#game dev reflection

[emmettkane]

The Making of Derelict

I made a videogame!

So…

That’s pretty neat.

The original plan was to spend two weeks on the bulk of the work, then to spend two more weeks beta testing, polishing, and releasing.

It took me three months, which...well, oops. Regardless, I learned a lot along the way and I’m happy with the end result, so allow me to take you on a journey behind the scenes of Derelict: Deep Space Salvage.

All good games start with a concept, a central idea, a defining through-line upon which the whole of the experience is balanced. More 𝒸𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓋𝑒 developers usually don’t make that idea the title of their game, but I don’t want to be a creative developer, I want to be a good one.

In this case, I wanted to make a game about plundering the leftovers of those too stupid, or simply not fortunate enough, to survive the dangers of the infinite, starlit expanses.

Easy, just make it then, right?

Wrong! What do you think I am, a swiss army knife with legs? No, my friend, first thing’s first: skill set! What can I actually do on my own? If it wasn’t obvious, I’m a writer first and foremost (cough, ahem, cough). I can do a little programming too, a little java, a little C#, a little HTML.

Therefore my decision became simple as dirt: A text-adventure game needs no audio, minimal graphics, only basic programming, and a shitload of writing. (I used Twine, for those interested)

That’s not to say I haven’t considered adding some pizzazz. Some snappy ear-candy for when the player clicks a button might be nice, a little ethereal, industrial ambience could really sell the lost-in-space vibe, and I did whip up a sorta-lazy cover image, something to get the job done. Still, you have to choose your battles.

That’s actually the most important lesson, by the way. I ran two months overtime because I could afford to, and I focused on polishing the narrative experience because that was the heart of what makes Derelict fun. I even added achievements to the game…

…because that gives the player a good reason to play again and try to new things, to see more of the writing that I came up with and experience the game more fully. That was worth the extra time because it contributes to the primary experience, however subtly.

All the extra stuff I wanted to do but didn’t get to is now in a list for future consideration. Maybe I’ll come back and update Derelict, maybe I’ll make a sequel, maybe I’ll just try to add this stuff to some future project. What’s important is that I made something with intention, and that it got done.

Speaking of which, you can go play it yourself right now, for free, on my Itch.

Hell, you could even leave a review if you like it.

[cactikoi]

Also in my opinion it’s lowkey irresponsible to expect fans to shell out more money for a game that most of them already own and then try to be sassy when your fans ask if there’s going to be any new content in the game !! At the very least some of the illustrations with glaring anatomy issues could be fixed. I hope that this doesn’t read as entitled but it just feels lazy and like you don’t care about giving people a high quality product in exchange for their money

[runicpixels]

2023 has been such a feynomenal year!

I have countless of things to be grateful for, countless of things to be proud of and made so many steps to be true to myself!~ 🧚‍♀��

Let's make 2024 a magical year full of being ourselves to the fullest and reaching our full potential!~ ✨

[neonrain-dev]

Third year cycle

That's right, this marks the third year of working on this game. What began as a directionless but experimental mess has steadily evolved into the long-dreamed project I’ve always wanted. Now, it stands as an alpha demo that has been received positively.

Soon, it’ll inch even closer to that dream, with NPCs to talk to, lore terminals, more bizarre aliens, diverse upgrades, and new expansive levels!

I am forever grateful to all of you guys, gals and everyone in between for your patience and enthusiasm.

Let’s make 2025 a legendary year with the Steam demo, shall we?

[frango-maconheiro]

ohhhh hell naw, they gon slash my neck-

[evilkaeya]

Something about 'likes to annoy + easily annoyed' pairs and their cards matching (the lighting and surroundings indicating they're in the same place, looking at each other, etc etc)

[freakinator]

i need to work on my dbl au soon cause as much as i like to personify the server and its events at the end of the day that shits not on purpose lmao and as much as i love that its not on purpose i wanna explore a plot where it actually is on purpose

[refracturegames]

Happy 1 year anniversary since development started! Here you go - a title and logo reveal.

[chososhoeso2]

Okay I know I said a month ago that I was going to consistently post about my game and then I proceeded to note make a single fucking post again. I had to con crunch my sweetheart cosplay which I didn't even finish in time. I'm still working on the cosplay and that's taking up most of my free time in the evenings, so I still can't really take the time to post about the game at this time. BUT I am still working on it and I've officially named it!

The game is called Godlike Reflections. It's a story in three acts (there'll also be a prologue that's unlocked after beating the game). So far there are 8 endings. The game is heavily based on Greek mythology. There's also inspiration from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (lots of inspo here), AtLA, certain songs (playlist below), art from multiple periods between the 1400s-1900s (mostly renaissance, baroque, and neoclassical), black/white doomed yaoi🙏 (esp stsg), Omori, Baroque Decay games, Faith: The Unholy Trinity, manhwa tropes, and more that I can't think of rn. I want to make a game that has the features that I look for as a player: story rich, replayability, good music, and engaging gameplay. I want it to be rewarding for completionists and achievement hunters, like myself, while not being a slog for speedrunners.

Here's the barest of bones rundown of act one and two (I haven't decided what details I want to consider as spoilers yet, so I'm gonna hold off on giving act three info for now): There are twins (brother and sister) who are fighting their way towards the villain - the leader of the organization that destroyed their home and is trying to rule over everything. However, when they finally confront him, a pit opens up and the brother falls in. As he's falling, the villain dives in after him. The twins are separated and must find a way to reunite, but our hero and villain will have to learn to work together to escape the underground. During this time, the characters learn some hard truths, work on growing stronger, and find out who they are and what they want. Unfortunately, what one character wants isn't always in line with the desires of another.

I'll give some detailed info on the layout, characters, plot points, etc. in follow up posts. Just wanted to give these little pieces for now. I'm slowly learning how to draw, so don't expect any actual pics of characters for a while. I still know how they'll look though, so I'll post pics that show what I'm thinking of.

Here's a playlist I made of songs that either inspired aspects of the game (i.e., Murders by Miracle Musical [the ending is what made me come up with the game in the first place]), fit the vibe of the game (e.g., The Suburbs by Arcade Fire; Goth by Sidewalks and Skeletons), or might as well be character POVs during certain parts of the game (e.g., Goodnight, Travel Well by the Killers; Alien Blues by Vundabar; 505 by Arctic Monkeys; Nowhere to Run by Stegosaurus Rex).

[indefenseofkara]

i'll make a bigger post once multiplayer is out but as someone in game dev i just want to say:

issues with mwiii (all of them: writing, gameplay, UI, crashes, etc.) are most likely due to lack of time and lack of people. and that's on corporate, not the devs. there was a time when the 2023 game was just going to be a DLC. idk when the change happened behind the scenes, but it's activision - it's not like they have a history of supporting their employees, you know?

[toonlets]

REFLECTION PROBE MAPS

[dragon-ball-meta]

Finally feel like I can say something coherent, so here goes... I say this without a shred of exaggeration: Akira Toriyama was legitimately one of the most important creative figures of the last 50 years. His work, especially Dragon Ball, has influenced SO much even outside its own medium. Movies, TV, cartoons, comic books, video games, MUSIC... all of it. You can see his fingerprints in so many other works. Even now, artists and writers, voice actors and animators, musicians and game devs are all mourning him and reflecting on the impact he had on their own work. Titans of anime and manga are sharing in this pain. The craziest thing about this though? The humility he had in spite of it. He was always reluctant to be in the spotlight, preferred to keep his head down and just work, never really worried that much about public perception of himself. Part of what makes him such an icon, man. Losing him is losing a piece of our shared history. It's something that resonates deep in the hearts of everyone his work touched. This is just... such a loss. And I can't even begin to imagine what his family is going through right now. Praying for them all. Rest in Peace to a literal Legend, an absolute Icon, and a personal inspiration in more ways than I could ever express properly.

[arolesbianism]

If nothing else Im just begging dst to not do the easy but lame idea of adding the fleece of the lamb and making it increase follower time. I get it. It makes sense. It's simple to implement. But it's also boring and useless. In begging yall add a fleece that does smth cool

[redtunicpodcast]

Episode 066 - Conversation with game developer Rami Ismail

In this episode I speak with Rami Ismail, co-founder at Vlambeer, game developer consultant, one-third of The Habibis podcast, and PressKit maintainer

0:00 Intro

15:00 How Rami got into making games

24:00 Words of wisdom from his experiences

27:00 Games that made them get into development

30:00 Favorite games

43:00 How they enjoy gaming now

48:00 Life outside of gaming

55:45 Where to find and wrapping up

To follow Rami check out ⁠https://www.ramiismail.com/⁠ to get easy access to everywhere they are

Check out Rami's mom on Twitch at ⁠https://www.twitch.tv/momvsffxv

[heartsyncproductions]

Memory Ghosts suddenly got a handful of downloads over the past few days which is making me think about it again.

MG is very much a First Game which I've mentioned before and my main source of pride for it is solely the fact that it exists. It isn't what I wanted it to be, because I didn't figure out what I wanted it to be until it was pretty much done. That brought me to two choices;

Scrap the whole thing and start ever, thus starting the cycle of only working on one thing for who knows how long to get it 'perfect'

Accept it as a learning experience, release it, and move on

Obviously, I decided to go ahead and release it despite a lot of my reservations about it. I think it's one of the reasons why I've been hesitant about doing a major update, because my brain just wants to start from scratch and do the whole thing all over again. Which I might, one day.

Now, that doesn't mean I hate MG. I think the thing with art and making things is that there's a lot of grey area and each project comes with different feelings. There's a lot in MG that I like and appreciate. I wouldn't have finished the game if I hadn't. But I also wish I'd done a lot of things better (which, I only feel capable of doing so now because of what I learned by the end of making it. I wouldn't have been capable of making something better at the start of the process, I was only capable of doing so at the end. It's what everyone feels after they've finished something. To take what they learned from that piece and wish they could have applied it to the beginning).

For now, I 'm taking everything I learned from Memory Ghosts and applying it to my next game. And maybe some time in the future, I'll go back and remake MG into the story I wanted it to be. Maybe I'll let it rest.

Regardless, I once again want to say thanks to everyone who checked it out and those who still find it and give it a chance.

[dualityvn]

I would like to address a recent trend I am seeing pop up in the yandere community. I feel that people are kind of pointing fingers at each other trying to decide who is more morally correct than the other. And I find it a little silly. We're here for hot stalkers. None of us are consuming moral fiction.

I sympathize with Fantasia and the backlash she is getting because of her recent update to her game. I still stand by my belief that devs should write what they want before they let themselves be influenced by outside opinions. It is her choice and her game first and foremost. Not to mention it's her first one and being thrown in the spotlight while you're making your first game is a pretty horrible experience. Because you don't know much about the process of making games or what you even ultimately may want to do with your game. It's a trial and error type of thing. And you can't make everyone happy. I still support her and encourage her on her creative journey and I hope the finished game is something she will be proud of.

I also understand that the game originally looked like a yandere romance game and it did not turn out to be that. So people are upset and feel betrayed. Some have spent money thinking they'd enjoy it and the recent update may have changed that. I understand, but I ask them to be understanding themselves and give their feedback without harassing or insulting the dev.

At the same time, I'm observing some weird new mentality in this attempt to support Fantasia. Now, we are claiming that "realistic" yanderes are superior? And that people who enjoy softer yanderes are delusional idiots who don't belong in the yandere fandom? And don't get me started on the word "romanticize." Can we please stop the holier than thou attitude?

We are all in this pig den together. We are all muddy. We are all consuming dark content. One isn't more moral than the other. You are free to prefer yanderes who are cruel and awful and psychotic, but do not belittle the devs and fans who prefer a softer alternative. If someone outside the yan fandom were to look at us, they'd judge us all the same: people who like toxic obsessive love interests. We all know real life stalkers are bad. I am afraid of them everyday. None of us are delusional children and it's insulting and ridiculous to claim so.

Likewise, it's a little silly to claim you can't have darker content in dark fiction. Dark fiction is here to explore the awful parts of humanity without having to worry about morality. It does not reflect on the type of person the creator is. It does not make them an advocate for murder, stalking or sa.

Please be mature. If you wish to criticize, do so in a well thought out way. Do not simply throw around words.