or a brogrammer or a ladygrammer or anything like that
I have been plugging away at some sprites and animations for a gb style platform game and I’d really like to see the project to fruitition, but I know I couldn’t handle developing it solely by myself. having someone to exchange ideas with would be stellar too
Let’s see the sprites duder
yeah give us an idea what you’re aiming for in a non-vague sense
this is not the latest one, which is on my other hd
that is a pretty large sprite for GB style, unless you mainly mean palette. Maybe whip up a rough set of polygon shapes inside a target X*Y window to illustrate theoretical geometry - platforms, slopes, obstacles
it is a one direction game
a game, where you move, in one direction
also I gotta change that jumping sprite so it can communicate that the player is invincible while jumping whoops
Ok. So here’s the way to convince someone to program for you:
Have a very clear goal e.g. “I want to make a very tight platform game starring a jumpy sword duder. He can only move in one direction. It has XYZ gameboy limitations. The project should be done in something like 24 work hours. I have these sprite assets done, here is a mockup, and here are the SFX/music I am thinking about using”
You got a pretty cool sprite and I’d love to see it in motion. Get a mockup done and write up too many words. Make sure your words have hooks early on and it sounds like you’re excited and motivated that this thing will get done. Also, make sure that the payout ---- probably in publicity or just completed work ---- is worth it. I am working with a programmer on a side project which is essentially Zelda x Adventure based purely off this kind of thing. Cheers and good luck.
the top image is a simple gameplay mockup where maybe I communicate that the inspiration for this game is the nes classic Sword Master. the player is invincible while jumping, but not invincible while falling. the player can only control a jump during a fall. enemies move relative to the player but always stop at the edge of the screen and move forward. you cannot attack while jumping. there might be a back dash. oops im doing this like I always used to pitch games on another forum. one character has a gun.
also as far as I know it should be displayed in the top image at the actual Gameboy resolution but who knows if that’s a good idea (sSUPER Gameboy) uhhhhhhhhHHHhh no time limitation, I’m a small gay boy
Dope. More words. Finish up the design doc. Also, good on you for the gayness 
i would need a better idea of the scope of this game and technical requirements (down to small stuff like how complex enemy ai is, etc etc) and probably a couple 1:1 mockups to show what you’re asking for (and also that you have a clear idea of what you want) but so far this seems like the kind of thing i’m actually decent at throwing together quickly
looks tight
it would probably be pretty small to be honest! at first, more of a technical demo to show that i am capable of finishing it. just a couple of levels, one or two, to prove the mechanics and idea are solid
also i am pretty rusty and i can see the many places this needs tightening up but this is what i did today in about an hour or so at work
i may consider dropping the sword case from this sprite at all, which i only included b/cuz i liked ninja gaiden on the GB
i am wondering what might work better for these: since i was never too good at pixelart unti li apparently started taking a crack at it again this year, and i’m wondering if i should go for a smooth animation in the GB palette and style or for more of a fixed sprite base with active attacks like many GB games actually had
I get that it might be your “thing”, but you need to work on your confidence. Multiple folks already told you they are interested in your work. They don’t want to hear about how you’re a) not good or b) not fast. Be good and fast and to the point! That’s how you move forward! Your pixel art is really dope especially because it’s not exactly tight! Do not let tightness stop you from getting to having-work-done-ness!
If you don’t mind I’m going to outline the things glam needs to do in specific to make it easy to hook up w/ a programmer dude:
Storyboard the flow from an overhead standpoint e.g. TITLE SCREEN → ENDLESS RUNNER SCREEN → GAME OVER STATS SCREEN. I’m sure you are going to be more intricate and detailed than an endless runner, but it can be something like TITLE SCREEN → INTRO IMAGE → LEVEL 1 → NINJA GAIDEN-esque CUTSCENE - LEVEL 2, etc. etc. FIND YOUR DEAD LADYFRIEND AND BRING HER BACK TO LIFE (this is a joke please don’t do this unless you too are joking). Get the image in your head into our heads using illustrative techniques e.g. words, pictures, videos, etc. Be as specific as possible and do like 2 hours of work on it.
For the very intricate moments e.g. player enemy interactions do a lot of storyboards. Make it look like a How To Martial Arts book. Use words and pictures maybe even capture an IG or Vine of some shit. Flesh it out. Write and rewrite and be detailed! That world needs living. Other intricate moments - player death, level start, boss introduction, boss encounters, boss encounters, boss encounters, boss death, dialogue (make this quick, hopefully playable), power ups, etc. etc. It’s a lot of stuff, but thinking about this stuff and making decisions about this stuff is what the artist/designer does to make a game and like… then you’re making a game.
This may or may not sound patronizing, but you can do it. I’m rooting for you, dude.
i think i have mostly all of that planned out from a storyboarding perspective: i know i want at least three easily replayable levels at the very start and the biggest focus is on interactions between the player and enemies
the player can avoid in two ways and attack in two different ways and every situation in the game utilizes those
My recommendation is to learn to program it yourself. Making games like this is a solved problem with frameworks like Game Maker. You don’t need to have a computer science degree, just a basic will to tinker and put together already existing pieces and tweak them.
On the other hand, indie game partnerships are really difficult to find and sustain. You need to have very complementary skillset, a shared spark of passion, and life needs to not interfere. Iterating with a partner can be slow and frustrating and take some of the joy out of game development.
I recommend reading Derek Yu’s new Spelunky book for how he approached programming the first version of Spelunky himself, and how he worked with a programmer for the more ambitious remake (which, not by coincidence, was a commercial project – money is often an essential glue to sustain collaborations across trials).
yeah, I’d definitely agree with using Game Maker or something built for use by non-programmers, it helps mock things up well and they’re built to streamline these sorts of things
this is a real question: do you think this would look better without the sword scabbard and just the orange arm
You should probably be the one making that decision.
podcast bonus round: final idle sprite + work on tiles coming along, along with the direction of the game. probable light platforming elements so far, I’m drawing up the idea still.
