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‘It took over my life ’ How one man made his dream 90s video game on his own
- h2odragon 4y agohttps://store.steampowered.com/app/1366560/MiLE_HiGH_TAXi/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1366560/MiLE_HiGH_TAXi/ That looks cool.
- dncornholio 4y ago> Notice: MiLE HiGH TAXi requires a controller in order to play. Playing with a keyboard and mouse isn't supported. The game looks also very unpolished. Not sure why this is posted.
- weekendvampire 4y agoI desperately want a project like this to take over my life for a few months. I'm in grad school so am juggling job hunting with coursework and other part time job duties, but I miss the feeling of giving 100% of my time and energy to one thing.
- dunefox 4y agoSame. So I started an ant simulation in the spirit of dwarf fortress. Simulate everything down to pheromones and fungal growth. Ants have an internal knowledge graph that can be communicated between ants and updated based on world interaction. So far it hasn't taken over my life, sadly.
- reidjs 4y agoCheck out SimAnt if you haven't already!
- vageli 4y agoAs someone who loves SimAnt I would be interested in following your development if possible.
- srad1292 4y agoReminds me of one of the "Coding Adventures" videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-iSQQgOd1A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-iSQQgOd1A
- dunefox 4y agoDamn, I wish I could do graphics programming... very nice video.
- yamtaddle 4y agoWishlist of games I want but will probably never make myself: - Warzone taxi / ambulance driver. I discovered this with GTA San Andreas: cheats "all pedestrians armed" and "all pedestrians fight", then run taxi and ambulance missions. I guess this could just be a game mode in GTA. Putting in the cheat codes is tedious, especially since it's usually nice to also do the 100% armor code so you have some chance of actually completing multiple drop-offs, so a separate game or a dedicated game mode that wrapped it all up together would be cool. Courier, et c., would also be cool roles. Crazy chaotic urban warfare in which you're not a main target, but you've got to get around the city, is the point. - Tailspin / Tales of the Gold Monkey / Archer Danger Island flight/business sim. You run a scrappy barely-getting-by flight service in some fictional Pacific island chain with a backdrop that's more-or-less the late 1930s. Survive, upgrade your plane, buy more planes, hire more pilots, et c. Indiana jones vibes (one mission type could be flying Indy-like characters to and from whatever ruins they want to explore, in fact). Maybe some Sid Meyer's Pirates! elements, to a degree—but you've got a flying boat, not a pirate ship. But, yes, pirates should be there, and all kinds of other unsavory characters. Spies, simple cargo runs, smuggling, the occasional military skirmish. A little like some of those trade-oriented space sims, but the planets are islands and the space ships are planes. Presence of plot(s) optional but encouraged. Big extra points if there's some element of first-person play outside the planes. I'd be OK with the flight being anything between pretty-damn-realistic and fairly-arcadey-but-not-so-arcadey-you-can't-stall. Then the ones that are just "why the hell is there no modern equivalent of this game?": - 4+ player (including at least 4 for local play) Return Fire for modern consoles. - Battletanx for modern consoles, w/ local multiplayer (um, feel free to rewrite the setting....) - A tower-defense type game even half as ambitious and weird and genre-mashing as Dominus was.
- nemo44x 4y ago> - Tailspin / Tales of the Gold Monkey / Archer Danger Island flight/business sim. Back in the day there was a game called "Escape Velocity" that was essentially this but in space. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_Velocity_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_Velocity_(video_game)
- 4y ago
- ggambetta 4y agoI dreamed of exactly that game since The Fifth Element came out in 1997. Can't wait to play this :)
- everyone 4y agoIn fairness this is a typical indie game dev story.. There are 100's maybe 1000's like this released every year. I'm curious why this one got a Guardian article. The creator must have some pull at the Guardian somehow.
- bentlegen 4y agoYour comment is being unfairly downvoted, IMO. I spend some time on the Unity subreddit and there are hundreds of folks with similar projects of similar size quality who would kill for this kind of publicity. That being said it is still a good article that features a lot of interesting details, for example, his budget and what he spent it on. I’m also impressed he did this part time. I think the lesson is: there are lots of people who make games, but that’s only half the battle. Perhaps the creator’s best shrewd business move was in obtaining this publicity? What if all he did was ask?
- yamtaddle 4y agoDeveloper may have had enough cash in the bank to pay a PR firm to place a couple articles. Might be simple as that.
- bentlegen 4y agoThe creator also works for “Canadian TV” and didn’t think twice about buying voiceovers. It wouldn’t surprise me if they have other industry experience that they drew on here, e.g. seeing the success of paid PR.
- dangus 4y agoYour lesson hits the nail on the head. Next time all y'all engineers out there dog on your marketing and sales departments, don't forget that the relationship is symbiotic!
- jrootabega 4y agoThe author of the article has a personal/professional interest and history with Crazy Taxi reviews.
- causi 4y agoHmm, this seems less fun than Crazy Taxi. A huge part of Crazy Taxi was trying to keep track of the upcoming terrain and gauge how it's going to affect the momentum and trajectory of your car. With a flying taxi there is no terrain, no ramps, etc you just fly around obstacles.
- bombcar 4y agoThis is true of many "arcade-like" games - the real fun is abusing the physics engine in ways not originally fully intended. Trackmania is one, for example.
- tecleandor 4y agoAt least from the trailer it feels a bit like the gameplay is vertical and in a straight line, like if it were a long corridor. They should show some turning left and right to see how does it work.
- intrepidhero 4y agoI dunno it looks pretty fun to me. Did you see the video? It looks like there are plenty of taxi-terrain interactions. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1366560/MiLE_HiGH_TAXi/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1366560/MiLE_HiGH_TAXi/
- Retric 4y agoThe city looks very 3D so there’s plenty of opportunity for the same kind of gameplay. Ie I need to below the car in front of me so I can make a sharp enough turn at speed to make it up a narrow gap. No idea how much the level layout and physics engine impacts gameplay though.
- hawski 4y agoDoes anyone remember or played Crime Cities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_Cities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_Cities ?
- gambiting 4y agoYes! I used to play loads of it as a kid, I just found it completely fascinating. I think I only discovered it because it was given away as a freebie with a Polish computer/games magazine "CD-Action" whose main gimmick was that released monthly and always had a full game attached to the magazine, once they grew big they always managed to secure some pretty big(for the time) titles.
- dmonitor 4y agoI was really hoping this was about Pizza Tower [1]. Game in the article looks a bit like an asset flip crazy taxi clone. There's a lot of game recently that have been trying to capture the late 90s aesthetics without the late 90s technical limitations. The Big Catch [2] and Cavern of Dreams [3], for example. I'd love to see an exploration of the appeal to that aesthetic, because I think there's something more to it than just the nostalgic / vintage appeal. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlq6fFOqI28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlq6fFOqI28 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHeJBfqf9d4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHeJBfqf9d4 [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDjZl1EZaBc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDjZl1EZaBc
- jrootabega 4y agoEven if this game turns out weak, this guy is gonna cash in on a huge ripe nostalgia market. People who played the original Crazy Taxi have also been consistently upset that the later releases didn't have the same music, so they may buy this just to stick it to whoever published those. I think he'll regret the lack of kb/m support, though. And I wonder if releasing this as a personal product (instead of a corporation) is wise, considering it very closely imitates two separate IPs, and references others like Total Recall's Johnnycab.
- NiagaraThistle 4y agoIn middle school (late 80's, early 90's ?), me and a couple friends used to sit around in class and dream up custom JRPGs like Dragon Warrior or Final Fantasy type games. We'd draw maps and build out stories and wish we could build out the actual games. Today with tools like Godot and RPG Maker (regardless of how good or bad compared to others), I realize it is actually possible to build these games I used to dream about. But like the title of this article, I fear falling too deep down a rabbit hole now that i have a family and adult responsibilities. But man does that inner 12-year fet super excited at the thought of building an 8-bit Dragon Warrior clone based on the old Middle Earth Role Playing TTRPG adventures.
- anthk 4y agoYou could do that 20 years ago with RPG Maker.
- NiagaraThistle 4y agoI don't even think i owned my own computer 20 years ago, let alone had the skills to do that in RPGMaker, let alone knew what RPG maker was. THat's why i worry about the rabbit hole now, because those things are no longer an obstacle. Sure I'd have to skill up on RPG Maker, and buy some assets - maybe even jump down the additional rabbit hole of learning how to make the assets myself - but I really just think I'd go head first in and not look up for a while.
- JohnClark1337 4y ago[dead]
- marktangotango 4y agoTo me the biggest obstacle to this endeavor was creating the pixel art; even with something like Rpg Maker. I believe Rpg Maker has stock assets but at some point you'd want to customize. And that can be a lot of work. Does anyone have experience with this aspect?
- 4y ago
- petodo 4y agoI can't believe nobody in this thread mentioned Quarantine (1994). I never played Crazy Taxi, but remember Quarantine being fun, something in likes of Carmageddon. You can play it here: https://playold.games/play-game/quarantine/play/ https://playold.games/play-game/quarantine/play/
- VyseofArcadia 4y agoI'd imagine a lot more people were exposed to Crazy Taxi. There was a good few years when you couldn't walk into an arcade without hearing "Hey hey hey, who's ready to make some ca-razy money!"
- petodo 4y agoarcades were not that popular in 90s in my European country (I remember playing there only 1941), instead we played games at one computer taking turns (Pinball fantasies, quarantine etc) or against each other (Wacky wheels, mortal Kombat etc), later LAN parties
- shanebellone 4y agoTerraria might be the most successful example from a 1-2 person dev studio. Does anyone know of a more successful example?
- feoren 4y agoMinecraft?
- jonnybgood 4y agoI think the first Mount & Blade was a 1-2 developer effort.
- snowram 4y agoAs much as I don't want to admit it : flappy bird
- gausswho 4y agoHollow Knight was a two person masterpiece. Or maybe three including the musician?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- ivalm 4y agoSteamdb says Terraria: 40-100M units sold Hollow knight: 8-20M for just sold Rimwirld: 4-9M units sold.
- Vvector 4y ago- Minecraft was solo in the early days - Dwarf Fortress - Stardew Valley - going way back, Tetris
- marcus_holmes 4y agoStardew Valley was a 1-person effort (not sure if it still is), and massively successful
- a_subsystem 4y agoStardew Valley?
- r721 4y agoScreenshots reminded me of BHunter, obscure 1999 game: https://www.mobygames.com/game/26238/bhunter/ https://www.mobygames.com/game/26238/bhunter/ https://obscuritory.com/action/bhunter/ https://obscuritory.com/action/bhunter/ Image from the article: https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d6f1660ab7a8096e3239a7a33c081da64938cb1b/0_0_1756_1054/master/1756.jpg?width=620&quality=85&dpr=1&s=none https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d6f1660ab7a8096e3239a7a33c081... BHunter: https://cdn.mobygames.com/screenshots/10634620-bhunter-windows-first-glimpse-of-the-city.jpg https://cdn.mobygames.com/screenshots/10634620-bhunter-windo...
- AndrewOMartin 4y agoThe game seems to have an arrow at the top middle of the screen pointing you in the direction to go. This is basis for a lawsuit. Video on the subject: https://youtu.be/EmyCy5pRMSg?t=520 https://youtu.be/EmyCy5pRMSg?t=520 The patent in question: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6200138B1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US6200138B1/en
- mrandish 4y agoThe patent expired in 2018.
- AndrewOMartin 4y agoI never thought to look for an expiry date. Thx for pointing it out.
- karaterobot 4y agoWhat I remember most about Crazy Taxi was the extremely 90s pop punk sound track. If the main monetary expense for him was hiring voice actors, I assume he didn't license any Offspring songs or anything like that. Does that mean the game has no sound track, or that it has a sound track of free songs, or that he made all the songs himself? Anyway, wish him well. Making a full game by yourself is a ton of work, and most people just give up on it after a few months, so that's especially impressive.
- uejfiweun 4y agoDoes anybody else have the following issue? I've worked on many personal game projects and the beginning is always very fun. But as the complexity scales and my ambitions grow, I end up so deep in the weeds that it renders me incapable of objectively judging my game. I can't tell whether it looks good, whether it's fun, etc.
- JohnDeHope 4y agoIf you're afraid of falling down a rabbit hole of complexity, look into Pico 8. It gives you everything you need to make a game, but also very solidly caps the level of complexity you can inflict on yourself. https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php