cybereality It's definitely good to be realistic, I think I'm in that boat too a bit with these templates I'm potentially looking to release for Godot, it's a major problem for indie developers even getting people to download your stuff never mind buy it.
Megalomaniak has a point there. Limiting yourself to one platform can be a good idea. Mobile sounds like a good idea for a game that will have a few free episodes, and then the player can unlock the rest. Plus it may be good to have those limits in hardware, since more can be done in a short amount of time with limited hardware specs.
Thanks @Ertain . That was the idea. With mobile I can target lower spec graphics, that will be easier to make, and I think the shareware model will do better on mobile. Plus, like I said, the game will only be a few hours long, and I think I will get bad reviews for a short PC game, while on mobile that would be expected (outside of RPGs or online games). I'd prefer to have the best game on mobile, versus an average game on PC, that people may not notice. But I can always port later, or do an HD remaster for PC or something, that would not be difficult.
If it's side scrolling it could help with judging distances between obstacles. I may be thinking of it all wrong though.
I'm a skateboarder and heavily into street sports, so I'm already a customer based on your former work too.
subbed, followed, addicted
EDIT: or if you think about it, it could be like the Trials series but with multiple fixed camera angles: side, top, i dunno.
I wanted to do first person similar to Mirror's Edge and Dying Light.
cybereality Gotcha.
There's this thing on running on an even earlier Godot 4 version: Wander
Wow, that looks amazing. Haven't seen that before.
@cybereality as a former video game store manager of some-odd years, you'd be surprised how much people (still) like simpler games. I've met plenty who could care less for a Skyrim, Souls or Zelda game no matter how enthusiastic I am for it. Do hardcore gamers buy long, (sometimes) bloated 80-hour plus experiences? Of course. But they are not the "whole" gaming market. Most people I see playing mobile are playing Apple Arcade stuff or microtransaction-based hellscapes. Masahiro Sakurai says the more "game essence" a game has (the more it caters to gamers), the less accessible it ends up being. I would consider at least releasing on PC as well. As someone earlier said, AAA studios put out plenty of crap. At absolute worst, you have a great portfolio piece to show off later.
Also, I like the world style you're going for - it's different and it's dirty and i dig it.
Yeah, I'm leaning toward desktop PC right now. Mostly cause I want to use Godot 4.0 and it's pretty solid for desktop currently and not as mature for mobile. I do want to do some mobile stuff later, maybe once Godot 4.1 comes out and it's production ready. I could always to a lite version of the game with the same assets or lower quality later for mobile and this would be easier than porting a mobile game to PC.
Lethn summarize it all in his/her first post, games has become more a visual experience than actual game with challenge and stuff, I wonder how they dare to sell their crap at the price (like EA NFS stupid racing games, Code Masters which made worth games now than in the 80s, list is very long).
Competitions would be seen as a blessing more than a curse, as what they do, don't do, the choices they made, gamers' reviews, what they want, don't want, they like and don't like, just could help you in your design choices.
And as you're alone, if you're not good in 3D arts, you still could made levels like the prototype and make kind of Metal Gear Solid (PSX game) VR misssions (which was such a great success they release extra levels), this could be the free levels. Payments can be justified to get enough funds to pay for one or more 3D artist to make better levels for instance.
Finally, the worth things I experience in 3D games is the lack of sense, I mean we don't "feel" anything and there is no "substance" except collisions detection between player and objects/scenery. But Parkour and all those physical ninja like sports rely a lot on our own perception of the surroundings with all our body (our weight on one foot when jumping, the little slip of the shoe, the loss of balance then the need to do something to avoid falling down... all that kind of thing + more or less damaging injuries in some cases. If you can find something to make the character feel all those things, you may be far over competitors.
Games are all about design mostly but this big part has been left over by those AAA over funded companies, leaving the true root of video games in the void. IMHO, I like more a "basic" game like Putrid Shot Ultra or Nuclear Throne, than a 60 $ or more recent game I cannot play without spending thousands dollars on hardware. For instance all GTA/Far Cry are all the same at the end, just a bit more each time, full price each time. That's a shame. (FC3 & FC4 have even the exact same starting story ! What a hard work they've done there.)
Good luck with your project.
Thanks. I did want to weave in some story elements, mostly just like text messages or video clips on a phone. My idea is that you would be running drugs and guns and other illegal stuff, and that you could double or triple cross people. Like lets say one of the runs is a briefcase of drugs. Halfway through the mission, a cop would call. Say he had information on you, but he would "forget" about it if you did him a favor. He'd ask you to plant a tracking device in the briefcase. If you declined, your wanted meter would go up. If you accept, the wanted meter goes down (alliance with the cops goes up) and you'd have to pickup the tracker, and also purchase a lock-pick level 3 or whatever. Then plant the device and finish the mission. However, there would be a slight percentage chance that the drug dealer notices the device, and then tries to kill you, or your alliance with that gang goes down. Or you could tell the dealer, have him pay extra for the information and switch the tracker to a fake briefcase, in which case there is a small chance the cops find out. Sort of stuff like this, I think would be really interesting. It was sort of like this in the Shadowrun pen and paper game and also the Genesis game, and I think these sort of dynamics are kind of lost in modern games.
cybereality Dumpshock's Welcome to the Shadows has some great player written stuff for Shadowrun street/corp level games. I dig your ideas there as well.
cybereality I did want to weave in some story elements, mostly just like text messages or video clips on a phone. My idea is that you would be running drugs and guns and other illegal stuff, and that you could double or triple cross people.
It's a very ramified and complicated story. There are a lot of twists and turns, and you have to work them all out carefully. It's hard work.
I like the idea of double cross people, like a visual novel where you can choose your own path. But Tomcat is right, there are extra scenes to make for doublecross already so I think Triplecross might be too much to do (for one person).
