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Show HN: I spent 6 years making a cool free game

151 points by isaiahg ↗ HN
Hey everyone!

Long time lurker, first time poster. I've just reached beta in my game BoxByte Lyte.

-What is it-

It's a free 3d arcade game for hardcore players that uses color matching in interesting ways. Also it's a one button game, well movement and one button. Cool huh? The final release will be free too.

-What I need-

This is a very challenging game, so I really need to balance the difficulty so that it's still hard but not impossible. It would be great just to hear your experiences of the game and how far in it you got.

-Where can I report bugs?-

https://bitbucket.org/ZayWolfe/boxbyte-lyte/issues

-So where's the game?-

Windows: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3143ynz2hlqhg58/BoxByteLyte%2012.17.15-win.zip?dl=0

Mac: https://www.dropbox.com/s/welj1gswunfm4tq/BoxByteLyte%2012.17.15-mac.zip?dl=0

Linux: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ypvtnndmzklj17e/BoxByteLyte%2012.17.15-linux.zip?dl=0

Win VR: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bm0ydtzra4sjml0/BoxByteLyte%2012.17.15-winVR.zip?dl=0 (Warning VR isn't going to be an official feature. It's just a cool experiment for kicks. Might be nausea inducing. I just think it's cool :3)

For the most accurate movement, I recommend playing with a gamepad of some kind.

So if hard challenging gameplay is your thing, why don't you see if you have what it takes to beat my game... Mwahahaha!

13 gates, can you reach the end?

Cheers!

99 comments

[ 0.94 ms ] story [ 153 ms ] thread
viraptor
Screenshots? Not sure I want to download this without some idea what it is.
paraknight
Agreed. Also maybe the fact that it's a Unity game.
throwaway13337
How is that relevant? If it's fun, it's fun.
yitchelle
It's analogous to downloading the Flash player to see some of the websites around. Once downloaded and used, it makes my system rather bloated and unstable. I rather avoid this if possible.
paulbennett
You won't need the Unity WebPlayer to run this, they look like standalone builds.
brainburn
And/Or a youtube showing gameplay
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dordoka
It's actually quite good. Give it a try!
isaiahg
Happy you like it!

I just updated the build btw. You can get it from the original links above. ^-^

isaiahg
Hey everyone! I just updated the game.

There was a vsync problem causing speed issues on some computers. Also fixed some boss bugs and increased the character limit on the score submit to 20.

I just updated the files in the original links, so you can grab the update there.

lucaspiller
Congratulations on the release! Any tips for how you managed to spend 6 years on the same project without getting board?
isaiahg
Hard to say really because I did get bored a lot. I just kept it in my mind and always came back to it. I'd really like a career doing this so I guess having a wager on it is good too.
nopslider
Friendly advice: Getting a simple site up and running describing your game with a few screenshots or a gameplay vid and providing download links takes no more than 2 hours. Personally I hesitate to download anything from another person's dropbox.

Since you've worked a lot on your project don't let it fail due to poor promotion :)

isaiahg
Yeah I definitely agree. I actually had a website up once but I had to let it go because I couldn't afford the domain and server costs. Currently living off of government assistance so it's rare to have more than a few dollars extra.

I also tried to contact some publishers for a bigger version but I've never received a reply. It is how it is. I'm hoping the game is good enough to travel through word of mouth :)

akx
You could use itch.io or Github pages.
isaiahg
Oh wow I've never heard of itch.io! I wonder if they allow games in beta.
_nedR
Have you considered publishing on Steam? Its a good avenue to monetise as well.
nacs
It's actually pretty hard to get on Steam without a publisher. Without a publisher, you have to go through the Greenlight process which requires a ton of people voting "Yes I'll buy it if available" for your game.
evolve2k
Surely with the audience here on HN you could get some upvotes across there. Worth a try.
nacs
Yes they allow games in beta.
Jhsto
Amazon S3 static sites are not that expensive either, but as far as I know you would be needing a credit or debit card.
campoy
I'm happy to give you credits to host it on Google Cloud Platform :-) Shoot me an email campoy@google.com
atomwaffel
It's that time of the year where I'm feeling altruistic, so I just registered boxbytelyte.com for one year. Just let me know where you want it to point, and then I'll transfer the ownership to you in a year's time (or sooner if you like).

Also, have you thought about open-sourcing the game? That would definitely relieve people's qualms about downloading an anonymous binary blob.

Edit: Forgot that there are no direct messages on HN. You can reach me at domainname@boxbytelyte.com

edc117
Good on you, this is a great gesture. Hope they take you up on it.
isaiahg
I'm sorry that it took me a while to reply. The response has been so overwhelming that I honestly don't know how to react.

I wish I could show gratitude better through text. Thank you so much for that. I'm fixing up some important bugs at the moment but I'll send you an email as soon as I can.

mauvm
Why not use Github Pages?
jjoe
I run a web hosting business and have servers to spare. Email me and I'll get you one for as long as you need it (see profile for email address).
facorreia
I second that. YouTube channels are free. Why not post a 3-minutes gameplay demo?
intenscia
Congrats on the release. We'd love to help promote and showcase it on www.indiedb.com we are community run and here to help. We also have VRDB.com In the pipeline which would be cool for this. Keep up the fine work!
beshrkayali
Great game! Like others, having a simple webpage with a YouTube video is not just a must, but it's also quite easy! Give http://itch.io a try.
aikah
So can you give us some description of the technologies used in order to build that game ?
isaiahg
It's mostly just Unity3d and lots of elbow grease.

I used blender for the 3d objects and animations.

I used inkscape and the gimp for a lot of the texture work.

I used audacity for a lot of the audio work.

I also made my own library for data serialization with generics. It's pretty cool because you can have multiple tables with any data type and it'll just take care of it for you. I'd like to make it able to update to and from a server someday. C# really makes it easy though.

None of the tech is crazy, but you can make the Sistine chapel with mud and a stick if you poke it long enough.

chii
It would be nice if you put the open source the game as well (seeing as it's free atm, so no profit loss from it). I'd like to see how you wrote it, and learn from it!
isaiahg
I might do that. I'm a little shy about it since I'm self taught. No one's actually looked at my code before haha
SyneRyder
Don't be shy about that. The code in some successful commercial products is terrible. People who play a game care less about how elegant the code is and what language it's in, they just want to play something fun they enjoy.

Please take advantage of the offers here to help bootstrap your own permanent website, and please consider making a paid version. Even if it's just an "I donated!" edition that does nothing but show their name on the title screen. Let people compensate you for your 6 years (!) of work, and help you bootstrap to bigger things (and at the very least cover your costs).

isaiahg
Thank you so much for your kind words. It really means a lot to me more than you know.

You can bet I definitely would like something to come from this. I'm working on it full time without being paid. Even just a job would be life changing right now.

I'd love to hear your take on what I'm thinking of doing with it and get any advice anyone has. I thought about making it a commercial game, but I'm very strong on the coding/design part of it and not so good at the marketing and promotion side.

My current plan is to open source it actually and maybe set up a patreon account to help fund the development with donations. There are features I'd like but can't afford to do like online multiplayer. I haven't yet because I'm not sure how it conflicts with unity generated project files. I also made use of a few creative commons sound effects and I want to attribute and mark them right. So I'm not quite sure what I'll have to do to set it all up. I want to do it right.

I'm thinking about doing the open source + donation route because I figured it would take the same amount of marketing effort as a commercial game and I'd much rather give it away than charge for it. Games are best when they're shared with each other.

SyneRyder
One tip: try adding an email address to your Hacker News profile, so that people are able to get in touch.

You mentioned that a job would be life changing. Not sure if you're interested in freelancing, but if you're able to put together some kind of website about yourself & your skills and link it in your HN profile, it might help you catch more opportunities out there. People need a way to get in touch if they want to offer you an opportunity!

JabavuAdams
> It would be nice if you put the open source the game as well (seeing as it's free atm, so no profit loss from it).

This is terrible advice, unless you think you'll never be able to profit from the product itself. Don't give up prematurely!

That said, the typical case is that hobby games don't make any money, so it may be a good idea to open source it, but later. Definitely not immediately.

chii
The money isn't really in the source code - it's in the execution, and community building afterwards. Making a free game can create a following that can help you win players in the future. Making it open source just gives you a bigger audience - people who likes to tinker would be more interested. It's not a black and white situation, where value is lost when you open source!
yoklov
I'm honestly curious, do you know of any games that remained commercially successful after open sourcing, without having some secondary meta-game source of income (multiplayer servers, f2p, etc.)

Eldritch, I know is, but I'm not sure how commercially successful it was.

JabavuAdams
Have you actually made any money making games, because this all reads as hopelessly naive?
contingencies
Self-reported "Long time lurker" to HN: "run my binary, look it's ported to all platforms!" Excuse me if I don't.
isaiahg
I don't blame you. People seem to be playing it without a problem if it means anything to you.
epaga
It is pretty amazing that someone is able to do this and a bunch of people actually do seem to be executing the builds before anyone else verified it.

But now that they have, it's no longer an issue, I guess...

dlitz
That was my first thought. My second thought was that it's not much different from what we do all the time anyway, including when we download source tarballs and then run './configure'.
mrnismo92
Very interesting! I have a few questions:

1) Is this your first time releasing your game to the public? 2) How were you able to focus on such a project for so long? 3) I've never made a game before, do you have any tips for me? (Comfortable with code + design)

isaiahg
1) Yes actually. And it's my second game XD

2) It was very painful. I actually lost the whole game once from a hard drive failure and had to remake it whole. I guess I had to learn to use version control sometime lol

3)

A: Focus on the fun.

B: Just start working, even if you're not in the mood. Sometimes you're not in the mood until you're actually doing it.

C: Accept that restarting from scratch is actually awesome because you can make it even better using everything new you learned. I actually have it part of my process now.

D: Learn some back stretches lol. Those long nights coding tear up your lower back D:

notnownikki
Hey :) Well done on reaching beta!

First bit of feedback - I'm running through the tutorial, and text boxes animate on to the screen, slowly, every single time. It's really annoying. Can they just appear there with the text? I just want to read them and find out how to play.

notnownikki
Second bit of feedback, same as the first, but this time on the options screen. I want to play! Don't make me wait to watch everything fade in :)
notnownikki
And last bit of feedback - the keyboard controls don't work. Spacebar doesn't change the color, and the arrow keys don't make me move around. This is on the Linux build.
isaiahg
That's really bizarre. I'll have to test it again on my ubuntu box.

Thank you so much for the feedback!

notnownikki
No problem :) I was running in windowed mode, if that makes a difference.
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crypt1d
While I'm pretty sure you don't have any bad intentions, you may want to consider how this looks like to someone [paranoid] like me:

- New HN member makes his first post claiming he made a game. He shares only a binary blob, no code. Also he doesn't have a website, or even a gameplay video. On top of that, he shares the game via dropbox.

Would that make you suspicious?

We live in a scary world, not everyone trusts 'by default'. But if you are willing to open source it, feel free to contact me (email is in my profile). I can provide hosting for the website/game.

zupa-hu
Set up a VM.

Why not keep throw-away VM to play with stuff like this? You can make a snapshot to always start from your chosen state.

crypt1d
I could, but honestly, I dont want to go thru the effort just to try out the game. I think this is a big part of the learning process as well - learning how to make your game easily accessible to potential users. Making a game open source is more about the 'statement' in this case. It says: "I dont have anything to hide". That's enough for most people.
zupa-hu
Open Source gives you a false sense of protection. A VM gives you a real one. But I get the point.

I guess you are the customer, you gave feedback, he can make up his mind. Fair enough. Though I doubt you are his target customer for now as you don't want it badly.

toomim
Great. Dropbox has disabled your download links because people like your game.
isaiahg
I'm pretty shocked actually. I stepped away to watch youtube with the wife and came back to this exploding.

I'm uploading to google drive right now.

aswerty
Currently getting:

Error (429) This account's links are generating too much traffic and have been temporarily disabled!

isaiahg
I just posted some mirrors on the main thread.
theminijohn
Hey Isaihg,

I would be happy to pay for your Server and Domain Costs and help you set up the Site. Shoot me an email: the@minijohn.me

tacensi
Is there another place we can download the builds since your dropbox account is blocked because of the traffic HN generated?
isaiahg
I'm uploading to google drive right now but it's moving slow. If anyone who's downloaded it already would like to upload somewhere themselves I'd really appreciate it.
LittlePeter
Make a 3 minute video of the gameplay and upload it to youtube
thom
Is it this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhZ-SM104wk

Matches the name and description, for those hoping for a video.

isaiahg
Wow. I can't believe you found that. That video is from the version I lost from a hard drive failure. This version I completely rebuilt from scratch (with version control). This one is much better actually.

For a look at the improved visuals check out these screenshots. http://imgur.com/a/Tyw5z

JabavuAdams
Ignore all the people here telling you to open-source this (for now). You have a product and a compelling story. This could be one of the rare games that actually makes money.

Once you have a playable game that looks good and is fun, your main problem is getting noticed and making it easy for people to get your game and pay you for it.

You've got a good story, which is key to marketing and getting noticed. You worked on a game for 6 years -- that sounds crazy. The media likes crazy. You're on social assistance -- people love feel-good rags-to-riches stories. So those boxes are checked.

Look at all the help that random people on HN have already offered!

I'd say run with this ... and ignore the open-sourcing advice. Only open-source it if either you've given up on profiting from it (as a product rather than a portfolio piece).

There've already been a lot of good suggestions about hosting and putting up a website, so I wont' repeat those.

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SyneRyder
Absolutely agree with this. I haven't even played the game yet, but what I find compelling is the "worked on making this for 6 years" / "I'm a self-taught programmer" / "I can't afford a domain" story. If there was a website with a Buy Now button I'd already be clicking it.
isolate
> It would be great just to hear your experiences of the game and how far in it you got.

Post this on the TIGSource forums and ask for feedback. That is where most of the indie game developers congregate.

isaiahg
Wow, I've never been there before. No wonder I've been so lonely.

I have to take my son to school really quick so I'll have to do it when I get back. Btw, if anyone wants to go ahead and share this anywhere, feel free! I just want to make fun things and if you share that fun I'd be grateful.

strttn
I think this thread is a bit of a showcase of the best things about HN.

It's a place where someone without existing distribution can get what they've made in front of people.

The members decide whether it's interesting or not so it can avoid getting buried.

The OP gets lots of cynicism free advice and even offers of hosting and domain names.

Everyone can have a bit of a chat about the tech used to build it.

We all can learn things from the comments and advice given.

Well done HN! :)

isaiahg
I come bearing mirrors:

-Google Drive-

win: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bwh3wi9gnmg4bnNLTjlCZ0hodE...

mac: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bwh3wi9gnmg4Mmp4cWYtRXpfd0...

linux: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bwh3wi9gnmg4Mmp4cWYtRXpfd0...

VR: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bwh3wi9gnmg4XzhMU2xVMGJCUn...

-OneDrive-

win: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=9CE2F3A7162E1D05!1068&...

mac: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=9CE2F3A7162E1D05!1069&...

linux: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=9CE2F3A7162E1D05!1070&...

VR: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=9CE2F3A7162E1D05!1067&...

raffomania
The Google Drive link to linux seems to be the same as the one for the mac version. The OneDrive link works, though :)