So. Games.
Added 2016-08-07 01:01:17 +0000 UTCToday, I'm going to talk about the games we're making. I won't be revealing what they are just yet, just how I'm going about making them. And yes, I said "games" not "game".
There are five. One big project, two medium sized ones and a couple of small ones.
Now they're not all in active development, they're just planned. I wanted to come up with five different and diverse ideas before I even started working on one so we knew we were working on the right game. A first game is tricky. Too big and we could royally fuck it up. Too small and it's going to annoy people who think it's taken us years to make a small game.
The image above is the mechanics flow of the big game. I've photoshopped out all the text but each label represents a core part of the game. The arrows are basically the word "affects." I like to design games so that everything the player does and doesn't do ties into the main goal of that game. As you can see, it's working pretty well here! The big game is currently having basic prototypes built.
The medium sized games are difficult. They're complex ideas and a bit more game-y than the big one. We have working prototypes for both and one is currently having levels designed for it. That might come out first you know. :p
The small games are... well... smaller. One is a very quick idea that won't take much time at all and the other is the furthest we've got on a game. It's got to the point where it's super satisfying to play and I'm convinced that with a bit of polish this is something people are really going to like.
If we didn't have the YouTube channel to support us then there's no way we'd be doing the five plan. It would be suicide. However having other income means that game development can be given the time it needs. We're not going to rush this. We're going to make good stuff.
Things are changing though. A big change company wise is that I'm stepping back from the programming side of the games. A lot of the problems we've had with development is that I don't have the time to do YouTube, write, learn to program, and also program. It's been stalling us a lot if I'm honest and that's all on me. I'm one of those people who likes to control every step of a project. I'd be a shit candidate on The Apprentice.
So my role is now focusing on what I'm better at. Design. Coming up with, connecting and then play-testing mechanics in my head. It's my favorite part of game dev so it's the part I'll focus on. I'm not just going to be saying "make a game about a monkey who eats bacon to grow bigger*", I'll be involved with designing the games from the ground up. I just won't do that thing that makes me want to murder the inventor of the semicolon.
- Dan
PS. I replied to a fair chunk of messages today! Sorry this took so long. I'm going to try to get around to everyone in the next day or two!
*Monkey Bacon is a registered trademark of the Nerd³ Corporation.
Comments
PANDAS
Jacob Tait
2016-09-03 14:44:58 +0000 UTCSuper SUPER excited to see a Nerdcubed video game!!! I can't even explain it to you Dan, I'm fucking hyped to see what you will create and also the quality of work from your team! I would say that you have my full support and I believe in you but I mean....that's kind of the point of patreon so you already know that:) good luck with handling 5 games, your YouTube channel, your Dad, and a fiancée;)
2016-08-21 07:58:27 +0000 UTCHey Dan, loving the update and can't wait for the first game to be released. No hurry though. Do you have a projected release date for any so far? Also how many people do you have working with you?
2016-08-10 18:08:09 +0000 UTCThen my question is : will you open the source ??
2016-08-09 07:17:25 +0000 UTCHi, I'm working on the games with Dan and while I was technically hired as an artist my degree is in Software Engineering specifically for games, so I'm continuing to do both roles.
Mr Rebecca
2016-08-08 13:28:54 +0000 UTCHi, I'm working on the games with Dan and while I was technically hired as an artist my degree is in Software Engineering specifically for games, so I'm continuing to do both roles.
Mr Rebecca
2016-08-08 13:28:46 +0000 UTCSooo are you hiring any programmer? :p
Raphael Thoulouze
2016-08-08 10:22:30 +0000 UTCWe've had monkey bacon on the back burner for years...who told you about this?! That's 7 years of not so secret planning down the drain! Damn you Nerd cuuuuuubedddd
2016-08-08 09:11:50 +0000 UTCVery nice Dan. I went back to my game development, because it gave me joy even though the games weren't very good.
DougieBoy
2016-08-07 21:44:24 +0000 UTCany chance of some early footage?
2016-08-07 18:42:47 +0000 UTCHe's using Unity.
Shen Doodles
2016-08-07 18:25:16 +0000 UTCAnything you can release on what engine you're using just out of interest? Also how many dimensions are included in your planned games?
Joe Ward
2016-08-07 16:32:59 +0000 UTCCute Panda. Also is "Monkey Bacon™" actually trademarked?!
The Calm Gamer
2016-08-07 14:54:40 +0000 UTCI can assure you no matter how shit you'd be at The Apprentice, I'd be 10 times worse. I'm the person who insists on doing the group project by themselves because everything has to be exactly perfect.
Jacob Banerjee
2016-08-07 13:05:23 +0000 UTCAre you going to recrute a programmer then ?
2016-08-07 12:11:14 +0000 UTCIt's great to know these games are coming along. Great to see things are working out how you want them to.
WritingInVerse
2016-08-07 10:47:56 +0000 UTCLove it. Also the presence of pandas in this picture has been a great start to my day.
Matthew
2016-08-07 10:29:08 +0000 UTCTake your time daniel the danny dantan
AimedBot
2016-08-07 06:03:16 +0000 UTCDa panda! Ish so cute!
Undergor
2016-08-07 04:20:05 +0000 UTCthanks for the update sounds keep up the god work
2016-08-07 03:32:03 +0000 UTCThanks for the update,. Although the time I spent looking for hints in the picture before I read the article makes me feel silly. :P
Daku
2016-08-07 02:04:10 +0000 UTCHave you tried GameMaker? It has a good programming language that can do complex things if you know how and it doesn't have semicolons! (For the most part). :p
Chris Graden (DinoDoesStuff)
2016-08-07 01:54:16 +0000 UTCYes, nothing like spending ages on a program, finding a dumb problem that makes the program refuse to run and then 20 minutes later realise that the 183rd line has no semi-colon... :/
2016-08-07 01:50:37 +0000 UTCI can't say I'd wouldn't be sad without Dan's content. He's helped me through some rough points and is one of those creators I keep being surprised and inspired by. Although I understand the sentiment and would still support Dan as much as I could, so well said on that.
Russell Sellers
2016-08-07 01:48:03 +0000 UTCHey Dan, it's great to see some of the work that is going into the games, and I can't wait to play them, Do have a few questions though if you have the time. 1, Any idea of a price point on any of these? and 2, Any spec recommendations to get the best out the games, I know that one may not be possible to answer but any sort of idea would be great. Hope you're doing well :)
Russell Sellers
2016-08-07 01:44:53 +0000 UTCThank you Dan, it's so refreshing to see someone who truely cares about the content their producing, especially to the point of being able to admit their own faults in the process. Its something truely admirable. No matter what route your creativity takes you down in the future, you will remain one of my favourite creators, and major inspirations. Watching your channels has taught me a lot about things like good story design and the like, and that's just by how you critique games. I want to say thank you for all of this as someone trying to be a YouTuber and work in creative fields. Anyway this is turning into a ramble, so I'm gonna go watch Scipio beat some guys up.
Tyler Hildebrand
2016-08-07 01:40:41 +0000 UTCDan, every time you make a post like this, you know that we always support you, I mean like we are literally just throwing money at your face. In other words we trust you on this project of yours. And if you feel like you need to take a break from YouTube for a while then go for it, it's your decision not ours. now I don't know if you're actually going to read this because these tend to be very fucking long so, either you are really fucking bored or you have a lot of time on your hands at the moment...
2016-08-07 01:38:35 +0000 UTCCool. Look forward to them.
Matt Eden
2016-08-07 01:29:09 +0000 UTCGlad to hear you're figuring out what you enjoy the most about game development, Dan :) Tbh given that all your critiques of games tend to be 90%-99% in line with my own, there's no doubt in my mind that whatever you create will be awesome. It's not pandering if it's true...
2016-08-07 01:23:49 +0000 UTCDid anyone else notice the panda hugging one of the boxes? Panda related game confirmed!?!
Merle Neer
2016-08-07 01:17:40 +0000 UTCDan, everyone here would agree that you having a really long break from YouTube is fine. We are the true supporters; we were there for the procrastination, for DadCubed's first video and you threatening Wot to cheer himself up with a nerf gun. If we don't get NerdCubed videos for a year we will miss it, but we won't be sad, because we know that you are doing what you want and doing something more than a content creator. We all want you to focus on this, if YouTube gets in your way, smash your way through. Plus we get the games for free so that's always a bonus.
Stan Collins
2016-08-07 01:11:58 +0000 UTCA 5 game concept seems to be a fun idea. It's going to be really good to see all the different ideas you have come up with
Simon Robinson
2016-08-07 01:10:38 +0000 UTC"Monkey Bacon is a registered trademark of the NerdCubed company" Seriously? Also are you like some type of a game desiner/producer hybrid?
Tyler Rand
2016-08-07 01:09:16 +0000 UTCWill the games have memes involved?
2016-08-07 01:09:08 +0000 UTCIs there an ETA of when we will hear news about what the closest game is called and when it might possibly probably come out maybe?
Kyle Myers
2016-08-07 01:06:19 +0000 UTC
