
Show HN: Life Goes On, my side project game that turned into a release on Steam - erik
http://lifegoesongame.com/
======
erik
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
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
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
"The game is built with Unity" \- which part of the game you implemented
yourself and which you decided to get as components?

~~~
erik
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.

------
hawkharris
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
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.

~~~
hughc
It looks great. I find it intriguing that it's a 2D platformer done in a 3d
environment. Were you ever tempted to move the camera?

~~~
vacri
Trine is done that way as well. It's surprisingly immersive for a platformer.

~~~
thoughtpalette
Trines art direction is also beautiful and worth the price of the game alone.

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

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kbenson
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
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.

------
jason_slack
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
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
Can you get the Steam SDK and develop, etc while you are trying to get Green
Light?

~~~
erik
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
well, I guess I'd have faith my games would make it :-)

------
DigitalSea
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
Thanks! I hope you enjoy it.

------
bret_maverick
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))

------
dmix
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.

------
mratzloff
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?

------
bobwaycott
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
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Humans](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Humans),
a Lemmings-style game

------
akg
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
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.

------
joelgreen
Reminds me a bit of this classic:
[http://armorgames.com/play/6252/timemu](http://armorgames.com/play/6252/timemu)

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

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

~~~
kej
$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
Fair enough - perhaps my worldview has been modified too much by mobile apps.

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

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fasteo
Sountrack is outstanding. Great work.

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higherpurpose
Looks fun.

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seivan
Congratulations dude!

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borplk
Very nice. Congrats.

