‘It took over my life ’ How one man made his dream 90s video game on his own | Hacker News Reader

‘It took over my life ’ How one man made his dream 90s video game on his own

theguardian.com

82 pointsdan123470 comments

In middle school (late 80's, early 90's ?), me and a couple friends used to sit around in class and dream up custom JRPGs like Dragon Warrior or Final Fantasy type games. We'd draw maps and build out stories and wish we could build out the actual games.

Today with tools like Godot and RPG Maker (regardless of how good or bad compared to others), I realize it is actually possible to build these games I used to dream about. But like the title of this article, I fear falling too deep down a rabbit hole now that i have a family and adult responsibilities.

But man does that inner 12-year fet super excited at the thought of building an 8-bit Dragon Warrior clone based on the old Middle Earth Role Playing TTRPG adventures.

You could do that 20 years ago with RPG Maker.

I don't even think i owned my own computer 20 years ago, let alone had the skills to do that in RPGMaker, let alone knew what RPG maker was.

THat's why i worry about the rabbit hole now, because those things are no longer an obstacle. Sure I'd have to skill up on RPG Maker, and buy some assets - maybe even jump down the additional rabbit hole of learning how to make the assets myself - but I really just think I'd go head first in and not look up for a while.

To me the biggest obstacle to this endeavor was creating the pixel art; even with something like Rpg Maker. I believe Rpg Maker has stock assets but at some point you'd want to customize. And that can be a lot of work. Does anyone have experience with this aspect?

Bulding consistent-style pixel art by hand is real work. But AI may have lowered the bar. Earlier thread, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31012806#31029663

If you're OK with not having exclusive art there's also the option of paying a few $. I've seen huge packs of RPG pixel art on itch.io for instance.

Wishlist of games I want but will probably never make myself:

- Warzone taxi / ambulance driver. I discovered this with GTA San Andreas: cheats "all pedestrians armed" and "all pedestrians fight", then run taxi and ambulance missions. I guess this could just be a game mode in GTA. Putting in the cheat codes is tedious, especially since it's usually nice to also do the 100% armor code so you have some chance of actually completing multiple drop-offs, so a separate game or a dedicated game mode that wrapped it all up together would be cool. Courier, et c., would also be cool roles. Crazy chaotic urban warfare in which you're not a main target, but you've got to get around the city, is the point.

- Tailspin / Tales of the Gold Monkey / Archer Danger Island flight/business sim. You run a scrappy barely-getting-by flight service in some fictional Pacific island chain with a backdrop that's more-or-less the late 1930s. Survive, upgrade your plane, buy more planes, hire more pilots, et c. Indiana jones vibes (one mission type could be flying Indy-like characters to and from whatever ruins they want to explore, in fact). Maybe some Sid Meyer's Pirates! elements, to a degree—but you've got a flying boat, not a pirate ship. But, yes, pirates should be there, and all kinds of other unsavory characters. Spies, simple cargo runs, smuggling, the occasional military skirmish. A little like some of those trade-oriented space sims, but the planets are islands and the space ships are planes. Presence of plot(s) optional but encouraged. Big extra points if there's some element of first-person play outside the planes. I'd be OK with the flight being anything between pretty-damn-realistic and fairly-arcadey-but-not-so-arcadey-you-can't-stall.

Then the ones that are just "why the hell is there no modern equivalent of this game?":

- 4+ player (including at least 4 for local play) Return Fire for modern consoles.

- Battletanx for modern consoles, w/ local multiplayer (um, feel free to rewrite the setting....)

- A tower-defense type game even half as ambitious and weird and genre-mashing as Dominus was.

> - Tailspin / Tales of the Gold Monkey / Archer Danger Island flight/business sim.

Back in the day there was a game called "Escape Velocity" that was essentially this but in space.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_Velocity_(video_game)

There was also Skyrates! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyrates

Yeah, space games like that are common enough, but the closest thing I know of set on Earth are age-of-sail games. I want my flying boat and air pirates and 1938 (or, fictionalized not-1938, whatever) cloak-and-dagger political intrigue, damnit.

The Gauntlet with 4 players was cool..

Oooh, yeah. I've played a couple newer gauntlet-alikes, but they're not the same. Legend was the version I played a lot of, and really enjoyed. Sweet spot for a couch-friendly action game that you can play without being fully engaged, perfect for casual local multiplayer with friends while shootin' the shit.

Red Warrior needs food... badly!

My dream game: First person shooter (UT style) in a non-Euclidian space (like in Manifold Garden)...

There was a game in the 90s called Quarantine which was about driving a taxi in a post-apocalyptic city. It’s sort of what you are suggesting in that your had to pick people up and drop them off while bandits try to kill you. That game has stuck in my brain and I always wish someone would remake it while being careful to match the grungey cyberpunk aesthetic.

I love that late 1930s idea. It feels like something that someone could make incremental progress on, too -- mock out the economic sim aspects in a text interface, and chew off the graphics when you're ready to tackle that.

My first reaction to the 1930's idea: On Random_Day(), the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Big Change in the situation you face...

Absolutely. I'm not an expert but I'd wager that between eccentric airline CEOs, glamorous travellers and upstart aeroplane manufacturers, there's tons of untapped drama and mayhem to be had from the golden age of flight.

> - Warzone taxi / ambulance driver.

Oldie but a goodie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarantine_(video_game)

> Tailspin / Tales of the Gold Monkey / Archer Danger Island flight/business sim.

You had me at TailSpin. A solid series set in a world built on air transport instead of the automobile. I guess you could call it Airpunk? Though I'd want the ability to fly a plane on a mission with an AI co-pilot that can take the wheel while I switch back to a first/3rd person view and can now freely run around the plane to battle air pirates that have boarded mid fight. And toss in forgiving physics so you can air surf like Kit Cloudkicker.

Crimson Skies?

Oh, I had almost forgot about Return Fire, it was so good, and really felt out of its time, in the best way. I wanted to say ahead of its time, but that would imply more games followed, which I can't say happened.

Pirates! but vaguely Tailspin / 1930s / Temple of Doom would be brilliant.

I thought I was the only one doing that style of play with GTA: San Andreas! What a reminder, thanks

I was really hoping this was about Pizza Tower [1]. Game in the article looks a bit like an asset flip crazy taxi clone.

There's a lot of game recently that have been trying to capture the late 90s aesthetics without the late 90s technical limitations. The Big Catch [2] and Cavern of Dreams [3], for example. I'd love to see an exploration of the appeal to that aesthetic, because I think there's something more to it than just the nostalgic / vintage appeal.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlq6fFOqI28

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHeJBfqf9d4

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDjZl1EZaBc

I desperately want a project like this to take over my life for a few months. I'm in grad school so am juggling job hunting with coursework and other part time job duties, but I miss the feeling of giving 100% of my time and energy to one thing.

Same. So I started an ant simulation in the spirit of dwarf fortress. Simulate everything down to pheromones and fungal growth. Ants have an internal knowledge graph that can be communicated between ants and updated based on world interaction. So far it hasn't taken over my life, sadly.

Check out SimAnt if you haven't already!

As someone who loves SimAnt I would be interested in following your development if possible.

Reminds me of one of the "Coding Adventures" videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-iSQQgOd1A

Damn, I wish I could do graphics programming... very nice video.

In fairness this is a typical indie game dev story.. There are 100's maybe 1000's like this released every year. I'm curious why this one got a Guardian article. The creator must have some pull at the Guardian somehow.

Your comment is being unfairly downvoted, IMO. I spend some time on the Unity subreddit and there are hundreds of folks with similar projects of similar size quality who would kill for this kind of publicity.

That being said it is still a good article that features a lot of interesting details, for example, his budget and what he spent it on. I’m also impressed he did this part time.

I think the lesson is: there are lots of people who make games, but that’s only half the battle. Perhaps the creator’s best shrewd business move was in obtaining this publicity? What if all he did was ask?

Developer may have had enough cash in the bank to pay a PR firm to place a couple articles. Might be simple as that.

The creator also works for “Canadian TV” and didn’t think twice about buying voiceovers. It wouldn’t surprise me if they have other industry experience that they drew on here, e.g. seeing the success of paid PR.

Your lesson hits the nail on the head.

Next time all y'all engineers out there dog on your marketing and sales departments, don't forget that the relationship is symbiotic!

The author of the article has a personal/professional interest and history with Crazy Taxi reviews.

I wonder if the game author looked up all the Crazy Taxi reviews and then found where the review authors were now and pitched any/all of them with a "I made an updated Crazy Taxi game!" story.

Kudos to him if he did, it paid off.

Yeah, this is a dime-a-dozen "muh gramphics" remake. Not much style. There's so many games harkening back to 90s aesthetics, they really had to go out of their way to find the least interesting of the pack.

Hmm, this seems less fun than Crazy Taxi. A huge part of Crazy Taxi was trying to keep track of the upcoming terrain and gauge how it's going to affect the momentum and trajectory of your car. With a flying taxi there is no terrain, no ramps, etc you just fly around obstacles.

This is true of many "arcade-like" games - the real fun is abusing the physics engine in ways not originally fully intended.

Trackmania is one, for example.

At least from the trailer it feels a bit like the gameplay is vertical and in a straight line, like if it were a long corridor. They should show some turning left and right to see how does it work.

I dunno it looks pretty fun to me. Did you see the video? It looks like there are plenty of taxi-terrain interactions.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1366560/MiLE_HiGH_TAXi/

The city looks very 3D so there’s plenty of opportunity for the same kind of gameplay. Ie I need to below the car in front of me so I can make a sharp enough turn at speed to make it up a narrow gap.

No idea how much the level layout and physics engine impacts gameplay though.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1366560/MiLE_HiGH_TAXi/

That looks cool.

> Notice: MiLE HiGH TAXi requires a controller in order to play. Playing with a keyboard and mouse isn't supported.

The game looks also very unpolished. Not sure why this is posted.

It's not uncommon for PC games to require/recommend a controller. Obviously the creator envisions the game being played with a controller and that makes sense for this genre.

My gf finished New York Race with a keyboard just fine.

Does anyone remember or played Crime Cities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_Cities ?

Yes! I used to play loads of it as a kid, I just found it completely fascinating. I think I only discovered it because it was given away as a freebie with a Polish computer/games magazine "CD-Action" whose main gimmick was that released monthly and always had a full game attached to the magazine, once they grew big they always managed to secure some pretty big(for the time) titles.

Does anybody else have the following issue? I've worked on many personal game projects and the beginning is always very fun. But as the complexity scales and my ambitions grow, I end up so deep in the weeds that it renders me incapable of objectively judging my game. I can't tell whether it looks good, whether it's fun, etc.

I can't believe nobody in this thread mentioned Quarantine (1994). I never played Crazy Taxi, but remember Quarantine being fun, something in likes of Carmageddon.

You can play it here:

https://playold.games/play-game/quarantine/play/

I'd imagine a lot more people were exposed to Crazy Taxi. There was a good few years when you couldn't walk into an arcade without hearing "Hey hey hey, who's ready to make some ca-razy money!"

arcades were not that popular in 90s in my European country (I remember playing there only 1941), instead we played games at one computer taking turns (Pinball fantasies, quarantine etc) or against each other (Wacky wheels, mortal Kombat etc), later LAN parties

Screenshots reminded me of BHunter, obscure 1999 game:

https://www.mobygames.com/game/26238/bhunter/

https://obscuritory.com/action/bhunter/

Image from the article: https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d6f1660ab7a8096e3239a7a33c081...

BHunter: https://cdn.mobygames.com/screenshots/10634620-bhunter-windo...

Even if this game turns out weak, this guy is gonna cash in on a huge ripe nostalgia market. People who played the original Crazy Taxi have also been consistently upset that the later releases didn't have the same music, so they may buy this just to stick it to whoever published those.

I think he'll regret the lack of kb/m support, though. And I wonder if releasing this as a personal product (instead of a corporation) is wise, considering it very closely imitates two separate IPs, and references others like Total Recall's Johnnycab.

What I remember most about Crazy Taxi was the extremely 90s pop punk sound track.

If the main monetary expense for him was hiring voice actors, I assume he didn't license any Offspring songs or anything like that. Does that mean the game has no sound track, or that it has a sound track of free songs, or that he made all the songs himself?

Anyway, wish him well. Making a full game by yourself is a ton of work, and most people just give up on it after a few months, so that's especially impressive.

The game seems to have an arrow at the top middle of the screen pointing you in the direction to go. This is basis for a lawsuit.

Video on the subject: https://youtu.be/EmyCy5pRMSg?t=520 The patent in question: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6200138B1/en

The patent expired in 2018.

I never thought to look for an expiry date. Thx for pointing it out.

If you're afraid of falling down a rabbit hole of complexity, look into Pico 8. It gives you everything you need to make a game, but also very solidly caps the level of complexity you can inflict on yourself. https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php

Terraria might be the most successful example from a 1-2 person dev studio. Does anyone know of a more successful example?

Minecraft?

I think the first Mount & Blade was a 1-2 developer effort.

As much as I don't want to admit it : flappy bird

Hollow Knight was a two person masterpiece. Or maybe three including the musician?

Steamdb says

Terraria: 40-100M units sold

Hollow knight: 8-20M for just sold

Rimwirld: 4-9M units sold.

- Minecraft was solo in the early days

- Dwarf Fortress

- Stardew Valley

- going way back, Tetris

Stardew Valley was a 1-person effort (not sure if it still is), and massively successful

Stardew Valley?

I dreamed of exactly that game since The Fifth Element came out in 1997. Can't wait to play this :)

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