Fun da vinci

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    Here's how it all started, and that's where we are. We have changed a lot, put together a stable team, and gained experience in selling the game, all of which we will share with you% Username%. Interesting? Welcome to cat.


    Programming


    Everything is simple here - me and Nikita Sidorenko (Division). They say that two programmers on one simple flash game is a lot, I categorically do not share this position. As practice has shown, if you write a game alone, you will soon score. It may of course be in us, but believe me, we tried it together and more fun, and progress is ongoing. I explain this from the point of view of conscience, if one does something, then the second is ashamed that he is messing around, and begins to connect to the process.

    Design


    It all starts with him, and in a quality game he is at the forefront. As you know, the design for the last part was painted (tyril) by me. This channel to the competition, but for a successful product you need a normal, and most importantly exclusive art. Kherson, a small city, everyone knows everything by face, good designers once or twice and cost a lot, so we didn’t have to search for a “freelancer from the hinterland” Semen Khramtsov .

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    “Although I didn’t like puzzles, the enthusiasm of the guys infected me. At first I suggested several options for art, among which was the stylization of the manuscripts of Leonardo. They laid all eyes on her. Of course, in graphic design this technique is very poppy, but the thirst for the synthesis of an interactive environment with the notorious sketching style of a mega-designer of the Renaissance attracted. I re-read his biography, googled his work to fetch more raisins for the game, in general, will immerse himself in the right atmosphere as much as possible. Of course, what happened, I think, is a mockery of his image and inventions, but where do we go to the Master? Thank God that I did not repaint the game in bright, “casual” colors, as one of the judges advised us on the game lynch, then they would definitely burn in hell.
    The biggest achievement for me in this work is an immersion in level design and a combination of a gloomy self-portrait of an artist with a smile of Giaconda :) ”- Semyon Khramtsov.


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    Sound and music


    There was the last, but not unimportant part - this is the musical and sound design of the game. It not only enlivens the game, but also prevents the user from getting bored, at least until it starts to annoy. Semyon just turned out to be a familiar, very talented composer, with whom he had long worked on small flash projects - Vladimir Marinichev , which was very helpful.

    “First of all, to immerse myself in the atmosphere of the Renaissance, I reviewed the biography of Leonardo da Vinci and listened to the work of composers of that time. For the theme of the menu, I took as a basis the work of Claudi Gerweise, which would convey the mood of a thoughtful Creator and carry the player into the Renaissance. I tried to perform the arrangement, as well as the instrumental set, in the style inherent in that time.
    For the sound design of the gameplay, many sounds were recorded using improvised items. It was decided to leave the levels without musical accompaniment, and instead convey the atmosphere of the workshop. During the game, you can hear Leonardo constantly making notes and singing something under his breath, enthusiastically performing his next experience.
    Unfortunately, in an effort to reduce the size of the game, I had to cut the quality of all sounds and music, which of course prevented me from realistically conveying all the subtleties and details. But in general, many were satisfied with the result, and of course it was very nice to get a high rating from the FGL ”- Vladimir Marinichev


    So, the team is assembled on the road ...
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    Start


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    The first commit took place on August 4, 2010, it can be considered the beginning of development. We slowly began to fix bugs, and since we all have the main work, this all happened very slowly. We hooked up the task manager, created a bunch of tasks there, a lot of discussions, everything of course about nothing. In the final form, if we take into account all the problems, the game should look like a mini Starcraft 2 with its BattleNet (it was released at that time, which was very distracting). It was precisely in the unreality of our plans that the first mistake lay. Do not build huge castles. For the most part you will score when it comes to you that your plans would surprise even Napoleon. It happened to us. We all realized this when we decided to take part in FlashGamm KYIV 2010. We had to show something, but we had nothing, not even a working prototype. And then the real work began. First of all, they posed most of the tasks, everything that was possible was minimized and optimized. And it gave results.

    FlashGamm KYIV 2010


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    By the beginning of the conference, we were able to collect something resembling a prototype, and make a few dull levels. With this, Simon and Nikita went to Kiev. We participated in the “Indie” category, plus we also signed up for a game lynch, oh, and we came across us there ... But the game lynch itself was very useful, we were pointed out to the shortcomings of our game, to our mistakes and advised where to move on. I was glad that we predicted many of these shortcomings already in advance. At the audience’s vote for the best game of the game lynch, our game scored 0 points (Zen) and none of us, after that, expected that we could take at least something. But suddenly we took the nomination “Future hit”! Joy knew no bounds,
    proof. I think this event positively influenced the spirit of the team, we realized that there is something in the game and it needs to be completed, no matter what.

    Coming to an end


    After the contest, the development was already in progress, everything worked like a clock. But there were annoying bugs. The first bug is the failure of objects; he pursued us even in the Ball factory (in the first prototype). They decided it was trite, by the method of scientific poking. I started playing with the Box2D settings and found one feature, if you change b2_aabbMultiplier from 0.2 to 0.1, then the dip was magically fixed. But the second bug crept up, from where we did not wait. We used a SimpleButton wherever we needed to make a button, and even our thoughts didn’t allow that in newer versions of the player, the state of the button began to stick and it could not be fixed, no matter what sophistication they resorted to, nothing helped, we had to make our own scooter. Discussion on flasher.ru .

    Sale


    Another event happened at FlashGamm, we met Stefan Keish. We generally did not know how to sell the game. On the Internet, of course, there was something about FGL, but everything was vague, and besides, it was necessary to attract sponsors. Stefan actually does this, not free of course, 30% of the game sold. Having thought and consulted, we decided to accept this offer. Stefan also gives recommendations on how to make the game more attractive for the sponsor. The first thing he pointed out was the name. The fact is that the working title of the game was "Balls Da Vinci", it was with that name that we participated in FlashGamme. But alas, this name caused a lot of unnecessary associations with Leonardo's male dignity (which could not but rejoice) and we renamed it “Fun Da Vinci” (maybe this is just a puzzle for us, and for Da Vinci’s brain, it’s a joke).
    The lot was exposed on January 14, 2011. To everyone who exposes the game, the FGL does a review.
    Review Information:

    Intuitiveness: 7 Good
    Fun: 6 Average
    Graphics: 7 Good
    Sound: 8 Great
    Quality: 7 Good
    Overall: 7 Good

    Comments:
    Standard execution of a traditional physics game with a Leonardo da Vinci theme
    Creative level design, familiar game mechanics, polished interface
    Lacks depth beyond first playthrough. Consider adding achievements or a scoring mechanism of some sort

    We were immediately offered $ 1,000, but we wanted more, at least $ 3k. This bet lasted about a month, we were already desperate, but suddenly several large portals started to fight for the game (I think Stefan could not do without it). The stakes were either rising or quiet. It was noticed that by the end of the week the activity of the sponsors increased. When the rate reached $ 3000, we almost broke down to accept it, but someone bald offered to wait, because at that moment we received an offer from jayisgames.com to write a reviewto the game. We were delighted, because in addition to the “respect” from the well-known portal, a new wave of bets may arise, and this happened ... After the next sponsorship battles for the game, the bet stopped at $ 5600. We strangled our "toad" and accepted the bet. It was another victory. Exactly 2 months passed from the publication of the game on FGL to the acceptance of the bet.

    As you might have guessed, Armor Games won. Usually sponsors ask to make branding for their portal, install intro, connect API, etc. All this is easily done, but we had problems with the Armor Games' API, it did not want to connect to anything. We made an empty project, everything works fine in it, but not in the game project. I don’t know how miraculously, but Nikita found out that if you initialize the API in the preloader, then everything is OK, strange of course, but oh well.

    Sharing money


    So, you all wonder how much we have earned? Well, the situation is this: the
    FGL charges 10% for its services (half, by agreement, is paid by Stefan);
    10% of 5600 = 560 (share of FGL);
    560/2 = 280 (part of the FGL share that we pay);
    30% of 5600 = 1680 (Stefan share);
    Result: 5600 - 280 - 1680 = 3640:

    Three and a half pieces for 4 people in 4 months is a good result, as for migrant workers from Nigeria. How to live on games alone? - a question that puzzled us, but, nevertheless, enthusiasm only increased, and we will not give up our hobbies. And the answer to this question, we will definitely solve or find, maybe even in the comments to this post;

    Future plans


    We are already doing the second version with new items, levels, and features. There are ideas of interesting gameplay and virgin themes. On the technical side, we look towards the Appstore and Android Market, Unity3d to help us.

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