Ren’ai Games

Welcome to another edition of Going Commercial! In this article, I’ll talk about what you need to know before you build your website and from there, how to build it.

First off, before you start making a website, what type of website do you want to make? Do you want to make a community oriented-based site? Or do you you want more of a news, information-type site? Do you have enough time to update your site or are you a busy person and would rather have everything simple and easy to update? Let’s take a look at some options in regards to what kind of website you can make.

Build a Community Now or Wait Till Later?

Most indies have mixed feelings about whether to create a community website from the beginning or to integrate it later. One major concern about building a community from the get-go is the lack of people coming to the site. Although there may be a forum, blogs, and what-have-you, it looks odd seeing it desolate and some would rather wait till later when there’s more of a chance that a thriving community will form from the beginning. Others though see that as a part of the cycle. Everyone has to start somewhere and usually that means having very little members present.

There’s no right or wrong way to go about it. One thing I will say though is that if you build a community, be prepared to take a lot of time to upkeep it from answering questions, modding, and generally maintaining it. The larger your site, the more time you have to invest in running it. Also, once you start community, you can’t quit and do away with it.

If you’ve made your choice, let’s move on to what type of sites you can build…

CMS Site vs. Regular Site

There are two types of sites out there: CMS sites and regular sites. CMS stands for Content Management System and are basically sites that are handled via a database and are generally easy-to-update, add, edit, and operate. It tends be community-oriented and you don’t have to be a website coding whiz to operate one. With that said, there is a greater learning curve  for more complex CMS’. Some examples of CMS sites are blogs like Wordpress and big community sites handled by Joomla, Drupal, and Xoops. Blogs are easier to learn than the previously mentioned CMS-type sites but they cannot handle large community sites like the three can with built-in forums, blogs, galleries, and a site-wide login system.

Most indies tend to go the alternative route and make a regular site. They build their site from scratch and manually update it on their own. If you have a small site, which most indie dev’s do, then this may be a better option than a more comprehensive CMS site. HTML is fairly easy to learn and coding your own website affords you the luxury of designing your own site the way you want it. With CMS’, you tend to rely on the default template or using another template which will tend to look generic and not your own. If you would like to customize your own CMS template, you’ll have to be more proficient with HTML, CSS, PHP, and coding in general which can be daunting.

Going back to normal sites, all you really need to make one is Notepad (or a similar simple word editor) and a web browser to view it. You can also use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) software’s like Dreamweaver if you’d rather not code at all. One way or another, if you want more control of what goes where in your site though, you will eventually have to familiarize yourself with at least HTML and CSS (cascading style sheet).

Btw, you can do a mix of both. Most indies do tend to have a regular site they make and update on their own but they also install blogs and forums in separate folders. These work just as well but they all require a different login and password for users to go into one or another which can get overwhelming or at least bothersome for users. Also, doing this, the design from one area to the other tends to differ which from a website design point-of-view, looks unprofessional.

If you’re proficient enough, you can integrate the design of your site with your blog and forum using Wordpress. All you have to do is pull the template from Wordpress and use it on your main pages. Wordpress has this neat forum called bbPress that operates using the same username and password as the blog. As I said, this  is more for the advanced web site builders but if you have the skills, it’s possible to make your site in this manner.

Below are a few indie sites that uses CMS, regular, or both.

Amaranthia – community-based site using Xoops
Hanako Games – regular site that links out to their forum
Puppygames – fully integrated site with Wordpress blog

The Pages You Need

Every indie site has some basic pages that they have. Here is a list of what you should include along with some optional ones.

Home Page – The most important aspects of your site gets put here. Your latest game, a few lines of news, a blurb about the site, newsletter sign-up, and so on. It’s pretty much a combination of bits and pieces of your site. One thing for sure – keep it interesting. If people want more information, put in a link for the detailed page.
News/Press Room – updates relating to your site from game releases or other important info. May be the news archive if you link directly from the homepage.
Support/Contact – how customers can contact you for technical support or for general questions. May be a separate page, or a text stating the email on the sidebar. May or may not be a form that can be filled in.
About Us – tells people what you are all about. Some may do away with a full page of this and just put a little blurb about themselves in a sidebar or in their intro at the homepage.
Games – list of games that you have made. This is more for later months when you have tons of games to list. Others will make separate pages for each game like in the case of Hanako Games’ where each game has their own page and listed on the navigation.

Below are some optional pages that you may or may not be interested in implementing.

Blogs - keep users up to date on what you’re doing with your upcoming game, in your life, or in game development in general
Message Board – create a community where fans can talk about your games, share hints, and get together
Links – other sites that you recommend or just swapped links with. Can be a full page or relegated to the footer of your site. This is also a good place to put your own banner for others to use and place in their site.
Privacy Policy – your terms when it comes to the information kept at your site for newsletters, forums, blogs, and so on. May just be a blurb on a sidebar if you want.
FAQs – frequent questions all answered in one spot. This can be merged with the Support/Contact page.
Site Map – mainly for larger sites, this is a nice page to send users if they’re having trouble finding something within your site
Freebies/Goodies – a section where users can get free stuff from wallpapers, avatars, music samples, patches, game guides, and anything you can think of to give for free.

Lately, indies have been signing up to use some external sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter as part of their community and marketing ploy. I’m don’t know it they’re successful or not but it’s an option you can also consider when making your site. Remember though-  the more accounts you have, the more maintenance you have to do.

Get It Together

Now that you know what types of sites there are, if you want to make a community or not, and what pages to make, let’s get it together and make your site! First off, if you’re making your own site from scratch, it’s best to make a general layout of your site. Will you have a navigation menu to the right, left, or underneath the Banner? Will you also have links at the footer of your site? What colors do you want your site to be? Will the site be easy to read with those colors? On the other hand, if you’re going for a CMS site, do you have a template that will work with your site? Have you decided on which one is the best to use for you? Is it easy? Do they have the extensions that you want?

Once you’ve got what templates, plug-ins, and extensions  you want or a finished web site for those doing it the,selves, let’s install or get your site up to the net! For those making their own site, you can use free FTP’s (file transfer protocols) like Filezilla to transfer your files from your computer to your host very quickly. You can also transfer files through the Control Panel but that is more time consuming. For a list of more FTPs, check out Download.com.

For those of you with a CMS site, you will have to install it. Go to your Control Panel and check out out automatic script installer (usually Fantastico).  From there, install your CMS and it will automatically make all the needed databases, files, and so on. If you would like to add additional templates, plug-ins, and so on, you will also need to get your hands on an FTP software.

From here on out, it’s basically just a matter of tweaking your site to how you like it. If you’re stuck with something, go to the respective CMS community and get some answers there or surf around for neat coding tricks if you’re making your own site. Just remember that your first design is will not be your last one. Don’t be afraid to change up your site if you want to redo it or if you want to make the switch from regular to CMS or vice versa, then do it. Make sure you make the appropriate backups and notices to inform your customers and most of all, have fun! : )

Filed under: Game Dev on June 29th, 2009 | No Comments »

Your website is your calling card and a good first impression is a must. In this part of Going Commercial, I will talk about getting hosting and a domain.

If you’re going to publish and release your own games, it is best to get your own domain, preferably a .com one. The average user automatically types in “.com” after the name of the site. If you were to get a .us, .net, or some other domain name extension, buyers will become confused or worse comes to worse, you’ll lose customers. Don’t make it harder for them than necessary – get a .com url. If you cannot get a .com URL of your choice, though, getting an alternative url extension is doable as in case of Positech Games which has a co.uk extension. It’s not the ideal but it’s possible to be successful and not have a .com url.

Speaking of not making things hard, make sure the name of the domain you choose is not hard as well. Here’s some things that  can make remembering your site url difficult:

• Hyphens
• Long names – annoying to type in and can be prone to typos
• Using different letters than normal – like using a z instead of an s (ex/ letterz) can be confusing

Just as you should try to avoid any of the above, there are some common elements that developers adhere to when naming their company and website. Most developers try to name their site (and game company) with “Games”, “Soft”, “Studio”, or some media related name attached to it.  In some cases, when one can’t find an available .com URL available that corresponds with the company name, some things get cut or added. For example, Amaranth Games took a url called amaranthia.com while Lexaloffle Games became just lexaloffle.com.

Before you take a name though, do some research and try to see how many hits turn up for the name you have chosen. If you go for a generic name, search engines will turn up a lot of links with that generic word. Let’s say I want to make a company called Crazy Girl Games. Using Google, it returns 47,400,000 results. Using the quotes around the search, I get 918 results. The numbers are much better but keep in mind that in normal situations, the average person does not know about using quotes around search words. In the best case, try to find a name that does not turn up a lot of results.

Now that you have a name in mind, how do you know if the domain you want is free? To do this, you can check out domain registration sites like Register.com, GoDaddy, or try CheckDomain. Using Check Domain, I tried to see if my fictional Crazy Girl Games url was taken and…. yes, it was. Too bad! :( I actually tried a variation of Crazy Girl Games earlier and changed it to Crazy Bunny Games (270,000 results normally to 5 using quotes on Google) and checking that domain – it’s free! Yes!

With this comes the next step, registering your domain. Some people will register their domain with their web hosting company as part of a package (sign up and get a free domain). Others will register their domain with a registrar directly. Personally, I prefer registering my domains on my own on a registration site because if you wish to change your web hosting, you may run into trouble with domain transfers. I’ve heard nightmare stories about companies not letting go of their domains or just plain having a long time to wait for the necessary transfer.

There’s tons of registration sites out there so shop around and see who has the best in terms on how much you pay per year. I use GoDaddy and it has served me well over the years. Note that if you register and renew multiple sites at the same time, you can get discounts on the yearly fees.

Let’s move on to finding a web host. For starters or those with lack of funds, some will go for free web hosting instead of paying for one. Free web hosting, monetarily, may be great but there might be trade-offs such as having ads in your site from the hosting company, lack of customer support, trouble with databases, a cap on bandwidth, and so on. If you really have no choice and can only get free hosting, try out the web hosting first before you commit. Put it through it’s paces and see if it’ll work for you. If you have the funds, check out the IndieGamer Forums’ web hosting recommendation thread. I’d also like to put in a good word about BlueHost, the current hosting company I use for Ren’ai Games. I haven’t had any downtime problems and customer support is great! If you’d like to search on your own, FindMyHosting is a good place to look and compare hosting plans. They also have some articles you may want to look at including The Truth About Unlimited Bandwidth and How to Find, Compare, and Evaluate Different Web Hosting Plans.

Be aware that not all web hosting companies are great. Become especially wary of web hosts that say that you have to transfer your domain to their web hosting. Transferring a domain is a big NO. Pointing a domain to their servers is the right way to do it. Like I said earlier, once you transfer a domain to your web host’s control, you’ll run into trouble when you switch hosts (i.e. it makes it harder for you to go to another hosting provider).

Most web hosts offer customers a Control Panel and you should not sign up with a host that does not allow you this type of access. Control Panels should at least have a section where you can control your email accounts, set additional domains as add-ons or parked, databases (make and backup), stats, and auto-script installers like Fantastico. Also, try to look for hosting that has a decent amount of site or monthly transfer (aka bandwidth). Bandwidth or site transfer refers to how much traffic you can get. For example,  let’s say I have a 10GB monthly transfer. If a lot of people come to the site and surpass that 10GB monthly quota, the hosting company usually either a) shuts down access to your site and puts a message like “this site has reached it’s quota, please contact customer support” for everyone to see or b) let’s access continue to your site but you have to pay additional money for the extra bandwidth used. Check out the fine print or FAQs for hosting that has these types of limits. Of course, if you have unlimited bandwidth, you’re pretty much in the clear.

If you’re new to getting your own domain and hosting, it can be pretty scary. To sum up everything, here’s a nice short list:

- Make a name that is easy to read and type, you like, and turns out as few results as possible on search engines
- Check if your company name is available as a domain & try to get a .com URL if you can
- Register your domains through a domain registrar
- Get a web hosting company. Make sure it has enough bandwidth allowance and has Control Panel access.

Filed under: Game Dev on June 22nd, 2009 | No Comments »

If you’re going to start making your own games, you will need materials and software to make them. In this article, I will be going over what things you should get and where you can get them starting with materials.

MATERIALS

1) Computer
You will have to get your own computer or laptop. If you’re going to develop games on it, it has to at least have sufficient memory to keep all your game assets as well as load all your needed software. If you’re doing your own artwork or any type of media, be it videos or music, investing on a bigger hard drive and  a lot of RAM will prove useful when you begin accumulating these large media files.

Most games are released on Windows with Mac games coming second and Linux a distant third so it would seem best to get a Windows OS-based computer. With that said, due to less competition on the Mac platform, your games will have a better chance of selling better on it rather than on Windows. To get around this problem, some will convert their game from Windows to Mac or vice versa, making two editions of the same game for different platforms. Others will use a cross-platform programming language or software like Python, Java, or Flash from the get-go so there isn’t as much hassle when creating another OS version. Also, don’t forget to consider your target market and which platform they most likely have access to. Developing a game where there is no market may end up being a waste of time and a complete dead end.

Personally, I would recommend a laptop over a desktop computer due to the portable nature of a laptop. You can easily move it from one place to another which can be a real boon for multiple reasons. You’ll have to decide between a normal laptop or a netbook (mini laptops). Netbooks are lower in price and have tons of storage comparable to normal laptops but the visual display and keyboard are much smaller. It’s a trade-off you’ll have to consider carefully.

2) Graphic Tablet (optional)

For the developers who are also artists, I highly recommend you consider getting a graphic tablet. There are multiple reasons to get one but the main factor is that it’s much more intuitive and ergonomically-friendly to use than a mouse. Your wrist and fingers will thank you! If you’re interested in purchasing a tablet, check out this guide for more details.

3) Scanner (optional)
Also if you’re an artist, consider getting a scanner. If you mainly draw directly into the computer, then this is not for you but if you do your initial artwork on paper like I do, then a scanner is a must. If you shop around, you can easily get one for under $100 USD. I recommend you try to get yourself a slimline flatbed scanner which less bulky and more portable friendly.

SOFTWARE

1) Engine
Some would say that making their own engine would be the best way to go but starting from scratch takes time even for a pro. To cut down on it, your best bet is to use an engine that already has modules, scripts, and a reliable stream of updates and support. Here are some engines that you may be interested in checking out:

Blade Engine – VNs
Game Maker – all types of games
Novelty – VNs and 2D
NScripter – VNs
ONScipter – VNs
PTK – 2D
Ren’Py – VNs and Dating Sims mainly, can do RPGs
RPG Maker VX – RPGs
Torque 3D – all types of games

2) Graphic Software
You can’t make a game without doing some artwork and Paint can’t cut it alone. Here are some free graphic software’s that you can get your hands on.

Adobe Photoshop Starter Edition
Aviary – online
GIMP (For Photoshop-like workspace, get GIMP Shop)
Picasa
IrfanView

If you have the funds, I would highly recommend you get yourself a copy of Photoshop CS4. It’s an industry standard and one that I love using. Other alternative graphic software’s include Corel Painter, Paint Shop Pro, and Photoshop Elements. For more free graphic software alternatives, check out a list at About.com.

3) Music Editors & Composers (optional)
If you know what you’re doing when it comes to music, from composing, editing, and so on, then getting a music editor is a must but if this is something that isn’t up your alley, then you can pass on this. Here’s a list of music editors and creators:

Audacity – editor
SoundEngine Free – editor
Anvil Studio – composer
Synthfont – renderer
Garage Band – standard on Mac with iLife bundle
RoseGarden – composer for Linux
Reason – composer, $$
Cubase – composer,
Fruity Loops (aka FL) – composer, $$$
Finale PrintMusic – composer, notation, $$
Linux Multimedia Studio – composer

4) Video Recorders & Editors (optional)
Aside from a demo, another way to sell your game is to have videos that customers can look at. Editors like Windows Movie Maker and iMovie for Mac are generally bundled in a pack or comes standard with the OS. If you would like to use something else, here’s a nice list of all kinds of video editing software from Wikipedia. But you can’t edit a video if you can’t record it right? Here’s some video capturing software you can get:

VirtualDub – Free
HyperCam – Free
FRAPS – $
Camtasia Studio – $$$

For more video capturing softwares, head on over to Download.com.

5) Icon Software
All games have an icon and getting a software that can make and edit icons is a must. Here’s a few that you can get for free or buy.

XN Resource Editor – free
IcoFX – free
Microangelo – $$
IconEdit2 – $$
IconBuilder – plugin for Photoshop (Mac), $$
RealWorld Icon Editor – $$

6) Installer
This software is the one responsible for making your game into an exe file for distribution. Here’s a list of installers you can get your hands on and the best part is almost all of them are free!

NSIS (editor: HM NIS Edit, Ren’Py Installer Script)
Inno Setup
BitRock – $$
InstallJammers – Windows and Linux
Iceburg – Mac
Install Creator

Once you have all the above, you have everything you really need to start getting your game together. For all the softwares, you will need to set aside time to learn how to use them but you can easily use search engines to look up tutorials or ask around at your favorite dev or art forum.

If you have any software recommendations or if you think I overlooked something, feel free to comment below!

Filed under: Game Dev on June 15th, 2009 | No Comments »

My graphic tablet came in yesterday. Wohoo! It’s so thin! O_O I feel like I might break it in two…

I got the Bamboo tablet. The active area looks to be slightly bigger than my older one, at least horizontally, and it feels much more different. In my old Intous tablet, it had this plastic covering that you can flip and slip a paper underneath. The Bamboo feels rubbery like the bottom of a mouse pad.

The function buttons up top turn blue when it’s plugged in and I’m not sure what that circular area is all about yet. The set came with one pen and a pen stand. The pen stand looks so fake. It’s this big circular plastic thing. I guess it’s pretty neat since it can hold the pen vertically or horizontally but compared to my older Intous pen stand, which has grip at the bottom, looks slimmer, and has some weight to it, it just looks and feels like a toy part. Oh well, it’s not like I’ll ever use it…

On that note, it didn’t come with any spare pen tips. At the end of the pen is a plastic tip like you would see in a normal pen (except it can’t write in ink). Supposedly, as you use the pen, it’ll wear that down and then you replace it. I’ve been using my old tablet for about ten years and I haven’t changed it during that time. If I do need to change the new pen’s tip, I wonder if I can use the pen tips that came with my old Intous…? I still have a box full of it laying around.

But anyways, what does this all mean?

I’ll be back to coloring characters and finishing up on the GSK assets before moving onto Foxtaile. I haven’t forgotten about Blind Love either so stay tuned for news about that. Cheers! Time to truly try out my new tablet! :D :D :D

Filed under: A Word from Rio, Articles, Blind Love, Foxtaile, Garden Society on June 13th, 2009 | No Comments »

If you’re interested in following the development of Foxtaile, stop on over to Midnighticequeen’s blog Dreamsoft. [SPOILER ALERT! If you do NOT want to see the characters, do not click on the link to Dreamsoft!] For those not in the know, Midnighticequeen is the new developer who will be putting Foxtaile together.

So far, she has unveiled a lot more artwork than the fox teaser Taleweaver posted at Lemmasoft, mainly of the three major characters in the game. The other two artists who will also be contributing are named if you would like to check out their drawing skills at DeviantArt. One looks to be a fan of drawing samurai’s which is excellent considering the historical setting of Foxtaile.

Looking back at the artwork in Foxtaile, I’m glad to see it has held up over the years. I made these artwork about 3-4 years ago and it’s not my usual cel-shaded style. It’s more painterly and overall, it’s quite interesting in and of it itself. Here’s the back of one of the characters named Koeman:

If you look carefully, the outline is done in brown for that Japanese painting-style look, there is no glaringly white highlight for the hair or clothes, and overall, it’s got a softer look to it.I also got to use some neat patterns on the clothes! (I’ll talk about where I got those in another post)

Anyways, I’m looking forward to seeing Foxtaile come together. I’ll  be clocking some more time on the artwork once I get my hands on my new graphic tablet (currently waiting for it to be delivered which should be any day now…) and finish the artwork for GSK: Remake. Btw, we are still looking for a background artist for Foxtaile. If you are interested, please contact Minighticequeen. Cheers!

Filed under: Foxtaile, Our Games on June 10th, 2009 | No Comments »

Some people love the idea of releasing their game on a commercial level and jump head-on into it. The excitement is all well and good but rushing into things will often result in you backtracking to fix your mistakes, waste time, and may even demotivate you to the point of giving up. The solution to this problem: do your research first and see if you’ve got what it takes to go commercial*!

* When I say commercial, I mean going indie as in publishing your own games with a limited budget.

I. Is There a Market for Your Type of Game?
Check what’s out there and see if there is interest in the type of games that you are interested in producing. Try to find other indie game companies, if any, who have already released games related to or is in your genre. Do searches, ask around forums such as Lemmasoft or Indiegamer, look into portals like DLsite, and so on. If you can find any sales stats, you can see if it’s a viable and sustainable area to get into. Regardless of whether you find any precedent or not, be sure to also see what your target market would be interested in purchasing. Hang around forums, chat rooms, and sites that cater to your market. Try to see what makes them tick and see if your game measures up.

II. Can You Do it Yourself or Can You Rely on Your Team?

Most indie’s tend to only work by themselves occasionally outsourcing some things such as artwork or music. Do you have the ability to work on your own? If you cannot fulfill some aspects, you may have to dip into your funds or cut certain features from your game. If you work in a team, you have to make sure that everyone can pull their weight. If someone does not do their share of the work, it may drag down your team and create dissonance – an easy way to demotivate the group and end projects.

Try to work on some free, short games on your own or with your team and see if you can make a completed game. If you’re having trouble finishing a game, then you’ll have to learn to cut some features out, try to find a way to remain motivated, and generally work on improving. You can also take this opportunity to generate a fan base so that when you do go commercial, you already have an audience there who’s interested in your products.

III. Do You Have the Time?
Making your own game requires time and for most people, that usually means spending the remaining time after school or work to develop their game. There’s only 24 hours to the day so try to find out how much time you can work on your game – you’d be surprised how much time you actually have at your disposal!  Most indie’s work during the weekends, in the early morning, during breaks, during the night, and any downtime they can find. Others allot certain times for family and friends and another for development and can juggle those responsibilities.  When you’ve figured out how much time you actually have per day or week, use that to estimate how long you will take to make your first game and see if you’re happy with devoting that much time to making your game.  Be aware that  it is generally understood that first-time developers usually take twice as long as their projected deadline, so double your earlier result.

Some things that take up time: programming, writing, editing, doing artwork/music/sound effects, looking for artwork/music/sound effects, maintaining your website/blog/forum, answering emails, marketing, debugging, doing research, negotiations, newsletters.

IV. Got Funds?
Generally, going indie, there are methods to get around spending money for assets such as using free artwork, sound effects, music, and  software’s such as GIMP and Ren’Py but there are some expenses that can’t be overlooked such as getting your own domain and web hosting which any serious indie should have when starting up. If you do have funds to spend, you should seriously consider if what you are purchasing is needed or not because who knows? Maybe there is another alternative that is better and cheaper or maybe you didn’t need it in the first place! I’ve read one book awhile back that suggests that you do a three month purchasing freeze. If after the three months, you find that you still need what wanted, buy it otherwise take it off your “To Buy” list and move on.

Some things you may spend money on: artwork, engine, music, sound effects, marketing, domain, web hosting, forum, graphic software, computer, peripherals (graphic tablet, mouse, keyboard, flash drives, etc), services (mailing lists, listings, etc), your salary.

V. Can You Take Criticism?
Games that are sold commercially takes a lot more heat than free games. Since it is being sold, people have a higher expectation of the goods at hand and you’ve got to be able to take the criticism, rants, and downright hatred that may come up. Whether it’s from gaming reviews sites or players demoing your game and chatting about it in their blog or forum,  you’ve got to take things in stride. Keeping a constant professional attitude is a must if you wish to sell your games.

VI. Are You In It for the Long Run?
Indie’s who start out generally do not make a lot of money. Business start-ups take about five years before they become liquid. What does this all mean? You have to develop games on the long run if you want to make any serious money; enough to cover your costs and if you’re aiming for it, become a full time indie game developer. As a business, you also have to continually bring out new products, maintain your website, keep abreast of the market, and provide customer support.

If you’ve read all the above and you know and are willing to take on all the challenges that it brings, then congratulations! You’ve got what it takes to become an indie. If you would like to make commercial games but do not want all of the responsibility it entails, you can try working with an established developer and see if they can publish your game for you like the case of Hanako Games and Science Girls!, or selling in portals like DLsite. Just be aware that by going this route, you may have to give up some things such as earning less money per sale, so be ready to negotiate and do your research!

Filed under: Game Dev on June 8th, 2009 | No Comments »

There’s been a lot of interest in the Lemmasoft forums lately in  regards to going commercial. With such growing enthusiasm for this route among visual novel and dating sim developers, I’ve decided to write up some articles on where to start, what to do and consider, and generally give some tips and hints starting tomorrow.

All articles will eventually be listed in the Dev Corner page and may also be found under the Game Dev category. If you have any questions, suggestions, additional info you think I should add, feel free to leaves comments or email me at rioka[at]renaigames.com.

Filed under: A Word from Rio, Game Dev on June 5th, 2009 | No Comments »

This past Sunday, my Wacom graphic tablet finally gave out. ;_; I’ve finally gotten over it and I’ve already bought a replacement (just have to wait for it to arrive…). If you would like to purchase your own graphic tablet, here’s some insights from someone who’s owned and used one for about a decade.

1) Size Doesn’t Matter
Most people who are interested in buying a graphic tablet tend to want to get the largest size possible. When I first started looking to buy one, I wanted a large one too because hey, bigger is better, right? In truth, you don’t need a big tablet since the smaller sizes are more than enough for the average user and gets the job done just as well. Those who buy the small tablets may initially become frustrated using it because of the small “input” size, generally a 4″x5″ area. This frustration, imo, stems from using a mouse which allows a user big sweeping strokes to more minute, smaller strokes required in a small tablet. Buying a bigger tablet will ease this transition frustration I think but you can…

2) Save Money
… By buying a smaller tablet. Right now, you can get a tablet for about $50 USD for a Genius brand tablet with the lowest priced Wacom tablet, product name: Bamboo, running in the $55- $70 USD range. The cheaper-priced models are of course smaller in size but as I said earlier, size doesn’t matter. I’d also like to mention that I bought my tablet refurbished which saved me some money and it’s had a good, long run lasting for about 10 years. I bought it directly from Wacom at the time (there was no Amazon back then, btw, and if it was operational, they only sold books at that time) so buying used may not be so bad. Just make sure you’re buying from a credible source.

3) Brand Names
Wacom is a trusted graphic tablet company and was THE brand to be recommended back in the day and even now. With that said, there are other companies out there that make graphic tablets such as Genius, VisTablet, Adesso, UC-Logic, and so on. Shop around and see which one fits your needs and price point. If you’re able, get people’s opinion and their experiences with their tablets.

4) All You Need is a Pen
Most tablets nowadays also come with a mouse. Most people already have a mouse so all you technically need is the basic tablet and pen combo. Having the mouse as well as the pen puts the price of the tablet at a higher plane so be on the lookout for that. Be aware that for some graphic tablets, you will need to put batteries into the pen for it to operate. Wacoms pen is battery-less so you don’t have to worry about having a supply of batteries at hand (another good reason to get Wacom, imo).

5) Pressure Sensitivity is Not That Important
Pressure sensitivity is the tablet being able to gauge how much pressure you’re putting on the tablet and will accordingly show on your work. The harder you press, the more you paint on while the less you press, the more lightly your work will be painted. The lower-priced models tend to have pressure sensitivity around the 500 range while higher priced models go into the thousands. Personally, I’ve never really used pressure sensitivity. If you mostly do CG-style coloring, then pressure sensitivity is rather moot. If you do a lot of air brushing and painting, you may have a valid reason to get the higher models with the larger span of pressure sensitivity. Keep in mind though that you can technically work with your art piece without so much pressure sensitivity because there are ways to go around it such as smudge, blur, and generally fiddling with the layers, colors, opacity, and so on.

6) Shortcut Buttons? Not Necessary
Tablets have these shortcut buttons on them that allow the user to quickly press one button and it will do as it was programed to such as save or cut. I had a row of these atop my old tablet and for all the years I’ve had it, I’ve never used them. You may find some use for them but I’ve always preferred to do my shortcuts via the keyboard. One hand on keyboard, the other on the pen (and tablet). If you’re like me – you don’t need to get a tablet with many shortcuts.

7) Wireless vs. Wired Tablets
Most tablets are still wired but there are models out there that operate on bluetooth like Wacom’s Graphire. The wires on tablets are long and it’s more than enough for those who like to be at a distance, sit in odd positions, and so on. I don’t see any reason to get a wireless tablet unless you just like an uncluttered desktop, don’t have any more USB slots to spare (even though you can technically get a USB hub as a solution), or just plain like the look of it.

Last but not least…

8) Shop Around
Amazon has very good deals, price-wise, on tablets but buying from the company directly may have it’s benefits as well. Wacom has some deals going on called “Privileges” that allows a buyer to get discounts on certain software’s from Corel to Photoshop. Photoshop CS4, for example, has a very sweet 50% off deal if you bought the Bamboo Fun. If you don’t have any of these software’s and would like to get them, it might be more cost effective to purchase direct. If you check the prices at Amazon, some tablets may be cheaper than others based on the color so watch out for that as well. Also, I’ve seen the price fluctuate on Amazon (for example, one day the Bamboo was $54 but the next it was $62) and keep in mind that your tablet may already be bundled with certain softwares for free.

Once you do buy your tablet, as I mentioned earlier, there may be some adjustments to get used to when you start using it. Don’t expect to start making the next Mona Lisa on it. That takes time. For one, make use of the zoom in your graphic software and the Undo button. They’re your friends. Use layers – they’re your BFF’s and don’t be shy in making multiple copies of the same layers especially when you’re experimenting.  Get comfortable because if you’re using the tablet at an odd position, you will get carpal tunnel despite you holding a pen. An odd position is an odd position and should be avoided. And don’t forget – have fun and start working on that masterpiece! ;D

Filed under: A Word from Rio, Game Dev on June 3rd, 2009 | No Comments »

There’s very few places out there that talk about what Ren’ai Games is all about; visual novels, dating sims, and so on. Recently, one such “place” that has emerged is Baka Trio Webzine (BTW) who has recently released their first issue on May 19, 2009.

BTW’s first issue focused on the commercial scene with opinion pieces regarding the emergence of more commercial projects and interviews with developers papillon and Jack_Norton already in the commercial scene. Other articles and sections include writing tips, a serial fiction, comics, game releases, and of course, ren’ai related ads.

To talk about the issue, stop by the Lemmasoft forum. For my personal comments on it, look for posts by “rioka”. : )

Filed under: A Word from Rio, Articles on June 1st, 2009 | No Comments »

I’ve been cleaning up the site a bit. Mostly, it’s to give the games their own place in the categories section on the menu. If you’re interested in following a certain game, you can now find the related posts all in one section! Games with their own categories are as follows:

Amgine Park
Blind Love
Garden Society
Metropolitan Blues
Foxtaile
Love Revolution

Filed under: A Word from Rio, Amgine Park, Blind Love, Foxtaile, Garden Society, Love Revolution: Fragile Hearts, Metropolitan Blues on May 31st, 2009 | No Comments »