Guldard

Last saturday, I released my first game on @itchio. It's about geometric mandala creation : half puzzle-game/half sandbox. I've been working on it for the past two years and it's been a great journey ! You can check it out at guldard.itch.io/of-circles-and…… #madewithgodot #indiedev

@WeVennStudios @humble Haha, I didn't recorded the sound of an actual button myself, it was part of a sample pack called Motors, Machines and Metal Noises

@Guld4rd @humble Nice... tape-recorder switch SFX... which button click feels snappiest?

🔊It's always so much fun to add sound fx to my game. For my switch buttons I've used the sound of a vintage tape recorder button. It's one of the 1000 effects I've bought from @humble sound bundles. I really like digging for the perfect match 👌! #indiedev #gamedev

@RootHiveGames I try to be aware of my mental energy. If it's low, I do boring but useful stuff, ones that doesn't require much thought processing. If it's high, I try to split my tasks into little objectives to have easy wins and to feel that I'm progressing. Either way, it's slow...

Indie game devs with a day job. How do you stay motivated in the evenings? I have maybe 2 hours after work🙄 What works for you?

@basoner_dev Nope, for me it's more making games that I want to play right now. When I was a kid I loved games that I could spend 100s of hours into and get completely lost in but now I prefer short experiences or little arcade type game I can play on quick burst when I have the time 😅

Is game development just making games you wish you could play as a kid?

I needed a little switch to toggle the automation on each action. I've made it simple but it fits nicely under the main action buttons. What do you think ? #gamedev #indiegame #godot

@playcolortheory I can imagine ! But from a dev perspective, it's more interesting to implement flashy new features than simple but useful mechanics for the player.

@Guld4rd Thanks! It was incredibly frustrating when you pushed a block against a wall without this.

The ability to rewind was one of the last things I added to my puzzle game, but probably one of the most important. Being able to experiment, make mistakes and quickly try something else makes solving each puzzle much more enjoyable. #solodev #indiedev

@nexindie It's hard to tell if it is pure and bold artistic genius at play or an evil and malicious attempt at wasting the player's time 🤔

First playable demo is now available for 'One Million Buttons', a first-person button-clicking game where you explore maze-like rooms to find the one correct button. Steam page: store.steampowered.com/app/4094240

@UnityCodeMonkey Thanks ! I've already found it on your Youtube channel and I've started to watch it. It's exactly what I was looking for. I even took some pen and paper to take notes, it's time for some coding catch-up class !

@Guld4rd Check out my talk on this topic youtube.com/watch?v=m0s3IU… I mention some very practical advice on how I write clean code and what that even means to me

I don't think most projects fail because the idea was bad. I think many projects fail because the code becomes too difficult to work with. At the start everything is easy. - You add movement - You add enemies - You add UI - You add inventory Everything works. But then suddenly every new feature takes twice as long as it should. You fix one bug and create three more. Changing one thing breaks something completely unrelated. The project just becomes heavier and heavier until eventually you stop wanting to work on it and give up. That's the point where many projects die and end up in your giant pile of unfinished projects. Clean code isn't about making code look pretty, it's about keeping complexity under control! It's about making sure the project remains enjoyable to work on even after months of development. Because if your project becomes painful to work on, finishing it becomes much harder, and finished games are worth a lot more than abandoned prototypes. So if you want to take your games to the finish line then I encourage you to think about the quality of the code that you're writing. I have an entire 1hr talk on YouTube all about this topic titled: "How to Write High Quality Code that doesn't fall apart." If you're trying to be a professional game dev as opposed to just a hobbyist building throwaway prototypes, then I highly recommend you learn how to write proper high quality clean code. Best of luck!

@jogamedev Right is more coherent with the title : implying large battles with key characters which may (or may not) die. Left is a bit more enigmatic.

Left or Right? (Click to view full size)

@4nzuTek Simple and elegant ! It seems that you have a lot of options for endless level creation. Are some levels with more than three dots ? Like multiple dots on the same line or an extra 4th line ?

友達と二人で作ってるパズルゲーム見て！ 周りの人間にちょくちょくテストプレイしてもらってるけど結構評判良い

I've smoothed things up with the automation part. It's so satisfying when everything finally works by itself, mesmerizing...

@theEskaton I thought I liked incremental games because I had a good time with a few great titles (I'm thinking Universal Paperclips or Candy Box 1 & 2, Armory and Machines) but the vast majority of other incrementals I've played rely too much on simple and similar mechanics...

Having recently played a few incremental games, I've realized I'm not a fan of overly strong vertical progression. It gives me a feeling of pointlessness. I feel like the way I play makes no sense because it's only a matter of time before I progress. Of course, if you play better, it will take you less time, but that still doesn't change the fact that there's no challenge... This is sad for me because I generally like progression-based games and I thought incremental games would be my new discovery. What do you think about these games? Does the lack of challenge bother you? Or do you know of any incremental games that pleasantly surprise me? #indiedev #gaming #incremental

The buttons for screen selection (on the left) used to disappear to prevent further clicking but I think that keeping them on display makes more sense. So I added a little feedback when clicked again. #indiegamedev #godot

@EracuStudios Negative reviews are a big hit to your ego but at least you can take the time to recover and you have something to work on. Lack of players is harder in my opinion because it's less clear what you should do to get them.

Hi devs! Which do you think is harder to recover from? A) Negative reviews on your game. B) Having almost no players and trying to build an audience. #indiedev #gamedev

@UnityCodeMonkey With royalty free music I think we run into the same type of problem as with assets. Meaning that the more music / sound fx you grab here and there the more disjointed the end result will be. It's harder to keep something cohesive if you don't create it or commission someone.

Can I use Royalty Free Music in my games?

Viewing my work with a fresh eye made me realize the lack of contrast between the skulls and the background. I think it looks better with a darker tone.

Here we go again ! Finally coming back to development after a good 6 month break. I'm excited to reconnect with my project. I'm trying to finish an alpha version by the end of August. We'll see...

@UnityCodeMonkey Thanks ! This summer I'm going back to a project I've started last year. I'm trying not to put too much pressure on myself and instead to see this as an other learning opportunity. Wish me luck !

One of the hardest things about indie game development is uncertainty. You can do everything right. You can build a good game. You can market it properly. You can gather wishlists. And the result can still surprise you in a negative way. That's just the reality of this industry. BUT personally I don't see that as a reason to be discouraged. I see it as a reason to reduce risk. Prototype more ideas. Validate earlier. Build smaller games. Learn faster. Give yourself more opportunities. Nobody can guarantee success but you can absolutely increase your odds. And in the long run, that's what matters most. Finding success with a single game is very difficult, but finding success over the course of an entire career is absolutely possible provided you learn from all of your projects. So focus on learning and continuously improving in order to better your odds of success with every game you publish. Best of luck in your game dev journey!