[Archives] Four Ways to Project Manage as a Solo Game Developer

Archives, Game Development

It’s so easy, when you’re the only person developing your game, to just start creating things without having an idea of future milestones.  I’m super guilty of it too, but it’s so important to have a roadmap.  It gives you an idea of how long things will take, when you can anticipate hitting certain milestones, and exactly what you need to work on next to finish your game without taking years to do so.

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Here’s how I handle project management for my upcoming game, Visual Out.

[Archives] Game Development Tool – Crocotile 3D First Impressions

Archives, Art, Game Development, Review

A while ago I came across a 3D Tilemapping tool that was unlike anything I had ever seen.  It’s called Crocotile 3D, and I’ve been itching to try it out for months.

Create 3d models and environments with tiles. Typically tiles are used from 2d tilemaps to construct flat scenes, but Crocotile 3d adds another dimension. 

Scene in Crocotile3D

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[Archives] Free Windows 10 Touchscreen App for Artists – Tablet Pro

Archives, Art, Game Development, Review

When I use my Surface Pro for art, I can’t or don’t always want to flip my keyboard out.  Maybe I don’t have room, maybe I’m drawing on my lap, or maybe I just don’t want a keyboard in the way of my screen while I draw.  This leaves me unable to use keyboard shortcuts, and while some programs (like Photoshop CC) have gesture controls for common shortcuts, most programs don’t.
I’ve been searching for a macro program, where I can program buttons on my touch screen to perform keyboard shortcuts.  After a few months of searching, I found a program called Tablet Pro that does just that, and it’s completely customizable.  Here’s my review:

Tablet Pro docked to the right of Photoshop

[Archives] How to use Gradient Maps in Construct 2 levels

Archives, Art, Game Development, programming

Recently I came across an absolutely gorgeous game called Totem Teller.  On their Tigsource thread, they described how they achieved certain visual effects in Unity, including using a gradient map to tint their levels.  This left me wondering if I could achieve the same effect in Construct 2, and after some experimentation, I discovered how.

Gradient Map in Construct 2 Game

[Archives] Installing Linux on my Laptop

Archives, Game Development

So anyone who knows me well enough knows that despite the fact that I make games for a living, I only just barely know my way around a computer.  Well enough to be able to troubleshoot basic goings-wrong, and google most else that may arise, hoping for a simple solution. But I have no experience or comfort with anything requiring higher knowledge than “do a thing in Control Panel”

The decision to install Linux to dual-boot on my laptop comes from wanting to be able to test my games on the systems I can export to.  I don’t have the funds to go buy a Mac, but in an ideal situation I’d want to test on OSX too.
Since replacing my laptop with my new Surface Pro, I haven’t been using Lappy, so I figured even if I messed it up beyond repair, I wouldn’t be losing much.