A day of a developer

Good day!

My wife suggested that I should write about my normal working day. I thought why not, could be interesting to some!

So, I wake up in the morning around 8-9 am, depending how long our kids are sleeping. This in summer time when they are not in the daycare. It's around hour or two earlier otherwise. Needless to say that is great, I get to sleep very well! So that's a huge plus being indie developer.

Alright, so, we wake up, the whole family. Me, my wife, my boy and my girl. And the dog, let's not forget the dog. She usually waits when I get up and so does she! Cute thing.

Once we are up we head to kitchen for some breakfast, well kids do. I settle for a large cup of damn good coffee. We eat and drink our coffees, it's one of my favorite moments of the day!


Once my cup is empty I'm starting to actually wake up which is good. After that I'll take the dog out.

It's around 10 am now, everything is set and my day can begin. I fetch myself a big glass of cold water, it's good to drink a lot. I noticed having some headaches before I started drinking more water, so, drink water people. It will do you good!

I sit down to my computer chair. This one:

Yeah... I will toss it and get a new one. I will at some point, it's killing my back anyways.

Alright, I begin my daily "check-round" which includes my emails, Twitter, Facebook. Google, Steam page, and my Steam statistic page to see how many copies I've sold. If Silence of the Sleep is not on sale then it's usually 0. Sometimes I get lucky and it has sold a few copies! Sounds a bit depressing but worry not, it sells okay when it's on sale so I can pay the rent!

Depending if anything is up I'll try my best to reply to emails and to community. This takes some time and focus too! So it's not like I wake up and start working, there are lots to do before that.

Once I have completed my so called "check-round" I can finally start developing.

Okay, being one-man-band I need to figure what to do. Will it be graphics, writing, audio design, music, coding or marketing? At times it feels overwhelming and I can't focus on anything. I try to pull my head together to get something done, but no matter what I do it's not quite "there". That easily leads to frustration and can really ruin the day. In these situations I just gotta keep my head cool and take the rest of the day off. If only it was that easy...!

Phew! Gladly that does not happen every day!
So when it doesn't I usually boot up the Fusion 2.5 (the software I code my game with), open The Human Gallery and see how it feels. Maybe it's missing audio, so I could compose, or maybe the background feels a bit barren so I could start painting props. Maybe I have scenario in mind and I'll start designing it further.

It's never quite the same. For example today, I did some monster design and code for it, tried to see how it would look in game. But I've been staring at it for too long so it's starting to look a bit distracting. I hate that feeling, is it any good...? "NO! That's horrible!" "Nah, that's actually pretty cool!" You know, one thing can look in so many different ways if you stare it for too long. So I thought I'll take a break from it and try to continue composing a theme song for a certain character. That worked out beautifully! I love the song! It's really my favorite part of the development: Composing.

Alright... what could I do next?
Tried lots of different stuff but nothing felt smooth. Trying to think if I could market the game, but I really don't want to show some of the stuff just yet. Argh! It's only around 1 pm, I need to do something!

Now that a small frustration is starting to grow it's worth mentioning that it does not help if the kids are at home as they can be quite noisy, trust me! That's easily one of the best ways to take away the focus. Usually I try listening to some music while working, but that's not ideal neither. Better than the noise though! :)

But hey! It's quiet now, so I fool around a bit, trying to do a bit this and that but nothing really comes together. So I thought I'll start writing a blog, so here I am typing my thoughts.

It's around 1 pm, usually around these times I'll take a coffee break, and if my wife is at home she asks if I want to eat something. I might or might not eat, but the coffee is good! I love eating, but I usually keep to it and then the food tastes even better. Not sure if it's healthy though, but works for me.

After the coffee break I get back to working, the usual stuff. Depending how smoothly everything goes I might work till the evening, or quit a bit early.

This is pretty much my normal day. I like what I'm doing, but it is by no means easy. It's the mental side that is the most difficult. You have no guarantee that the game will success, no guarantee of the income. You just need to blindly trust that what you're doing is worth, that the prize will be there in the end. But when you develop your game for... 1½ - 2 years, well, it is quite a long wait.

And even still I would not want to do anything else!

Graphics production

Hello readers! If there are any.

Long time, sorry!
Had a small "burnout" or something like that. Gladly nothing too serious.

Aaaanyways, back to business. Someone asked about graphics a little while ago. I thought I could write a little bit about the subject. So, today I'm going to share some of my SUPER-SECRET working methods!

Okay, I was already done with my graphic asset when I figured: "Oh darn, I could have taken some screenshots for the blog" So the "making of" is not perfect but should give the idea of my methods.


THE BOOTH?

I need this... what do you call it... restaurant booth? Not sure that is correct. Anyways, since it would be quite symmetric I thought I'll use Adobe Illustrator for the shape. This is totally optional, you can do this in Photoshop or even Paint. I decided to go with Illustrator for that so this is what I made:

Alright so there you can see the booth, the one you sit at, right? Does not look much yet, so I'll just copy and take it over to Photoshop. I would make the body wooden and the cushion would be fabric.

I select the center part and apply a pattern to it. Here I'm using my own wood pattern/texture.

TIP: Take your time to create amazing textures/patterns, I use them A LOT so it will reflect how your assets are going to look.

Okay it should look somewhat like this:

I think the texture is a bit too dark and has too much contrast in this case so once I apply the pattern I rasterize the layer and open the levels editor (ctrl+l). I adjust it a bit to make it not stand out too much. After I'm happy with the contrast I open the layer style panel and add a small inner shadow to it.

Once I'm done I repeat the steps for the wooden part at the bottom, but I'll make it horizontal instead of vertical.

Okay that's done! Let's move to so called cushion part of my beautiful to be booth.
I select the red area and apply a gradient to it:

After that I rasterize the layer again. (I know it's not very common practice and I usually avoid rasterizing. But if you know what you're doing then it's fine. I always keep a backup of my base assets so I won't alter them.) Or do I? Mmmm....

But let us continue!
It looks a bit... lifeless don't you think? It needs something, maybe a soft base-texture would liven it up a little? To do so I open the layer style panel again, go to "Pattern Overlay" and choose something that looks like a fabric. Photoshop has some cool default patterns, I'm using one of those here for the base. I select the pattern, drop it's opacity to around 40% and set the"Blend Mode" to "Color Dodge" and it looks something like this:

It is starting to shape up! Though it still needs something, really does.

By now you might figure what to do next: Rasterize and open the layer style panel again. It's time for round two. Add a small subtle "Inner Shadow" and select the "Pattern Overlay" again. I use my custom texture here, it gives this dirty feel to it. I want it to be subtle though so I play with opacity and try various blend modes.

This is how it looks now:

Not bad!
Since I'm going to keep this rather simple I'm not going to brush more details to it. This will appear in the background so I don't want it to bee too detailed... excuses! :D

Okay, let's give it some color. You can create adjustment layer or just bring up the "Color Balance" panel and start tweaking. In my current world, I create all the assets gray-scale and color them in game with colored mist and lights. Though in this case I want to have a little color for the cushion. So I pop up the "Color Balance" and start tweaking the colors.

Once I'm happy with the colors I might want to sharpen the asset a little bit. You can do this by going Filter -> Sharpen -> Smart Sharpen...

I don't use it always though, and be careful if you use it. It's a good way to ruin your assets making them too sharp. Usually it's a good idea to stay somewhere between, same goes with the contrast, colors and everything. Don't over-do them! They might look pretty for a little while but trust me, it is the long run that matters!

I also cook a normal map for the asset if it's near the lights in the game. But yeah, this is mainly how I work with the assets. I also do lots of drawing and painting, but for symmetric assets I rather go with Illustrator.

After some tweaking and adding normal map and shadow this is how it looks in the game:
















Overall being one man band, I need to produce everything quite fast as I'm responsible for coding, music, writing, marketing etc. Being aware of that is a strength and so you must plan your methods smartly. I'm personally very happy how everything looks. It's worth the effort, and hopefully people can appreciate that!

Thank you for reading! :)

The Human Gallery has been Greenlit!

Hello! :)

That was quick as The Human Gallery got Greenlit in only a week!

There are some things you might want to do when you list your game on Steam Greenlight. One of the most important things is animated .gif file.

Try to show the gameplay and the logo. This will generate a lot more clicks to your page than what still image probably would. When people enter your page make sure the first thing they see is the actual gameplay footage of the game. If you have Greenlight trailer or something like that, arrange your videos so that you show the gameplay footage first. Trailers are cool, but the gameplay is more important!

It's also a very good idea to use images in description. Though I did a small mistake here, and inserted an image before any text. So when people hovered their mouse over my game they did not see the short description but an img tag. To avoid that make sure to describe your game briefly before adding images.

Alright, Finnish Steam here, but this is how it went:

From top to down it tells your current position on your way to the top 100, unique visitors and how many days your game has been on Greenlight, 'Yes'-votes and followers.

THG had 2412 'Yes'-votes and was in the top 50 when it got Greenlit, but since I was away from home I could not take any screen captures, sorry about that!

Wait what!? It got through with only a 2412 'Yes'-votes?
Indeed! Steam Greenlight has surely changed a lot!

It's not long when I listed my first game, Silence of the Sleep on Greenlight. It was a lot more harder to get to the top 100. For example back then SotS had 2000 'Yes'-votes in 3 days, and was only 27% on it's way to the top 100. It had a lot more visitors on it's page and back then it needed around 5500 'Yes'-votes to get Greenlit.

But the change with the figures does not come from the game, I actually think The Human Gallery was presented a way better than Silence of the Sleep. From what I can tell, Greenlight is "fading" away. Something else will take it's place for sure, but at this rate it won't take long.

Sure getting Greenlit is not only about the votes. Steam surely checks the press coverage, Youtube etc. Also having released a game earlier surely helps too. So yeah, if you list on Greenlight, be active with the press, Twitter, Facebook etc. Do it daily!

Alright, so THG got Greenlit in only a week! That's incredible, especially when I screw up my press/Youtube LP demo. I had a bug with my aspect code and I had to pull down the playable demo. Thus the coverage from the various medias was nothing to get excited about. Anyways, luckily THG was able to get through. So even though THG has been Greenlit I'm slightly disappointed that it has not spread like I would have hoped. Though lots of this comes from the fact I had to pull down the demo. Hopefully I can fix it soon and send it out, maybe that generates some buzz! :)

Alright long post so I better stop for now, thanks for reading!

Oh yeah, my wife baked a cake, it is delicious! :)

The Human Gallery is finally on Steam Greenlight

Hey! :)

Sorry it has been quiet for a little while. There has been so much to do for the Greenlight. Some of the smallest things can be the ones that are the hardest. But, I've finally listed The Human Gallery on Steam Greenlight! I did it yesterday and already the comments and stats are looking very encouraging.
Though it will be tricky to keep up as there are lots of new projects added daily. But I'm confident, and hopefully some of the medias will play the demo and write about it.

But yeah! When I listed to Greenlight I uploaded the first gameplay footage of the game. So far all the comments are suggesting that people are truly liking the art-style and overall atmosphere which is exactly what I'm after. All good so far! :)

Ah, Finnish Steam here. Almost missed that bit, so what that image shows from top to down is your current position on your way to top 100. Unique visitors, "Yes" votes and followers.

This whole preparing for Steam Greenlight has been pretty stressful and I have not been able to work on game's length, but now that I've listed the game I can't wait to move on new scenarios with the game. I've something wicked in my mind, it will be awesome!

When I listed my previous game Silence of the Sleep you needed a lot more votes to reach the top 100. I can also see a huge difference on average stats when compared to times I listed SotS. I think Steam is closing the Greenlight at some point, and maybe this is part of it. But I'm hoping I still get the permission to release before that happens!

But yes, to keep up I've sent a lots of email to various medias, hopefully they will write about the game. I've also contacted a bunch of Youtube LP's and MathasGames already played the demo and seemed to enjoy it! Hopefully a few more LP's will play it as well, though getting through to them is very difficult. Can't even imagine the amount of email they receive every day. I've also been using Twitter to spread the word, something I did not use with my previous game too much.

Simply put, I've been working extremely hard with the demo and I want it to get a fair shot. Hopefully things will go well!

Alright, if you're reading this and have not yet voted over Greenlight, could you please consider doing it? Also spreading the word is one of the best possible ways. If you have any good ideas how to share the word please drop a comment!

Cheers!

Jesse

Preparing for Steam Greenlight - Part 2

Hello! :)

Alright, I've been polishing and fixing the press demo. I've been working with additional sounds, graphics and, well, everything that are needed in the demo. There are still a few things I need to do but I feel pretty confident it won't take too long. Everything looks good, by the end of this month I could list my game to Steam Greenlight. That is exciting but something I can't wait to do as that's when I will share the longer gameplay footage of the game. Yaikes!

Huh well that does not sound too bad, right...?

BUT!
Ah, the famous but.

Well, I still don't know what to do with the voice acting. My head is about to explode. I've been thinking it around and around. It would be ideal to hire someone, but it is quite expensive and honestly I don't think I want a publisher. Freedom is one of the greatest things of being indie! Crowdfunding... well, it would take a HUGE amount of time, really! I already feel like I don't have enough time so all the "extra", well it just won't cut. Not now at least.

But the Greenlight is approaching and I would be a fool to wait much longer. I need to make decisions. I've been trying to figure all the good and the bad sides of each of the possible solutions and at the moment finding volunteers, people that are trying to bounce to industry feels like my best bet.

In ideal situation I'd hire people. Now I can't pull it off. But that does not mean finding volunteers are necessarily a bad thing. Heck, I can only imagine how hard it is to build a name. So it could be a win/win situation. I've faith in The Human Gallery, who knows how far it can get? It could act as an outstanding showcase for your future work. Only downside is finding the right people but let's see how that goes!

This is the important bit!

I've created a small info/apply page. You can find the page HERE!

Okay, I'm not too fond of long posts so I will leave this as it is. Next time around I'll try to share something that is more interesting to read! :)

Preparing for Steam Greenlight - Part 1

Hello! :)

I've been a bit busy for the last couple of days so the progress has been a bit slower than usually. But I'm back now!

So, I'm planning on going to Steam Greenlight in around a month and to do so I need to finish with a playable demo for the press and some Youtube LP's. No point going without a small hype as most of the votes you get comes soon after you have listed your game!
For those who might not be familiar with Greenlight, it is where Steam users can vote which games gets released on Steam. So to get the permission to release your game you need to get your game greenlit.

Alright! So my demo is almost ready, there are some things and polishing I need to do. However my biggest trouble at the moment is the voice acting. I have decided to have the voice acting in The Human Gallery as it can and will take the experience in a whole new level. But to do so I need quality voice actors, right?

So, I have a few possible paths here but I really don't know which one to take.

1. Hire voice actors. As simple as that, however not cheap. Even though I've released a commercial game before (Silence of the Sleep) it does not mean I'm rolling in cash. Actually at the moment it's just enough to pay the rent and to develop my next project. I'm not sure I can afford that, at least at the moment.
2. Get a publisher that could invest a little money so I could hire voice actors. This is something I could consider, however I have not worked with a publishers before so I'm not sure what to expect. At the same time it is a tempting but terrifying idea.
3. Find volunteers. Maybe people that are tying to get into gaming industry that are willing to work for free. This could be a perfect way to get into scene. However, it will take a lots of time to create The Human Gallery, so if I were to find volunteers they would need to stick with the project for 1 - 1½ year! It would be a pain in the ass to cast someone now only to find out that they are not interested later on. I would need to re-cast and that would again take a lots of time and trouble.
4. Do the voice acting myself. NOT! :D

But yeah, as you might see it's a tricky situation! I'd love to have the voice acting for the press demo, but it's hard as I've no idea where to go from here! I'm secretly hoping that this blog will find the right people and maybe that would set the path to take, who knows! 

If you read this and figured you have an idea you can find my email here.

Oh, and everybody please let me know what do you think, what option would you prefer? Just drop a comment, I'm sure to read every one of them!

Thank you for reading! :)

Painting The Human Gallery

Hello! :)

I was looking at my old sketch book and found the very first concept of The Human Gallery. Luckily I also have early builds from the game so I thought I could share you a small image of it's evolution.

So yeah, this is the first one. I remember lying on the sofa watching TV and sketching this while at it. Below you can see the sketch, the first tech-demo and the last image is how it turned out.

I'm very happy how it turned out!

But yeah, basically the character is made of pieces: Head, torso, shoulder, arm, hand, bag, oil lamp etc. Those are separate images. I'm not much of a coder so it took me a little while to make everything work smoothly! You use mouse to control the arm and the oil lamp, so everything needs to move and rotate fluently.

Also the background, you can see couch, some sort of newspaper, curtains etc. They are separate objects and not baked in the background. This allowed me to build a shadows system that looks great, especially in the game when everything is moving. It looks very lively! :)

As I mentioned, I'm very, very happy how the game is looking. I'd like to think it looks very unique and I hope people can appreciate the effort! It would have been A LOT easier/quicker to do pixel graphics. This is not a dig to pixel games as I think well made pixel graphics can look amazing and immersive! Just want people to appreciate the effort! :)

I could go on and on with the subject... Maybe next time I'll write about audio work. Or maybe music and composing! I don't know yet, but stay tuned! :)

Here it all begins!

Hello! :)

Alright, this is my first blog. I'm not very familiar with blogs so forgive me if I'm a bit lost every now and then!

What is the reason of this blog you may ask, or you may not. Well, my name is Jesse Makkonen, indie game developer from Finland. I'm working with my second game called The Human Gallery, and I thought I'll start a blog where I can give updates about the development and how it is like.

My first game is called Silence of the Sleep which I released on Steam some months ago, in case you were wondering.

The Human Gallery is a psychological horror game for PC which I aim to release on Steam 2016, so a long way ahead of us. Here is hoping it will be a pleasant one. :)

Right, I'm trying to keep my posts short and easily readable. It is extremely time consuming to create video games, especially for one man band, but I'll do my best to write here every now and then.

You can expect updates about my development methods, like audio work, composing music, producing graphics etc. I'll try to post some images as well to give a better idea how things are going. I'm still considering doing a small "Making of" Youtube series, but I'll see how that goes later. As I said, I have only so much time.

What else... I'm about to announce The Human Gallery any moment now, my checklist is as long as winters in Finland. I've been working with announcement teaser, homepage, creating Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Gmail, this blog, writing descriptions about the game, taking screenshots, writing for the press... etc. All at once, no wonder I need checklist! O_O

I guess that sums it up, hopefully someone catches my blog and finds it fun to read or maybe even useful.

Oh yeah feel free to comment or ask about stuff and I'll do my best to answer asap!

Cheers!

Jesse