Nintendo definitely seems to be teeing up a Nintendo Cinematic Universe. The NCU, if you will.

This article gets why Sunshine is so great. I love Galaxy and Odyssey, but neither feel as dense and lived in as Sunshine. Density of level design matters so much more than size! It's another case of where restriction breeds creativity, and the loss of that restriction has a real effect on it.

I started the board game-esque project. Already the code is WAY cleaner than my last attempt. I'm using Mario Party as a guideline for basic features, but the plan is to spin it into a single-player luck/strategy hybrid where you can alter the board and individual spaces as you go.

Today’s Daily Cartoon, by Ivan Ehlers.

You mean a genAI technology WASN'T sustainable economically? It's almost like we're in a bubble where every tech company is hemorrhaging cash to provide people a cheap service in the hopes it is successful, so they can lock them into higher prices later on down the line!

One thing I'm noticing in my level design is a tendency to turn everything into corridors. So I added a little snowy beach here to spice things up. It does necessitate an invisible wall, but I'm totally okay with that if it's abundantly clear you're not meant to go there. #godot #indiedev #gamedev

There's something uniquely dystopian about using Xfinity / Comcast's LLM-based customer support, which then puts a "real" person in the chat when you ask for it enough...but then that "real" person's messages behave exactly like you'd expect an LLM to behave. I'm certain they weren't real either.

Big polar bear now swings big hammer and you can go splat #godot #gamedev #indiedev

I literally made a video about making Mario Party in Godot a few months back, and now I'm sitting here thinking hm...I should start a new project and hash out the systems for a Mario Party game again.

Radical left member here! I draw funny cartoon characters and make stupid video games and think people should be able to make a livable wage and that empathy is a good thing👍

Sometimes an #gamedev idea just sticks in your head, and for me it was an enemy wearing a mind control helmet that's a polar bear who swings a big hammer at you. #godot #indiedev

To nerf or not to nerf That is the question

Working on the central hub of the snow level now (I decided the previous area will be a spoke you find and explore). I've found I prefer working in a kind of patchwork style, then filling in geometry between areas of interest. It helps me keep things dense, I think.

I think I'm gonna use these portals as level entrances. I quite like the portal shader effect, and naturally I have a temporary #godot icon as the image texture it uses... #indiedev #gamedev

Oh hey, it's the steam spring sale (genuinely forgot about this). My games Critter Drifters and Robo Rolo are available super cheap and are great for a few hours of entertainment :P store.steampowered.com/app/3755680/... store.steampowered.com/app/3563270/... #gamedev #godot #indiedev

Oh hey, it's the steam spring sale (genuinely forgot about this). My games Critter Drifters and Robo Rolo are available super cheap and are great for a few hours of entertainment :P store.steampowered.com/app/3755680/... store.steampowered.com/app/3563270/... #gamedev #godot #indiedev

Feeling a bit better now that I've started fresh on this snowy level. So far everything is much more compact and engaging to move around in. All that being said, this area serves just two major collectibles! Each level will have ten (though the boss will award three). #godot #gamedev #indiedev

Critter Drifters got me to a 4 on this scale. Didn't make any real money, but people paid for it and liked it. My overall goal is success level 6. It'd just be neat to feel comfortable working 100% for myself. More scary, probably, but having an established library of games would definitely help.

Feeling uninspired about my #gamedev project. Is it creative burnout? Or bad sleep / diet? Natural dips in motivation through a project? Probably a mix. I kinda feel like I just work on it because it's there, you know? The systems are established, it's real, it's on Steam...might as well keep goin'

Murphy's Law of Spreadsheets: If you write code to parse one, somebody will completely change the format or the data, and expect it to work magically anyway.

One thing about this level is it's too sparse. So I'm giving it a second pass and keeping that in mind. The left mesh is the lake leading into a cave from the right...just much smaller. And yet, it accomplishes the same thing! That'll help some, but I still need to inject thematic life into it.

My next game will have DLSS, SSD, SLS, RCS, SMS, STI, and MSG support

Kinda thinking about scrapping this level and waiting for better inspiration. The obvious answer is "make it a Christmas level", but I don't want to just default to something like that y'know? I feel like my best bet forward is taking two entirely different concepts and mashing them together.

The funny thing is I assumed the article I read was likely to be AI-generated, but this little excerpt below a bunch of "references" made me laugh out loud. Somebody didn't read the article they didn't write... The topic was inconsequential...but still

Kinda thinking about scrapping this level and waiting for better inspiration. The obvious answer is "make it a Christmas level", but I don't want to just default to something like that y'know? I feel like my best bet forward is taking two entirely different concepts and mashing them together.

Seriously this! Getting to milestone review counts isn't just a personal victory kind of thing, it affects Steam's algorithm a ton.

Going forward I'm going to try to focus my level design around interactions. If I'm going to model something, it's going to be so I can do something with it. In this case, I wanted to be able to break an ice pond with a pogo-jump, so that justifies its existence. #gamedev #godot #indiedev

Sometimes the hardest thing about #gamedev is just striking the right vibe for a level. I wasn't feeling the daytime snow level because it felt too stark, silent, etc. But the level I made IS stark and silent. So now I'm trying a nighttime northern lights vibe.

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Doing some more fine-tuning of the pencil surfing mechanic, added some snow particles and sound effects, etc. I've cemented my decision for it to be a special area only kind of thing -- not part of the general movement state machine. #godot #gamedev #indiedev

Doing some more fine-tuning of the pencil surfing mechanic, added some snow particles and sound effects, etc. I've cemented my decision for it to be a special area only kind of thing -- not part of the general movement state machine. #godot #gamedev #indiedev

Yes I need to go to bed, but I ALSO need to get my pokemon building the poke center before I go to bed otherwise it will take until the NEXT DAY. Smelt that glass faster, Vulpix!

Working on a slide area! At some point I think I also might do an avalanche segment where you have to outrun it and the camera is backwards. #godot #gamedev #indiedev

Working on a slide area! At some point I think I also might do an avalanche segment where you have to outrun it and the camera is backwards. #godot #gamedev #indiedev

I've now reached the point in Pokopia where I tirelessly work my pokemon to chop wood and smelt things for me day and night. That is the price to pay to live in post-apocalyptic Dittopia.

Pokopia is, so far, a giant exercise for my terrible short term memory skills

I should probably stop just making cliffs and tunnels for a bit. It's oddly therapeutic in a way, but I need to focus on y'know...actual gameplay stuff that isn't just an empty terrain playground

I'm glad I spent some time really nailing the ledge-grabbing mechanic in this early on. Having the ability to make little rock-climbing challenges is pretty neat #godot #gamedev #indiedev

Feeling impulsive...might buy the pokemon minecraft dragon quest animal crossing game

The number of times I've felt self-doubt about my game, and then felt better after just applying some textures to the level geometry...is at least a handful of times now.

Attempting to make a rideable gondola. Gotta fix the fact you can draw lines in mid-air now, but overall it seems to work! #godot #gamedev #indiedev

Started a new level! The nugget of inspiration was a gondola. I did start with a more "organic" terrain at first but I feel like that's a dead-end design-wise, so I'm leaning into cliffs instead. I'm also considering making the pencil-surfing a special area kind of thing -- not part of the moveset.

McGovern: How the hell is this America first? You guys broke your top campaign promise. Good luck with that. I hope the defense contractor money was worth it. Shame on you all. The mask is off. You're all just a bunch of pathetic Neocon Warmongers.

This is both extremely frustrating and gratifying to listen to. Just relentless, righteous pressing against wrongdoing...followed by stonewalling bullshit.

Started a new level! The nugget of inspiration was a gondola. I did start with a more "organic" terrain at first but I feel like that's a dead-end design-wise, so I'm leaning into cliffs instead. I'm also considering making the pencil-surfing a special area kind of thing -- not part of the moveset.

My game now has a Steam page, and it's called Sparky's Sketch Quest! Reasoning behind the name further below. If you're interested, please give it a wishlist on Steam! store.steampowered.com/app/4407780/... #godot #gamedev #indiedev #steam

My game now has a Steam page, and it's called Sparky's Sketch Quest! Reasoning behind the name further below. If you're interested, please give it a wishlist on Steam! store.steampowered.com/app/4407780/... #godot #gamedev #indiedev #steam

Okay yeah I think this is the winner. Needs a little tuning to feel right but I think it'll get the job done. I do 8 vertical raycasts very close to the player's position and just lerp their velocity toward the one that goes furthest downward.

That feeling when you're doing #gamedev and all of a sudden you're googling "How to find the steepest direction vector for a given point on a surface" and all you get are scary math pages 💀 I'm just trying to implement a mechanic where you can slide down hills 🫤