UnionVGF Indie Game developers (or thinking about becoming one) corner

TFX said:
You're absolutely right. I'd love to have some kind of income to hire him/someone else/a team to work on it full-time because I was always one of his three or so projects and we were both working for free and he was a full-time developer so money needed to come in at some point. I'd love to slip into a director/producer role and hand the work off to some really talented people, guiding them as they go because I think they'll get it. But continuing to work on it as a hobby for an hour or two a week is just a tease, especially when I have other creative things I'm working on and a full-time job.
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I am "lucky" that due to the pandemic, I can work from home, & have off unpaid day (currently 4 days week), allowing me to work in the evening as well as off days.
So I get paid in my day job, assuring stable income, & I am less stressed working on my game. At least not from $.

I think it is important to have a schedule, follow it, as well as post regular updates, even if it's just for yourself. I post almost daily, even if its not much on twitter & often here as well, that it becomes a routine & I can motivate myself.

Also, I think part-time solo Game development is about giving up other stuff you enjoy. There is no 2 ways about it. Just what are you willing to give up, which not.
There are tonnes of books, games, TV shows I wanted to watch, but I just don't have time for. I wanted to have a youtube channel on gaming (level design & such) but I just can't do it.
 
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starseeker said:
Have you consider Kickstarter, early access or Indiegogo. Many of the indie devs I followed on twitter are doing these. It gets you money, exposure, as well as player base.

As far as sound, I just use what's available on https://freesound.org/ or record my own sound. I can't do music so I use mostly from Eric Matya http://soundimage.org/ & some other free sites. Maybe I will have 1-2 unique theme music, & that's about it.
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I have considered kickstarter, but from what I hear, you need a good following already, and it takes a long time to set up when working alone. Plus, I don't like its all or nothing approach.

Early access is something I'm considering, don't know yet.

My main goal is to follow up with the publisher I've been talking to and try to get something going.
 
Godsmack said:
I have considered kickstarter, but from what I hear, you need a good following already, and it takes a long time to set up when working alone. Plus, I don't like its all or nothing approach.

Early access is something I'm considering, don't know yet.

My main goal is to follow up with the publisher I've been talking to and try to get something going.
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Can confirm, you need a following and/or an ad spend/sophisticated, weeks/months long campaign to really nail a Kickstarter goal, even if you're bidding too low.
 
Godsmack said:
I have considered kickstarter, but from what I hear, you need a good following already, and it takes a long time to set up when working alone. Plus, I don't like its all or nothing approach.

Early access is something I'm considering, don't know yet.

My main goal is to follow up with the publisher I've been talking to and try to get something going.
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How do you find a publisher by the way?
 
Anyway, I started with the attic, starting with the ladder

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starseeker said:
How do you find a publisher by the way?
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I had 3 come to me when I posted on screenshot saturday in the indie game developer facebook group.

I believe it is this one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/IndieGameDevs/

If you can post a screenshot during their weekly events, and it gets enough attention (likes, comments, etc), you may get a publisher contact you on facebook. I also get a bunch of composers or whatnot asking if they can work on the project.

That's how I did it anyway. You can always look up a list of publishers and contact them. Just make sure you've got something worth showing first and make sure you can explain what your plan to get it finished and all about the project. If they come to you, it's a little easier.
 
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Godsmack said:
I had 3 come to me when I posted on screenshot saturday in the indie game developer facebook group.

I believe it is this one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/IndieGameDevs/

If you can post a screenshot during their weekly events, and it gets enough attention (likes, comments, etc), you may get a publisher contact you on facebook. I also get a bunch of composers or whatnot asking if they can work on the project.

That's how I did it anyway. You can always look up a list of publishers and contact them. Just make sure you've got something worth showing first and make sure you can explain what your plan to get it finished and all about the project. If they come to you, it's a little easier.
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Thanks, I have created a Facebook account for my game studio & joined the group.
 
I know this isn't much, but I wanted to post a timestamp before I leave for my holiday of 1.5 days...aka the weekend.

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I have been playing around with Quixel Megascan assets, for my levels. It amazing & easy & problem-free to transfer once you set up the link to UE4.

The 3D asset (with build know LODs) & texture are all amazing. I hope to show off when I start the layout of the attic level. I try to minimize # of assets I need to manually create as it is very time-consuming. The Auto ladder system which includes the pull panel & ladder system took me about 3.5 days to model & texture.
 
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2 evening worth of work on the attic. The attic is much bigger than I expected, & most of the work is filling the huge attic.
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Okay, another update. The attic is almost done. I will add wind chime/dream catcher & maybe a teddy bear to the scene & then the base level is done.

I added wirings, sockets, & more wall structures. It's amazing how beams % pillar changes feel & space of a place.

I will make a walkthrough video once I finish the attic.
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Very busy for my IRL development work, so I have very little time for my game project but I manage to add windchimes to make the attic scene less static.
I have to learn physic & constraints in UE4 to make the wind chimes, & while the animation still a bit wonky, I am happy considering it took me 1/2 day work to set up the physics base animation.

A Teddy bear & the scene is done. I want OG Beethoven piano piece ( I am a noob on classical music) for the attic, but I see if I can get a nice piece for cheap or free to use.

 
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I resist for a while but decided to add a "detective mode" that highlights all interactable objects within range, to ease people who dislike looking around finding things to interact with.

I add a small timer so you can't spam it & defeat the whole point of exploration..

 
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starseeker said:
I resist for a while but decided to add a "detective mode" that highlights all interactable objects within range, to ease people who dislike looking around finding things to interact with.

I add a small timer so you can't spam it & defeat the whole point of exploration..

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If you are worried about it ruining exploration or making things too easy, you could always set it up as part of "easy" mode and disable it on higher difficulties, or you could do it like a tutorial pop-up and let the player choose to enable it or not.

An example would be the Uncharted series. If the player is supposed to find something, a timer waits for them and kicks in after a while giving them a hint. You could then have an option for disabling hints.
 
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Thanks for the input. I will consider the best balance. Anyway, my Holiday is over & I will be back full swing next week starting with a new level, which is always exciting & daunting.
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More updates for the cave level. Took a lot of assets from the Quixel Megascan library. Next step is model the rest of the assets
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Started modeling work on the cave.


Cave Door and frame. There are some snow dusting as the door is facing outdoor
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Pit door with subtle dried blood on the cover & wall. Human remains will be added in UE4 in the pit.
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Wall Torch. The lava glow is an emissive texture that can be on & off base on if the torch is lighted or not. The fire emitter will be added in Unreal 4.
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The cave level is almost done. I am pretty happy with the end result. I need to add some coding & light finetuning so that the torches are off & you need to light them as you advance deeper (with the only source of light the previous torch you lighted) to get a sense of suspense & tension as the game climax.

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