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I'm 2 years into development of my sandbox game, Moonman

135 points| eigenbom | 12 years ago |bp.io | reply

71 comments

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[+] dvt|12 years ago|reply
Been following Moonman for 2 years :) I am a relatively quiet lurker on TIGSource but I can't wait until Moonman is finally out (as in.. out out). The playable demos so far have been amazing.

Unfortunately, the start-up community is more cynical than the indie gaming one (blah blah Terraria clone). But, I for one, wish you good luck sir!

I love the indie community because it fosters creativity over success; the process over the end result. Unlike the start-up community (where the exit is what really matters). I dabble in both. The realism on HN keeps me grounded but the naivete on TIG keeps me dreaming.

[+] eigenbom|12 years ago|reply
Thanks, glad you've liked it. Yeah I know this isn't really HN material and my game is fairly niche already. Nevertheless it seems there are some gamedev people on here, which is great to see. :)
[+] jlebron2|12 years ago|reply
> The realism on HN keeps me grounded but the naivete on TIG keeps me dreaming

Spot on! Balance is key :)

[+] CmonDev|12 years ago|reply
Terraria is a clone itself. Also it's probably a separate genre already.
[+] sspiff|12 years ago|reply
As someone who tried repeatedly to make a game but never finished (or came as far as you have), I can only congratulate you on doing better.

I could only see the video on youtube as the site is down, but it looks a lot like a "2D Minecraft". Not that that's a bad thing, but a lot of people will dismiss it because of this. Do you have any plans of expanding the gameplay into a direction different from Minecraft?

[+] eigenbom|12 years ago|reply
The mining and crafting is like the bread and butter of this genre, which I'm happy to call minecraft-like. I'm inspired by the traditional rogue-likes (like nethack) and modern ones (like brogue), so I hope to bring elements of those into the game. Procedural quests, ancient machines, and richer landscapes are also priorities.
[+] andrewb|12 years ago|reply
If anything, it seems similar to Terraria. I'm not going to call it a clone because I personally find the term derogatory. I'd rather call it a 2D platform sandbox game that has similarities to Terraria but still unique.

A clone of Minecraft in my books is more FortressCraft / UberBlox / Manic_Digger.

Congratulations to the OP though. Overall looks pretty good.

[+] martian|12 years ago|reply
I think it's awesome that people are creating more games like this -- Minecraft is a huge success, which suggests there is a big market.

Another one I like is http://deepworldgame.com/

[+] copx|12 years ago|reply
To me it looks like a pretty straight clone of Terraria and that game was a commercial success.

Personally I didn't like Terraria though. Way too simple for my taste.

[+] candydance|12 years ago|reply
Going off the youtube link in the hackernews discussion since the website is down, this seems to have exactly the same mechanics as Terraria.

I'm curious to see if there's anything differentiating this game from Terraria.

[+] Impossible|12 years ago|reply
I find it interesting that you took the classic advice of "just use Box2D" for a 2D platformer and it worked well for you. It doesn't seem like your game using anything much more complex than basic box vs. tile grid collision and doesn't use any of the advanced features of Box2D. No complex constraints, rigid body usage seems simple or non-existent, etc. I could be completely wrong about that though, this is all speculation based on the video and your devlog.

What kind of issues were you running into with implementing tile based collision? Was it intersection tests with slopes? Performance issues? Stability (crashes)?

[+] eigenbom|12 years ago|reply
Intersection tests mainly, I'm sure the reason is buried somewhere in the devlog. At the same time it looked like complex dynamic machines (with pistons, pivots and other parts) were also going to be a priority. It was definitely worth the extra effort, and I still have plans for simpler machines, rope-style bridges with connected parts, and more complex monsters which will no doubt have constraints between their parts.

In addition Box2D has given me super quick spatial tests, which I use for melee, mouse-picking, and ray-casts for the particle system (which is a quick custom built thing).

[+] telephonetemp|12 years ago|reply
Is there a standard FOSS world generating library for use in video games? I.e., one that would generate the right kind of 2D and 3D noise, average it out according to parameters, apply "biome" tags to regions, create underground tunnels, etc.? These tasks are probably typical enough that most games need not reimplement them.
[+] willvarfar|12 years ago|reply
Wow, hadn't seen http://www.tigsource.com/ nor its forums before! Is it the place to unveil your indie hobby games once they become big and playable?
[+] devindotcom|12 years ago|reply
Great website. They used to update news way more often but for a year or so now it's been more an active community than a frontpage.
[+] wingerlang|12 years ago|reply
They have a section for devlogs also, so you don't have to have it playable to unveil it.
[+] johnyzee|12 years ago|reply
Looks very cool - I love the idea of a deep platformer. I personally feel that (first-person) 3D is way overused, 'because we can', when it usually restricts rather than enhances gameplay.
[+] xerophtye|12 years ago|reply
Woah! AWESOME! You actually MADE all that? That's the ambitious kinda stuff I only manage to dream about. But you actually BUILT that stuff! Major Kudos! :D

Please put it up on github! I am sure there's a ton of stuff we could all learn from it, not to mention we'd love to help, pushing the project closer to completion.

(Unless of course you plan on putting the game on a market place and earning money from it)

[+] eigenbom|12 years ago|reply
Ha, thanks, yeah it's taken a while, and I took a lot of wrong turns. The game is commercial and so closed source, as I'm trying to turn this into a paid day job. And besides, my code is dense and horrible. ;)
[+] eigenbom|12 years ago|reply
Thanks Hacker News for keeping me sane during that time. :)
[+] voltagex_|12 years ago|reply
Looks like Hacker News has also killed your DB!
[+] avgarrison|12 years ago|reply
Great job handling the traffic spike by still giving us links so we can check out your game.
[+] ph4|12 years ago|reply
I love the music in the YouTube video. Anyone know of bands/groups that do something similar?
[+] babuskov|12 years ago|reply
Cool. I was considering making something like this a few months ago. Didn't know Moonman existed. Now I'll just remove that idea from my list and wait for you to finish it so I can play ;)
[+] brokenparser|12 years ago|reply
Moonman is Minecraft 2D? I'm okay with this.
[+] progx|12 years ago|reply
Cool Idea ! Some Minecraft parts in 2D combined with a jump & run... and old console/c64 retro look :-)
[+] zomgbbq|12 years ago|reply
The background music and game sound effects are mellow, subtle and beautiful!
[+] phoyce|12 years ago|reply
Congratulations on your determination, persistence and effort. Seriously.
[+] tofof|12 years ago|reply
And here I was excited by the prospect of a Terraria-clone set on the moon.

.... Not so much. More like a terraria clone set on an atari 2600.

Terraria devs, if you're listening - moon! Lunaria! It writes itself.

[+] eigenbom|12 years ago|reply
set_gravity(1.622) set_landscape(flat_boring_and_homogenous)

Done ;)

[+] CmonDev|12 years ago|reply
Two years full time? Impressive in any case.
[+] eigenbom|12 years ago|reply
It was probably about 1 year equivalent full time.