My game Valgoria (A Zelda Tribute) Posted to Kickstarter!

Here are a few screenshots that were requested by Dylan Wilson

This game is in early development and is made with Monogame ( I intend to implement Monogame.Extended in the near future…)

I also have a Metroid tribute I am working on as well which already uses Monogame.Extended to make the camera follow the character. It also uses Tiled and TiledSharp to import the .tmx file into my Monogame project… I will try to post some screenshots of that game as well very soon…

Looks awesome mate. Do you write about it on a blog or something?

Looks pretty cool. And I second craftworkgames, can we keep up with your progress?

Is a download available for this game? How can I follow up on updates.

Thank you very much!

It is in it’s early stages, and I made the mistake of trying to get it Greenlit too early. (once in October 2015 (only receiving a handful of votes) and then once in January 2016 ( receiving 500 yes votes, which was encouraging!))

The criticism was harsh, and probably called for (what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger)

here is a web page I am working on, that also has a video embeded on it

the web page, video, and pretty much everything in my life is in an early stage of development, but I am excited about rapid and genuine growth :slightly_smiling:

I just added the blog, after I read your post…

You just search for it on the internet…

Here is a link to a webpage that I am working on…

I will do my best to check any posts… and update it as frequently as possible :slightly_smiling:

It has a blog…

Thank you for your support!

you can search for it on the internet…

I am working on getting a good solid demo ready for the game…

The one that I have is a little too buggy at the moment, and I’m shy…

here is the web page I am working on…

you can just search for it on the internet

I think talking about your game as often as possible is a good way to start building an audience. The purpose of having a blog is to keep that audience interested. Once you have an audience, getting the game Greenlit should be a lot easier.

Also, when you do talk about your game on forums or whatever make sure you always link back to your blog.

Just don’t be an asshole about it. When you post on forums, you need to genuinely try to help people with their problems. The cool thing is, you’re already making games so you know a more than people who are just getting started. Look for questions on the forums about things you’ve got experience with and explain how you did it in your game.

The flip side is that you’ll get a lot of good advice back about how you’ve done things. It’s a win / win situation for everyone.

Thanks for the good advice!

I’m gonna keep on a workin’ on the game and I’m going to do just like you said, post solutions to other people’s questions on here as much as possible for the win/win!

Sometimes my solutions are not quite as neat as some, I’m sure, but like you were saying, at least I got a game going.

I’m excited Dylan!

I’m wanting to get into some of the good features of monogame.extended as well…

I haven’t tried any of your features using collision detection in monogame.extended, but I was pretty sure I read about there being some collision detection features in monogame.extended.

Its not that I don’t know that collisions are occurring, I just need to know on which side and how to react to it…

My main character collision is working just fine, mainly, a few quirks here and there but…

Some of my enemy logic is screwing with my collison detection/reaction for my enemies, but I’m sure that would be more appropriate to post on the forums…

Please forgive me, I’m a little new to the whole forum posting and everything…

Thanks again, anyway!

God Bless and good day

The best piece of advice I can give you as a fellow game designer myself is to improve the quality of your sprites, art, and graphics in general. I can see you have a good, solid, start and I like the tribute to Zelda idea, but my first impression of your game’s appearance is off putting. If these are just temporary placeholder art then I completely understand, but I have a feeling that the quality of your art was a big point of contention for most people.

Just as you wouldn’t go to a job interview with a stained T-shirt and jeans with holes in them, you wouldn’t present a game with sprites that look like they do now.

Here are some things I saw with the art that was problematic:

  1. There is sort of a mix between pixel art style and high-res style going on. Some of your sprites have a pixel art style (which is good) and some don’t and when they’re put together, the result is unsettling…not good. For example in the first screenshot of your second post, the trees, grass, and character are pixelated, but the item on the ground to the right is not. Also, the hearts in the health meter at top-left are too sharp and don’t have a pixelated appearance as I would expect. In the last screenshot of the character in the dungeon, those pots are definitely out of place because of the mismatch between pixel and high-res style.

  2. This one’s pretty minor, but in your first post where you show off the lighting effects, the “glow” around the character has a smooth gradient which again clashes with the overall pixel art feel I get. Google “pixel art glow” to get some ideas.

  3. The overall quality of the sprite art itself is not very good. The character model is well done I feel and the grass and water are good, but the rest is just not. Some glaringly obvious issues come from the second screenshot of your first post. The bed, walls, table and candle are lacking I’m afraid. The walls have a smooth gradient in them which again clashes with the pixel theme. The table itself looks like it was pixel art that was magnified and is too blocky.

  4. The font style: I think I get where you’re going with that, but it just needs some more polish. The text is hard to read and looks like writing on a chalkboard, which I don’t think fits your theme very well.

  5. Your main menu is very well done I feel, but the problem here is that all the art on that screen is clean, straight lines and smooth gradients, which doesn’t match the rest of the game where you use pixel art.

I understand if you’re not an artist, but these sprite and art issues are real issues that will prevent your game from getting the traction I feel it deserves. If you’re not comfortable creating pixel art, please seek advice and help from the pixel art community, or see if you can pay for some art, if not that then read up on pixel art yourself and improve your ability in it. It will do wonders for you! :slightly_smiling:

Anyway, I’m sorry for being rough on this. I think you have a good idea with this and I hope to someday see it on Steam. Good luck Christopher and take care.

P.S. If you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. The community is here to help! :smiley:

Dear Aaron,

Thank you for the advice!

Some of the art you see in the above pictures is, in a way, just placement art for me to get the game running. My girlfriend and I are the sole creators of the game and we don’t have the money to hire an artist, so we are doing everything on our own and learning a lot in the process.

I have heard many of the issues which you addressed here (the art clashing mainly) during my previous Greenlight attempts ( you are much more tactful! :slightly_smiling: ) , but it is good to hear it again, this time in a very well organized list as you have taken your time to make for me.

Criticism is needed in order for me to achieve something greater than what I already have going, and my reaction to it will determine, ultimately, whether my game gets better or worse because of it.

Let me talk about each issue you brought up…

  1. I am working on forming certain standards( consistent pixel sizes, and using the same dithering techniques for pixel shading on all items.) The pots are being redone inside the dungeons. Everything is going to get an overhaul, as I get closer to a working demo.

  2. I am going to try your suggesting of a pixelized shader method, instead of the smooth gradient that I am currently using. Thank you for this, honestly, I hadn’t considered using a pixel gradient for my image I use to shade with :slightly_smiling:

  3. I’m glad you like the Character model, it took me about 48 hours to create! It does need a little cleaning up however, which I’m going to get around to soon. About the other items, I agree, and I need to work on it soon. I’m going to form some consistency as soon as possible, it’s just that I have a lot on my plate! I rushed at the first to get something together, and I really just created more work for myself by having to go back and form consistency… The table is, just as you say, scaled too high!

  4. The font style is actually my handwriting loaded into a .ttf which I initially thought was cool, but I’ve had my doubts here and there, so I don’t know what decision I will make in that area… I’ve started on creating my own custom pixel font, which I’ll have to see how that works out…

  5. I was working on the title screen just as I noticed your post. here is what I have now…

Its a little dark at the moment… and I’m going to add a moon that the light is shining from, but it’s a work in process!

Once again, I appreciate the feedback, and I’m going to address every issue you have mentioned here. Your list helps a lot and I will refer back to it as I continue the game’s development.

Thank you,

Chris Weekes

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Here is a website I’m building for the game…

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Thanks man! I’m glad it helped. And yes, that new main menu is looking MUCH better. I love the castle, it looks really good. Yeah, the only thing left to improve on that main menu is the font now. I found this site that has some fonts I think would fit your theme well. Try not to pick one that is too fancy and stylized, otherwise it starts looking gaudy. :slightly_smiling: http://www.1001freefonts.com/medieval-fonts.php

Anyway, I’m excited for the prospect of your game, I will check out the website soon. Take care.

I found this one I liked, called Livingstone from the link you sent…

Thanks again, brother!

Your help is much appreciated.

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Very nice! It fits beautifully. Great choice. :slightly_smiling:

That font makes an amazing difference. Nice choice.

It’s really cool to see community feedback changing a game for the better.

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I just put up a Kickstarter Page for this game…

Please help me out and share this as much as possible.

Thank you for the support!

Hey @Christopher_Weekes

I think you might be a little unrealistic about your kickstarter. $30,000 is a lot of money to ask for at this stage of development.

That means you’re going to need 2000+ backers at an average of $15 each in the next 29 days.

More importantly, you haven’t really said why you need the money. In my experience, most kickstarters of this size get funded for the following reasons:

  • they are really good, close to finished, very polished games.
  • the developer tells the backers why they need the money. Usually to hire an artist or to pay for marketing.
  • the kickstarter has very attractive incentives.
  • the developer usually already has a lot of followers because they have released games previously.

Look, I’m not saying you shouldn’t try a kickstarter, I just think you should lower the goal amount to something more realistic and think about why people would want to fund you. It’s very rare that your backers will share the same passion for your game that you do. Their reasons will be different. Have a look around at other kickstarters that have already been funded (or are close to being funded) and think about why someone decided to fund it.

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