As a former audio engineer I struggle with both programming and visual art, but it's always fun to try out and learn new things. Making games is hard but really fun and I am super grateful for all the people sharing their game-deving wisdom for less experienced devs like myself to learn more effectively. :) Since I started dipping my toes into game development I started to realise how underappreciated the amount and complexity of the different skills required really is.
Yes, but I think being a programmer is the most important thing in games. You can always buy assets. Plus, not everyone can be a good programmer. It takes complex thinking skills and knowing how to build off of things. Artists can use tutorials, but tutorials isn’t the best way to learn. It could send one through a tutorial rabbit hole and doesn’t teach you any actual skills. If you don’t know how the code works, when it breaks or needs tinkering, it can be truly difficult.
I agree as well! I’m blown away by the myriad art, design and coding skills on display here, and the superb story telling presentation of this dev log. You are doing amazing work, enjoy it and preserve your health to make it sustainable! Subbed. Rock on and looking forward to seeing it come to life.
Damn this might be the most legit indie devlog I've ever seen. All this progress in 2 months?! You must have fantastic work ethic that I could only dream of.
Just a little suggestion: Maybe slow down the snow particles falling from the sky, when they're falling too fast it seems as if it's rushed or fast paced. Slowing it down a bit might help achieve that calm cozy feeling you're aiming for, allowing the viewer to slow down and admire the ambience every now and then. The same could go for the smoke coming out of the chimney. I really love your work so far, keep it up!
The UI is honestly my favourite part! I’m currently taking a game design class and ui visuals have been soooo hard for me to wrap my head around but the ones here look absolutely stunninggg
The artisitic direction you have chosen is phenomenal. It is cozy and vivid yet brings so much moodiness and emotion with it. Whatever story you are writing along with it is sure to shine. It is refreshing seeing a relaxing game set in the winter/snow biome. I feel like I don't get to see it a lot and it is ALWAYS my favorite. I am extremely excited to follow your journey.
Honestly insane what you have achieved on your own thus far and I'm very excited to see where this goes. Absolutely loving the art style and mood of it all!
So you’re designing and programming and building the entire game by yourself? Congratulations! That takes a lot of dedication and talent. Looking forward to seeing more progress.😊🎉
You are a very talented artist indeed! One thing I may mention as a word of caution is that I don't really see a good "hook" for the game from a gameplay perspective, you may have one and haven't mentioned it as yet but I think it's an integral part of any commercial project Great work so far, I look forward to seeing the outcome
I wanted to say the same. I'm myself creating a game and will start a devlog in the future, but I'm a programmer and not a artist so the gameplay part is what bother me in your game. It's beautiful and it's normal to start with what you already master (the art side of the game) but the feature you want to implement are not gameplay. What the player will have to do ? Is it a stardew valley game ? you talk about apothecary, is that what the player will be doing ? collecting items to make potion ? Wath will be the fighting mechanic ? etc... I'm sure you already have ideas in that matter, but it's not less important than the graphics, and without purpose, as beautifull your game will be, it will not be interesting. sorry if I don't express myself correctly or sound too grumpy (if it's a word...) english is not my first langage. Keep up the work and I will follow your devlogs ^^.
I really like how it is stylized as well as the minimalist UI design. As a coder who has been using blender for the past 3 years it is cool to see more people use art and coding.
@@arnvonsalzburg5033 There are so many. But generally speaking, I would stick to tutorials to the specific things you want to do on youtube/skillshare. Having someone explain it is way easier than reading up on it.
Man the art direction and cohesion is insane. The other guy said it best: as a programmer and middling artist I am in awe 😮 actually even your website looks better than mine 😅 knowing how to use React and CSS doesn't help with being terrible at UI/UX in my case
Omggg! 😭 I haven't drawn in months-- but somehow, just by watching your DevLog, gave me such a boost to pick it back up! (THANK YOU FOR THIS!❤) I also can't wait to see how your game progresses! It already looks quite wonderful! Loving the art style so much! 🤩
Looks stunning! Excited to see where this will go, please do take your time and enjoy every process of this. As a programmer myself i always love watching passionate devlogs such as this one.
As a student myself closing my semester in multimedia programming & design. I was debating if I should go for it on my own. I hadn’t seen any indie devs I could relate to, until today. I’m glad I was recommended this video and your work. Looking forward to your future dev logs and progression on your game. And my journey to start as well.
I find it incredible that even from such an early start into the game you have such a detailed idea of what you want and *all* of the skills you need to achieve it. Your art style is incredible and combined with your talent for programming, animation and a myriad of other things this is sure to be an astonishingly well made game. I cant wait to see how it progresses. Instant follow!
Your art looks fantastic. However, I'm not sure if this is the best way to start developing your game. It's a lengthy process, and many changes are likely to occur. You may need to scrap or rework a significant portion of the art you've created so far. It might be more beneficial to focus on developing the game mechanics, create a working prototype, and then work on the assets. The video is well-done, but it primarily showcases working in Photoshop and discussing game features. I hope you won't lose motivation and will concentrate more on the actual game and gameplay, rather than just importing assets into your Unity project. I wish you the best of luck and patience with this project, and I look forward to more videos. Subscribed.
Im with you on this one. Art looks great, but other than that it feels like there is no understanding on what this game is suposed to be from gameplay perspective. When you start making inventory system straight from the photoshop, it feels like you don't actually know why you need an inventory system in the first place.
I don’t think it’s necessary to do all the programming first and only creating the art later. Many game studios have a more agile and flexible environment where teams go back and forth between concept art, creating assets and game mechanics. There’s no “one way” of doing things. I think the key to not losing motivation is doing the things you’re excited for, and for her that’s obviously creating art.
Agree on everything and glad someone wrote this because I was thinking about the same almost the entire vlog. It was proven many times that a game doesn't necessarily need to look great to become a phenomenal. But with so many systems planned it definitely must be well designed in terms of game mechanics.
i can't agree. this is an indie game, not a corporate project. corporate might want to do things in their little textbook ways but that's how we get repeatedly boring and uninspired games from that development process. the idea that a game has to only end up with one type of result or be made one type of way is not only ridiculous but anti-art and story. when i think back on all the games i've played and loved, a point-and-click stancs out to me. see i've played a lot of games with "fun mechanics" but good mechanics only offer temporary fun- then i played a point-and-click with stunning pixel art and a short, heart-warming story. that's the game i remember still. of course there are video games with both great mechanics and story. but at the end of the day a game can be simple and still be an enjoyable way of consuming a story. what ACTUALLY makes good games, and why the best ones are indie, is that the dev is actually passionate and creating something to express something true and creative from their heart. when you start as an artist, the programming is GOING to take a backseat- that is completely fine if the final result is a story the dev wanted to tell in a format that makes the story enjoyable to interact with. also, it seems no one really listened to the video as she clearly explained planned gameplay that seems just as interesting to me as something like stardew valley, its just the beginning of development., yeah, making detailed assets might seem like a waste of time at first becayse of all the redoing you constantly do in game development, but if you think your time will be well-spent trying to get an artist to do less art you will be stuck here forever
@@ninetailskwami you probably think we're trying to attack the project or the creator, but we aren't. I'll try to explain. Imagine that a person wants to build a car of their dream. As someone who drove a car they know how they want it to look, sound, feel, how fast it should accelerate, etc. They know nothing about how the cars work, how they are built, how safety systems work, etc. But they're an artist and know 3D modeling, and are very passionate. So they start to draw concept arts, make 3D models of the car, and read about car manufacturing in the meanwhile. Do you think they will succeed? Yeah, they might make a car, maybe even a decent one. One that might catch interest of some people because of its unique design, feel or something else. But you know it won't be anywhere near of something an expert in the car manufacturing area could make. If you think similarly to how I think then you know that's because of experience. (Yeah, I'm simplifying the process of making a car a lot here, but I hope you get what I'm trying to say.) I don't know why you've decided that best practices when developing a game is "a corporate project". The thing is, when you're playing a game you only see and interact with a pretty looking shell. 2D sprites, 3D models, text, user interface elements, etc. An interface between you and a web of systems of many purposes, the game. Games are different, but usually most of the things happen under the hood. Even such a simple game like Tetris has to have clever randomization logic so that the player gets the ➖ shape at least once after some amount of shapes so it feels fair, carefully chosen value for how fast the speed of a shape falling increases over the time so that the game doesn't feel too easy but also not too hard, etc. If this game wants to be Stardew Valley, but with it's own world and story, then it's extremely important to do the invisible part right. Stardew Valley may look simple, but it's not an easy game to make. Save system (you have to keep track of everything happening in the game world), progression system (current quests, tasks, goals, etc), dialogue system (different dialog options based on story progression/seasons/relationship status/what's present in the player's inventory, etc), day/night cycle, crafting, farming, cooking, and many, many more. It's easy to not think about all of those when you're just a player, because that's what games are about. If you're a game developer, the reality is that at some point you have to sit down and think about how you're going to make something work. Boring, but very important. There is 1 more thing. The thing is called legacy code. Programs are often evolving creatures. They change, adapt, improve. Some parts get removed, some forgotten, some change into monstrosities which nobody wants to touch. The more time and effort a developer puts into designing these parts of a program (game systems), the easier it is to maintain them. Their experience is also a significant factor. It's ok to not waste a lot of your time designing game systems if you know for sure that you will not be updating or changing your game. On the other hand, if you think your game will be evolving and some things are not final (which is almost always the case), it's best if you prepare a plan before you start writing code. If you won't, over time you will realize that every subsequent game update takes more and more time to prepare and publish, it gets harder for you to change something without breaking something else, and the worst - it's not fun anymore to work on your game.
I love how you also think as a Player yourself and add stuff what you think would others more happy. Like little things as "getting a break, while pausing the game". So sweet.
This vid also doubles/triples as a public timestamp for the inception and evolution of this game's aesthetic, as well as a revenue vehicle by being on RU-vid. Thanks for sharing your development journey, always nice to see a game through the creator's eyes 👍😌.
Wow, first of all, Fantastic progress so far! The art style is on point - it's consistent, the elements don't fight each other, and just pleasant to look at. Would love to see more of the mechanics to see how it would stand out compared to the other games of this genre and/or theme, but the art style itself - I think - is enough to be unique. Again, job well done! 😁 Definitely going to follow the progress of this project - good luck!
Your definition of a cozy look is my definition of haunted look. I get ghost vibes from the house, and the wall of trees outside the house remind me of The Shining XD
Something i'd love to see more focus on with games like this is possibly career options and more in depth building/ decorating. I love this art style i definitely think with the right advertising tactics and community support it can easily become a cult classic.
I was sitting here thinking "The art style reminds me of Hades.." and then almost immediately afterwards you mentioned Hades as your art inspiration! :D I always struggle with UI design and wanted to say that yours just looks so lovely. Wonderful job and I can't wait to see more!
it makes me so proud and happy to see all the devlogs of such cozy and aesthetically pleasing visuals ,as a Cozy gamer I struggle a lot to find games that are comfortable and not all about shooting enemies _no hate to cod fans_ I would be more than happy to watch the incredible progress of this beautiful game, Crimson Hollow wish you all the luck there is!!❤
wow already cant wait to see this through with you :D as an artist and programmer myself you are someone ı really look up to. Cant wait to see more of ur devlog and ım checking the site out as soon as ı have free time :3
I loved it! And actually it's pretty fun the fact that the loading screen still have so little time to appear... When the game is done, I'm going to download it on my hard drive just to see that loading screen!
The visuals are stunning, you are a skilled artiest! I will just beg you to be careful about the mechanics Since there is many harvest moon-likes currently, would be nice if you come with something that makes your game unique (besides the art)
I'm really interested in your background, like how did you gain all this knowledge to start creating a game on your own? I'm insanely impressed by indie devs.
I am beyond excited to watch the progression of this game! This is exactly the type of vibe I’ve been looking for since getting my switch but have failed to find it! This looks so dope already! Hope to help in any way I can! 💜
Your art is beautiful but that also makes it so dangerous. I’m very artistically inclined and I chose pixel art as my medium, one problem with my game is that I keep making assets sprites rather than actual gameplay mechanics. I find this issue really slows down development time because instead of focusing on the task at hand, I rather draw a different table or crate. I’m also left with another problem where I would have so many different asset sprites that I feel obligated to use /implement them in the game because of how much time I spent creating the art. Some of these assets wouldn’t even work mechanically in my game so I would have to scrap them. Remember, it’s ok to kill your darlings. Good luck!
Seeing the quality of the art, the number of subscribers and views on this first video I'd say the journey is a marketable product in and of itself. Don't be shy to put up a Patreon and see the finished game as a secondary thing. Game dev is horrendous amounts of work and very seldom pays off, so interest for the journey leading up to the actual game might be a gold mine in comparison.
I'm not trying to be negative but if you go art heavy first, you probably won't make it that far. you should focus on gameplay mechanics if you really want a good game. do greybox development first then try to add art otherwise you end up with interactable art not a game.
It's really a collection of assets thrown into a game engine. Looks pretty, might come to be considered "finished". If "finished", it would be the boring farming and crafting with exceptionally few features, compared to other games. There's no reason for it to be a game. I wish her best, but there's so so much more needed alongside fancy art.
As a person in a VERY similar boat of finishing Degree in Game Design some years ago on the basis of just improving the industry by bringing fun as a core focus back into gaming. I was definitely due to take the plunge of creation in the past month aswell, art is going to be a large obstacle as I'm not an artist. But what you have looks fantastic and your inspirational references are of a solid foundation and the art is also solidly in that vibe. I'm definitely keen to see what happens in mechanic implementation as that's my psychological field of fascination. if you succeed then you should be EXTREMELY proud because it's not easy, but it's looking Fantastic so far. You are also a good kick in my ass to get up and get it done xD Inspirational to the max! Go Get'em!
just found this on my recommendation and I'm glad the algorithm is doing its thing cause I'm excited to see where this is going ! ! much love and hope you're doing well ! !
I understand skeletal animation is the only reasonable option for such a complex character; but in such a beautiful, hand-drawn world, smooth animation will look jarring and cheap. If you limit the framerate of the animations to emulate hand-animation, you'll get a much more cozy result.
Can't wait to see how these devlogs go, the project seems very interesting and I'm eagerly looking forward for all the showcases. Best wishes for success.
Having done isometric games way back in the 90's but just with pixel art, I don't envy you the animation work your art style is going to take. It is however really beautiful. Looking forward to see where you take this.
study games like skyrim to know how to implement other systems in a way that is efficient. game architecture is crucial to get right especially on rpgs. I took my time when designing my systems. 2 weeks into development there was no "game to play" but i knew i have made my systems as good as possible.
It's interesting to see what takes priority for artists. As a programmer, I always work on the meat of the game/app. Trying to get a workable playtest going before anything, but that forgoes all of the mood and setting.
I learned how to program for making my own games at the age of 30. After watching you I think I should have started with learning how to make art thought comes to my mind.
Твоя игра выглядит совершенно очаровательно, и я бы с радостью поиграла в неё прямо сейчас) Желаю вдохновения и удачи с твоим проектом) Your game looks absolutely adorable and I would love to play it right now) I wish you inspiration and good luck with your project)
