9 To Friday Presents "Rocket rod"

edited in Projects
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Click here to play demo

What was suppose to be a silly infinite runner Has turned into the game above.
- you can download the prototype for iOS here android coming soon.

Below I've shared some artwork from pencil to unity. For your appreciation or critique. i really want to get involved with the community, as its been a 6 month long journey and lonely journey.

Pencil to 3D
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Blender to Mudbox
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Substance Painter
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Substance Painter to Unity
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You can the latest Demo link on my website by clicking on the logo. this is the latest HDR and lighting simulation of the cityscape. Please use a computer to access the demo (can't be accessed on mobile devices) - webGL coming soon

I would love to hear any feedback, good or bad.

Rock on!

Comments

  • Just uploaded a online game demo.

    here is the link 9tofriday.co.za

    I would love to here some feedback
  • Was keen to try the web build, but I just get the message "click to orbit and mouse wheel to zoom" but nothing actually happens.
  • Having the same problem as vintar
  • its just an environment demo. will update you when the game is live for mobile.
  • edited
    dammit said:
    Having the same problem as vintar
    does it not orbit when you left click?
    if you use the middle mouse button then you can basically see the entire environment
  • dammit said:
    Having the same problem as vintar
    does it not orbit when you left click?
    if you use the middle mouse button then you can basically see the entire environment
    Cant see anything at all when left clicking or using middle mouse button.

  • edited
    vintar said:
    dammit said:
    Having the same problem as vintar
    does it not orbit when you left click?
    if you use the middle mouse button then you can basically see the entire environment
    Cant see anything at all when left clicking or using middle mouse button.


    Are you testing it on a computer or on your mobile? because it doesn't work with mobile devices.
  • edited
    vintar said:
    On pc
    darn, ok i just installed unity 5 and will make a webGL version.
  • vintar said:
    Was keen to try the web build, but I just get the message "click to orbit and mouse wheel to zoom" but nothing actually happens.
    unity 5... errrrr.

    ok so I've got a little coding to do, to adapt to the new unity 5 standards.
    will update you soon as I've a working webGL version
  • vintar said:
    Was keen to try the web build, but I just get the message "click to orbit and mouse wheel to zoom" but nothing actually happens.
    sorry about that, seems like many people have had this problem. I'm using a mac i don't know if thats the case. but anyway here is a video so you can see the lighting simulation
  • Lol now it just says "An error occurred, please try again later"
  • vintar said:
    Lol now it just says "An error occurred, please try again later"
    I really do apologise for the inconvenience. unfortunately the video will have to do for now.

    since switching to unity 5 the size of the game has become considerably smaller.

    will get back to you.

    rock on peeps!
  • vintar said:
    Lol now it just says "An error occurred, please try again later"
    What Vintar was saying here is that your Video that you posted says "An error occurred, please try again later.
  • Vintar, since you had the same problem with my video in the splice entry I posted, it might seem that you are missing a plug-in or something because I can watch the video perfectly! Looking darn good @SubjectZero....I am very keen to see some actual gameplay!
  • The web-build works but all I see is blackness and some epileptic flashes when I move around
  • edited
    Sonicay said:
    vintar said:
    Lol now it just says "An error occurred, please try again later"
    What Vintar was saying here is that your Video that you posted says "An error occurred, please try again later.
    it must some kinda youtube thing.

    here is the link in plain text

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjYIgtlbFJ4

    like i said before, i apologies for any inconvenience regarding the demo on my website. i will get that fixed ASAP (at the end of the week more or less). I'm running it in the safari browser and it works perfectly. i really don't know why its doing that.

    thanks for taking the time to at least look at it, i really appreciate it.

    chat soon
  • That lighting is insane....still need to study that myself.
  • edited
    Sonicay said:
    That lighting is insane....still need to study that myself.
    thanks.

    im not an expert though most of the stuff is by accident. but basically that scene runs of a "cubemap" and its "fake" the new unity 5 on the other hand has given it a completely new dimension.

    its really easy. just take any HDR image and change its texture type to cubemap
    image

    then create a new reflection material (mine says legacy because I'm running unity 5) and just apply the cube map to your material like the image.
    image

    then the trick with the lighting is actually on the camera. all you need to do is play with the image effects provided.
    image

    hope this helps
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  • @Sonicay what i mean is that you need to add component of type image effects
  • Sweet, although i dont work with Unity at all atm, as im still learning everything in Blender, my friend @Zaphire knows almost everything about Unity so im sure when im up to date with all my blender modeling and texturing then ill start adding the models in Unity aswell and then i can start playing around with all the lighting and bloom effects. But thx for sharing, did take note of what was said. :)
  • The web-build works but all I see is blackness and some epileptic flashes when I move around
    i apologise for the inconvenience I'm working on a webGL version.

    i just spoke to guy from columbia and he said it worked for him. i think it might be a mac/pc thing.

    i will defiantly update everyone once i fix it
  • Hey @Mexicanopiumdog @Sonicay @vintar @dammit

    i made you guys a little something to check out some gameplay. been migrating everything to unity 5

    youtu.be/3EG5ZGH0BF8

    let me know what you guys think.

    rock on!
  • @subjectZero hehe thanks for the gameplay vid! Awesome narration :D

    As far as calling it a "gameplay video" I need to say that I would have liked to see a lot more but since you are still in development and don't seem to have working/playable level yet, I would rather call it "manoeuvring around a rocket ship"!

    It looks and sounds like quite a large scale project and I hope you don't overscale your ambitions and end up ditching the project out of frustration but the rocket ships look darn nice and I would really like to see them in action! :P

    Good Luck with this!
  • @subjectZero hehe thanks for the gameplay vid! Awesome narration :D

    As far as calling it a "gameplay video" I need to say that I would have liked to see a lot more but since you are still in development and don't seem to have working/playable level yet, I would rather call it "manoeuvring around a rocket ship"!

    It looks and sounds like quite a large scale project and I hope you don't overscale your ambitions and end up ditching the project out of frustration but the rocket ships look darn nice and I would really like to see them in action! :P

    Good Luck with this!
  • Thanks for the kind words @Mexicanopiumdog

    To be honest with you,if it wasn't for my over ambitiousness then it would have looks mediocre. I say chance those dreams that seem impossible!!! - now worries

    And your right about the title, maybe it was a little over eager but i just want to show something. and i have to fix some code because I'm transferring to the new unity engine. you know and keep record of its transformation.

    Rock on!
  • @subjectZero - looks pretty, but like Mexicanopiumdog says, we're still looking for your actual game. Art shouldn't come first :P
  • edited
    i disagree with you because its a combination of everything. art is what its all about!
    dammit said:
    @subjectZero - looks pretty, but like Mexicanopiumdog says, we're still looking for your actual game. Art shouldn't come first :P
    so are you saying you don't want to see these small and quick changes while i put it in unity 5?
  • edited
    @subjectZero I think what @dammit is saying is that the general flow of game-making should start with gameplay/ a concept/a cool idea that can be transformed into a prototype of a game. Art and sound are SO important in the creation process but IMO it is always best to start from the core ie. gameplay/having a solid base before making everything look super awesome!

    You can get lost in detail when you start with art!
    Thanked by 1dammit
  • yes that makes more sense.

    I'm wining it. its the first "real" game... I'm learning and creating a game as I'm going along.
  • Vids worked now, looks great. Looking forward to all updates :)
  • edited
    i meant to say winging it. figuring it out as I'm going along

    and thanks so much for the comments, as a person stuck in tunnel vision one has to listen to all comments.
  • So I downloaded this and gave it a play. Here is my stream of consciousness feedback:

    -The icon has some serious JPG stuff going on. (we had the same thing with Desktop Dungeons, you need to manually replace correctly-sized icons in Xcode, Unity doesn't seem to manage this very well)
    -Ah, Unity - loading screen :)
    -I have just avoided Gamecenter and tapped to play, what's happening at the moment? What was all that loading for?
    -Oh a track of some sort... This framerate is bad. (ipad 2)
    -It says tap. I have tapped.
    -My rocket has shunted itself sideways and crashed into the wall. I am now dead.
    -There are fireworks and a whole lot of zeroes... I don't think I deserved these fireworks.
    -Try again, tap, crash into right wall... Ooooookay.
    -More trying, this time tapping the other side of the screen (still goes right, die instantly), tapping and then tapping the other side of the screen (goes right, dies), tapping then swiping left (goes right, dies). Tried a whole lot more, basically nothing worked. Always went right, always crashed into the wall at a really low framerate. Sometimes the rocket's flaming wreck would slide over the track to the left, sometimes it would just smoulder against the wall.
    -I saw a lot of the game over screen. It was kinda hard to read with all the white going on in the background.
    -I did not get any rockets besides the first one. I did not, in fact, get any points whatsoever.

    K. That's it, I stopped playing after basically dying for 10 minutes straight with nothing else going on.

    I feel pretty strongly that this game could have benefited immensely from some actual testing with the community. Not only are you having obvious optimisation problems that a ton of people here could have helped you with, there are some basic polish and interface things that could have been sorted out as well. I'm not sure why you put this up on the App Store, it's not going to go all Flappy Bird on you. I'm also not sure what you're learning from the experience of putting this up on the App Store either - there are multiple people here who could have helped you avoid some of the mistakes you seem set on learning about the hard way.

    I dunno, this feels very disappointing. There's a really good community here. Use it.
    Thanked by 1dammit
  • edited
    thanks for the feedback
    yea the frame rate is terrible on iPad 2, play it on a better device and then let me know what you think. honestly i don't understand why you have to piss on someones parade - especiaLLY if you know you have a frame rate problem.rather keep comments like this to yourself then.
    and I've learned a lot with putting it on the app store thank you very much...

    thank god your not my target market.
  • @subjectZero: woah there! @dislekcia took the time to give you valuable feedback. Clearly the framerate wasn't the only thing he was commenting on, it seems like he also had trouble figuring out how to play the game in general. If you don't want any feedback on your game, maybe you shouldn't put it out there for others to look at?
  • @subjectZero that's not a cool way to handle constructive criticism.

    Yes you learned a lot, but that doesn't make any of what he's said less true, whether or not he's 1/100 000 000 people who experience that or not so, it's VALUABLE.

    Being rude to people who's spent valuable time to give you feedback on your work is not going to help you one bit. Please understand that noone here is out to "get" anyone else, we criticise each other so we all can learn to be better.
  • edited
    @Tusim i don't think its consecrative at all.
    i just can't see anything constructive from not being able to play the game? or am i missing something here?
    if the game doesn't work then how can you criticise the game play.

    fine the game isn't optimised for iPad 2 or iPod but then say that - don't comment on something you can't even play!
  • EVEN IF he wasn't able to play the game, It is constructive because you should try and understand why people can't play your game and work on it so that they can play it. It's that simple.

    However he said he's spent 10 minutes on your game. And couldn't get anywhere. ALL OF THAT is feedback on how your game plays.

    And even if none of it is constructive, your response is still terrible. What you're telling people is "Don't bother telling me anything I don't like to hear.", and that's what you'll end up getting if you continue the way you're going.
    Thanked by 1garethf
  • @Tuism honestly i don't have time first this.

    play it if you don't like then don't play its really as simple as that
  • I would love to hear any feedback, good or bad.
    @subjectZero: Clearly this is not true any more, so why are you posting a link here? Just to get people to play your game? That's not what this community is.
  • @subjectZero - @dislekcia is one of our very experience developers who has been in the industry for a very long time. He's also been the champion of this community and the driving force behind the game dev competitions that used to run quite regularly on this and previous forums (their lack of regularity is expected now since he's been getting DD out and onto mobile with the rest of the QCF team).

    Basically, what I'm saying is, he's very experienced and capable of looking at prototypes and high level games and providing useful and constructive criticism. Here he has shared his stream of thoughts playing the game. You - as the developer - need to take a look at that feedback and de-construct it. If he was talking about my game, I would see the following:

    -The icon has some serious JPG stuff going on. (we had the same thing with Desktop Dungeons, you need to manually replace correctly-sized icons in Xcode, Unity doesn't seem to manage this very well)
    Cool. Note this and fix it. Since I have no idea how and he's said he knows this problem, I'd ask him about solving it.
    -Ah, Unity - loading screen :)
    Yeah, my game would look better with my own loading screen. What options could I use?
    -I have just avoided Gamecenter and tapped to play, what's happening at the moment? What was all that loading for?
    Since this isn't my game, I actually can't answer - but perhaps your game is loading unnecessary assets? Could you optimise?
    -Oh a track of some sort... This framerate is bad. (ipad 2)
    The environment isn't clear. It's a track, but perhaps needs more atmosphere?
    -It says tap. I have tapped.
    Is the user meant to tap in different places? What should the outcome of tapping be?
    -My rocket has shunted itself sideways and crashed into the wall. I am now dead.
    This user clearly isn't figuring out how the game is meant to be played. Either the controls are somehow not working as they should, or the user expectation is not being met. Do I need to change my UI or give further instructions?
    -There are fireworks and a whole lot of zeroes... I don't think I deserved these fireworks.
    Maybe only have fireworks if points are actually scored - otherwise they might feel meaningless to the player
    -Try again, tap, crash into right wall... Ooooookay.
    User is trying different things and still doesn't know how the game works. Need to work on this!
    -More trying, this time tapping the other side of the screen (still goes right, die instantly), tapping and then tapping the other side of the screen (goes right, dies), tapping then swiping left (goes right, dies). Tried a whole lot more, basically nothing worked. Always went right, always crashed into the wall at a really low framerate. Sometimes the rocket's flaming wreck would slide over the track to the left, sometimes it would just smoulder against the wall.
    Yep, definitely seems to be the instructions or controls are not clear
    -I saw a lot of the game over screen. It was kinda hard to read with all the white going on in the background.
    -I did not get any rockets besides the first one. I did not, in fact, get any points whatsoever.


    etc.

    I also was surprised to see you releasing the game without further iterations and user testing. I see you've even got the rocket 3D printed - which is super rad - but what are your actual marketing plans for this game? Are you promoting it in any way? What is your expected outcome for this project? I assume as you've spent quite a bit of time on the modelling side that you would want to be getting some ROI...
  • edited
    thanks for the feedback
    yea the frame rate is terrible on iPad 2, play it on a better device and then let me know what you think. honestly i don't understand why you have to piss on someones parade - especiaLLY if you know you have a frame rate problem.rather keep comments like this to yourself then.
    and I've learned a lot with putting it on the app store thank you very much...

    thank god your not my target market.
    Whoa... Uh. Okay.

    -edit- I realise that you might well be feeling "done" with the game and that you don't want to work on it anymore. If you're feeling that way, I sympathise - I've been there myself more than enough. That doesn't mean that lashing out at people is okay, nor does it mean that people trying to give you constructive feedback are trying to "force" you to keep working on the game. You can be done if you need to be. You just don't have to be angry about it either... Ideally we'd like to help you be less angry. -edit-

    I'm wondering how I'm supposed to know that I have a frame rate problem before experiencing it. The game doesn't say anywhere that it shouldn't be played on iPad 2 (the compatibility list says iPad and it showed up on my device when I searched the store). I didn't see any indication to expect framerate issues from your posts, so I thought you should be aware that the game doesn't run great on this specific hardware. Are you not seeing the bit that said "I'm sure a bunch of people could help you with optimisation"? Like, that's a thing that can be fixed.

    Sorry, I wasn't trying to "piss on your parade". I didn't know that you wanted a parade, I thought you wanted to release a game that people enjoyed. Crits and comments help people make better games - unless they don't want to. You don't seem to want to, which is a bit sad, but still worthwhile learning for other people on this forum (so if you personally don't like this feedback, rad, don't read it?)

    No, I'm probably not your target market. Who is your target market? You don't seem to be doing much to target people with hardware beefy enough to run the game. Are you ready for the bad reviews that you're going to get on this? And I mean, that's best case scenario - what if the game simply doesn't reach enough people who care about it and you get no reviews whatsoever? :(

    I'm sure you did learn. I'm not saying you didn't. I'm just pointing out that you could have learned more, faster, with a little less isolationism. And maybe a better attitude... Although, fair enough, maybe the isolation is a result of the attitude ;)
    @Tusim i don't think its consecrative at all.
    i just can't see anything constructive from not being able to play the game? or am i missing something here?
    if the game doesn't work then how can you criticise the game play.

    fine the game isn't optimised for iPad 2 or iPod but then say that - don't comment on something you can't even play!
    The game should probably be able to play on an iPad 2. Like I said above, I'm sure that we can help you make it do that ;) If you explain what the game's doing a bit better or put up a web build, it would be reasonably easy for people to point out some key "gotchas" and common solutions. There's a ton of Unity experience floating around out here!

    I took another look and it seems like the rocket does actually thrust in the direction you tap, so the low framerate is probably applying a ton of force to the ship and that's why I can't seem to not smack into that wall. There are a bunch of ways to deal with this: It's probably a good idea to put "safety walls" up when doing the tutorial bit so players don't instantly murder themselves if they hold too long; Maybe you might want to look at restricting the ship to a maximum thrust if frames are longer than X milliseconds to prevent overshooting; Maybe switch to impulses instead of applied forces so that acceleration doesn't have to be countered to switch direction; Maybe add obvious left and right arrows to the sides of the screen so that players intuit where to tap for something to happen; I dunno, there's a lot that could help...

    It's probably also a good idea to warn people that they have to play the game on "better hardware". People will still totally ignore those warnings though, FYI.

    P.S. I'm surprised that you're reacting so badly to a stream of consciousness (it's honestly not even criticism, just stuff I noticed while playing, crit would be a completely different thing entirely and you're right - I didn't have enough exposure to the gameplay to be able to crit effectively). What is it that you think we do here?
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