Mad Capacity

Poofy hair in the wilderness.

I’ve been taking heartbeast’s pixel art course from Udemy and it’s fantastic. Here’s a piece I made from the course.

I have a confession to make. I watched Indie Game: The Movie and was inspired to start making games. Yes. I’m that guy. This is coming from the perspective of someone that was outside of the industry and is slowly wiggling their way in.

My trade is front-end web development and the idea of game making was very foreign to me. For months I would lurk on /r/gamedev/ and I would listen to interviews with game developers all day while working on websites for various clients & agencies. Making games was becoming something I needed to do.

So fast forward a year or so later and I’ve finally completed two game jams, setup my website to showcase my work, thrown a local indie game focused event, joined the board of a local not-for-profit game developer group, attended/exhibited at various games events/conferences and recently in the past week and a half launched the greenlight campaign for my game, AsterVoid 2000 that is sitting in the top #100 (woo!).

Here’s a clip of a father and son playing AsterVoid 2000 which I’ve exhibited 6 times this year.

A video posted by Justin Luk (@madcapable) on Sep 13, 2015 at 10:30am PDT

Seeing reactions like that to something I’ve created feels fantastic. Sounds like I’ve put a ton of work into this in a short amount of time right? Well I have put a lot of time into learning how to create games and there hasn’t been very much return (read: $$$) on that investment. All the effort I’ve put in however is not enough. I need more time and space to mature as a game maker but how do I do it while keeping the lights on?

All the signs about making a living from games points to this:

Recently, Rami Ismail of Vlambeer gave a talk entitled “You Don’t Stand a Chance” at Control Conference 2015. My biggest take away from that talk was that you need to give yourself the space to fail. Betting everything you have on making a living from your own games is a sure fire way to get burned by your dreams. Great game makers aren’t going to be made overnight. You’ve read the articles and seen the evidence. Most of the odds are stacked against you if you’re new in this field. Time and experience is needed in order to mature as an indie.

Contracting - Specialized Skills

Contracting is how you can give yourself the time to become better at making games. I’ve been a freelance web developer for 7+ years, approximately 75% of my career has been running my own business. I’ve mentioned in a past post how things started off pretty badly. But I had a ‘lucky’ break with an agency contacting me regarding a job which then cascaded to further work across various agencies around town.

PROS

You get to feel like a mercenary

Higher hourly rate (niche skill = high pay, I suspect you make more as a web/software dev than game dev contracting)

More free time throughout the year (last year, I was able to make a healthy wage by working only half of the year)

More flexible work environment (depends on the client)

You get to dictate how much work you want to take on

Put food on the table

Go on vacation

Invest money back into your game

CONS

No benefits

Work can dry up (but you can use this time to work on your game!)

Weekdays and weekends can blend together (you work when there’s work)

Extra paper work (especially if you’re incorporating)

Can put a hold on your current game project

Keeping up with your contract skills and making games can require a bigger time commitment

If you have a special skill that you can contract out to help fund your lifestyle while making games then I highly recommend you make the moves to do so. This is not limited to web development, it’s for any skill that you can get contracted for. Low or high tech. Blue or white collar.

In the past year I’ve been taking my game AsterVoid (in alpha) and showing it at various exhibitions. It can be intimidating to present your game to the public but I really think there is no better way to get immediate feedback to help improve your game. Here are all the shows I’ve been to:

GDX Edmonton (Edmonton, AB)

Bit Bazaar Spring 2015 Tournament Arcade (Toronto, ON)

KDays TechLife (Edmonton, AB)

Facebook Seattle Pre-PAX Party (Seattle, WA)

Seattle Indies Expo (Seattle, WA)

Mini Maker’s Faire (Calgary, AB)

Calgary doesn’t have much of an indie game scene in terms of a place/event that allows local developers to showcase their games (I’ll get into that with a future post.) So if I wanted to get eyes on my games I had to put it in front of people and that involved travelling to other places. Here are my top lessons from showcasing.

Business Cards 

Have them. Don’t ever not have them (wha?). Seriously. Don’t run out and always bring more than you think you need. Don’t skimp on them either. I just got a new batch of 400 cards from Moo.com (10% off with this link) I love the quality! 

*Pffft I’m not giving you my digits that easily ;)*

Make sure you have some basic info on your cards:

Name

Email

Phone

Website

Social Media

Dual Monitor Mirrored Setup

I like to bring a second monitor and mirror the displays so I can watch people play from the other side of the table. People are focused on your game and don’t even realize their play session is being scrutinized. It really helps me identify bugs and also view exactly what’s going on when a player runs into trouble. 

*Activate Creep Mode* (Look at the beautiful Surface Pro 3...)

When you hear comments like “What button do I press?” or “What do I do?” it’s a clear indicator that you aren’t communicating something well in your game. Don’t be offended by the player, use it as research to help you figure out what parts of the game require more clarity.

Demo Mode

Ahh yes. The demo mode. I didn’t really figure this out until a couple of exhibits in but have your game start into some kind of attract/demo mode if it sits idle for a minute or two. It will show how your games play and gather more interest from passersby than just having a menu screen sitting there asking players to “Press Start”. My current “Poor Man’s” implementation of this is: I play a prerecorded video of game play that loops until someone presses a button in the game. I plan on implementing a proper demo scene using AI controlled players at some point.

Don’t Allow the User to Quit

If there is an option in your game menu that lets users quit the game, then you can be sure that they will. Picture this: You take a break from your exhibition table to go grab a coffee, only to return to see that your desktop is exposed to everyone because the last player quit the game and left! (What an embarrassing kitten desktop background...) 

Create a special build of your game for the exhibition and remove the quit option.

Mailing List

People just finished playing your game and had a great time. Now what? Have a way to contact people if they’d like to receive more information about your game. Grab this mailing list template from the awesome folks from Ultimate Chicken Horse.

https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/37qpgl/designing_a_better_paper_email_signup_form_ux_in/

Always be Nice

My time in Seattle exhibiting at the SIX was really valuable and I met some really great contacts. Most of them were super unassuming however. Be nice to everyone that takes the time to play your game. I managed to meet people from Microsoft, Amazon, and Dropleaf Gaming all of which I never would have guessed without actually chatting with them.

Don’t feel like you always need to ‘get something’ out of every person that tries your game.

Conclusion (tl;dr)

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZAhokhx1ok)

When it comes to my development environment I'm a rather picky person. It's taken me awhile to get all the pieces in place, but I finally have a set up that I'm pretty happy with.

My background with web development led me to have an Apple laptop in various forms for years. They are great computers albeit I think they are a little too pricey. Luckily Apple products retain their value for a pretty long time and last week I sold my Macbook Pro in favour for the Surface Pro 3.

This 'laplet' has been rad and having a great balance of features while still keeping me mobile. Here's my setup at home:

Surface Pro 3

Surface Pro 3 Dock

External Monitor

Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard

Microsoft Arc Bluetooth Touch Mouse Surface Edition

Full installation of Windows 10

The SP3 functions like a full laptop and not as a consumer focused device like the iPad. I can install any Windows 10 compatible software without having the go through an app store, or use some weird tablet version of popular software like Photoshop. 

Surface Pro Dock

This is one of my favourite accessories, it allows me to plug all my external devices directly into the dock. The SP3 just snaps in and out and everything connects seemlessly. No fiddling with wires to hook up the monitor, plug in controllers, or setup a keyboard. 

Art Creation

The stylus and the use of the kickstand on the SP3 allow it to double as an art station. I can create assets by drawing directly on the surface of the SP3.

Visual Studio

A fantastic IDE that helps me program games in C#. Unity 5.2 now comes with built-in VS integration. 

Portability

I've taken the SP3 to various exhibitions to showcase my game [AsterVoid](http://madcapacity.itch.io/astervoid) and my setup is so light weight and easy to transport. Carrying the SP3 at game conference all day doesn't break my back. 

Little gamers playing #astervoid at Maker Faire at Telus Spark! #games #gamedev

A video posted by Justin Luk (@madcapable) on Sep 13, 2015 at 10:14am PDT

Conclusion

It's surreal - over the past 2 or 3 months I've some how become a massive Microsoft fanboy. I attribute it all to the smooth workflow that the SP3 allows me to achieve. Considering how many different hats an indie developer is required to wear, the Surface Pro 3 is easily my favourite tool to create with. I'm super excited for the SP4 that's supposedly going to be announced next month. 

When I got into making games just over a year ago I was completely and hopelessly lost. There were so many options and routes to go down. If you have an interest in making games I hope this helps you. This is more about the broad strokes than nitty gritty details, if you have no clue where to begin, then start here.

1. The Beginning - building on the shoulders of giants

A game engine is the software framework that you use to create games. Engines handle the rendering of graphics to your screen, physics, collision detection, playing sounds, and etc. They are not the actual game itself. It's a generalized toolkit that you can use to make many different games.

There are a ton of paths you can take when it comes to making games. Realize that this is an industry that has been around a long time and many of the problems you're going to run into have already been solved by someone more experienced than you. Some people are tempted by building their own game engines but it's a rare breed that can make their own engine and also create a game out of it.

A good analogy is someone that needs to edit a photo on their computer but instead of using Photoshop, GIMP, or some other existing program they decide to write their own.

via GIPHY

I had cold feet when picking which engine to work with first. It felt like making a long-term commitment to a partner you had only just met. Don't sweat it however, there is no wrong way to get into making games. If you try out a game engine for a couple of months and decide it's just not working out that's ok! You will have gained a ton of transferrable skills.

GameMaker: Studio

Personally I started working with GameMaker: Studio. It doesn't have a great UI and it's sometime unintuitive but it's a fantastic tool. Some of my favourite indie games are made in GM: Studio. Hotline Miami, Risk of Rain, Samurai Gunn, Hyper Light Drifter, and Nuclear Throne just to name a few. It's primarily for 2D games which is all I'm focused on currently. I think it's an amazing tool to ease you into making games.

GameMaker: Studio Website

Unity

Any Google search you do on game dev will inevitably lead you Unity. It's one of the most popular engines out there. You can make 2D and 3D games using Unity and there is a huge community behind it. I've moved to Unity and my lastest project ASTERVOID 2000 in created in Unity. It's such a verstile tool and allows you to export your game to probably any platform that you want. PC, OSX, Linux, Playstation 4, XBOX One, Nintendo, iOS, Android, and more.

Unity Website

2. Git er' done

Try to do a handful of tutorials for your first couple of weeks. Both GameMaker: Studio and Unity have excellent learning resources on their respective websites. By sticking to a regement of tutorials you can start to get used to all the different features the engine you're working with has to offer. Dive into your own project once you feel you have a decent handle on the basics.

Making games is hard.

Whatever the idea is for your game cut it in half, and then cut it in half again. I have met too many people who's ambitions are way too large and end up with no games done under their belt after months/years of work. This is your first project so allow yourself to make something small and polished, then you can expand a little bit on your next project. I really can't stress the importance of finishing your projects enough.

Don't be scared of any facet of creating a game, whether it be programming, art, music, sound effects, or game design. It's good to get accustomed to what it takes to connect each of the parts to finish a game. For parts that you may be weak at you can rely on assets online to help you get started.

For example:

Graphics, Kenney Assets

Sound FX, ChipTone

3. Look for community

The largest thing that has kept me motivated is finding a community of game developers to hang out and bounce ideas off of.

At first making games was a lonely experience. I don't really look to online forums much. I'm from Calgary, Alberta, Canada - a city that is very western. Check out our sports arena.

That's right. A saddle. The nickname of Calgary is "Cowtown". There aren't any game development studios out here and I thought that I was the only one interested in making games here. I was however lucky to find a meetup.com group, called the Calgary Game Developers.

Being a part of a community is a lot of fun and the feedback you'll get from a live group of people is extremely valuable. Not to mention you'll likely be able to find people to collaborate with which will help when it comes to making bigger games.

If there is no community where you are from then don't be afraid to start it. Even just something small. When I started going to the CGD meetups I started something called Indie Friday with Radu Muresan which is a weekly work session at a cafe. It started with just the two of us but it's grown into 8 - 10 members a week. Our biggest Indie Friday must have had 20+ people.

Conclusion

I hope this really broad overview of making games is helpful to you. Don't be paralyzed by doubt, and stop making excuses. Just start making a game and keep pushing forward. You'll surprise yourself after a year or two with a handful of games to call your own.

KDays TechLife Exhibition Recap

From July 18th to the 20th I had the opportunity to exhibit AsterVoid once again. This time it was in Edmonton, Alberta during an annual fair called Klondike Days. The fantastic folks over at GDX were kind enough to organize everything and invite some of us Calgary game devs.

It was really interesting to exhibit here because there were people of all skill levels. It actually pushed me to improve the game in the following ways:

- Improved menu so it’s easier for players to join the game

- The hit boxes of the projectiles are now more accurate

- Added a quick white flash to the player when they charge up a shot

Back in mid-April the Calgary Underground Film Festival created the CuffCade. They had 5 arcade cabinets commissioned to showcase Western Canadian independent video games while the film festival was running. I'm happy to announce that we'll be getting three of these cabinets for you to play at the Indie Game Bash.

KRUNCH by LeGrudge & Rugged http://krunchgame.com/

GUN by Kitty Lambda http://kittylambda.com/

Don't Be Patchman by Naturally Intelligent http://www.dontbepatchman.com/

Big shout out to Game Mode for doing a Let’s Play of AsterVoid. It was awesome watching them shoot each other to bits.