The machine requires blood. #gamedev #indiedev #gamedesign

Little things - randomized "war paint" for your character #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #gamedesign

Blood Magic: Holding middle mouse transforms the blood drawn from enemies into a vortex of magical damage #gamedev #indiedev #gamedesign #indiegame #programming #shaders

Detail: Monsters leave a lot of blood behind. We use a compute shader to "suck up" the surrounding texture, counting every pixel as it gets absorbed so we know ~exactly how much blood you've consumed~ #gamedev #indiedev #programming #shaders #gamedesign

As monsters bleed, die, and bleed more the player can suck up the procedural blood layer around them like a vacuum powering special effects and events. #gamedev #indiedev #programming #shaders #indiegame

Magical deeds are afoot #gamedev #indiedev #programming #shaders #indiegame

In my dreams I saw rivers of blood, upon rivers of blood, upon rivers of blood, upon rivers of blood, upon rivers of blood, upon rivers of blood, upon rivers of blood, upon rivers of blood, upon rivers of blood, upon rivers of blood, upon rivers of blood, upon rivers of blood, upon rivers of blood,

I have, uh, slightly increased the amount of persistent blood that the monster bits leave on the floor as they fly around #gamedesign #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #roguelike

Shader effect: Wind rustles through the grass next to a flickering campfire and the glow of standing torches. #gamedev #indiedev #programming #shaders #indiegamedev #indiegame

Indie game developers - Were any of you ~not~ programmers when you started? Do you consider yourself one now? How is that going? I Imagine it's a steep uphill battle? I ask because I was a professional developer for years before I started game dev and I'm curious #gamedev #indiedev #programming

Flargo's Fungus Flail I am addicted to giving the objects in our game the stupidest names possible #gamedev #indiedev #gamedesign

If you have never played Dwarf Fortress I won't shame you, but there has never been a better time to play one of the games that helped define the visual aesthetic of our upcoming game

Mars First Logistics 1.0 comes out on Friday! Here are some of my favourite builds from Steam Workshop:

Managed to optimize Poobo calls down from 6e12 to 3bZud increasing per-frame zingos dinometrically with only a modest decrease in splem detail in the distant fthurp quads #gamedev #indiedev #programming #shaders

BRB doing a "Harg's Bowl of Mush" run #indiedev #gamedesign #gamedev

Zabgan's Smork OP pls nerf the Smork #gamedev #indiedev

YES! You can pet the... dog? Is that a large dog? What is that thing #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #gamedesign

blood. #gamedev #indiedev #programming #indiegame #indiegamedev

My stupidest idea that will certainly make it into production: The "gravity block" which pulls anything with physics into its orbit - You, monsters, gold... #gamedev #indiedev #gamedesign

Showing the player weapon comparisons turns out to be an interesting problem! I've tried to make it as easy as possible to see better or worse at a glance by color coding changes and damage types while still displaying as much data as is reasonably useful. #gamedesign #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev

Any #keyboard enjoyers around here? Rocking a Keychron Q full size because I can't live without home/end keys and a numpad for coding WITH kailh box jade switches for that absurdly chunky clicky switch feel #programming #coding #keyboards

Before / after: Leveraging the power of our lighting compute shader to do procedural bump mapping on floors. A simple heightmap is generated to create variations in texture that react naturally to light sources. Neato! #indiedev #gamedev #programming #shaders

Rain effect rendered in our lighting shader. Calculated in world space so it only falls outside and doesn't move with the camera. #gamedev #indiedev #programming #shaders #graphics

The first ever "screenshot" of our ASCII rendering system VS what the game looks like today. Don't give up! #gamedev #indiedev #programming #indiegame #indiegamedev

The same starting location before and after a complete overhaul of our lighting model. #gamedev #indiedev #programming #graphics #shaders

Subtle things, volume 3 - Explosives triggering camera shake - The lightmap briefly pulses in intensity when the player takes damage - General improvements to lighting quality and complexity #indiedev #gamedev #programming #shaders

Subtle things, part two - A gentle per pixel noise based haze rolls around modulating the lightmap - The player casts a shadow from environmental light sources, which lightly flicker in intensity and position simulating a flame #gamedev #shaders #programming #indiedev

Subtle things that add up, part one - Per pixel lighting calcs now fully GPU based w/ shaders - New support for per-pixel shadow casting - Light sources now illuminate the edges of walls fully and only partially penetrate the interior, creating a more natural and moody lighting effect #indiedev

Nighttime. A gentle fog rolls through, illuminated by the glow of flickering torches. In the darkness lightning bugs dance around lazily. Somewhere in the distance a goat is being sacrificed. #indiedev #gamedev #indiegame #indiegamedev #programming #gamedesign

How efficient is our lighting system? This eye-strain-inducing test of dynamic shadow casters and particle lights runs at (checks notes) the same fps as before I added the lights, so it's bottlenecked by much more pedestrian things. 6 of ??? #gamedev #indiedev #programming #shaders #graphics

My favorite environmental interactions: Press E to - Splash around - Desecrate a coffin - Rummage around in a sack #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame

Deeper Than Heck supports persistent BLOOD. These aren't temporary decals, blood pixels are drawn exactly where the blood particles land and stay there until the map is wiped, so killing rooms feel very death-y #indiedev #gamedev #programming #indiegame #indiegamedev

Closeup: because our monsters are actually made out of ASCII characters when they die they shatter into physics enabled bits that can be pushed around. Gimmick? Genius? Who's to say #gamedev #indiedev #programming #indiegame

A closer look - our algorithm calculates lights and shadows as positions on a grid of ASCII characters, giving them a unique chunky pixelated effect that the system is purpose-built to generate. 5 of ??? #indiedev #indiegamedev #indiegame #programming #shaders

Our lighting system now supports many dynamic sources, such as lights attached to mobs denoting their damage type and power level and lights that track individual projectile particle locations (colored based on the color of the underlying particle) 4 of ??? #indiedev #gamedev #programming #indiegame

Our lighting system is a custom-engineered solution directed toward our unique pixelated retro-modern visual style. It can be used for the wild or the pedestrian, like these gently dancing torches welcoming you to the start of an adventure. 3 of ??? #gamedev #indiedev #programming #shaders

As always our lighting system interacts dynamically with tilemap changes, such as opening a door... 2 of ??? #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #programming #shaders

Our custom lighting solution just got a Big Ol' Upgrade - now supports many real-time shadow casting colored lights interacting together, rendered as... YES a grid of ASCII chars! as in this example with three sources around two blocks. BOO! SHADERS! 1 of ? #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #programming

From the "horrible sphere" to the "dreary library" we have a depth for every taste #indiedev #gamedesign #procedural #gamedev #indiegamedev #programming

i might have to start being upfront about how being a solodev doesn't mean i literally created everything in my games. Its really a problem that people dont realise that solodevs and small teams often have to rely on contractors or premade assets to make their product.

Meet the merchants of Deeper Than Heck volume one: This... person? #indiedev #gamedev #indiegamedev #gamedesign #gameart

A goofy lil guy walks up to a store

From the arcing swing of a flail to the chaotic bouncing attack from an ice staff the weapons of Deeper Than Heck have unique attack vectors that make them feel special #indiedev #gamedev #indiegamedev #gamedesign #indiegame

Flamethrower traps spray fire particles in a cross shape that bounce off of surfaces unpredictably #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev

Blood Fountain #indiedev #indiegame #indiegamedev #gamedesign

Particles. Mysterious stairs. Demonic Anvil. #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #indiegamedev #indiegaming

Our system runs entirely in game, so an artist can simply boot up the game's executable, draw little monsters or tiles, and save the data as a serialized file. Behind the scenes that data defines the characters and colors that make up the world and how to position them.

How the heck do you make a video game entirely out of ASCII characters? With an entirely custom, purpose built set of development tools of course. This is the rapid prototyping and art generation tool we created to build tiles and monsters out of letters and numbers. #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev

#indiedev #indiegame #indiegamedev #gamedesign

This is a unique hammer. Its name is POISON SMASHER BOOM BOOM and this is what it looks like when it smashes #indiedev #gamedev #indiegamedev #gameart #indiegame #indiegaming