The New Indie Videogame Movement (opens in new tab)

(online.wsj.com)

25 pointssah17y ago24 comments

24 comments

10 comments · 3 top-level

jamongkad17y ago· 5 in thread

Wow I've always wanted to get a foot hold in developing games. But I don't know where to start as the range of my development experiences comes from J2ME apps to web applications.

Are there any YCer's here who are in to game development that could give me a helping hand? Should I start with Flash or something?

sadiq17y ago

If you're already got some experience with Java, then applets may be the way to go.

Despite what people say, Java plugin penetration is still very high and games like Runescape show what you can do. The ability to run cross-platform OpenGL in the browser is a huge advantage.

drawkbox17y ago

The problem is Java Applets are limited to 64MB of memory unless you have the user go through a horribly unusable process to change that. This include Xith3d, jMonkeyEngine, etc.

The best 3d web engine is Unity3D. Best game engine tool is Flash, even for some small 3D.

You can always have a downloadable client but if you want good web based browser games Unity3D and Flash (AS3 since it is on AVM2 and much faster) are the only way to go.

If you want a pretty sweet Python 3D engine check out Panda 3D.

2 more replies

teamonkey17y ago

And you can check out http://lwjgl.org/ too.

chaostheory17y ago

since you're from the java world, if you're open to working with MS stuff - they have XNA http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/xna/ I think it's a specialized version of Visual Studio for DirectX (PC/Xbox) and you can use C# (which is very similar to Java - just not as much open source libs)

Here's a look at some Xbox 360 community games: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/events/gdc2008/xna/defau...

jamongkad17y ago

Thankyou!Just recently I've been dabbling in Python. What do you think of producing games in Pyglet?

2 more replies

DarkShikari17y ago· 2 in thread

Is it really that new? Indie games have been popular for quite some time--maybe they're just coming more into the spotlight now, but this trend has been going on for quite a while.

See my post at http://news.ycombinator.net/item?id=398305 for an example of a tremendously successful indie game developer who managed--alone--in his free time (!)--to create one of the most popular franchises in Japan.

donal17y ago

Kento Cho also should get crazy amounts of respect. He just codes crazy shmups for his own amusement. Seems even someone developing for Wii took notice: http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/ZIhL8DajewM6w7pMaFOVrFY...

I love a good shmup.

DarkShikari17y ago

I love a good shmup.

Indeed, and the ones with good bullet patterns aren't just fun to play, they're even just fun to look at!

Examples:

http://mirror05.x264.nl/Dark/Flash/extra.html

http://mirror05.x264.nl/Dark/Flash/saextra.html

(Disclaimer: Not my replays. I'm not that good.)

jcromartie17y ago

I find it funny that the "game degree" is exploding at the same time the indie game scene is. I understand why... but I just wish people would realize that they don't need to go to school to make games on their own.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

24 comments

10 comments · 3 top-level

jamongkad17y ago· 5 in thread

Wow I've always wanted to get a foot hold in developing games. But I don't know where to start as the range of my development experiences comes from J2ME apps to web applications.

Are there any YCer's here who are in to game development that could give me a helping hand? Should I start with Flash or something?

sadiq17y ago

If you're already got some experience with Java, then applets may be the way to go.

Despite what people say, Java plugin penetration is still very high and games like Runescape show what you can do. The ability to run cross-platform OpenGL in the browser is a huge advantage.

drawkbox17y ago

The problem is Java Applets are limited to 64MB of memory unless you have the user go through a horribly unusable process to change that. This include Xith3d, jMonkeyEngine, etc.

The best 3d web engine is Unity3D. Best game engine tool is Flash, even for some small 3D.

You can always have a downloadable client but if you want good web based browser games Unity3D and Flash (AS3 since it is on AVM2 and much faster) are the only way to go.

If you want a pretty sweet Python 3D engine check out Panda 3D.

2 more replies

teamonkey17y ago

And you can check out http://lwjgl.org/ too.

chaostheory17y ago

Here's a look at some Xbox 360 community games: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/events/gdc2008/xna/defau...

jamongkad17y ago

Thankyou!Just recently I've been dabbling in Python. What do you think of producing games in Pyglet?

2 more replies

DarkShikari17y ago· 2 in thread

Is it really that new? Indie games have been popular for quite some time--maybe they're just coming more into the spotlight now, but this trend has been going on for quite a while.

donal17y ago

I love a good shmup.

DarkShikari17y ago

I love a good shmup.

Indeed, and the ones with good bullet patterns aren't just fun to play, they're even just fun to look at!

Examples:

http://mirror05.x264.nl/Dark/Flash/extra.html

http://mirror05.x264.nl/Dark/Flash/saextra.html

(Disclaimer: Not my replays. I'm not that good.)

jcromartie17y ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse