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| Name: | Ben Hickling |  |
|---|---|---|
| Date Posted: | Sep 12, 2006 | |
| Rating: |  Not Rated | |
| Public: | YES | |
| Comments: | YES | |
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Blog post
Okay, this is my first post and I want to warn anyone who decides to read this that I'm not very good at writing! So, if you get confused reading this stuff, it's probably my fault. ;)
I started development about a month ago on a new version of a game I made over 4 years ago. I decied it would be a good idea to remake the game in TGB as a serious first project. So far everything has been going very smoothly and I am very happy with the results I am getting! The game isn't particularly complex, and relies more heavily on art and level creation than it does coding. I've always found coding the easier part of game development, so this project will make sure I get practice in the other important areas, too!
Heres a couple of screenshots of from the current state of the game:
Although I've already started working on the different zone/area graphics, I think the next thing I should be working on is the world map, then after that is complete I can get back to making more level graphics and such. I think this is probably the best idea because at the moment I have no way of being able to show the game to anyone in order to gather feed back. Once the world map is in place, the game will be able to function as it should and the levels that have been created will load in the correct order.
One of my biggest worries so far is where I am going to find the music for this game. I would like to commission a musician to write some fitting tracks for this game, but that will all depend on how much it would cost. Being an artist and having done art commissions for people, I know how time-consuming and costly it can be. The only other option I have is to advertise on some music communities that my game is in need of music and in return for any music provided I could advertise their name/team in my game for them.
Anyhoo, I'm gonna cut this short as I'm beginning to ramble. ;D
I started development about a month ago on a new version of a game I made over 4 years ago. I decied it would be a good idea to remake the game in TGB as a serious first project. So far everything has been going very smoothly and I am very happy with the results I am getting! The game isn't particularly complex, and relies more heavily on art and level creation than it does coding. I've always found coding the easier part of game development, so this project will make sure I get practice in the other important areas, too!
Heres a couple of screenshots of from the current state of the game:
Although I've already started working on the different zone/area graphics, I think the next thing I should be working on is the world map, then after that is complete I can get back to making more level graphics and such. I think this is probably the best idea because at the moment I have no way of being able to show the game to anyone in order to gather feed back. Once the world map is in place, the game will be able to function as it should and the levels that have been created will load in the correct order.
One of my biggest worries so far is where I am going to find the music for this game. I would like to commission a musician to write some fitting tracks for this game, but that will all depend on how much it would cost. Being an artist and having done art commissions for people, I know how time-consuming and costly it can be. The only other option I have is to advertise on some music communities that my game is in need of music and in return for any music provided I could advertise their name/team in my game for them.
Anyhoo, I'm gonna cut this short as I'm beginning to ramble. ;D
Submit your own resources!| Keith Johnston (Sep 12, 2006 at 21:10 GMT) |
| Jonathon Stevens (Sep 12, 2006 at 21:40 GMT) |
You can contact me at dishmal@gmail.com
| James Bond (Sep 12, 2006 at 22:23 GMT) |
| Unk (Sep 13, 2006 at 19:59 GMT) |
If you can't find an indie priced audio person I would recommend getting some cheap loop software like Acid Pro and simply mixing up your own tracks based off of existing loops (is easier than you might think):
www.sonymediasoftware.com/products/showproduct.asp?pid=971
You can also look for some royalty free music that you can license:
www.sonymediasoftware.com/loop_libraries/?keycode=7777-4701
www.blish.com
www.soundrangers.com
Licensing existing music in this way has the drawback of not being uniquely tailored towards your game. Depending on the scope of your project you have to ask yourself what the chances are of a competitor picking the exact same track and using it without remixing it. Considering the millions of royalty free tracks out there and the millions of games out there I would say the probability is slim. And even if a competitor does use the same track, the chances of a player noticing it are even slimmer.
If you want something special for your main theme you could try Beat Pick. While they don't have pre-cleared music which is really indie priced their unlimited use license is still fairly reasonable for the audio quality.
This is not to say that I don't recommend having unique music tailored to your title. If you can afford it then do it. I would just weigh the cost against payoff. What we indies have over the big studios is that because of the scale of our games and teams we maximize profits by minimizing our cost. On the other hand if we are not careful about how much we spend in production then we are in risk of losing profit. Every dollar you spend on development is a dollar taken away from your eventual profit. It is just a matter of balancing risk/reward.
-Unk
Edited on Sep 13, 2006 20:09 GMT
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