Since the kids decided on a name, I've rejigged it and we now have an intro! Notice only Hugh is on the title screen- the other characters appear there once you've unlocked them. Lenny (6) drew a coctail drink, a bunny figurine and a pet cat for Hugh's home. #gamedev #indiedev #picotron

"We'll put this on steam!" Yeah but is this a good idea when the game is made by a 6 and 9 year old- I can imagine reviews: "Game looks like it was made by kids." Yup because it is ha. Plenty of other places to plop a game thankfully.

The kiddos came up with a name! (Before today it was called Untitled Sturdy Game) #picotron #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtCd...

Using a Laptop with integrated graphics as a temp replacement for a steam deck is going surprisingly well. It even plays Potato Man's Sky at a not-totally-unplayable framerate. Says a lot about NMS!

My idle Debian system: "360mb memory usage" *opens a webpage* 12046mb system memory usage. Hey devs, what have we been doing.......

In what world is it OK for a mobile device to cost >£1k? No. Just no. Not even £500. Still no.

EARTH MUST DIE is OUT NOW. Starring Joel Fry, Martha Howe-Douglas, @alexhorne.bsky.social @misterabk.bsky.social @benstarr.bsky.social @5teviem.bsky.social Tamsin Greig, Don Warrington and LOADS of other people. It's cheap | good | funny, check it out. store.steampowered.com/app/3639780/...

You're KIDDING. *Steam Deck battery failed -> Can't play there *PC -> Windows update boot loop ..... I'm pulling out my potato I guess!

WHERE IS IT WHERE IS IT WHERE IS IT

Dive into a hand-animated metroidvania adventure with Little Nemo, where stunning dreamscapes and a captivating story redefine platformer excellence. Sign up for the playtest: playtester.io/little-nemo-and-the-nightmare-fiends #IndieGaming #GameDev #Gaming #IndieDev #IndieGame

My kiddo performed at the NEC today as Part of the Young Voices Foundation (yvfoundation.org.uk) I'm so so proud. When was her age I performed at the NIA under Sir Simon Rattle (I messed it up but it was great fun anyway) Sophie did not mess it up but she did shout 67 and asked "got any grapes?"

Listening to Green Day for the first time in a while. Since I randomly lost some hearing in December I can't hear the vocals anymore, they used to be extremely clear! Now I'm sad.

DeliveryMustGoRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! (Seriously it does, watch it)

Watching America in horror. You'd think we would learn from our past- but nope, here we go all over again. I'm so sorry.

For how many years have I been saying we need RISC OS to support on-screen keyboards properly? All of them?! Turned out to be quite easy:

This is a critical part of EMD's design, to keep things tight, fun and forward-focussed, rather than sprawling back-and-forth. Led to its own design problems though, with testers confused why they can't leave an area, reporting it as a bug etc. Going against the grain has its costs.

Right, rant over. I'll agree to partial failure on my part there BUT now for the next important thing: I need a safe messaging platform to help autistic people communicate. No ability to add strangers, full control over contacts etc. What's out there? Anyone using anything like this?

How are we in a situation where I can't disable or block AI on my home network? It turns out MetaAI completely misunderstood one of my kids and responded with the most perverted thing I've heard said. I need to block this technology. I have extensive network filtering and yet here we are....

Anyone wondering why no indie has managed a Prince Of Persia, uh this is why, because it's a huge number even today 😭 Like we can tech art our way around some of it, but not all of it. Pretty sure this is why you see so many first person mobility games instead: that cuts the animations way down.

So yeah it turns out that certain code or graphics that the kids don't like can trigger autistic meltdowns. I'm not pushing against their ideas, the fact that I put a mountainscape behind the map really upset Sophie. I'm really surprised at what this dev cycle is teaching me about kids and autism

So a couple of nights ago I added aome backgrounds and more detail to our sprites. This is the kid's game though, so when my lovely pixelated mountain triggered an autistic meltdown? it got taken out. "too much detail"? git revert! This game is going to go out exactly how the kids want it to :D

EARTH MUST DIE inexorably approaches, like an alien tyrant grumpily walking down a corridor! Tuesday 27th January, only a week away! "Wishlist it," whispers the nursing bot of your mind. "Wishliiiiiist!" store.steampowered.com/app/3639780/...

Sabrent now on my list of manufacturers who will sell you a turd and say it's a bar of gold. I just want a damn USBC hub that bloody *works*!

There's AI in my game. Characters move left and right. Sometimes, they jump! Just like they did in my first game back in.... 1990, except back then they could only go right and only a little bit and it would take 500ms to see it move and you had to squint and focus to see it.

Steam deck update update: Just a crack on the screen (that doesn't get used) USB C is a farce. Not one of my USB C hubs handle power properly and the dock I was using is faulty and may very well have been the cause of everything. Boooooo!

Steam Deck update: 1) My dock drains far too much power 2) screen is cracked behind the crystals but not all the way through (!? no leaks!) 3) The steam deck battery helps cover for shit power supply via USB C, the device can't reliably power itself via usb itself. 4) I need a new battery :(

It boots! But only without the dock, so this is a power issue. Screen damage after battery fiasco, what on earth is this? It doesn't get used in handheld so don't know if this was a result of the battery bulge beforehand or not.

I suspected something was wrong with the steam deck.

Today's shower thought: "The game needs far too ... Wheres the bloody sponge gone?"

Announcement: STEAM DEMO OUT NOW! The early dungeons of Forbidden Solitaire are now open to those bold - or foolish - enough to explore them. How badly do you wish to live forever? 👁️🩸 👇👇👇 store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/... Please wishlist and share - thank you! #indiedev

This morning I showed my kids an old game I liked called ufouria. Cackling ensued when we realised that one of the characters the kids put together... well, take a look..... (Our game is also ufouria-like)

A public demo of the banned 1995 CD-ROM ‘Forbidden Solitaire’ is being leaked TOMORROW on #Steam. Authorities advise gamers to exercise extreme caution. Campaign groups, such as ‘Justice for Timmy,’ go further: urging players to delete all traces of the software if they are tempted to install it.

Welp. Sucks to find out that I'm going deaf slightly faster than normal. On the other hand, my brain isn't damaged, which is far more important!

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

Hmmm, "High" or low resolution? We've designed for high but it plays really nice at the lower resolution *and* there's something pleasing about how it looks. Also here's Buzz the bee climbing up a questionably drawn flower of some sort. :) #picotron #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

Ooh this is solid fun!

No idea what we're going to call this but I've been building this Picotron game with the kids for the last week. 4 characters, 4 abilities. Kids picked up Picotron *fast*! Might be simple but I'm glad to be deving again. #picotron #gamedev #indiedev Oh and since it's midnight, #screenshotsaturday

"I'm bad at video games" "How bad?" ....

Today we have a classic scroller on the BBC Micro with a slight twist... custom font scaled dynamically to 16x16 pixels and continuous gradient applied to give the impression of more colours than supported by Mode 5. All software scrolling (no CRTC abuse) so works on the Acorn Electron too. 🔊

And now for something a little bit different. Well at least I know what font they used on these shoes.....

Fun platformer I'm building with the kids. I can't do art, but I'm fond of these silly player sprites. Turns out Sophie's decent with pixels! Help Hugh free the creatures (Croco, who swims, Doug, who digs, and Buzz, who flies!) to unlock abilities to further navigate the map. #screenshotsaturday

Current plan for the next few months, then: 1) Finish a small but complete platformer in Picotron. Mayhaps publish it free. 2) Learn from that to help shape my own kid's tools / "engine" - Picotron has been a great next step for the kids. 3) Rebuild Pub Crawl in Godot 4) Synth chassis progress

I want more Breath of the Wild. Not Tears of the Kingdom, not overly complicated RPGs. Just more BOTW. It's about the interaction, the way the physics work, the way the world works. (Although weapon degradation needs work- 'take this bow from my forefathers! ' *shoots twice* *breaks* - Nope!)

Picotron has helped me decide which way to take my engine. (I was torn between kid-centric and full engine, trying to find a way to do both!) - I'm going back to kid-centric. That's my passion, and it doesn't need to be complicated. Alsk yes AuDHD is absolutely kicking my arse at the moment.

What does success mean to you? I've no want to he rich, or be well known. I want to enjoy what I have. Don't compare yourself to others. Success to me right now? It's the fact I got no coding done today because both my kids stole the machine and made their own little game!

Experimenting with the BBC Micro's 6845 CRTC to do some smooth full screen hardware scrolling. Not something I've attempted before and I can see a number of possibilities. This is a simple Mode 5 dynamically generated gradient that I'd have a lot of difficulty moving at this speed in software. 🔊

Fell asleep watching a film with the kids yesterday. Leonard (6) pinched my laptop, switched to sprite and map editor in Picotron, drew an evil rabbit, a table and a drink- then placed them in the map and started playing. I only downloaded Picotron 2 days ago! Evil wabbit hiding under a table! Ooh!

Overheard some young devs earlier. They're choosing not to apply at the bigger studios because "that's not the life they want." Glad to see people respecting themselves and doing what's right for them.

Fun day. Fiddled with Picotron with the intention of helping Sophie, but ended up spending half the day working on it with Leonard!

Another demo effect on the BBC Micro with music... it was going to be a dot tunnel demo but I haven't yet got the tunnel effect working, so here's a variant. 🔊 #bbcmicro #demoscene