The troubled development continues.

How is it being an indie game developer?

At best it's a dream come true. When you really get into the flow... it's amazing.
Seriously, being inspired and seeing your art and audio combining feels awesome.
















But when the flow breaks it can get "ugly" so to speak. When I first started developing The Human Gallery, everything went smoothly. I remember creating the very first tech demo, and I saw the potential in it. Slowly I started adding more to it and I thought it looked incredible. I was so excited about everything.

I kept working, and it was a time to list on Steam Greenlight. I had a demo for press and YouTubers ready. I did send it out and was so excited to see what would come.

I noticed a few YouTubers playing it and saw that the game looked nothing like it was supposed to. It was squeezed and flickered way too much. I had to ask a few YouTubers to take down the videos, it was a painful thing to do. I felt horrible! I also instantly pulled the demo offline, meaning that the press and various YouTubers couldn't get it anymore.

Ouch, I had just started my Greenlight campaign back then, what a blow!
Well, even when THG didn't get a lot of attention, it still got Greenlit in just a week! That was extremely encouraging and I could rest for a while. I knew the potential is there.

I started looking what was causing the bug and found out it was my code with one of the shaders that took care of the aspect ratio. Well, I fixed it only to notice it broke something else. This went on for a few months! Seriously, it was driving me nuts. Good bye inspiration!


I had to make a decision, I would pause the development of The Human Gallery. Since I'm coding my game with Fusion 2.5 I did report the bugs and limitations I found for the developers of the Fusion 2.5. While I would work on something else, something a lot more simpler, hopefully they would fix these bugs.

That's when I started creating DISTRAINT. And damn I absolutely loved making that game! It was so easy, the art-style, the code... everything was so smooth it was incredible. Though towards the end I had a little stress as the time was running out, but I managed to do it in time.

After releasing DISTRAINT I took some time off from the development. A little while ago, I thought it would be time to pick up The Human Gallery again. I checked if the bugs I had reported earlier had been fixed and those were! Awesome, no more crashes or problems with the aspect ratio. I was excited!

I updated some of the code and decided to give THG demo a go on my wife's gaming laptop. I was excited to see its performance as THG is not the lightest of games.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
The performance was great, smooth 60fps, but the game was all messed up. The intro looked all bugged, it was filled with graphical bugs... Oh my not again.... This seems to happen with specific Nvidia cards, GTX 960m, GTX 750 etc.

This is a tough one. I don't know what causes this. It can be a problem with Fusion, shaders or even specific Nvidia cards (drivers). What I know for sure is that my code is not to blame here and that the development didn't pick up as I had hoped. This is highly frustrating as you can imagine. I've been fighting more with the problems than I've been able to develop the actual game! Well, I'll try to figure out where the problem lies this time.

One thing is sure though, I won't develop the game any further before this has been solved!

But yeah, being an indie game developer is awesome, but at times it can get extremely tricky and frustrating, especially if you're creating something ambitious! :)

I'm back! Some of my thoughts.

Hey! :)

It has been quite a while since I last wrote this blog. Why so? Well, around five months back I had so many technical difficulties with The Human Gallery I started loosing interest towards the development. I made so little progress and constantly had to fight with bugs. Since I've put so much effort into The Human Gallery I decided to take a break and work on something else while I load my batteries. When I decided this my wife suggested that I should create something for the next Halloween (2015). Back then, Halloween was only three months away, but I really liked the idea!
So I started designing a small horror adventure novel called DISTRAINT.

Since I didn't have much time, I thought I would design my game wisely, otherwise it wouldn't be possible within three months. DISTRAINT started coming together so quickly... after only a month I already had the game Greenlit on Steam. It was exactly the "break" I needed, though towards the Halloween I had quite a stress from DISTRAINT as well, but I managed to finish the game in time and I'm very, very happy how it turned out. I think it's a brilliant little game, and from what I can gather, so do the players!

Unfortunately though, I had so little time for the marketing that not many people are aware of the game and this reflects on sold copies, though I'm hoping this would change over the time. I'm not expecting DISTRAINT to sell a lot, but well, it would be awesome to get paid for your work, ha! :)

Anyways, with DISTRAINT I went with pixel-art in which I combined some of my own style to. The game actually looks pretty neat! The ease of creating pixel-art... it's so much easier than the art-style with The Human Gallery. At some point I thought if I just should keep creating my games in pixel-art since I'm not sure people can appreciate the art-style of The Human Gallery enough. Heck, I've even gotten a few comments saying that The Human Gallery looks like Lone Survivor. Seriously? And now don't get me wrong, Lone Survivor looks great but I hate it when people start comparing two games that looks totally different. I should probably just ignore them! :)

I think that DISTRAINT looks somewhat similar, but that's only natural with pixel art!



But yeah, after creating pixel-art I can understand why so many developers decides to do the same. It's easy to produce, it doesn't require expensive software, it's fast, it's light. It's ideal for small development teams! And well made pixel-art can look great, so there's that.

That said, just thinking how much work and effort The Human Gallery takes... It's difficult! And what makes it even more tough is the psychological side. I have no guarantee that people can appreciate the art-style. I can't know if the game will sell any more than DISTRAINT. Of course I have a better chances for that, but nothing is guaranteed. So should I just blindly trust that the prize will be there in the end?

I'm so happy that Silence of the Sleep is still selling a bit every now and then, it's enough to pay the rent and keep me developing, for now. But what happens in one year? If I take my chances and put everything I got on The Human Gallery and it fails...? I just need to trust in my own doing and try to market the game. Publisher would be one way... but I don't know. Decisions, decisions! :)

Five months. That's quite a break. The code is complicated, and I actually learned quite a deal from DISTRAINT, mainly organizing the code. I really hope to pick up The Human Gallery, but it's not easy. I think I need to take my time, look through the code, simplify and organize it. It's doable, but asks for patience.

One of the other things I'm a bit concerned about is the writing and the voice acting. This is a huge challenge for me! It's really difficult to write a good text if you can't write in your own language. Also in The Human Gallery the dialogue will be somewhat artistic, which will be a challenge for the voice actors. I feel that I'm okay in writing, at times I can produce awesome stuff and at times it fells a bit short. Also the balance is very difficult to get right, some times I should left things unsaid. Well, it's difficult but I'm sure I can pull it off. Gladly I have friends on the internet that are willing to proof-read my nonsense and make it better!

But what comes next?
I've had a break from the development since the release of DISTRAINT. That's around two months now and five months from The Human Gallery. Today I'll start working again... but exactly what?
I could finally start creating the trading cards for Silence of the Sleep as people have asked for those. It would be awesome to get DISTRAINT translated in more languages as well. But I'm eager to get back working with The Human Gallery! So much to do, maybe I'll start with the small stuff, maintaining etc. and move from there. One thing is for sure though, I won't take deadlines! That I learned with DISTRAINT, seriously, a whole game within three months... ugh! :)

Alright, in the sake of readability I should quite my nonsense for now! :)
But in the future you can expect me to write more often in this blog, so please do subscribe!

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! :)