@glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place
@glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

glitchypixel

@glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place

Right now loving making games and other interactive fun things d(n_n)b. Diana and Italo created Glitchy Pixel, to see what happens \(^_^)/.

Diana is now at https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@Diana_P :D/

Also have a Co-host: https://cohost.org/glitchypixel

I'll probably lurk in mastodon but post in co-host, or vice-versa? Or maybe update he website someday. Yeah, I like having to go to more than one website.

#indiedev #gamedev #fedi22

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glitchypixel, to CSharp Spanish
@glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Hm is it me or there is some sort of obsession to constantly update a programming language to fill it with "stuff" and "features"

I'm noticing a clear trend for this in and , but I'm sure there are others

I mean people keep asking why C is still widely used. I'm pretty sure that one of the reasons is that the spec has barely changed in 50 years or so and it works

C'mon some programming languages are fine as they are, please don't keep crowding them unless absolutely necessary pls?

atomicpoet, to random
@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org avatar

Apple Vision Pro is a sales flop, production is slashed, and an update ain’t coming next year.

Can we all stop pretending that VR has any big demand beyond gaming? Because beyond the novelty factor, that’s the one good use for VR.

The problem with the Vision Pro is it isn’t a gaming device. Even if it were, gamers aren’t going to pay $3500 for something that doesn’t play their Steam library.

https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/vr-hardware/apple-reportedly-slashes-vision-pro-headset-production-and-cancels-updated-headset-as-sales-tank-in-the-us/

glitchypixel,
@glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@atomicpoet I remember hearing a theory about predicting if a basic tech product will take over as mass appeal that said "look for the boring stuff".

Never look a the fancy, that's for trade shows or specialization (e.g. games).

Look a the boring, writing an email, listen to a meeting, doing your taxes every day.

Does your product do well in that area? Then it's a good candidate for mass appeal. Otherwise, it's either a enthusiast product, meaning really low sales, or a trade show project.

eniko, to random
@eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar

you look at NES games and you're like "that doesn't look too hard, that scope looks achievable to a small modern indie team with modern gamedev tools"

and then you try to execute on it and it takes literal years because making games is actually literally impossible

glitchypixel,
@glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@eniko I have a small game dev programming course, and the "midterm" projects to deliver is to create an "exact clone" of a NES game, as close to the original as possible. They can choose the game and engine

It never goes "well", because of the really bad calculated scope by them. That's the point though, so I grade them on other criteria, not the final game. It makes then really get their capacity as a dev and scope

Their final projects then are more realistic in scope and fare better for it.

glitchypixel,
@glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@eniko it's funny because they choose, say the first Mario game (the arcade one) and show me their character jumping "I made it, look!" They say.

Then I literally fire up an emulator and show both games side by side and say "hmm but your character is not jumping exactly like the game" and they scratch their heads, trying to solve that problem.

Then the team making a MegaMan clone realize they can't share the code because borh don't jump "the same way" it's fun to have them realize that.

glitchypixel,
@glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@eniko A the end I ask for conclusions, they tend to say things like.

  • "Making games is hard"
  • "It's interesting to see that code has intentionality when you make your game behave in a certain way"

I consider these huge victories. They got to understand two very difficult things in game dev, they eat a piece of humble pie (there is much arrogance that needs to be tempered sometimes) and their personal projects then become better because they have better scope and understanding of gamedev.

glitchypixel,
@glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@eniko exactly! since it's a programming course I usually tell them to use ripped art. But sometimes someone asks if they can create their own art or music. I do let them, only restriction is use same sizes.

I remember a team on a Castlevania clone with custom art. They were sure that they could make the animations "better", and they got stumped to learn that more frames does not mean better and got to understand why the game's anims were that way and got a newfound-respect of the original art

metin, to ai
@metin@graphics.social avatar

𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟬𝘀…
I worked hard on some 3D artwork. Now I'm going to publish it on social media and enjoy the likes and responses. 😊

𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬𝘀…
I worked hard on some 3D artwork. Before it will be ready to publish, I need to make a compilation of work-in-progress screenshots and wireframes, to prove that it's not AI-generated, and to avoid people asking what AI prompt I used to generate the image. 😖😖

glitchypixel,
@glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@metin you'll probably need to also poison the image so AI scrappers fail to use it effectively in their databases.

psychicparrot42, to random
@psychicparrot42@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

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    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @psychicparrot42 @eniko Its actually a pretty fun game IMO xD.

    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @eniko @psychicparrot42

    Yup, full name is Nuts & Milk.

    You are a pink blobby thing (Milk) trying to get home to your blobby girlfriend (Yogurt) whilke avoinding a blue blobby bully (Nuts).

    Eat all fruits to open your girlfriends house and get there! Complete 50 levels!

    It even has a map editor to make your own levels.

    Despite the obvious innuendo in the title and the implications its pretty fun.

    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @psychicparrot42 @eniko this Famicom knockoff systems and cartridges were my bread and butter as a kid and have all sorts of nonsense games and hacks from many places

    Where I am from we could literally not get an original NES game nor system unless someone brought it from abroad. So pirate Famicom systems it was.

    So I have some fondness for all of these crazy multi game systems and cartridges. I'm sure I played the heck out of these and know most of them by heart :).

    lisyarus, to random
    @lisyarus@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    So I'm planning to try using goal-oriented AI (GOAP) for this project. Anybody got some suggestions, advice, resources, or strong opinions on this pattern?

    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @lisyarus GOAPs can be nice if you are absolutely sure all your AI is objective/goal driven and if you are comfortable programming

    Otherwise it can be a pain to bend them to do something else. There's a reason why BTs are more popular, as they can be designed with visual tools and can control hierarchy of actions.

    Having said that GOAPs can generate Interesting emergent behaviour. But you cannot control their path so easily. In a very simplistic sense it's just A* for state machines in the end

    vga256, to random
    @vga256@dialup.cafe avatar

    sometimes with my game development work I become disheartened with my capabilities or inabilities to produce the kind of work that I respect. whenever I begin to feel this way, I have started reading a few chapters from this little-known masterwork of stories and commentaries from hayao miyazaki

    it is a collection of essays, stories, lectures and thoughts from an animator who knows the business and craft of animation inside out. but more importantly - he has something to say about the craft, and usually it is something profound. today, this struck me:

    miyazaki writes,
    “What you want to express should determine the techniques that you use. If you don't have anything to say, technique alone is not enough to create a work. Technique is something people develop in order to express something.”

    when I watch myself and my colleagues work making games, there is a never-ending discussion about tools and languages and mechanics. it is easy to get lost or overwhelmed by the options we have. or worse, there are those who pre-decide on a certain style or set of techniques, regardless of what they are trying to accomplish.

    a friend once said of another colleague as we discussed his technically proficient yet pointless narratives, “He has nothing to say.”

    I am afraid that has been true of most video games for a very long time. it is extremely difficult to find something worth saying, and then develop new techniques for saying it in art or animation or books or games.

    but it leaves me feeling glad that this is not just a problem for game developers. miyazaki wrote that in 1987, speaking appreciatively of Frederic Back’s The Man Who Planted Trees. he was also worried about his own abilities to say something worth saying.

    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @brambo

    I'd also add that this also true for players, in the sense that many people don't want to be challenged or don't care what you want to say.

    It's weird in games because it's hard to tell if, say the creators of chess along humanity's history actually wanted to say something. It's a popular game nonetheless.

    I guess games sometimes can have that dichotomy. And either way, you still as a creator should want to say something anyway so it's kind moot if the player cares about it or not.

    psychicparrot42, to random
    @psychicparrot42@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @psychicparrot42 console releases are still strong sellers, hence why still a lot of devs do want to still publish there.

    My personal take is that I do think that the best one-two punch combo is to release some sort of demo or preview on web (like newgrounds or itch or something), then focus on console.

    PC is there but only because it's relatively easy to do, you should still do it, particularly a demo in a steam fest maybe, but don't keep your hopes up vs consoles as they tend to do better.

    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @psychicparrot42 of course this is my take as of now, things may (and do) change. But I'd do something like that if I plan to release in one year.

    Also localization can do wonders, especially if you translate to asian languages, particularly Chinese and Japanese. On Europe I'd focus on German, and mayyybe Spanish (but we'll maybe that's because is my native language xD)

    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @psychicparrot42 Well I was speaking on console terms.

    Usually steam only works if you haver lots and lots of wishlists beforehand.

    Minimum number is 20.000, sweet spot is 50.000... but that's only attainable on a good marketing push, which is not a thing for true indies.

    Discovery and localization stuff works way better on consoles for sure with or without marketing. Its almost a constant there I'd say

    And a web push can work sometimes (again, something with a community like newgrounds)

    helvetica, to random
    @helvetica@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    here’s an open game design problem i have:

    let’s say you have 100 teams you want to put on a leaderboard against eachother.

    the sizes of the teams range from 3 to 1000 players.

    everyone on the teams is playing the same game.

    what’s a fair way to put these teams against eachother?

    i want players to feel included, but i don’t want anyone to feel like they’re “bringing their team down”, so the obvious “average score” doesn’t work

    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @helvetica that feels hard to do. Brainstorming here a little and came up with multiple scores based on different skills. You could be bad at one type of score but better on others, bonus points to make each score orthogonal to another, like rock paper scissors (i.e. being better at one will affect another).

    Grab the best of all teams (or median) and have four leaderboards. One per each skill and one for all best scores combined. Multiple awards ensue plus the combined one. A triathlon of sorts

    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @helvetica hmm probably need to give either handicaps on large teams or advantages on smaller ones similar to the upkeep system of warcraft 3 maybe. Or segment by team size range to minimize bias.

    But yeah probably you'd need to iterate and test those. You probably need to see the system in motion or at least simulate it on a excel or something, seems hard to easily test anyway :p. It's an interesting challenge for sure.

    glitchypixel, to linux Spanish
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    Question for any and enthusiasts/experts/we.

    What is your opinion of and role in all of this?

    Do you trust them, or are you avoiding them like the plague? What is your position on what MS is doing on Linux.

    Is it a good or a bad thing form your perspective?

    Do you have or propose alternatives or better tools? If you do what are those (I suppose for C# and vscode specifically).

    I am oriented but other areas to talk about are good as well.

    maddy, to random
    @maddy@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @maddy I want to make an isometric Celeste-like 😸

    bitinn, to random
    @bitinn@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    The amount of pipeline talk at Blender Con this year is quite amazing, almost like they want to show Blender are widely used in production or something :)

    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @bitinn probably, but it could also mean the invers, that a lot of people do want to know how the pipeline works so they can integrate it to their productions as well. That is, people have asked.

    Usually only companies do that. It's basically blender achieving critical mass, and that's pretty good for the tool, gives it enormous momentum.

    Daojoan, to random
    @Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar

    The worst thing about online learning is that everything has become a video. Every code tutorial. Every design tutorial. Nobody actually writes out a guide anymore.

    It's just "hey guys welcome to my tutorial" and watching 10 minutes of content that mostly isn't relevant...

    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @Daojoan and even increasingly the text "documentation" or "guide" is becoming "go to this discord" server...so it's not becoming any better.

    mcc, to random
    @mcc@mastodon.social avatar

    Man everyone complains about "Snaps" but I think they are very convenient

    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @mcc
    Probably that would be the Vainilla Software app for Gnome I suppose? https://apps.gnome.org/Software/

    In fedora it works pretty nice and has flatpak support, so you can choose the repo or the flatpack from flathub

    I also don't get the snap complaints. I think its probably more related to canonical as a company and its corporate behavior, rather than the technical aspect of the snap

    But people do seem to get pretty incensed about this topic when it comes up, so I prefer to just not say anything

    eniko, to random
    @eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar

    Nebula isn't exactly an answer to YouTube's recent behavior because it's not an open platform

    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @eniko I don't think there will be one unfortunately. Nebula might be the best thing coming next, which of course is not the same.
    I can foresee personal servers with videos ala old blog style. That might be sustainable enough, but not sure, videos bandwidth cost are simply too big.

    djlink, to random
    @djlink@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    YouTube starting to block Ad-blockers is going to be something. I don’t think these companies understand that most of the blocking happens because of all the tracking code, slower websites and poorly implemented positions. I think if it was just a simple image with an ad and a clickable link there wouldn’t be as many people using Ad-blockers.

    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @djlink yeah the problem is that video bandwidth and maintenance is very very expensive, tons more expensive than text will ever be.
    Alternatives to YouTube are really hard to create without costs skyrocketing, so I don't envision an alternative without some form of payment.

    I think the nebula platform saw the writing on the wall a long time ago, but doubt they will ever be able to escalate to be like YouTube.

    I can see individuals maintaining their own servers with videos of their own though.

    eniko, to random
    @eniko@peoplemaking.games avatar

    people will often ask me why on earth i would use MSVC, almost scoldingly so. so i've created this image to show how much text there is in invoking GCC while highlighting the parts that are actually important to me as a developer

    i'm convinced this is the primary reason people think C is hard

    glitchypixel,
    @glitchypixel@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

    @eniko I can bet that a good amount of people like rust or zig less for the features or the syntax or whatever the language offers or proposes, and more because of the tooling behind those.

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