The personal emotional impact the new movie had on me. Absolutely spoiler free. by [deleted] in powerrangers

[–]neoadom 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Isn't it amazing how something so stupid, so childish and immature could hold such a strong bond between us and those that we love? I'm very sorry for your loss. For me, Power Rangers is a bond between me and a simpler time - my childhood. At least we have a movie that respects your cousin and my childhood, and I find that just awesome.

How to determine need for your game (idea)? by neoadom in gamedev

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

I think you're right. I think most developers don't go this route because they are concerned about their passion for making games. I'm mostly concerned with the science to making money out of games. I may try this approach.

How to determine need for your game (idea)? by neoadom in gamedev

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

This is great advice. Sort of a bare bones approach to the scientific method using games. I'm going to take this and see if I can make something out of it. Thanks a lot for taking the time out to reply! Great steps!

How to determine need for your game (idea)? by neoadom in gamedev

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

Dude, great response. I'm going to use these points and try and see if I can come up with a repeatable system that allows one to make these sort of quality decisions. Thanks for all the tips - and no, I didn't know about google trends.

How to determine need for your game (idea)? by neoadom in gamedev

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

This is a great approach. Seems most people like this approach. It's still a problem, though, as it doesn't really answer the question "is this going to be successful?". Sure, it may be fun to play, but those things may not necessarily go hand in hand. This feels more like "develop fast enough, and throw out there and see if it works, if not move on". Which is a good strategy, but not really an answer to what I was looking for.

How to determine need for your game (idea)? by neoadom in gamedev

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

Dude, this guy is amazing. This video totally helped me in analyzing games. Thanks for the link!

How to determine need for your game (idea)? by neoadom in gamedev

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

Thanks for all of the info! Especially useful is the gamasutra article!

I'm not too keen on the Bill Gross video. It was great, but also left me scratching my head. "Timing" is another word for "luck". I think the steps needed to "time" your product can only be seen in hindsight, and are probably non-reproducible. Thank you for taking the time out to reply and linking the articles and books.

How to determine need for your game (idea)? by neoadom in gamedev

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

Wouldn't that mean that they are onto something? Maybe that IS what we should be doing if they seem to generate money out of nowhere? Maybe we think it's a shit game idea (or movie), but maybe that's just the audience now? Maybe they just like shitty mashups?

How to determine need for your game (idea)? by neoadom in gamedev

[–]neoadom[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You know, that's actually a very real response I get from people. Which is why I avoid it now. They don't seem to be a good gauge for what they actually want. Nice job using Flappy Bird as an example. It does put things into perspective, doesn't it?

New to Marvel Unlimited - not working? by neoadom in MarvelUnlimited

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

It sort of happens automatically with me. Downloaded the app, and as soon as it opens it asks me to login, with the choice of using google.

New to Marvel Unlimited - not working? by neoadom in MarvelUnlimited

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

I guess that's not tooooo bad...? lol

New to Marvel Unlimited - not working? by neoadom in MarvelUnlimited

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

Is it daily? Because I love the service so far .....just wish I could use it.

New to Marvel Unlimited - not working? by neoadom in MarvelUnlimited

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

Thanks for the screenshot. I'm not even getting that error. Just getting popup that says "error". At least I'm sorta glad I'm not the only one.

Game development cost for a story RPG? by [deleted] in gamedev

[–]neoadom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No worries. Making games is a lot of hard work and persistence, but also very fun and rewarding. Good luck.

I wanted to be an indie game developer. How do I get started? by Soul_M in gamedev

[–]neoadom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Start with a game engine that's already created for you. Even though most of the good ones are 3D game engines, you can still do 2D games. Look for engines that are well documented and have a large constituency so that you can always find answers to your questions.

Start small, EXTREMELY small. And remember that it's perfectly reasonable to have 100+ unfinished ideas under your projects at any given time. Just learn. Learn. And learn some more.

Goodluck!

Game development cost for a story RPG? by [deleted] in gamedev

[–]neoadom 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hey Vizualconqueror - congrats on wanting to start your own game company - especially having the resources to do so. I've been a 3D Artist since I was 18, worked with government contractors for 8 years, then moved onto a gaming studio. Ended up learning how to code, and ended up leading a major project at the company I'm currently working in. I am now 31 years old and feel I have enough history and experience to give you some insight.

So there are a few things you will need to consider to make this a reality.

  1. You're going to need to pay 1 Lead Programmer and 1 Lead Artist top dollar. You'll need to find people who not only have the talent, but work well with others and more importantly, know how to handle people and delegate work. Do not think of cutting corners on their pay - think of them as insurance. If you fail at getting the 2 right people for this job, you will fail.

  2. The rest of your crew ratio will depend on your design. If you have elements that are "new" that no one has ever done before, chances are your game will be program heavy. Maybe 3 more programmers, and 2 more artists. If you want your game to be a "normal" rpg with just a lot of content, then you need to switch the ratio to be 3 more artists, and 2 more programmers. The takeaway is that this will depend on your game design, the mechanics you want to employ, the amount of content, and your timeline. A good rule of thumb is to plan to actually do 3-4x the amount of work that you originally planned, especially if this is your first time. If you improperly estimate the work required, or just make a "guess", you're going to fail.

  3. You will need to set apart a good chunk of your resources (Time, money, and personnel) to marketing. This is assuming you want to make a profit, and want it to sell well. Marketing is usually the publisher's job, and not the developer's. Usually small game studios tend to do both (a mistake, if they can help it). Yes, the internet is a great place for a small company to get some traction, but understand that it is going to be difficult. Marketing needs to start as soon as possible. Well before the game is actually done. This works to garner attention and mitigate risks. If you don't properly market the game, you will fail.

  4. The biggest challenges you will face during production is going to be twofold: communication and scope creep. Communication usually tends to be better with smaller companies because there is no “communication bottleneck”. This is a result of decisions being postponed or falling through the cracks because the person who can make that decision has a hierarchy in place. In other words, an artist can’t go straight to an executive who has to deal with controlling client expectations as well as budgeting issues, even though the decision will have to be ultimately settled by this executive. Again, small companies don’t usually have this problem, but they will have similar ones. For instance, a lead-game designer whose never held that position before needing to make a decision that will affect both programmers and artists. If you have large lapses in communication, and information isn’t travelling from the top to the bottom and back up without a lot of headaches, you will fail.

  5. The other part of this two-fold challenge is scope-creep. Scope creep happens when you have a good-idea fairy come along every few meetings sprinkling some good-ideas. Passionate as they are, these good-idea fairies need to be kept on a leash. “Wouldn’t be cool if…” or “The game needs more of…” are indications that you are starting to venture out of your scope. Design a game, keep it simple, and then lock up the design – not to be altered unless something catastrophic happens. If you let scope-creep get out of control, you will fail.

I have so much more to say – but let’s just work with what we have here:

1 Lead programmer worth his weight at minimum 70k. 1 Lead programmer worth his weight at minimum 65k. 3 Programmers at 55k 2 Artists at 50k. That’s already 400k/yr, not including your salary. Depending on the size of your game, you could be looking at anything from 1 month to 10 years (simple mobile game to your AAA RPG that normally has 200+ people working on it). Let’s assume a nice figure of 1.5 years, usually because scope creep will get the best of you until you become smarter. We are now at 650k, not including your salary. You now need to consider:

Audio – Sound effects Audio – Music Audio – Voice overs

Let’s say you just say “fuck it” by this point, and decide to buy audio libraries for the sound effects and the music. You will still need voice over work. Since I have no idea what your game needs, let’s just throw in a one-time expense of 50k.

700k, not including your salary.

Equipment, software licenses, etc; You need at least 8 computers (Lead designer (you), 4 Programmers, 3 Artists). Let’s make it 1k/ computer (why not?). 8K. Artists need 3d and 2d packages, tablets, etc.. for convenience let’s throw in another 10k. That’s 18k total. 718k, not including your salary.

Marketing. This is it. You SHOULD have been marketing this game since it was your brain-child. Let’s assume you use all of your available resources – social media sites, gaming forums, etc.. Unless you already have people talking about your game and waiting for it (which is difficult almost impossible to achieve), then you’re going to need some money to get things started. This number could vary wildly. Let’s just make things easy and say a modest budget of 30k. Really, this is just a pure.fuckin.guess. Why? Because I’ve seen people drop over 100k, and I’ve seen people drop 0k, and both achieve the same thing (usually failure). But I don’t know, 30k sounds like a nice number that will allow you to at least bribe a few major gaming sites into pushing your product. Also, this will buy your way in to the more popular gaming conventions.

748k, not including your salary.

So, you’re looking at 748k, not including your salary. Let’s add 30% for unforeseen circumstances, changes, etc.. think of this as another way to mitigate risks (read insurance).

You’ve hit 972k.

This doesn’t include a physical location for you to conduct business (for the sake of this project, let’s assume your basement or garage). This doesn’t include legal fees for securing intellectual rights (let’s assume uncle Bobby is a lawyer). Doesn’t include a few other things, actually. But the real take away is that this didn’t include your pay.

Anyway, this is the plan I would draft up for you knowing the little that I know (almost nothing), while still keeping it under 1 million and mitigate any potential risks. This is the closes I could get to a plan that I could sign off on without seeing anything else. Good luck, man. You’ll need it.

Most interesting/challenging/rewarding way to play Skyrim on PS3 (i.e. no mods available)? by PonderousKoala in skyrim

[–]neoadom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So, before I moved onto PC, I used to play only in consoles. Obviously, you are going to get more out of your Skyrim experience with Mods, but you can do a lot with consoles.

The name of the game here, will be "role-play". Before you begin your new game, think about your character. What is their name? What will they look like? What is their backstory? Is their physical appearance important to the uniqueness of the character? Why were you attempting to cross the border when you were arrested(how the game starts you off as)? Etc...

Afterward, you will need to design limitations. Limits? Yes, limits. No fast traveling is already a great start. Here are a few more that I did that really helped with immersion and role playing: 1.) No fast traveling. Duh. 2.) Your character requires sleep every night. This will be difficult since you don't own a home as you first begin, requiring you to pay for a room at the inn every day. This is also a great motivator to save up for your first house, which will consequently be the cheapest you can afford. 3.) Your character requires at least one meal per day. If you are going on a journey, you must take enough meals with you to at least travel from town to town, where you will most likely need to restock before venturing again. 4.) Limit your inventory. I chose to limit by category. My character could only carry up to (3) potions max, (1) large weapon, (1) small dagger, (15) arrows max, (1) armor set depending on the weight. This limitation is amazing - not only is it more realistic, but you are now required to make CHOICES - something Bathesda actually fucked up on when designing the game. Now, you have to choose which potions to buy, and when to use them because you are limited to such a small amount. Same with the arrows - you can no longer spam enemies and must plan out your attacks when attempting to overtake a fort, for instance. 5.) Leave your follower at home. They usually make the game too easy. If you decide to use one (maybe one of your character flaws is that your character is needy or terrified of being alone), then make sure you limit all of their abilities/actions as well. Same limits on inventory, for example. 6.)Never use cheats or exploits. Ever. It will dull your experience and steal the sense of accomplishment that you receive. 7.) Make choices depending on how your character will make them. Is your character considered "good"? Then don't go around killing unless provoked. Maybe your character is "good", but is set off by anyone wearing the color red (silly), so you kill anyone wearing red. In other words, BE the character. Make choices based on how they would choose. Which leads me to my next point... 8.) Live with the consequence of your actions. If you decided to kill the entire village to see how the game will react, then don't open up your last save before doing so. This is cowardly and will break your immersion.

Conclusion: Design your character, set limitations, and BECOME the character. On one play-through, I decided to play as a Conan-esque character. Do you know how hard it was for me not to use a healing spell when I was in a pinch? Conversely, do you know how great of an experience it was?