#Game Dev Story

[silver-shortage-in-markarth]

Well which is it

[babyspacebatclone]

I started playing Game Dev Story for some mindless fun after a brain destroying week at work.

And seriously, some of the “Bizarre” genre and style combinations I’ve came up this weekend (according to my poor game) I’m foaming at the mouth for someone to make!

I promise, we’ve had culture defining mixes that made less sense on paper until some mad lads brought them to life!

My current favorite is “Architecture RPG.”

I’m serious.

There’s a reason the Freemasons were a thing.

Mostly, trying to make things like this:

Centuries before cars, let alone computer engineering, were a thing.

Throw in things like self-healing concrete…

Yes, that is literal alchemy.

Throw in the tiniest bit of magic, and I see a delightful two-party RPG concept.

Basically, your protag is a contract (aka traveling) mason who accidentally unlocks things that shouldn’t have been found.

In order to stop the end of the world, your epic crew must travel the known world to repair lost sacred sites. You need to manage a party of masons and a party of defenders for the travel, finding secrets and power boosts for both elements through research, combat, and plunder.

Tell me that wouldn’t be glorious!!!

[doodle-girl]

Fuckin nice

[mooneyestudios]

The whole Mooneye team and Kyle Banks were some really busy bees in the last few weeks and worked very hard to get our fluffy friend Chesley ready for his big debut!

So with excitement we are happy to finally be able to say the magic words:

🥳 FAREWELL NORTH IS OUT NOW! 🥳

Restore color to the desolate islands of Farewell North, an atmospheric journey where you play as a border collie on an adventure with your human. Explore land and sea, uncover hidden paths and free wildlife to bring color back to her world, while revealing an emotional story about saying farewell. ---

It’s been quite a journey for us too and we are so happy that we can finally share this wonderful project with everybody. We can’t wait to hear from your experiences and thoughts and we really hope you’ll enjoy this wholesome, yet emotional adventure with Chesley and Cailey 🐾

Ah, and if you played the game, please consider leaving a review on Steam since it supports the game and everybody who worked on it tremendously ❤️

[thefreecheese]

The Free Cheese Episode 511: Return to the Dungeon

This week on The Free Cheese, how many eggs? As we close out the month of June, we discuss our Game of the Year so far and share updates on what we’re looking most forward to playing in the remaining months. We return to some segments from Season 10 with a theme that keeps everything tied to our games for this month.

[loverofpiggies]

Guys I know I havent done comics in like 3 years or something but.

I got the biggest inspiration to draw a Fionna and Cake comic about Simon and the Winter King and uhhh

It's already 24 pages strong.

[morbethgames]

NEW UPDATE IS OUT!

I’M FREE! FREEEEEE! 32 MOSTLY UNIQUE VARIATIONS OF INTIMATE SCENES DONE!

Clears throat

So, like stated above, the update is out! I’ll leave a list of patch notes, but this is majorly a bigger one for Alzarez and Lance romancers. The Lance extra story “Movie and Dessert” is being released with this update. You will need to replay the game. I’m sorry about that. BUT it’s because I added in new variables to the train scene so that stuff said there could possibly be brought up in this new scene! Reactivity, yay!

Along with that, you’ll get to read Alvarez’s flashback scene which is the actual end of Chapter 4. Along with a lot of little goodies. All in all, there was about… 44k-45k words added into this update? 40k of them are entirely optional and only happen if you choose to hang out with Lance after Alvarez’s flashback scene scene.

Not gonna lie, 1 variation in I was confident it would take two weeks. 8 variations in I was a bit tired but still energized to get this scene done. 16 variations in I had to step away for a couple of days to not let my brain melt. By the time I hit mid-twenties in variation for this scene, I was finding myself thinking that it just. wasn’t. worth it.

I have no idea if I’ll make the other intimate scenes this branching. It was honestly a lot of work. Like, a lot, it it was so fatiguing after a while, but I knew I had to get it done. IT’s also the reason I paused my patreon this month, because it wouldn’t be fair to charge people for something that they’re not getting early as promised in the rewards. This took way longer than I thought, so I wanted to just release it to everyone at once.

I do hope you guys enjoy it, and without further ado, here are the patch notes for this update.

Stay Brilliant, -Vi

Patch Notes:

“Movie and Dessert” Lance Extra Scene is finished.

Alvarez Flashback scene is finished.

Added a Text Box Investigation Tab in the Stats Screen.

You are now able to toggle between Text Box Investigations and regular choice script gameplay for TBI sequences.

You can now view the Text Box Investigation tutorial at any time via the stats screen.

Removed the Text Box Investigation Tutorial from chapter 4.

Added an option in the beginning of the game to Fade To Black during intimate scenes.

You can now pick asexual and aromantic as separate options, and they are not tied to each other.

Grammar edits and fixes (thank you to all who report them).

🛡️Patreon | Forum Page | Demo Link🛡️

[transtief]

i really don’t think it’s “typical dragon age fandom nonsense” for people to be genuinely upset about the world state choices. combat, level design, art direction, gameplay gimmicks, those have all varied across each dragon age game. the one thing that’s remained constant are nods to our previous choices.

i wasn’t expecting my HoF to come riding in on a griffon, but i can’t find a monument dedicated to warden tabris somewhere around the anderfels? lucanis couldn’t have some lines about the time that one arainai boy was stirring up trouble in antiva city? you’re gonna tell me that making a mage the new divine wouldn’t have some impact on nevarra and antiva? on the anderfels, the supposed most devout militant andrastian nation in thedas? you’re saying nobody in the north is paying attention to who rules orlais or ferelden? come on.

[bixels]

Splatoon 3: Side Order is good, but not great. I still highly recommend it, but if you care about the story, you're going to be disappointed. Quick review: spoilers ahead.

Side Order was the devs experimenting with Splatoon's gameplay loop. The campaign is a rogue-like, and it works amazingly well. Super fun, super challenging, building my deck and fighting through challenges with the stakes of resetting really scratched an itch in my brain. They did a great job with it.

Unfortunately, I feel like priority went to game design rather than story. Much of the mysterious artwork we saw in the first teaser trailer was completely unused; turns out, all of that was just concept art that never made it into the final product. Side Order failed to make me care about what was happening. I don't know why the protagonist had to be Agent 8; it could've been anyone else and the story would've worked the same.

Octo Expansion was the absolute peak of meshing story and gameplay. The campaign's hook is insanely strong; we immediately empathize with Agent 8 because we know from previous lore that octolings like her have been trapped underground for all their lives. We care about her fight to the surface because it's a fundamentally ideological fight for freedom. The plot stuff about Tartar and the Thangs is just nice set dressing; 8's fight for freedom is the real story.

There's none of that in Side Order. I don't particularly care about Marina's metaverse, even if it's tied to Octo Expansion's story. I don't know why Acht is there other than backstory stuff. It really feels like 8 is just told to do something and she does it because she's the protagonist; she has zero personal stakes or motivations in the conflict. This is a story blunder the devs did in Splatoon 3's default campaign––forgetting to give the protagonist a personal reason to fight––that I hoped would be fixed here, but alas.

What makes it worse is that the gameplay and story progression are completely out of sync. I beat the entire game on my third run in 4 hours. With each run, you get up to two keys to potentially unlock bits of story. That means you'll get about one piece of the story every two runs. There are twelve pieces of the story; I got the first and then beat the whole damn game. Now I have to go back and grind to see the remaining story when I've already beaten the final boss and resolved the conflict. I missed the entire story because I never had to reset because I blazed through the gameplay! It's just a real shame that I experienced everything without knowing... why it's happening. The final boss had me asking myself what the hell is going on because I don't know the backstory at all.

Again, I still really recommend. The devs did a great job, but Side Order remains in the shadow of Octo Expansion's incredible success. Like the default singleplayer campaign, there's just a lot of lost story potential here that, while not necessary, would have really elevated this DLC into something amazing.

[blueskittlesart]

*sigh* thoughts on Nintendo's botw/totk timeline shenanigans and tomfoolery?

tbh. my maybe-unpopular opinion is that the timeline is only important when a game's place on the timeline seriously informs the way their narrative progresses. the problem is that before botw we almost NEVER got games where it didn't matter. it matters for skyward sword because it's the beginning, and it matters for tp/ww/alttp (and their respective sequels) because the choices the hero of time makes explicitly inform the narrative of those games in one way or another. it matters which timeline we're in for those games because these cycles we're seeing are close enough to oot's cycle that they're still feeling the effects of his choices. botw, however, takes place at minimum 10 thousand years after oot, so its place on the timeline actually functionally means nothing. botw is completely divorced from the hero of time & his story, so what he does is a nonissue in the context of botw link and zelda's story. thus, which timeline botw happens in is a nonissue. honestly I kind of liked the idea that it happened in all of them. i think there's a cool idea of inevitability that can be played with there. but the point is that the timeline exists to enhance and fill in the lore of games that need it, and botw/totk don't really need it because the devs finally realized they could make a game without the hero of time in it.

[ddwcaph-game]

The Narrativium Update Has Arrived!

Retcon the narrative to your heart's content in the latest update to...

Dear Diary, We Created a Plot Hole! is written as a love letter to all the kids-at-heart out there, who’d like to revisit their childhood and reimagine it as one big fantasy adventure.

If you like episodic shows and stories with a deeper overarching narrative, then this story is just for you!

🌌 【Play it here!】 🌌

~ 608,000 total wordcount (including code) ~ 99,000 additional words (including code) ~ New average playthrough of 129,000 words! (up from 115k)

14 New Secrets/Variations to Discover, 25 New Trinkets to collect, 9 New Sidequests, 4 New Achievements!

6 New Character Traits, 12 New Ancestry Passives, 2 New Phobias, 4 New Status Effects!

Revamped Heritage Passives!

Retcon the narrative and your choices with the new Narrativium Points mechanic!

Revamped Health & Intimidation Stats, Traits and EXP System!

Revamped Chapter 1 Twin Fight Scene!

Added new Sleepover Branch!

Updated bestfriend scenes!

Crush sidequests can now be declined!

You can now change what your MC calls certain characters via the diary!

Added more backstory details about MC's dad, and you can now choose his home country if MC is Half-Filipino!

Increased save slots to 20!

New and improved gender and pronoun options!

Updated diary entries!

Updated content warnings to include themes that will appear in future chapters!

Fixed missing background music!

Tons of new choices, edits, adjustments, and additional flavor text/variations/characterization details!

Roselyna is now approximately 20% more huggable!

The Trinkets & Secrets Guide has also been updated!

If you encounter any errors, or have any questions or feedback, feel free to send me an ask. The complete change log for the update is almost 400 lines long, so I hope it was worth the wait! 😊

[ebethtumbls]

PSA: if you've ever wanted to play an indie game made with unity, download it before january 1st 2024 or risk losing your chance! (for a list of unity games, i found this. can't say if it's completely comprehensive but it's a start)

if you're a game dev or aspiring game dev, i would check out unreal engine. it's widely documented, pretty easy to jump into, and free until you make over $1 million and then they take 5% above that- so if you made $1,000,001, epic games takes 5 cents. epic is a big corporation so they could pull some bullshit but it's less likely. and they have protection from future bullshittery if you stay with the current or older versions. beyond that, there are a ton of other free game engines out there or engines that are on the cheaper side (game maker for ex, only requires payment on export and is the game engine used for undertale/deltarune). so if you can help it, don't waste your time on unity!

and above all: fuck unity. indie games are so important and don't deserve to be fucked over by corporate greed

[moiraimyths]

Demo Update: New MC/Daonna Sprites!

🍃 Wishlist on Steam 🍂 Follow on Itch.io

Good morning, fateful friends!

We have an exciting update for The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe) today! Specifically, the demo now officially boasts three new sprites for MC and Daonna!!! (Read more below 👇)

If you remember from our Kickstarter, one of our stretch goals was the ability to fully customize the appearance of MC and their mysterious doppelganger, Daonna. Sadly, we weren't able to reach this goal at the time - which meant that for the foreseeable future, MC and Daonna would be functionally represented by a single sprite. This was obviously not ideal, since this limits players to a single skin tone, hair colour, eye colour, etc., so after our Kickstarter ended we decided to go back to the drawing board and come up with a middle ground solution that was more realistic/feasible for us. Hence: Daonna now has three distinct designs, which players can use as a basis for their MCs if they want to. (Examples: Maybe your MC styles their hair differently, or never goes without rouge!) Ultimately though, if you still prefer your own headcanon to our sprites, feel free to consider them simply interpretations of MC/Daonna's many possible appearances! Mythology is often full of contradictions, after all ;)

In addition to MC/Daonna, there are a few other new things in this version of the demo (which will update automatically on Steam, but needs to be fully redownloaded from Itch):

Bug fixes (missing audio for Milesian, added entry for Finn, some typos, missing credit names)

A new, fabulous sprite for the lady shopkeeper (with another for the shopkeeper man on the way!)

A new sprite for Maeve's crows

A new animation for Maeve's crows

Minor UI updates

That's all for now! Slán go foill!

- Clotho

EDIT: There appears to be a bit of confusion surrounding the nature of this update, so I want to clarify: These sprites will only appear in the character creation menu and when Daonna (who already had a sprite prior to now regardless) makes appearances in-game. Otherwise, the gameplay is the same as before. This sprite will not be visible when your MC speaks, so you are still free to imagine your MC in any fashion of your choosing.

[rexanesolo]

Adventures in Clairune is out!

If you want to:

Bully a dragon lord

Flirt with an elf

Trust an assassin

And most importantly romance them!! With perks such as:

he/she/they option for players

6 endings (good and bad for each love interest)

A 1 hour playtime (roughly)

Pretty art style & good music

FREEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

So go play my first vn! (I was inspired by the arcana and y'all might like this too :3)

[letmeremindyouvn]

And here's the game I've been working on for Pirate Software's game jam!! :D

You work as a researcher for the mysterious Daedalus Laboratory. You send plants into different worlds to see how the worlds affecting them. However, recently you noticed that most of your coworkers have disappeared, including your lab supervisor.

Still, you have to keep working to prevent termination. Will you be able to balance work and communicating with the employees who remain?

[Warning: This game contains brief depictions of blood and gore. Viewer discretion is advised.]

This game is part of the Let Me Remind You series that I am working, which are games about art, nostalgia, guilt, and memory.

This game also features some new characters to the Let Me Remind You universe and...Zecharias in a new outfit? Hmm.

Due to the deadline, the game is a demo and has a few issues I need to fix. I will try to fix them in the next update. As it is, the game is completely playable, and I hope you will enjoy it. ^^

[thefreecheese]

The Free Cheese Episode 508: Game Dev Story

This week on The Free Cheese, I’d like to try increasing fun. Will you make the next great game for the Senga Exodus? Did your last effort fail to impress the magazine reviewers? Maybe you’ll do better after hiring Shigeto Minamoto. Game Dev Story lets us start our own studio and see what it’s like to manage a team of people making video games. We put them out to the market, receive review…