Hyper Skater

The games development startet in 2018 as a Ludum Dare 43 prototype. Back then i wanted to make a skate platformer. The prototype had 3 different enviroments you could play.

However it was far away from my vision and final product so i thought it would be great to continue it after Balloon Girl.

After the Steam version of Balloon Girl was released and failed in so many ways i was unsure if this game would go well on Steam with the lack of experience i had.
Also Steam visibility was bad back then too.
So i decided to cancel this game for now and make some other games.

I came back last year when i remember that i had this passion idea for a game with a Skateboard.
Things has changed now: i can release this games on consoles for Nintendo Switch and Playstation.
So if steam fails it would be hurt so much :).

How to get your game back on track ?

I decided to try it simple. So i open the Unity project and first try it out to see whats wrong with the game.
Then i started by fixing small bugs and improve things like the player movement. Core stuff mostly.
Game Devs is interesting – i had put myself too much in borders so that i had a fixed vision what to do.
But it didn’t fit the game design so i decided to change what i think is bad.

That works pretty good.
For example:
In the initial game the levels where just one big level to complete with no rooms or checkpoints.
I thought this is a good idea but as often i played i felt “well this is too hard” – if the level is too long it is also not good. I thought implement a room system in this code would be too complicated.
But: i just implemented it and it took very less time than i thought.

Thats how i now develop the game. I try to find out how the player could like this kind of game.
The last games i made were smaller games – this game isn’t really big currently too.
But with the room system i have the ability to make a much bigger then the first iteration.


(This is how it looks like now).

Livestream Game Development

Another thing is that i livestreamed part of the development and creation process on twitch. Not for a fanbase of other players (most streams had not much viewers).
Just to force myself not to interupt with games or social media.
That helped a lot and was really fun.

What now ?
The plan is to release the game on October 2024 if everything is well enough and ready and when i am satisfied with it.
If not it will be shifted to Februar 2025.
It will be available for Nintendo Switch and Steam. It is also planned to be released for Playstation but since Unity does another thing for PS Devs i am not sure if i pay the license fee for Unity Pro for a year (around 2000 USD).

Beeing an Indie Gamedev means also that mostly you would not get much cash from your games. However the consoles are more worth than steam for now.

Wishlist the game now:

Breakout VR

Play the famous classic arcade Brekout Out now in Virtual Reality.

The VR version of an alltime classic brings you hours of fun and explosive gameplay in an unique atmosphere.

Story:
You are inside the space ship and can only move your ship left and right with your triggers.
Aim and destroy all the bricks to get to the next level.

The game got inspired by Alleyway’s cover image.

  • Play from inside the ship in VR
  • Mess with the world and find out who is the best VR brick breaker in the world
  • Starting with 10 Levels in Early Access and improving

Early Access on Steam : https://store.steampowered.com/app/1334080/Breakout_VR/

Oculus Quest App Lab : https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/3473476126114358/?locale=de_DE

Oculus Rift: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/4666473216726991/

SideQuest : https://sidequestvr.com/app/3484/breakout-vr

Week 21 – Breakout VR

First of all – this game runs more than a week (it took 2 overall) and it is still not finished. I plan to release it to itch.io on sidequest or if possible on the oculus store.
However – currently it is not possible for me to take the “Game A Week” seriosly. I tried to make another game too but i had no idea. I joined Bored Pixel Jam and had no idea what to make.

So i decided to take Breakout VR as my last Game A Week Game (maybe i resume the challenge in some weeks). This is not that i am saying Game A Week was bad – it was a really great experience. And as i said at the end of 2019 i said “whoa i made really 23 games ?”. It was so fast that i even forgot which i made. The last 5 years before i made a way less games.

But back to Breakout VR – i came to this idea by a cover of the Gameboy Game “Alleyway” where mario is sitting in a capsule space ship controlling left and right. And my first idea was “wouldn’t it be cool to do this in VR ?”.

What went good:

I could take some scripts and game mechanic logic from the 2D Game which i made a week before. Also i used some premade assets which was really good and as i got a “good” version running it took out it is funny concept which i will continue in the near future to bring it fully to live.

What went bad:

I had problems to come in into this. But after i got a starfield and some blocks it become better. But there where some things that still was bad: Blender export in Unity works not how i expected.

I made a small ship very fast – but when i am inside of that ship i don’t see the ship. Backface culling is on but its still not working. Collision inside of a mesh is a mess too. I ended up to make Box Colliders around overall.

What i learned:
Some Blender and Colliders stuff. Also that porting arcade to VR is a good idea sometimes.

You can Play the Game here: https://www.nerdvision.net/GAW/Week21/breakoutvr.apk

Week20 – No Real Game again

To all my readers (if i should have any :)) – this week no game – sorry.
The week started rough with some personal things that made me a mad mood about doing things.
However i had an idea for a game – a Breakout in VR. Just you are in the ship like in the cover of “Alleyway” and controlling it.
I still like the idea so i designed a small capsulated ship.

And put in in a new game in space. And looked wonderful. The problem with VR games is that the oculus SDK is big and the setup for the project takes more time like regular games.
I had 2 prototypes for this week (and last week) for VR (a SuperHero VR).
So i moved them to this week. Both are unfinished but i really want to try out if this works (more the Breakout VR as the “Super Hero VR”).
So i should take them out from the “Game A Week” and try it out.

So its not that i did nothing – but is not finished in any state.

The second thing is that i was really unmotivated. Personal things in my life (not my family) that ruins the whole week until the weekend (where i was on a trip to a beach – this was really wonderful).
So as i was on a trip and i don’t want to stress i decided to skip this week.

However – i want to bring the “Game A Week” to a small “Final” 😀
I want to finish it to concentrate on the other tasks.

So maybe next week you know more.

Week19 – Brickout


First of all: Happy New Year! It is the week where 2020 started. After the end of the 2019 year (which was a great experience) i now started very slowly in this week. Again i had the idea making VR games (and i still have it) so i started on a previous idea for “Super Hero VR”. The problem with this idea or general for the VR Games is that i need much more time to explore. I was really busy try out this idea. Besides this i got my Xbox Devkit working so i played around to figure out how to port one of my games and how hard it is to make games for it (which is a little bit harder as i initial thought but overall it is not really hard at all to port existing pc game).

However – i was busy this week doing this things and thinking about in which direction i should go in the next time. As i didn’t feel to have a real game i thought i should make one really fast game. After looking a video on Youtube about a Breakout Clone made in 10 minutes for the brackeys challenge i thought “ok i will take a little bit longer but this could be great”.

So i made a breakout / alleyway / Arkanoid clone like game.

One thing to note: i am not sure if i quit Game A Week or just pause it or something but as i need some time to finish my two game ideas and to port a game to Xbox it could be that i pause this challenge. But i just decide this next week 🙂
The reason is: my last 2019 game was jam game for “mini jam 44” where i got some feedback and a result on how good i am. I am really missing this in Game A Week. I got no real feedback in most of the time (which is okay to test ideas but mostly no one really cares about this games).
I am thinking about to switch to a “often Jam participation” instead in not regular base.

What went good:

After i decided to make a breakout game everything works good and i felt good. It is a small game but it has some physics logic in it and it is still a funny concept.

What went bad:

Because i thought until saturday i make a VR Game, it worked bad until saturday as i didn’t knew what exactly i want to do. Making the breakout at the end was the best i could do.

What i learned:
It is totally okay to throw an idea away after 6 days and make a small one on day 7. I learned a lot other stuff this week which is game related too. Working with Xbox is really amazing – and making VR Worlds is a really cool experience. But this means i need more time to invest (one week is too less even if its a week after new years eve :D).

You can Play the Game here: https://www.nerdvision.net/GAW/Week19/

Week18 – Firework Master (MINIGAMEJAM44)

This week was cristmas week so i was (like everyone) busy with visiting my family and the family of my wife. Also my childs needed some time. And besides this i had to work between xmas and new years eve (on friday and tomorrow on monday too). When i had time i thought about a new idea for this week. I wanted to do something regarding to the topic. But i had no idea for christmas games currently (i made one some years ago). So i thought about if it would be great to join a game jam the last time for 2019.

And i thought “why not combinate ? the goal is to make a game – it doesnt matter if it is part of a jam or not”. I joined Mini Jam 44 and made a game.

I wanted on the end of the year make something that makes me fun – so like often this year it is a small platformer.

What went good:

I started late but as i know what i need to do this wasn’t bad at all. Also i was able to use premade assets for the background (i started to draw but noticed that i need too long to do it). I tested a simple new mechanic (saw in the ground lol) which was pretty good.

What went bad:

Not much – the jam background gave me motivation to reach my goal and to make more out of it. In the end its just 2 levels – but this is okay.

What i learned:
How to make ground saws lol. Just kidding – i learned that i must think about it Game A Week is the real thing.

Don’t get me wrong: if i look back to 2019 i am self suprised about how much games i made. I made more games this year as the other 4 years before. And besides this i launched my first steam game and got approved at Xbox Development.
Game A Week did a great job but it is hard to motivate sometimes. Also to get ideas for motivation is also hard (the last game was super garbage).

I don’t think about to stop but i want to make my next commercial game. And Game A Week eats some time – but it is experience which is necessary.
Also i love to see how much i made.

So my decision could be that i stay at Game A Week but try to replace it with a game jam (if there is any).
The reason is simple: no one cares about your games if you post them in a private blog but on part of a jam people are more likely to play and give you feedback.

You can Play the Game here: https://nerdvision.itch.io/firework-master

WEEK17- Color Blocks

My boss had this idea of a color game where you need fast reactions. I made a small prototype and thought “whoa this sucks ass”.

So i tried to modify the idea a little bit to make it a little bit more interesting.
Instead of touch the screen you need to touch the block (if the color is not red). And you need to miss none of them.

It is a little endless arcade game then.

What went good:

It was a little small game. So nothing special to take care or of knowledge which is needed. Just try to simplify the game with just zero arts and sounds from opengameart.

What went bad:

Not much this time – i had no big motivation for this short game. So it is more a time waster. But overall i made again a game. So this should be ok. It is nothing special.

What i learned:
Sometimes it is ok to make small crappy mobile games.

You can Play the Game here: https://www.nerdvision.net/GAW/Week17/colorblocks.apk

WEEK16 – AvatarChattingGame

This week i thought about to do something little (as i always do). But really fast it was clear: this will be a little bit bigger task.

I thought about making a AvatarChattingGame (like in WhoRU but this time with client and server).

To keep it really simple here was my plan

– Making a game where 2 network players can simple interact (just they can run around and the other can see it)
– Use premade assets (specialize for the 3D Character)
– Chatting is a optional feature

First i wanted to skip this idea and try again with something stupid – but then i thought “hell you try this since years – do it now!”

And i did – and it was an interesting journey.

What went good:

Much more as i expected: i wrote a small Server in C#. It handles some types of packets and dispatch them to the clients.
What this time really went good: i used a premade Avatar from the Unity Asset Store which had a fully functional animator. So instead of design things i could concentrate of prototype this idea.

Second as i first expected i didn’t overscoped this. And i made this in the time. Also it was my first multiplayergame.

What went bad:

Not much this time – but i had some weired bugs. Also i used a Socket Server and Client instead of premade Libraries. Next time is should try them. There are some Libraries like Mirror or UNet (which is deprecated i think). But i wanted to do it “raw” this time.

The world is simple – but maybe i got to change this too until today in the evening.

What i learned:
A lot of Stuff about SocketClient Communication. Before that i wrote only Servers. This is the first time i got a client working. I learned that i am on the write way to write something like this.
Also i like what i did and i think about to extend this to a fully working “WhoRU” Replacement.

I provided the Source Code this time – so you can download it here: https://github.com/neowhoru/AvatarChattingGame

You can Play the Game here: https://www.nerdvision.net/GAW/Week16/AvatingWindows.rar .

Just start the Exe in the Server directory and the client as often as you want.
Important: the Server has a little “disposed” Object issue which i was unable to solve. So the server could crash if clients leaving maybe.

WEEK15 – SuperDead


Lets talk about this weeks when you think you must make something and you think it could not be more crap. However this week i am still a little bit sick so i started making the game on thursday. Besides some other issues that demotivates me this week to work on something i had some good news too: i am now a registered XBox One Developer and my Devkit arrived. Microsoft is a really Indie friendly company – if you concept is good enough and if you fill out many forms (and you they help you as good as they can – the support is really great) you get Devkits and can make games for XBox. A childhood dreams become true. I plan to port Balloon Girl first and i plan to make Hyper Skater a title which comes first to the XBox (but maybe i will launch them directly on both who knows).
However i got a small platforming “broforce” like idea. And i wanted to test out “destroyable world” (which doesnt work as i thought).

What went good:

Not much this week – the game is a kind of part of a game. And it has lack of everything lol.

What went bad:

Motivation was bad, idea was ok but not a real idea. I felt more like grinding – doing the same again. I think i must try again more different but on the other side i want to become better at platforming games.

What i learned:
Not much i think – i did thinks that i did sometimes before again. I don’t trust fully in Unity Input System (and this is the reason that this game is ONLY playable with a joypad).

Important: Keyboard is currently not supported. Also it is this time a Windows Build as Unity had a problem with the Input System Preview System in Web.

You can Play the Game here: https://www.nerdvision.net/GAW/Week15/SuperDead.zip

WEEK14 – No real game this week :(

Sorry guys but this will be the first time i don’t release anything.
I made a second game the week before (a small ColorTapper game and i made it in 25 minutes) but as it wasn’t made this week and as it is just kind of “dumb” i wouldn’t release it yet.

The reason this week as i got sick this week and had no time or power to make a new game this week. I hope i get better next week and i can come up with an another idea.

So hopefully next week i can make more. I am currently thinking about the next idea – i have somethin that i really wanted to do but i cannot describe the whole idea currently.