The Trouble With Blog Posts - A Blog Post

Gabe's Game

Marketing for indie games has to start on day one. Most of us don't have a marketing budget or know how to target and effectively reaching an audience. So we are left to play the long game: without consistent updates, indie games are forgotten. 

William and I both know how to make games. However, blogging, or more aptly marketing, feels like swinging at a piñata. Sometimes we put our backs into it, sometimes we swing gently searching for our target, but we are always swinging blind. 

Populating Multiverses with Minimalist Art

William

My current project is an ambitious one that requires that the player traverse hundreds or even thousands of different environments.  While one major part of keeping this interesting is with fun and varied gameplay mechanics, an equally important aspect is creating interesting atmospheres.

But if I'm going to create hundreds and hundreds of atmospheres with only myself for a team, I can't making crazy-detailed work, right?  I have to find a happy place where the quality is engaging but allows for much in terms of quantity.  That's how I ended up stumbling on this minimalist, but eclectic, art style that will perpetuate my game.

I Love My Game Enough To Trash It

Gabe's Game

When conceptualizing a game, my imagination generates an ideal. When the project kicks off polish is paramount and planned detail is intricate. Then reality sets in. I think it's easy for indie devs to become intimidated by the enormous amount of work ahead of them. When that pressure sinks in, things get rushed.

Two weeks ago I made a post about animations for my game. All of the animations in that post along with their implementation took less than 8 hours total. In other words, it was very rushed. Since art is the field I'm most confident in, I spent the week working on bugs and then sped through the animations the day before posting. The result was half-baked work. So, I took a deep breath and started fresh.

 Old 

New

It really took very little time to drastically improve this jump animation. My whole game is about jumping, so the visual feedback for the jump is among the most important animations I'll do. Slowing down and doing it right was absolutely worth it. 

Metamorphosis: How Player Upgrades Develop an Experience

William

I'm working on a game that randomly generate pseudo-infinite landscapes that you are expected to leave behind as soon as you're capable of doing so, never to see them again.  Through certain inherent patterns in hopping between worlds and overcoming certain challenges, the player can begin to uncover secrets, a greater continuity, and, most importantly, player upgrades and items.