.jpg.ce846aae50e732dc4985eb712252381f.jpg)
Roby Atadero
-
Posts
225 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Posts posted by Roby Atadero
-
-
Pure speculation from the video above but, It seems you are just clicking Left Mouse and letting go once the animation changes. You need to hold Left Mouse the entire time once you start the vacuum sequence and then you will get the prompt to Right Click to progress to the next section.
For reference, these are the sequence of events for the vacuum section:
STEP 1
Hold Left (Left-Click) and then eventually press Right (Right-Click) when you see prompt.
STEP 2
Hold Right (Right-Click) and then eventually press Left (Left-Click) when you see prompt.
STEP 3
Hold Left (Left-Click) and eventually press Right (Right-Click) when you see prompt.
-
The ray gun is a heavy hit ranged weapon. Pressing X (Xbox), Square (PS3) or Right-Click (PC) when it flashes should make it shoot.
-
1
-
-
So the vacuum sequence goes:
STEP 1
Hold Left (Left-Click) and then eventually press Right (Right-Click).
STEP 2
Hold Right (Right-Click) and then eventually press Left (Left-Click).
STEP 3
Hold Left (Left-Click) and eventually press Right (Right-Click).
What is likely happening if you are getting stuck is you are repeating the steps from Step 1 when you should be doing Step 2 (reverse the directions). There does seem to be an issue where the mini-game does not fail if you wait too long in step 2 (thus the hang). Also, the tutorial box for Step 2 is dropping when you press Left and thus you are likely not seeing the new directions to press. These are being addressed on our side. Hope this helps those who are stuck.
-
Which direction are you spinning the left stick? The prompt should say to rotate the stick counter clockwise. If the stick is spun the other direction, the mini-game will eventually fail.
-
Which Dev's house can we all crash at?
Burke's house. You definitely have my permission regardless of what he says.
-
3
-
-
This thread requires more excitement!
-
4
-
-
No programming skills:
Go with the more simple ones like RPG Maker, etc. You can actually learn a bit from that as well as making levels/scenarios in something like the Starcraft 1 Map editor. Getting used to the idea of variables, triggers, and logic are a good start to get an idea of basic game design implementation. The hard part about being a beginner or doing something solo is getting a hold of decent art and assets to use. Things like map editors and RPG Maker should give you enough of a framework and existing assets to play around with.
Have some programming skills (C++, C#, Javascript):
Go with Unity. It's pretty slick and you get things going pretty quick. Again, the main issue will just be finding art/models/etc. to use to make anything. That and you will need to program a good chunk of the gameplay to get anything meaningful. So, only go this route if you are capable of writing some code.
Good luck!
-
6
-
-
I have considered it. But as of right now I'm about to get out and start my college degree in game design through full sail university. I will have 32 months to complete my degree in something I have always dreamed of. I play every genre of games for the last 24 years. I have been on my different forums and putting up the same post about looking for a mentor for this career. I want to get some ideas, some help, and in general someone that would be will to point me in the right direction when I have question. I have learned that someone with a mentor is most like to be 85% more successful then someone without.
Also thanks for answering first place to reply.
Well just to clear up a few things, you might want to specify whether you truly want to be a designer (thinks and puts together "fun" content) or a programmer (makes the game work, programs all the core features designers want to have). You mention you are looking to do a Game Design degree but, also mention you are close to having a Computer Science degree. I assume this is just a honest misuse of the phrase Game Design and you are actually meaning Game Development and you are looking to go into the programming aspect.
Regardless, you don't really need a mentor to be successful. The best thing you can do to learn what it takes is to work on little games in your free time. Do simple 2D games from scratch to start with, download Unity and make a little demo, grab the SDKs for the mobile devices and some fun little games with that, etc. As with any discipline, practice and learning from mistakes are key. Oh, and you better have some passion as making games can be a grind sometimes the further in you get into a project.
Also, maybe try to work on something on one of the new consoles coming out. You'll learn a lot about game development and all the little requirements people usually don't think about when you try to finish a game for a console. Other than that, when it comes to looking for a job, try to have at least one project that is "finished" or close to it as that will look better than lots of little half complete demos. Good luck!
-
6
-
-
Congratulations on slaying the previous Programmer in a glorious Trial of Position!
They will be dearly missed...
-
2
-
-
High pressure to deliver a working product under a tight schedule, stringent performance requirements, not nearly enough time to master the tools and engine - by the time the game ships is approx. the time developers start understanding what they're working with as far as technology;
No doubt the industry isn't for everyone and you will definitely have your companies where they are a charm to work for and those that are dreadful. Yes there are deadlines, yes there are hardware and performance issues to keep in mind, and your game and tools evolve as the project goes. But it's really how you approach your job that can affect how your experience will be.
To be honest, some of the issues you mention are fun to tackle sometimes. Making an important piece of your engine more efficient either memory or speed wise is actually enjoyable to most of us when we do it. And the real way to solve those problems is to try to implement features that are already speed and memory conscious to begin with so you don't have to dig too much as the project continues. Also, make sure to bounce ideas off of your fellow coworkers before starting. A lot of times someone you are talking to can suggest a solution that's a little faster or memory efficient than you were originally planning to try.
this all means code is sloppy, hackish, not much refactoring goes on, summary code reviews at best, metrics are non-existent, unit tests are non-existent, nobody knows if stuff is really working - "it works at my desk!" is the standard
Is there hacked/sloppy code? Sure, it's inevitable at some point. But, hacked and sloppy code can be prevented with some discipline. One of the hardest things to do as a programmer is to not always do exactly what you are told. For example, a designer may request that you give the player 25 bonus health if the player was able to beat the boss without using any magic or, if they beat the boss under two minutes or, if they only used nothing but ranged attacks. They also want this in the game within 2 days so they can show it off in the next team meeting. So, it's very easy for you to go "Okay, I can do that." and program in the code that gives the player 25 extra health if they fulfilled those challenges.
Boom! You're done, designer is happy, you even finished it with the given estimated 2 days they gave you, you're the champ. However, this is actually an easy trap to fall into and how projects can become slop and a pain to keep developing.
A better way to approach such a problem would be to try to do as little specifics as possible and to build something that can do a lot more and what was requested. So instead, make the game track a ton of stats while you are fighting (number of spells used, number of items used, time fighting a boss, damage taken, times died, etc.). Track anything you think might ever be relevant to know. Then, build a system that allows the designers to check these values and make whatever conditions they want (I.E if "number of spells used" is less than 3, etc.). Then make it so it also allows them to specify the rewards given if conditions are met (give the player 25 extra health, give the player 100 extra gold, etc.).
Now, not only did you give them the ability to do exactly what they asked, they can now change what the originals conditions and rewards were (i.e. change the 25 bonus health to 50), and they can add even more conditions and rewards without having to come bother a programmer. Yes, you may spend a little more time doing it this way, but it almost always saves you more than double that time in the future when designers inevitably change their minds or, new features get requested where you can leverage your existing systems to solve the issues. Plus, your code becomes more generic and easier to bug fix. Sure you can't do that for every single feature but, if you do it more often than not, you will have a better product that's quicker to develop, easier to manager, and will keep you from binge drinking after work.
lots of potential candidates at the door waiting to replace you if you don't like unpaid overtime.
Good developers are hard to come by. And from my experience alone, the developers I have worked with are not easy to replace. There sometimes can be turnaround in game development studios but, a majority of it is people just moving to new places or new things.
Also C++ i.e. the by far least productive and most ****ed up language in mainstream use is endemic in the game industry, although depending on performance requirements, more or less "scripting" can get done in higher-level languages (i.e. C#, Lua, etc).
C++ is a very straight forward language where everything is exposed and there isn't really any "magic" going on once you know it. It's not hard to be productive with it nor is it much harder than programming in something like C#. While higher level languages add some form of ease to themselves, they usually do at a performance and/or memory cost. Sometimes, to figure out where your performance hits are coming from with languages like C#, you have to start learning a lot of the unseen nitty-gritty stuff which can end up making it more complicated to work with than C++. Even simple issues like "boxing" in C# are hard to spot and can become major problems performance wise. That's the beauty in C++, everything is pretty straight forward. What effort you put into it, you get out. Scripting languages are good to have and good for designers but, you don't want to be building an entire game engine with it.
-
1
-
-
If you're new to coding, here is some very helpful advice that won't ever steer you wrong:
If it compiles, it works.There is an entire field called 'concurrent programming' which disagrees with you and wants to violently punch you in the face.
Any buggy software that fails to run properly or crashes still "compiles". Sometimes, the scariest thing a programmer can have happen is that you work for a long time on a large new system and it compiles on the first try. You just know it's not going to work right at that point.
On a side note though, probably 80% of what you do as a professional software developer is done before you write any code. Like someone mentioned earlier, code is just a tool to achieve a means. The way you decide to approach a problem or solution is really the more challenging and important part when it comes to engineering software. Anyone can make something "work". But can they make it work such that it is easy to extend to do other things, change to work a different way, easy to maintain so other programmers can work with it, is efficient and mindful of memory constraints, is easy for designers to work with and debug, etc. Once you have discussed and figured out a blueprint that addresses as much of those issues as possible, then you go and actually code.
If you engineer something that is inefficient, hard to maintain, a pain to extend or change, or is a hassle for designers to work with...then there will likely be time wasted in the future when it comes to dealing with your code.
-
1
-
-
These are all good suggestions but, I feel like these are all things someone should look at AFTER learning basic programming. The best place to learn is probably college nowadays but, using things like game maker can help with basic ideas such as using variables and logical execution (if this happens, then this should happen). If you are looking into having him use a specific language, then C++ is likely what he would eventually use if he ever became a programmer in the industry. It's hard to learn a language straight up without prior language knowledge but, much like NoMan2000 said, understanding logic and all that is key to programming.
So having him make little projects in game makers is probably a good start for framing his mind properly and learning some basic concepts that carry into programming.
-
2
-
-
I believe Roby used XNA for his XBLA game.
Ogre 3D is another decent open source engine for programmers. You get the benefit of full source code, and it has TONS of extensions made for it. I spent a lot of time playing with it in college.
Yup, right before I got hired here I was working on this game at home using XNA: http://www.spoidsgame.com/
The reason XNA is cool is because it gives you the opportunity to work on something that also runs on a major console. And when it comes to game development, there are a lot of issues and standards you have to adhere to when working on consoles and TV's as opposed to games that are strictly PC and monitor based. You can't even publish a game on the Xbox Live Indie Arcade if you don't pass the certification requirements that a lot of AAA games have to adhere to as well. So, working with XNA on Xbox you get to learn about all of this, which, directly translates to useful knowledge in the professional game industry.
But like Burke mentioned, Ogre3D is a very nice open source 3D engine. I had to do a project during college too that used it (and we used Blender as the primary modeling program). And as for reference, here is what came out of it: http://www.robyatade...rojects/ascent/ (mind you this was a college project many years back where we had a few months to work on it and that's it). Not only that, but we were able to make it run on both Linux and Windows because of it's cross platform support. So, if you are looking for an open source 3D engine, you can't go wrong with Ogre3D.
-
2
-
-
The best way to get into the industry of making games is to...make games. Sure, a handful of developers here have degrees from a game development or art school but, there are a good amount of us that went to non-game development specific schools (myself included). Often times people in the industry actually start from QA and, eventually rise up into a specific discipline (Design, Animation, Production, etc.).
But to get back to the first sentence, the main way you are going to prove to a game development studio that you are worth hiring is to show them you have worked on projects where you gave quality work into it. These can be school projects, projects during your free time, ones you have done from scratch, mods to existing games, solo projects, team projects, internships, whatever. Just as long as these projects show that you have what it takes to be a professional team.
And don't expect to make a masterpiece on your first go at it. With each project you will learn more and grow and eventually start to have a portfolio of projects that will begin making studios take note of your resume. And if you want an example, I worked on probably 3-4 little PC projects in my free time during college, 1 game demo for a class, another side project right out of college, and an Xbox360/PC indie game during my free time after work. And it wasn't until the last project I had done where I finally had enough experience and knowledge to make it as a junior programmer here.
But again, you don't need professional schooling, you need to just put your passion into it. Buy game-dev books on Amazon, read up on web articles, work on projects(PC, Mobile, XNA, Mods). If you put the time in, eventually good things will come out of it and you'll see where your true strengths are.
-
2
-
-
Unity will not dictate the art direction of the game. Our artists, graphics programmers, and directors will. And let me say, they are some of the best in the business.
This is similar in which Onyx did not prohibit from making a South Park like visual game even though a 3D fantasy dungeon crawler was made with it.
-
17
-
-
Codename.
Source?
It's a codename.
-
1
-
-
I'm rooting for Justin Bell.
I agree. His work on the Kickstarter video gives me goosebumps every time.
-
This is what happens when everyone here pours this much support more quickly then anyone at Obsidian expected. You've got them all frenzied up at the studio on a Saturday. I believe that deserves a thumbs up.
-
You guys are awesome!
-
Hey
Now all that's been missing this whole week has been Funcroc...
-
1
-
-
The whole studio has been quite excited and humbled from all of the support so far. You guys have been awesome!
And don't worry, we've been reading all the posts, comments, and suggestions everyone here has made, so keep them coming. And as Josh said, all of the pledges and support has been truly astonishing. Thanks again everyone!
-
1
-
-
What languages does Obsidian use? Just LUA and C++?
The games that have used Onyx consist of this: The engine is C++. Our tools are a combination of C++ and C# (all of our development is done using Windows machines). And our UI utilizes Actionscript (Flash).
I cannot say exactly what other languages besides C++ the projects before DS3 used but, the primary language of all of our released games has been C++.
-
This made it's way around the company today. Brought quite some laughs
-
3
-
-
False alarm Burke, everyone left...
BUG Report - Buying Monk Gloves in PT-BR language crashes the game
in South Park: Technical Support (Spoiler Warning!)
Posted
On investigation, there is indeed an issue with one of the translations for that item on Portuguese. We'll look to get that fixed up.
Thanks for the info.