And then there's a Gamepass, and xCloud. Some other time I guess.

As I've said before, its less consumer friendly but I wish Microsoft would lock their games to their platforms. This would turn them into an immediate powerhouse and might bring them the profits to stop the layoffs and game cancellations that are coming when their gaming division does not improve.

All their moves appear to devalue their brands and games. As such it is not hard to worry about the future of their gaming initiatives, and all the studios that fall under their umbrella. Especially with the news that they have some very aggressive profit targets.

Microsoft's gaming strategy is so weird. They've given up their platform advantages by having their games be available everywhere and are now working on a version of Windows which makes it a controller-friendly wrapper for your Steam library. Nice I guess, but it doesn't make financial sense.

Trading now happens on the area map. Here's a WIP look at a new interface for enchanting items. #GameDev

Lately we've been working on overhauling the area map visuals for picking your next battles. Still rough, but we're making progress!

What do we want? Polish! When do we want it? Now! Is it a trap? Yes. For sure. But I still want it. #GameDev

There's lots of cool assets out there, but getting them to work together can be a pain. Here I'm trying to get the items from this pack to fit more with our game. Even though these ended up being a temporary solution, I thought these turned out pretty cool. #GameDev

It is a strange satisfaction when spending a day on refactors, then firing up the game and have everything be exactly the same. The changes are invisible, but you *know* things have improved. It’s a #GameFev secret.

Cause I have a game to finish, maybe for the next one?

Oh no #GameDev #Defold

Oof, reading this both hurts and relieves as I'm sad and glad we're not the only ones.

How do you all name your games? Trying to cram an insane amount of meaning into one or a few word(s) means that it is usually one of the most discussed aspects right up to the game reveal. At least for the games I worked on. #GameDev

Ha this same graph could easily be made about Lua in #Defold. I do not want to go back to a world of compile times, and learning about Angelscript actually has me excited to try Unreal.

Sometimes iteration in one area can lead to a forced change in another. It all depends on priorities of the game and the team. However, giving every discipline their time to readjust and come out stronger usually leads to better games. Though money and internal politics often make this very hard.

Yeah you'd think that after all of these hits from Minecraft to Balatro and Silksong, big corps would do more to support and facilitate this kind of #GameDev. Especially since it's so cheap for them.

A wishlist is the like & subscribe of #GameDev. It's not like it has completely no value, just can't buy anything from it

Experimenting with SFX during a trailer shot, making pitch go up as numbers go up seems to be the key. As always, feedback welcome! #GameDev #screenshotsaturday

It also has something to do with getting tired of megacorps finding the areas where they don't have to compete, just rest on their laurels and enshittify their products. Squeezing their workforces and jacking up prices to increase profits and shareholder value. At least the games are still fun.

There's definitely also some nostalgia talking here. It sucks to be locked out of a game due to exclusivity. But it does get people talking and it did get you to visit your buddies' house cause they had Mario where you had Sonic, or vice-versa. Again, nostalgia.

Is it weird to be kind of sad about Helldivers on Xbox and Gears on PS5? It's better for consumers and dev bottom lines, but I miss the days when these platforms would compete, innovate and invest. Something seems lost. People are still talking about SNES vs Genesis or 360 vs PS3 today. 🎮 #GameDev

The Guild Trader (Demo) by nog1potje Play in your browser

There's an early playable demo of the game we're working on here: nog1potje.itch.io/the-guild-tr... Graphics and sound have since been completely overhauled, but the core is there. #GameDev

Interesting to see all the Silksong takes. Kinda jealous of everyone able to put in the time to git gud etc. The hype has me tempted to give the original another go, despite bouncing off it at the time. Maybe if I had a portable way to play it?

It can be tricky putting together a trailer when the art is still a moving target and you still see so many little things that need tightening up. The temptation to close the video editor and go back to gamedev is strong. #GameDev

Our art style is solidifying further, here's a glimpse of the current title screen.

Wait, it connected using the VMU port? How would that work?

Hey y'all, don't know what happened, but this link is broken.

Messing around with a new halftone shader, creating a item mouse over effect for our roguelite autobattler #gamedev

First concept art for our upcoming roguelite autobattler!