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Indie No Money Marketing Guide!

This is a really great article about marketing your indie game project for no money at all! Definitely a great read with a lot of good information.

http://www.devmag.org.za/articles/78-ZERO-BUDGET-INDIE-MARKETING-GUIDE/

We need to get together again soon and GAME JAM!! D: OMG!!!!

Close Range...

It was done.

I spent only about an hour experimenting with cubes and scripts from the Assests folder in Unity3d and was able to make some small little experiments involving bouncing cubes and selecting them with the mouse and tossing them around. I imported an empty box model into Unity3d with Sketch-Up. The scripting is fairly simple, however Unity3d has some many different inherent variables and functions it will take some time to get a firm hold of. Besides that, I look forward to Thursday. If all goes well, maybe we'll get to test some simple cubes on our bearded friend's iPod Touch?

It Continues

So, I've been a busy boy. I watched quite a few Unity3d videos and actually found some that are such great resources that I thought I'd post more links with an update on my cube controller project. First links:

This has some pretty awesome explanations of how JavaScript interacts with Unity3d. I think that with Alison would be able to rock this, specifically when combined with the videos explaining how to attack the unity giant from a Flash Developer's perspective:

http://www.unifycommunity.com/wiki/index.php?title=Head_First_into_Unity_with_JavaScript

Upon further investigation, I found the http://learnmesilly.com/ link to be totally schweet and ahsum. It's got like 3+ hours of Unity3d high quality video tutorials with different lessons and multiple parts to the lessons which approach Unity3d from the ground up. It even starts goes into making objects in external programs and importing them into Unity3d. Seriously:

http://learnmesilly.com/

After all the research into Unity3d was done, this way determined to be the best introductory links by far. I would please ask that this series of 7 videos each between 3 to 8 minutes long, be watched. All 7 videos are accessible through this person's Vimeo account. Every video is solid gold.

http://vimeo.com/user1156682

Beyond that, I spent my night figuring out how to take my existing knowledge of JavaScript and learn the proper Unity3d version of it. At first it seemed a little strange, however I'm completely convinced that we can achieve almost any game type that we want with a combination of great assets and code.

Specifically, the Vimeo-account-link very quickly sets up cubes and shows how to manipulate them in a simple way by adding transformation along axes or pushing forces in directions using the internal physics engine.

I am still trying to gather as much information as possible, however I am very excited to begin experimenting. My largest concern was concerning how to link Objects and Functions. I determined that components are synonymous with Scripts --> JavaScript.

I am wondering if the group would like a simple explanation of all of the components of Unity3d and how they work?

I'd also like to quickly show the connection between Objects and their Functions in Unity3d by using very simple JavaScript. JavaScript is ridiculously powerful in Unity3d. I almost cannot believe it. These are good signs. Next, we meet on the day of Thor with our research. I would really love to test some cubes out on iPod Touch too. Speaking of which, I need to do some more research into the new iPhone SDK.

It has begun

Yo yo yiggity yo. I've been messing around with the game engine a bit, by the end of today I'm trying to get a cube to do something with JavaScript. Wish me luck. On my way to accomplishing this goal, I found some help in the form of awesome websites:

This site has some good ideas and has some Unity3d resources:
http://learnunity3d.com/

This dude has a tutorial that explains how to take a mesh from Google Earth, import it into Sketch Up and then import that into Unity3d:
http://3dnemo.com/03_tutorials.html

Here is a website talking about approaching Unity3d from a Flash developer's perspective:
http://diamondtearz.org/blog/2009/02/25/unity-3d-for-flash-developers-tutorial-series-and-cheat-sheet/

There is indeed a z at the end of the title of this website and that is why it will succeed. Seriously though, there are a ton of great links on this page:
http://diamondtearz.org/blog/unity3d-resources-collection/

Funny thing, I randomly met the man who invented Wikipedia. He told me what the next incarnation of Wikipedia would be, and it was such a tongue twister I forgot it and haven't seen it developed yet. Thank goodness. Anyway, there is a Unity 3d wiki called UnifyWiki, it's ahsum:
http://www.unifycommunity.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Last but not least, some video tutorials from learnmesilly.com:
http://learnmesilly.com/index.php?currentPage=unity_lesson1#

Wish me luck.

Good Game News and Information sites!

Some Good sites to check up on news and information for games:

http://www.gamasutra.com
http://www.kotaku.com
http://www.ign.com
http://www.gamecareerguide.com

Bad Game Designer: No Twinkie!

Here's some links to this awesome game designers website, he writes a lot of really interesting, really good articles about game design in a general sense, including what to go and what not to do.

Just scroll down and click the links to read up, it's good stuff!

http://www.designersnotebook.com/Design_Resources/No_Twinkie_Database/no_twinkie_database.htm

Dreams of Makotako

When I woke up this morning, I saw that there was a new e-mail from Mako. I clicked on it and this is what I got: Japanese Urban Camoflague

I'm sure it'll be appreciated.

Last night was a big night for us. We shared some great ideas and had to make a decision. I was very scared that David was reading my thoughts, so now I've got a tin foil hat. All that I've gotta say is that great minds think alike and David and I do run Tall Club with a tall iron fist. Anyway, I think that our choice of the Dream themed game will garnish interesting individual and collaborative results.

Christina, you had mentioned that you had taken some notes from that game designer whose name I can't remember now, but if possible could you post the notes here for us to read?

Our meeting last night was awesome and I'm very excited to see what everyone thinks and makes concerning dreams. Please consider: characters, brief synopsis of story, visual aesthetic, gameplay and general ideas concerning dreams and your dreams to share with the group. It seems like we're at the gather as much info as possible stage concerning the Dream Project, so honestly, whatever people are able to suggest, use, bring, etc will be great to see and brainstorm with.

Don't forget to do some research and testing as well. I'd like to try out the software sometime this week. I believe that our next meeting is on Thursday at the 2d Cloud studio again. This is gonna be schweet.

iPhone SDK 3.0

happy saint patrick's day! here is an apple video listing a bunch of info on the update of the iPhone SDK . there is a text summation up on engadget as well .

interviews, interviews everywhere:

So those wonderful folk at Flashbang Studio's (who use Unity for everything and run Blurst.com) had a recent interview over at Gamasutra Pretty cool stuff. Other neat interviews thrown up on Gamasutra with Media Molecule, makers of LittleBigPlanet

And another keen item I came across on the internet is Gamesalad. Braighnez food for thought.

FARKING INTROVERSION!

ack maybe now this works. this is that UK dev that i can never remember.

NOTES FROM LAST MEETING!!

(these are not organized very well, but here we go!)


Game Ideas

Awesome Wars - have all assets and some sound, just need programming magic!

Socket Bunny - Side scrolling adventure about a bunny that looks like an electrical plug, or make it into a puzzle game of sorts? Socket Bunnies of different shapes and sizes go together? Puzzle Side Scroller?

Turbo Pig - Feed the pig to make him fat and happy by making him eat the correct food as he tromps across the screen. Avoid bacon, ham and meat, or else he'll become crazed and you lose points.

Ali Ideas

Ninja Cat - Cat gets closer to screen and each level you get more cats. They attack the screen. Where's Waldo, or point and click adventure game idea?

Peaceful Games - like flow, have an organic shape that's 3D and sits in the middle of the screen and lights up a section of the shape. As it rotates you try and cover the entire shape with your finger and fill it up with light. Carve away at a shape and try to make a ball or an another shape, more complex.
-With only three cuts, try to make a shape - geometric or animal shapes.
-Additive and Subtractive gameplay, clay like

Cooking Mama-esque game -
Except you're making cool science experiments by putting together the ingredients to make a dinosaur, monster creator sort of game.

Little blocks of music, kind of instrument or rhythm, assorted pieces of music that you can add speed, rhythms, you try to match a piece of music with what you create with instruments, etc.

Comedic and thought provoking use of tools in game. Character moves through the world and picks stuff up that they came put together - point and click adventure game? The Incredible Machine? Grimm Fandango? Monkey Island? Combine with Raine's rolling skull panels idea.

Dream World: character that can't wake up, false awakening structure? Dream world, nuts things happen in game. You're being chased by a witch with a chainsaw and you become transparent. Ue dream logic to provoke gameplay. Chooe your own adventure game? Cool things is the abilities to do things you can't do normally. Touch oriented gameplay. Microgames? Storybased? Puzzle Game?

Small town - old woman standing on the roof and her mouth is open and these small spores infect the town and create a horror story, follows the towns-peoples lives. Following the characters in this town who are doing strange things, you're this ghost that are following the characters around and you can influence them because of that. Another gameplay idea - you move closer and closer and you click on a person and you shoot them. Exploratory game idea, you play as different characters. Kind of like Zork? You are not in complete control, you're hinting at what should be possible. Story would be the backbone of motivational structure. Have all of it fit contextually to what you're doing. Combine with structure of comic art panels flipping and moving?

Sean

Recognizable forms and symbols to the human psyche: Flash a word on the screen and you rotate the letters and you use that word to create monsters that fight other monsters.

Physics based tower tetris game, make a tower out of letters that, make a tower. Use letter robots to fight a city, meteors com down and destroy a tower. Like Boom Bloxs?

Multi-animal spinning toy game

Russian Doll game - something contained within dolls

Build things out of paper on the screen. Build a cheetah, build a blueprint correctly and the paper will fold up and create a cheetah. Many sheets of paper are used. Not origami. Simple puzzle zen game. Combine with clay idea to create soft and hard shapes?

Nieghbor hole - ???

Character is the most brilliant man ever - interesting person - interesting things happen to him, go back and forth in time and play through his life. Guy on his fun adventures. Ridiculous types of situations. Warioware type of structure, microgames, random stuff, showing off, it's a day in his life.

Dream Game: interesting to work with different effects in the dream world. Go through one door and come out another one.

See a map and you rotate it to reach goals - point of the boardgame is to power cities and you buy resources with an economy you manage. You power the most houses by the end of the game. Risk-esque game, strategy game without war.


Raine

Oregon Trailish game - Robot Dinosaurs traveling the Oregon Trail

Comic Panels - you pin and match panels together to help a skull find it's body. Use the iPhone to tilt for movement. Matching words, shapes, colors and weird puzzles. Could fit any type of story or thing into the structure.

Tell Cerebus not to eat yellow snow? - Mythology Game?

Baby gets shot out on a window and you go through life flying through the air until you fall into a grave. You go through life. Babies rotate around you and are used as your shields from enemies.
- Like Knights for the Saturn; simple 3D world
- Baby Shields
- Like Cube Runner - free iPhone game
- Rez game - vector based rail shooter fire shots with different musical beats.
- Pull and release your finger to fling things or fire shots. Like Mario Galaxy

Combine Gardening and blowing stuff up:
Ink blots that could be an explosion or a tree. Plant are sorts of seeds, and you get a unicorn or a school bus, or something. Farming strategy simulation - battle gophers, your neighbor, bad drought, locusts, floods - Warcraft esc.

Platformer: start out really tiny - you eat lightbugs and you eat lights everywhere as you get bigger, eventually eat the sun. Much like Katamari Damacy!

Ink splatter - that is your plant. Physics based game?

Storytelling Games Have in Common:
Witty Dialogue
Can't Die
None or little Violence
Care about the character at hand.

David

Gardening game: not enough to do?

Kenji Eno - iPhone games - one pixel enemies - find one pixel and touch it to win.

Gamexzxzs

Okay cats. I'd ask for a moment of silence for the first posting of Mr. Superblog, but it was silent for about two weeks. After the meeting on the 12th I returned home quite excited about the next steps. We had some really great ideas being shared and I'm looking forward to seeing all of our refined ideas. I did some looking today and found some interesting things that might provide some inspiration.

Old Timey Radio

Found on the Steve Lieber website. It shows a radio that was designed for elderly people to listen according to time period by adjusting dials. It has some great design features. My personal favorite is the slick Apple tech being used beneath it's old polish.

Crayon Physics Deluxe

I remembered what Christina mentioned about Crayon Physics and did a bit of research on YouTube to find that the same dude made a deluxe version.

Neal Adams Growing Earth

For those of you who think that they know about Neal Adams and Geology, think again. When the Earth starts shifting I totally geek out.

Excelsior.