Topics

76

Misc Archive / Amazon's Free App of the Day stats

« on: August 02, 2013, 11:24:35 PM »

Starlink participated in the Amazon's Free App of the Day promotion on the 19th of July. If you like statistics, you may find this report interesting:

http://www.tasharen.com/?p=4664

Questions / comments welcome!

77

Misc Archive / Gameplay tips!

« on: July 23, 2013, 04:11:25 AM »

* Don't send more than 25 ships to any star. More than a 25 ship advantage does nothing for you.
* Spread your ships across all stars in the vicinity when they are neutral.
* Attack the AI early if you can. Don't wait to be attacked.
* Attack from several directions at once. Sending ships from one star is pointless, but 3 stars at once? Progress!
* Try to choose a starting location that's farther away from enemies, or close to only one enemy (that you can rush early)
* Always go after positive stars first (asteroids, gas cloud, comets, etc)
* Leave crappy stars for the AI (purple anomaly is great because AI can't send ships from there quickly enough)
* Think strategically about chokepoints. Don't take stars that you know can be attacked from 3 sides. Go after a star that can only be attacked from one side.
* When you have a lot of stars, turn off production on the far-away stars by tapping/clicking on them (this removes the arrow). This makes ships get created closer to the front lines.
* Send ships in a patrol route. Don't pile them on one star. If you have a perimeter, make them go around in a circle. It's better for defense.
* Speaking of defense, if you are getting attacked, cancel the star's ship redirection (click/tap on a star). This gives you a pretty hefty 30% defense bonus for all ships there.

Feel free to add any other tips.

78

Misc Archive / Seeking an artist

« on: July 17, 2013, 04:48:51 AM »

So here's the thing. I have quite a few interesting game ideas I want to pursue in the near future, and which game I pursue depends on the available resources. I'm a developer, not an artist -- but if I can find a good artist to work with, I'm totally down for that too. Ideally it'd be a joint venture -- so perhaps someone who already makes their living off the Asset Store and wants to pursue something bigger alongside and would want a 50/50 split on the final game... but I'm also no stranger to contracting and paying for art upfront if the artist prefers it instead.

If it's the former (joint venture), I'd prefer to work with someone with a long-term goal in mind -- not someone who just wants to make 100 assets over the course of a month and move on to something else, but rather someone who would be interested in seeing the project through to the end and wearing multiple hats -- from art, to storylines, design, etc.

And now about the game ideas themselves.

First up is the post-apocalyptic survival game. Player explores the ruins of a procedurally generated city, befriends other survivors, creates shelter, weapons, gadgets, etc -- multiplayer coop/versus of course. If you've watched "The Colony" show's first season, you're off to a good start. It would be easiest to do in top-down 2D style, so I'd want a pixel artist for this one.

Next is the sci-fi game with a greater scope. Think Battlestar Galactica exploring a procedurally generated galaxy populated with several rival factions. Jump to a star, give your Battlestar warship generic orders in 3rd person mode, and watch the action unfold in what seems to be slow motion (when in reality it's slow just because of the massive scale) -- or jump into a Viper and join the fight. Want to remain in 3rd person and direct your massive warship while your friends join in and fly the fighters? Certainly. Coop multiplayer is a given. This game would beg for an Occulus Rift support, and I'd be seeing a 3D artist capable of doing art similar to Infinity: Quest for Earth.

These are the two of the many game ideas that are on the top of my list right now that I'd like to see come to fruition. If you're an artist and may be interested, drop me a line with a link to your portfolio and other relevant infos.

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TNet 3 Support / Need another networked game example?

« on: June 29, 2013, 04:07:16 PM »

...well then there is another kit for you: http://www.tasharen.com/forum/index.php?topic=4780.0

80

Other Packages / Multi-Purpose Game Starter Kit

« on: June 25, 2013, 01:05:14 AM »

* Procedural Terrain Creation – Infinite variations, fully controllable.
* Dynamic Terrain Shader – Make modifications, no need to repaint.
* Custom Tree Placement – And not limited to trees. Color tinting for extra variation.
* Vehicles – Tank to drive around, Helicopter to fly around. Fully physics-driven.
* Turret – aim with the mouse, left mouse button to fire.
* Optional TNet-based Multiplayer. Choose a vehicle then blow up your friends!

Single-Player Build:
http://www.tasharen.com/mpgsk/index.html

Build with Tasharen Water:
http://www.tasharen.com/mpgsk/index2.html
NOTE: Water not included in this package, so it's here for example purposes only

Full Manual:
http://www.tasharen.com/mpgsk/readme.pdf

81

NGUI 3 Support / 2.6.3: Question for Professional users...

« on: June 15, 2013, 09:17:44 PM »

2.6.3 has some pretty solid optimizations for Unity 4.1+. I was able to roughly halve the amount of time spent in NGUI in the example scenes (mainly UIPanel.LateUpdate). The performance optimizations affect idle UIs where nothing is changing, as well as draggable panels. These two areas should have the most notable effect. And so to those who are able to try out 2.6.3, it'd be awesome if you could record the "before" and "after" performance and let me know the result. Look for the UIPanel.LateUpdate in the profiler window and keep an eye on your final framerate. Just don't forget to disable VSync.

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Misc Archive / Why oh why is everyone moving to flat/metro UIs?

« on: June 12, 2013, 03:31:25 AM »

First Microsoft and google, now iOS? I don't get it... am I the only one who thinks the new UI is fucking ugly as shit?

/rant off

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Misc Archive / New prototype: Not sure what to make of this yet...

« on: June 10, 2013, 10:56:29 PM »

I think this would make a fairly decent new Game Starter Kit. Just not sure of what kind of game.

* Full procedural terrain generation with procedural texturing and tree planting.
* Tree merging script that tints the trees as it does so, creating a lot of variety while reducing draw calls.
* Tank driving, aiming, and shooting mechanics (fully physics driven).
* Helicopter flying mechanics (fully physics driven).

Play: http://www.tasharen.com/tgsk/

Still very much a work in progress, and I am tempted to make a game with it even though I have no time... but I have a feeling it might also be interesting to people as a Game Starter Kit. What say you?

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TNet 3 Support / Have TNet and NGUI? -- There's a new kit for you...

« on: June 07, 2013, 08:38:53 PM »

UISK: Starlink gives you the NGUI-based user interface from a successful Android/iOS game - Starlink, including all the helpful systems that drive it. It's full of short and to-the-point scripts that can save you many hours in your own game development endeavors. TNet integration adds all the multiplayer-centric windows -- server list, channel list, LAN hosting, direct join, even multiplayer chat using NGUI.

Full details: http://www.tasharen.com/forum/index.php?topic=4506.msg21719#msg21719

Asset Store link: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/search/starlink

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NGUI 3 Support / UI Starter Kit: Starlink (NGUI+TNet) now available

« on: June 07, 2013, 08:36:33 PM »

UISK: Starlink gives you the NGUI-based user interface from a successful Android/iOS game - Starlink, including all the helpful systems that drive it. It's full of short and to-the-point scripts that can save you many hours in your own game development endeavors.

Optional TNet integration adds all the multiplayer-centric windows -- server list, channel list, LAN hosting, direct join, even multiplayer chat using NGUI.

Full details: http://www.tasharen.com/forum/index.php?topic=4506.msg21719#msg21719

Asset Store link: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/search/starlink

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Other Packages / UI Starter Kit: Starlink (NGUI + TNet)

« on: June 03, 2013, 07:51:53 AM »

* Requires NGUI: Next-Gen UI kit *
* Does NOT require TNet, but has more features with it

UISK: Starlink gives you the NGUI-based user interface from a successful Android/iOS game - Starlink, including all the helpful systems that drive it. It's full of short and to-the-point scripts that can save you many hours in your own game development endeavors. Even without the scripts it would be a pretty solid example of using both NGUI and TNet, but with them you get:

• Window transition framework
• Options window with working features
• Leaderboard visualization
• Download & display news
• Saved player profile and options
• Full/Lite version functionality
• Game chat window
• Many other useful scripts
• Fully localized

Optional TNet Networking integration adds:

• Server, channel and player lists
• Internet/LAN/Direct Connect
• Multiplayer chat
• Other stuff™

Sounds interesting? Here is the ReadMe doc that comes with it.

Too much reading? Perhaps a video will strike your fancy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNDKr716MT8

Want to play with something instead?

NGUI-only Version (no TNet): Web Player
TNet Version: Windows, Mac, Android

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Misc Archive / Battle Treads 2

« on: May 31, 2013, 02:56:32 PM »

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ATiTs0rABRSgIEqnoqsuWk4HtogfGU4EqlTOQ03n-To/edit?usp=sharing

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Misc Archive / Note to self: UI Starter Kit: RPG (NGUI)

« on: May 31, 2013, 02:54:59 PM »

UI Starter Kit: RPG (NGUI)
- Window transition framework from Starlink
- Main Menu (Play, Options, Achievements, Credits, Exit)
- Options (sound volume, music volume, tooltips, tutorial, etc)
- Achievement page (achievement system?)
- Credits Page
- Character Creation (select character class, starting attributes)
- In-game inventory from Windward (with a character paper doll)
- In-game talent system from Windward

89

Misc Archive / Piracy vs Freemium. What's worse?

« on: May 19, 2013, 10:26:39 PM »

Let's talk about something that I've been thinking about for a while -- the effect of piracy compared to the effect of freemium games.

I'm sure we all know the great (and very few) freemium "success stories" like Supercell and Candy Crush Saga making millions of dollars each day. And I'm also sure many of the readers of this forum have also tried their luck with this revenue model, whether professionally, or just to test the waters while working on something else.

To add a bit of context to go with the story: with a traditional ("premium") sale model, the games generally have a demo (or a "lite" version), and a full version that the players can choose to buy if they like the demo. The Freemium games on the other hand, tend to merge the "demo" and the "full" versions into one, offering a limited amount of experience to non-paid users, with many incentives to improve this experience for a price. As an added benefit of the freemium revenue model, it draws the players in before asking them for money -- kind of like selling drugs on the street: "the first hit is free".

Another good benefit of freemium games is that they are not affected by piracy to the same extent as premium games. They are free, after all -- anyone can distribute them... so it's no wonder that many major companies have switched to this revenue model amidst all the "piracy is running amok!" cries of the PC market.

Now, I may be alone here, but I actually think piracy is far prefferable to freemium games, but likely not for the same reason you may guess. While I do believe that piracy in games is at worst a neutral force (no sales lost, extra bug reporters), and at best a free form of advertising (if pirates like the game and tell all their friends that it's awesome it means more sales), the real issue for me lies in the ability to rate games and the quality of feedback resulting from such ratings.

To get the obvious out of the way: pirates can't rate games they didn't buy. If they try a game and happen to not like it, they will move on to the next one. No harm done. Those that like the game enough to buy it will do so, and will leave some constructive feedback in the process, seeing as they got involved enough to get that far after all.

On the other hand if a freemium player downloads a game and doesn't like it, chances are he's going to leave a bad "review" before moving on to the next game, with a 1/5 rating and a pointless comment along the lines of "I don't like it". Something like that is entirely negative in nature. It has no positive effect at all, and simply causes disappointment and hinders the developer's ability to continue making a living, directly affecting the income, and worse -- their desire to do so.

And so I ask -- am I the only one who sees a major flaw in this model?

In my opinion the player shouldn't have a right for a public opinion unless they paid to express it. Chances are, this will mean that only the happy players, and the really unhappy ones will be left, with the useless noise filtered out. As an added benefit, this would mean that the bot farm services that offer to spam-rate your app for a fee would be far less lucrative, assuming that requesting a refund would also delete the review, of course -- which would be a good addition as well. Bottom line is, no pay = no say.

What do you guys think?

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NGUI 3 Support / MOVED: Pondering something...

« on: May 17, 2013, 01:16:04 AM »

This topic has been moved to Developer's Cave.

http://www.tasharen.com/forum/index.php?topic=4278.0