We quit our jobs to create an original 2D online co-op game from scratch. It's like Monster Hunter but you can draw your own gear. Ask Us Anything!

How is your multiplayer networking code written? Did you use a library? How long did it take for you to be satisfied with your multiplayer networking code?

For the low level packet sending, we are using ENet. On top of that, we have a custom message protocol defined using Protobuf. At a high level, we use the same design patterns as the Source engine to get completely smooth gameplay and still have everything run on the server.

The networking code took about 3 months to complete. I built it up alongside some of the other systems we have in the code such as component based entities and Lua scripting.

For the high level, did you simply read that article and started coding on your own?

The Source wiki has a bunch more articles that are useful as well as others around the internet. Gaffer on Games comes to mind. And I found Game Engine Architecture to be useful all around. Basically, read as much as you need to feel confident and then get into the code as soon as possible.

What makes your game different/ better than other similar games available today?

As far as I know, there really aren't any similar games available today. If you look for online 2D platformers you'll find games such as Maplestory, Dungeon Fighter Online, and Awesomenauts. We're different than all of these, mainly because we believe in skill based gameplay and intense customization options.

Artizens is a co-op game where you fight monsters alongside your friends, kind of like 4 player co-op games such as Gauntlet Legends and Magicka. Except in Artizens, you're not just progressing from screen to screen. Instead, you are hunting a huge boss monster in every mission, and the mission is made of up many arenas that you run through to chase the monster down.

On top of that, we have character customization that exceeds pretty much any game you've ever played. We're letting you pick from a huge list of equips, mix them however you want, and even draw your own images for them. Other drawing games, such as Draw a Stickman and Grafighters, are very focused on the drawing and have relatively shallow gameplay. We're going for serious gameplay and serious customization, so that your drawings really matter.

All in all, I'd say our game plays like Monster Hunter with great online multiplayer support, and we're bringing character customization to a level that other games haven't really tried yet.

Hey, your game looks very good. You got one more backer and I'm certainly looking forward to it. You guys are living my dream, and I wish you the best of luck. Onto questions:

I'm interested in the technologies behind your game. Are you using a specific engine, if not, what libraries are you using? OpenGL, OpenAL? What about for networking, or are you handling it? RakNet or something similar?

How will the multiplayer aspect be? Will we need to host our own games on our computers, or will there be servers where games can be started on? Some kind of matchmaking? Friends system?

Are you planning on trying to get on a distribution platform such as Steam?

I wrote about some of the technologies we are using to implement Artizens in a blog post.

We're going to host our own multiplayer servers. There will be a friends system and matchmaking for jumping into missions together, although they may not be robust until later releases.

We are going to try to get on Steam after we launch the game.

Thanks for your answer! How do you plan on paying for the hosting of the servers? Do you plan on the game sales being enough, or maybe some recurring payment model will be needed?

We have the game sales, as well as expansions, and a virtual currency that players can use to purchase items off of other players.

that blog post was really cool. how do you go about designing a system that is so expandable?

Very carefully! Check out component based game engine design.

will this game be directly available in the software center for linux?

I'm going to do my best to keep Artizens updated in the package managers of popular user-facing distros such as Ubuntu and Mint. If we are successful enough there will be someone on our team dedicated to this.

what will the specs be?

We're not sure yet but they won't be high.

Looks good. If this game get some fame, would you consider mobile devices? And if I'll draw the gear of my dreams (pitchfork, of course), how do I affect it's stats (damage per minute etc.)?

You change your gear's stats by attaching mods to it. For example, you could attach a sharpness mod that would increase its damage output but make it wear out faster. Each mod is balanced with a pro and con, so you can customize your gear however you like, and it stays fair.

We'll be taking a look at other devices and consoles, but it'll be down the road, after we have the PC game all ready.

Are you looking for anyone to assist with testing or 2d art (storyboarding, conceptual, vector, graphic design, etc...)?

I have a career in software testing, and a background in art.

We're not hiring currently, but if you're interested, keep up-to-date with our website to know when we are hiring.

What language / or Game engine did you guys write this in?

And any reason why you chose that option over the others?

The game engine was written in C++. You can read more about why we chose it in my blog post.

I see someone already brought up dick shaped equipment which is 100% going to happen but what will you guys do about possibly infringing items.

I can see people drawing popular weapons from like Lord of the Rings or World of Warcraft. I don't know what the law would say about stuff like someone drawing & naming a weapon Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker or Anduril: Sword of Aragorn or Sting.

Is that even something you're worried about or is it a non-issue?

We are going to handle copyright infringement the way that Youtube does -- by removing the infringing content only when we are asked to by the copyright holder.

Are there plans for the endgame of Artizens?

Once I've drawn and magically imbued all my favorite stats into my equipment and beaten all the monsters currently available, is there an incentive for me to continue playing the game?

Also, towards defeating all the monsters is there going to be difficulty settings for each battle? If so, what would you change about the fights to make them more difficult?

Our mission system should always have something fresh for you since it generates missions semi-randomly and can scale difficulty up for greater rewards.

Your incentive to keep playing is to get your skill rank as high as possible, aiming for the highest skill rank among all the players if you're really competitive. Each time you complete a mission, you skill rank will go up and your mission selections will get harder. Each time you lose, your skill rank will go down and missions will get easier.

To make missions more difficult we can do a lot of things:

• Different monsters that just start off harder.
• Making existing monsters smarter, faster, tougher.
• Giving you multiple bosses to fight at once.
• Not telling you what you'll be doing on your next mission. The ol' mystery mission!
• Giving you new kinds of mission types that will challenge your existing builds, like an escape mission where you need to run away from an invincible boss.
• Time limits.
• Build constraints, like a mission that doesn't allow you to equip any armor.

We've got a lot of ideas for how to keep missions fresh and scalably challenging. We definitely don't want anyone to feel like they've reached the end of the content.

this all seems awesome except for the time limits :( please no time limits!

Stop flirting with the monster and kill it already!

Hi there,

Any plans to bring the game on Steam? I am surprised I couldn't find you guys on Steam Greenlight.

Yeah, we'd love to be on Steam, and have full integration with Steam Workshop. That'll be something we look at after the Kickstarter finishes and we release the alpha version.

Dick-shaped equipment, yay or nay?

Yay. Anybody who doesn't want to see your dick-shaped equipment can choose to hide it from their own view. But you can draw to your heart's content and your friends can see everything you've done.

This game looks amazing. Character and gear customization is something that I feel developers don't spend enough time on these days. Kudos to you for that. If I wanted to start drawing my gear ahead of time how would I go about it? Do you have some sample images we could use as templates?

We have template images that we use, but they aren't final yet, and I wouldn't want you getting everything just right and then having to redo all your work. For now I suggest coming up with concepts for your character and drawing those (which can be very fun) so you're ready as soon as we launch.

Were you guys scared to quit your jobs and go off in this direction? I know I'd be scared sh*tless of the possibility of failure. Best wishes to you guys though! :)

It was a huge decision, but I'd say we were more excited than scared. We lose the comfort of having a steady paycheck, but in return, we take full responsibility for our own direction and we always work on things that matter to us. We all still pretty young and so we love the idea of being adventurous with our careers before we've settled down.

How will you stop players from making penis swords?

You mean the dildo swords of wrath?

I'm studying computer games technology at college in the UK most likely going into university to study, I was thinking about making a game or two in my spare time with other students or by myself although I'm not sure where to start, my education has taught me nothing about how to go from an idea to a beautiful game that sells, so I have a few questions: Which languages do you prefer for games and why? What game engines/software should I be looking at for 2d games that have a lot of features or can be made to have a lot? How would I go about distributing games for money or for free? Are there any books or websites that are great for development resources for things like AI and other things? Any help would be fantastic :)

There are a lot of good questions here and I don't think I could do them justice in a Reddit comment. Instead, I recommend going to /r/gamedev to learn more about game development and get advice from many developers.

Do you have any plans for a guild system? I would love to be able to draw/customize your own guild hang out and guild emblems.

We don't have plans yet because we're focusing on the gameplay. After the alpha is released and people are in-game, we'll be looking a lot more closely at the systems that make adventuring with other players fun, such as guilds and matchmaking.

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If we launched our Kickstarter campaign and got absolutely no attention and zero community support, then I think we'd have moved on. Now that we're out here, we see that we're on track toward meeting our goal and we have hundreds of backers. Things are looking good and we're on schedule for a solid alpha release.

Let's say everything went to hell and somehow we lost all of our funding and backers. In that case, we'd be forced to disband the team because we couldn't pay them. We would spend whatever little time we have left looking for outside investment. And if that didn't work out, we'd go back to working our full time jobs and start Artizens again once we're ready financially. It's not the end of the world for any of us, and we've already enjoyed the experience, no matter what happens.

What are the recommended specs for running Artizens.

We still have to test on a variety of machines before I can give a definitive answer, but it will be lower than most games that are released nowadays. We are a 2D game so it's less taxing on the graphics card, and because the missions are instanced the bandwidth requirements are low.

Can it run on my 512mb RAM and 64mb intel g(no shaders) laptop? Or at least cheap netbooks? Great idea btw, guys. Loved the game videos. :)

No promises, but I'm guessing that it'll run fine on that. I just ran our latest test build and it uses 63 MB RAM.

So will every thing be server side? or will it be a mix of server side and local hosting resources.

I ask Because my next question, What steps are you taking to prevent people from modifying in game addressing (such as increasing health gold etc.)

A good example in this is the first borderlands for the PC. Where if you where "hosting" you could modify other players local save files. it was a huge security flaw.

I don't want that to happen to this game.

Everything is server side and the only thing the client sends is input, so there will be limited to no hacking in Artizens.

what did you all study in school/college?

We answered this in another comment.

Could you elaborate on what you mean with creating your own gear? I can picture people making all their equipment look like penis. How would you handle that?

Take a look at our Kickstarter video, it shows you what it's like to create your own gear. We've got the penis problem handled.

Would you be interested in hiring? I'm an avid writer, although this is the most recent sample I can provide. http://halofanon.wikia.com/wiki/Project_Britannia%3A_Fellowship I have a more recent sample which depicts my further progression since, but I am yet to type out even the prologue.

We're not hiring right now but we'll be posting on our website when we are.