#game dev things

[katrinafaire]

You know, I was told once that the best way to learn to do something was to aim out of your current ability. Not because anyone wants to have to wait to do something, or realize they don't have the skills, but because it can be used as a motivator. You don't have the skills yet. You're not there yet. But by using this as your goal post -- by continuing to set more and more ambitious projects as you meet the one prior -- you set this mix of thirst to learn to meet your objectives and glee as you see progress into motion and it's so good.

Sometimes reframing thoughts is all you need. And that may not be easy, but it's worth it. Remember: your feelings are always valid. That does not necessarily make them true. Being unable to do the thing now doesn't mean you can't do it in the future.

Take the Big Goal, chop it into Little Goals, and set to work puzzle piecing it together as you go. You got this. Promise.

[taffywabbit]

so like. at what point are we going to stop listening to game companies saying "the game was poorly received and didn't meet our sales targets, and that's why we're removing it from storefronts and taking down all the servers mere months or even weeks after release" for titles that had a long expensive development, were barely marketed, and nobody knew they'd even released until after they heard they were getting shut down and couldn't be played/purchased anymore?

I feel like the prevailing takeaway for anyone who doesn't just conclude "yeah, game was pretty mid, makes sense to me" has usually been "this company just has unreasonably impossible sales expectations and treats every project like a failure if it doesn't print a trillion dollars". but these ARE allegedly experienced business execs who aren't complete idiots, and after this most recent debacle with Concord I'm starting to wonder if a bunch of these "games getting wiped out of existence when they underperform instead of just being allowed to persist as they are and maybe improve with time" cases in recent years might be more of a Warner-Discovery type situation, like nuking an entire animated series or film that was worked on for years and preventing it from being sold because it has to be officially unprofitable for the company to use it as a tax write-off. I look at a game that was worked on for 8 years and only made available for 2 weeks, and it's hard not to see the parallels.

great work, AAA games industry, really normal and sustainable stuff you're doing over there as usual

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Dungeon Meshi: Delicious in RPG!

(Sprites + bonus art here!)

[priceofreedom]

Advent Children vs. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth

[andarateiacantori]

am i crazy or has very little of what bioware has revealed so far been actual "spoilers" and not just very typical game marketing to get people interested in the story... like i get wanting to go in blind of course but then you shouldnt be watching this marketing stuff to start with lol

[adobe-outdesign]

Typhlosion fans: I can't believe people are being gross about my fav!!

Vaporeon, Gardevoir, Hypno, Salazzle, Goodra, and Lopunny fans:

[naaattie]

Party on Hallow Grove is OUT NOW! Available now on Steam, Itch.io and Gamejolt! Thank you so much to everyone who's followed development, and those who played the demo. I hope you enjoy this spooky, fun, whacky adventure game.

Happy halloween!

[limonnitsa]

MUDBLOOD

[vynnyal]

OK, fair warning to the few people I actually managed to convince to try the game??

Rain world does NOT play like hollow knight, and you'll get your butt kicked if you approach it like that.

It's really hard. Like, really hard. Instead of the game literally giving you abilities in the form of power-ups and damage buffs, the only abilities you gain is from what you learn and your own ingenuity. You're a rat from beginning to end. If you just beef your way through it, it's gonna suck and you're gonna be confused and frustrated all the time. But if you pay attention, take it slow, and learn how the ai works and how everything interacts with each other, you can consistently get through and dominate situations you thought were impossible to do so when you first began. Now get out there, kill some lizards, and bully some old computers!

[khywae]

Hey everyone!

Before the Darkness, a Geto Suguru dating sim is out now for free on itch.io! With the end of Jujutsu Kaisen, I hope this game offers some comfort to those of us still lingering in delulu land, giving our beloved characters the happy endings they deserve 💖

Summary:

The year is 2017, and Geto Suguru has announced a terrorist attack in Tokyo and Kyoto. You’re tasked with seeing possible futures to predict his moves. Despite everything he’s done, you never stopped loving him. So when you discover a way to go back and change his dark fate, you don’t hesitate. But changing the past doesn’t come without consequences. Geto’s obsession with killing shifts into an obsession with you. Can you break the cycle of pain and tragedy, or will you become trapped in a fate worse than the one you tried to rewrite? Be Geto’s light… before the darkness consumes you both.

The game has two endings, can you get them both? 👀

P.S.: There’s currently a poll on Patreon to decide the fandom and guy for October’s game. I’ll update you soon on who the lucky winner is!

[devsgames]

I'm sorry but for people who cheer on mass game industry layoffs because they think it's some kind of upheaval that is going to "topple the AAA industry" or "teach them a lesson": I hate to break it to you but AAA studios have a metric shitload of money and despite what their press releases say, they really aren't hurting as much as they'd have you think right now. Thousands of jobs lost is a temporary setback to them; if it was actually a last resort move they wouldn't have all simultaneously put themselves in a position where they had to do it in the first place. These studios have been around for decades and will continue to be around, and they will continue to operate just as they have for the last thirty years because they have huge vaults and no morals. They aren't learning a lesson from this because most of them saw it coming but would never admit that.

Know who is being permanently impacted by games layoffs?

It's the indie studio making sick ass games you'll never get to play because they laid everyone off when a publisher tried to save money by pulling all their funding. The hundreds of workers who woke up one morning and found out they suddenly have no job to put food on the table for their children. The international workers who were let go from the job that supplies their visa that helps them stay in the country. The thousands of students who now have to compete over a pool of a dozen job openings, who will work in studios where all the senior staff and leadership who would normally be there to help mentor them into their roles were fired. The disabled workers who now no longer have health or insurance coverage for their survival. The workers who didn't get laid off but survived to see all their friends and coworkers lose their livelihoods for completely arbitrary reasons and whose morale has all but been completely obliterated. The workers in the Global South working for outsourcing companies who were relying on cancelled projects from AAA studios to put food on their tables.

So whenever you're inclined to assume that the suffering of workers is somehow teaching rich people a lesson, remember that no, it doesn't actually and almost never will. All it does is teach thousands of talented workers in the video game industry that games were never - and will never - be worth it.

[chonideno]

literally where can the zelda franchise go after totk. this is it. we've reached it. the pinnacle of video game entertainment. the whole dev team should just pack their stuff and enjoy a long and comfortable retirement. whoever decides their team has to follow-up on that with the next zelda game should answer for their crimes at the hague. what the fuck. I haven't even beat the game yet but what the fuck.

and how are AAA video game devs everywhere not losing their minds. how the hell did nintendo do any of that? and on that console?? you mean to tell me I can stack 15 differently shaped objects on top of each other and they don't vibrate violently into the skybox?? you mean to tell me the physics engine gladly accepts whatever I throw at it and holds it all together without dropping a frame while running on a machine that was outclassed two generations ago??? this is not witchcraft it's a grandiose demonstration of mastery over every aspect of game development that casts an immense shadow over every other AAA studio. fuck. fuck!!!!

everything about this game is crazy to me. the visuals are crazy. the soudtrack is crazy. the complexity of all systems and how they interact is crazy. the sheer amount of non-repeating content, NPCs, quests, dialogue, puzzles, environment variety - all crazy to me. every time I boot up this game I am humbled by the monumental effort and obvious love that went into every facet of the resulting experience. no cut corners anywhere. mirror-perfect chrome polish.

it's so rare we get something like that, in any field. I'd understand if nintendo never made a zelda game ever again because how do you follow that. god I hope everyone who worked on this game got the fattest check and the sloppiest head. I'm so happy I get to live in shigeru miyamoto's world

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts - End of the World

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

This one is for all my fellow "My gender is 'I have a job and I can't worry about that right now"'. I see you.

(part 1, part 2)

[thedisablednaturalist]

Theres a ton of inspiring game devs (and actual game devs) on this site and this is a message for them

Please include wheelchairs in customization. Include player characters who are in wheelchairs. I'm begging you.

There are less than a handful of playable characters in wheelchairs I can think of (and most of them are ableist haha funny characters like the guy from happy wheels)

I promise you, any extra work that needs to be done to make them playable IS worth it. I don't give a fuck if its not realistic. Most people can't fling fireballs in real life either.

Like I've seen prosthetics, I've seen glasses, when I've brought up wheelchairs to devs they say the best they can do is braces and maybe crutches or a cane. Maybe a hearing aid.

I've SEEN the amazing stuff that can be made, and I'm tired of devs whining that it's too hard. It's too late to add something that complex. Well maybe you should've thought about wheelchairs in the early stages instead of adding representation as an afterthought.

The only time we are thought of is when its a horror game or for a fucking joke.

[payasita]

hi. its my birthday

as a present to myself, i've released the first demo version of my visual novel, Psychopompous: Post-Mortem with Carlos Aron.

if you like my writing or art, please consider giving it a try! i'll be making an official post on the game's blog in a bit, but im tired and this blog has some followers and its MY birthday so. professional stuff later