Confirmed Nara is still the most healing place on earth.

Well I got two of the best compliments of my life yesterday and I will be riding high on those for a few years so maybe this $100 haircut was worth it.

Excited to head to Japan tomorrow to show off my game at BitSummit! I always have a lovely time in Japan and I'm looking forward to vacationing a little after the show.

Oh man. As a game designer, there's nothing better than suddenly realizing a solution that fits all the awkward edge cases you've been thinking about for months if not years.

I think I just solved my last major design question for Escape From Moriarty Mansion. I'm stoked, can't stop thinking it through and all, but also it's 1am so... Sleep? Never heard of it.

Struggling to write a sort of Phoenix Wright style mystery scene so I guess I need to go into my writing hole again. (Which is just my guest bedroom for minimal distractions.)

🎉 New Game Official Reveal! 🎉 Max Gentlemen: Escape From Moriarty Mansion will be showing at BitSummit Punch 2026 in Kyoto! May 22-24 Explore a mysterious mansion, solve puzzles and meet the other doomed guests. 🔍 🎩 🧩 🕹️ Wishlist store.steampowered.com/app/3047590/ #indiegame #MaxGentlemen

I wonder if I can make a game in less than six years next time...

I'm upset at how much getting fucked out of ~$700 (mostly my own fault) can make me so upset. I hate money.

The way I game dev is that I need the ENTIRE game loaded into the RAM of my brain. As the game gets bigger it's really pushes me to my limits. But without it, I end up staring blankly forgetting where a random function exists or what character said what.

I've had two colds this month. *Dab*

What's the name for this fundamental law of game dev? Features you dread working on for months end up taking half a day to actually complete, while "little idea I had" features take at least three times as long as you expect to complete and break every time you touch a seemingly unrelated system.

Lately I've been doing a simple thing to hacked my brain into functioning as expected. I start the day with a small list of 3-5 tasks in a text document. Having a few tasks in front of me helps me feel like I can choose which I want to work on and overrides my default overload & procrastination.

Hi, I'm Ryan Wiemeyer, a one man Chicago studio currently working on Max Gentlemen Mystery Mansion. Follow me here for updates and indie game dev rants.

I've gotten quite good at making video games. Finishing them you ask? No thank you.

I spent all of January in Sweden at a sort of game dev hotel / co-working space and it was a really nice change of pace. Honestly a month felt short. It was great to meet so many new people and I was able to make a big dent in my project. I highly recommend checking it out @spelkollektivet.com ❤️

Any other Unreal Engine users go psycho mode and just memorize the location of each tab in blueprint instead of closing tabs?

Just a cheeky little shout-out to @hatsproductions.bsky.social; enjoy some Max Gentlemen and Pip Whipple 🎩

I hit the button ✅😭🐸 🚨BIG HOPS is OUT NOW🚨 Get it on Steam | Switch | PS5 for just $17.99 with our 10% launch discount! #indiegames #nintendoswitch #ps5

Windows 11 can suck my fat one. 🖕

Computer, Find All: "horny" Replace With: "swooning for a gooning."

I struggle a lot with motivation,I think primarily because this is the first time in my life I'm working in near isolation. Previously I had college, a studio job, a co-working space. But I tell you, watching AI content shit all over the place really gives me pride in my human work and pushes me on

All good games fyi

Quite pleased with this Animal Crossing starter home I just built to store extra wood and bodies and junk.

when i say ship a game i mean like a viking ship with a dead guy on it who is on fire

The part of game dev no one talks about is engineering a global pandemic to coincide with your launch, thus trapping potential customers in their homes all day in hopes that will drive sales. Worked pretty well for me back in Feb 2020. Why is no one talking about this?!

I realized I've passed the 3 year mark on my current project. So let's take a look at what running a small indie studio costs. Max Gentlemen Sexy Business cost ~$250k and took 2.5 years (+$100k & 1 year of updates.) For the current game Max Gentlemen Mystery Mansion, I originally budgeted $250k.

I've been cutting a lot of unethical companies out of my life and my wallet. Even when I don't have a comparable alternative, I'd rather adapt to life without them. The list grows longer every day and there's obviously a lot of unethical consumption under capitalism but perfection is not the goal.

Award shows are just advertising at best, circle-jerks at worst. Don't pay attention to them. Putting this out there so I look like a hypocrite in a decade or so when I accept the award for Sexiest Game Developer of the Year.

For my writing, I am an abuser of "..." I often have to reign it in to a "," and when no one is looking, I'll try to slip in a ";" I have no regard for grammar. For me, it's about attempting to pace the way you read the dialogue. I also hate that I'm reluctant to use "-" now because that's AIs thing

Game dev is fun. Spend weeks on a bespoke puzzle that is solvable in about a minute. Between design, art, code, hint system, UI etc. I'd say this one puzzle cost about $1200 to put in game (so far, haven't even audio'd/playtested/revised it yet.) Final game may have between 30-40 puzzles in it.

I turned 40 today! This is a milestone for me because when I was a teen I always said I never wanted to live past 40. My plan was to ride a motorcycle into an abandoned gas station and blow up real cool. Joke's on teen me, I don't even have a driver's license. I've thwarted his plan to kill me.

Wow. I've paper-prototyped two puzzles and I feel like a real design boy!

BATTLE SUIT ACES OUT NOW‼️ Adventure through the stars with the found family of the Zephyr and uncover the secrets of the mysterious Relic suits. Play the Battle Chef Brigade team’s new heartfelt, dynamic card-battling narrative RPG NOW on PC, PS5 and Switch! store.steampowered.com/app/2870530/...

My toxic game dev trait is that I don't think I really need to playtest.

Hot take: Indie games would be better if we had 10x money and time.

Attempting a change of scenery to help me make some big writing and design decisions now that chapter 1 of my current game is "complete."

I showed off a half hour demo of my next game at Chicago Indie Games Showcase (CIGS) and the response was purely positive. Gives me a sliver of hope that this game won't entirely bankrupt me. Also, encountered zero bugs! Wow!

Found a good use for some of the random heads I've collected.

Oh yea this is cool. Controller support was worth it.

Imagine my surprise to see @gamegrumps.bsky.social do a video for my first indie game Organ Trail (released 14 years ago!) It was a harrowing watch but I hope they get to make more... www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPvc... On sale on Steam! Get it while it's hot! store.steampowered.com/app/408300/O...

One Piece episode 1136 & 1137!!!

big news: TALL TRAILS is OUT NOW !! 🥾 an exploration game where EVERYTHING goes in the boot!! 🤠 you're a little golem on a quest to find his purpose 🚀 use items as fuel in your ROCKET BOOT to blast yourself through the air!! get it now Steam! store.steampowered.com/app/2393760/...

I often awaken with half-cooked game ideas fresh in my mind. So, might as well start a thread to keep track of them. 😎 Dream Design Dev Log 01: Impress My Grandpa "Friendslop" game where you start in grandpas house, take note of thing he likes, and then run around stores to collect gifts for him.

This could be us but you playin'

This is my dog. Please love him.

Wow! I was able to play my own game for and hour and a half before I encountered a bug. Feels like it's coming along!

I think people underestimate their ability to help support a game just by telling a friend about it. If I hear a designer talk about their game, I'm not usually convinced. If my friend Will tells me to check out a game, I'm looking. Your words, oftentimes, are just as powerful as your wallet.

I rent out an extra condo in my building to try and make some more stable income (what that game sales don't quite cut it.) I'm between tenants so right now my day job is gamedev and my night job is a carpenter/repairman and I'm pooped.