it.(Ask if you want info)


So the main reason I wanted to make a post on myg , as there are gamers from PC and consol.

What my Questions are:-
1. What annoys you in a game that a developer has implemented (Exclude DRM and weird things, think gameplay wise)
eg... All the cars in the game feel the same speed. / Maps feel to generic ./


2. Immersion, how much Immersion does people really want and to what point does it become too annoying to enjoy your game. (Exclude Waypoints saves)
eg... If a player run then dives into sandbank(A pity filled with sand) the gun becomes unreliable (Ie. Bullets curve right or makes the gun Unusable)

3. Character Customization what bothers you about them? Or what more can they add to make you happy that you are a unique player?

4.Weapons, What makes you happy about them (Rockets causing destructible objects) and What annoys you (I.E. EVERY GDM game has mini guns and pistols)

5. Weapon customization, let me know if some lack features (A sniper rifle that auto tracks a target within view finder) or some can have added features (Like having a gunblade at the end of your knife that has a single shot in the handle).


Like I said they are all examples and things I need to think about when implementing Assest's.
If you can add go ahead and provide examples.

Thanks again.:o
 
1. What annoys you in a game that a developer has implemented (Exclude DRM and weird things, think gameplay wise)
eg... All the cars in the game feel the same speed. / Maps feel to generic ./
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Invisible walls, AKA not being able to get somewhere, even though it looks like any normal human being should be able to reach it.


2. Immersion, how much Immersion does people really want and to what point does it become too annoying to enjoy your game. (Exclude Waypoints saves)
eg... If a player run then dives into sandbank(A pity filled with sand) the gun becomes unreliable (Ie. Bullets curve right or makes the gun Unusable)
Click to expand...

I prefer having fun. If the gun shoots out sand for a short while in this situation, that would be fun, if it breaks that's just annoying.

3. Character Customization what bothers you about them? Or what more can they add to make you happy that you are a unique player?
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Don't care about this actually, I just want to play a well developed character.

4.Weapons, What makes you happy about them (Rockets causing destructible objects) and What annoys you (I.E. EVERY GDM game has mini guns and pistols)
Click to expand...

Blowing stuff up is never not fun. Sound design is a very important factor in this though, you can't have weak sounding weapons.

5. Weapon customization, let me know if some lack features (A sniper rifle that auto tracks a target within view finder) or some can have added features (Like having a gunblade at the end of your knife that has a single shot in the handle).
Click to expand...

The only customization I care about when it comes to guns, is the ability to make them do more damage.

Good luck with your game. I look forward to see what you come up with. I will add more stuff if I think of anything.
 
Well, more from a design perspective than a feature perspective: I have having a lack of problem solving in the game - getting a little arrow telling me where to go next and flashing on an object that I need to interact with.

As for features/assents, it really doesn't matter. As long as they make sense within the context of your game.
 
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What my Questions are:-
1. What annoys you in a game that a developer has implemented (Exclude DRM and weird things, think gameplay wise)
eg... All the cars in the game feel the same speed. / Maps feel to generic ./
Click to expand...
I hate it when developers take short cuts or limit your freedom in the game.

2. Immersion, how much Immersion does people really want and to what point does it become too annoying to enjoy your game. (Exclude Waypoints saves)
eg... If a player run then dives into sandbank(A pity filled with sand) the gun becomes unreliable (Ie. Bullets curve right or makes the gun Unusable)
Click to expand...

I love immersion,i have most of the immersion mods and realism mods installed in Skyrim from SkyrimNexus

3. Character Customization what bothers you about them? Or what more can they add to make you happy that you are a unique player?
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I love customization (unless it's like deadspace or Masseffect),i hate it when they take shortcuts like in Fallout (Skyrim's characters customization is pretty awesome coupled with mods)

4.Weapons, What makes you happy about them (Rockets causing destructible objects) and What annoys you (I.E. EVERY GDM game has mini guns and pistols)
Click to expand...

Customization,i would like a military game where you are handed a simple rifle to start with with a few customizations and then you can collect countless parts to create unique weapons that can be modified on very small to large scales (etc collecting lots of lasers from futuristic laser rifles and rigging them all up together with a concentrator to make a giant laser cannon for a tank,also being able to work with the electronics so you can change how weapons behave)

5. Weapon customization, let me know if some lack features (A sniper rifle that auto tracks a target within view finder) or some can have added features (Like having a gunblade at the end of your knife that has a single shot in the handle).
Click to expand...

Like i said customization,it would be nice to develop a code within the engine that can spit out countless weapon customizations.

Weapons can be balanced with the cost of their ammo,higher caliber weapons use larger more expensive ammo while fast firing weapons waste allot of ammo.The player start with a low powered rifle and gets to build his own gun through random part drops (after a battle players can scan tanks,dead enemies and such for a random chance to collect a random part)



If there is ever i game i would make then it would be a game that is played with explosives but with a FPS feel (has anyone ever watched/read Btoom?)

Edit:I tried making games when i was younger but got bored easily,making 3d models are rigging them for Game engines is allot more.

Currently redesigning the Prowler in Planetside2 just for fun because it looks so damn ugly and unpractical.
 
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R4C3 said:
OO nice Arch and good luck on your endeavour.
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Ty Race, but thats the reason why im online but not playing anything, this Sh*t is addictive.

Eugene said:
Invisible walls, AKA not being able to get somewhere, even though it looks like any normal human being should be able to reach it.




I prefer having fun. If the gun shoots out sand for a short while in this situation, that would be fun, if it breaks that's just annoying.



Don't care about this actually, I just want to play a well developed character.



Blowing stuff up is never not fun. Sound design is a very important factor in this though, you can't have weak sounding weapons.



The only customization I care about when it comes to guns, is the ability to make them do more damage.

Good luck with your game. I look forward to see what you come up with. I will add more stuff if I think of anything.
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Hmmm...Makes sense, kinda like Skyrim, you see a huge mountain and you want to go up but there is this invisible wall blocking my path.. Thanks will take that into consideration

Eugene said:
I prefer having fun. If the gun shoots out sand for a short while in this situation, that would be fun, if it breaks that's just annoying.
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In this Situation, do you think its perhaps the game type. Eg. Comparing BF3 with DayZ mod?
Or is it more that you cant fix the weapon on the fly, or more that it takes to long to fix it, or is it that it degrades the weapon to the point that repairing it is useless?

Lol at this one..."Don't care about this actually, I just want to play a well developed character." Loled cause i was talking to a work colleague and he was like what does it matter, you can spend hours making it that you can make the characters nose Big or small, but how many players will actually run up to a character in game that looks familiar (your friends facial design) and use his nose to confirm if its your friend or some other guy who took that nose profile. Most players would shoot first ask questions later.

"Blowing stuff up is never not fun." Can agree with this, but what makes it so much fun, I mean you blow something up it looks the same, blow it up a 3rd time it still blows up and looks slightly different. Just interested what entertains people about explosions?

"Sound design is a very important factor in this though, you can't have weak sounding weapons." Can agree with you on this one, high quality sound goes a long way.

"The only customization I care about when it comes to guns, is the ability to make them do more damage." thanks will think
about this one.


Thanks again for your response.
Could you maybe give me info on stuff you might wanna see?Ill make video's if there is interest.

C-Bear said:
Well, more from a design perspective than a feature perspective: I have having a lack of problem solving in the game - getting a little arrow telling me where to go next and flashing on an object that I need to interact with.

As for features/assents, it really doesn't matter. As long as they make sense within the context of your game.
Click to expand...

That is hard to balance, its almost like , if you make you system so secure to login in, no one will login, make it to easy and people wouldnt find it challenging. Thanks will keep this in mind.
 
If I EVER create a game, I'll give them as much choice/freedom/customisability possible. Imo the best way you're going to keep people interested in your game is giving them something to work for. Take Call of duty for instance. If you get ALL the guns ALL the perks and ALL the attachments and camo's there isn't really a reason to play it anymore since it'll get pretty boring fast.
 
JP'S said:
If I EVER create a game, I'll give them as much choice/freedom/customisability possible. Imo the best way you're going to keep people interested in your game is giving them something to work for. Take Call of duty for instance. If you get ALL the guns ALL the perks and ALL the attachments and camo's there isn't really a reason to play it anymore since it'll get pretty boring fast.
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Pfft don't listen to him Arch he is a COD Fanboy, he lies, he will play it even if it had no guns....
 
The first thing that puts me off a game is when the animations don't match the environment.
This is not normally a problem with AAA titles but indie games often suffer this ailment.

I don't want characters moonwalking. Each step must match the distance they run. If it doesn't it instantly breaks immersion for me and gives the game an unpolished feeling.

Another caveat is the UI. A polished UI can my a game feel better than it may be initially and helps creates a good impression for me going in. Also since the UI is my way of speaking to the game it must be simple, good looking and robust.
 
Would have to agree with some of the comments on here:

"choice/freedom/customisability"

Those are the big ones that will keep people entertained and interested, i for instance like it when i can play a game and create a character and modify a character "MY WAY" and have many options ect

They have now even started selling cars with all these options customisations ect look up the Open Adam - http://media.gm.com/media/intl/en/o...s/news/intl/en/2012/opel/07_11_opel_adam.html


Give me plenty of options, areas to go to, ways to progress the game and i'll be more than happy :)
 
Remember these 2 things:

1. You can never ever have enough dinosaurs in one game
2. Laser and/or light sabers makes everything infinitely more awesome

But seriously, some of the games I've loved the most all had the same things in common; they sucked me into the game and never broke my involvement with unnecessary quick time events or cut scenes.

They all gawe me a choice as to how to finish a mission. Look at the Deus Ex range. Each mission seems linear, but you have the choice of how to do it, and every time it differs.
 
Thanks to everyone who gave advice and Idea's into how things should be done.
Now I begin a story, so in order to get a direction and actually feel like im achieving things and not just reading and getting nowhere.

I have set out a scheadule for myself for the week:-

Everyday learn how to program in C++ for 2 hours each day.


Spend as much time creating a map (i.e. The Terrain, Terrain texture, Grass, trees, rivers, lakes, rocks, bolders, Houses, factories, Tall buildings, Glass textures, Destructible objects[much much later], animals, insects) - Let me know if you can think of more to add-

The community can actually assist if they would like (Take note i cant pay people) - please leave a message if you wanna help, its nothing hectic. All i require is Digital photo's of many things, Grass, trees's , Sand types , tall grass, veld even , Rocks, bolders, Houses, factories, Tall buildings, Glass textures etc...
If you wish to help I will provide more details.

Create Asset's for almost everything (however i most probably wont have to do too much work as I already have an Asset Lib from my Brother, however I need to do work on renaming all the asset's Schematic and creating dummy place holders).

I will be placing Screen shots of the work I am doing, but this news feed will be pretty slow as I go on.
 
ArchieChoke said:
Thanks to everyone who gave advice and Idea's into how things should be done.
Now I begin a story, so in order to get a direction and actually feel like im achieving things and not just reading and getting nowhere.

I have set out a scheadule for myself for the week:-

Everyday learn how to program in C++ for 2 hours each day.


Spend as much time creating a map (i.e. The Terrain, Terrain texture, Grass, trees, rivers, lakes, rocks, bolders, Houses, factories, Tall buildings, Glass textures, Destructible objects[much much later], animals, insects) - Let me know if you can think of more to add-

The community can actually assist if they would like (Take note i cant pay people) - please leave a message if you wanna help, its nothing hectic. All i require is Digital photo's of many things, Grass, trees's , Sand types , tall grass, veld even , Rocks, bolders, Houses, factories, Tall buildings, Glass textures etc...
If you wish to help I will provide more details.

Create Asset's for almost everything (however i most probably wont have to do too much work as I already have an Asset Lib from my Brother, however I need to do work on renaming all the asset's Schematic and creating dummy place holders).

I will be placing Screen shots of the work I am doing, but this news feed will be pretty slow as I go on.
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http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/c++-tutorial.html
That helped me a lot.

Also starting with the Asset's? What engine are you using?
As your learning C++ I assume something like SDL or SFML?
 
Terak makes use of gamestudio maybe team up :D

Quick time events take me completely out of a game. One day I went to make coffee while the quick time event repeated it self over and over. Got a "do you want to skip this part" message.
 
Crzwaco said:
Terak makes use of gamestudio maybe team up :D

Quick time events take me completely out of a game. One day I went to make coffee while the quick time event repeated it self over and over. Got a "do you want to skip this part" message.
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Yip QTE's suck. Would rather not have any.

A good substitute was waiting for the big wolf to attack and shooting it in Tomb Raider with a bow and arrow. Should had more of that rather than traditional QTE's.
 
He is using CryEngine.

ArtieChoke, I've been a developer for a long time and I've released a small game before. You are dreaming big and that's good but don't you think you should maybe start a bit smaller for a first game? It's up to you of course but wow you've picked a difficult engine and a very big game for a first project.

This is from the Unity forums:
Do short projects. Tiny ones.

Talking grand visions and big plans is all well and good, but it's not particularly realistic to start out with a 5 year project. How can you plan that if you don't have any experience? And how can you get experience if you don't start small?

Start off by making a game in a week. It doesn't matter if it's crap, just get something finished that's the whole package - a game mechanic, either infinite gameplay (a-la Tetris) or a handful of levels (minimum 3), sound, menus, a high score system if relevant. Do something small, and don't be shy of just cloning an existing game (I did Space Invaders) if you're not sure of ideas. The point isn't to make something awesome, the idea is solely to have the experience of having done the whole process at least once in its entirety. Once you've got that experience you've got a solid foundation to build upon.

If you don't have that experience, how do you even know where to start with something bigger?

There are many advantages to doing many small projects instead of one huge one:
- You get to work on new, fresh ideas more often.
- You can generally see the light at the end of the tunnel, so discipline is easier to maintain. This is important so that you can remain focused on getting one project to completion, where most people keep starting new ones and never finish existing ones.
- Mistakes are less costly, because you only have to live with them until you start your next project.
- You learn the most from your game designs by putting them in front of other people. Doing this often and with different designs gives you far more learning opportunity than showing people incremental changes on a single project over multiple years.
- Your first game will be crap. Everyone's is, because you don't know what you're doing with your first game. Your second will be better, but still probably not that good. Contrary to popular belief, experience playing games does not make you good at designing them. The more games you make, the better you will be at making them. So make your first ones as quickly as possible.
- You will learn from each game. A lot. The learning comes mostly towards the end of the project when you're dealing with the outcomes of your decisions and getting feedback from players. But a lot of the decisions you make about a game are made early on, before the learning part. So the sooner you get it done, the sooner you can apply what you've learned in your next project.
- It's a lot easier to stay motivated when the outcomes of your effort are in the near future (hours or days away) than if they're in the distant future (months or years). Short projects capitalize on this.
- You get the opportunity to try new approaches more often (and should do so!).

A few other things.
- Learn programming separately to learning game development. Game programming is a specialisation, not a subset, and should be treated as such. There are plenty of people around here who have trouble with relatively fundamental stuff because they learned to code 100% within Unity and simply don't understand the underlying basic principles of what they're doing. Don't be one of them. C# books are plentiful!
- Stick within your resources. The Asset Store is a great resource. If you're not an artist it puts a lot of cheap or even free content at your fingertips which is great for your first few games, or for prototyping as you get better, or as filler later on. A great exercise might be to find a few assets you like and make a game that uses just those - it'll keep the scope low, and have the added bonus of not starting out with grey boxes!
- Collaborate with people whenever you can, from the same room wherever possible. A game dev session doesn't have to be "work". You and a mate can just hang out for a night working on a hobby project. The different skills that you'll each develop will come in handy, too. In fact, when looking for a dev buddy try and find someone who's skills are different to your own. You can code and they can Photoshop? Awesome. They can code and you can model? Rockin'. But... I strongly suggest you steer away from "designers" and "ideas people". The former only comes with experience grounded in an existing technical skill, and in my experience the latter is generally a label used by people who don't want to develop a technical skill in the first place.
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In fact the whole thread is worth reading:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/184797-The-answer-to-every-Can-it-be-done-and-I-ve-lost-my-way-post

Of course that's just my advice. There are people who start a big project and finish it but it's tough. Good on you for following your dreams!
 
Solitude said:
He is using CryEngine.

ArtieChoke, I've been a developer for a long time and I've released a small game before. You are dreaming big and that's good but don't you think you should maybe start a bit smaller for a first game? It's up to you of course but wow you've picked a difficult engine and a very big game for a first project.

This is from the Unity forums:


In fact the whole thread is worth reading:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/184797-The-answer-to-every-Can-it-be-done-and-I-ve-lost-my-way-post

Of course that's just my advice. There are people who start a big project and finish it but it's tough. Good on you for following your dreams!
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. I did a post in my blog on this exact topic just this week.
 
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