@@Swinkly_ the era games is base of what generation think is cool. Before this platform games is the coolest but now pretty much everything is fps even it like phasmophobia is not a shooter gamers like 3d now over 2d. Still 2d games are good but not appealing like before anymore.
“But even if not, I’m making the type of game most meaningful to me”. Yes!! He gets it! Don’t make games for a nonexistent audience, make games for yourself and earn that audience by making it something you love to play! Other people will see how special it is and love it too. That’s the beauty of art!
@@drzyzgarobert No, that's the usual capitalistic coping. Making a successful game doesn't involve any kind of market research and it doesn't mean making a product, it means making something that people can play and go "Oh hey this is new! I like it!", take undertale for example, rpg game but remove magic and make dodging and attacking skill based rather than rng or strategy, Toby Fox didn't research the world of RPGs to make the game, he just played games like it as a kid and said "I wanna make a fun game similar to this but with this new idea in mind!", same with Five Nights at Freddy's, Scott played to his strengths and realized his past games were scary, so he used that and make a SCARY game. Take TERRARIA for example, the devs don't focus on researching what people want in order to make the game better, they made a good game and just do the simple act of listening to their community for feedback. If your game makes people feel emotional, attached, makes them feel like they're glimpsing into a different world entirely, it's already on the road to success, from there it's about thinking outside the box and in the hearts of what people are lacking in games.
@@drzyzgarobert dude, the whole point is if you give a shit. It’s not fulfilling to work on something you hate but other people love. I’m sure there’s dozens of fortnite and apex and other live service slop games that devs fucking hate clocking in on, but a paycheck is a paycheck. It’s just a job to make something you hate. A 9 to 5 isn’t art. Making something you give a shit about is art. You don’t know jack shit about creative fulfillment dude.
The real question is, WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY THIS GAME? If you make a game you won't play, there's no way to know if it's fun or not. I once spent a year on a telltale style game and realized I don't really like choose your own adventure games. Why did I make that.
I find that certain genres, adventure games being one of them, that are "easy" to make so people get drawn to them to start with. It's easy to kind of forget that your main goal is to make your "favorite" game, and people get stuck on making things that are easy or that they think are popular.
I agree. Though I feel like it still need many more improvement. _Of course, just my feeling._ Although note that "interest" is not auto "interest _to buy"._
There's a question to be asked here, when you're building the levels, are you building the world? While you build a level, if you can put a story behind it, it'll make it feel alive, that will make all the difference to your game, you've got to nurture that underlying story told by the world.
Absolutely agree! And I hope to some degree that'll come across in the level design. For example, as you progress through the areas in the demo you are slowly descending, until you finally reach an elevator that leads down to the dungeon area - this works in tandem with the story component of "exploring the depths" of the Forlorn Dream, but I hope to make the story tie-ins even more significant as time goes on! Appreciate the comment :)
I am 6 days away from publicly sharing my 2d pixel platform/fighter rpg game at a Convention called San Japan here in San Antonio, Super nervous. I've been working on this game for a little over 2 years. Not only do I have that showing at the convention but im also on a panel discussing indie dev. Super nervous. But I wanted to say I agree 100% Game dev is art and should be made with passion. Love your video and outlook on the subject.
The more important question is “would I buy this?”. You’re probably thinking yes as you love momentum platformers but be as critical as you would when shopping. Even if it is ‘underserved’, there’s hundreds of addictive momentum platformers you’ve not buying. People don’t pay for games because they are quality, that’s just a prerequisite, they pay when they get curious about it and have to know for themselves. Hope this helps your game find its identity and audience!
As a person who has sunk hundreds of hours into neon white, this game feels like something similar but fresh to me. The second I played the demo I spent way too much time optimizing the first level and it gave me that same feeling that made me addicted to neon white. I think it definitely has potential to gain a good amount of players especially those who have already fallen in love with it like me. I'm excited to see future updates :3
I think an important part of making a speedy platformer is power trip. The feeling when you're at high speed, kick enemy so hard that they slam into other enemies knocking them out too, so they bounce off walls and explode... When there's a huge explosion creating a wall of fire that is slower than you... When you're so fast you even defeat game developers by using huge skip... Stuff like that.
There's a game called 'Summit' on Steam. The Dev has made some videos on it, how he feels like its a failure and a flop; and frankly it is. But if you use it as a case study, you can see where all his mistakes were made just by looking at his Steam Page. The mechanics themselves are fine but the fantasy that he offers in the game is "Climbing a mountain" which is just a subject matter that is not going to hook a lot of people. Additionally if you look at the video that starts playing when you open the page? Its a full 27 seconds before you even get to the action oriented bits of his game which means the people who get served the game by the Steam Algo are going to click out before even getting to the bit that would have hooked them. I didn't know his game even had combat until I went back to study it. And to be real with you, I don't think the quality of sprite art matters all that much for an indie game. Look at Undertale. 99% of the models are very block pixels from MS paint. Good art will certainly be an eye catching hook but I dont think its a make or break for if your game will be successful.
If you are inexperienced, finishing and releasing is the most important goal. It's a learning lesson, else you'll never release anything, anxiety of not doing things properly will just have you spin in place.
How poetically ironic that you make a video about your game called “Lost Resolve” where you show that your resolve to finish your own personal project in anything BUT lost. Thanks for this video. I also have faith that I’m making something that can make me and others happy even if it doesn’t blow up and go viral, so watching this is a nice reminder. Wishlisted your game and will check out the demo tomorrow. Best of luck! WE CAN DO IT!
Thanks so much for the comment. Yeah, funny that you should mention it - in many ways the story that I'm writing for Lost Resolve is an allegory for my own struggles right now, feeling discouraged and burned out with life, and trying to keep the desire to continue moving forward. It makes the project very personally significant to me and I'm hoping others will appreciate the message! Best of luck with your project as well!!
No man, I am making a game no one wants. I don't think that no one really wants a automation game combined with souls like combat mechanics, but actually I really want it to play that game. And that is just enough. (But if you want,)
What do you mean no one wants it?! That would be the most ungodly addictive genre combination there is! It's just most people wouldn't ever even consider a game like that is possible. But should it become a reality I'm sure many people will play the hell out of it. No seriously, how the hell are you going to combine automation with souls like? "Man, I just was about to fully automate my purple moss clump production, but the damn giant rats chewed on the power lines again!"
You’re making a game only some people want, which is very different than a generic game no one particularly wants. You only need to appeal to 1% of gamers + quality + marketing/word of mouth to sell tens of thousands of copies. Niche indie games do far better than the many generic indie games.
@@TennoSkoom Haha, thanks. So, What worries me is that nobody cares about what I do, rather than developing the game. A few weeks ago I released a prototype with a beginning and an end and even my own friends didn't play it for more than 5 minutes. I worked so hard to make the last scene... If I see that at least a few people here have finished it, I can see that my work has value and I can continue more motivated. TH-cam sometimes deletes some comments, so you can find the link to the prototype from the first video on my channel.
@@lordmegatron7263 Unless your friends play automation games, they won't actually want to play it and you won't learn much from players forcing themselves to play your game, that goes especially a sandboxy game like yours. Also your game seems too early alpha for play testing, a lot of the game mechanics but based on the trailer doesn't seem ready to hook someone into playing for hours yet. Either way definitely have your target audience do the play testing.
Game dev feels like a constant evolutionary process. With your first few games, you’re starting out as a Pokémon trainer, but by the 4th or 5th; you’re about ready for the final gym.
you enlighten me, over and over again, I make a game and keep comparing it to popular titles, saying stuff like "why is my movement not as cool as Celeste?" or "why is my graphics not as great as hollow knight?" but perhaps, and just perhaps, I do not need to look like them, and my game does not need to be for "everyone", maybe it just has to be fun for me, and feel right when I play it, I started and scrapped many projects in my life, but I think I will for once, just do it, even if I am using random assets from the internet, and even if the game looks lame, I will simply keep going, and make something I enjoy, thank you, you truly inspired me, and rekindled the flame in my heart! ❤
So basically, you've made an asset flip with a polished but recycled gameplay. As someone from outside the platformer fandom, I didn't see anything that would make me want to play your game more than, let's say - Mario, Super Meat Boy, Celeste, etc.. The gameplay looks fine and sure, custom assets will help to attract buyers but you should think of some distinct feature to differentiate from, as you've mentioned "a saturated market". Have you played Warframe by any chance? You could try taking inspiration for some fun movement elements there.
I have played Warframe! And I appreciate the honesty. I think there's definitely more I can do to set Lost Resolve apart during its development cycle, even if that means pushing the release a little further off than I first intended. I think I'm going to have to seriously consider overhauling the visuals. I do have ideas on how to add depth to the gameplay and story as well, so we'll see how that turns out!
@Swinkly_ Hey, just want to help encourage you more on this front - giving your game a unique selling point in terms of its gameplay will absolutely help sell it to many people. Lots of us already love platformers, you just need to make a platformer that has a unique gameplay mechanic (or set of mechanics) that helps it stand out in a crowded market. You can take inspiration from all sources - not just Warframe, and not even just video games. Ideas can arise from the most unlikely of places. I wish you well on your game development journey.
@@Swinkly_ I personally could you suggest to check older games for inspiration. Not because I do not like the speedrunning platformer idea but with some modern ideas an old game could be remade in modern shape. I do not know how old are you but you probably heard about Abuse. A platformer game with a horror theme and cliche alien like story. Medium paced and have different kind of weapons and tools you can use during the game and I think that kind of game missing currently from the market. Same like Blackthrone which was a blizzard platformer with slow pace-tactical fillers.
TH-cam decided to recommend this to me an I've gotta say, movement seems pretty unique and fun! I wishlisted the game after this and I am going to try the demo.
I’ve already seen other comments saying something similar, but I’m going to say it anyway lol. I don’t remember the source, but a while back I heard someone say “Don’t draw what you think others want to see. Draw what you want to see. If you’re into it, there’s always going to be at least someone else out there who is too.” I believe this applies to any creative medium. I finally started to make my very first game, and the thing I’m keeping foremost in my mind is that I’m making this game for myself. I’m making a game that I want to play, and that I think I’d want to play for a long time. If I ever get it to a state that’s releasable, and even just one other person likes it, then that’s just a bonus.
Fantastic video! I hope you find what you need to really showcase your game, but I must say it's awesome to hear you're along for the journey too. I see too many people that focus on their success, without fully understanding how to get it.
Always thought "who is this for" is a weird question about art in general, because it implies the "demand of the audience" matters more than personal vision or even process and effort. Reminds of what Alan Moore once said: "The artist does what the audience needs because otherwise, if audiences knew what they wanted, they'd be artists not audiences" or something like that. In general, a lot of good works of art were done through personal vision and not so much "what do most people need" based on calculations and statistics. Art doesn't have to be this spectrum of "something just for you" or "for the masses" when there's that middleground of "people like you or with some similar interests and sometime with their own observations and thoughts about your art". Even with AI art as a thing, you see people generating memes and things like "Breaking Bad but medieval" and it shows how people always prefer the basic, barely ambitious concepts. All the better stuff deserves more effort and personal preference. I'm also making a "first game" that is too ambitious and full of different stuff. Partially because of a project of mine starring too many characters and ideas, that I thought could make an interesting series. My game's rough in many areas yet I managed to implement lots of ideas and even plan some things, even with help from others and the end result still showing issues. One could also say something about most people having basic frame of reference, when there's a lot of stuff worth checking out. Like everyone talking about the latest show on Netflix when you could be reading a cool obscure French sci-fi comic from the 90's or something. In fact, "frame of reference" is important to any creative area because a lot of beloved videogames came from devs inspired by stuff they like, such as movies they grew up with.
Generally speaking art should ALWAYS be "for yourself" to some degree. Making something you don't like will never result in success, no matter how much money it brings.
Your game does indeed look like it hits that particular addictive criteria. Good work so far, all the best! Most developers simply make games for themselves first, which is a problem when they realize their motivations were completely ignored or taken for granted. The key to really being successful here is knowing 100% without any doubt, what your end goal is. So few people these days understand that about life itself, let along the complex game industry as an added layer to that. Most are distracted and enthralled, captivated and confounded. If you are developing games and have this already worked out, you are ahead of the curve!
hey man, you've already got a lot of charisma from this that genuinely made me want to buy your game even when im low on money atm! i'm also a game developer but i feel like my accent and voice could put off a lot of people so i dont engage in the level of marketing you do, and i feel like that could hurt my products when i get more serious, so even if you don't think it, you've got a major starting point, good luck!
your game is amazing, thanks for making the keys appear as a HUD and not follow the player, and BTW your game graphics looks unique for me, this is an instant buy for me once it get released, and trust me your game will stand out and maybe live forever if you implemented a level editor in it one day
Looking back, I'm really grateful that you gave that feedback about the keys - it looks much better to have them represented on the HUD. So thank you for that :) And I really appreciate the kind words! A level editor would be a big challenge, but I suppose nothing is impossible!
Honestly I think the game is awesome and wherever the project goes, one thing for certain is that I’m sure as heck playing it for hours on end when it comes out. The passion put into the project makes it something unique and that alone I can appreciate. I hope you find the artist you’re looking for (even though it still looks pretty good now) . Either way, I can’t wait for future updates!
I’m not a fan of 2d games, specifically sidescrolling and platformers in general, so i’m definitely not your target audience. That said; the movement in your game looks really fluid and enticing. Brings back that super meat boy feel. I think that stands out a lot on its own. Artwise I do feel like your game is a bit lacking, mostly because everything looks very dull, lots of browns and grays. I’m not sure what it is with game devs obsessions with dark environments. I really don’t want to spend hundreds of hours looking at gray and brown tones. However i’m not sure an overhaul by hiring an artist would be worth it. There’s such a huge risk that your game won’t sell that you might lose a ton of money on getting the art remade. I’d say just look for assets or alter the colors to use some brighter assets. Some green grass; a blue sky. Would be nice. Also in these little previews everything looks very blocky/square. Not enough variations from cube shapes (like how the platforms are made of individual cubes, and so are most level components. Maybe make a single rectangle for a platform. Idk. Wishing you all the best.
I'm really interested in trying out your game. The gameplay in your video looks really fun. I subscribed to your channel and look forward to hearing more about your progress. And I will wish list the game now. Good luck with further development and I look forward to trying out the game.
Hard for me to give advice as someone who published a JRPG that seemingly no one wants, but here's my thoughts: - I think the art is kinda nice even if it's borrowed assets. You did a good job as they feel like they fit together. - Something that I didn't see from the footage is the why. Why does this lady knight need to go fast? Who exactly is she? What is this world? You could flesh out this world with some more story elements. - The environments are very good at showing what elements the player can interact with and where the player is, but beyond that they're rather sparse. Is there a way you could add more interesting details to the world without losing the readibility? - Something that might help is to add your own wild-crazy twist. Having a simple, tight platformer is nice and you don't have to compromise, but it might generate more interest if you throw something weird into the mix. It could be as simple as "you can cast spells while speedrunning" to "time travel". Something that gets people's attention.
Being stuck on thinking of the game design for my first game this video resonates a lot with me, the information was brilliant. After putting together a bunch of different prototypes and realizing I want the first game I make to actually be one I want to release instead of just a first for the learning process, I have been in game design hell but learning a ton studying other games. I think the biggest take away is to create the game you would want to play that is also reasonably scoped to what you are able to do, but also in the backdrop of the information on genre marketability as that should not be ignored, but its not everything.
Agreed! Metrics and marketing info is useful but it shouldn't stop you from making the type of game you truly want to make. Best of luck with your own projects!
Hey, I had kind of a fun idea for visuals that might be both easy for you to create and visually interesting. I’m not sure how it might work with the pixel art elements, but have you looked at any Bauhaus design? It’s a pretty brought art movement, but in particular I’m thinking of the very simple colored-shape works created by that school. They favor functionality and simplicity over any sort of flashiness, but I find those visuals and that entire art movement to be really interesting, satisfyingly whole, and also really uncommon in the video game world. I also wonder if it might sort of suite your own creative philosophy: you seem like a function first, form second kind of guy, and that’s very much where they were coming from as well. Game looks fun to play! Hope things go well!
That would be a neat path to take - however I actually have crafted a story for the world of Lost Resolve that would lend itself to having more of a traditional pixel appearance. That said, I found an artist to collaborate with, so we'll be working to overhaul the visuals in the coming days! Thanks for the comment!
I’ve got a friend trying to break into the indie game dev art commission scene. She has over 10,000 hours making digital art, and made fantastic art for my game that I started making. She’s got a great portfolio and would work for dirt cheap, hit me up if you want to reach out to her for like an interview, or see a portfolio or something. I quite literally think she is more skilled of an artist that 90% of the indie game art I see out there
If you can send me a link to her portfolio I'd love to check it out! In the "about" section of my profile you can click "view email address" to contact me.
I didn’t see your email on your channel. For some reason TH-cam isn’t letting me comment the full email, or Google drive link, so just email her and she will send it over “Awriterdraws” and then finish it like any other gmail
I'll start by saying I'm not your target audience, I can't seem to get back into platformers. But your movement looks incredible and makes me significantly more interested. I think with the right art style and some nice music tracks, it'll really elevate what you've got going on. As someone who has dabbled a lot in pixel art and low poly over the years, it's a real pain. I'll wishlist it, subscribe, all that, and I hope you really turn this into something even more amazing. You're the type of developer people should keep an eye on, you're a smart cookie! 😄
thx the idea of last result is actually pretty good, I may use it as well, but like a secondary mechanic in a game not as core one, something to hype people to play it more and being competitive without using pvp modes
Just stumbled on this. While platformers are oversaturated, fast paced action ones with in-depth movement mechanics are not. They are a rare subgenre, sadly one that I think doesn't have a huge audience. But that audience is certainly hungry for more, and Lost Resolve looks like it could be a good one. Looking at the game so far though, currently it doesn't look too outstanding to me. Seems to be a dash/slide for instant speed that can be preserved into long jumps, a wall jump, and a stomp/bounce that goes into a high jump. That's all good, but it's nothing I haven't seen before. And the levels shown here appear to be just simple setups of terrain, a few types of disappearing blocks, and springs. I'm sure there's more planned, but I wanted to mention it. This game could use more hazards, gimmick objects to interact with, and more varied level design. I dig these kinds of games, and I think Lost Resolve has potential. But currently, I don't know if it has what it needs to draw in a crowd. Hope that's helpful. Good luck with the game!
The best games come from passion, not a desire for fame. If you are making a game you are only half passionate about, players will notice that right away and will not play it. In my experience, any time I had big success in other mediums, it never felt as satisfying as I thought it would. Instead, it left me wanting to do more. In other words, the fun comes from making the game and pushing past procrastination and challenges, not just being successful, but unfortunately this massive pitfall has taken many unsuspecting indie developers from the market. Your game might not have a standout art style, but it does have fast and fluid movement, and speed feels fun when you are in control of it. See Metroid Dread, for example--Samus can move very quickly, but her movement is so fine-tuned that it never feels like you are constantly missing platforms like in Ori and the Blind Forest. But in essence, you should focus a lot more on the progress you make in this journey, and the valuable lessons you learn from each game you make, instead of making something you yourself don't enjoy. Never, ever, ever try to cater to an audience you don't know well, if at all. Just think up a cool new idea for something you want to make, and breath life into it. Also, another important thing to consider is quality over quantity, and pacing. A game can be relatively short but very fun, especially if the pacing is consistent and enjoyable. *(ex. Animal Well)* On the subject of fame, it's important to note that most players couldn't care less about how popular and well-known the developer is. They care about the game itself. I mean, look at David Jaffe, the guy who made God of War. Sure, he got several awards and made a very monumental title, but now he is going around on the internet acting like some big-name blowhard, when in reality not a lot of people are talking about him, just the franchise he made. Anyway, just remember this: You only have one chance at life. Will you throw it away out of fear of being unsuccessful, or will you persevere to make the most of your skills and your time? That was a rhetorical question. Don't answer it. Good luck on your game!
I think there are two paths you could go down. First is that you just need to get this game into the world and learn from your failures. Second is to be critical of your reception and refine your delivery. Neither of those paths will be served by you trying to justify your genre or appeal to match some of the guidelines Chris puts out. Based on the way this game looks, you are not going to be a success with this game. Thats fine if you are going down the first path, but dont trick yourself by thinking its the second path and finding disappointment in the end. If you really want the second path (success) for this game, I suggest crafting an easier shorter game that matches demand for your first game while you take the time needed to polish the current game. If you decide you just want to get the current game out and move on, thats also a great decision, but dont fool yourself into unrealistic expectations. Either way, you made a game. That is an accomplishment.
Do not let current trends influence what people might like in the future when you release the game. The current hype/trend chasing mindset is why 99.999999% of all games nowadays don’t survive the first month of release because people that will play it will drop it the moment they feel they already played it a bazillion time that same month. Gotta be innovative and create a trend not follow it.
other thing that can help with the visual identity is the sound and visual effects! even the little details can help bring the world to life and help with it's identity!
Also even if you're not financially successful, if the game is fun and well made it will be a good addition to your portfolio in case you want to get a publisher deal or do a crowd funding campaign in the future. Good luck, I'm rooting for you :)
I love that you're willing to build this and will be proud of it regardless on the income from it. I can't afford to do stuff like that anymore, but some of my proudest creations I will remember for the rest of my life come from times I could do that. Game looks fun too! I like that you incorporated the sonic bounce haha
i don't know anything about you or your game, but after seeing a few seconds of footage, the speed struck me as looking really fun, so i think you have something there. keep it up!
Thanks! I'm glad you like the speed component, and I'll be working to rework/refine many other aspects of the game and add a lot of polish in the coming days!
Maybe it's just me but theres something about having the ability to dash and jump off the walls in games like these that really speaks to me. I remember when I used to play Megaman X I always thought it was so cool that I could move fast through the levels with dashes and wall jumps. Same thing with Super Metroid, where you could go so fast that you kill everything you run into and I like how it took some skill to do the wall jumps successfully. I suppose thats what it boils down to. The fact that you can become more skilled at playing the game and gaining those skills makes you look and feel cool.
I'm downloading the demo tomorrow. I'll buy your game when it releases if I like the demo. I'm working on my first game so I want to support other solo devs. I'm working on a shmup.
Problem of using asset packs like those is that almost anything you can get afterwards will feel like a downgrade. Even if you manage to put together a small budget to get custom art made, chances are it will be worse than the free assets since those are essentially portfolio pieces that had a lot of work put into them, with no time or budget constraints.
This is the most important I ever learned If you make games for yourself, you've basically found your audience market in a way you would like, you are not the only person who likes 2D, fast paced, platformers. You are making a game for yourself and now the audience that could or could not come. Your video game sounds awesome, if you are loving it, DONT YOU DARE QUIT, that will be the biggest mistake of your life.
@@bnane42 exactly! I originally had a line in the script about how Celeste "treads a delicate middle ground" between both styles, but I cut it out for brevity. Love Celeste!
I am of the camp that a dev should always make a game that they want to platy themselves as it will always be a better version of that kind of game because of their passion. There will always be people in the world the have the same or similar likes to you so you will find a market if your game is good
Finishing your game into the most compact form possible will help you a lot with getting the experience needed to know what kind of audience you'll attract. You'll be less likely to lose faith and motivation if you spend less time being stuck with it and second guessing its market.
I think it’s also important to remember that Steam trends change quickly. Back in that first vid Chris made in 2022, roguelikes were easier to sell - not so sure anymore. And having multiplayer games are hard to sell in a Lethal Company era is a wild wild thing to say in 2024.
You know, it’s an amazing feeling when you accomplish what you set out to do. It’s a satisfaction coming from a personal achievement, and it’s definitely worth your time. It fades quickly, however, and the more lasting “high” is accomplished by other people commenting and praising your work. That will stay with you much longer and gives you a sense of pride and recognition. Whenever you publish anything, be ready for negative comments and don’t let them discourage you. Appreciate the positive feedback. Life is about a balance between being selfish and directing your efforts towards helping people around you. It’s like that with everything you do.
As an aspiring game dev, I struggle to imagine an outcome more fulfilling than having designed a game that _I_ want to play for potentially hundreds of hours. There is simply nothing like applying your knowledge and skill with various tools to manufacture your own enjoyment. Success or failure is defined by the goal one wants to attain. If your main goal, like mine, is to create a passionate game that you love, the "success" of popularity and notoriety for your efforts is merely a bonus.
Saturated? What for? My dude as long as you are not going for indie fighting game that is not a fan project for already estabilished universe, you are way ahead
Just got this video and never heard of you or your game I am glad I have now I like the resolve you come to at the end If I am making something I enjoy then that will be good for me (might be a bit off in that statement summarizing it but you get the point) It's kinda sad how many game developers just make games for money and profit with nothing else on that comes to mind... It's important that you make something you enjoy and not something just to make ends meet with finances When you make something that your passionate about and you enjoy you will exceed you expectations with the end result more than likely I can't wait to see the final result of your game, and see your community grow even more Remember make something you passionate about and enjoy and the end result might surprise you You have earned my subscribe well done 👍 Oh one more thing before I go Have a Great Day Swinkly 🖖
Maybe with this new insight, you can try to shape the game around that even further. For example (this is the first time I see this game but it looks to me like this) there are sometimes longer flat straight sections where you just slide again and again but you reach you max speed quite early. What about some kind of velocity gain mechanic that when executed more precisely yields more speed for such sections?
Making a game that you would like to play would mean there's definitely people with the same tastes as you, meaning at least some target audience is already there. Also, another great example of momentum platformer is N++.
>"a high speed 2D platformer with a focus on momentum. However, after sinking an endless amount of hours into the project, I have to ask myself the question - will anyone even WANT to play it? And does that even matter?" If you are sinking a lot of time into the project then it's a question of it that time is feasible or not? If the time is for learning or just an achievement in life then it is a good outcome to complete a quality game that is playable no matter it's commercial success. If it's a lot more hours than is feasible it is not a good idea and you have to go back to the market data probably before choosing a different project that aims for commercial success which also then depends on your execution and design of that game. I've played some good speed-run like platformers ages ago on iOS and they all had charming graphics with QOL features such as collecting coins as you speed along for a secondary goal along with time challenge and multipath options as well as each one having a special gimmick be it sliding or running upside down or grapple-hooking and so on which again makes a great twist on just speed-running + platforming. You've got the sliding and the raw mechanics look fun, but really needs that attractive presentation and each movement input control to visually feedback to make the character control gratifying (addictive second by second). You hit the nail on the idea in an "ideal world" showcasing Nine Sols (or even Bo: Path Of The Teal Leaf which has even more strikingly handsome artwork!) and Tunic in 3D with a cute fox character to rival anything by Nintendo! Already that hook by raw visual appeal then the various gameplays in those games stack up too... people are going to think nothing of a few bucks for those games at that point but if the appeal is not in the art a few bucks feels like "yet another few bucks, I'm running out, maybe I just want a coffee or there 10 other games with my name on it" instead type of reaction. Your current character cannot fully see what it is: It's maybe a girl that is a zombie-blue colour? Then this character does not match the levels you have (atm), so if she's an undead zombie then the levels should have that horror theme and motif knocking about with maybe she's late to the Hallo'oween Party of other such characters? Then your game should take on some more charm - esp. some animation emotions of the MC herself with those sunken eye-sockets with yellow witch-fires inside and perhaps a teenage girl's exaggerated emotional responses and humour?
I know for a fact that Speed Platformers/ Movement Platformers is a new and growing subgenre of Platformers, and there's a ton of people who are wishing for more of this. I myself would totally buy this. you also got to note, how few movement platformer games there are, I can only really think of Wario Land, Pizza Tower, N++, and technically speed levels in Mario Maker. you also got the Mega Man Zero games but those only count if you're constantly spamming the dash button. If you're thinking of going the racing route, I recommend at some point making either race maps with an online leaderboard system, a level creator, or simply put, both. if you want some solid inspiration and you haven't tried it out yet, I highly recommend giving N++ a try. it originated on the DS and PSP systems but you can find it on Steam also. (Edit: If you do end up going the race route, I'll definitely be interested in buying your game when it's done, and if you do end up adding a level editor, that's a solid guaranteed buy from me! 😅)
Trust me when I say GAMEPLAY COMES FIRST, if you put passion into making your game fun and get advice from friends and just work hard on making it unique and fun then everything else can be put on the backburner. Hell if you're worried about visual style release it as early access, get the funding to be able to hire artists for the game and make your full vision come to life. Indie devs are stepping into the golden age of development, as AAA companies stop listening to their target audience they're starting to get frustrated and angry at the lack of community and voice that they have, so in other words they're gonna be looking for games made by people like you, small team games not published or coded by some billion dollar company, but just a handful of people with passion and love for their game, their community, etc. You have GOT THIS my boi don't faulter your dreams because the odds are unlikely, they're only unlikely because most people aren't creative enough to pull it off. EDIT: I'm actively playing the demo at the time of writing this so I'm gonna add a list of recommendations/critics I have for the game, please note these are not meant to offend but they're simply things I can see being a problem for other people considering they were a problem for me, but obviously I'm only one voice and I don't speak for everyone so if there's something here that doesn't sound right please ask friends what they think! Also I know there's quite a few negatives here but that doesn't mean the game's bad at all, I wouldn't put so much effort into this if I thought it wasn't worth it! (- = negative, + = positive, -/+ is a thing that doesn't make a major impact but would be nice to see) - Small thing but I noticed the demo uses the default godot icon so a placeholder for that could be nice -/+ You can't fastfall/slam after bouncing or after walljumping which makes gameplay feel a bit stiff -/+ Similar situation to the fast fall thing, I noticed you can't jump immediately after sliding leading to some situations where deaths feel unfair + THANK YOU FOR ADDING COYOTE TIME I HATE WHEN GAMES DON'T DO THIS - I keep trying to pause the game to write these by pressing esc only to exit out of the level which is mildly frustrating -/+ It feels a tad strange to have a wall jump and ledge hang but you can't slide down walls, makes things like the first key in the second level feel less like a challenge and more like a chore. -/+ I'd recommend adding difficulties to change things like keys being lost on death, probably just normal and hard mode where normal you don't lose keys and they save with you when you reach a checkpoint, and hard where you drop all keys on death putting them back with a little animation to show that they've returned to where they were found instead of them vanishing. - I noticed on the moving block in the first level you're able to ledge grab it even though it's moved up onto the ceiling which makes it harder to wall jump from the block since you have to avoid ledge grabbing by accident - The door to the east said I need 6 keys to progress, I got 4 and the wall's mysteriously gone without a trace. + Just noticed the camera slides off the character a bit to let you see ahead of you when you're moving fast which I absolutely love, needs a little adjusting for when you're falling so you can see below you better but otherwise I absolutely love this feature in games like this. -/+ I'd heavily recommend adding the ability to look up and down like in super mario world for example, it feels really bad to see a pit that's too far down to see the bottom of and wonder if there's a key or more platform down there, go to check and it's just a pit that you die and lose all your keys from. -/+ Very small thing but I noticed the girl who tells you about the forlorn dreams doesn't turn to face you as you move away from her so that could be a neat little detail to add, if you do add it just make sure she doesn't keep facing you when you're underground or generally out of her line of sight. + Absolutely love the introduction of the new colored blocks, instructionless tutorials are always the best kind of tutorials for keeping your immersion! -/+ I'd recommend making the r key to reset a hold thing instead of a tap just in case somebody were to press it by mistake and reset all their progress, having it fade out to black and fade back in would make it feel smoother. That's everything I could find as far as criticism goes, P.S. if you actually read all of this HUGE PROPS to you for listening to your community, and speaking of community make a discordddd hope you have an amazing day!
@@Starblendet yeahhh but a majority of those can take a bit of a back burner compared to gameplay, idk about you but if we got an early access mario game and all of the music, story, and artwork was done, but mario can't run or jump and you can't change level I'd be pretty disappointed.
Wow! This feedback is super detailed and helpful! I'm probably going to copy it into a feedback document to reference while I work on Lost Resolve in the coming days. I do have a discord as well! I'll add the link to the description. Thanks so much for playing and for giving an honest critique!
@@Swinkly_ yooo glad to be of any help. Just the fact that you actually read all of that is a great sign that you listen to your community, as I've said tho please cross reference me with friends or even other people in the discord to see what they believe because I'm only one person and not everything I say is gonna be true for others. Hope to see this game grow and get even better with time!
I don't know how many regular consumers will notice, but as game dev myself I see the "Warrior-Free Animation set" by Clembod regularly on Reddit or tutorials around the web quite frequently. Now I'm in the minority but I figured it was just a placeholder and you were gonna swap it at some point... Brutal honesty, I think modulating her blue because she's a ghost kinda comes off as a bit lazy, rather than cohesive and fitting like you say. I think if you do plan to release on Steam then you should definitely consider changing the main character sprites at least, maybe not custom but something lesser known. I will also say, a set of animations by 2025 is not a tall ask for any pixel artist worth their salt. It should be doable in a couple months at most, I could probably do rough versions in a month and I'm an intermediate pixel artist that's only been doing it for a couple years. Also having a custom animation for any mechanic that doesn't already have one (I.e. your bounce is just the 'jump' animation) would not only make the game look better but FEEL a lot better too.
@@Kolbiathan I think this is totally valid criticism, and something I'll definitely want to address. A few artists have already reached out about working together, and I'm thinking it may even be within my skill set to do some of the environmental assets myself if it comes down to it. I appreciate the honest feedback!
@@Swinkly_ Nice, I wish you success on releasing the game. You've already made a lot of progress, and I think your 2025 release window seem very obtainable! Keep going!
Hi! So far I enjoy playing your game, so I want to give you some feedback. I think in some cases controls in this game are too... 'responsive'(English isn't my first language so I'm not sure if this is a right word for what I mean). For example, if a player dashes into a wall and jumps, the character will jump off it, but sometimes a player needs to just jump/slam+jump instead, so one's forced to stop for a second to not trigger the jump-off-wall action, breaking the pace. I hope you get what I mean
Pixel platformers actually aren't the most saturated part of the indie selection on Steam. The fast paced ones or trial & error high speed ones are for sure and your game also falls under them. But... there's also an extreme lack of more traditional 2D platformers. Platformers comparable to the amazing ones of old like Mario, Sonic, Kid Chameleon, Rocket Knight Adventures, Ghouls & Ghosts, etc... they're extremely rare. That said, yeah it being your first game is no excuse to make a game that barely sells anything. If anything, it being your first game means you'll need to make extra sure it will sell as much as you can make it sell. And this means that regardless of whether you make a type of game that's from a saturated genre or not, you need to make sure the game is appealing. Positive feedback from reviews is one thing, but you need to make sure that even based on screenshots and videos alone, your game looks appealing enough for people to want it. And based on that, how much would people be willing to pay for it? Of course it is a bit hard to give it nice visual appeal when you're already pretty late in the development process. Ideally you'd settle on something relatively early on so it will ooze through in the actual design of the game and levels. Best thing you could do now is perhaps use what you currently have on a lower layer while you could perhaps put something else on top. Ideally perhaps hand drawn, but even something that looks like it came out of paint can have enough character to give it some more visual appeal. It would save the work of actually needing to redesign assets and actually allow you to relatively quickly transform something basic into something that looks human-made and designed. It's pretty much what they did in many older games, including old Resident Evil games. Anyhow, one thing I do disagree on is that it doesn't matter how much it sells. Because it does. There's multiple devs who made vids on this, but it's always a huge blow to see something you worked very hard on for years to not sell. And it can get really bad, at times their games can sell in the single digits a few weeks after release. Very few people can just do something they love and not care about any reward. But in general that's not how people work. If they work very hard and put a lot of effort into something, then it's a huge blow if those efforts are not rewarded. And a lot of people can keep telling themselves that it's fine if it ends up that way because they're doing something they love... but it's not. It's devastating and incredibly demotivating. Like I said earlier, it's probably too late in the process to do a whole lot about it. But I think it's probably still smarter to at least still try to do what you can before you release it. There's limits to what you can do and if it causes too much of a delay or revamp it's of course not worth it, but if you can manage to make it appealing enough so it'll sell a few thousand instead of a few hundred for example it's probably worth it.
21 วันที่ผ่านมา +1
Serve yourself first, always. If you want the game you're making that's all that matters unless you have gone into deep, deep debt gambling your home on the project. Which would be a dumb thing to do even with infinite market research. Second, people don't know what they want until the see what they want. All the marketing speak is meaningless in practice, they are just trends. Nebulous, wishy washy snapshots of yesterday. So many indie breakouts were things marketing people would have vetoed.
I personally prefer the look of Alchemy squid to Lost Resolve, and i think your 'goofy art style' has character and might bring something visually to the game that it could be lacking. Super Meat Boy and Dust Force are quite heavily stylized, but I could identify them from a still image whereas I might struggle to ID Lost Resolve (But then i think games like Electronic Super Joy, Speed Runners and The End is Nigh suffer from the same issue).. The game itself looks excellent in motion, quite polished mechanics actually and I can imagine this having a decent following if it can stand out of the crowd. Anyways, good luck, and stay positive.
I'm a Neon White/Celeste/Pseudoregalia fan who does some speedrunning occassionally. For what it's worth this game seems right for me. This seems like my kind of game I could convince my friends to compete on to get better and better times. I hope that there are some very deep (even tricky ways to use the mechanics) I can use to decrease the time in subtle way. P.S. The algorithm has blessed this video. You may gain a larger audience after this.
Thanks for the comment! And there is some advanced movement tech (namely, a superjump you can do with precise inputs) that I think brings a good level of depth to the speedrunning potential!
If your game turns out good, i'm pretty sure there'll be many players from celeste, hollow knight, super meat boy etc. who'll be willing to try your game! You are right about the graphics part. The general design feels static. But the mechanics definitely look fluid and addictive to me, has a lot of potential.
By the way, i ran into the same problem when developing my game. I couldn't polish the graphics at all. (It was for a course project, took me like a month to develop it. a 3D platformer, you can check it out in my channel if it peaks your interest) As you know, there are many elements in game dev. (story, game mechanics, gameplay, enemies, level design, character design and animations, art, lighting, implementing unique ideas, UI, vfx etc. etc.) so filling all that would either mean money or having teammates that you can rely on but that requires networking and people you can trust which is something i don't have yet lol.
Thank you! Yeah, if I do end up finding an artist to work with on this, I'm sure that creating a fresh look for the game would help immensely! Might even be worth pushing the release out a bit.
@@Swinkly_ Thank you as well for responding! By the way i think you could enrich the look of the game by making the tiles look a bit less repetitive. They have many variations yeah but i feel like they could use a bit more of it. Your choice of style! Perhaps some of them could be looking broken or could have a different tone (same colour but different tones) etc. etc. look for the tricks to enrich the environment your game looks very promising, like i said!
@@Swinkly_ I feel you could probably get away with "less beautiful art" that was made by you, than with pre-made assets. If this makes any sense. Both Celeste and Vampire Survivors were huge successes and their Pixel Art is well, okay? But nothing really insane. I'm pretty sure you could do something on the same level or even higher. And even if you can't, it will still be something personal... C
Haha I watched the same video, and it was very demoralizing for the game I've been working on for newrly 10 years (3rd game though, but first solo game). My game is a 3d puzzle platformer though, so a little different, yet still not recommended. So I hope we can find an audience even if it seems like odds are against us. Good luck.
I can't tell you if your game will be successful, but it looks cool, and I look forward to trying the demo. Whether or not it's for me, I wish you luck in reaching your audience
I'd try that game. But in the end, do something that you would want to play yourself. Chances are, there are more people that are like you in their gaming taste.
I have two game concepts that ive been sort of chewing on. They are the concepts I want to tackle when I "get good" basically. Essentially, when I get as comfortable as I can with Godot, ive played a variety of videogames and taken good notes on their design (also notes on youtube videos), and have the time management skills for a long term multi-year project. One is the one I really want to make, honestly. And the other is one ive noticed that people have a lot of interest in. To be more specific, these are ideas for "christian" games, where the games are based on a Christian message but dont make it on the nose or preachy because well, *absolutely* nobody wants that. But basically, while I mainly like the idea of a metroidvainia where you collect the armor of God, ive seen a lot of positive reception to a revelation-based sci-fi dystopia. Weirdly, I am not 100% on what genre I want either of these ideas to be because I struggle to come up with mechanics *after* a narrative idea. I can do a narrative idea off of a unique set of mechanics, kind of, but mechanics based off a story I want to tell? Its hard for me to figure out. Above that I do kind of wonder does *anyone* want that kind of game? I know I do but its rough. Oh also funny thing, I made a game that has an identical movement system to what im seeing in your game. Just a funny coincidence. Wall jumps, and sliding giving a massive boost in speed. Its an infinite runner though, not actually designed levels but just kinda neat.
Wishing you the best of luck! I'm actually a Christian myself - with Lost Resolve, my goal is to create a world and story that communicate a message of hope. And while the message may be inspired by my faith, I want to articulate it in a way that can be fully appreciated by any audience, whether religious or secular. I'm sure as time goes on the pieces will fall into place and you'll figure out what kind of game you want to make! Sometimes certain aspects of a game "write themselves" once you start moving! Thanks for the comment :)
how does bro know I just played Neon White an hour ago????? bro can read minds... btw, it is extremely addicting to speedrun, the movement feels SO GOOD, I feel like I can say that, because I had (maybe I still have) a WR in a demo version of the game
Appreciate your struggle, warrior! My feedback upon first time seeing this game is that context can make your game interesting. Why are you running around jumping on pads? Do you need to hurry up and save the princess? A greater context to the player's actions can make a game worth playing. Also something like a timer, colorful UI, dynamic camera. Those type of things can enchance the experience and are worth considering.
The game is interesting, but i don't think I could play it for more than an hour without getting bored of it, i'm not following the making of the game, this video just appeared in my yt homepage so i don't really know the mechanics of the game exetera but i think you could add secrets and collectionables to give the game more replayability. Naturally you could improve the graphics, animations and stuff like that but if its not your thing and your time would be wasted doing it, just improve other things. I'm just a random guy from youtube, take my advice for what it is. (Sorry for my english)
Just pitch it to indie game/beta testing TH-camrs like Alpha Beta Gamer or ManlyBadassHero asking them to feature it. Apparently many of their viewers buy and play them if they like the playthroughs. The more unique the games, the better but it's not they won't play a "saturated" genre. Pitch even a demo to them to keep the interest up.
People who use free stuff always whine about paying for stuff; but really what we care about is quality and opportunity cost. If you could get an artist to take some time off your hands than you could use it to work. This could mitigate or completely remove the cost of getting better quality work for your project. And if you're willing to spend money on tickets to a concert or amusment park why not spend some on something you've spent dozens of hours on?
I hope I didn't send the wrong message - I ABSOLUTELY think art would be worthwhile investment, the problem is just being short on money to begin with, and having bills to pay. But as I mentioned, if I can find the right artist, I'll find a way to make it work!
Pixel artist of four-ish years here- I'm no expert, but I do have a little experience making game assets, and would be more than happy to try making some for your project. How could i get in touch with you?
There's an email link on my profile - with that said, I have been speaking with an artist who reached out earlier last week and it seems likely I'll end up working with them. But I will post an announcement in the future if more assets are needed!
The idea that there isn't enough roguelike deckbuilders is funny to me. Also, basic movement, wall slide and double jump is a bare minimum for a platformer, not an achievement. If there's no other special mechanic then your game is just a platformer template which no one would want to play.
I’m pretty sure this game was made for me specifically
Hahaha, I'm so glad to hear that!
Luckyyyy
@@Swinkly_ the era games is base of what generation think is cool. Before this platform games is the coolest but now pretty much everything is fps even it like phasmophobia is not a shooter gamers like 3d now over 2d. Still 2d games are good but not appealing like before anymore.
“But even if not, I’m making the type of game most meaningful to me”. Yes!! He gets it! Don’t make games for a nonexistent audience, make games for yourself and earn that audience by making it something you love to play! Other people will see how special it is and love it too. That’s the beauty of art!
No, that's the usual artistic coping. Sure, make whatever you want as a hobby, but it won't be really fulfilling if no one gives a shit.
@@drzyzgarobert No, that's the usual capitalistic coping. Making a successful game doesn't involve any kind of market research and it doesn't mean making a product, it means making something that people can play and go "Oh hey this is new! I like it!", take undertale for example, rpg game but remove magic and make dodging and attacking skill based rather than rng or strategy, Toby Fox didn't research the world of RPGs to make the game, he just played games like it as a kid and said "I wanna make a fun game similar to this but with this new idea in mind!", same with Five Nights at Freddy's, Scott played to his strengths and realized his past games were scary, so he used that and make a SCARY game. Take TERRARIA for example, the devs don't focus on researching what people want in order to make the game better, they made a good game and just do the simple act of listening to their community for feedback. If your game makes people feel emotional, attached, makes them feel like they're glimpsing into a different world entirely, it's already on the road to success, from there it's about thinking outside the box and in the hearts of what people are lacking in games.
@@drzyzgarobert who hurt you?
@@drzyzgarobert dude, the whole point is if you give a shit. It’s not fulfilling to work on something you hate but other people love. I’m sure there’s dozens of fortnite and apex and other live service slop games that devs fucking hate clocking in on, but a paycheck is a paycheck. It’s just a job to make something you hate. A 9 to 5 isn’t art. Making something you give a shit about is art. You don’t know jack shit about creative fulfillment dude.
@@HarrisonKC A bunch of people, including myself.
The real question is, WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY THIS GAME?
If you make a game you won't play, there's no way to know if it's fun or not.
I once spent a year on a telltale style game and realized I don't really like choose your own adventure games.
Why did I make that.
I find that certain genres, adventure games being one of them, that are "easy" to make so people get drawn to them to start with. It's easy to kind of forget that your main goal is to make your "favorite" game, and people get stuck on making things that are easy or that they think are popular.
at the very beginning of the video it was the movement that made me think this looks like an interesting game
Glad you think so! The movement is definitely meant to be the focus in this game.
I agree. Though I feel like it still need many more improvement. _Of course, just my feeling._ Although note that "interest" is not auto "interest _to buy"._
There's a question to be asked here, when you're building the levels, are you building the world?
While you build a level, if you can put a story behind it, it'll make it feel alive, that will make all the difference to your game, you've got to nurture that underlying story told by the world.
Absolutely agree! And I hope to some degree that'll come across in the level design. For example, as you progress through the areas in the demo you are slowly descending, until you finally reach an elevator that leads down to the dungeon area - this works in tandem with the story component of "exploring the depths" of the Forlorn Dream, but I hope to make the story tie-ins even more significant as time goes on! Appreciate the comment :)
I am 6 days away from publicly sharing my 2d pixel platform/fighter rpg game at a Convention called San Japan here in San Antonio, Super nervous. I've been working on this game for a little over 2 years. Not only do I have that showing at the convention but im also on a panel discussing indie dev. Super nervous. But I wanted to say I agree 100% Game dev is art and should be made with passion. Love your video and outlook on the subject.
Good luck!
The more important question is “would I buy this?”. You’re probably thinking yes as you love momentum platformers but be as critical as you would when shopping. Even if it is ‘underserved’, there’s hundreds of addictive momentum platformers you’ve not buying. People don’t pay for games because they are quality, that’s just a prerequisite, they pay when they get curious about it and have to know for themselves. Hope this helps your game find its identity and audience!
As a person who has sunk hundreds of hours into neon white, this game feels like something similar but fresh to me. The second I played the demo I spent way too much time optimizing the first level and it gave me that same feeling that made me addicted to neon white. I think it definitely has potential to gain a good amount of players especially those who have already fallen in love with it like me. I'm excited to see future updates :3
It really means the world to receive such positive feedback! I'll keep working to make the final product as enjoyable as possible. Thank you!
I think an important part of making a speedy platformer is power trip. The feeling when you're at high speed, kick enemy so hard that they slam into other enemies knocking them out too, so they bounce off walls and explode... When there's a huge explosion creating a wall of fire that is slower than you... When you're so fast you even defeat game developers by using huge skip... Stuff like that.
There's a game called 'Summit' on Steam. The Dev has made some videos on it, how he feels like its a failure and a flop; and frankly it is. But if you use it as a case study, you can see where all his mistakes were made just by looking at his Steam Page. The mechanics themselves are fine but the fantasy that he offers in the game is "Climbing a mountain" which is just a subject matter that is not going to hook a lot of people. Additionally if you look at the video that starts playing when you open the page? Its a full 27 seconds before you even get to the action oriented bits of his game which means the people who get served the game by the Steam Algo are going to click out before even getting to the bit that would have hooked them. I didn't know his game even had combat until I went back to study it.
And to be real with you, I don't think the quality of sprite art matters all that much for an indie game. Look at Undertale. 99% of the models are very block pixels from MS paint. Good art will certainly be an eye catching hook but I dont think its a make or break for if your game will be successful.
If you are inexperienced, finishing and releasing is the most important goal. It's a learning lesson, else you'll never release anything, anxiety of not doing things properly will just have you spin in place.
That's true! I am definitely set on finishing this project before moving on to my next one, so it'll be interesting to see how it turns out!
"No one wants" and "no one wants to pay for" are different statements.
How poetically ironic that you make a video about your game called “Lost Resolve” where you show that your resolve to finish your own personal project in anything BUT lost.
Thanks for this video. I also have faith that I’m making something that can make me and others happy even if it doesn’t blow up and go viral, so watching this is a nice reminder. Wishlisted your game and will check out the demo tomorrow. Best of luck! WE CAN DO IT!
Thanks so much for the comment. Yeah, funny that you should mention it - in many ways the story that I'm writing for Lost Resolve is an allegory for my own struggles right now, feeling discouraged and burned out with life, and trying to keep the desire to continue moving forward. It makes the project very personally significant to me and I'm hoping others will appreciate the message!
Best of luck with your project as well!!
No man, I am making a game no one wants. I don't think that no one really wants a automation game combined with souls like combat mechanics, but actually I really want it to play that game. And that is just enough. (But if you want,)
Yo, I love soulslike combat mechanics (if you weren't aware, DS3 and Elden Ring are two of my favorite games). Subscribed!
What do you mean no one wants it?! That would be the most ungodly addictive genre combination there is! It's just most people wouldn't ever even consider a game like that is possible. But should it become a reality I'm sure many people will play the hell out of it.
No seriously, how the hell are you going to combine automation with souls like? "Man, I just was about to fully automate my purple moss clump production, but the damn giant rats chewed on the power lines again!"
You’re making a game only some people want, which is very different than a generic game no one particularly wants. You only need to appeal to 1% of gamers + quality + marketing/word of mouth to sell tens of thousands of copies. Niche indie games do far better than the many generic indie games.
@@TennoSkoom Haha, thanks. So, What worries me is that nobody cares about what I do, rather than developing the game. A few weeks ago I released a prototype with a beginning and an end and even my own friends didn't play it for more than 5 minutes. I worked so hard to make the last scene...
If I see that at least a few people here have finished it, I can see that my work has value and I can continue more motivated. TH-cam sometimes deletes some comments, so you can find the link to the prototype from the first video on my channel.
@@lordmegatron7263 Unless your friends play automation games, they won't actually want to play it and you won't learn much from players forcing themselves to play your game, that goes especially a sandboxy game like yours. Also your game seems too early alpha for play testing, a lot of the game mechanics but based on the trailer doesn't seem ready to hook someone into playing for hours yet. Either way definitely have your target audience do the play testing.
Game dev feels like a constant evolutionary process. With your first few games, you’re starting out as a Pokémon trainer, but by the 4th or 5th; you’re about ready for the final gym.
Yes. I am glad I could help answer your question.
Just trolling.
you enlighten me, over and over again, I make a game and keep comparing it to popular titles, saying stuff like "why is my movement not as cool as Celeste?" or "why is my graphics not as great as hollow knight?" but perhaps, and just perhaps, I do not need to look like them, and my game does not need to be for "everyone", maybe it just has to be fun for me, and feel right when I play it, I started and scrapped many projects in my life, but I think I will for once, just do it, even if I am using random assets from the internet, and even if the game looks lame, I will simply keep going, and make something I enjoy, thank you, you truly inspired me, and rekindled the flame in my heart! ❤
So basically, you've made an asset flip with a polished but recycled gameplay. As someone from outside the platformer fandom, I didn't see anything that would make me want to play your game more than, let's say - Mario, Super Meat Boy, Celeste, etc.. The gameplay looks fine and sure, custom assets will help to attract buyers but you should think of some distinct feature to differentiate from, as you've mentioned "a saturated market". Have you played Warframe by any chance? You could try taking inspiration for some fun movement elements there.
I have played Warframe! And I appreciate the honesty. I think there's definitely more I can do to set Lost Resolve apart during its development cycle, even if that means pushing the release a little further off than I first intended. I think I'm going to have to seriously consider overhauling the visuals. I do have ideas on how to add depth to the gameplay and story as well, so we'll see how that turns out!
@Swinkly_ Hey, just want to help encourage you more on this front - giving your game a unique selling point in terms of its gameplay will absolutely help sell it to many people.
Lots of us already love platformers, you just need to make a platformer that has a unique gameplay mechanic (or set of mechanics) that helps it stand out in a crowded market.
You can take inspiration from all sources - not just Warframe, and not even just video games.
Ideas can arise from the most unlikely of places.
I wish you well on your game development journey.
@@Swinkly_ Fellow Tenno I see.
@@Swinkly_ I personally could you suggest to check older games for inspiration. Not because I do not like the speedrunning platformer idea but with some modern ideas an old game could be remade in modern shape. I do not know how old are you but you probably heard about Abuse.
A platformer game with a horror theme and cliche alien like story. Medium paced and have different kind of weapons and tools you can use during the game and I think that kind of game missing currently from the market. Same like Blackthrone which was a blizzard platformer with slow pace-tactical fillers.
TH-cam decided to recommend this to me an I've gotta say, movement seems pretty unique and fun! I wishlisted the game after this and I am going to try the demo.
Awesome! I hope you enjoy it!
I’ve already seen other comments saying something similar, but I’m going to say it anyway lol. I don’t remember the source, but a while back I heard someone say “Don’t draw what you think others want to see. Draw what you want to see. If you’re into it, there’s always going to be at least someone else out there who is too.” I believe this applies to any creative medium. I finally started to make my very first game, and the thing I’m keeping foremost in my mind is that I’m making this game for myself. I’m making a game that I want to play, and that I think I’d want to play for a long time. If I ever get it to a state that’s releasable, and even just one other person likes it, then that’s just a bonus.
It has a girl that looks okay, I think that in of itself is enough to draw folks interested /s
Fantastic video! I hope you find what you need to really showcase your game, but I must say it's awesome to hear you're along for the journey too. I see too many people that focus on their success, without fully understanding how to get it.
Always thought "who is this for" is a weird question about art in general, because it implies the "demand of the audience" matters more than personal vision or even process and effort.
Reminds of what Alan Moore once said: "The artist does what the audience needs because otherwise, if audiences knew what they wanted, they'd be artists not audiences" or something like that.
In general, a lot of good works of art were done through personal vision and not so much "what do most people need" based on calculations and statistics.
Art doesn't have to be this spectrum of "something just for you" or "for the masses" when there's that middleground of "people like you or with some similar interests and sometime with their own observations and thoughts about your art".
Even with AI art as a thing, you see people generating memes and things like "Breaking Bad but medieval" and it shows how people always prefer the basic, barely ambitious concepts.
All the better stuff deserves more effort and personal preference.
I'm also making a "first game" that is too ambitious and full of different stuff.
Partially because of a project of mine starring too many characters and ideas, that I thought could make an interesting series.
My game's rough in many areas yet I managed to implement lots of ideas and even plan some things, even with help from others and the end result still showing issues.
One could also say something about most people having basic frame of reference, when there's a lot of stuff worth checking out.
Like everyone talking about the latest show on Netflix when you could be reading a cool obscure French sci-fi comic from the 90's or something.
In fact, "frame of reference" is important to any creative area because a lot of beloved videogames came from devs inspired by stuff they like, such as movies they grew up with.
Generally speaking art should ALWAYS be "for yourself" to some degree.
Making something you don't like will never result in success, no matter how much money it brings.
It doesn't matter if it's generic with nothing unique it, as long as u enjoy playing it
Good luck on your journey 👍🏻
Your game does indeed look like it hits that particular addictive criteria. Good work so far, all the best!
Most developers simply make games for themselves first, which is a problem when they realize their motivations were completely ignored or taken for granted. The key to really being successful here is knowing 100% without any doubt, what your end goal is.
So few people these days understand that about life itself, let along the complex game industry as an added layer to that. Most are distracted and enthralled, captivated and confounded. If you are developing games and have this already worked out, you are ahead of the curve!
hey man, you've already got a lot of charisma from this that genuinely made me want to buy your game even when im low on money atm!
i'm also a game developer but i feel like my accent and voice could put off a lot of people so i dont engage in the level of marketing you do, and i feel like that could hurt my products when i get more serious, so even if you don't think it, you've got a major starting point, good luck!
your game is amazing, thanks for making the keys appear as a HUD and not follow the player, and BTW your game graphics looks unique for me, this is an instant buy for me once it get released, and trust me your game will stand out and maybe live forever if you implemented a level editor in it one day
Looking back, I'm really grateful that you gave that feedback about the keys - it looks much better to have them represented on the HUD. So thank you for that :) And I really appreciate the kind words! A level editor would be a big challenge, but I suppose nothing is impossible!
Just going to say that this looks pretty solid for a first major attempt. Best wishes for the rest of your development and release!
Honestly I think the game is awesome and wherever the project goes, one thing for certain is that I’m sure as heck playing it for hours on end when it comes out. The passion put into the project makes it something unique and that alone I can appreciate. I hope you find the artist you’re looking for (even though it still looks pretty good now) . Either way, I can’t wait for future updates!
Thank you so much - the support really means a lot! I'm excited for the future of Lost Resolve, and I hope it'll turn out to be something special.
I’m not a fan of 2d games, specifically sidescrolling and platformers in general, so i’m definitely not your target audience. That said; the movement in your game looks really fluid and enticing. Brings back that super meat boy feel. I think that stands out a lot on its own.
Artwise I do feel like your game is a bit lacking, mostly because everything looks very dull, lots of browns and grays. I’m not sure what it is with game devs obsessions with dark environments. I really don’t want to spend hundreds of hours looking at gray and brown tones.
However i’m not sure an overhaul by hiring an artist would be worth it. There’s such a huge risk that your game won’t sell that you might lose a ton of money on getting the art remade. I’d say just look for assets or alter the colors to use some brighter assets. Some green grass; a blue sky. Would be nice.
Also in these little previews everything looks very blocky/square. Not enough variations from cube shapes (like how the platforms are made of individual cubes, and so are most level components. Maybe make a single rectangle for a platform. Idk.
Wishing you all the best.
YOU'RE THE ALCHEMY SQUID GUY!? I'm the super hollow celeste silksong guy!
I'm really interested in trying out your game. The gameplay in your video looks really fun. I subscribed to your channel and look forward to hearing more about your progress. And I will wish list the game now. Good luck with further development and I look forward to trying out the game.
Hard for me to give advice as someone who published a JRPG that seemingly no one wants, but here's my thoughts:
- I think the art is kinda nice even if it's borrowed assets. You did a good job as they feel like they fit together.
- Something that I didn't see from the footage is the why. Why does this lady knight need to go fast? Who exactly is she? What is this world? You could flesh out this world with some more story elements.
- The environments are very good at showing what elements the player can interact with and where the player is, but beyond that they're rather sparse. Is there a way you could add more interesting details to the world without losing the readibility?
- Something that might help is to add your own wild-crazy twist. Having a simple, tight platformer is nice and you don't have to compromise, but it might generate more interest if you throw something weird into the mix. It could be as simple as "you can cast spells while speedrunning" to "time travel". Something that gets people's attention.
Being stuck on thinking of the game design for my first game this video resonates a lot with me, the information was brilliant. After putting together a bunch of different prototypes and realizing I want the first game I make to actually be one I want to release instead of just a first for the learning process, I have been in game design hell but learning a ton studying other games. I think the biggest take away is to create the game you would want to play that is also reasonably scoped to what you are able to do, but also in the backdrop of the information on genre marketability as that should not be ignored, but its not everything.
Agreed! Metrics and marketing info is useful but it shouldn't stop you from making the type of game you truly want to make. Best of luck with your own projects!
Hey, I had kind of a fun idea for visuals that might be both easy for you to create and visually interesting. I’m not sure how it might work with the pixel art elements, but have you looked at any Bauhaus design? It’s a pretty brought art movement, but in particular I’m thinking of the very simple colored-shape works created by that school. They favor functionality and simplicity over any sort of flashiness, but I find those visuals and that entire art movement to be really interesting, satisfyingly whole, and also really uncommon in the video game world. I also wonder if it might sort of suite your own creative philosophy: you seem like a function first, form second kind of guy, and that’s very much where they were coming from as well. Game looks fun to play! Hope things go well!
That would be a neat path to take - however I actually have crafted a story for the world of Lost Resolve that would lend itself to having more of a traditional pixel appearance. That said, I found an artist to collaborate with, so we'll be working to overhaul the visuals in the coming days! Thanks for the comment!
I’ve got a friend trying to break into the indie game dev art commission scene. She has over 10,000 hours making digital art, and made fantastic art for my game that I started making. She’s got a great portfolio and would work for dirt cheap, hit me up if you want to reach out to her for like an interview, or see a portfolio or something. I quite literally think she is more skilled of an artist that 90% of the indie game art I see out there
If you can send me a link to her portfolio I'd love to check it out! In the "about" section of my profile you can click "view email address" to contact me.
I didn’t see your email on your channel.
For some reason TH-cam isn’t letting me comment the full email, or Google drive link, so just email her and she will send it over
“Awriterdraws” and then finish it like any other gmail
I'll start by saying I'm not your target audience, I can't seem to get back into platformers. But your movement looks incredible and makes me significantly more interested. I think with the right art style and some nice music tracks, it'll really elevate what you've got going on. As someone who has dabbled a lot in pixel art and low poly over the years, it's a real pain.
I'll wishlist it, subscribe, all that, and I hope you really turn this into something even more amazing. You're the type of developer people should keep an eye on, you're a smart cookie! 😄
thx the idea of last result is actually pretty good, I may use it as well, but like a secondary mechanic in a game not as core one, something to hype people to play it more and being competitive without using pvp modes
Just stumbled on this. While platformers are oversaturated, fast paced action ones with in-depth movement mechanics are not. They are a rare subgenre, sadly one that I think doesn't have a huge audience. But that audience is certainly hungry for more, and Lost Resolve looks like it could be a good one.
Looking at the game so far though, currently it doesn't look too outstanding to me. Seems to be a dash/slide for instant speed that can be preserved into long jumps, a wall jump, and a stomp/bounce that goes into a high jump. That's all good, but it's nothing I haven't seen before. And the levels shown here appear to be just simple setups of terrain, a few types of disappearing blocks, and springs. I'm sure there's more planned, but I wanted to mention it. This game could use more hazards, gimmick objects to interact with, and more varied level design.
I dig these kinds of games, and I think Lost Resolve has potential. But currently, I don't know if it has what it needs to draw in a crowd. Hope that's helpful. Good luck with the game!
The best games come from passion, not a desire for fame. If you are making a game you are only half passionate about, players will notice that right away and will not play it. In my experience, any time I had big success in other mediums, it never felt as satisfying as I thought it would. Instead, it left me wanting to do more. In other words, the fun comes from making the game and pushing past procrastination and challenges, not just being successful, but unfortunately this massive pitfall has taken many unsuspecting indie developers from the market.
Your game might not have a standout art style, but it does have fast and fluid movement, and speed feels fun when you are in control of it. See Metroid Dread, for example--Samus can move very quickly, but her movement is so fine-tuned that it never feels like you are constantly missing platforms like in Ori and the Blind Forest.
But in essence, you should focus a lot more on the progress you make in this journey, and the valuable lessons you learn from each game you make, instead of making something you yourself don't enjoy. Never, ever, ever try to cater to an audience you don't know well, if at all. Just think up a cool new idea for something you want to make, and breath life into it.
Also, another important thing to consider is quality over quantity, and pacing. A game can be relatively short but very fun, especially if the pacing is consistent and enjoyable. *(ex. Animal Well)*
On the subject of fame, it's important to note that most players couldn't care less about how popular and well-known the developer is. They care about the game itself. I mean, look at David Jaffe, the guy who made God of War. Sure, he got several awards and made a very monumental title, but now he is going around on the internet acting like some big-name blowhard, when in reality not a lot of people are talking about him, just the franchise he made.
Anyway, just remember this: You only have one chance at life. Will you throw it away out of fear of being unsuccessful, or will you persevere to make the most of your skills and your time? That was a rhetorical question. Don't answer it.
Good luck on your game!
I think there are two paths you could go down. First is that you just need to get this game into the world and learn from your failures. Second is to be critical of your reception and refine your delivery. Neither of those paths will be served by you trying to justify your genre or appeal to match some of the guidelines Chris puts out. Based on the way this game looks, you are not going to be a success with this game. Thats fine if you are going down the first path, but dont trick yourself by thinking its the second path and finding disappointment in the end.
If you really want the second path (success) for this game, I suggest crafting an easier shorter game that matches demand for your first game while you take the time needed to polish the current game.
If you decide you just want to get the current game out and move on, thats also a great decision, but dont fool yourself into unrealistic expectations.
Either way, you made a game. That is an accomplishment.
was surprized to see luc1 in the vod chat first second into the video!
Haha, yeah, I've known him since he was running DS3 back in the day!
Do not let current trends influence what people might like in the future when you release the game.
The current hype/trend chasing mindset is why 99.999999% of all games nowadays don’t survive the first month of release because people that will play it will
drop it the moment they feel they already played it a bazillion time that same month.
Gotta be innovative and create a trend not follow it.
other thing that can help with the visual identity is the sound and visual effects! even the little details can help bring the world to life and help with it's identity!
Also even if you're not financially successful, if the game is fun and well made it will be a good addition to your portfolio in case you want to get a publisher deal or do a crowd funding campaign in the future. Good luck, I'm rooting for you :)
I love that you're willing to build this and will be proud of it regardless on the income from it. I can't afford to do stuff like that anymore, but some of my proudest creations I will remember for the rest of my life come from times I could do that. Game looks fun too! I like that you incorporated the sonic bounce haha
i don't know anything about you or your game, but after seeing a few seconds of footage, the speed struck me as looking really fun, so i think you have something there. keep it up!
Thanks! I'm glad you like the speed component, and I'll be working to rework/refine many other aspects of the game and add a lot of polish in the coming days!
Maybe it's just me but theres something about having the ability to dash and jump off the walls in games like these that really speaks to me. I remember when I used to play Megaman X I always thought it was so cool that I could move fast through the levels with dashes and wall jumps. Same thing with Super Metroid, where you could go so fast that you kill everything you run into and I like how it took some skill to do the wall jumps successfully. I suppose thats what it boils down to. The fact that you can become more skilled at playing the game and gaining those skills makes you look and feel cool.
I'm downloading the demo tomorrow. I'll buy your game when it releases if I like the demo. I'm working on my first game so I want to support other solo devs. I'm working on a shmup.
Problem of using asset packs like those is that almost anything you can get afterwards will feel like a downgrade.
Even if you manage to put together a small budget to get custom art made, chances are it will be worse than the free assets since those are essentially portfolio pieces that had a lot of work put into them, with no time or budget constraints.
This is the most important I ever learned
If you make games for yourself, you've basically found your audience
market in a way you would like, you are not the only person who likes 2D, fast paced, platformers. You are making a game for yourself and now the audience that could or could not come.
Your video game sounds awesome, if you are loving it, DONT YOU DARE QUIT, that will be the biggest mistake of your life.
3:14 Celeste: Why not both
@@bnane42 exactly! I originally had a line in the script about how Celeste "treads a delicate middle ground" between both styles, but I cut it out for brevity. Love Celeste!
I am of the camp that a dev should always make a game that they want to platy themselves as it will always be a better version of that kind of game because of their passion. There will always be people in the world the have the same or similar likes to you so you will find a market if your game is good
Finishing your game into the most compact form possible will help you a lot with getting the experience needed to know what kind of audience you'll attract. You'll be less likely to lose faith and motivation if you spend less time being stuck with it and second guessing its market.
Jonas Tyroller also has an AMAZING video on marketing if you haven't seen that.
5:53 Damn straight!
I think it’s also important to remember that Steam trends change quickly. Back in that first vid Chris made in 2022, roguelikes were easier to sell - not so sure anymore. And having multiplayer games are hard to sell in a Lethal Company era is a wild wild thing to say in 2024.
You know, it’s an amazing feeling when you accomplish what you set out to do. It’s a satisfaction coming from a personal achievement, and it’s definitely worth your time. It fades quickly, however, and the more lasting “high” is accomplished by other people commenting and praising your work. That will stay with you much longer and gives you a sense of pride and recognition.
Whenever you publish anything, be ready for negative comments and don’t let them discourage you. Appreciate the positive feedback. Life is about a balance between being selfish and directing your efforts towards helping people around you. It’s like that with everything you do.
As an aspiring game dev, I struggle to imagine an outcome more fulfilling than having designed a game that _I_ want to play for potentially hundreds of hours. There is simply nothing like applying your knowledge and skill with various tools to manufacture your own enjoyment. Success or failure is defined by the goal one wants to attain. If your main goal, like mine, is to create a passionate game that you love, the "success" of popularity and notoriety for your efforts is merely a bonus.
2:00 “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad." - Shigeru Miyamoto
Dont get too atached to release dates...
Saturated? What for? My dude as long as you are not going for indie fighting game that is not a fan project for already estabilished universe, you are way ahead
Just got this video and never heard of you or your game
I am glad I have now
I like the resolve you come to at the end
If I am making something I enjoy then that will be good for me (might be a bit off in that statement summarizing it but you get the point)
It's kinda sad how many game developers just make games for money and profit with nothing else on that comes to mind...
It's important that you make something you enjoy and not something just to make ends meet with finances
When you make something that your passionate about and you enjoy you will exceed you expectations with the end result more than likely
I can't wait to see the final result of your game, and see your community grow even more
Remember make something you passionate about and enjoy and the end result might surprise you
You have earned my subscribe well done 👍
Oh one more thing before I go
Have a Great Day Swinkly 🖖
6:01 facts, this is how to go about anything creative in life
It would be cool that if you make it in a specific time, the game give you styling as a reward
0:00 Make a game for YOU.
Make the game you want to play. That's developer rule #1.
Maybe with this new insight, you can try to shape the game around that even further.
For example (this is the first time I see this game but it looks to me like this) there are sometimes longer flat straight sections where you just slide again and again but you reach you max speed quite early. What about some kind of velocity gain mechanic that when executed more precisely yields more speed for such sections?
good for you man
hope the best with this.
looks interesting enough for me to get it, so you just got a customer
who even needs marketing
Haha, awesome! I hope you'll really enjoy the final game :)
Making a game that you would like to play would mean there's definitely people with the same tastes as you, meaning at least some target audience is already there.
Also, another great example of momentum platformer is N++.
I was thinking about N as well.
GO HARD. That's all, have fun go hard hit hard and you've got lightning in a bottle
I think the sonic the hedgehog gameplay is cool, it's like sonic x supermeatboy
Haven't seen any other videos about this game before, but the first clip of gameplay made me want to play ! The movement looks really fun.
Thanks so much, I'm glad you think so :) hope you'll enjoy it!
>"a high speed 2D platformer with a focus on momentum. However, after sinking an endless amount of hours into the project, I have to ask myself the question - will anyone even WANT to play it? And does that even matter?"
If you are sinking a lot of time into the project then it's a question of it that time is feasible or not? If the time is for learning or just an achievement in life then it is a good outcome to complete a quality game that is playable no matter it's commercial success. If it's a lot more hours than is feasible it is not a good idea and you have to go back to the market data probably before choosing a different project that aims for commercial success which also then depends on your execution and design of that game.
I've played some good speed-run like platformers ages ago on iOS and they all had charming graphics with QOL features such as collecting coins as you speed along for a secondary goal along with time challenge and multipath options as well as each one having a special gimmick be it sliding or running upside down or grapple-hooking and so on which again makes a great twist on just speed-running + platforming.
You've got the sliding and the raw mechanics look fun, but really needs that attractive presentation and each movement input control to visually feedback to make the character control gratifying (addictive second by second).
You hit the nail on the idea in an "ideal world" showcasing Nine Sols (or even Bo: Path Of The Teal Leaf which has even more strikingly handsome artwork!) and Tunic in 3D with a cute fox character to rival anything by Nintendo! Already that hook by raw visual appeal then the various gameplays in those games stack up too... people are going to think nothing of a few bucks for those games at that point but if the appeal is not in the art a few bucks feels like "yet another few bucks, I'm running out, maybe I just want a coffee or there 10 other games with my name on it" instead type of reaction.
Your current character cannot fully see what it is: It's maybe a girl that is a zombie-blue colour? Then this character does not match the levels you have (atm), so if she's an undead zombie then the levels should have that horror theme and motif knocking about with maybe she's late to the Hallo'oween Party of other such characters? Then your game should take on some more charm - esp. some animation emotions of the MC herself with those sunken eye-sockets with yellow witch-fires inside and perhaps a teenage girl's exaggerated emotional responses and humour?
I know for a fact that Speed Platformers/ Movement Platformers is a new and growing subgenre of Platformers, and there's a ton of people who are wishing for more of this. I myself would totally buy this.
you also got to note, how few movement platformer games there are, I can only really think of Wario Land, Pizza Tower, N++, and technically speed levels in Mario Maker. you also got the Mega Man Zero games but those only count if you're constantly spamming the dash button.
If you're thinking of going the racing route, I recommend at some point making either race maps with an online leaderboard system, a level creator, or simply put, both.
if you want some solid inspiration and you haven't tried it out yet, I highly recommend giving N++ a try. it originated on the DS and PSP systems but you can find it on Steam also.
(Edit: If you do end up going the race route, I'll definitely be interested in buying your game when it's done, and if you do end up adding a level editor, that's a solid guaranteed buy from me! 😅)
Trust me when I say GAMEPLAY COMES FIRST, if you put passion into making your game fun and get advice from friends and just work hard on making it unique and fun then everything else can be put on the backburner. Hell if you're worried about visual style release it as early access, get the funding to be able to hire artists for the game and make your full vision come to life. Indie devs are stepping into the golden age of development, as AAA companies stop listening to their target audience they're starting to get frustrated and angry at the lack of community and voice that they have, so in other words they're gonna be looking for games made by people like you, small team games not published or coded by some billion dollar company, but just a handful of people with passion and love for their game, their community, etc. You have GOT THIS my boi don't faulter your dreams because the odds are unlikely, they're only unlikely because most people aren't creative enough to pull it off.
EDIT: I'm actively playing the demo at the time of writing this so I'm gonna add a list of recommendations/critics I have for the game, please note these are not meant to offend but they're simply things I can see being a problem for other people considering they were a problem for me, but obviously I'm only one voice and I don't speak for everyone so if there's something here that doesn't sound right please ask friends what they think! Also I know there's quite a few negatives here but that doesn't mean the game's bad at all, I wouldn't put so much effort into this if I thought it wasn't worth it! (- = negative, + = positive, -/+ is a thing that doesn't make a major impact but would be nice to see)
- Small thing but I noticed the demo uses the default godot icon so a placeholder for that could be nice
-/+ You can't fastfall/slam after bouncing or after walljumping which makes gameplay feel a bit stiff
-/+ Similar situation to the fast fall thing, I noticed you can't jump immediately after sliding leading to some situations where deaths feel unfair
+ THANK YOU FOR ADDING COYOTE TIME I HATE WHEN GAMES DON'T DO THIS
- I keep trying to pause the game to write these by pressing esc only to exit out of the level which is mildly frustrating
-/+ It feels a tad strange to have a wall jump and ledge hang but you can't slide down walls, makes things like the first key in the second level feel less like a challenge and more like a chore.
-/+ I'd recommend adding difficulties to change things like keys being lost on death, probably just normal and hard mode where normal you don't lose keys and they save with you when you reach a checkpoint, and hard where you drop all keys on death putting them back with a little animation to show that they've returned to where they were found instead of them vanishing.
- I noticed on the moving block in the first level you're able to ledge grab it even though it's moved up onto the ceiling which makes it harder to wall jump from the block since you have to avoid ledge grabbing by accident
- The door to the east said I need 6 keys to progress, I got 4 and the wall's mysteriously gone without a trace.
+ Just noticed the camera slides off the character a bit to let you see ahead of you when you're moving fast which I absolutely love, needs a little adjusting for when you're falling so you can see below you better but otherwise I absolutely love this feature in games like this.
-/+ I'd heavily recommend adding the ability to look up and down like in super mario world for example, it feels really bad to see a pit that's too far down to see the bottom of and wonder if there's a key or more platform down there, go to check and it's just a pit that you die and lose all your keys from.
-/+ Very small thing but I noticed the girl who tells you about the forlorn dreams doesn't turn to face you as you move away from her so that could be a neat little detail to add, if you do add it just make sure she doesn't keep facing you when you're underground or generally out of her line of sight.
+ Absolutely love the introduction of the new colored blocks, instructionless tutorials are always the best kind of tutorials for keeping your immersion!
-/+ I'd recommend making the r key to reset a hold thing instead of a tap just in case somebody were to press it by mistake and reset all their progress, having it fade out to black and fade back in would make it feel smoother.
That's everything I could find as far as criticism goes, P.S. if you actually read all of this HUGE PROPS to you for listening to your community, and speaking of community make a discordddd hope you have an amazing day!
Well for me the mood, art style, music, sound design, story etc is just as important as gameplay...
@@Starblendet yeahhh but a majority of those can take a bit of a back burner compared to gameplay, idk about you but if we got an early access mario game and all of the music, story, and artwork was done, but mario can't run or jump and you can't change level I'd be pretty disappointed.
Wow! This feedback is super detailed and helpful! I'm probably going to copy it into a feedback document to reference while I work on Lost Resolve in the coming days. I do have a discord as well! I'll add the link to the description. Thanks so much for playing and for giving an honest critique!
@@Swinkly_ yooo glad to be of any help. Just the fact that you actually read all of that is a great sign that you listen to your community, as I've said tho please cross reference me with friends or even other people in the discord to see what they believe because I'm only one person and not everything I say is gonna be true for others. Hope to see this game grow and get even better with time!
I don't know how many regular consumers will notice, but as game dev myself I see the "Warrior-Free Animation set" by Clembod regularly on Reddit or tutorials around the web quite frequently. Now I'm in the minority but I figured it was just a placeholder and you were gonna swap it at some point... Brutal honesty, I think modulating her blue because she's a ghost kinda comes off as a bit lazy, rather than cohesive and fitting like you say. I think if you do plan to release on Steam then you should definitely consider changing the main character sprites at least, maybe not custom but something lesser known.
I will also say, a set of animations by 2025 is not a tall ask for any pixel artist worth their salt. It should be doable in a couple months at most, I could probably do rough versions in a month and I'm an intermediate pixel artist that's only been doing it for a couple years. Also having a custom animation for any mechanic that doesn't already have one (I.e. your bounce is just the 'jump' animation) would not only make the game look better but FEEL a lot better too.
@@Kolbiathan I think this is totally valid criticism, and something I'll definitely want to address. A few artists have already reached out about working together, and I'm thinking it may even be within my skill set to do some of the environmental assets myself if it comes down to it. I appreciate the honest feedback!
@@Swinkly_ Nice, I wish you success on releasing the game. You've already made a lot of progress, and I think your 2025 release window seem very obtainable! Keep going!
Hey, maybe you can take inspiration from Pizza Tower. It's super sucessful, and it uses the same fluid type of movement as your game.
Good luck 👍
Hi! So far I enjoy playing your game, so I want to give you some feedback. I think in some cases controls in this game are too... 'responsive'(English isn't my first language so I'm not sure if this is a right word for what I mean). For example, if a player dashes into a wall and jumps, the character will jump off it, but sometimes a player needs to just jump/slam+jump instead, so one's forced to stop for a second to not trigger the jump-off-wall action, breaking the pace. I hope you get what I mean
Pixel platformers actually aren't the most saturated part of the indie selection on Steam. The fast paced ones or trial & error high speed ones are for sure and your game also falls under them. But... there's also an extreme lack of more traditional 2D platformers. Platformers comparable to the amazing ones of old like Mario, Sonic, Kid Chameleon, Rocket Knight Adventures, Ghouls & Ghosts, etc... they're extremely rare.
That said, yeah it being your first game is no excuse to make a game that barely sells anything. If anything, it being your first game means you'll need to make extra sure it will sell as much as you can make it sell. And this means that regardless of whether you make a type of game that's from a saturated genre or not, you need to make sure the game is appealing. Positive feedback from reviews is one thing, but you need to make sure that even based on screenshots and videos alone, your game looks appealing enough for people to want it. And based on that, how much would people be willing to pay for it?
Of course it is a bit hard to give it nice visual appeal when you're already pretty late in the development process. Ideally you'd settle on something relatively early on so it will ooze through in the actual design of the game and levels. Best thing you could do now is perhaps use what you currently have on a lower layer while you could perhaps put something else on top. Ideally perhaps hand drawn, but even something that looks like it came out of paint can have enough character to give it some more visual appeal. It would save the work of actually needing to redesign assets and actually allow you to relatively quickly transform something basic into something that looks human-made and designed. It's pretty much what they did in many older games, including old Resident Evil games.
Anyhow, one thing I do disagree on is that it doesn't matter how much it sells. Because it does. There's multiple devs who made vids on this, but it's always a huge blow to see something you worked very hard on for years to not sell. And it can get really bad, at times their games can sell in the single digits a few weeks after release. Very few people can just do something they love and not care about any reward. But in general that's not how people work. If they work very hard and put a lot of effort into something, then it's a huge blow if those efforts are not rewarded. And a lot of people can keep telling themselves that it's fine if it ends up that way because they're doing something they love... but it's not. It's devastating and incredibly demotivating.
Like I said earlier, it's probably too late in the process to do a whole lot about it. But I think it's probably still smarter to at least still try to do what you can before you release it. There's limits to what you can do and if it causes too much of a delay or revamp it's of course not worth it, but if you can manage to make it appealing enough so it'll sell a few thousand instead of a few hundred for example it's probably worth it.
Serve yourself first, always. If you want the game you're making that's all that matters unless you have gone into deep, deep debt gambling your home on the project. Which would be a dumb thing to do even with infinite market research.
Second, people don't know what they want until the see what they want. All the marketing speak is meaningless in practice, they are just trends. Nebulous, wishy washy snapshots of yesterday. So many indie breakouts were things marketing people would have vetoed.
I personally prefer the look of Alchemy squid to Lost Resolve, and i think your 'goofy art style' has character and might bring something visually to the game that it could be lacking. Super Meat Boy and Dust Force are quite heavily stylized, but I could identify them from a still image whereas I might struggle to ID Lost Resolve (But then i think games like Electronic Super Joy, Speed Runners and The End is Nigh suffer from the same issue).. The game itself looks excellent in motion, quite polished mechanics actually and I can imagine this having a decent following if it can stand out of the crowd. Anyways, good luck, and stay positive.
I'm a Neon White/Celeste/Pseudoregalia fan who does some speedrunning occassionally. For what it's worth this game seems right for me. This seems like my kind of game I could convince my friends to compete on to get better and better times. I hope that there are some very deep (even tricky ways to use the mechanics) I can use to decrease the time in subtle way.
P.S. The algorithm has blessed this video. You may gain a larger audience after this.
Thanks for the comment! And there is some advanced movement tech (namely, a superjump you can do with precise inputs) that I think brings a good level of depth to the speedrunning potential!
Thank you for the inspiration
If your game turns out good, i'm pretty sure there'll be many players from celeste, hollow knight, super meat boy etc. who'll be willing to try your game! You are right about the graphics part. The general design feels static. But the mechanics definitely look fluid and addictive to me, has a lot of potential.
By the way, i ran into the same problem when developing my game. I couldn't polish the graphics at all. (It was for a course project, took me like a month to develop it. a 3D platformer, you can check it out in my channel if it peaks your interest) As you know, there are many elements in game dev. (story, game mechanics, gameplay, enemies, level design, character design and animations, art, lighting, implementing unique ideas, UI, vfx etc. etc.) so filling all that would either mean money or having teammates that you can rely on but that requires networking and people you can trust which is something i don't have yet lol.
Thank you! Yeah, if I do end up finding an artist to work with on this, I'm sure that creating a fresh look for the game would help immensely! Might even be worth pushing the release out a bit.
@@Swinkly_ Thank you as well for responding! By the way i think you could enrich the look of the game by making the tiles look a bit less repetitive. They have many variations yeah but i feel like they could use a bit more of it. Your choice of style! Perhaps some of them could be looking broken or could have a different tone (same colour but different tones) etc. etc. look for the tricks to enrich the environment your game looks very promising, like i said!
@@Swinkly_ I feel you could probably get away with "less beautiful art" that was made by you, than with pre-made assets. If this makes any sense.
Both Celeste and Vampire Survivors were huge successes and their Pixel Art is well, okay? But nothing really insane. I'm pretty sure you could do something on the same level or even higher. And even if you can't, it will still be something personal...
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Haha I watched the same video, and it was very demoralizing for the game I've been working on for newrly 10 years (3rd game though, but first solo game).
My game is a 3d puzzle platformer though, so a little different, yet still not recommended.
So I hope we can find an audience even if it seems like odds are against us.
Good luck.
Great conclusion! From what I've seen in this video the game looks pretty cool
You’re making it for me cuz that moment looks mad fun
I can't tell you if your game will be successful, but it looks cool, and I look forward to trying the demo. Whether or not it's for me, I wish you luck in reaching your audience
I'd try that game. But in the end, do something that you would want to play yourself. Chances are, there are more people that are like you in their gaming taste.
I have two game concepts that ive been sort of chewing on. They are the concepts I want to tackle when I "get good" basically. Essentially, when I get as comfortable as I can with Godot, ive played a variety of videogames and taken good notes on their design (also notes on youtube videos), and have the time management skills for a long term multi-year project.
One is the one I really want to make, honestly. And the other is one ive noticed that people have a lot of interest in.
To be more specific, these are ideas for "christian" games, where the games are based on a Christian message but dont make it on the nose or preachy because well, *absolutely* nobody wants that.
But basically, while I mainly like the idea of a metroidvainia where you collect the armor of God, ive seen a lot of positive reception to a revelation-based sci-fi dystopia.
Weirdly, I am not 100% on what genre I want either of these ideas to be because I struggle to come up with mechanics *after* a narrative idea. I can do a narrative idea off of a unique set of mechanics, kind of, but mechanics based off a story I want to tell? Its hard for me to figure out. Above that I do kind of wonder does *anyone* want that kind of game? I know I do but its rough.
Oh also funny thing, I made a game that has an identical movement system to what im seeing in your game. Just a funny coincidence. Wall jumps, and sliding giving a massive boost in speed. Its an infinite runner though, not actually designed levels but just kinda neat.
Armor of God sounds very JRPGish and I like JRPG vibes in other genres. 👍
Wishing you the best of luck!
I'm actually a Christian myself - with Lost Resolve, my goal is to create a world and story that communicate a message of hope. And while the message may be inspired by my faith, I want to articulate it in a way that can be fully appreciated by any audience, whether religious or secular.
I'm sure as time goes on the pieces will fall into place and you'll figure out what kind of game you want to make! Sometimes certain aspects of a game "write themselves" once you start moving! Thanks for the comment :)
how does bro know I just played Neon White an hour ago????? bro can read minds... btw, it is extremely addicting to speedrun, the movement feels SO GOOD, I feel like I can say that, because I had (maybe I still have) a WR in a demo version of the game
I'm gonna have to give it a go myself soon! I've heard many good things but haven't played through it myself yet.
Appreciate your struggle, warrior! My feedback upon first time seeing this game is that context can make your game interesting. Why are you running around jumping on pads? Do you need to hurry up and save the princess? A greater context to the player's actions can make a game worth playing. Also something like a timer, colorful UI, dynamic camera. Those type of things can enchance the experience and are worth considering.
Thank you. Good luck.
There will always be an audience for everything, so don't be afraid to be creative
The game is interesting, but i don't think I could play it for more than an hour without getting bored of it, i'm not following the making of the game, this video just appeared in my yt homepage so i don't really know the mechanics of the game exetera but i think you could add secrets and collectionables to give the game more replayability. Naturally you could improve the graphics, animations and stuff like that but if its not your thing and your time would be wasted doing it, just improve other things. I'm just a random guy from youtube, take my advice for what it is. (Sorry for my english)
*Obama awarding himself meme*
HAHAHA "here king, you dropped this" 🤣
Just pitch it to indie game/beta testing TH-camrs like Alpha Beta Gamer or ManlyBadassHero asking them to feature it. Apparently many of their viewers buy and play them if they like the playthroughs. The more unique the games, the better but it's not they won't play a "saturated" genre.
Pitch even a demo to them to keep the interest up.
People who use free stuff always whine about paying for stuff; but really what we care about is quality and opportunity cost. If you could get an artist to take some time off your hands than you could use it to work. This could mitigate or completely remove the cost of getting better quality work for your project. And if you're willing to spend money on tickets to a concert or amusment park why not spend some on something you've spent dozens of hours on?
I hope I didn't send the wrong message - I ABSOLUTELY think art would be worthwhile investment, the problem is just being short on money to begin with, and having bills to pay. But as I mentioned, if I can find the right artist, I'll find a way to make it work!
Market to the 2d sonic rom hack/ fan game fandom
Pixel artist of four-ish years here-
I'm no expert, but I do have a little experience making game assets, and would be more than happy to try making some for your project. How could i get in touch with you?
There's an email link on my profile - with that said, I have been speaking with an artist who reached out earlier last week and it seems likely I'll end up working with them. But I will post an announcement in the future if more assets are needed!
My goal is to create games I want to play. I'd love it if they make money, but at least I'll end up with something I enjoy.
The idea that there isn't enough roguelike deckbuilders is funny to me.
Also, basic movement, wall slide and double jump is a bare minimum for a platformer, not an achievement. If there's no other special mechanic then your game is just a platformer template which no one would want to play.