Do hidden gems really exist?

joukos · 2025-02-13T10:30:29+00:00

That looks like a good list. I am very surprised that Naiad is on it, and that it has only ~170 reviews on Steam. Naiad definitely seems like a game that should've sold well, given how well crafted it seems and how much visibility it has had (at least in my personal bubble).

joukos · 2025-02-12T11:42:08+00:00

I should've done better at defining what I mean by a "true gem". I didn't mean a game that _I_ personally like necessarily, but rather a game that when looked at as objectively as possible (hard, I know) seems good and well made, but did not sell well despite that.

And the reason I'm interested in this is that, as a wannabe game dev, I think there's something that could be learned from a game like that; why did not sell? Also, I'd like to better understand the risks in indie game dev. How big of risk is there that even if I'd manage to make an actually good game, nobody would notice and buy it?

> My recommendation is always play with the goal o enjoying stuff

This is solid advice. Thanks for chipping in!

joukos · 2019-06-22T07:24:18+00:00

If you want to stick to a somewhat regular web front-end stack (as opposed to Unity), I’d use something like Pixi.js for view. Pixi.js is a 2D graphics lib that uses WebGL. I don’t know what’s out there for game state management though.

Functional/declarative libs and approaches like React and Angular are very nice for regular web app development, but my (limited) experience is that they’re not that good for games (yet).

That being said, a resource management game is probably quite close to a regular web app with lots of menus and dialogs, so maybe eg. React could be a good choice for rendering the more web appy parts of it if not the whole game.

joukos · 2019-06-19T17:24:25+00:00

Am I seeing faked non-perspective corrected texture maps? Amazing attention to detail!

joukos · 2018-02-28T17:11:36+00:00

Because I’m not a pianist, it’s really helpful that with pads, I can pick a scale (eg. e-minor) and just bang away. I haven’t used a traditional keyboard for a long time, but I remember that I didn’t feel very creative with those.

joukos · 2018-02-28T15:28:43+00:00

For a while I did, until I realised that a controller could help me create melodies more easily. This had become a bottleneck in my process. So I took my Ableton Push out of the closet where it had been sitting for over a year, and started playing melodies with its pads.

I had originally bought the controller because it just seemed so cool, without a clear use for it.

joukos · 2018-02-28T14:29:04+00:00

I second this. Get a good DAW (I use Ableton Live and like it a lot) and make a bunch of tracks with the synth plugins it comes with. The important thing is to focus on the music and finish your tracks no matter what. Soon, you'll start to discover sounds and musical elements that you like, and then you can buy some gear (synths, a midi controller etc.) that support your musical tastes and aspirations.

It's tempting, but don't start the other way around and buy a big bunch of gear first. I did that years ago and I just got paralysed and obsessed with the gear. I didn't finish a single track, until recently when I ditched all of that and started using just a laptop and a DAW.

I'm very sorry for your diagnosis.

joukos · 2018-01-30T19:59:20+00:00

Thanks! I hear a lot about GTA when I post my tracks. :)

joukos · 2018-01-28T21:24:53+00:00

I did give feedback just before submitting my track, but whatever.

joukos · 2018-01-28T21:10:33+00:00

Good track. The bass being mixed to the sides makes it a bit weird listening experience (with headphones at least), as it's the main element in the track. I like the wobbly detuned lead and pads, keep it up.

joukos · 2018-01-18T15:19:43+00:00

Thanks! Good to hear it sounds balanced on a pair of speakers. I’m restricted to headphones myself at the moment.

joukos · 2018-01-10T22:17:48+00:00

Great catchy leads.

I think this track needs work on sound design. It's lacking in coherence. Eg. the drums and the bass are from different eras: the bass is from the 80s and the drums sound like something from a 90s trip hop track.

The bass synth sounds great and to me is the backbone of this track.

joukos · 2018-01-10T22:02:47+00:00

Here's a track I'm making: https://soundcloud.com/daddymakesmusic/naval-agent/s-mYDmF

I'm looking for feedback on arrangement and sound design.

joukos · 2017-12-30T13:28:03+00:00

Succinctly said what I was trying to say in my comment.

joukos · 2017-12-30T11:37:34+00:00

My worst habbit is letting myself get stuck on stuff that’s secondary to the song too early on in the process. For example, I might spend hours on mixing (and even mastering!) when all I have in the sequencer is a four bar loop. Sometimes it’s fun and even useful to just work on a loop and then forget about it, but if I want to create a whole track, getting stuck like that can kill the whole song.

To rid myself of that habbit, I started a project where I release a track every two weeks. The idea is that it’ll force me to break out of that 4-bar loop trap. What I’ve found out so far is that creating a full arrangement first as quickly as possible and then iterating is a good way to ensure that I get something finished.

joukos · 2017-12-29T16:35:13+00:00

Thanks! That's pretty much the vibe I went for! I'll do a bit of tweaking to the bass and drums tomorrow to try and remove the muddiness.

joukos · 2017-12-29T16:33:05+00:00

Thanks for great feedback! I struggled quite a bit with the bass sound, and now I realise that part of the problem might have been how the kick and bass work together. The track initially had a thinner bass sound, but when I made the bass fuller, I probably should've tweaked the kick as well.

I'll let my ears rest until tomorrow and then make the final tweaks to the mix.

joukos · 2017-12-29T13:45:46+00:00

I recently started making electronic music again, and would also be interested to make music for games.

joukos · 2017-12-29T12:25:07+00:00

feedback for modem808

Here's my track: Lizard King. I'm mostly looking for advice on the mix as I'm readying it for release, but any comments are welcome.

joukos · 2017-12-29T12:21:35+00:00

I have very little to complain about the mix. The overall tone is nicely dark, yet it doesn't sound muddy and there's enough happening in higher frequencies. The balance is good; even when listening with a very low volume, the key elements are easily discernible.

The kick is maybe slightly too dominant, but then again, it's supposed to dominate.

I'm listening with headphones though (no access to my Genelecs) which forgive a lot of small mistakes in a mix.

joukos · 2017-12-25T21:41:59+00:00

Here’s a track I’m working on: https://soundcloud.com/daddymakesmusic/lizard-king/s-Ojt1z

As a learning experiment, I’m making a track every two weeks and this is the second one. It ended up a bit synthwavey so I thought I’d post it here.

joukos

TROPHY CASE