🕹️ Game dev should be fun and creatively fulfilling!
If you feel burnt out or disillusioned, think about treating yourself to a small game project that’s just for you.
The WoW team has formed a union!
I hope they achieve a sustainable and fulfilling work environment so that they can produce their best work.
🎮 A massive problem in the game industry is morale.
Developers aren’t having a good time making games because we’re focused on trying to survive. This is not sustainable.
The industry needs happy and fulfilled developers to make great games for players to enjoy.
Maya Rudolph is the one person who’s gonna get me through the 2024 election season.
If you’re just starting out in game design, I recommend doubling down on making games that are easy to understand.
It’s a skill that will never go out of style.
It took me way too long to learn that clarity is fundamental to design and all good things arise from a clear and accessible experience.
My toddler’s activity of choice this morning was to randomly throw my shoes around the house… and after seeing how much fun he was having, I joined in.
The kid makes a good point. Throwing shoes is fun as hell.
As I become another game developer affected by layoffs, I’ve realized that I’m terrified of what’s next and what I want from a career in games.
The scariest thing is admitting to yourself what you actually want. Especially when it runs counter to everything you’ve told yourself and believed.
Panic time!
I’m coming up on the remaining days of the jam and I still have nothing as far as gameplay. I’ve tried out a few things, but nothing seems to be sticking.
I need to pivot to something and fast. It seems like the best possible strategy I can do is SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY.
Just wrapped up my game over screen for the Decker 2024 game jam.
Game design is great because you can make the tiniest victories feel major with enough positive reinforcement.
Games can help people feel joy from their smallest actions and I just love that.
A great way to procrastinate working on your game is to work on the title screen instead. Here’s my first stab at the cover art for Hell Dev.
🕹️ Today, was more art exploration for the game jam.
I also set up the two main resources.
The player will be managing Health and Glitches.
I just dropped everything to join the Decker Fantasy Camp 2024 and I have 22 days to finish a game.
I’m a little late to the party, but I wanted to contribute something to the Decker community… because they’re awesome!
Here’s my game idea:
One of my weakest areas of game development is art, so that’s where I wanted to focus my attention for this jam.
I want to focus on developing my own style over the course of the jam. That means making a lot of art and also throwing away a lot of art.
You can see some of the exploration I’ve done already.
To keep myself accountable, I also want to produce frequent dev logs as the jam progresses.
I hope that showing my process will encourage others to also make their own games.
If you want to receive updates on how I’m developing the game, you can follow along by subscribing to my newsletter.
Happy 4th everyone!
May your grills stay hot and your beers ice cold!
And I wish you sweet victory in lawn games against your friends and family! 🇺🇸🍻🎆
🕹️ New prototype in development!
While looking for my next job opportunity, I want to work on a new game project for my itch page.
Goal: Make a chill first-person platformer
So far, I’ve implemented:
🙌🏽 I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the game development community.
With Paradox Tectonic’s closure, I’ve begun exploring new opportunities. But, I haven’t been alone in this journey.
In the past week, the outpouring of support from fellow game developers has been overwhelming. I’ve received job leads, encouragement, and invaluable connections.
This support has made all the difference.
The industry’s current state has only strengthened the bonds among us game developers.
I’m committed to paying it forward. If there’s any way I can contribute or support you in your game dev journey, please let me know.
Thank you!
Today I found out the studio I work at is shutting down and that layoffs are on the way.
There’s a lot of studio closures and layoffs in the game industry. It can feel like we’re yet another headline in a sea of headlines.
So, while the attention is on the Tectonic studio, I wanted to say my piece.
Here goes:
🙏 TO THE TEAM
Thank you to all the teammates I worked with in the trenches at Tectonic. Thank you for teaching me patience and resilience.
Thank you for sending flowers when a loved one passed and celebrating with me for the birth of my child. It meant the world to me.
Thank you for teaching me hard things. Thank you for fixing my messy scripts. Thank you for giving me feedback and critiques.
Thank you for showing me better ways to do things.
Thank you for supporting my ideas and allowing me to collaborate on yours.
Thank you for continuing to work on the game, even on this day.
🙌 TO THE PLAYERS
Thank you for supporting Life By You.
Thank you for your direct and honest feedback. It changed the game for the better, when our voices alone couldn’t.
Thank you for all of your input. It helped us advocate for the changes we believed in.
Thank you for welcoming us into the Life Simulation community with open arms. What a beautiful and diverse group of fans.
Thank you for giving us the chance to build this game for you. I hope that one day you will get to experience it for yourself.
If you need great talent to join your game studio, look no further than the fine folk at Paradox Tectonic.
Thank you!
Playing around with a map screen for a text-adventure game.
Just discovered my favorite UI principle.
Act on press.
Why it matters: When interactions “do the thing” when the input is pressed, instead of on-release, the interaction feels more responsive.
Deeper Dive: See John Carmack’s thread.
The single best way I’ve found to build trust on a team:
I wanted to work on my game. Actually, no…
A Month had gone by and I had made close to zero progress.
There was a month left of development and I was no where near releasing something onto my itch.io page.
If I could just sit down for a little bit and work on my game, I could make progress. And, if I could make a little progress I could feel excited about working on my game again.
But, I couldn’t do it.
I even negotiated with myself. 30 minutes is all it would take.
I told myself, “Work on the game for 30 minutes and the rest would take care of itself.”
But, I couldn’t get myself to do it. Why?
The problem is that I had built this game up in my mind to the point that it was intimidating.
My vision was so far ahead of my execution, that I became paralyzed. I believed that no matter what I did next, it would fall short of my expectations.
And the truth is, I wasn’t wrong.
I was going to sit down and work on my game and it was not going to turn out the way it was in my head.
It was going to be imperfect. No two ways around it.
And there was the obstacle. Looking me right in the face.
I was being a perfectionist.
And so long as I was going to be a perfectionist, this game wasn’t going to get made. Period.
I had to accept that it was going to be imperfect, no matter what I did.
But, how do you stop being a perfectionist?
It’s not like some switch you can turn off. Especially if you’re the type of person who needs to feel like things are in control. Ha! Good luck.
I needed to get through this inner obstacle if I was going to sit down and work on my game for 30 minutes.
So, I made a plan.
My plan was: If I procrastinated because of perfectionism, I would tell myself “imperfections are my unique style.”
This plan made a huge difference.
It reminded me that embracing imperfections is what makes something unique.
In the end, I’m happy to say I got myself to work on my game for 30 minutes. And I’ve used this tactic to help me do it again.
It seems like a small win, but I hope you can find the time to work on your game for 30 minutes.
Layoffs have been straight devastating to the game industry.
Yet, when I look around at the game dev community, I see passion, talent, and creativity burning hotter than ever.
I’m inspired by the resilience I see around me.
🕹️ Larian announcement: No Baldur’s Gate DLC or sequel
This made me happy.
Long-term, investing in owning and making games around your own IPs is better, even if it is riskier.
BG3 was a massive success. Players love Larian.
Just stumbled on this quote and it got me thinking.
“No matter what the work you are doing, be always ready to drop it. And plan it, so as to be able to leave it.” ― Leo Tolstoy
I find myself sometimes clinging to things past the point where I should have let them go.
🧘I thought it would be good to formalize my mental health toolkit.
This process keeps me going:
Total time required: