SyntaxBomb - Indie Coders

Well here it is Ant Safari my latest creation . It's on itch.io and game jolt and is free on game jolt  £2.50 on itch.
Here's a link to it for free .
https://gamejolt.com/games/FaberGames/651416

All the graphics and sound are my own handy work . This was my first go at animation using Blender and for me I think it's pretty good.
I have only tested it on this computer and would like some feed back on system requirements needed to run it . My specs are my signature and during making this game I went from 8gb to 16gb of ram. I wanted it to run on a average laptop with integrated graphics ok but not sure if it will.
Anyway take a look if you like . Have an excellent day.

At least you got a like already.


For me - personally - 2,50 is 2,50 too much for the game (it looks a bit dull and less inviting for people even to try it out to see if the gameplay suits them). As said often: learn from your games but do not try to take further advantages from your learning-from-and-yet-much-to-learn games.
Seems you made it free when using jolt .. good decision. Think it could still scare away people on itch (did not check if you have a "pay what you want" there).

This game eg. looks like an early prototype to checkout core gameplay. if it has a fun game play: improve. Improve lighting, improve textures, materials. .. add variety to gameplay (if needed). POLISH POLISH POLISH (and nope, not talking about a language here!)


bye
Ron

Thanks for the input Ron much appreciated yes I will make it free on itch shortly . Yes it has it's shortcomings but it has gotta be my best game yet . I will keep on improving with experience I hope .

I have decided not to learn a new language now and instead stick with what I know . Although I would like to know a main stream language I have tried a couple and AGK for what I use it for is the nicest to use , Probably because I've been using it for a couple of years or so. If the game creators keep supporting AGK I'll keep using it . So no more Python or Lua for me . Now if I had to jump ship it would be Defold but I like what I'm doing now and my next game will be better than what I've created before. Have a nice morning.

the good
okydoke - you are doing better
the bad
it's not really a game
the ugly
everything and THE PRICE

ok. Here's what you get for £5 for a single developer

All this takes is time to actually learn how to do things - You have soo much to learn there isn't even a starting point. STICK TO ONE LANGUAGE AND LEARN IT - ALL OF IT

DROP THE 3D
learn how 2d works
write breakout
write pacman
write a particle simulation
write a cube that can push another cube around
write sokoban
DONT USE physics
DONT USE 3D
write everything yourself
write a button. where you draw the button on screen, track the mouse and track when the button is clicked - extend it to be 2 then 3 buttons
take the above and make a menu
write a 2d tile map
DONT USE 3D
£2.50 not only are you havin a laugh you are insulting us and yourself and everyone else

ok Use 3D - but track all the objects yourself and do your own collision and physics - DONT USE ANY BUILT 3d COLLISION - YOU MUST DO IT YOURSELF

Points taken Adam and will try and implicate these recommendations in my next project which I will be starting in the next week or 2. Thanks for taking a look .

a few serious questions for you:

1. do you play games yourself - not in the past - but now?
If not why not?

2. do you follow game devs or game types on other platforms - youtube/twitter/facebook
this is a great place for seeing what people are up to and also give you ideas and thoughts about things

3. how you tried itch.io game jams?
if not, why? They are the best place to get feedback, join a community and get a good grounding in what other are doing and how and why

I and others can give you all sorts of interesting people to look at and things to see.
But my one feeling is you have been starstruck with 3d. 3d is hard. not ust hard but really hard to get right and even more difficult to get people interested in.

My one big lessen here is this:
people are used to 3d and AAA. they take one look and run if it doesn't look even half good. When I mean good - it's got to look either AAA or have some sort of look that instantly engages them. People can also tell if you have bought models, it doesn't feel right, or is just wrong.
To make a game with a 'look' you have to know your stuff - really know it. be able to write a shader from scratch, deal with frame buffer objects and do something with 3d that makes you stand out.

This is the reason I keep telling you to look at 2d. 2d is what 3d is built on. if you cant get 2d to work, then you will never 'get' what makes 3d work. Plus people really like retro and pixels and new things that have an old arcade/amiga/dos/ps1 feel to them.

Your first task is to draw a simple square on the screen out of lines. next is to use some form of data to hold just the points of the square. next would be to use some math to scale the square. after that draw many squares at different positions. next figure out how to add rotation to your square and color. You only have lines and data. if you can write that code understand it and be able to see beyond the square and how that forms the basis of a simple sprite system. you have really learnt something that will make your life soo mush simpler

believe me when I say the square problem is the ABC of graphics. without knowing and writing it once you will have problems.

think of 3d as Latin
You need to learn Spanish or French first, be able to compare what makes them similar to English. Suddenly you start to see bits of Latin in Spanish, etc and things just 'work'

I totally agree with Adam, it's so much more difficult to stand out in a crowd if you're going the 3D route.  These days people generally expect 3D AAA or retro gaming (but with modern gameplay).  2D for the win.

Hmm. I may make my next game 2d and 3d . could be interesting . I was in fact thinking of doing some 2d games anyway and maybe sharpen up my 2d skills somewhat. I think that sounds a great idea and a change is as good as a rest . Thanks for the input . I think I'm done with ant safari now and I think I'm gonna enjoy doing a 2d game for a change . Gonna scan the internet for some ideas and maybe make a start.

QuoteHmm. I may make my next game 2d and 3d . could be interesting .

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

Please listen to what you are being told (nicely).

LEARN HOW TO CODE

GO BACK TO 2D AND TRY TO MAKE SOMETHING SIMPLE AND FUN AND COMPLETE

NEVER EVER TOUCH 3D

OK . I know I come across as harsh - but you really don't listen. so I'm going to tell you EXACTLY what is wrong with and safari and why it has poor fps, etc.

1. First step I downloaded it.
2. next is to look at the files, see what you are doing and what your general approach is. NOTE I am not running your app.
3. Next up is my findings going through the files one by one

- you have a lot of files
- 512x512 bitmap files for the ant texture - but no texture apart from 2 dots - one assumes for the eyes - this indicates you have little understanding of how texturing operates
- ant 3d model is 1.6 mb! this should be in the region of a few kb! so your have virtually no understanding of what low poly or optimize mesh means
- 5 more ant textures each 1024x1024 - all identical apart from 2 dots that change color. - this would suggest no understanding of what a texture is, how to optimize and what the GPU likes to eat <- get this wrong and your FPS SLOWS DOWN!!!!!!
- hideous butterfly 3d object with 'boob' texture. This was a test for you to learn some modeling and not to be used in anything - this suggests lesson not learnt or just ignored
- deathtime.png. This says it all. A complete bitmap with just some text for information. This suggests so little is known about the language you are using that you can't figure out how to load a font and use it to display some text on a screen
- fire 3d object which is a ball?
- fire bitmap that is 1024x1024 and is a solid red color!!!!
- flower bitmap 512x512
- grass bitmap 512x512 solid color!!!
- grass 3d object - has a base? not really optimized for anything
- instructions.png - because you can't write text! wasd to run and move gun? what about arrow keys? t to pause and r to unpause??? just use P for both. What this tells me is you don't really play games and have very little concept for user input
- AND HERES THE KICKER... 6 1280x1280 map files. This tells me you are using these as height maps - which you were previously explicitly told was not the best way to do this. you were given suggestions on how best to do this sort of thing but you completely ignored everything because YOU know best. What this also tells me is you are using a very high resolution base mesh (probable xy1000 or xy2000 or even higher). You were told very simply why this was the worse way to achieve what you were wanting. you were told how to possibly make performance better because of you poor choices. you chose to ignore everything because you know exactly what you are doing and AGK is wrong becasue you only get 25fps!!!!! LEARN OR LEAVE 3D ALONE
- pause.png - yep here's another fine bitmap cause you cant use text yet....
- record-1.wav. 24.1mb !!!!! this is a single clunk that lots of nothing and a russle. - what this shows is you have no understanding of sound, how to use it, how to optimize it etc. as an example I have 16 individual sounds that include all my effects, speech, menu sounds, etc they are uncompressed, 16bit and are 932kb in total for all of them!
- rifle 3d file - nearly 1mb and is just a bunch of blocks thrown together that in no way resembles any sort of weapon, real or otherwise. - this suggests someone who has such a little grip on 3d modeling that they can ever find a picture of a gun and  try to model it.
- 6 more bitmaps files labeled tex1.6 each 2560x2560. I have no idea what they are used for. but I just hope they are not being used a collision or texture information??
- a bunch more bitmaps 'loading level 1' etc. - just bad beyond belief. but nothing I am surprised at now.
- finally a 3d tree. it's quite nice and the best thing in the folder. It shows some style and promise
- lastly we have the tree texture - 512x512 just green but with some strange brown sticks in one corner? - although you can assume this is the texture for the 3d tree - the brown sticks dont really match anything. - this suggests a lack of understanding about 3d texturing and also 2d bitmap work

to wrap this up. there is soo much wrong here, that it is hard to find a place to start.
Your main gripe is about speed but you have such a pitiful grasp of how 3d works you can't understand that it is BOTH YOUR lack of code talent and terrible 3d modeling and approach that is the problem.
But you main problem is this simple fact:
You know it all, wont listen and wont take any steps to learn - because you know it all...

Anyone else, feel free to download and see for yourself

I actually like my latest game and consider it to be my best so far . Agreed there is room for improvement . However I feel that my attempts at creating games has improved a hell of a lot since I started.  Bonjour