

The New Indie Videogame Movement - sah
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122972605155122665.html?mod=djem_we

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jcromartie
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.

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DarkShikari
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.

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donal
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...](http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/ZIhL8DajewM6w7pMaFOVrFYkcAh9T0dn)

I love a good shmup.

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DarkShikari
_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.)

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jamongkad
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?

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sadiq
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.

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drawkbox
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.

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sadiq
With the new Java plugin (6u10), applets can request their own memory limits
way beyond that.

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drawkbox
Yes but 1.6 is not very penetrated. Currently Flash has the best, Unity for
gaming sites is getting there. Everyone has java but not the latest.

<http://www.realchat.com/blog/java-vs-flash/>

By the way I am not discounting Java as a viable platform. It works in many
cases, Runescape proves that being the #2 North American MMO. But it doesn't
do that with graphical quality. It does it with gameplay and the progression
etc. As of right now the best looking platforms and easiest to develop for are
Unity3D and Flash for the web, if we are talking developing games for the
browser.

EDIT: btw those numbers are old, these are newer: <http://kaioa.com/node/40>
But still 1.6 is about 70% penetration.

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sadiq
Unfortunately, as a closed-source propriety platform that doesn't have any
support (nor plans any support) for Linux, I had to discount Unity3D almost
immediately.

Flash loses out largely for the lack of good accelerated 3D. I've played with
papervision but it's just too slow for a anything decent, that I can guarantee
will run on even moderately equipped machines.

~~~
drawkbox
While I am with you on open source. Unity uses lots of it to build on such as
mono.net (C#, boo, javascript), OGG formats, some collada support and FBX
support (autodesk), opengl (also directx), Cg formats for HLSL and GLSL
shaders etc. I am betting you haven't tried it, if you do I am sure your
opinion will change the pipeline and ability to create quality stuff with it
is almost immediate. There is not just another product like it currently in
terms of pipeline improvements, apis, ide, size of plugin, shader support etc
for the web.

