So, I have seen a lot of indie games keep update a show off lately, but all of them are either concept arts, stage preview, rendered stuff, a segment of story and stuff, some even part of unfinished gameplay video trailer that look well-animated.

I'm not artist, so concept arts are non-exists, does GUI preview count as concept art?

It left me wonder that when do I know if my game is ready to show, and what kind of content I should show off?

Also, if I wanted to keep a page update, active, and interesting.
What sort of things I should post and what I shouldn't post?

Most impressive always goes back onto programming. You can have an amazing looking game in Esenthel ready or anyother engine pretty easily if you got experience in art. But after that, you are really looking for functionality; your game might not have the best gameplay or so, but stack up the functionality so other developers can see you've worked hard 'impressive, good job'. Doesn't always have to be big, nor small sometimes.

I like seeing a mix of original art and programmed features. Seeing some images/videos of the games core mechanic would be pretty cool. This is what I personally am waiting for before I show off my game; but mostly, it comes down to this: show off what you are proud of. If you worked hard and built a level that has the bald guy in boxers, go ahead and show it off if you like.

I think it really depends on who you are showing it to directly. If you're showing it to other dev's I say almost anything goes. I prefer myself seeing coded gameplay but a bit of eye candy from time to time doesn't hurt I guess.

If you are showing it to gamers or other non dev's (directly) who don't necessarily appreciate the pain and difficulties of development then I reckon show nothing until it's looking solid and in some form of completeness. You don't want to give consumers pre-conceptions about your game when it isn't yet in it's true form.

So, what I'm understand now,
To players/publisher, I should show about result or something innovative, because people mostly won't care about how it was made. Concept arts exclude, I guess.

To devs, I should show even the smallest things completed, like "I just finished double jump and this is how it work".

And to other devs, I guess a snippet of code also fine, right?

There are no absolute rules on this, it is really up to you but I think the advice given so far has been good advice.

I know I like to see progress on people's game projects as a fellow developer. I would definitely say that if you haven't shown anything of your game project so far then feel free to show what you have and give us some insight into your game. Developers will generally be interested.

I really don't think it matters at all, I mean why would you show your work on the showcase? That's the only question you should ask yourself. Personally I'm only going to post my work when I'll need some feedback, and I'll ask people if they think my scenario is realistic or whatever.
If however you want to brag with your work and show something to impress others, while it's programming is the impressive aprt, that's really hard to show in pictures, so personally I'd say either videos or impressive images should do.

Anyway, it's really up to you, and what you want to achieve with that showcase.

I want mostly feedback, and show that I'm currently active.
Problem is I don't know what/how to show, is it too early or too late to show.

(05-08-2013 11:20 AM)SamNainocard Wrote:  I want mostly feedback, and show that I'm currently active.
Problem is I don't know what/how to show, is it too early or too late to show.

Never too early never too late... Just whatever you feel like showing. You could go forever without showing anything for that matter.. though feedback is good.

I wouldn't bother showing code snippets unless you are asking for help or giving some code away. Most people will struggle to read through it. I find it super hard to read other people's code cuz I'm just so used to my way of doing it.

I find video's is my way of doing it. I generally just do it to share what's going on in my world and maybe give some people idea's on how to tackle certain problems. The feedback is very good. It's hard to tell if you are on the right track when you have been looking at the same thing for hours on end it's difficult to tell if it's good or not... other people can have a first impression though and you will know instantly if changes need to be made based on their feedback.

...any time you feel that something is well done, and at same time, you feel tired, then show it off, and it will boost up your enthusiasm..

I share things when I'm excited about something

(05-08-2013 09:31 AM)AndrewBGS Wrote:  I really don't think it matters at all, I mean why would you show your work on the showcase? That's the only question you should ask yourself. Personally I'm only going to post my work when I'll need some feedback, and I'll ask people if they think my scenario is realistic or whatever.
If however you want to brag with your work and show something to impress others, while it's programming is the impressive aprt, that's really hard to show in pictures, so personally I'd say either videos or impressive images should do.

Anyway, it's really up to you, and what you want to achieve with that showcase.

I hope that your comment didn't suggest that one was more important than the other, or more superior than the other. Because you would be wrong on that. You can get college degrees in both. Both jobs are equally important to finishing a game. You can also earn a good living being both a video game programmer or a video game 3d art designer. I also don't think most people showcase there stuff to impress other people around here. I think that most people just want to give back to the community. Everyone wants to see what other people is doing...Right? Again...this isnt to make you or anybody on here mad...im sure we are all good guys around here. TBJoker agrees with you that programming is more impressive and he's a hell of a programmer, and contributes to the community more than most of us. But the point that I'm trying to say is that a coder shouldn't feel more superior than a 3d artist. If anybody feels that way, I dare you to take on the challenge of making a few good models with bump maps, normal maps, ambient occlusion maps, and then UV map all of that after you have made the models. Make a few models dealing with animated textures...and a few models dealing with transparency textures...then do all of your own skeletons to all your characters and animals, then make animations to all of them, Then make facial skeletons to all of your characters, then make their mouth synch up to audio to make them talk...then after you have done all of that, you might not feel that coding is superior anymore...and that they are both equal. They both take a whole lot of time, hard work, and dedication to become good at.

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oh and one more thing...those cinematic cut scenes that are made in video games, and in 3d animation cartoons in movies...coders don't make those. 3d modellers/ 3d artist do. they are made by people who hold masters degrees in that field. But I guess thats just not as impressive as coding is it?

I wish to add to Shatterstar's post that cinematics are usually done by technical artists, who hold both a degree in art as well as in programming.

I have found that in today's world and its technology, "just" being a programmer or "just" being one hell of an artist is not going to finish a game for you, you would have to be reasonably fluent in order to cooperate with others in their respective fields.

When to showcase a project: It sure helps with motivation, and you can create a responsibility to show the "next" update, which makes you work continuously. But don't forget the dark side when showcasing a project: once you miss an update, or you vanish for a certain time-period, people will start to doubt if the project will see it s end.

(05-09-2013 01:00 PM)Shatterstar Wrote:  

(05-08-2013 09:31 AM)AndrewBGS Wrote:  I really don't think it matters at all, I mean why would you show your work on the showcase? That's the only question you should ask yourself. Personally I'm only going to post my work when I'll need some feedback, and I'll ask people if they think my scenario is realistic or whatever.
If however you want to brag with your work and show something to impress others, while it's programming is the impressive aprt, that's really hard to show in pictures, so personally I'd say either videos or impressive images should do.

Anyway, it's really up to you, and what you want to achieve with that showcase.

I hope that your comment didn't suggest that one was more important than the other, or more superior than the other. Because you would be wrong on that. You can get college degrees in both. Both jobs are equally important to finishing a game. You can also earn a good living being both a video game programmer or a video game 3d art designer. I also don't think most people showcase there stuff to impress other people around here. I think that most people just want to give back to the community. Everyone wants to see what other people is doing...Right? Again...this isnt to make you or anybody on here mad...im sure we are all good guys around here. TBJoker agrees with you that programming is more impressive and he's a hell of a programmer, and contributes to the community more than most of us. But the point that I'm trying to say is that a coder shouldn't feel more superior than a 3d artist. If anybody feels that way, I dare you to take on the challenge of making a few good models with bump maps, normal maps, ambient occlusion maps, and then UV map all of that after you have made the models. Make a few models dealing with animated textures...and a few models dealing with transparency textures...then do all of your own skeletons to all your characters and animals, then make animations to all of them, Then make facial skeletons to all of your characters, then make their mouth synch up to audio to make them talk...then after you have done all of that, you might not feel that coding is superior anymore...and that they are both equal. They both take a whole lot of time, hard work, and dedication to become good at.

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oh and one more thing...those cinematic cut scenes that are made in video games, and in 3d animation cartoons in movies...coders don't make those. 3d modellers/ 3d artist do. they are made by people who hold masters degrees in that field. But I guess thats just not as impressive as coding is it?

I think what he was saying here is that it's hard to show off some impressive programming, and that it's easier to show off images of your world/models than it is to show off a gameplay mechanic. And as a programmer, I completely agree. I did some really cool stuff in my code, but all I have to show for it is a bunch of text and some crappy programmer-art skyboxes. My code doesn't even show in a video; mostly it's back-end stuff so that when I DO start getting gameplay elements in, it will (theoretically) go fast.
That aside, nothing 3D is all artist or programmer. AAA movies and games have programmers that script out things for the artists so that as they work in their 3D programs, the scripts make their jobs easier. Even the program itself is made by programmers; in 3D, you cannot have one without the other. Both are equally as important(unless you are making a text-based rpg).

Ouch, really sorry, I didn't think it would sound like that. I know art is bloody hard, I did try making a tree, and i got an ugly dead octopus or something.
What I meant was however that people (I'm thinking players) might be more attracted by game features, functionality and stuff like that. Take minecraft, that game looks like crap and people play it like crazy (honestly I can't really understand why). But art is a lot better eye-catcher, you need at least a few sweet looking screens to get attention otherwise no one will have the interest to check out what your game does.
You're getting me lost here... probably a kind of excuse might be easier; I meant no disrespect and neither to imply that art isn't a serious thing. It was a poor choice of words on my side, do excuse me.