I struggle to understand calls to boycott Russian game devs on the principle that their nebulous "taxes" fund the horrible war. It just feels wholly more abstract than say, the targeted boycott of companies profiteering from the Palestinian Genocide. I don't want to put down anyone for it tho.

As an indie game developer, I am tired of the AI trend in the industry continuing to be pushed forward. I know the developers likely don't want to use AI and have no say in it. This is the executives. That said, I'm proud to state that there is no AI in the making of my game and never will be!

It's honestly a very question to answer for anyone who's been to art school: game design is an art form, video games are a medium.

There's a certain kind of person who only seems to care about the value of human life when very specific people die. If you have not cried a river for Palestine or the victims of school shootings happening in your own fucking town, do not speak to me.

Does "prior use" no longer count or something? Also, fuck Nintendo.

Dear game developers: If you absolutely insist on putting complex movement puzzles into a game that doesn't otherwise have them, at least put a save point between each puzzle. That way if I need to take a break because frustrated, I can. Although... really just fuckin' let folks save anywhere.

I guess it makes sense why CEOs like them. If you’re able to go to your share holders and say you have an infinite gain in efficiency to a bunch of people with more money than brains it doesn’t matter if it’s true

I was finally convinced by a dev friend to try some AI code tool, despite me being generally skeptical to them. I asked it to optimize some code and explain the performance gains. It did seem to make some useful edits, but then fixed a non-existant bug (afaik) and said the performance gain was "∞%".

As a cashier I learned how many ways people can hand you coins. As a pianist I learned how many ways fingers can cramp. As a student I learned how many ways deadlines sneak up on you. As a gamedev I learned all of that … at the same time.

That is often the CORE issue of obsessive/addictive gameplay design. What is best for the game studio is often NOT what is best for the game player. And a game designer wishing to act ethically needs to think about that hard.

Nothing sucks in #gamedev programming more than when you're hip deep in implementing a new library or tool only to suddenly realize you've entirely misunderstood some central idea of how it was designed to be used and need to refactor now that you know better.

So, I looked into Github Pages, DEV Community and everything that came to my mind. But I've chosen Substack for my devblog; As always, writing the first post is always difficult, but feel free to take a read and drop some feedback! #gamedev #indiedev open.substack.com/pub/thebette...

'Mini Pickup Truck 2' now FREE! previously $7 ##gamedev##gamedevelopment##indiedev##unity##unity3d

I was feeling uninspired and rudderless on my most recent game so I took a break and focused on other hobbies for a couple months. Slowly getting back into it and feel like I have better ideas and a better direction to go in. Sometimes, taking a break is needed, and that’s okay. #gamedev #indiedev

I wish more people would realize that, that not only game dev but art as a whole isn't about just having a great vision I saw something James Cameron said about making movies getting more and more expensive but it got me thinking "have he ever worked on a budget?" (No shade, I genuinely wondered)

also listen i came up from indie. i’m no stranger to “art budget is zero dollars.” but the beauty of gamedev isn’t grand vision, it’s about using your current production limitations to develop stylistic choices that are hyper specific to your project at the time.

Love when game devs show their support for generative AI slop and admit to using it. Makes it so much easier for me to avoid them like the rat bastards they are and avoid giving them my money.

Day #13 and I've implemented basic pathfinding and animations Although I've got to improve the walk cycle, I kind of like the goofy look 🤔 I also thought about starting a devblog somewhere, but I dunno where #gamedev #indiedev

Day #12 and I've fully reimplemented the UI system, detaching UI and game logic entirely, implemented a building and basic inventory system, extended the collision system, and improved some more internal stuff I still can't decide where to go next; there's still a lot to do 😶 #gamedev #indiedev

something that tangles me up not just in learning about game dev, but my hobbies in general, is the fear that im missing one important tool, tip, or workflow. sometimes i find myself watching absolute beginner tutorials waiting for a huge revelation that i somehow missed, but it never really happens

Day #9 and rewrote nearly half of the game; I decided to use a blocky terrain, rather than a low-poly one, because it looks better IMO; Also I've switched to AABB-Physics for now, I need better resources on SAT From now on, things *should* go faster, but every ounce of progress counts :) #gamedev

just gonna say that smaller indie devs being scared of getting overshadowed by a bigger release is not exactly a new phenomenon with silksong. it’s been this way for as long as i can remember. it’s just that silksong is one of the most hyped games ever, so it’s a more visible example than usual

Day #5 and I've added a UI/HUD renderer and procedural height generation for the terrain I'm thinking if I should consider switching to actual blocks, but I kinda like the smoothness (still got to improve the AO). Next up: props, items and inventories! #gamedev #indiedev

Physics. #gamedev

I really need a 'Oh my god what am I doing I'm a sham' game dev support group...

Day #3 and chunk loading is already running! Next up, terrain height generation and physics The grass texture being is by "Puffoloti", published on OpenGameArt #gamedev

The idea came, and works started It'll be a small RPG; mainly about combat and adventure but most importantly, I'll be learning to get better with GLSL shaders and well ~ your average casual voxel engine project, though I do not seek to make a Minecraft clone project #gamedev

Important lesson from history btw. For no particular reason.

Biggest lesson of my first game: Don't waste too much time on tiny details. It's hard being a perfectionist, and it's important to strive toward your vision. But it's also necessary to strategize and triage tasks. Sometimes it's better to just get it out the door. #solodev #indiedev #gamedev

Just some #BlockBench models I've made some while ago Thought I'd bring 'em into some minecraft mod; But I'm a #GameDev and kinda want them to have their own game... but what kind of game could that be? 🤔