In our “Making Indie” series, we invite game developers and publishers to speak directly to our readers about what it means to be an independent game developer. Our readers include up-and-coming game developers, video game fans, and players just passionate about video games. Please feel free to post your comments below to share your thoughts.
Contents
- Meet our Guest Denis “Greengh0st” Savin
- PSCD Games Are Available Now!
- Denis and his team use these software toolkits
- Advise to Indie Game Developers
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Gaming
- Is AI is contributing to industry layoffs?
- Is AI replacing human programmers?
- Can AI replace Quality Control?
- Is AI replacing human graphics designers?
- More about Black Jewel Reborn
- More about Cyber Mission
- More about PSCD Games
Meet our Guest Denis “Greengh0st” Savin
This segment features Denis “Greengh0st” Savin, Team Leader of PSCD Games, which consists of ten like-minded individuals with offices in Russia and Ukraine. As of 2020, Denis and his team have been developing and porting games for the SEGA Mega Drive and SEGA Genesis. Cyber Mission, their current game project, has recently reached 120% of its target funding through a very successful Kickstarter campaign. You can learn more from our Cyber Mission game page.
PSCD Games Are Available Now!
Also at PSCD Games, you’ll find remastered and portable retro games for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color as well as the NES, Famicon, SNES, and more. Cyber Mission and Black Jewel Reborn are two PSCD titles that have made our indie game collection with the latter being ranked among our 2023 Top 10 most popular video game!
Denis and his team use these software toolkits
PSCD Games uses the following software toolkits to port their games to Evercade, SMS (SEGA megadrive) and NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) consoles and specializes in GB (Game Boy) and SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System).
- SGDK is a free tool kit allowing development of software in C language for the Sega Mega Drive.
- Nesdoug is a resource for understanding how to program NES games in C.
- devkitSMS is a collection of tools and libraries to code SMS/GG homebrew in C. It uses the SDCC compiler.
Our discussion with Denis Savin, Team Leader of PSCD Games continues. Denis offers some thoughtful tips for new developers considering the jump into Indie Game development.
Advise to Indie Game Developers
First and foremost, be independent. Do exactly what YOU want. Try games of different genres and push yourself in new directions. Learn from outside your comfort zone!
Denis continues…
Overcome your weaknesses by leveraging your strengths. You come from within. Everything that you are is a combination of your life experiences, your knowledge of your favorite films, your erudition about your favorite books, and your favorite games. New ideas are born from this. It is possible to come up with a new idea one day and then realize later that it has always been there in the back of your mind and you have just forgotten about it. That idea, that “spark” is what makes you an Indie Dev!
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Gaming
Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to be all the buzz lately but what does it really mean and what impact is it actually having on the gaming industry? We were keen on asking Denis this and more. His assessment and predictions are both thoughtful and telling.
First, though, what is Artificial Intelligence? Let us start with a definition.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The concept of artificial intelligence (AI) involves machines that can use learning and intelligence to take actions to maximize their chances of achieving a set of defined goals by observing and learning from its environments. – Source
Here are Denis’s thoughts and predictions on AI in video game development.
Is AI contributing to industry layoffs?
“I think AI is currently and actively eliminating routine work. So what we are seeing, I think, are companies optimizing their teams. For example, why keep 10 employees doing tasks that one AI operator can complete alone in one day? Game development is a business, first and foremost, which means such decisions are inevitable. Humans dream, constantly searching for ways to make them come true. Good or bad, AI grants us the time and freedom to bring those dreams to life.”
Is AI replacing human programmers?
Denis continues…
“In 5 years, I think game development cycles will be much shorter with games being released at a dizzying pace. AI will almost certainly replace humans in this effort. Very soon, all that will be needed is a human programmer/operator to set the AI task, monitor its results, make adjustments and then repeat. This iteration process will require human supervision, but less and less as AI’s learning curve shortens.”
Can AI replace Quality Control?
Denis continues:
A more difficult task would be for AI to replace human testers. However, I think beta testing should always be done by humans. After all, AI cannot buy video games, at least not yet…!
I want to interrupt Denise here and make a suggestion to any studios reading this right now. Games in the AI future will undoubtedly get more complex. A premature game release that is bug-ridden can quickly become more costly than the total payroll of your displayed workers! I suggest repurposing a portion of your team to beef up your in-house Quality Control procedures. There is nothing worse for a customer than encountering one bug after another in a game that they just spent $60-$100 on.
OK, lets continue…
Is AI replacing human graphics designers?
Denis wraps up his remarks with the following:
“Today, a lot of graphics concepts are currently being generated using AI. Someone is already making games completely drawn by a Neural Network so this means that in five years, artists will in fact not be needed, except for the invention of new styles. But again – what is a new style? The mistake of the artist who drew it? AI can do the same thing, even now, with the right request, albeit somewhat poorly.”
Well, there you have it…
More about Black Jewel Reborn
In Black Jewel Reborn: He stole the Black Jewel from the ancient Temple of Power and plans to take over the kingdom with it. Ryan and Julia are the most courageous warriors, the only ones that bravely oppose the enemy’s dark plans. The mighty swordsman warrior and the invincible Amazon with the whip are already on the trail of Darkor, ready to eradicate his army of monstrous creatures and bring the Black Jewel back to the temple.
Pre-Order the Game Boy Color, NES, SNES Cartridges
More about Cyber Mission
Cyber Mission is filled with beautiful 2D pixel art, addictive shooter gameplay, classic levels, and weapons that will allow you to create a symphony of destruction as you destroy alien bases throughout the black eye galaxy.
More about PSCD Games
We hope you enjoyed today’s Making Indie segment. We want to thank Denis “Greengh0st” Savin Team Leader at PSCD Games for speaking with us and allowing us to showcase their work. We are looking forward to seeing much more from Denis and PSCD Games!
You can reach PSCD Games on the web and on these media platforms:
PSCD Games on the web
PSCD Games on youtube
PSCD Games on X (Twitter)
PSCD Games on Meta (facebook)
Editor’s note: For the benefit of our readers, we ask game developers and publishers to offer their opinions on these important questions. If you wish to participate in this series, feel free to contact us at our official GameForce.blog X (Twitter) page. Thank you!
– – Making Indie —
