So, I’m a programmer! Hello!
I’m making a series where I put that programming to work and hopefully end up with something that’s technically a game!
My specialty has always been making something that works very quickly, even if it’s not pretty. Usually it is not pretty. I’m self taught and a loose cannon, but damn if I get the job done. My goal is to show the process of making something that works, start to finish- including making art, which is of course going to be just horrific.
I thought that’d lend itself well to a video series, so I tried that out! I’m too shy to talk at the moment, but I’d consider commentary if anyone actually wanted that. I just got a twitch stream with royalty free music and had that going, and it was chill as hell.
I’m gonna take some time to refine the process, make it neater, get that twitch window into an overlay instead of literally just stealing my workspace, maybe think about how commentary would fit in- but is this at all interesting to y’all? Let me know what you think! I’d love to take suggestions, whether for what kind of game I make next, or just generally improve my setup.
In episode 1, I set out to make an asteroids clone- but quickly lost my way, and instead, a hasty space invaders clone.
Featuring such features as:
Shooting;
Health system;
Main Menu;
Game over and Victory conditions;
I’m gonna follow this pretty closely, I think o.o. I’m curious about Unity, but I’m intimidated by its 3D game engine features. I work with C# pretty much constantly for my job, but it’s all .NET forms stuff. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to carry over, haha.
In episode 2, I took a solid attempt at a side-scrolling shooter- but got sleepy an hour in and had to call it a day early. Whoops.
Featuring such features as:
Nicer looking health bars;
Gravity;
Shooting;
Featuring some spritework from me, not an artist. I think I might plan ahead next time, have all my assets ready before I start, just so I can actually make something that looks OK. Food for thought, anyway- impromptu stuff is always going to look terrible.
I also made the twitch stream playing music not take up a third of my screen, so that’s nice.
edit: Ah, I should clarify that “socjusball” is a game I was making temporarily for the nazi punching jam.
This series is really great. I was kind of intimidated by Unity for whatever reason before, but actually, since I already have a background in C#, this seems a lot more intuitive to me than GameMaker Language.
Yeah, honestly, I find GameMaker way harder to grasp than just regular programming- I guess just because it’s so different in how you implement stuff!
A friend of mine was learning Gamemaker at college, and asked me, her big cool programmer friend, to help out with an assignment, and I had no idea how to help ;-;
In episode 3, I started an arc! The next few episodes are gonna be about the same project, a simplistic classic JRPG.
I’ve also started doing prep work- all art assets are prepared in advance, though I might have to edit them mid video sometimes.
Featuring such features as:
Sprites that look like something;
More complicated animation;
Dialogue boxes with dialogue text and face sprites
As always, the whole process is in, so enjoy 20 odd minutes of me having no clue why the text is messing up, only to realise it was something very obvious. It’s very genuine.
I also do something that would probably make a professional programmer cry.
Watching you code is like trying to read an alien language. I wish I could wrap my head around that kind of stuff. I’m definitely gonna be following this thread though since it’s really cool.
I’m making a game in unity right now, and been programming in general for about 8 years. Also I’ve been streaming my progress. I have this program up on github that will open a new window and display what music you are listening to, assuming you are using soundcloud, you can find that here. So if you have any questions, feel free to hit me up.
Also you should really use visual studio instead of monodevelop. It’s a really really nice IDE for C# and you can download it for free, and there is a plugin you can download that let’s it plug into unity.
spritework from me, not an artist. I think I might plan ahead next time, have all my assets ready before I start, just so I can actually make something that looks OK. Food for thought, anyway- impromptu stuff is always going to look terrible.
I wish I could wrap my head around that kind of stuff. I’m definitely gonna be following this thread though since it’s really cool.