Dan Reut 🎮

Clean slate time. 🧹 Just muted a bunch of noise on my feed — finance, industry gossip, stuff that doesn't matter for MY journey. Here's what's changing: I'm focusing HARD on game design. Learning. Building. Real talk about the chaos of doing this while working full-time. No more dilution. Just the grind. Let's go. 🎮 #gamedev #indiedev

Playing Hollow Knight and stealing 3 design ideas: 1. **Juice**: Every attack feels weighty. Screen shake, sound design, particle effects. 2. **Progression**: Skills unlock new movement options. Design gates exploration perfectly. 3. **Difficulty**: Hard but fair. You feel the boss's pattern, not cheated. How do YOU learn from games? #gamedev #indiedev

Setting up my game design workspace today: • Figma for UI mockups • Notion for design docs • Paper + pen for sketching mechanics • GDC vault for studying Zero budget, maximum learning. If you're starting game design, this setup costs nothing but time. What's in your workflow? 👇 #gamedev

Finally understand what people mean by core mechanic. Spent the weekend breaking down Celeste. The core mechanic isn't the double jump—it's the feeling of control. Every pixel of movement matters. Now I'm sketching my first mechanic with that lens. Game design is harder than I thought. 🎮 #gamedev #indiedev

@LiamTwose Appreciate it, Liam. Needed to clear the noise so I can focus . Game design deep dive starts now—hold me accountable.

@DanReut Sounds like bliss, renewed focus ftw! 🫡

Clean slate time. 🧹 Just muted a bunch of noise on my feed — finance, industry gossip, stuff that doesn't matter for MY journey. Here's what's changing: I'm focusing HARD on game design. Learning. Building. Real talk about the chaos of doing this while working full-time. No more dilution. Just the grind. Let's go. 🎮 #gamedev #indiedev

TRUE

@Hitman_Mittz @SamLakeRMD @alanwake Can you play it on Steam Deck ?

Jumped back into @alanwake last night and it's got me hooked again, finally time to finish this bad boy, absolutely loving the craziness of the Alan TV Show sections @SamLakeRMD #AlanWake2 #PS5

@thomasbrushdev So I like the show, the only thing is that it's progressing very slowly. I would love to shrink the preparation episodes to 3—we're almost at the end of the season and only just starting to get meat of season.

#AKnightOfTheSevenKingdom is an absolute masterpiece. We are so lucky to have this show. It’s so rare to see something that has this level of pitch perfect pacing, a protagonist that has this bizarre likability you’re not sure you fully understand (he’s somehow deep and layered, but also simple and pure), and a consistent tone that is both lighthearted and then suddenly gritty and bleak. Also the combat sequence I just witnessed felt like a documentary. My heart is still pounding. YES to #AKnightOfTheSevenKingdom . Watch it

Before the car. Before the dog. Before he became the Baba Yaga. John Wick is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC. Be seeing you.

@thomasbrushdev So many cools demos just released

This looks so cooooooooool youtube.com/watch?v=dZ8zR9…

@Mkeyla_Creates Yes, especially when you start a new job. Your energy and focus go toward learning new ways, people, etc. It is hard. I remember when I changed positions inside the company—it took me 3 months to adapt.

@DanReut It really is! I just started a new job so my time for my game has just disappeared! 😭 it makes me sad because I love working on it

It’s so hard to work full-time and try to become a game developer!

@GameDevMicah Yes, I use my income to buy game dev courses, but recently I started freelancing in my full-time field (Jira and Microsoft 365 consulting). Honestly, by the end of the day I feel burned out, and it’s only the start of 2026.

@DanReut Ya the super power is in using your income to hire and direct consultants and developers as you keep bringing in the funding. 2-3 grand a month can do a lot

The REPLACED demo is officially OUT NOW on Steam! Experience the world through the eyes of R.E.A.C.H. and discover what Phoenix Corporation is hiding in the shadows. #indiegame #indiedev #REPLACED

@IncVuvuu Wow, congrats it is well deserved

holy moly, my Steam lifetime revenue has passed $100k! 🎉

Our Q4 results once again comfortably exceeded the high end of our guidance, demonstrating the compounding power of the Unity ecosystem. Learn more here: on.unity.com/Q42025Earnings #Unity3d #Earnings

@andrewpprice @ludoviciochem @PJaccetturo I think story matters, even with podcasts. The podcast offers something that was missing from late-night hosts. I think it will come down to the 80/20 rule, meaning using AI for 20% enhancements to visual effects, sound, and so on.

I think about this all the time. Control will obviously create a better result, but the costs and timelines are so asymmetrical it might not matter. This took 2 days and maybe $100 in compute to produce. The Hollywood pipeline would be 2 years + $5M. At that cost, indie film makers could publish a new series to Youtube every week, testing and exploring niche story ideas. Will audiences care that it's not perfect? Maybe. But podcasts replaced late night TV despite worse production too. Audiences might overlook perfection if the stories are nicher to their interests. Hollywood might not die, but there would be far fewer productions due to the increased competition and risk of no return on investment.

The problem with these "RIP Hollywood" formula is that they come from people who never worked for Hollywood productions. @PJaccetturo, it doesn't look photoreal. A lot of shots need work. Can you provide masks for DI ? Can you refine fx/animation ? Provide 32b EXR for review ?

@geoffkeighley RIP Vince, this is really sad, but his legacy will live forever.

Next Wednesday at the DICE summit in Las Vegas, I'll be joined by Xbox's Phil Spencer, Bethesda's Todd Howard, EA's Laura Miele and others to remember the life and legacy of Respawn's Vince Zampella.