A Gift of War(Was GF3)

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

The new approach looks more technological, but not necessarily better. Pixel art rarely meshes well with bump/specular maps and realtime lighting, although some devs managed to combine them to create subtle effects.

NGL right now I don't think 3D visuals add anything of value here, and this change just adds extra work on top.

 

[PompiPompi]

The new approach looks more technological, but not necessarily better. Pixel art rarely meshes well with bump/specular maps and realtime lighting, although some devs managed to combine them to create subtle effects.

NGL right now I don't think 3D visuals add anything of value here, and this change just adds extra work on top.

It is a draw back from tactical stand of point.
The shadows are less accurate than just black tiles to denote unseen tiles.
But... people are willing to pay more for 3D, before they even consider gameplay.

Doesn't matter how good my gameplay is, if the screenshots are not appealing for the masses who are visually exhausted.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

The new approach looks more technological, but not necessarily better. Pixel art rarely meshes well with bump/specular maps and realtime lighting, although some devs managed to combine them to create subtle effects.

NGL right now I don't think 3D visuals add anything of value here, and this change just adds extra work on top.

It is a draw back from tactical stand of point.
The shadows are less accurate than just black tiles to denote unseen tiles.
But... people are willing to pay more for 3D, before they even consider gameplay.

Doesn't matter how good my gameplay is, if the screenshots are not appealing for the masses who are visually exhausted.

I'm not sure if 2D/3D make a huge difference as long as the final image is consistent and appealing enough to not scare people away.

My suggestion is to consider taking a few days off, grabbing some half-decent tiles/sprites and applying them to GF2 as an experiment, then posting comparison shots here.

 

[PompiPompi]

3D makes a difference, some people just hate 2D no matter what is the game.
Fancy shaders make a difference. Sense of depth make a difference.
Of course art makes a lot of difference too, but unless you have art like in the level of the higest artist, you have to lure people with fancy colors.

Edit: I am not saying I don't like 2D or 3D is better... I am saying in practive, the vast majority of gamers would not even click on a game if it doesn't look fancy/"beautiful", 3D is one way to lure people like flies to your game.
Because there are some tricks with 3D that make good eye candy.
People also think that a 3D game is more "professional", because they think more sophisticated work was put into it.
:/

 

[d1r]

Give it in already. Your game looks like shit. It being 2D or 3D will MAKE NO DIFFERENCE at all considering what your game is about. Also, you DO NOT LURE IN people with a game title like that:

Even the most stressed out person, looking for even a little crumble of fun, would swipe left immediately when he sees something like that. And your user ratings (4) on Steam just confirm that.

 

[kites]

2d or 3d, who gives a toss; you need to make imaginative choices (mechanics/story/art direction to create a mood) that help your game stand out in the crowd. like anyone else here, i've got a backlog with more rpg's than i can count - what would drive someone to pick yours up?

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

some people just hate 2D no matter what is the game

Fuck 'em. I still think that improving what you've got would be a better and easier choice. Taking the long road and switching to 3D is a valid choice too, but I don't think it'll lead to a better outcome.

My advice would be to stick to 2D and invest in your art. If you can't afford to get a real artist on board, then invest time to improve your skills and/or procure stuff you can't draw yourself from public domain asset packs and modify it to fit the overall style of the game.

 

[PompiPompi]

Well I am also in the works of another 3D game, with an artist.
A boxing game.
And doing this 3D graphics stuff for this game, will help me with that other game.

I still think 3D has much better chances to lure people.

Of course even the name of the game matters a lot, in this case, the name of the game is not luring...

Also, I am going to have a store page up a long time before the game is released. I am going to participate in Demo Festivals of Steam.
And I am also going to make a much better gameplay, so once people will play the game, they will actually like it and recommend it.
Instead of a few die hard fans, which are the top tier of RPG players.

 

[Moaning_Clock]

I honestly think that series overall are a good way to get new players. It's often stated that it makes no sense but the examples given are always wildly successful games and their sequels are also wildly successful just less than before. You announce the next game, release it, bundle it up with the old, three ways to market the old games. I don't have data to back this up though but Jeff Vogel the RPG veteran seems to think the same.
I also would cautiously second the view of zwanzig_zwoelf and just refine the existing artstyle further. The first game looked ugly but the second looks much better and another iteration on that style would make it even better I think. I like the 2.5d-ish style but wouldn't go full 3D yet if that makes sense but I could also see just improving the existing style a bit further and skip the 2.5d if it's a lot of work.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I think you're on to something, I'll come back to check Golden Fall 59.

 

[PompiPompi]

I have decided to rename the game, and not call it Golden Fall 3.
Too many people are thinking the name is a reference to Golden Showers, and while that could be funny on it's own, it will discourage a lot of gamers who want a good deep RPG.
Soon I will start thinking of the game story, and will create a name when I have something solid.

GF, might continue as a separate franchise at some point. Maybe I will turn it into an MMO of some sort.

 

[PompiPompi]

The name of the game now is "A Gift of War"

 

[PompiPompi]

Latest "engine" progress:

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Why is it in German? Do you plan to localize it in German also?

 

[PompiPompi]

I had localizations for GF2, then disabled it, then checked it again when some Codexer offered me the translation for the full GF2 game(he did it for the Demo).
So it's just stayed like that when taking this screenshot.
I used to have a lot of translations for the Demo.
Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Polish, Russian and more...
Edit: Chinese Font is horrible by the way, it took like 200 MB just for the Chinese font.

 

[Moaning_Clock]

I use NotoSans Regular for Simplified Chinese and it's 5-6 mb big. Why only translating the demo and not the full game? How many words are in Golden Fall 2?

 

[PompiPompi]

Some progress video:

 

[PompiPompi]

I use NotoSans Regular for Simplified Chinese and it's 5-6 mb big. Why only translating the demo and not the full game? How many words are in Golden Fall 2?

Not a lot of words.
But it cost me money to do all the translations.

 

[Moaning_Clock]

I wonder why you translate the demo but not the full game. Maybe instead translating the demo in multiple languages just focus on one additional language for the whole game, wouldn't make that more sense?

 

[d1nolore]

I use NotoSans Regular for Simplified Chinese and it's 5-6 mb big. Why only translating the demo and not the full game? How many words are in Golden Fall 2?

Not a lot of words.
But it cost me money to do all the translations.

If it’s not many words why not see if anyone here will do it for you.

 

[PompiPompi]

I have someone here willing to do this for me. At least for German, but not worth the investment at this point.
I will want to do it in the future.
Think that GF2 has only sold about 40-50 copies... made less than 300 USD.
So each language translation is about 100 USD?

 

[bionicman]

In my opinion, translation/localization isn't that important. Making a good game should be a dev's primary concern.

Although, it's always useful to have translation/localization functionalities setup in the code itself, as this will make it easier later to get the game translated, especially if someone volunteers to translate it out of the blue.

But, anyways, I don't have much experience with this, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt.

Also, if you're going to spend money on something to improve your sales, paying an artist to draw custom graphics (which you can then later reuse in future projects) or purchasing graphics assets would be the best I think.

 

[PompiPompi]

Fixing shaders.
And a Fence:

 

[deem]

Is it really worth it to translate this game? From what I've seen, it's not exactly Planescape: Torment.

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Is it really worth it to translate this game? From what I've seen, it's not exactly Planescape: Torment.

There are two schools of thought regarding translation in the indie game market. Either the game doesn't have a whole lot of words, so it's obviously not worth it or the game has too many words and is too costly to translate.