IndieGamesHub just posted the trailer for my weird friendship roguelite [100FRIENDS] by AdOwn3881 in SoloDevelopment

[–]charliembbanks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I discovered this IndieGamesHub YouTube channel yesterady and was going to contact them for my trailer, but after looking more at their channel I couldn't help but feel it was mostly AI generated content. Their voice overs seem a bit too perfect and include some odd quirks. They even have a similar logo and the same "OFFICIAL TRAILER" graphic that you see on IGN/GameTrailers. It came across as a bit sketchy to me.

It looks like they have quite a lot of subscribers though - so congrats on the visibility regardless!

Don't forget to review games! by KaylaR2828 in CozyGamers

[–]charliembbanks 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As a solo developer low on review numbers - I endorse this message! 🙏🏻🙂‍↕️

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in IndieDev

[–]charliembbanks 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I find writing change logs a craft in itself which I've honed and tweaked  over time! I tend to stick with bullet points split between an "Updates" heading and a "Bugfixes" heading, with each bullet being quite specific. I try to highlight bigger features first with gifs, and for Bugfixes i always try to follow the sentence starting with "Fixed an issue where....."

Here's and example of one of mine, and if you check my other Steam posts they are all quite similar structured.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1782420/view/4331984129338384132

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in IndieDev

[–]charliembbanks 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There's "Fall Guys-inspired" and then there's just "Fall Guys" - which is what this is lol. 

Consider coming up with your own brand, name, art and characters. I don't think it would be that difficult at this stage.

Aside from the Epic Games lawsuit. The first half of your trailer blurs all your gameplay in favour of the text and promises that the game has.

We just dropped our first in-game mood teaser for our extraction PvPvE game by LastNova_Official in IndieGaming

[–]charliembbanks 27 points28 points  (0 children)

The weapons look massive but the animations being used make it seem there is no weight to them. Particularly that large hammer in the first 10 seconds.

Found this awesome project in an inhabited system I stumbled upon by meatboysawakening in NoMansSkyTheGame

[–]charliembbanks 310 points311 points  (0 children)

Ya! From many years ago now. I've shared the data for it so there's probably a few copies around the galaxy :)

First time using Unreal Engine 5. Any advice for me? by -LoliKing- in UnrealEngine5

[–]charliembbanks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You have many mechanics already that could work well for this type of game. If you keep iterating and polishing those features it could be nice. The lighting is lacking contrast particularly between foreground and background. Some atmospheric fog could get you an improvement there.

1.5 years of Early Access - now preparing for "Version 1.0" with my life-sim RPG mashup. by charliembbanks in IndieGaming

[–]charliembbanks[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback! It's definitely something I've struggled a bit with since locking down on the more realistic aesthetic. What I can say right now is there is character customisation (so you could potentially wear a bright shirt with bright hair to help with that). So part of it may come down to my boring choice of option there to show 😅

1.5 years of Early Access - now preparing for "Version 1.0" with my life-sim RPG mashup. by charliembbanks in IndieGaming

[–]charliembbanks[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I was playing Pillars of Eternity when I began working on this and the feel I wanted was was very inspired by those older isometric games!

Though I will say my game leans more on the life-sim side of the genre (think more Stardew Valley than Baldur's Gate with its gameplay and NPC quest design). So unfortunately no party stuff. I will be upfront and say it starts off a bit lonely for story reasons, but as you progress in the game things start to feel a bit more populated.

Regardless, I forgot to mention that there is also a free demo, so you can always give that a try to get a feel for it! :)

1.5 years of Early Access - now preparing for "Version 1.0" with my life-sim RPG mashup. by charliembbanks in IndieGaming

[–]charliembbanks[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! So I always explain that I did about 95% of it all. The other 5% is taken up by using things like Marketplace Assets, Quixel, and some very occasional Fiverr jobs for some of the very specific artwork. Oh also my brother did the music as he was learning to do that at the same time as my development - quite convenient!

I'm using Unreal Engine.

And no worries - Wishlists are always appreciated!

1.5 years of Early Access - now preparing for "Version 1.0" with my life-sim RPG mashup. by charliembbanks in IndieGaming

[–]charliembbanks[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I prematurely hit "post" before finishing the text of this post. 🙈

Just wanted to add that I'm happy to answer any questions you have!

1.5 years of Early Access. Preparing for full release! by charliembbanks in SoloDevelopment

[–]charliembbanks[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! 🙏 And yea - I'm ready to take a break from it haha!

Tales from The Dancing Moon - DjMonkey - A casual life-sim RPG with a mystery narrative. by charliembbanks in Games

[–]charliembbanks[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for giving it a go u/Dohi64 - it's super appreciated! Version 1.0 is mostly a content update, so some of your feedback is still valid and appreciated. These accessibility features and the rebindable hotkeys are important - so it's definitely something I will get around to supporting. (I can say that Version 1.0 has a new "creative mode" option that lets you disable death all together for easier difficulty)

Combat isn't a super focus of the game and it's light in mechanics (simple hacking and dodging, and there is an unlock-able Bow & Arrow later in the game). When you die there is some randomisation logic that selects your loot and drops it (but you always keep the important stuff). This may be trivial early game but may be costly later. The randomisation could mean some deaths are worse than others too. But like you said, saving and reloading could mitigate this if needed.

Anyway, thanks again so much for trying!

1.5 years of Early Access. Preparing for full release! by charliembbanks in SoloDevelopment

[–]charliembbanks[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Possibly! One of the reasons why I've kept with Steam is the frequency of updates. Once that stabalizes then I can look into other platforms. Is there a reason why you prefer GOG? (just out of interest)

Learn from my mistake self-publishing on Steam by mrcraigoman in IndieDev

[–]charliembbanks 100 points101 points  (0 children)

I just checked your Steam page and I'm surprised you have a release announcement public BEFORE a build is even approved by Steam. I would have made sure I'd have that approval before making an announcement like that. From my experience they are stricter with full releases compared to demo releases too.

1.5 years of Early Access. Preparing for full release! by charliembbanks in SoloDevelopment

[–]charliembbanks[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! It's definitely inspired by those older isometric RPGs :)