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Tyler
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Going From Amateur Hobbyist to Developing Games for a Living

Posted by Tyler - January 1st, 2016


A few days ago, Tom said something on twitter that inspired me to make this post:   

                                 2595437_145168217973_ScreenShot2016-01-01at4.08.27PM.png

I owe the beginning of my journey of making games to Newgrounds. I’ve decided to start writing about the process here to shed light on development for those interested in making games too. 

Since I’ve been fortunate enough to quit my job two years ago and be financially sustained by doing what I like (making games), I want to share with you my mistakes, my learnings and my process as it evolves.


I’d like to return the favor by writing posts every week.


I feel it is only right to give back and hopefully inspire others the way I was inspired by artists on Newgrounds who came way before me.

My game, Sentry Knight Tactics (pictured below), is a continuation of a series of games I’ve developed over the course of a few years. I’ve developed a few other series of games; some of which were failures and others that were successes.

                    2595437_145168013012_ScreenShot2016-01-01at3.34.46PM.png


How do you know what will stick and be successful for you?


You don’t. Experimentation and borrowing from other successful works is key.

I’ve made about 30 games for fun and experimented with tons of genres before I found what works for me. I’ve worked on a few original series, done many game jams and have made contract games for sponsors. Some received millions of plays, high scores and continue to make me money. Some were absolute failures and received public scorn. All were learning experiences that help me as I continue to grow.

Of the games I made, those that did well I made sequels of. Dino Shift became Dino Shift 2. Siege Knight became Sentry Knight. Sentry Knight was loved so much, Justin and I (the programmer) were commissioned to make a sequel and a got a publisher’s interest in Sentry Knight Tactics. These games were financially successful enough for me to not have to work as a graphic designer anymore. 

Experimenting with these early games informed my aesthetic sense and game “feel”. From Dino Shift, I learned players like my cute, colorful characters with expressive, emoticon-like faces. From Sentry Knight, I learned players liked cool animated special effects, gorgeous backgrounds (thanks to Jason) and cartoon gore. I also learned to remove what they hate.

Do what works. Do what you like.

I try to take the feel and aesthetic to the next level with each game I make. The increasingly higher ratings and higher income from my work quantifies their importance to success to me.

     2595437_145168000063_ScreenShot2016-01-01at3.32.37PM.png
                                                          (Quality, Score and Plays increase with time)

Aside from learning through experimentation, I tend to borrow what works from other games. My philosophy is that more of what is good can’t be bad. A concept has proven itself and there is no need to reinvent the wheel. 


My new game is NOT original, just smarter


Sentry Knight Tactics borrows a lot inspiration from Mika Mobile’s iOS game, Battleheart.

                           
2595437_145168356482_giphy.gif

My new game is Battleheart on cocaine. I loved Battleheart. It has a lot of heart despite my many gripes about all it does wrong. Sentry Knight Tactics is what Battleheart could have been if done well.

Sentry Knight 1 was originally supposed to be a side-scrolling RPG. I lacked the skill, money, and vision to make such a game at the time and instead made Sentry Knight 1 the tower-defense game it became. As I developed the Sentry Knight series, I thought about how I could make the world fitting for an RPG. 

I always wanted to make a 2D interpretation of World of Warcraft growing up. Battleheart perfectly broke down the party-based raid controls of WoW into a simple, single player game.  Since they did it so perfectly, it would be foolish for me to try and reinvent the wheel. I took this genre out for a spin with my jam game: Punk Bitches vs The Undead before I decided to integrate the concept with Sentry Knight.

Sentry Knight Tactics is going to do what Battleheart tried to do but actually make it good.

Battleheart demands you grind levels over and over again. Battleheart recycles its ugly backgrounds.  Battleheart only has a few enemies. Battleheart has lousy music. Battleheart’s levels are limited to one screen. Battleheart has no story. Battleheart’s sequel was terrible and lost all the charm of the original. 

I’m taking what Mika Mobile did and making it better with my brand of game feel I learned from making older games.

                            2595437_145168356321_giphy.gif
                                                      (Side-scrolling, loot AND killable chickens. Wow!)


Work smarter, not harder


Time is money. When starting making games, you’ll be broke. You don’t want to waste time and money producing expensive games that take forever to make and that you don’t have the vision or experience to make.

I have a series that was liked amongst fans. I have a publisher who gives me X money to produce a game. I work on my new game within these restrictions. A lot of developers more talented than I burn themselves out, go broke or just flat out fail from from not reaching the unrealistic and high expectations they set so early in their career.

One day, I’ll be able to make even bigger games. Until then, I work within my restrictions.


What are you going to do this new year?


I want to post more about my process in 2016; hopefully i'll make one post every week.

I want to make three games this year.

I hope my posts inspire other people to make content this year.

I hope the people that I inspire in turn inspire others.

Let me know what you’re going to make.

PS. If you want to see more Sentry Knight Tactics stuff and don't feel like waiting for the next post, follow its twitter


Comments

Really fun post with great supporting imagery, would love to see these regularly in 2016!

I'm always nervous about how much to show of the game we've been working on when the time comes... Part of me wants to just go all out, regular shots and video, live streaming, etc... The other part wants tons of mystery and surprise when the final game comes out. Downside is the whole thing will be available via Lets Play videos on day 1 so maybe not worth bottling it up for so long.

I plan on it!

That really is a tough call. Surprise and intrigue is a lot of fun. I feel like until I've become more successful and have a greater reputation, surprise will hurt in the sales department. I think either way would be probably be good for you guys.. maybe?

I like sharing because it might inspire and de-mystify the process for other people and because it also hopefully gets word of my game to travel more.

I wish you luck man. :)

By the way, OMG IT'S TOM FULP HI! :D

That sounds very promising! If all your news posts will be like this, I'll be an avid reader. That game looks like something I'd play. Good luck with that!

Glad to hear it! I intend to make more like this. I want to develop a better style of writing, so hopefully the next one is better.

Good luck my man! Although I know you don't need it.

Thanks! Fortune is an adulterous mistress that can't be relied upon.

Great post! Inspiring to see the evolution of your brand... keep it going. Hope 2016 is a productive year for you!

I will. Same to you, friend.

I loved Battleheart, so I take it that I'll love SKT (not to mention my blue dude's cameo). This does motivate me to work on my game, I can't have you release a game with Kon before I do lol.

For @TomFulp and anyone, Team Meat recently said that revealing and promoting one of their games so early was a bad idea and cancelled it. Prolly along the same lines as Greenlight, too early and no one cares after a while.

Good. This is what I like about momentum amongst peers. I believe it motivates individuals in a peer group, and their momentum in turn motivates the rest of that group.

Did you try BH: Legacy? Curious what you thought about it.

Love your stuff as always!

Re: secret or public... when starting, you have to build a fan base, once you're established, people give you a lot more scrutiny so the benefits are offset and people are more likely to be critical/disappointed and those voices, though few, resonate because they're so strong.

It really frustrates me how secret Tom's current game is, but I think he's doing the right thing by keeping it mostly unreleased cuz we all know we're gonna love it and any morsel we get just gets us more frenzied, but he already has the fans/eyeballs for that to work. If he overshared, he'd probably LOSE people that decide it's not their genre or art style or are swayed by non-likers or whatever... as it is, he's giving just enough to keep us on the line without giving enough for the naysayers to have any real ammo.

Tom's operating on a different plain than most of us though. I know I'm still in the fan base building phase, and need to still establish what kind of games I make and who I am. I someday hope to be able to build hype from secrecy though. Right now, though, it'd be like a tree falling in the forest with no one there to hear...

I hear you. I'm working toward getting better at making noise about my game. That's my goal too; building things up.

Tom & pals are a benchmark I aspire to for the future. I think its better and more fun to tease things in a situation like that. One day it'll be us.

When I saw the reviews of the sequel, I decided not to buy it. I had issues with the first one, grinding like you mentioned being the most annoying, and it didn't seem like things were made better.

How does yours differ from the original Battleheart? Besides grinding and backgrounds.

They removed the party system. You only have one character who buys potions to heal themselves. So lame.

SKT has more infinitely more units to play with/fight against. No recolors. Enemies have actual mechanics beyond the straight forward "tank and spank" style of BH. There's an explorable overworld (will share in future posts), story-driven quests, optional side-quests with rewards, way more customizable leveling options, pets, etc.

Here's to a great new year! I hope your plan works out and helps inspire the new blood :3 love your games!

ho ho ho Tom's talking about guys like me. I really looked up to you in 2011 when I first discovered your stuff.

this makes it all feel worthwhile

Awesome! I look forward to reading more. You talked about examples of what people liked about your games, but what about the things they didn't? It would be cool to hear some examples of that as well!

I will make a separate post about that specifically in the future. SK1 started (on kongregate) with a really mediocre score and we fixed it over the span of a few months based on feedback. People were very thrilled we listened to their feedback and the score went up dramatically.

We tweaked a ton that i'll go into detail later on a future post. I think it's important for people to know that development doesn't necessarily stop after you publish it.

Great read! I can only hope that from my past experience, I can make Enki Adventures a success. Me and MSGHero have been working away at it for almost a year now (progress slowed due to education and jobs) and it'd be disappointing if it completely tanked. I fee like I'd still be pretty happy if it did just okay, but those that played it really enjoyed it.

Oddly, we're taking a short break to make a promotional game to get a little bit of traffic directed towards Enki and it's a Tower Defence. Completely different genre, but it'll hopefully get people interested when they see the world, colourful art and weird characters.

Still excited to see Sentry Knight Tactics develop even further! Best of luck once again.

That's a pretty good idea. Ideally, I'd like to put this game on steam and release a flash demo of it, and then promote it again whenever I make another free SK game. The more you can direct traffic back to your game, the better.