At GSM Productions, we like experimentations. If follows that, since our first little games all the way to Get Well Soon!, we have never ceased to try out new methods and new tools. But it would seem that, recently, our wild search has started to change into more of a “toolset consolidation”. This is why we have decided to write a small series of articles presenting our various tools. If you are a developer wanting to learn about the motivations of other devs or simply curious about the tools used to makes video games, tag along!

The most fundamental choice for a game developer is about the “game engine”. These days, it is very uncommon for anyone to start coding a game from scratch. It might lead to total control about the code, the complexity of today’s computers as well as those of current games makes it much more complicated a task than it was before. Between all the options available to us, we went with a very popular choice for independent developers : Unity 3D.

The Unity3D editor as we work on Get Well Soon!

One of the pros of Unity3D is that it offers a free version with very reasonable limitations, giving you a very solid set of functionalities. What’s more, Unity3D is a cross-platform engine. You can export your games to desktop computers (Windows, MacOS or Linux), web browsers, Android, iOS… And with the proper licenses, even to consoles! The only drawback is that the Unity3D editor is not available under Linux (yet? :p), but what can you do…

Some of Unity3D’s supported platforms

Besides cost and cross-platform considerations, Unity3D works under a paradigm that really helps us: every object is of a generic type (GameObject) to which are attached any number of “components”. These components can be a 3D model representing an object, or a script describing the logic behind something, a sound effect…

This extremely modular approach encourages the creation of reusable, self-contained components. It is a generally beneficial way of looking at things, but it is even better to have tools that enforces it.

A look at some components in an object

Since we adopted Unity3D, our development process has taken a new scope. The transition from a bunch of tools needing quite a bit of groundwork to get them working together to a platform integrating most steps, including direct import of 3D assets, images and other textures, changed quite a few things for us.

We always stay on the lookout for new development tools, but at the present time, Unity3D is without a doubt the best environment for the type of games we are making. We may have taken our sweet time to get there, but boy, is it a great feeling!

If you want to learn more about Unity3D : http://unity3D.com

Sweet 2013

2013 was made of :

• Ludum Dare competitions which boosted the team
• the start of Get Well Soon!, our first game sold online
• some abandoned projects (to make room for the new ones)
• a few challenges accepted… and sometimes achieved
• the discovery of new tools, which we loved!

But also :

• 11 posts (against 3 in 2012)
• a communication directed at you, with a continuous presence on social networks
• and, of course, our participation to the FrenchCows initiative!

Looking behind us,  lots of our objectives were reached, despite a great deal of time yet again stolen by our day’s work. We can be proud of ourselves.

Let’s roll up our sleeves for 2014!

After so many challenges met in 2013 (and some still ongoing), we’ll have to work really hard for what follows!

The main objective, of course, is still to finish our first game actually sold online, Get Well Soon!.
This past few months, we started to have regular meetings and dedicated workshop-days, which we plan to maintain, as we realized working together motivates us a lot. Because let’s be honest, it’s not always easy to get back home from work to start working again on your own… even if we love it!

Once Get Well Soon! will be done, we’ll start a marketing phase, which we are total newbies at. But we hope to learn a lot.
Then… we’ll still have LOADS of projects waiting for us to work on!

Get Well Soon! the latest news

Instead of participating to this December’s Ludum Dare, GSM Productions dedicated the weekend to Get Well Soon!. We had the help of Dimitri, 3D specialist and good friend of the team.

Friends making a video game ?!? After trying different types of industries, like advertising, movies or entertainment, I HAD to try that new challenge ! Eyes looking more and more like screens as the hours go by, orgies of junk food, lack of sleep and cheap humor … gosh, how I missed all these ! And what a pleasure to bring my contribution to Get Well Soon!

And we did achieve a lot through the weekend!

You’ll note that the first level design is finished and the outside environment well advanced! The doors and windows are in place as well as the outdoors stairs. Textures have been done (not all definitive, but we’re working on it). Lots of objects have been modeled (and there are still many more).

From a more practical point of view, the mouse’s cursor is now hidden in-game and the main menu is completely over with, with the possibility to go back to it and then resume the game. The options now allow you to choose your keys and to determine the cursor’s sensitivity.

Since we publish each week an updated version on FrenchCows (we will never encourage you enough to join this friendly community), the version’s number is now visible in the main menu.

And, to French-speakers’ delight, you can now choose your language!

Finally, talking about gameplay, the character cannot jump anymore and is carrying a torch. Moreover, the turn-based movement is back, a bit modified to match its application to the scenario… and monsters can open the doors.

We hope to present all of this to you soon! In the meantime, for the curious who want to follow the game’s evolution, we’re waiting for you on FrenchCows! 😉