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Show HN: Life Goes On, my side project game that turned into a release on Steam

160 points by erik 12y ago

higherpurpose 12y ago
Looks fun.
kbenson 12y ago
Wow, I really like the idea of the small changes the multiple prior attempts caused to the level being integral to completion. This is jus the kind of game that looks interesting to me. I'll be sure to grab a copy. Out of curiosity, are you on any other markets, such as gog.com?
- erik 12y ago
  Thanks! We had a lot of fun with the idea, and seeing what we could do with it. We are also on the Humble Store at the moment. (http://humblebundle.com/store/p/lifegoeson_storefront http://humblebundle.com/store/p/lifegoeson_storefront) We reached out to Gog, and would love to be on their store, but we haven't been able to convince them so far.
erik 12y ago
A comment I posted a few days ago about the game got some interest, so I thought I would share it with the community. The project started with a group of strangers meeting at a global gamejam event in 2012. The first prototype was super buggy, but our idea about sacrificing your character to solve puzzles and make progress was well received, so the four of us decided to keep working on the project as an evenings and weekends thing. Sharing early prototypes with online communities provided a lot of feedback and encouragement. As the project progressed, more of the group started to focus on the game full time, working up to the release this month. The Steam page for the game is here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/250050/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/250050/ If anyone has any questions about the process, or the game, I'd be happy to answer them.
- funkyy 12y ago
  The game is really amazing. I for one will actually get a copy and support you. Keep it good work! I have a question - this game seems to be possible to easily port to mobiles (it looks like it would run smoothly on tablets and newer mobiles) - do you guys have plan for that?
  - erik 12y ago
    Thanks for the comment and the support, I hope you like the game! The game is built with Unity, so on that side of things, a mobile port is pretty straightforward. There are some challenges though. - Performance: The game uses physics simulation pretty heavily, with the ragdolls, ice cubes, and that sort of thing, which might take some rethinking to hit a mobile CPU budget. And while our graphics aren't that intense, they weren't built with a mobile GPU in mind, and would also likely take some work. - Controls: Life Goes On doesn't require very much precision platforming, but the levels are designed for a player at a keyboard, or with a controller. We don't know how well this would transition to touch controls. - Market: The biggest challenge for a game on mobile is finding an audience, and standing out from the crowd. Though if we can build enough fans on the PC, then we might have this hurdle overcome.
    - CmonDev 12y ago
      "The game is built with Unity" - which part of the game you implemented yourself and which you decided to get as components?
      - erik 12y ago
        Unity provides the foundation, with the rendering, physics, and that sort of thing. We purchased a few plugins to make GUI, input, and sound management easier. We create all of our own assets, and implemented all of our own gameplay logic.
- icefox 12y ago
  In a few months time would you be up for giving a financial report on how well sell on steam worked for you?
jason_slack 12y ago
I'd love to know how you started to develop a game for Steam. I thought yo had to be "Green Light". I have a few ios games and WiiU game I'd like to take more mainstream..Can you share how to get started?
- erik 12y ago
  Getting on to Steam is definitely one of the biggest challenges to developing PC games. Our team was very fortunate in that our game won an award from Intel in their Level Up Demo contest. (http://software.intel.com/sites/campaigns/levelup2014/ http://software.intel.com/sites/campaigns/levelup2014/) For most indie games, getting voted on by the community in the green light process is the most straightforward way to get on steam. If you have a project that has the right mass appeal, it seems that this can go very quickly. But it seems that most games need to build up a fan base and a following that can deliver votes and push them through the process.
  - jason_slack 12y ago
    Can you get the Steam SDK and develop, etc while you are trying to get Green Light?
    - erik 12y ago
      Yes, Valve did open up access to their SDK. I don't know if it's worth investing much effort into until you have actually been accepted on to steam though. https://partner.steamgames.com/ https://partner.steamgames.com/
      - jason_slack 12y ago
        well, I guess I'd have faith my games would make it :-)
- erik 12y ago
  I would be curious to hear about your experiences with the WiiU. Is Nintendo's digital marketplace a good place to be selling an indie game?
DigitalSea 12y ago
This looks great! I am definitely going to buy a copy and help support you. Looks like a lot of effort and thought has gone into this game, definitely my favourite type of game. Interesting underlying game mechanic as well.
- erik 12y ago
  Thanks! I hope you enjoy it.
joelgreen 12y ago
Reminds me a bit of this classic: http://armorgames.com/play/6252/timemu http://armorgames.com/play/6252/timemu
hawkharris 12y ago
The two things that really stand out for me are the graphics and the mood. In addition to having a polished look, the game has an evocative soundtrack. The tagline "Death is not a setback..." got my imagination going and drew me into the world of Life Goes On. If you have a moment and others haven't already asked the same question, I'd like to know which technologies (i.e. Unity?) you used to build the game and a bit about how you learned game development.
- erik 12y ago
  Thanks for the comments! The game is indeed built with Unity. 3D models and animations were created in 3DS Max. Game development was a hobby for me for a long time, with most of my experience coming from participating in 48 hour game jams, like the LD48. (http://www.ludumdare.com/ http://www.ludumdare.com/) It's been an interesting journey transitioning a hobby project into a commercial release. An interesting challenge that our team faced was that we all came from a programming background, so through the project we have had to find ways to fill all of the other requirements for the game.
  - hawkharris 12y ago
    That's interesting! I'll have to check out those game jams as a way to motivate myself. As a developer, I've always wanted to break into making games. And I think your team has handled the artistic aspects of the game very well, especially considering that you have programming backgrounds that might not have included visual design training. Anyhow, thanks for sharing and best of luck with your title in the future.
    - erik 12y ago
      I would definietly recommend game jams / weekend hackathons as a way to try out game development. I always found the goal of finishing something small very quickly to be great for motivation. Our team was very fortunate to have someone with some 3D art experience, even though his primary background and education is in programming. I sometimes joke about the "programmer art" of our game. Here is an imgur album that looks at the art a bit, and gives a glimpse of how it has evolved. http://imgur.com/a/sYhk5 http://imgur.com/a/sYhk5
akg 12y ago
Amazing work! Congratulations on the release. Any insights during the development? What worked? What didn't? How big was your team? How did you split the work? How long did it take from inception to release? Would love to hear your thoughts.
- erik 12y ago
  Thanks! One lesson was that we should have invested more in our tools upfront. We largely depended on Unity's built in editor to create our content. If we had built level editor tools, and an art workflow based around that, content creation would have gone much faster. And we might have gotten to the point where we could have offered a level editor to players. Our team was four core members, with a composer and a GUI / 2d artist helping out on contract. We also had help on the business side. With the game starting as a hobby project, we didn't have much structure, and the work got divided simply by people taking on the jobs that they had the time, interest, and skills for. On that front, we are fortunate that things worked out as well as they did. The project started at a Global Game Jam in January 2012, so we were a little over two years from start to release.
noonespecial 12y ago
This has shades of Lemmings! I love it. And I just had an Amiga flashback.
bobwaycott 12y ago
This looks quite fantastic! It also reminds me a bit of a game called 'Humans' I used to play as a kid back in the 90s (at least, that's what I recall it being called, but I can't seem to find a link for it anywhere). Great job on this.
- vacri 12y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Humans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Humans, a Lemmings-style game
borplk 12y ago
Very nice. Congrats.
seivan 12y ago
Congratulations dude!
bret_maverick 12y ago
Congratulations! This game looks amazing and kudos for the 2 years of hard work and perseverance! It must be really hard to keep motivated as a team for such a long time. The art and game play looks really good and your composer did a very good job! I will definitely get a copy of the game! It reminds me of one of the best platformers in my opinion - Earthworm Jim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthworm_Jim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthworm_Jim)
fasteo 12y ago
Sountrack is outstanding. Great work.
keyle 12y ago
Any words on the revenues / sales $ generated by Steam?
mratzloff 12y ago
Congratulations, great idea and (it looks like) great execution! Now you need to enter the game into festivals, drum up PR, conduct interviews. By publishing to a Steam first, you will also have a hard time getting on XBLA, if you were interested in that--a shame, because this game looks like a perfect fit. Maybe PSN?
dmix 12y ago
The trailer video cuts too quickly between scenes. It's difficult to see whats going on. The fact there was a sacrifice going on wasn't as obvious as it could be.
mathattack 12y ago
I certainly love the premise, though $12.99 is a high price point in this day and age, no?
- kej 12y ago
  $10-$20 seems like the average range for indie games of this size lately, so it doesn't feel too high to me, at least.
  - mathattack 12y ago
    Fair enough - perhaps my worldview has been modified too much by mobile apps.
deluxeroyale 12y ago
I would love to see this on the Playstation Vita. Just the kind of game that would play nice on a portable gaming device.

160 points by erik 12y ago

Looks fun.

Wow, I really like the idea of the small changes the multiple prior attempts caused to the level being integral to completion. This is jus the kind of game that looks interesting to me. I'll be sure to grab a copy. Out of curiosity, are you on any other markets, such as gog.com?

erik 12y ago
Thanks! We had a lot of fun with the idea, and seeing what we could do with it. We are also on the Humble Store at the moment. (http://humblebundle.com/store/p/lifegoeson_storefront http://humblebundle.com/store/p/lifegoeson_storefront) We reached out to Gog, and would love to be on their store, but we haven't been able to convince them so far.

erik 12y ago

A comment I posted a few days ago about the game got some interest, so I thought I would share it with the community. The project started with a group of strangers meeting at a global gamejam event in 2012. The first prototype was super buggy, but our idea about sacrificing your character to solve puzzles and make progress was well received, so the four of us decided to keep working on the project as an evenings and weekends thing. Sharing early prototypes with online communities provided a lot of feedback and encouragement. As the project progressed, more of the group started to focus on the game full time, working up to the release this month. The Steam page for the game is here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/250050/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/250050/ If anyone has any questions about the process, or the game, I'd be happy to answer them.

funkyy 12y ago
The game is really amazing. I for one will actually get a copy and support you. Keep it good work! I have a question - this game seems to be possible to easily port to mobiles (it looks like it would run smoothly on tablets and newer mobiles) - do you guys have plan for that?
- erik 12y ago
  Thanks for the comment and the support, I hope you like the game! The game is built with Unity, so on that side of things, a mobile port is pretty straightforward. There are some challenges though. - Performance: The game uses physics simulation pretty heavily, with the ragdolls, ice cubes, and that sort of thing, which might take some rethinking to hit a mobile CPU budget. And while our graphics aren't that intense, they weren't built with a mobile GPU in mind, and would also likely take some work. - Controls: Life Goes On doesn't require very much precision platforming, but the levels are designed for a player at a keyboard, or with a controller. We don't know how well this would transition to touch controls. - Market: The biggest challenge for a game on mobile is finding an audience, and standing out from the crowd. Though if we can build enough fans on the PC, then we might have this hurdle overcome.
  - CmonDev 12y ago
    "The game is built with Unity" - which part of the game you implemented yourself and which you decided to get as components?
    - erik 12y ago
      Unity provides the foundation, with the rendering, physics, and that sort of thing. We purchased a few plugins to make GUI, input, and sound management easier. We create all of our own assets, and implemented all of our own gameplay logic.
icefox 12y ago
In a few months time would you be up for giving a financial report on how well sell on steam worked for you?

jason_slack 12y ago

I'd love to know how you started to develop a game for Steam. I thought yo had to be "Green Light". I have a few ios games and WiiU game I'd like to take more mainstream..Can you share how to get started?

erik 12y ago
Getting on to Steam is definitely one of the biggest challenges to developing PC games. Our team was very fortunate in that our game won an award from Intel in their Level Up Demo contest. (http://software.intel.com/sites/campaigns/levelup2014/ http://software.intel.com/sites/campaigns/levelup2014/) For most indie games, getting voted on by the community in the green light process is the most straightforward way to get on steam. If you have a project that has the right mass appeal, it seems that this can go very quickly. But it seems that most games need to build up a fan base and a following that can deliver votes and push them through the process.
- jason_slack 12y ago
  Can you get the Steam SDK and develop, etc while you are trying to get Green Light?
  - erik 12y ago
    Yes, Valve did open up access to their SDK. I don't know if it's worth investing much effort into until you have actually been accepted on to steam though. https://partner.steamgames.com/ https://partner.steamgames.com/
    - jason_slack 12y ago
      well, I guess I'd have faith my games would make it :-)
erik 12y ago
I would be curious to hear about your experiences with the WiiU. Is Nintendo's digital marketplace a good place to be selling an indie game?

DigitalSea 12y ago

This looks great! I am definitely going to buy a copy and help support you. Looks like a lot of effort and thought has gone into this game, definitely my favourite type of game. Interesting underlying game mechanic as well.

erik 12y ago
Thanks! I hope you enjoy it.

joelgreen 12y ago

Reminds me a bit of this classic: http://armorgames.com/play/6252/timemu http://armorgames.com/play/6252/timemu

hawkharris 12y ago

The two things that really stand out for me are the graphics and the mood. In addition to having a polished look, the game has an evocative soundtrack. The tagline "Death is not a setback..." got my imagination going and drew me into the world of Life Goes On. If you have a moment and others haven't already asked the same question, I'd like to know which technologies (i.e. Unity?) you used to build the game and a bit about how you learned game development.

erik 12y ago
Thanks for the comments! The game is indeed built with Unity. 3D models and animations were created in 3DS Max. Game development was a hobby for me for a long time, with most of my experience coming from participating in 48 hour game jams, like the LD48. (http://www.ludumdare.com/ http://www.ludumdare.com/) It's been an interesting journey transitioning a hobby project into a commercial release. An interesting challenge that our team faced was that we all came from a programming background, so through the project we have had to find ways to fill all of the other requirements for the game.
- hawkharris 12y ago
  That's interesting! I'll have to check out those game jams as a way to motivate myself. As a developer, I've always wanted to break into making games. And I think your team has handled the artistic aspects of the game very well, especially considering that you have programming backgrounds that might not have included visual design training. Anyhow, thanks for sharing and best of luck with your title in the future.
  - erik 12y ago
    I would definietly recommend game jams / weekend hackathons as a way to try out game development. I always found the goal of finishing something small very quickly to be great for motivation. Our team was very fortunate to have someone with some 3D art experience, even though his primary background and education is in programming. I sometimes joke about the "programmer art" of our game. Here is an imgur album that looks at the art a bit, and gives a glimpse of how it has evolved. http://imgur.com/a/sYhk5 http://imgur.com/a/sYhk5

akg 12y ago

Amazing work! Congratulations on the release. Any insights during the development? What worked? What didn't? How big was your team? How did you split the work? How long did it take from inception to release? Would love to hear your thoughts.

erik 12y ago
Thanks! One lesson was that we should have invested more in our tools upfront. We largely depended on Unity's built in editor to create our content. If we had built level editor tools, and an art workflow based around that, content creation would have gone much faster. And we might have gotten to the point where we could have offered a level editor to players. Our team was four core members, with a composer and a GUI / 2d artist helping out on contract. We also had help on the business side. With the game starting as a hobby project, we didn't have much structure, and the work got divided simply by people taking on the jobs that they had the time, interest, and skills for. On that front, we are fortunate that things worked out as well as they did. The project started at a Global Game Jam in January 2012, so we were a little over two years from start to release.

noonespecial 12y ago

This has shades of Lemmings! I love it. And I just had an Amiga flashback.

bobwaycott 12y ago

This looks quite fantastic! It also reminds me a bit of a game called 'Humans' I used to play as a kid back in the 90s (at least, that's what I recall it being called, but I can't seem to find a link for it anywhere). Great job on this.

vacri 12y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Humans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Humans, a Lemmings-style game

borplk 12y ago

Very nice. Congrats.

seivan 12y ago

Congratulations dude!

bret_maverick 12y ago

Congratulations! This game looks amazing and kudos for the 2 years of hard work and perseverance! It must be really hard to keep motivated as a team for such a long time. The art and game play looks really good and your composer did a very good job! I will definitely get a copy of the game! It reminds me of one of the best platformers in my opinion - Earthworm Jim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthworm_Jim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthworm_Jim)

fasteo 12y ago

Sountrack is outstanding. Great work.

keyle 12y ago

Any words on the revenues / sales $ generated by Steam?

mratzloff 12y ago

Congratulations, great idea and (it looks like) great execution! Now you need to enter the game into festivals, drum up PR, conduct interviews. By publishing to a Steam first, you will also have a hard time getting on XBLA, if you were interested in that--a shame, because this game looks like a perfect fit. Maybe PSN?

dmix 12y ago

The trailer video cuts too quickly between scenes. It's difficult to see whats going on. The fact there was a sacrifice going on wasn't as obvious as it could be.

mathattack 12y ago

I certainly love the premise, though $12.99 is a high price point in this day and age, no?

kej 12y ago
$10-$20 seems like the average range for indie games of this size lately, so it doesn't feel too high to me, at least.
- mathattack 12y ago
  Fair enough - perhaps my worldview has been modified too much by mobile apps.

deluxeroyale 12y ago

I would love to see this on the Playstation Vita. Just the kind of game that would play nice on a portable gaming device.