💢 [Patreon members got this episode early] 🧟♂️ WISHLIST LONG GONE on Steam: store.steampow... Patreon: / hillfortgames Twitch: / hillfortgames Discord: / discord Buy Ten Bells: store.steampow... All Hail the Cube.
Hey, I'm a former CEO of a game development company with two fails under my belt. But I'm keeping an eye on how you're doing and rooting for you! This year, I plan to go solo-no more 20+ person companies (that was a nightmare for me). We'll see how it goes as a solo dev. I'm watching!
I love the attitude you have. Most people see there failures and try to sweep them under the rug. I like how you wear it as a badge; almost like proof of your progress and experience gained. I hope your next project does well.
I have an idea for you. You should use the way musical chords are built (in a simple form ex 'no inversions') so like a C major chord is built CEG, but C is in a few other chords too like ACE, FAC, it just serves a different purpose. A game with mechanics like that would be really neat, also not a rougelike/lite but a fully fleshed out game would be ideal to make full use of the system I personally believe. Good luck whatever you do.
That is some beautiful game art!!! I am very new to gamedev and I had a similar art style planned for a game, but I was stressing out so much that it would look bad, but THIS!!!!!!!!! THIS LOOKS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!! Wishlisted!!
“Everyone stop Vins gettin a coffee!” Felt that one haha. You got this! I’m reaching the release date of my first game and have no outside forces pushing me to get it done, and still I’ve had that lingering feeling for a while. Wishing you the best of luck
Aspiring Solo Dev here! Your videos are truly inspiring and cannot wait for your game. This is becoming my favorite Game Dev series! Its great youre showing game Dev struggles that often get glanced over
I appreciate that! Im glad the realism is coming through, i personally have a distain for the Mr.Beast-high octane-styled DevLogs that are floating around the platform that dont show the reality of game dev. Its the best job in the world, im excited to get up to do it every morning but the reason i love it is that i overcome the hardships to make something fun. Its annoying that its missed out because its the biggest reward.
I've found a useful philosophy for taking time off is the idea of sharpening the axe. It comes from '7 habits of highly effective people'. The concept is very straight forward, If you use an axe to chop wood, it slowly blunts; making the wood chopping harder. It's more productive to stop sometimes and sharpen the axe so that when you resume cutting wood, it does so more efficiently. Think of yourself as the Axe and time off as sharpening. If you're using yourself as a tool, you need to allow yourself time for mainenance or you will break down and the project will collapse entirely.
As a solo game developer, I find you truly inspiring. Just watching your game is an incredible experience, and I can't wait to see where it goes. This is easily one of my favorite devlog series, right up there with Thin Matrix and Two Stars Cuffbust.
Your devlog brings so much emotion and I hope you’re doing well. I am a full time indie game dev myself and struggle a lot with focusing on the right things. I’ve made just a few devlogs back the time because it was so much work and difficult not being a native speaker, and it felt like I couldn’t bring all what I feel to others. It is a hard time and you have to constantly push yourself going forward. Wish you the best with your amazing game and keep an eye on your work 🫶🏼
Im doing great :) Just bringing the reality of gameDev to those that are in it and that are looking into it. I have a general dislike for a lot of devlogs on this platform because they're always high-octane, Mr.Beast-styled-"everything is awesome"-viewpoint on everything but while i love making games and i couldnt imagine doing anything else, its always strange to me that people arent honest about the process of what it is we go through on a mental-level. Just hoping to bring some reality to it, but im really glad its connecting with you. I wish you luck on your game!
Even the youtube video is really high quality! I think this video is good reminder, why I should personally focus on smaller roguelike games in the future. the amount of work you are doing just for the single house scene is absolutely insane. I hope you keep the scope and core heart of the game intact, even if people ask to add X and Y. Best of luck, don't worry about the investor too much, because I can already see that this game will be very popular on Steam. If you have 2000 wishlist without a demo already, it means It's going to be a huge success.
Thanks so much! We speak about scope a lot on the twitch channel. We have a lot of people come through with a lot of ambition, I honestly wouldn't take a game of this size if I had had multiple projects under my belt. This game is designed to be finished by just myself in a year to 18 months, but if I get funding then scope will shift with that but only if that happens. Scoping one of the hardest skills to get in game dev for sure but you're right, I try to keep scope locked in so I dont go off track too much :) Good luck on your project!
Another great devlog! Again, love the transparency surrounding game dev in this series, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Really inspiring stuff - keep up the great work and I wish you good luck!
Dude, I'm a Brazilian indie developer and I'm just starting out in the field and your game is incredible. You revived my desire to develop a game, this 2.5D aesthetic with pixel art is exactly what I was thinking, but I had never seen an example to be sure if it worked. Thanks, and keep moving forward with your head held high.
Looking great! I actually watched CJU play Ten Bells some time ago and thought that it was an excellent anomaly horror game - and now I just realized you worked on that one as well. Congrats! I need to check that game again. Very inspiring. You have such a great taste for style. I'm cheering for you mate but I also hope you find remedies for balancing stress.
Hi Vin, I just wanted to say that I love watching your streams, even though I mostly just lurk. The calm and soothing atmosphere you’ve created with your community is amazing. It really feels like I’m working alongside friends while I develop my own game. I completely relate to what you said about guilt; I feel the same way. Sometimes, if I can’t fall asleep quickly, I prefer to get up and work instead of “wasting time” lying in bed. Anyway, keep up the good work! I hope things turn positive for you faster than you expect.
I really appreciate all the support, even the lurks. I love the community growing around hillfort and im glad it's helping people pursue gamed in however small a way. Much appreciated
It's great to see the progress and good to see that you've discovered a new tool to speed up your work. I keep my fingers crossed for those sponsors and look forward to the next video. By the way - can you talk about the plot next time? Do you have any outline of the story already, or are you focusing on mechanics and other aspects for now? Cheers!
thanks so much! And absolutely, I'll be covering the narrative in a future devlog. I have all the main story mapped out across the neighbourhood and I know what the ending is going to be but I need to put time into the writing of the dialogue which will be mostly timing-based so I try and avoid that until its threaded through gameplay. I appreciate you checking in on it :)
Really resonate with the ending. I'm kind of in the same position myself, just got myself a overnight job cutting meat. Definitely a random find, but ive thought if I had even a small bit of income I'd feel less bad not working on the game in those times. I'm also less likely to rush, I'd like to work on this passion for awhile.
Sleep isnt bad lol. But if that's just difficult at the moment yu can get some sleepytime tea, dates, marjoram, minced whole cloves and some essential oils (their self descriptive). And take them when your feeling overwhelmed, which is normal at the moment. Just thought this might help if you havent tried them.
I don't really watch any Unity dev's after...well, you know, but I've been locked in on this and have stayed consistently impressed by your work. LONG GONE looks great and I can't wait to play it. Obligatory ALL HAIL THE CUBE #CubeCult or #CultoftheCube ?
Your artwork is literally mind-blowing. The game looks amazing. I'd buy a PC just to play it. Literally the only thing preventing your from MASSIVE success is COVERAGE!! You need a spotlight on you and this will blow up! Have you made a press kit for your game yet? If you haven't done so already I would reach out to some gaming websites with your press kit! Once you have a demo (not sure if you do) all you need is one big streamer or multiple small streamers to play it and your gonna be swimming in success! Best of luck friend
In a company, if Steve do a coffe break, the whole company don't stop. But when the shift ends, the whole company stops working on the game for like 16 hours. Also, don't go so hard and lose sleep or anything, cause if your alerady losing sleep, 1 hour less sleep isn't 1 hour more on the game, it's like half an hour, cause you are tired to be productive.
I agree, im just coming from a place that had 3+ studios working on every game I was on, Assassin's Creed for example was worked on 24/7 around the world lol. Its something i need to get better at for sure but it mostly comes from the defense-mechanism of not having funding. Once that happens, everything will settle down.
Yep. Guilt for every wasted second. For every poor decigion. Frequently underestimating tasks and falling behind schedule. Yet you know, that if you push 13-14-hour shifts, mind gets exhausted, and mistakes you make will cost you even more time in the future. Even a 20 minute break often gives you a nice solution. But how much of a break is too much? After 6-7 hours of work you are completely useless: you make more mistakes then you should. Sleeping schedule is not a thing: ideas and solutions can haunt you for hours before you fall asleep. Today the game seems to look okay. Tomorrow you are disapointed and start comparing it to other cool projects. You never know if people actually like what you are doing, or if they just say it to be nice. You are not alone in your struggle. Well, you are. But there are a lot of us. I wish us more patience. You know, we would not do anything else.
Hello Vin. Mrs. McAllister, your Maths teacher from Year 9 here. May I remind you that 400% more is 5 times as much, not 4 times? Cheers, xoxo. -Elisabeth
Hey, so the feelings of guilt and inability to detach from the work is common for anybody running their own business. One thing I’d strongly urge is to ditch the office and find somewhere you can work with other people working too; a co-working space or incubation hub or even just a coffee shop. You’ll see other people working around you and you’ll feel a general sense of productivity happening, even if it’s nothing to do with you, and you won’t feel like the world is on your shoulders and it all stops if you get up for a coffee or when you go home. Good luck!
Hello! I thought that this was a great idea that you could add, and that would be the further your character gets into the game, the more dirty, scuffed, old, and grow more beard hair and stuff over time
The game looks great, can I ask if there's a entry fee to become an investor? I believe in this project and would like to play my part, but I'm not a milionaire
hi :) Thats not something ive set up just yet. Feel free to get in touch via email at hillfortgames.dev(at)gmail and we can stay in touch in the future!
I did, but resetting each object i made and snapping verts to grids constantly was a pain. It just slowed everything down. Some people are super fast in belnder so its great for them, but im just better suited to BlockBench specifically for this program. I think its down to what people are most used to too, im pretty ruthless about switch and jumping around for what's best for me instead of forcing what im used too to work.
@@schouffy Its definitely worth a try but it really depends if you can sacrifice a good modeling tool for a good textle density tool xD I landed on the Blockbench side for sure. To each their own though!
Lol you're not wrong. I rotoscoped myself for early animation tests. I dropped the roto stuff but hand-animated but the character design stayed the same :)
![[#Devlog] DoGameDev(Long Gone); //Building the ship](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ckN4QjhVcbc/mqdefault.jpg)
![[#Devlog] DoGameDev(Long Gone); //Building the ship](/img/tr.png)
Join me on Twitch! www.twitch.tv/hillfortgames I stream most week days!
Hey, I'm a former CEO of a game development company with two fails under my belt. But I'm keeping an eye on how you're doing and rooting for you! This year, I plan to go solo-no more 20+ person companies (that was a nightmare for me). We'll see how it goes as a solo dev. I'm watching!
Im cheering you on!
I love the attitude you have. Most people see there failures and try to sweep them under the rug. I like how you wear it as a badge; almost like proof of your progress and experience gained. I hope your next project does well.
Big respect for pushing on, rooting for you ❤
I have an idea for you. You should use the way musical chords are built (in a simple form ex 'no inversions') so like a C major chord is built CEG, but C is in a few other chords too like ACE, FAC, it just serves a different purpose. A game with mechanics like that would be really neat, also not a rougelike/lite but a fully fleshed out game would be ideal to make full use of the system I personally believe. Good luck whatever you do.
@@hillfortgames Thank you!
That is some beautiful game art!!! I am very new to gamedev and I had a similar art style planned for a game, but I was stressing out so much that it would look bad, but THIS!!!!!!!!! THIS LOOKS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!! Wishlisted!!
thanks so much!
“Everyone stop Vins gettin a coffee!” Felt that one haha. You got this! I’m reaching the release date of my first game and have no outside forces pushing me to get it done, and still I’ve had that lingering feeling for a while. Wishing you the best of luck
Wishing you all the luck on your release too man, we just released a game in August so the pain is fresh lol. All the best!
Aspiring Solo Dev here! Your videos are truly inspiring and cannot wait for your game. This is becoming my favorite Game Dev series! Its great youre showing game Dev struggles that often get glanced over
I appreciate that! Im glad the realism is coming through, i personally have a distain for the Mr.Beast-high octane-styled DevLogs that are floating around the platform that dont show the reality of game dev. Its the best job in the world, im excited to get up to do it every morning but the reason i love it is that i overcome the hardships to make something fun. Its annoying that its missed out because its the biggest reward.
Great devlog, as always! Excited to see your continued progress and hear about WHEN you get funding! 😊
thanks so much iheart! Your support is really motivating!
I've found a useful philosophy for taking time off is the idea of sharpening the axe. It comes from '7 habits of highly effective people'. The concept is very straight forward, If you use an axe to chop wood, it slowly blunts; making the wood chopping harder. It's more productive to stop sometimes and sharpen the axe so that when you resume cutting wood, it does so more efficiently. Think of yourself as the Axe and time off as sharpening. If you're using yourself as a tool, you need to allow yourself time for mainenance or you will break down and the project will collapse entirely.
As a solo game developer, I find you truly inspiring. Just watching your game is an incredible experience, and I can't wait to see where it goes. This is easily one of my favorite devlog series, right up there with Thin Matrix and Two Stars Cuffbust.
You're too kind, im really glad it's connecting with you!
Your devlog brings so much emotion and I hope you’re doing well. I am a full time indie game dev myself and struggle a lot with focusing on the right things. I’ve made just a few devlogs back the time because it was so much work and difficult not being a native speaker, and it felt like I couldn’t bring all what I feel to others. It is a hard time and you have to constantly push yourself going forward. Wish you the best with your amazing game and keep an eye on your work 🫶🏼
Im doing great :) Just bringing the reality of gameDev to those that are in it and that are looking into it. I have a general dislike for a lot of devlogs on this platform because they're always high-octane, Mr.Beast-styled-"everything is awesome"-viewpoint on everything but while i love making games and i couldnt imagine doing anything else, its always strange to me that people arent honest about the process of what it is we go through on a mental-level. Just hoping to bring some reality to it, but im really glad its connecting with you. I wish you luck on your game!
Even the youtube video is really high quality! I think this video is good reminder, why I should personally focus on smaller roguelike games in the future. the amount of work you are doing just for the single house scene is absolutely insane. I hope you keep the scope and core heart of the game intact, even if people ask to add X and Y.
Best of luck, don't worry about the investor too much, because I can already see that this game will be very popular on Steam. If you have 2000 wishlist without a demo already, it means It's going to be a huge success.
Thanks so much! We speak about scope a lot on the twitch channel. We have a lot of people come through with a lot of ambition, I honestly wouldn't take a game of this size if I had had multiple projects under my belt. This game is designed to be finished by just myself in a year to 18 months, but if I get funding then scope will shift with that but only if that happens. Scoping one of the hardest skills to get in game dev for sure but you're right, I try to keep scope locked in so I dont go off track too much :)
Good luck on your project!
Another great devlog! Again, love the transparency surrounding game dev in this series, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Really inspiring stuff - keep up the great work and I wish you good luck!
Glad its connecting, thanks so much!
The progress this month is insane! Good job Vin, you got this! ❤
thanks so much, Tom!
Dude, I'm a Brazilian indie developer and I'm just starting out in the field and your game is incredible. You revived my desire to develop a game, this 2.5D aesthetic with pixel art is exactly what I was thinking, but I had never seen an example to be sure if it worked.
Thanks, and keep moving forward with your head held high.
appreciate you, and best of luck with the project!
What an amazing project, I'm looking forward to seeing this! Keep up the great work, huge motivation for me to get going!
Thanks so much, and good luck with your project too!
Looking great! I actually watched CJU play Ten Bells some time ago and thought that it was an excellent anomaly horror game - and now I just realized you worked on that one as well. Congrats! I need to check that game again. Very inspiring. You have such a great taste for style. I'm cheering for you mate but I also hope you find remedies for balancing stress.
I appreciate all the kind words, glad you enjoyed bells :) We had a great time making that one.
Looking great! Also, played Ten Bells and it was excellent. Well done, keep it up!
awesome, really glad you enjoyed Bells! Appreciated :)
Hi Vin, I just wanted to say that I love watching your streams, even though I mostly just lurk. The calm and soothing atmosphere you’ve created with your community is amazing. It really feels like I’m working alongside friends while I develop my own game. I completely relate to what you said about guilt; I feel the same way. Sometimes, if I can’t fall asleep quickly, I prefer to get up and work instead of “wasting time” lying in bed.
Anyway, keep up the good work! I hope things turn positive for you faster than you expect.
I really appreciate all the support, even the lurks. I love the community growing around hillfort and im glad it's helping people pursue gamed in however small a way. Much appreciated
Great video as always! The game is really coming along, truly inspiring to see it evolve. Best of luck dude!
thanks, Jcup! 👊👊👊
Saw the visuals somewhere else and ended up here, instant wishlist !
Thanks so much for the support! I appreciate you!
this is the kind of game that i like to see, play, and make
Then you're in the right place :) Glad its connecting with you!
Wow, the dark rooms look realy spooky! I hope there are some dark rooms with scary stuff to explore.
there will be! Thanks!
I love the addition of tony the zombie lmao
Looks awesome with new models :)
I had fun working on them!
Loving this game!!
loving the support! Thanks so much!
It's great to see the progress and good to see that you've discovered a new tool to speed up your work. I keep my fingers crossed for those sponsors and look forward to the next video. By the way - can you talk about the plot next time? Do you have any outline of the story already, or are you focusing on mechanics and other aspects for now? Cheers!
thanks so much! And absolutely, I'll be covering the narrative in a future devlog. I have all the main story mapped out across the neighbourhood and I know what the ending is going to be but I need to put time into the writing of the dialogue which will be mostly timing-based so I try and avoid that until its threaded through gameplay. I appreciate you checking in on it :)
You Got This mate!! keep streaming on twitch we love it!!
Can't wait to play it
Really resonate with the ending. I'm kind of in the same position myself, just got myself a overnight job cutting meat. Definitely a random find, but ive thought if I had even a small bit of income I'd feel less bad not working on the game in those times. I'm also less likely to rush, I'd like to work on this passion for awhile.
You got this!
The game looks gorgeous!! do exercise, meditate and eat well on a daily basis, best luck!!
I need more of that!
Sleep isnt bad lol. But if that's just difficult at the moment yu can get some sleepytime tea, dates, marjoram, minced whole cloves and some essential oils (their self descriptive). And take them when your feeling overwhelmed, which is normal at the moment. Just thought this might help if you havent tried them.
Awesome work! Looking great!
thanks so much!
I am SO excited to play this game! I know it is a deliriously long journey of love but it's going to be so worth it!!!
Thanks Goulie! I appreciate your support always!
@hillfortgames dude anytime! You are one of the most real and sweet devs Ive had the pleasure of chatting with!!!
I don't really watch any Unity dev's after...well, you know, but I've been locked in on this and have stayed consistently impressed by your work. LONG GONE looks great and I can't wait to play it. Obligatory ALL HAIL THE CUBE #CubeCult or #CultoftheCube ?
appreciate the support!
I am not into PC games, but your game looks so interesting. I hope, you’ll finish it. Also, your videos look so good. They please my eyes.
Hoping to get it onto consoles one day too!
I'm looking forward to play your demo 🧡💜
Looking forward to finishing it!
Your artwork is literally mind-blowing. The game looks amazing. I'd buy a PC just to play it. Literally the only thing preventing your from MASSIVE success is COVERAGE!! You need a spotlight on you and this will blow up! Have you made a press kit for your game yet? If you haven't done so already I would reach out to some gaming websites with your press kit! Once you have a demo (not sure if you do) all you need is one big streamer or multiple small streamers to play it and your gonna be swimming in success! Best of luck friend
You're too kind. Thanks so much :)
Ill be making press kits and new trailers once the demo is done, its hard locked into my plans.
In a company, if Steve do a coffe break, the whole company don't stop. But when the shift ends, the whole company stops working on the game for like 16 hours. Also, don't go so hard and lose sleep or anything, cause if your alerady losing sleep, 1 hour less sleep isn't 1 hour more on the game, it's like half an hour, cause you are tired to be productive.
I agree, im just coming from a place that had 3+ studios working on every game I was on, Assassin's Creed for example was worked on 24/7 around the world lol. Its something i need to get better at for sure but it mostly comes from the defense-mechanism of not having funding. Once that happens, everything will settle down.
the algorithm put you in my homepage, dad.
Didn't know you had a youtube channel xD I'm devDonut on twitch
its a small world, son!
It's not a matter of IF with Long Gone. It's definitely WHEN. It looks like the demo is coming along great. I can't wait to play!
I appreciate it!
I’ve only seen the cube once and now I must pray to it! ALL HAIL THE CUBE
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌
It’s looking great
Thanks so much! Glad you're digging it :)
Yep. Guilt for every wasted second. For every poor decigion. Frequently underestimating tasks and falling behind schedule.
Yet you know, that if you push 13-14-hour shifts, mind gets exhausted, and mistakes you make will cost you even more time in the future. Even a 20 minute break often gives you a nice solution.
But how much of a break is too much? After 6-7 hours of work you are completely useless: you make more mistakes then you should. Sleeping schedule is not a thing: ideas and solutions can haunt you for hours before you fall asleep. Today the game seems to look okay. Tomorrow you are disapointed and start comparing it to other cool projects. You never know if people actually like what you are doing, or if they just say it to be nice. You are not alone in your struggle. Well, you are. But there are a lot of us. I wish us more patience. You know, we would not do anything else.
Hello Vin. Mrs. McAllister, your Maths teacher from Year 9 here. May I remind you that 400% more is 5 times as much, not 4 times? Cheers, xoxo. -Elisabeth
This is me interacting for the almighty Algorithm-Sama.
Thank you!
Hey, so the feelings of guilt and inability to detach from the work is common for anybody running their own business.
One thing I’d strongly urge is to ditch the office and find somewhere you can work with other people working too; a co-working space or incubation hub or even just a coffee shop. You’ll see other people working around you and you’ll feel a general sense of productivity happening, even if it’s nothing to do with you, and you won’t feel like the world is on your shoulders and it all stops if you get up for a coffee or when you go home.
Good luck!
I appreciate the advice!
Finally a new update lezgoooo
on twitch everyday if you want more updates sooner ^_^
Hello! I thought that this was a great idea that you could add, and that would be the further your character gets into the game, the more dirty, scuffed, old, and grow more beard hair and stuff over time
The game looks great, can I ask if there's a entry fee to become an investor? I believe in this project and would like to play my part, but I'm not a milionaire
hi :) Thats not something ive set up just yet. Feel free to get in touch via email at hillfortgames.dev(at)gmail and we can stay in touch in the future!
So, you can make games on a Mac! :D
Of course! I’ve been developing on Mac for years :) ten bells was made on Mac too
There's a texel density plugin for blender that's pretty good. Did you give it a shot? Curious to why it would't work for you
I did, but resetting each object i made and snapping verts to grids constantly was a pain. It just slowed everything down. Some people are super fast in belnder so its great for them, but im just better suited to BlockBench specifically for this program. I think its down to what people are most used to too, im pretty ruthless about switch and jumping around for what's best for me instead of forcing what im used too to work.
@@hillfortgames Makes sense, and I do agree the plugin could be improved regarding vertex snapping. You convinced me to have a look at BlockBench :)
@@schouffy Its definitely worth a try but it really depends if you can sacrifice a good modeling tool for a good textle density tool xD I landed on the Blockbench side for sure. To each their own though!
Why haven’t I ever seen you on r/SoloDevelopment? Please come over.
ill check it out~!
Is it just me or does the main character kinda look like the dev?
Lol you're not wrong. I rotoscoped myself for early animation tests. I dropped the roto stuff but hand-animated but the character design stayed the same :)