rtcinder - Tumblr blog

rtcinder · 10 years ago

Text

Getting Started Making Games (For Free):

-hello, my name is cinder and this is tutorial of sorts all about making games yourself and for free

-a lot of people want to make games and all you really need is a set of skills & some software

-I’m gonna start with all of the general stuff you need to make a game like, skills and software then move on to some advice for how to go about it

-I will have links to everything I mention in the description of this video

-Okay, general stuff first:

-Programming ability

-Any language is fine so long as you know it well enough that you can apply what you know to help you learn any other programming language

-a good one to start with is Python or JavaScript, but know that most of the work in the gaming industry is done in C++ or some other variation of C

-A good exercise to get the basics of code application (after you learn the basics of coding) is to follow a tutorial on making a basic game engine from scratch

-An understanding of what design means

-good games are no accident, you need to know why every decision is made in a game

-start by critically playing games you like, this means play it, while paying attention to what you’re thinking and feeling while you play it

-this gives a good insight on what makes the game good, and why you as a player, enjoy it

-Know the basics of audio design and audio editing

-learn how audio effects are actually made

-learn the importance of layering when making custom sounds

-try it out for yourself, audio is very important for games of any kind

-this is also a good time to mention music

-if you’ve never learned an instrument, start now

-learn about music theory and anything else you can in regards to music so you can at least give coherent, descriptive instructions on what you want or what you think would make a piece of music better

-Some art & design knowledge

-know what colors go well with one another, study the color wheel, learn more about some aesthetic designs you like such as cell shading and how they’re achieved

-you don’t need to go so far as to write custom shaders for your game, but it does help with making you game feel unique

-It helps to know how aesthetic design often reflects genre or the tone of a game, just like it does with movies

-Unity, Unreal or any other free engine

-When starting out there’s no reason to make your own engine

-3DS Max (Windows only) or Maya (cross platform and the industry standard, but not very good for new users)

-both are 3D modeling software used to make, rig, texture, and animate characters, make items and decorations for a game, or just for making levels

-both are free for 3 years with an educational license but this means you can’t sell the games you use these assets with

-if you’re going to make 2D games, all you really need is GIMP (free) or PhotoShop (not free) which I’ll mention in a second

-the alternative is Blender a free open source 3D modeling software that can actually be used to make a commercial product

-Audacity (free)

-basic audio editor with some passable effects

-GIMP (free) or Photoshop (not free)

-they are both raster (resolution based) image editing softwares, but photoshop is by far the superior one.

-gimp has a lot of the same features as photoshop and is very useable for most things you’ll do when making your own games

-nJob (free)

-this is a software that lets you turn your existing textures into different kinds of texture maps, like bump maps, normal maps, and height maps

-this is what make things in games seem more real or more 3 dimensional than they do in most indie games

-extra credits

-free game centric videos on youtube that cover a mix of introductory stuff as well as more advanced design & industry talk

-read articles on Gamasutra. There are tons of great articles about all kinds of things that will give you insight into making games and on the gaming industry as a whole

-watch presentations from the GDC vault. They recently make years of talks they’ve had free on their website and some newer talks have been made free as well.

-get involved in some communities

-it’s fine to lurk for the first year or so, but get involved where you can

-a couple of communities I like are TIGsource & /r/gamedev

-you can also just watch some people streaming game design on twitch.tv to see how things are done firsthand and you can ask questions to actual developers

-speaking of, it’s also tangentially important to learn about gaming on YouTube and twitch

-if you’re going to be making games independently it’s very useful to understand how this works because it is absolutely becoming the game coverage of the future

-Okay, that’s basically all the stuff you need to make games on your own for free

-of course there’s no actual reason you can’t work with other on your projects

-Now, for me to stress a couple opinions of mine about the actual process of learning about and making games:

-First, There’s no reason to learn anything you’re not going to use

-there are a lot of simple game engines that don’t require much coding in order to get you started making some games

-there are lots of simpler programming languages that teach you the basics, like Python or Unity’s Boo

-in my opinion, learning these simplified versions of their actual counterpart is mostly a waste of time. Yes it can teach you a lot about game design and what it takes to make a game, but it will also limit you, which will just make you move on the learning the stuff you could have been learning all along

-whenever I looked into these methods of making games it always just makes me think “If I actually just took the time to learn to program or used a different engine then I’d have fewer limitations”

-it’s also important to note that all engines have limitations, even ones you make yourself

-but it is true that if you just learn the hard way to do everything, the at least you don’t have to also learn the easy way as well

-My next piece of advice is Don’t be afraid to read

-This applies to any hobby

-video tutorials are good, you can learn a lot from them but usually what you get from them comes in 2 forms

-you either get practical knowledge on how to do general things,you learn how to do one thing well enough to function, or you just learn terminology

-terminology is helpful for learning more because you’re building a vocabulary to help you further your education. So be sure to look in to any words or phrases you hear other’s using that you don’t understand

-You shouldn’t be afraid to read information and not just have it presented to you

-read scripting API’s for your chosen programming language and for your engine

-learning to use APIs will make it so you can figure out any problem you have without relying on someone else having figured it out and made it easily accessible (i.e. free)

-Okay that’s it.

-If you have any questions or advice for anyone that comes across this video, please leave a comment below.

Unity 5: http://unity3d.com/5

Unreal 4: https://www.unrealengine.com/unreal-engine-4

3DS Max: http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/3ds-max

Maya: http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/maya

Blender: https://www.blender.org/

Audacity: http://audacity.en.softonic.com/

GIMP: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

Photoshop: https://creative.adobe.com/plans

Njob: http://charles.hollemeersch.net/njob

Extra Credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG1ziCvLkJ0&list=PLB9B0CA00461BB187

Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com/

GDC Vault: http://www.gdcvault.com/free

TIGSource: http://www.tigsource.com/

/r/gamedev: https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev

Twitch Game Development: http://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Game%20Development

3 notes · View notes

rtcinder · 10 years ago

Text

Cinder Spoils: Dishonored VideoTranscript

This is a summary of the game Dishonored for any that want to revisit the plot or hear what happens for the first time. If you want to avoid spoilers. leave.

Prologue

The game starts with a kindly woman telling of your return from a trip what was this trip? It isn’t clear but it was important and only you could be trusted to take it

Now a quick boatride.

The boatmen accompanying you talk of curses, plagues, and the news you bring…it isn’t good.

On your way you come across this pretty little princess. Literally. She wants to play a game of hide and seek because she’s an ice cold stealthy killer. Meaning she takes after you. Be sure not to read too far into that last statement yet.

You can either play with her because she successfully melted your ice cold killer heart or tell her to piss right off because you don’t want the feels to show.

Next you come across the high overseer Campbell. He’s a bastard.

Then you’re back in the presence of her majesty in all her glory. As you approach. You overhear her being a sterling ruler of the people. She immediately wins your respect and your heart. Or do you win hers? More on that later.

You give her the bad news in the form of a letter because you’re a silent protagonist and you’re not about to give that up for the woman you love. After reading the letter she states that it seems the other kingdoms will be waiting to see how this whole plague business plays out without their involvement.

Wait, where are the guards?

Who are these folks?

Now you’re a hero.

Wait, why am I floating?

What’s that knife for?

Oh…

With her dying breath the Empress tells you to save young lady Emily, the rightful heiress, and then passes uttering your name… “Corvo”

Here comes the law.

They blame you because it’s convenient.

You stay silent in the face of in justice. For whatever reason.

Chapter 1

You come to in a dank room of torment where the evil men reveal their evil plan just before they say you’ll be killed by the morrow.

But hey, it was nothing personal at least.

A friend buys you your last meal. A loaf of bread.

Not too great for a last meal but at least there was also a key to get you out and a letter explaining what to do next. Kind of makes up for it.

Now you ask yourself the big questions. Kill all the guards or choke all the guards? One is more evil than the other. I’ll let you decide which that is.

You get armed, climb around a bit, open a few doors. Then you blow something up because the almighty note said so.

If a mysterious note told you to jump off a bridge would you do it? The answer’s yes.

You crawl into the sewer like the hungry rats you’ll learn to fear and make your way through the labyrinth of filth.

You learn that these ravenous rats are drawn to bodies. And that the notes you’re finding somehow managed to store some gear for you down here.

You get a neat steam punk crossbow and switchblade that will be the instruments of your revenge. Count of Monte Cristo style. Actually, maybe a bit less subtle than that.

Next you find out these guards ain’t all that, when the impact of all of these dead bodies you’ve been passing start to sink in. This place is bad off. This place is tragic. The only thing that can sooth this pain is a new friend.

Say hi to Samuel. The kindly boatman. He’s gonna take you where you need to be; (this is) a habit of his that he never quite breaks. Samuels a good man.

Chapter 2

Sammy introduces you to the bar that will be your hub for the rebellion you’re about to be a part of.

Admiral Havelock is the leader and he’s gonna help you get Emily with a side of cold revenge.

The Lord Regent is in the cross hairs. There’s a lot that has to happen before you get there though.

This is Piero, an egotistical little shit, that’s about as much as a whale-punk industrialist as you get. Oh by the way, whale oil powers everything. That’s kind of important.

This crazy dude is gonna make all the gear you need to be a super slick murder machine. All you gotta do is pick up everything you see and it turns into coin to give to him. This is all the coin is for because Corvo would never waste money on things like food; its only murder tools for him.

Go to bed already.

Oh shit. Floaty world. What did you expect next, really? This is as typical as Cthulhu whales (get a shot of that).

A man appears. He says you’re important. Duh.

He burns his mark on you and calls himself the Outsider. People here can be a little eccentric.

You can do magic now like “blink” forward.

Oh and “you cannot save her”, says the kubrician letter.

You get some foreshadowing of Emily’s whereabouts. As well as some hints of other things to come. It’s unimportant.

This guy again. He says that if you get little runes of his carved from whale bone, you get more magic.

Then he gives you a heart to help you find them. It speaks secrets to you in the voice of your beloved, empress. Wait, is this her heart? What. The fuck?

Oh look a weird shrine thingy.

Now the weirdo sends you home.

In the morning you gotta chat with the Admiral. He wants you to get to killing. FINALLY.

You gotta kill the bastard you met earlier, the High Overseer, and also save a dude that used to be a fellow rebel.

Optional quest, please don’t kill Lydia’s uncle. I guess this time, you’re sworn to carry her burdens, eh?

Let’s go Sammy!

Chapter 3

Now you’re in the center of the plague town. This is a wall of light. You touch it, you die. This is granny rags, she’s creepy as hell and when you kill her she turns to rats. Not that you’d want to do that.

She has an optional quest that involves getting plague rat bits and putting it in the distillery for the plague-be-gone tonic. Even through the distillery is controlled by thugs, it’s still a pretty fucked up thing to do.

Get past the guards, and make you way further into the city and try to ignore the mind numbing propaganda droning through the speakers all around you.

Overseer Martin is in a town square, being held for execution. Let him out.

More sneaking to get into the giant mansion like compound that could only belong to a leader of a religious order. Then bare witness to the near murder of Lydia’s uncle via poisoned drink from the High Overseer himself. You can save him, poison them both, poison just the high overseer, or poison none of them take matters into your own bloody hand. Or… you can brand him a heretic and leave him sad about that. Then take his special black book.

Get back to Samuel through a sea of guards and dogs. This can get a bit unpleasant. Without grenades.

Sammy, thinks these overseers are taking advantage of faith for their own benefit. I agree.

Time to go.

Chapter 4

Back to the bar, you filthy drunk.

Why are there gun shots?

Cuz men are silly.

You give them a book and go take a nap.

The following morning you learn what a wheeper is. It’s a plague ridden lost soul. Go deal with them. As usual, lethal or not.

This nice lady says you gotta go talk to the admiral again.

They know where Princess Emily is. This guy’s identical brothers have her at a whore house. Things are gonna get sexy.

Wise Sammy gets you there. He directs you to the Bottle Street Gang, those dudes you could have poisoned for granny rags earlier.

If you talk to the leader Slackjaw he can get the Pendleton Brothers out of the way easier. Either way you’ve gotta get into The Golden Cat, for some optional murder and some mandatory heroics.

Then get freaky with this guy to get the code to his safe. I said things would get sexy.

Take care of the pendaltens in any way you see fit.

Now that that’s done say hi to she who must not be maimed. Queue emotional moment with an old friend. She’s got some big ideas on getting you out of there. They work just fine.

Hey! It’s Granny Rags. She’s awful.

And Emily is safe and sound.

Chapter 5:

One boat ride later the princess is home. Ish.

Now you need to kidnap the royal physician Sokelov. The admiral comments on how outlandish and badass what you’ve done so far is. Now it’s off to kidnap a bitch.

You’ve got a bridge place to sneak around this time. Things get verticle. You can climb to the top of this bridge. It’s a good time.

Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and Dodge your way around, and get to the big beautiful house of the soon to be Stockholm Syndromed Sokelov.

He’s a bit too focused on his mad unethical science to actually hear the captivating corvo sneak up on him.

Hell or you can talk to him. He’s scared.

But so is this lady he had in a cage. She shows signs of having the plague and sits down to await an angel. Whether it be of death or mercy.

Now you gotta sneak out with the sleepy scientist and get back to sweet ol’ Sammy.

Chapter 6:

Back at the bar.

This paper boy-girl, Cecilia, tells you about a hiding place of hers to use in case this shit storm gets any more shitty.

Time for a nap.

The princess napped in your room. Time to be nice or evil like always. These little decisions will add up and shape the growth of your regal ward.

Now talk to your captive. Sick the rats on him to get the answers. Or get him drunk on the good shit. The choice is yours.

Now you need to find a Lady Boyle. There’s a few of those it seems. Now you gotta party. Not this kind. This kind. Lucky it’s a masquerade ball. In a true Edgar Allen Poe fashion, you arrive as the masque of the black death.

Before you left though this ass wants you to deliver a note for him at the party to a wolf man.

Oh shit now you’re in a duel. What the fuck dude?

He’s dead now. No one cares about the gun fire. Regrettably this is a trend that doesn’t stick in this posh castle.

You can sneak up stairs and find out which lady boyle is the right one, or talk to a dude that wants to keep her captive forever out of love, Or just kill everyone at the party and wash your hands of this extravagance. The important thing is that corvo gets shit done.

Also, if you bring her to this guy he has the most badass exit of all time.

Chapter 7

Havlock and Martin wanna talk like always. Needy loyalists.

Onward to Dunwall Tower, to kill the Lord Regent, back at where it all started.

First, your silly little princess is hiding from her surrogate mother; go get that rascal just like you used to. Before… all of this.

Go kill things now to literally fight back the tears.

Go swim and climb and stealth until you get here. This place is all kitted out to defend against you. It doesn’t work.

(see if you can kill the lord regent at the cutscene)

You hear where he’ll be, but there’s more you can do. Find his propaganda artist and have a nice little chat. His captivating voice stops you from being too hastey. He tells you there are secret audio logs that the regent left that confess his evils and that the propagandist is willing to broadcast it throughout the city. This may be the first time audio logs where actually useful in a game.

So now you’ve got that choice of what to do with him, cold blooded justified revenge murder, or a fate worst than death: defamation.

You may think this is the end.

You’ve still gotta return to your masters for the condescending head pat you are owed.

What the fuck is this guys problem? (torcherers place)

Oh I see. A whale bone rune. Or course. These things are actually evil. You forget that along the way. Moving on.

Chapter 8:

Time to celebrate. Kind of. All this foreshadowing is coming to a head and you take a sip from the cup of betrayal. It tastes pretty bad. Things get hazy. You knew too much anyhow.

Sammy seems to have saved you by just kind of killing you with poison. He’s gonna get you out of there and take his leave.

Now it’s time to explore what’s become of this city you once protected. No more parties for you.

You’re taken to a man named Daud. I prefer to call him Michael Madson though. It seems to suits him.

He mentions that he killed the empress, and that he’s an agent of the outsider as well. He’s ready to make you dead, not realizing how poorly that went for everyone else that tried the same thing.

The Outsider wants to chat. He recaps how fucked you are.

You awaken in a canister thingy. Good thing you’re magic, and they’re dumb.

Get your box of murder tools, and carry on with a new mission. This one you made for yourself. But it’s still revenge as usual, keeping true to the Count Corvo Dontes style.

Make your way over to Daud and decide his fate. You really just need his key but you can fight him if you wish. He speaks of your shared connection to the outsider wonder which of you he values more. It’s clear that he is nothing but a tool in all of this just as you have been. It’s up to you how to deal with him. He did murder the woman you love after all.

You need to get out of here though. This is where they’ve been sending the sick and poor and dying. That train is your ticket out.

Next a sea of tall boys and guards and the foreboding cold floodlights that illuminate how little is really left of this city.

Eventually you get into the sewer. Don’t worry it’s a good thing.

You find one of Slackjaw’s bottle street boys all ruffed up. Something seemed to have happened to the man. Anyways you need a key to leave and Slackjaw has it.

Oh boy granny rags is gonna eat him. Poor Slackjaw.

You can make her mortal by burning her cameo to save Slackjaw. Of course Slackjaw could already be dead when you get there. All you need is the key out anyhow.

Ride the water out and get to the bar of all places.

Chapter 9:

Cecelia tells you how the Admiral just got done killing all the servants to hide the truth.

You gotta sneak around some guards to find out what the hell Admiral Havelock was up to.

Piero and Sokelov have fallen in love and decided to invent a way to neutralize enemies. Or murder them all.

The blueprint is in the admiral’s quarters.

After the guards aren’t a problem, you find a note that indicates how to signal Sammy. Just fire a flair and he’ll come boating on over.

You also find a note that says where Havelock is: Kingsparrow Island. Empress Emily Kaldwin is there as well. I think you know what to do.

Chapter 10:

Turns out those disloyal loyalists had a bit of an internal skirmish when getting to the light house.

Go figure. Murderous bastards are bastards.

Once you get through this quite elegant and interesting island level, you begin to approach the end to this tale.

The ambiguity of what is the right thing to do here is obvious to everyone. This whole story has been full of the wrong way of going about things, even if you tried to be merciful while doing it.

You grab the key to the elevator. Then you use that key.

Time to rescue a princess. Not just any princess though. Your daughter. In case you didn’t already know that. It’s pretty obvious throughout the game.

There’s only the admiral left now.

This is where things get different. There’s the good ending:

Martin is poisoned by the Admiral, he doesn’t fight you from being with Emily, who’s accepted as the empress and brings the empire back from the brink ruin into an era of prosperity.

The Bad Ending:

Martin’s ready to fight. He seems to think that they all just got carried away with the corruption in the end. He needs to go back to the Elder Scrolls series. Or die. Either one.

Emily is being harassed by the Admiral. She’s evil now, clearly and the Admiral falls to his death. The empire is more or less ruined now.

The Super Bad Ending:

Emily falls to her death. Everyone kills everyone else. There is no hope.

#dishonored #dishonored2 #gamesummaries #spoileralert #cinderspoils

1 note · View note