I'm taking a hiatus on my posts for #GameMusicMondays, #GameWisdomWednesdays, and #GameUIFridays.

I'm a big video game nerd and love sharing this stuff, but engagement is really low. I want this to be useful. I need time to reassess.

Check out the posts so far and I hope y'all learned something!

#GameWisdomWednesdays 4/30/25 - Don Daglow is a living legend and has been in games since the early 1970s. In 2016 he gave a GDC talk about how to have a long career in games. It's worth a watch for those eager to stick around for the long haul. 🎮🧠

Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwRB...

#GameWisdomWednesdays 4/23/25 - An important insight from this GDC talk on defining a game audience is the idea that marketing a game means forming a social contract with players. How you portray your game is a promise to players on why they should buy it. 🎮🧠

Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2iK...

#GameWisdomWednesdays 4/16/25 - Tell me if you've heard this before:

"The last 10% of a game takes 90% of the time to finish"

This alludes to the fact that "the game" part of a game is actually the easiest part. There's also Bugs, Marketing, etc. How do you handle the last 10% of your games? 🎮🧠

Episode 01 - Gamecraft Mitch and Blake kick off Season 3 with a high-level look at the current moment in the video game business...

#GameWisdomWednesdays 4/9/25 - The Gamecraft podcast (which just recently started its third season) looks at the history of the video game business; talking about distribution innovation as a key driver of growth. I can't recommend it enough! 🎮🧠

Listen: gamecraftpod.com/podcast/cycl...

#GameWisdomWednesdays 4/2/25 - Polish is iterating on game elements (e.g. visuals) to produce a high level of quality. Let's think of polish like an equation:

Polish = Expertise + Dev Time

High expertise allows you to polish easier/faster. Increase dev time to compensate for low expertise. 🎮🧠

Black Games Archive – Context, Culture, and Representation

#GameWisdomWednesdays 3/26/25 - The Black Games Archive is "a multimedia, public-facing database of games, digital resources, accessible scholarship, and designer interviews that are relevant to the intersections between Black culture, games, and play." 🎮🧠

View: samanthablackmon.net/bgarchive/

Critical Path CRITICAL PATH is an ongoing documentary project exploring the art, technology, philosophy, politics, and psychology of video games, told from the perspective of Video Games' most influential designers...

#GameWisdomWednesdays 3/19/25 - This week is GDC. In honor of that, let's share some dope game dev wisdom for FREE! No pass or vault subscription required. The Critical Path Project is a collection of interviews from hundreds of developers, started in 2010. 🎮🧠

Watch: www.youtube.com/@CriticalPat...

Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games Join Masahiro Sakurai, director of several Kirby games and the Super Smash Bros. series, as he reflects on his work in the games industry and offers insightful and easy-to-understand advice about game...

#GameWisdomWednesdays 3/12/25 - Legendary game designer Masahiro Sakurai recently completed his YouTube video series, filled with game dev wisdom on a variety of topics. For fans of Sakurai's videos, what's some of your favorite advice? 🎮🧠

Watch: www.youtube.com/@sora_sakura...

#GameWisdomWednesdays 3/5/25 - Second Wind recently dropped their documentary on the development of Animal Well. Billy Basso made the game from scratch over 7 years. Learn how a hobby project became a breakout hit, with the help of Dan Adelman & Bigmode. 🎮🧠

Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tffo...

#GameWisdomWednesdays 2/26/25:

"Cyberpunk was a warning, not an aspiration.”
- Mike Pondsmith

Pondsmith has created multiple tabletop RPGs, including Cyberpunk. He also worked with CD Project Red on Cyperpunk 2077, which is adapted from his work.

#gamedev #indiedev #solodev #blackhistorymonth 🎮🧠

#GameWisdomWednesdays 2/19/25:

“Women are 50% of the population playing video games, so I think they should be 50% of the video game designers.”
- Muriel Tramis

Tramis is the first Black female game designer.

#gamedev #indiedev #solodev #blackhistorymonth 🎮🧠

#GameWisdomWednesdays 2/12/25:

"To be a man of color and a leader in the video game industry will be my legacy, and one that I am very proud of.”
- Ed Smith

Smith co-created the APF Imagination Machine, a game console & personal computer hybrid.

#gamedev #indiedev #solodev #blackhistorymonth 🎮🧠

#GameWisdomWednesdays 2/5/25:

“The whole reason I did games was because people said, ‘You can’t do it.’ I’m one of the guys, if you tell me I can’t do something, I’ll turn around and do it.”
- Jerry Lawson

Lawson invented the video game cartridge.

#gamedev #indiedev #solodev #blackhistorymonth 🎮🧠

#GameWisdomWednesdays 1/29/25 - This GDC talk by George Fan is still the best I've seen on game tutorials and simplifying game concepts for both gamers and non-gamers alike. What other game tutorial advice have you found helpful?

Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbzh...

#gamedev #indiedev #solodev

#GameWisdomWednesdays 1/22/25 - Doom, the legendary FPS that birthed an entire genre and inspired millions, was not John Romero's first game. According to the man himself it was his 90th! This illustrates that greatness takes practice. So make lots of small games first.

#gamedev #indiedev #solodev

#GameWisdomWednesdays 1/15/25 - Eastshade Studios founder Danny Weinbaum talks about a game's quality being a larger factor of marketing success than many indie devs realize. Researching top and mid-tier games in your genre is key.

Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCzh...

#gamedev #indiedev #solodev

'TUNIC': This Was Here the Whole Time TUNIC is an action-adventure game with a focus on secrets and exploration. In this session, Andrew Shouldice talks about the techniques used during TUNIC's development for thinking about secrets: What...

#GameWisdomWednesdays 1/8/25 - Tunic is about uncovering secrets and its main developer Andrew Shouldice gave a GDC talk on the topic. He covers what makes a good secret and how players can feel that satisfying "Ah Ha!" moment.

Watch: www.gdcvault.com/play/1029384...

#gamedev #indiedev #solodev

Fast Good Cheap You want a Fast, Good, and Cheap project?

#GameWisdomWednesdays 1/1/25 - A fundamental truth of game development that even the most successful game studios often fail to remember is the trilemma of Fast/Good/Cheap. You can only pick two. What's your preference?

View: fastgood.cheap

#gamedev #indiedev #solodev

In the thread below are the first four #GameWisdomWednesdays posts that I'm doing retroactively since the beginning of 2025. Starting tomorrow they will be on a weekly basis. Enjoy! 🎮🧠

Every Mon/Wed/Fri at 8am PST I post stuff about video games & game dev.

#GameMusicMondays - Game music I like or want to share

#GameWisdomWednesdays - Inspirational game dev advice

#GameUIFridays - Good/Bad/Interesting UI in games

#gamedev #solodev #indiedev #gamemusic #gameui #videogames