Hi Erick. I am doing ok, but very busy. I am back in London and working in a startup - it seems to always be all rushing. I have a few days off this month so I'm looking forward to getting the 1.3 Concealed Intent release done, which will probably be the last :( Other than that, haven't played much recently other than lots of Hexcells.

How about you? How are things going with work and kids? Played anything good recently - maybe I'll put it on my wishlist for later.

How are you doing, Charles? Been awhile. Here pretty much same ol', same ol'. Drop me a line if you have time and want to chat.

Happy Steam Sale, Are you up for a rematch?

Hi Erick, I imagine creative would definitely be another hard business. Plus there is no equivalent of Steam (that I know of) so getting the work noticed would be even more difficult. Not much longer left for 1.1 dev work now, but everything left over will be kept for a possible 1.2 update (or maybe another game:). Thanks, Charles.

Hi Charles-

I can imagine that marketing would be an issue. I also believe we discussed that even some well-reviewed, higher-profile games sold pretty low numbers. At the end of the day, you have to pay the bills. Seems like a beast of a business to me (my first dream, creative writing, can also be...part of the reason I never really did anything with it).

I agree that neutrals are a good idea - just not sure how I would do it if I were the designer. If weapon stats remain the same, then probably game modes could maximize tension.

Interesting possibilities come to mind, though:

-asynchronous base mode: one player has more ships/points. They lose if their base is destroyed but have to destroy the enemy fleet in a certain number of turns, else it's a draw(?). Do they divide forces, protecting with half their fleet and hunting with the other? Or do they go all-in for one option?


Will try to write more later. Happy hunting. All the best in life and work.

Hi Erick, I still think neutral unknowns (assuming we mean the same thing:) make some sense in CI, as it is trying to be a little like those naval games, although I agree it would make more sense with single-hit ships (but I won't be doing that). When you identify a sense of uncertainity about what a ship is in the earlier stages of a CI scenario, that is exactly what I hoped people would feel.

Marketing is always an issue. A good game is never enough, there also needs to be luck or a good marketing effort. Of course I only made it hard for myself with a niche game.

Hi Charles-

Glad it could help some. I can definitely understand the lack of ability to do real coding. The thing is that, after I started typing out my thoughts, I realized that neutral contacts might be a much easier design option in modern naval sims than with CI, where ships can take several hits before going down. I think it could still be done without major tweaking, but it would be tricky to maximize potential there. An interesting problem. The collection mode could work, but might be best in combination with combat IMO.

As for becoming vastly more popular, I'm sorry that's a barrier, but the competition for gamers' attention and wallets is super stiff. Success seems to require a portion of "luck" as well. Personally, for example, I could never understand FTL's total appeal...

Hi Erick, thanks for the suggestions- they are some good ideas. A blockade run could work well, will have a think about that. I will add in spurious contacts and neutral unknowns as an option for all skirmishes, so that could add a little uncertainty at the start - although attacking quickly leads to identification. I was also thinking about a collection skirmish mode where there are some pods the player has to collect, along with some enemy mines - determining which is which will require some careful flying.

Unfortunately I probably won't have time for anything that requires much bespoke coding. Perhaps never, unless the game becomes vastly more popular. Although there are still many smaller things I can do to improve the game.

...I'll give it some more thought, too. Let me know what you think...

(continued from last post)

3. Other options could include playing with the detection/stealth mechanic (game modes like blockade run, etc.).

4. On the more monstrous side of labor output, creating a framework for series of skirmishes with inventory management, randomization, upgrades (like a "dynamic campaign") could be an option for further in the future. I only mention it because it's in huge demand among players and well received when it works.

Again, with neutrals the idea came from situations from the naval sims like "that contact is headed our way at XXX speed and not diverting...could be a 747 or a strike fighter...do I down it or risk a major loss?" Right now in CI there is some tension before the enemy ships are revealed in skirmish...

Hi Charles-

Thanks for thinking of me. Yes, we're good. Very, very little free time (or even time for each other) with kids, but it's also great.

Glad to hear that CI is still going forward - it's easy in some periods to lose passion...caused me to give up on a project or two.

Ideas for neutrals:

1. Basic idea was just the tension found in Fleet Command (and CMANO) - you have unidentified contacts and know there are enemies but also civilians, so the tension comes from balancing the risks involved.

2. I think where the tension comes from is that, in those games, most hits can be fatal. So if a unique mode was added, maybe it could play on that. In any case, even if it's not damage that causes the tension between different options, it could be other things. Might take some tweaking in the new mode to make that work...

Hi Erick, How are things with you? Do you still check this? I hope so. Anyway, I have started work on a 1.1 release and it looks like I'll have time to work on a new skirmish type. I was wondering if you had any ideas/suggestions using neutral unknowns? No problem if you don't - I'm thinking about it right now!

Hiccup management :) I like that.

Hi Charles...

Okay. Sorry to hear about the other project - independent creative work markets seem like the wild west at times. I thought for a long time that success meant constant high performance and no hiccups...now I feel a good chunk of it is good hiccup management. Hang in there.

Hi Erick,

Ok I'll put down a task to take another look at them.

The other mobile project? It has stopped. I'm back to working by myself. However, I have a couple of other ideas I'm going to try prototyping over the next couple of weeks, once the 1.0.1 release is out.

Thanks, will do (and you too),
Charles.

Hi Charles-

Thanks - I'm fine. Life is pretty non-stop here as well, but also very good.

Odd that Wargamer felt that way, but I have to admit I was mostly thinking of "grassroots" social media marketing. A few devs just post on some of the forums...those communities are active and connected, and if you are transparent and not too overtly commercial, it could be a good way just to amplify exposure and alert a larger community. I often see stuff for things like business sims on the forums even, boardgames, what have you

I don't know what you can say, but how's the other project going?

All the best with all of it! Keep in touch.

Hi Erick, Thanks for the kind words, it means a great deal that people enjoy the game! Right now I am happy but very tired. The release was non-stop action for 6 days, then I started work on 1.0.1 update. I'm happy because no bad bugs were found. Although, one player did find an annoying bug (corrupting their game profile), thus the 1.0.1 work (which will include some other stuff too). Very looking forward to a few days off soon. How are you?

FYI: I sent a key to wargamer.com , but they sent a polite reply explaining why the game didn't fit with their website. I thought that was nice, as most never reply.

Hi Charles-

Just a quick hello - I saw the recent release / sale, and read your post about the roadmap for CI. Better: Just played a couple skirmish matches - it's great and getting better all the time. This one's a definite recommend for me, but is on the way to becoming something of a personal classic.

BTW - how's life?

Hi Charles-

Glad to have a help. You're right about Matrix/Slitherine - I hadn't thought of that aspect. A brief note - Wargamer is owned by those partner companies. It's pretty objective, but there is some closeness there. Mostly the gamers there are anti-glitz-and-graphics and tend for quality and a more traditional wargame style. Games that focus on tactics and require some thinking will be welcome there.

As for my institute, yeah - it's great. We're kind of cowboys in the business world, but while retaining a good deal of humanity. It's rewarding work. Social media management is getting to be part of my job more and more.

Hi Erick, Well done on the congress. I've never heard of business think-tank before, but describing yourselves as the anti-Mckinsey gets you some points with me! Seems like interesting work.

I have taken a look at the Matrix/Slitherine forums and they seem very focussed on their own games - not sure I would be welcome there. Or am I looking in the wrong place?

Not sure why I hadn't heard of wargamer.com before, they look like just like my kind of thing, and they have a PR section too. I have joined the forum and will post about CI in the lead up to release. I will have to see if I can track down contact emails for their reviewers too. Thanks.

Hi Charles-

Things are good, thanks! Our institute just finished putting on our big annual Future Congress (check us out at www.2bahead.com/en if you're interested sometime). It was really cool. The business world is not where I thought I would land, but it's refreshingly different from a lot of the stereotypes.

I'll check out the link on Gladiabots - sounds cool!

BTW - for CI, have you gotten in touch with the matrix/slitherine/wargamer.com communities at all? It seems pretty much up their alley and devs get in touch on the forums sometimes...

Erick, I should mention. One of the recent games I played was Gladiabots and I quite enjoyed it. The missions are short, but it still requires some thought, maybe it is your sort of thing? The idea is you program little battle bots and fight them in various mission scenarios.

The alpha is up free on Itch.io at https://gfx47.itch.io/gladiabots , I also recorded my hour of playing (in 3 parts) and put it up at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyO7SNZG9j8&list=PLTLapARdhT1hK21i90Kpq9A7cmKeL7pYw , I may do more videos, I'll see. I did these as practice for the the LPs I'll need to do for CI, but I thought they were good enough to publish (for now).

Hi Erick, I'm doing good, cleaned up the server code. No difference for players, but much nicer for me :) Ran some tests and have a few very minor things to do, but otherwise its looking good. Now I'll spend some time planning marketing and select a release date. I also have some more ideas for new games and even getting time to play a few other games!

I sent a prototype of the previous idea mentioned to the other local devs, they said they liked it, and now its their turn to do their bit. It has been 3 weeks and nothing yet, but we all have other tasks, so it is no problem yet. And even if they do nothing, I'm comfortable with my other ideas (and they are space themed so I can reuse lots of art assets :).

How are things with you?

Charles-

It's great to see things moving along for CI, and that full release is near (whoop, whoop!). How are you doin?

Hi Erick, hearing someone had fun playing CI always puts a big smile on my face, thank you.

Now that the game has reached what I consider an acceptable level for a release, I feel much more relaxed. The end is in sight.

There is absolutely a chance neutral unknowns can work in other skirmishes. I've kept the code in and now it is just flicking a boolean from false -> true to turn it on for a skirmish. It just requires a scenario that benefits from some uncertainty about who is an enemy. Neutral unknowns took a little longer to get working than I hoped, so ran out of time for other things. Ideas like the ones you mention could work.

However, I'm not going to promise I'll add them. Maybe, but definitely not until after the proper release. Maybe as a 1.1 release. I need to stop adding features so it can be fully tested - the game should be rock-solid for the release.

Hi Charles-

Thanks for the info. Had been meaning to get to you as well. Played an AI 2v2 (corvettes) on Hard AI. No specific feedback really, but it was a lot of fun.

I'll check the new system out soon. One question though - could there be a chance that it would work in skirmish? Don't know how exactly, but even having false contacts could add extra thinking at least early match, or neutral civ ships, etc.? Not a correction, just a question.

How's the world of development?

Hi Erick, this new version just released has the neutral unknown system in the saviour skirmishes, plus there is also a new waves skirmish type too. I tried putting the neutral system in as a modifier, but it didn't make much sense other than in saviour, as in other skirmishes types non-player ships are always the enemy.

Cool! Thanks, Charles! Heading to check it out now...

Erick, I just made another release. FYI, this does not have the neutral system, it is mainly bug fixes. The next one should have it :)

Charles-

Thanks! I was mostly thinking about sounds/music and maybe some of the graphic stuff. Probably will have to wait awhile to start anyway...

Have a good weekend.

Erick, if you are doing it as a hobby then perhaps just do the idea that excites you most? As a hobby it is more about having fun so finishing/selling is less important.

Any code, projects, particles, materials or animations on the Unity Asset Store will need unity as they are unity specific systems. Not sure about shaders. Sounds, models & textures/sprites without animations will probably work. Those are not created inside unity, but from industry standards (blender, 3d max, jpg, png, …). Many sellers of such assets on the unity store will also sell these in other places.

You're probably right about the game idea. My goal would be more something on a hobby basis, simple, using some kind of development kit that streamlines things. I'm aware that months is a bare minimum even for something I could invest more time in. We'll see. At the moment it's hard to play the many games out there with tons more potential ;-)

BTW - one small general question - can you use Unity Store assets for things not made with Unity?

Charles-

That sounds exciting! I'm glad to hear the news, both about CI and about the game company. Of all of my wishes about CI, the neutral system was the one I felt would bring the most bang for the programming buck. Gives a feel of Harpoon & Co., and can't think of a single space game that has it. I'll give some more feedback when I've had the chance to play a few more matches.

Just testing the next release of CI (#27), probably to go out tomorrow. Most of it is tutorial & campaign stuff, so not much for you. Then a week off as my parents are visiting, then the next release (#28, aiming for 3 weeks from now) will add new features - hopefully including the neutral system.

Spoke to the local couple. They had a good concept (better than mine), and a reasonable sense of the business (i.e. marketing very important & unlikely to make very much profit). I agreed to give them a week or time to prototype it, but told them it would not be until end of May or beginning of June.

Hi Erick, np. I would find it hard to develop a commercial game in your situation, or less (I couldn't back when I had a full-time job). I'm just lucky I had a few years out of employment while my expenses were covered.

Yes, the small scale is hard. I struggle with it too. CI was the smallest of ~8 ideas when started, but in retrospect way too big (and its gotten smaller since the original concept). Most of my ideas are too big. Small & simple, yet still fun is very hard.

Thanks Charles. It's been hectic here (kids) with lots to do (work). Sorry it's taken awhile to respond.

Well, the above things mean it will probably be awhile until I get to any design. Even playing more than 2-3 times a week rarely happens these days. I have also had my eye primarily on Unity and GameMaker. I am struggling with the "extremely small" scale you mentioned which I know to be wise (and I thought I gave up grandiose plans after college) ;-)

How's CI going? Game company formation?

Choice of engine is hard. I've used Ogre, Irrlicht and Unity and for 2d tactical/strategy games I would definitely recommend Unity from that list. Unless you know C++ well already, it is doubtful you would need the low level control it provides for such a game. Unity does 2D fairly well and it has very good community support as lots of people use it. I have the impression Cryengine would not be better as it is c++ and 3d focussed.

Gamemaker is an interesting possibility, I know people use it for successful games and it is 2D focussed.

I think if you want to see, just pick an engine that appeals to you and try to make an extremely small game. There is a lot to learn and you soon work out if your engine is upto the job. I can't stress the "extremely small" bit enough (at least at first).

Erick, At GGJ this year I met a couple of people in the local gamedev industry interested in creating small mobile game in their spare time. Their skills complement mine (art and marketing). We spoke a little but stopped when one thought they were getting a new job. Now 2 months later they are interested again. I'm trying to work out how serious they are. I have a year left to build a self-supporting gamedev company, so I don't want to start with them unless I'm sure we will finish.

In terms of tools, I really don't have a lot of experience with any. I have some of the entry-level paid ones (Clickteam Fusion, Gamemaker Pro, GM Maker (?)). I have looked at RPG maker but am not familiar with the limitations...I'm more into tactical/strategy than RPGs, and I'm not sure that's supported.

My question is - do I invest the dozens of hours learning something like Gamemaker with more limitations, or do I start with something bigger and more powerful. Unity is a very attractive option, and I'm curious about where Cryengine is going. I'm mostly interested in 2d right now, though.

Charles-

Great to hear from you as always. The link worked this time - that's exciting news! I wish you all the best during the run-up. One thing - you referenced the "couple from feb"...could you refresh my memory? There's a lot going on these days.

Tools:
* Engines: Unity (I use this), Unreal, Twine, RPGMaker, many more. The Inkle guys have also open sourced their toolset (they did 80 days), so many...
* Art: Unity Asset store (most of CI's art/music comes from here), Spacescape, FreeSound.org , turbosquid, deviantart to find artists, 99designs (I used this for my company logo)
* Other: Steamworks.Net (for steam access in Unity, free!)
* Training: Unity has many tutorials, Alan Zuconni & red blob games have some good tutes too. Gamasutra has tons of info and links to other places. I also recommend checking out the local IGDA & GGJ events for meeting gamedevs.

Anything you are particularly interested in?

As for other ideas. On the break I came up with a couple of (very) low budget simple mobile game ideas, plus a couple more that might work on mobile (or a tablet instead).

I was beginning to plan out the scope of a prototype when the couple from Feb got back in touch saying they were interested now. If we can come to an agreement that would be my preferred path, so I've stopped my plans to see how that goes.

Hi Erick, Life's pretty good atm, how about you? I'm definitely encouraged to finish CI, the break helped immensely after being sick and pushing back my hoped release date. Forward!

Here is another attempt at that link: http://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/games/374150/announcements/detail/632001172842132354

I haven't played a game in four weeks (other than CI). Although I just bought Homeworld in the HB, and might have to see if it as good as I remember. The last game played was the pre-alpha demo of Wartile (on Steam). Pretty good for the early state it is in. I even tried recording a LP for it as I wanted to see how LPs worked from the other side. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ketg1llwpt0

What are you playing?

Hi Charles-

Glad you good get away for awhile! How's life?

I tried the link, but there was a DNS error message...checked a couple other places, too. I hope that you're still encouraged and that things are going well with CI.

BTW - You mentioned some amazing tools for development. Would you mind naming just a few names? I wouldn't mind looking into a project sometime, but wouldn't mind having a better idea.

What are you playing at the moment? Do you still have sights on a (mobile-friendly) project for the future?

Hi Erick, How are you? Hopefully things have calmed down a bit. I just got back from an east coast road trip (the wifi isn't very good out there) for my gf's birthday. Now relaxed, and ready to start work again on CI. I put a plan up on the Hub (http://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/games/374150/announcements/detail/632001172842132354) .

For a single dev there are amazing tools and art available online for relatively low cost. The only problem is that they are never exactly what is needed, but often tantalisingly close.

Hi Charles-

Just wanted to get in touch. Thanks for filling me in awhile back. I'd wondered how single-dev game development works. How are things? I have little time to play much of anything these days, so I've not been able to have another go at CI for a bit, but I hope things are going well.

I don't do most of the art. The music and 3d models were all purchased online (I have seen at least one other Steam game using the same spaceship models). Some I modified a little, but not much. SFX is half me, half purchased - I suspect the ones you don't like are the ones I did :). I did all the backgrounds (using Spacescape). The 2D artwork is mostly done by Amber, a local 2D artist I hired to work out the GUI. I have adjusted her artwork a bit (she likes asymmetry, I don't), but most of that is hers.

I still consider than means I'm a solo dev. There is only one person permanently on the project. Amber's work is bespoke (a bit over 100 hours work), but everything else is just stock-art purchases.