posted
Originally this was just a "hey check out my game" post, then I realized that I'm at a potentially big crossroads, and I haven't done a landmark post yet. Most of the landmarky stuff is in a reply to MattP.
A year+ ago I posted a game I was working on called Metrognome. Then I freaked out because the game wasn't really going to help me get a job, and I stopped working on it for a year. Then I got a job, which pays well but is not terribly fulfilling.
Three months ago I started working on it again. Next week I'm going to the Indie Game Festival, and hopefully I'll meet some cool people there and show it off to them.
The game is a "Rhythm Platformer." You play a gnome, in the city of Metrognome, which is a giant ticking clock that counts down to some mysterious, unknown, cataclysmic event. The people of Metrognome are a musical folk. You are encouraged to keep all your actions (such as jumping, attacking and activating machines) in time with the music. You can try levels multiple times, and if you get good enough at them the sound effects of your actions will produce a song.
Right now the game has two levels, neither of which is finished per se, but which give you a pretty good sense of how it would play. I'm trying to figure out the best use of my time over the next few days. Should I be ironing out some bugs that cause problems 15% of the time? Should I work on artwork and presentation? Should I finish the second level (which is basically going to be more of the same mechanics) or start a third level that can show case a new mechanic?
Currently the game is only available for Mac (I can export a PC version soon, but I think there are some major problems with sound syncing). If anyone could give the game a whirl and give me feedback I'd appreciate it.
Edit: there's a windows version now, but the computers I've tried it on have major problems with the syncing. I don't know if the problem is Windows or just the computers I've tried it on. If anyone wants to give it a try they can do so here:
posted
Raymond, what is your objective in showing the game at IGF - are you looking for a job in the business?
I've got a friend that runs a semi-indy game company that's looking to hire entry level developers right now. If there's any chance you'd be interested in writing games full-time and living in Utah let me know and I'll hook you up.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
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posted
My primary objective is to figure out what my objective is. I'm going to get a sense of what the Indie Game Culture is like (as well as mainstream game development), and whether it makes sense to finish this game (which would take another 18 months or so), or try and get a new job.
I'm definitely interested in a career in game development, but most of my skills are art-related rather than programming. I made Metrognome using the Unity engine, written in javascript, which I learned through various tutorials as I went along. I wouldn't sell myself as a skilled programmer, although I'm pretty sure I could become one if I made it a priority.
The reason I stopped working on Metrognome was because it didn't develop any one skill to a marketable level. I returned to it when I felt secure enough at my job that I could devote my time to a broad, artistic project that didn't need to turn out to be "productive" in any measurable way. I'm doing the music, the coding, the artwork, the level design and I'm enjoying all of it, even if it ends up a being a "jack of all trades, master of none" sort of thing.
Right now I have a job that I'm happy with. I've been "permanent freelance" for 8 months. I have the opportunity to sign a year contract after I get back from San Francisco, which comes with a raise.
I actually told them I had already made up my mind to do it, which perhaps I shouldn't have, to leave myself open to opportunities like this. Basically, I know for a fact I can be happy and paid well for the next year. To leave my job, I'd need to be joining a company that I was extremely excited about.
posted
Hey, cool to see another game designer on these forums! I've been making games as a hobby for about five years.
I really like your concept there. It unites the music with the gameplay in a really neat way. I noticed that when you try to play it like other platformers, it can be mildly frustrating, but that frustration makes you step back and think about keeping to the beat. Once you start getting it right, you enter an immersive experience that resembles the trances you get on a hard game where your instinct guides you, which is really cool to see happening so early in a game I've barely played for ten minutes. So there's a threshold that you'll have to build around, knowing that a player will have to partly remove himself from the game experience to find the beat, but once he gets (literally) into the rhythm, it feels very empowering to string together those rhythmic combos, guided by your intuition for the beat.
I'm actually finishing up my own high-concept platform game. You can see a preview of it on YouTube here.Posts: 1029 | Registered: Apr 2007
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A major problem I've had is getting players over that hurdle. There's a huge difference in how they play the first time (without guidance from me) and how they play the second time after watching me play through the first level once. I can see them go "oh, that's what I'm supposed to do." But they usually don't figure that out without me there to show them.
My plan, is to have a smart alecky character (probably the one doing the singing) who says at the end of the first level "Hey, wanna see me run through that neighborhood?" And then you can click to watch a video of a perfect playthrough. Getting that put together is going to be a bit of work though.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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quote:I'm actually finishing up my own high-concept platform game. You can see a preview of it on YouTube here.
Ha, I got about halfway through before I had my own "oh THAT's how the game works" moment. I like how you have to run around the gears to make them turn. Neat mechanic.
It did bother me that the gears didn't always line up with each other. Is that something you intend to fix later?
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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quote:It did bother me that the gears didn't always line up with each other. Is that something you intend to fix later?
I figured out how to get the gears to align correctly pretty early on in development, but I found that when I did that a hard-to-see part of the gameplay was sabotaged: running around a given amount on a gear corresponds to a specific amount the gear rotates, and that ratio is a nice round number when the gears align based on the radius of the platforms, rather than their spokes. With the whole number ratio it is much easier for me to design the levels so that a gear will be in a certain place by the time you arrive at a given point, letting me streamline the gameplay. So the reason they don't align perfectly is that I programmed the engine to have the gears rotate each other by the tangential speed of the platforms instead of the spokes. It was more or less a decision to relinquish a bit of presentational polish for the sake of gameplay.
quote:My plan, is to have a smart alecky character (probably the one doing the singing) who says at the end of the first level "Hey, wanna see me run through that neighborhood?" And then you can click to watch a video of a perfect playthrough. Getting that put together is going to be a bit of work though.
I like that idea! It's like the converse of Super Mario Bros. Wii's Super Guide.
Posts: 1029 | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
Hrm. I've heard people say that on occasion, and I have no idea how to fix it. You can normally open zip files just fine?
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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My suspicion is that it needs the latest update for whatever unzipping program you're using. I'm not sure how to zip it up so that everyone can use it. (I'm assuming you're running OS X?)
In any case, I just uploaded a new version (mostly cosmetic differences, but they make the presentation noticeably better).
quote:Originally posted by Raymond Arnold: Hrm. I've heard people say that on occasion, and I have no idea how to fix it. You can normally open zip files just fine?
I've never had a problem unzipping files before.
The error message is 'Error 1: operation not allowd". (I'm running Mac OS10.6.6)
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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Grr. So far most people can open it, but I had one person on a Windows machine that couldn't. I thought it was a windows/mac compatibility thing.
Can you try downloading both of these files, and see if the problem seems to be universal or if it was just a weird downloading error?
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I just added an introduction section, the goal of which is to get people into the "musical mindset". As C3PO noted, there's an initial hurdle you have to get over to appreciate the gameplay. At first, people see the rhythm as this annoying obstacle that prevents them from "enjoying the platforming game". Eventually they realize that the rhythm IS the game, but it takes a while and I think a lot of people may get frustrated and quit.
I recently played Amnesia, a "survival horror" game that has no combat. It started with a section that said point blank "This is not like most games. Do not try to play it to win. Just immerse yourself in the atmosphere. And if you see a monster, don't try to fight. Just run. Run and hide."
I didn't like how it beat me over the head with that, but I can see why it was necessary. Players used to traditional "survival horror" games are going to be extremely frustrated if they attempt to play how they're used to and it won't be obvious why they're failing.
The new intro is an attempt to do what Amnesia does, but "in character." Hopefully it's not too obstrusive. Lemme know what you think:
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I like your concept, Raymond. Enough that, after watching your video, I downloaded the Windows version. At first I couldn't do anything right...then I remembered you had commented having issues with the music being synchronized on Windows machines, so I started counting 1-e-and-a-2-e-and-a...
And performed all my actions on the in-between counts. I could get it to work that way.
I'll try to remember to check back later; if you get that bug worked out, post a message and I'll try again.
Posts: 324 | Registered: Mar 2008
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Thanks. The simplest fix is just to have the Windows version delay the ticking by .25 seconds, although I still feel like the sounds in general are sluggish and I don't know what to do about it.
It'll probably be a few days. I'd rather have a polished Mac version for IGF than a thrown-together-poorly-tested Windows version.
Out of curiosity which video did you watch? (There's an old playthrough video on Vimeo but I didn't actually link that).
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