Early storyboards for the Shifting Sands trailer. We’re experimenting with how to frame the planet, the storm, and the hourglass motif... it’s all about that sense of drifting between time and ruin. Feels wild finally seeing it take shape.

Full 40s combat test with 3 weapons: EMF disc throws, charged blaster shots, melee swipes, and an overpowered shield that drains energy instead of HP. Enemies: tentacle, eyebeam, and claw bots. If you were dropped in here, which weapon would you grab first?

I like inventory Tetris. I like inventory Tetris. I like inventory Tetris. I like inventory Tetris. I like inventory Tetris. I like inventory Tetris.

Just finished a big render of the Nexus hub... the place you always return to after the desert storms wipe the world clean. Feels good to see it finally alive with neon and detail. Does it give you that safe haven vibe we’re going for?

What if Dredge’s catchable horrors lived not in the sea, but in the sands of Dune? In Shifting Sands you can haul strange alien fish from silt pits and pools across the desert. Yes... they bite back. #IndieGameDev #PixelArt #RoguelikeDev #DredgeGame #Dune

A splash of Fallout, a dash of Star Wars, a pinch of Mad Max... packed into #pixelart . That's Shifting Sands. This is the Heavy Gunner of the Raider faction.

🔥 Feature Friday! 🔥 An ancient evil has awoken by man’s lust for power. Lead by a distress call from a remote mining asteroid unravel the mystery of this madness and stop its spread in this horror retro shooter! HYPERVIOLENT Out on Steam! 🔗 store.steampowered.com/app/1409200/...

Playtesting your indie game got you down #IndieGameDev ? Bug hunting grinding your gears? It's Fun Friday... why not make it FUN!? Persistent hitsparks on resource piles a bug you say? NO! More like DESERT DISCO LIGHTS!! Boom chick cat chick!

Out with the old, in with the new! We’ve been overhauling the UI in Shifting Sands... now with sleeker framing and more rendered items to bring the scrap to life. What do you think of the upgrade? #IndieGameDev #PixelArt #GameUI #RoguelikeDev

Experimenting with UI for the Overseer Marketplace in Shifting Sands. Trying to balance that retro sci-fi vibe with clarity + usability. Which direction feels stronger to you: chunky industrial or sleek holographic? #IndieGameDev #PixelArt #GameUI #RoguelikeDev

Finished the player run cycle for Shifting Sands (for now). Desert wind at your back, scrap on your shoulders, nowhere to go but forward. #IndieGameDev #PixelArt #RoguelikeDev #GameDev

Had to squeeze in a bit more combat juice with this xenoant's gun spinning off when it dies. Enemy hit and death animations add a lot to the game feel! Now just need more satisfying player attack anims and visual effects. #indiedev #gamedev #indiegame

Turning in for the day, but got in hurt and death anims. Getting there... ✅ Knockback ✅ Hitstop ✅ Telegraphs ✅ SFX ❌ Good atk fx ✅Enemy hurt/death anims ❌ Good player atk anims 😱 More! A small addition but feels better for sure. #GameDev #IndieDev #PixelArt

Refining combat = tackling a long checklist and then iterating: ✅ Knockback ✅ Hitstop ✅ Telegraphs ✅ SFX ❌ Good atk fx ❌ Enemy hurt/death anims ❌ Good player atk anims 😱 More! A lot of small things… but they add up to satisfying fights ⚔️ #GameDev #IndieDev #PixelArt

Me: “Hades is kinda roguelike.” The internet: screenshot #RoguelikeDev #IndieGameDev #GameDev #HadesGame

How I feel each morning respawning to tackle more #gamedevelopment When you die in a roguelike, should respawn feel like punishment, part of the ritual... or do you just want to get back to it? #IndieGameDev #RoguelikeDev #PixelArt

Her face when you haul back alien scrap from the desert. 👀 #IndieGameDev #PixelArt #RoguelikeDev

Some gamers love “inventory Tetris”... re Dredge players for example. Others RAGE quit at the sight of it. Where do you stand? #IndieGameDev #InventoryTetris #Roguelike

Props to anyone who knows what Dejarik is 👀 The Holotable in Shifting Sands takes a cue from what I believe was @philtippett.bsky.social original creation? Does it give you that tactile retro sci-fi board game vibe? #IndieGameDev #StarWars

If you vibe with Moonlighter, Children of Morta, or Neon Abyss 2, Steam thinks you’ll vibe with Shifting Sands too and I agree. Definitely inspo! Wishlist here 👉 store.steampowered.com/app/3986410/... #IndieGame #IndieDev #PixelArt #Roguelike #ActionRPG #Steam

The Shifting Sands Steam page is live! 🌵✨ A proper trailer is still in the works, but you can wishlist now to support development. Every wishlist makes a huge difference: 👉 store.steampowered.com/app/3986410/... #IndieDev #GameDev #IndieGame #Roguelike #PixelArt #Steam

Bit of a boring dev demo... but here we're adding dynamic input detection to Shifting Sands. 🎮⌨️ The game now switches seamlessly between controller and keyboard based on your input. #GameDev #IndieDev #PixelArt #Steam

A peek behind the scenes at how enemies in Shifting Sands come to life. 🐜👑 Every frame is hand pixeled… from the first sketch to the final animation. #PixelArt #GameDev #IndieGame #Animation

Another special encounter in Shifting Sands. 🌵 A strange metallic orb anomaly distorts your vision. Stay conscious and earn a rare alien artifact… fail and you black out. Risk. Reward. Survival. #indiedev #gamedev #roguelike #pixelart #indiegame #scifi #gaming

Special encounters in Shifting Sands are all about risk and reward. 🌵 New Example: let a strange figure take a tissue sample. Fail and take damage… succeed and walk away with a valuable data drive. #indiedev #gamedev #indiegame #roguelike #pixelart #gaming

Continuing to add depth to the desert! We've got silt pits, dust devils, sand twisters, snakes, bubbles and more on the way! #IndieGame #PixelArt #IndieDev #GameDev #SciFi #Roguelike

Desert botany club is in session! Continuing work on flora and fauna. Today’s lineup: tumble weeds, sand sailing seeds, and an armadillo bug. Which one’s your favorite? Any cool ideas to throw in? #IndieDev #PixelArt #GameDev #IndieGame

The dull browns of endless sand need a color pop! Strange flora move with the sands, adapting to survive the nightly planetwide shift storms. #IndieGame #PixelArt #IndieDev #GameDev #Roguelike #SciFi

It’s Monday… how’s the weather in your neck of the woods? 🌪️☀️ Out here in Shifting Sands the dunes like to whip up a few sand twisters just to keep you on your toes. #GameDev #IndieDev #PixelArt #Roguelike #IndieGame #Gaming

Our cast of characters keeps growing. You might meet them in the desert… or trade with them when they arrive at the Nexus hub between runs. Each brings their own story, gear, or services to shape your survival in Shifting Sands. #indiedev #gamedev #indiegame #pixelart #roguelike #scifi #gaming

People say desert biomes are boring… we disagree. We’re adding new fauna to bring the dunes alive... like this sandworm that hates when you disturb its sandpit. #indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #indiegame #roguelike #scifi

The desert isn’t empty. 🌵👀 Sand wrigglers dart beneath the dunes when you approach, and dust devils twist across the wastes. Small touches like these make Shifting Sands feel alive. #indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #indiegame #roguelike #scifi #gaming

Mimic crab encounter in Shifting Sands… and I got wrecked. 🦀💀 #indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #indiegame #roguelike #scifi #gaming

In Shifting Sands there are three zones beyond the Nexus. The farther you travel… the deadlier it gets. I pushed too far with bad gear and got absolutely swarmed by xeno ants. 🐜💀 #indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #indiegame #roguelike #scifi #gaming

Working on Protector portraits. Their helmets are modular so we can show these alien guardians in different states, with or without the armor. The Nexus reveals faces rarely… and the desert changes all who survive it. #indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #indiegame #roguelike

Stay out too late and the desert itself starts to stir. 🌙🌵 Animated sand forms crawl from the dunes, heralds of the coming Shift Storm… #indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #indiegame #roguelike

Added palette swap to the portrait generator, made a script to randomize sprites for dialogue. Keeps encounters fresh. Priests wander the dunes, hunting xenotech and archaeotech, chasing signals in the storm. Do they study, or worship? #indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #roguelike

Even the sand tentacles are waving hello this Monday 👋 Hope your week starts off smoother than the dunes in Shifting Sands! #indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #indiegame #roguelike #scifi #gaming

A lone Protector sniper calls from atop the dunes. He offers cover fire, but only if you can hold the swarm at bay. Survive together and you will earn his respect... Would you help the sniper or just move on? #indiedev #gamedev #indiegame #pixelart #roguelike #scifi #gaming

Experimenting with capsule art for our indie roguelike Shifting Sands. Would you click this on Steam? 🌞🏜️ #indiegame #pixelart #roguelike #gamedev #steam

In each map you can climb the dunes to see into the distance. It's hard to capture in a purely topdown ARPG, but we want the player to feel small in a vast world... to carry a larger sense of scope with every step. 🌌 #indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #indiegame #roguelike #scifi

Spent good resources to free what I thought was a trapped scav… only for a raider to pop out laughing in my face. Another random encounter in the dunes. Multiple outcomes. No risk, no reward 🌵⚔️ 🤷‍♂️ #indiedev #gamedev #roguelike #indiegame #pixelart

⚔️ Random encounters strike while dune hopping. Factions clash, and you must choose: fight or flight. This time it’s Protectors vs Beasts… the desert won’t always tip the odds your way. If it does... there's loot to share. #indiegame #gamedev #pixelart #roguelike

Experimenting with capsule art and our concept logo... specifically the 462x174 px. Trying to stick with #pixelart because it feels underrepresented... but it's hard to maintain readability at the smaller scales they're showing. Top or bottom wdyt? #gamedev #indiedev

I do not know how to market this game, pls help

Some nanitic concepts for our xenoant faction. #pixelart #IndieDevs #IndieGameDev

Crammed 4 months of indie dev into a 1 min video of Shifting Sands 🌞... our desert sci-fi scrapping roguelike. Think Moonlighter meets Dredge. Appreciate any support as we kick off marketing 🙏 #indiedev #gamedev #indiegame

Just joined here on the advice of @pixelatedpope.bsky.social thanks for the recommendation 🫶