Vapourware Codexian Game Development Thread

[Excommunicator]

Being away from Non Human for a few months has given me time to reevaluate the soundtrack I've made. For having worked on it nearly 3 years, I don't think it's good enough. There are songs that clearly feel like I made them 3 years ago when I was not nearly as good a musician or experienced with the sound chip I was using. If someone could go through the music I've made and tell me what you dislike, what needs revision, what is out of place, what needs to be replaced entirely and what should be remade, I would really appreciate it. I am looking for harsh criticism and I'm willing to start again from scratch if that's what it takes. I would like this soundtrack to be exceptional and my initial goal was to make one song at least as good as a Turrican or Ys song. I don't feel like this is the case yet.

It uses the YM2151 sound chip, a 16-bit frequency modulation chip from old arcade machines and the x68k computer. It's very similar to the Sega Genesis chip. I used it because Frankie, the dude making the game, wanted chiptunes and I was tired of making NES and Game Boy chiptunes. When we started, FM was very novel and not many western musicians were using it. That's changed now unfortunately!!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2957395/Non Human.rar

The first few minutes of this video shows footage of the game from 3 years ago. It's changed quite a bit since then but it could give you an idea of the game this music accompanies.

tear me a new one. thank you!!!!

oh yes this is something i'm doing in my spare time, i'm obviously spending most of my time working on barkley.

Ok I'm a little late with this but I wanted to give you my thoughts on how your music is coming along because some of it is great and the soundtrack (and probably the rest of the game) is bound to become a classic if you can get all of it to the level set by some of it.

cboyardee
I don't know crap about music so it might not be of much help.

'chimp heaven' - I don't like the melody at 0:00-0:28 and 0:43-1:12. The rest is good.
'chill' - What tiagocc0 said.
'gwup' - Great. Maybe add some small 'drum fill' at 0:58 and 1:25. Just feels to me something should be there.
'hrt4' - Great.
'pbox' - I like the 0:00-0:24 and 1:15-1:34 parts. The instrument that enters at 0:41 has an annoying sound, might want to tweak it.
'turrican dsun' - Great, especially the beginning. Maybe slightly shorten the middle part (0:35-1:04).
'chandragupta2' - Great beginning and middle parts, the end feels a little repetitive.
'crap 2' - The bass line slightly too repetitive. I like the melody at the end.
'testing2' - Nice wild melody, but the monotonous bass line doesn't fit it.
'xxddff2' - Good. Except the bass line at 0:10-0:36 and 1:37-1:50, feels a bit too 'heavy'.
'gumpy' - Starts good with a nice beat, but the melody after 0:51 is weak.
'rock and bugs 2' - I don't really like it.
'cf' - Good.
'freindly2' - The intro (0:00-0:27) feels a bit weird. Maybe shorten it slightly or tweak the melody. Also, I don't like the 'pitch sliding' used at 1:12-1:32.
'aphid' - Great. Catchy melody and nice flow.
'hgdhbn' - The bass line is somewhat monotonous, could use more variety.
'ultimate sludge2' - I like the second half. First half not so much.

I'm going to echo a lot of what Niektory said and shamelessly copypaste his headings too

Arena 'chimp heaven' - There is a bit of awkwardness in the melody. I think it drowns out the rest a bit too much. Maybe rebalance it a bit
Cave 'chill' - I like the 'chill' feel of this one, seems to be the only one of its type
Factory 'gwup' - Big fan of this one
Final 'hrt4' - Excellent, I especially like where it changes at :43. Leave it, focus on ones that need the extra work
First 'pbox' - Needs more interesting harmony (and melody) in this one. A bit too repetitive.
idk 'turrican dsun' - With the Oxygene likeness I think this has a space-like feel to it. It's good.
Robot 'chandragupta2' - This is still my favourite.
Tutorial 'crap 2' - This makes me think of turrican at the start. Makes me miss that oldschool stuff once it changes at 0:20
Easy 'testing2' - Quite similar to Medium cf. I feel like the bass should follow the melody a bit more closely instead of doing the drum repetition thing. I like how fast it is
Final 1 'xxddff2' - This is a bit awkward at times but I think it has good potential. Needs stronger harmony
Final 2 'gumpy' - Maybe a stronger melody, but it's a good change from the louder/sharper stuff in the rest of the tracks. Not sure it fits a boss fight?
Hard 'rock and bugs 2' - The melody does strange things here. It starts going up then suddenly goes down again when you anticipate it to go further up. I want to like it but this weird progression prevents it.
Medium 'cf' - Another of my favourites. I feel like something more should be happening when the soprano/high notes disappear around 0:16. Maybe a better drum line would help with that. Picks up better later
Credits 'freindly2' - Not sure I like this one. Gets somewhat better at around 0:30 but I think it is still missing something. Gets better again at 0:51 and I like it 1:00-1:12 but then it gets strange again..
Main 'aphid' - This is perhaps not as striking as a main theme should be. It doesn't really go anywhere, just lingers at least until around 0:48 or so. I think the one in the kickstarter video is perfect for a main theme with it's much slower entry. I see the file is called shadowrun so I'm not sure if that is just a remake of another song and you can't use it?
Menu 'hgdhbn' - This does need a bit more variation mainly at the start, but I do like the bit that starts around 0:28 until 0:40. I would expand on that bit more. The part afterwards is not bad too.
Menu 'ultimate sludge2' - Not really a fan of this one. It's a bit sharpy and "jumpy" sounding for me. It doesn't seem to go anywhere either. Although it does have a hint of "victory/end of level music" going on.

The pattern I'm seeing is good chord progressions with the more striking pieces, and weak progressions with a bit too much repetition with the weaker ones. Overall there's a lot of nice changes in the music and whenever there is a bit that I didn't like it would often switch to something better following it. So overall very good and you definitely have a talent for music. In terms of the criticisms I've given I will say I often look for things in music that a lot of people don't (e.g. I find it hard to relate to happy tunes and prefer things dark) so maybe take my comments with a grain of salt. You seem to know what you're doing either way.

Also I'm not sure how you chose to match the pieces to the areas but just trying to connect the pieces to the area names is difficult, although I admit I don't have the inside knowledge you have. If I were you I'd be tempted to put the really strong pieces in more memorable/prominent locations just because of the way music and memories connect when people play games. It would probably have a difficult to measure but significant long-term benefit for your games. (I'd love to hear chandragupta at the opening of the game. It's a piece that's difficult to get tired of hearing, even if it isn't specifically evocative of the themes in your game).

 

[barker_s]

I've got a video showing some progress on my Alien survival-horror minigame thingy. Lots of placeholders, but I've got some of the core features implemented. There's lots of placeholders though, so beware.



So, any thoughts so far? Gaming's Citizen Kane moment?

 

[shihonage]

Still upgrading Dead Colony. Reintroduced inventory system for what it's worth (not much), and scrap gathering mechanic (you spend it on building bridges and making torches). Also the amazing blood and scrolling water.

So, any thoughts so far? Gaming's Citizen Kane moment?

Better than Colonial Marines.

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

My first attempt doing an alien sprite for a "project" I want to do, and it ended looking like utter shit.

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

Damn. 30 minutes to edit your post. Here's an animated version:

 

[baturinsky]

Don't use black outlines in pixel art.
I was trying my hand in pixel art myself at a times. Results were decent, but too time-consuming for someone as lazy as me.

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

Don't use black outlines in pixel art.

Those aren't black outlines, it's a dark purple. Well I use black but in a few single pixels and the eyes.

 

[tiagocc0]

Try using fewer colors, 2, 3 so you can get the shape right first
Something I did awhile ago, but since they are just icons with no movement/animation it's a lot easier than what you guys are doing

EDIT: I also avoided any AA for now, not worrying about them makes it a lot easier too

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

AA? Asociative Arrays?

 

[tiagocc0]

Anti-Aliasing
http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

Heh. Thanks for the link tiagocc0! Very useful information there. I think that although incredible ugly, the alien is pretty functional and it could serve its purpose of representing an enemy in a prototype.

 

[tiagocc0]

No problem.
One thing you may want to take into consideration is foreground and background.

Never make background with too much contrast and/or saturation or it might be confusing for the player to see the sprites moving around.

 

[baturinsky]

From my experience, pixel art is not hard. There is only so much ways to draw 4x4 pixel head, so if you start with something, and fiddle with it for some time, eventually you will end up with something good (or at least OK). You just have to have patience. And, of cause, reading relevant forums and tutorials helps a lot.

 

[Zed]

it's one thing creating a sprite, another to create scenery. 'passable' pixel art is easy, great pixel art is as challenging as any other art.

 

[Davaris]

I've got a video showing some progress on my Alien survival-horror minigame thingy. Lots of placeholders, but I've got some of the core features implemented. There's lots of placeholders though, so beware.



So, any thoughts so far? Gaming's Citizen Kane moment?

Looks like its coming along. Even after all this time, that motion detector gives me the creeps. Ridley Scott knew his stuff.

I wonder how long you'd have to run a wiki (by yourself - mostly for content management) in order to get a rich world usable for games.
I'm thinking lore, maps, creatures, classes and professions, culture and so on.

Indies usually go the route of making engine/tech, then adapt some sort of on-the-fly creative work, because they don't have access to rich existing PnP gameworlds and stuff like that.
I think I'll start one and see how it goes. Maybe I'll invite any codexers who'd like to contribute (or just view it), but I only have vague ideas so far. It would be fantasy of some sort. Forgotten Realms with a Scandinavian folklore twist.

I am, of course, inspired by IDtenT (http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/idea-codex-original-lore-initiative.82858/), but this would be my own setting where any contributions would be a creature here, a town there, or a deity or something. But no-one would want to contribute to something absolutely shitty so I'll just sit on this myself for a while and maybe I'll come back with it later.

Yeah, good idea. I have to say I'm quite envious of PnP developers, because they never get bogged down by the technology. They just create their worlds, make them presentable on pdf and they are done.

 

[baturinsky]

it's one thing creating a sprite, another to create scenery. 'passable' pixel art is easy, great pixel art is as challenging as any other art.

Right, but... do you see "great" pixel art in games often?

 

[Zed]

it's one thing creating a sprite, another to create scenery. 'passable' pixel art is easy, great pixel art is as challenging as any other art.

Right, but... do you see "great" pixel art in games often?

Nööp. That doesn't mean it's impossible

 

[Zed]

I found a folder on my laptop with some old (4-5 years perhaps) stuff on it. Attempts at creating fun TB combat, inventory management with external data, adventure games and some sort of underground digging sim?

Spoiler

 

[tiagocc0]

of the pixels!

 

[Zed]

found some more recent (3 years?) but just as forgotten stuff.
a whimsical codex game; another attempt at TB combat; some JRPG combat thingy?

Spoiler

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

of the pixels!

 

[Surf Solar]

More people should see this!

 

[Lexx]

Looks cool. Will it be finished?

 

[Zed]

I released a demo of the Codex adventure game a long time ago.
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/codex-adventure-game.46721/

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Lately I've been working on a sort of actioney Rogue-like game that is supposed to run on Android: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29099307/gamedemo1.avi

There isn't much there yet, I'm mostly building the engine and learning the ropes of making my own animations and tiles at the moment. The main game idea is to find enough food and "lamp oil" or whatever keeps the light going while also picking up treasure and such. Quite a long way to go before I can polish gameplay so I'm hoping to get that all planned out while I work on the gears and bolts of the engine.