Tag: Game Dev

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Favorite indie game posts of the past month!

Feature image: Photo by Chris J. Davis on Unsplash

So, it is true that we are on a bit of a development hiatus until spring of next year. However, we still want to share our love of indie gaming with you all!

We are huge fans of Twitter and the #indiegamedev community. So, we want to share some of the best tweets we’ve seen this past month.

Take a look below 😀


We feel like this describes every indie game dev at some point lol @the_datababe

It’s a beautiful thing that the gaming and streaming community has become so diverse. However, it’s always important to keep in mind how crucial it is to make others feel welcome — regardless of the language they speak or where they’re from. We can all put in the effort to do this. We love that this tweet by @_JaneyLaney conveys this.

You’d be surprised how putting things on the calendar and writing stuff down can propel your projects as an indie game developer. Big ups to @cgulley80 for pointing this out!

Honestly, there is nothing to add to this one. We all come to a point where we need to hear a message like this, so soak this one up. 🙂 Thanks for this one @MiaAmareVT

Again, the beauty of the #indiegamedev community on Twitter (and even IG) is the support and advice given from other indie game developers. So, if you aren’t already plugged in (or you are a non-dev who wants to stay up on creative games), track that hashtag and stay plugged in 😀

Devlogs

Hamsterdamm Game Dev Updates 1/25- Prototypes and Menus

If you’ve been sleuthing around on our socials, you may have seen that we have announced our first game in development: Hamsterdamm.

We’re excited to be to the point of announcing this title finally. For details about the game itself and what to expect, slide on over to the Hamsterdamm game page (especially if you get hyped for comic-style noir games ;-D)

From now on, most of our dev logs are going to be related to this game, So, here is what we have to report:

Putting All the Puzzle Pieces Into Place

Sorta….lol 

While development is actively beginning on this 2D perspective-shifting infinite runner project, there were some questions that we had to ask before we started:

  • “What do we need to have in place before we begin?”
  • “Is the concept tight, or are there some missing parts?”
  • “What platforms is this game going to be playable on?”

Once those questions were answered, we started to look for designers to collaborate with to begin to set up the prototype to expand on. We found an awesome designer (who we will be sharing more information about in the coming month or so).

Game Creation and Game Menus

Game menus play a significant part in the gaming process. Think about some of your favorite game menus. What was one of the major qualities that made you stand up and take notice? Even if it didn’t look the greatest, the ease of navigation and usability was likely a major reason you felt good about it. Games like Destiny, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and Metroid Prime come to mind.

This is something we are delving into for Hamsterdamm.

No one wants to spend time on a game they cannot navigate, and we wholeheartedly understand that. Therefore, we are putting our focus on this aspect within the next month. No one wants to feel like this guy after playing a game with poor UI:

We feel ya, buddy…

We have started drawing up in-game menus, designing the user interface, and setting up visual representations for how the game will play out. Additionally, we are also beginning to draw out the different perspectives the game will take on as players move through it.

On the non-game development front, we are ramping up our outreach. We can’t delve into detail right now, but if you are on our mailing list (which, if you haven’t already, we invite you to join), you know that some freebies and goodies are coming down the pipeline that reveals more of the Hamsterdamm story. Some of it will be exclusively for those on the email list, while others we will gladly share with everyone.

So, stay tuned! We will have even more updates to share by next week!

calculator and notepad placed over stack of usa dollars Things We've Learned

WE NEED A BUDGET! – The Magic (jk) of…

Budget? Does anyone really like that word? Well, we have grown to embrace it over the past year. In 2018, my partner and myself began to make personal finance a priority after realizing we needed to pay off some debt (don’t we all?), and we are less than a year away from being debt-free (woohoo!)

A live shot of our student loans lol

We have taken this new commitment to financial discipline (it hasn’t always been easy lol) and also vowed to use this approach with game development.

Obviously, we do not have an unlimited bank account for this process, but we have been fortunate enough to put some money away for the development of our first game. We are immensely grateful and want to be good stewards of the resources we do have. So, that meant creating a budget.

Game Budgets Don’t Have to Be Complicated

One of us is a friend of the whiteboard, while the other is a whiz with spreadsheets. As a result, we combined these two preferences to monitor and track our budget. We simply listed out all the things we needed and what we can or are willing to spend for them. Here are some of our quick takeaways from doing this process:

  1. We decided what we could do ourselves – We wanted to approach this decision with the mindset of: “what do we have the skills and time to do ourselves, and what do we need to have someone do for us?” For example, one of us has a background in social media marketing and developing marketing plans. So, we have decided that’s something we can take on. Additionally, the other has some skills with actual game development and has decided to take on the game’s technical development. Again, this was done with careful consideration of the time we had and the skills we could put to use.
  2. We researched the cost of what we couldn’t do – As an indie game studio, we want a blend of expertise with value (as many of you may also be looking for). We know that we may not get the most experienced people to help us, but that’s quite okay. We want to work with contractors who are passionate about what they do, have some experience, and are willing to take some direction. These people may be college students or people who work in this business as a side hustle. Working with individuals like this can help us save on costs. We did some preliminary research on freelance marketplaces to see the average rate for what we needed and compared it to what we could pay.
  3. We tried to be realistic about what we needed – Unfortunately, we cannot do it all. There were things that we would love to do, but there were other things we needed more. For example, we wanted to get some elaborate web design work done for our game’s landing page but realized that it isn’t something we needed right now (even though it would look pretty cool). On the other hand, we almost forgot that we needed to budget for things like music and a trailer.
  4. We have a master company budget and a project budget – We are treating every game like a project, which means it needs its own budget. We have a master budget for recurring administrative costs that impact our company as a whole and another budget that is specifically for the project. Eventually, the project budget will also be included in the master budget to track all expenses for tax purposes (thank goodness for CPAs!!!!). So, if you aren’t doing this, be sure to track all expenses and get an accountant (this person will make tax time much easier).

Budgeting isn’t the sexiness thing, but it can definitely make life easier as we get closer to starting the game development process. It feels great to know that we have a plan for the budget we do have. As a result, we have much less of a chance of running out of funds. Honestly, all anyone needs to get started is some brief research and a spreadsheet 🙂

Budgeting means we have more money for donuts 😉